Month: August 2012

I find the idea that students start performing better as soon as they find out the results of the lottery fascinating. So much of life is about perspective and expectations.

Freakonomics » Evidence on School Choice

We then examine the impact attending a chosen school has on student test score outcomes. We find substantial test score gains from attending a charter school and some evidence that choosing and attend…

I’ve long been a China skeptic because of things such as the ghost cities, but I must confess I never really considered the opportunity costs of their actions the way he highlights them here.

From the excellent Yichuan (Lulu) Wang

You all should be following him, or so it would seem to me. Here are excerpts from his post What China Could Be Building: The real risk is not that the housing won’t be used, but that the crash would…

I have a lot of friends from Singapore and so I’ve heard a lot of Singaporean stories, but this one is over-the-top even for Singapore. Wow.

The culture that is Singapore

A Singapore property developer is targeting the super rich with parking problems by marketing luxury apartments that allow owners to keep their cars next to their living rooms, even if they are on the…

Panel two raises a point I had not considered before. Very amusing.

Basic Instructions — Basic Instructions — How to Debunk a Frightening Myth

I wrote this one in the days leading up to Comic-Con. I don’t think I need to explain beyond th…

This is one thing I miss about reading books on a Kindle — I have less flexibility in how I mark them up. On the plus side, it’s easier to snag a verbatim quote.

Annotating Texts: Some Suggestions (with Pictures!)

A friend of mine who is also a doctoral student recently asked if I had any sort of system for how I annotate books, particularly primary texts. It was an interesting question, because annotating book…

I love comic strips. “That shirt’s got more holes than a Goth chick’s nose.” I might actually use that line someday.

Get Fuzzy by Darby Conley, August 26, 2012 Via @GoComics

Housecats are known to be aloof, but cat-titude reaches new heights in Get Fuzzy, the bitingly hilarious comic strip from cartoonist Darby Conley. Available daily and Sunday and appearing in 650 newsp…

This is kinda cool. So there are twenty moments in a minute?

Do we experience life in 3 second chunks? — Barking up the wrong tree

Ever wondered how long a hug lasts? The quick answer is about 3 seconds, according to a new study of the post-competition embraces of Olympic athletes. But the long answer is more profound. A hug last…

I would say that with the exception of rule #4, this 100% applies to church sound guys. But most of them are single and are fans of rule #4 as well. 🙂

Sound booth guest rules. — Imgur

Imgur is used to share photos with social networks and online communities, and has the funniest pictures from all over the Internet.