Brains on Ice

[elfs]

The New GOP: State's rights? What are you talking about?

The GOP seeks to remind us that when Obama wants indivdidual states to have the right to enforce their own laws without federal intervention, he's just talkin' crazy.

Lifelock being sued for misrepresentation.

You know that guy, the president of Lifelock, who's so confident his social security number will never be stolen? It's been stolen nearly 40 times, and now he's got a new SSN that hasn't been published. Lifelock is now being sued by several states for false advertising and fraud.

Purity Balls: Dancing the Night Away, With A Higher Purpose

Yep. Still creepy. Don't miss the slideshow. The gowns are gorgeous, but the giant wooden cross-cum-Maypole is just disturbing.

Burma: When All You Have Is Maxwell's Silver Hammer, Everything Looks Like A Head

Stephen Frug explains to lefties why, thanks to Iraq, any attempt at military intervention for humanitarian reasons in Burma is a very bad idea.

Mike Huckabee Sacrifices VP Slot For a Joke

He later admitted it was in bad taste and poor judgement, but said he found McCain's "Bomb Bomb Bomb Iran" joke "funny."

Did Unleaded Gasoline Cause a Decline in Crime?

Remember how Steven Levy wrote in Freakonomics that the decline in violent crime through the 1990s was due to abortion? The theory went that the supposed "superpredator epidemic" never emerged because the low-income population had a small crash after Roe vs. Wade and the population pressures that would cause crime never emerged.

A new study says that abortion accounts for only 29% of the decline. 56% of the decline, however, can be attributed to the removal of lead from gasoline. Lead exposure has long been associated with aggressive and violent behavior, and it seems that taking it out of the ecosystem was a benefit. Bonus: "The overwhelming decline in crime can be attributed to exogenous factors for which local politicians can take no credit."

McCain's Economic Supporters vs. The Facts

McCain, like Hillary, won't listen too closely to Ivory Tower Economists. But he did get endorsements from some of them. Jonah Gelbech, an Obama supporter, runs down how McCain's economic policies are in denial from reality.

The Chip Cartel that Failed

An interesting article from Bloomberg about the price-fixing cartel that tried to control prices on computer memory in the early 2000's. What's interesting about it is that the cartel failed. In a classic example of why cartels failed, it's always the case that someone thinks they can "cheat the cartel" by lowering their prices just a little bit below the collusion price, thus creating a huge jump in sales and a new race for the bottom. Inconstant enforcement over international boundries just made the internal cheating worse, and ultimately exposed the cartel.

Paying New Employees to Quit

Fascinating article on offering new hires a "bonus" if they quit the day after training is over... on the idea that they're not really dedicated to the company and won't contribute to the overall energy of the endeavor.

Glenn Greenwald on how Thomas Friedman continues to speak from the testicles

Arrrgh! Friedman... I swear, Thomas Friedman makes me want to ululate to the cold, uncaring stars.

Comments

"Paying new employees to quit"

[urox.livejournal.com]

Too bad they don't have a proofer. It really bugs me when published articles incorrectly use one word over another or haven't run a spell checker (in this case it was "no" what their customers were up to)