George W. Bush in a Nutshell?

I read about a third of Bush at War, and I may well return to it at some stage, but the mood that compelled me to begin it passed quickly, and in any case it wasn't quite what I wanted: Woodward's tone is way too matey and sympathetic for me. I did, however, learn that George W. Bush was woken up by the Secret Service at 11:08 p.m. on 9/11. Woken up! He didn't work late that night? And he wasn't too buzzy to get off to sleep? See, if that had been me, I would have been up until about six, drinking and smoking and watching TV, and I would have been useless the next day. It can't be right, can it, that world leaders emerge not through their ability to solve global problems, but to nod off at the drop of a hat? Most decent people can't sleep easily at night, and that, apparently, is precisely why the world is in such a mess.

Nick Hornby, The Complete Polysyllabic Spree, Ch. "November 2003"; p. 33

Empire of Darkness

I think it helps to try to recreate the intellectual atmosphere of the 1950's, the milieu that produced Alfred Hitchcock and J.D. Salinger. In five-factor personality jargon, the Fifties stand out for strong Neuroticism. [...]

To an intellectual of the 1950's, the human psyche is dark. Freud's shadow looms large over all discussion pertaining to human nature. You take it as given that terrible demons lurk in both the individual and collective unconscious. All About Eve could be the story of any one of us. The phenomenon of Adolf Hitler is most easily understood as having sprung out of the collective unconscious of the German people. Suspicious that a similar phenomenon could occur anywhere, you scan the American scene for signs of impending fascist tendencies.

Arnold Kling, "A Must Read"

Merry Christmas II

All religions are the same: religion is basically guilt, with different holidays.

Cathy Ladman

Merry Christmas I

I can't bring myself to use the c-word, you know, the word we use to name this time of the year.

With its religious derivation the word is laughably out of whack with our binge of consumption and sentiment. So I'm going to rename the season. And on the principle that it keeps coming back and you can't escape it, I'm going to call it Herpes.

Joe Bennett, "Let's Rename the Season You Can't Escape" (via)

The Value of Education

As an economist and game theorist I have a unique understanding of the secrets of conflict resolution. And my marriage will be peaceful and harmonious once my wife accepts that.

Jeff Ely, interviewed by Paula Szuchman (via)

The Problem of Unobservable Quality

James Akerlof's seminal contribution to the economics of information, "The Market for 'Lemons': Quality, Uncertainty and the Market Mechanism," considered whether markets would exist if product quality were unobservable. Before the Quarterly Journal of Economics finally accepted Akerlof's paper four years after he first sought to publish it, three journals called it a lemon. "I first submitted it in June, 1967 to the American Economic Review. I got a reply from the editor which said that the article was interesting but the American Economic Review did not publish such trivial stuff."

Joshua S. Gans and George B. Shepherd, "How are the mighty fallen: Rejected Classic Articles by Leading Economists", Journal of Economic Perspectives 8: 165-179

The Term You're Looking for Is "Relatability"

In this extremely loose adaptation of Melville's classic novel, Ahab is revealed initially not as a bitter and vengeful madman, but as a bit of a lovable scamp. Ashore in New Bedford, he meets and falls for Faith Mapple, daughter of the local minister and beloved of Ahab's brother Derek. Faith herself quickly returns Ahab's love, as Derek is drab and ignoble. On his next voyage, however, Ahab loses a leg to the monstrous white whale Moby-Dick. When upon his return to New Bedford he mistakenly believes Faith wants nothing to do with him because of his disfigurement, Ahab returns to sea with only one goal in mind -- to find and kill the great white whale.

Jim Beaver, Plot Summary for Moby Dick (1930)

A Challenge for Neuroscientists

Happiness measured by asking "how happy are you? 1-10". Wonder what GDP would look like if we asked "how rich are you? 1-10"

Tim Harford, [untitled tweet]

The Problem with Digital

I think the government is learning what the music and movie industries were forced to learn years ago: it's easy to copy and distribute digital files. That's what's different between the 1970s and today. Amassing and releasing that many documents was hard in the paper and photocopier era; it's trivial in the Internet era. And just as the music and movie industries are going to have to change their business models for the Internet era, governments are going to have to change their secrecy models. I don't know what those new models will be, but they will be different.

Bruce Schneier, "Wikileaks" (via)

The Scientist's Incentives

Science (search for truth) and profession (making a living) are not a good fit. In a dozen ways, the demands of a scientist’s job get in the way of finding and reporting truth. You need to publish, get a grant, please your colleagues, and so on. Nobody pays you for finding the truth.

Seth Roberts, "The Decline Effect"

Why Do People Buy New Novels?

For a lot of products, my model of the purchase decision is fairly simple. If you hear about it two or three times from relatively "cool" or prestigious sources -- which can be ads, friends, institutions, and so on -- you will take it seriously and at least think about buying it. Even then it is often an "impulse" purchase and need not follow directly upon viewing any one of those ads or mentions; you may be in Barnes & Noble and wishing to cheer yourself up and what do you look for? Something you've heard about a few times. (This also leads to an equibrium where people are predominantly interested in new books, music, etc. and in turn those are the advertised products.)

Tyler Cowen, "A simple theory of product purchase and the low value of on-line ads"