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Category Archives: Current Affairs
A reverse-Facebook experiment
Our friends at Facebook recently received a lot of bad press for conducting a masssive secret psych experiment on 700,000 of its users without their consent. (Update: The journal that published Facebook’s research published a pusillanimous Expression of Concern but did not … Continue reading
Why doesn’t the Coase Theorem work in Gaza?
The “Coase Theorem” is a beautiful prediction or simple model from the world of academic economics that does not always hold up in the real world. (Look it up.) (Bonus link: check out our related research on this topic “Does the Prisoner’s … Continue reading
Women against feminism …
Check out this funny and controversial Women Against Feminism tumblr where women of all ages and races post selfies explaining why they reject feminism. Is this a sign of progress, or a step backwards? What would Rosie say?
Posted in Bayesian Reasoning, Current Affairs, Politics
Tagged Anti-feminism, Feminism
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Our peace plan for Palestine
How about a “one-state” solution? That is, what if the Government of Israel were to annex the Gaza Strip outright; (ii) extend full Israeli citizenship as well as voting rights to every person living in Gaza, (iii) allow all political parties incorporated in Gaza (including Hamas) … Continue reading
Posted in Current Affairs, Game Theory, Justice, Politics
Tagged Gaza Strip, Israel, Peace Plan
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Veritas odium paret
Consider, for example, the recent spate of self-righteous indignation over Stephen A. Smith’s “provocation” comments or over the Israeli Defense Forces’ ongoing military operation in Gaza. Why do people disagree with the simple truth in either case–i.e. most violence is provoked, which, … Continue reading
Posted in Current Affairs, Truth
Tagged Current Affairs, Gaza, IDF, Ray Rice, Stephen A. Smith, Truth
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Why Mayor Bloomberg flew to Israel
Former New York City mayor Michael R. Bloomberg explains in this essay press release why he flew to Ben-Gurion International Airport in Tel Aviv, the capital of Israel. Here is the gist of his argument: Just hours after the U.S. Federal Aviation … Continue reading
Aaron Hernandez pre-trial discovery update
Bristol County prosecutors in the Odin Lloyd homicide case recently turned over to Aaron Hernandez’s defense lawyers 33 pages of text messages between Coach Bill Belichick (a/k/a Mr Grumpy) and Hernandez from February 2013 to May 2013–the four months prior to … Continue reading
B+ or A-?
How would you grade LeBron’s eloquent essay? More importantly, what criteria would you use in assigning your grade (e.g., style, substance, grammar, spelling, etc.), and what weights would you assign to each criterion? (Props to Clickhole.)
Memo to Murrieta
Nous somme tous américains …
#Say no to racism!
Why are there so many angry faces in this picture? The next time these citizens complain about “illegal aliens” taking over our country, they should ask themselves two simple questions: (1) did your ancestors come to our country legally?; and (2) was our nation’s war of conquest … Continue reading
Posted in Current Affairs, Immigration, Racism
Tagged Current Affairs, Immigration, Racism
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prior probability 