Check out this fun thread here: https://mobile.twitter.com/nick_kapur/status/1090723836209872897
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The partial government shutdown as a game of chicken
Update (1/28): Looks like little-hands Trump is the chicken!
President Trump wants Congress to fund a border wall; the Democrats, who now have regained control of the House of Representatives, do not want to fund a border wall. Which side will “swerve” first? The Game of Chicken, along with the Prisoner’s Dilemma and the Battle of the Sexes, is one of the ways in which this political conflict can be modeled. Here is the Wikipedia entry for the Game of Chicken; here is a memorable example of Chicken from the movie “Footloose”. Update (6pm): As I replied to Kathy H. in the comments section, I find it fascinating that in this particular case the intransigence of both sides is due to their moralizing of the border wall, which suggests an inverse relationship between the ability to reach a pragmatic compromise and the strength of one’s moral convictions!
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Piano bookcase
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Family fun project: football playoff conifer
Why throw away a perfectly good Christmas tree when you can “repurpose” it for the NFL playoffs season? Thanks to Adys Ann who helped me decorate the tree. (We began this tradition in 2016.)
Happy Extended Holidays!
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Why do hotel companies have so many brands?
That is the title of this excellent essay by Josh Barro, via New York Magazine. Here is the opening paragraph:
In 2016, Marriott Hotels, which had 19 hotel brands, merged with Starwood, which had 11. They didn’t abolish any brands in the merger, and so the company faced a challenge: How to explain to customers, or even to its own employees, what makes all 30 of these brands different from each other. So shortly after the merger, the company produced this cutesy matrix:
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The politics of symbols (Mississippi flag edition)
Laurin Stennis, an artist, has proposed a beautiful new flag for the State of Mississippi. Her design for the State flag is pictured on the left; the State’s existing flag, which dates back to 1894, is pictured on the right. We pray the old flag will be relegated to the dustbin of history soon! (Hat tip:
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prior probability 