prior probability

Even after so many years, one of the things that I loved the most and still remember about my political theory professor Cedric J. Robinson was the quiet cadence and authoratative tone of his voice. Thanks to the wonders of modern technology, you too can listen to Dr Robinson here:

We are writing a series of blog posts in honor of our teacher, mentor, and friend Cedric J. Robinson (1940-2016). Dr Robinson was a prolific and creative scholar who wrote about culture, history, political theory, and much more. For your reference, here is just a small sample of his work:

• 1980a: The terms of order: political science and the myth of leadership
• 1980b: Notes toward a “native” theory of history
• 1983: Black Marxism: the making of the black radical tradition
• 1990: Oliver Cromwell Cox and the historiography of the West
• 1993: The appropriation of Frantz Fanon
• 1998: Blaxploitation and the misrepresentation of liberation
• 2007: Forgeries of memory and meaning

    

I have just learned that my teacher and mentor Cedric Robinson (pictured below) passed away last summer. (I was his student at UCSB and was awarded a scholarship named after him.) Dr Robinson was a student and critic of Marxist theory. Among other things, he wrote about “racial capitalism,” and his critique of traditional politics anticipated the organization of “horizontal movements” such as Black Lives Matter, a decentralized political movement without a single, unifying political leader. I will share some remembrances about my teacher, mentor, and friend in my next blog post.

1. Introduction (Tyler Cowen): Do we undervalue routine?
2. Mornings (Kristin Wong): Why your morning routine isn’t working
3. Afternoons (Patrick Allan): You need an afternoon routine
4. Evenings (Sam Thomas Davies): The evening routines of the most successful people
5. Writing (Peg Boyle Single): A writing routine
6. Against routine (Jessica Stillman): An argument against routine

Hat tip: Noah Smith, via Bloomberg View.

That is the title of this paper (preprint via PsyArXiv) by Alexander Etz, et al. We plan on reading it in the next few days and will report back soon! (Hat tip: Brian D. Earp, via Twitter.)

Image credit: burrsettles

Jeff Desjardins poses the following question in this report: “What has more value: all major publicly traded department stores in the United States, or Amazon?” The answer is Amazon. In the words of Mr Desjardins: “Add together the market caps of Walmart, Target, Best Buy, Nordstrom, Kohl’s, JCPenney, Sears, and Macy’s, and they amount to a significant $297.8 billion. However, it’s not enough to beat the Amazon machine. The online retailer alone is worth $356 billion, making it one of the largest companies by market capitalization in the world.”

Also, what a difference ten years make: “Ten years ago, the future of brick and mortar retail sill looked bright. The aforementioned retailers were worth a collective $400 billion, and Amazon was only valued at $17.5 billion.”