The Unbroken Window

Megan McArdle commenting on how “natural” polyamory is (as some evolutionary biologists exclaim):
Rape seems to be pretty “natural”, but I’d still like to build social institutions that fight this “natural instinct”.
I don’t have any nits to pick on the topic of monogamy, I am thinking, rather, of how one can apply Megan’s thought to other [...]

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An old good friend of mine from college posted on Facebook the other day:
1 military suicide every 36 hours; current prevention programs are not working: http://tiny.cc/9tx05
Clicking through to the referenced link you see the actual data:
The report noted that from 2005 to 2009, more than 1,100 servicemembers committed suicide—an average of 1 suicide every 36 [...]

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I just finished watching Ken Burns’ recent documentary on America’s National Parks. The scenery was great, but Burns’ interpretation of the meaning of the National Parks was a bit confused. The entire series seemed to be a celebration of democracy – that the creation of the National Parks was an essentially American idea, to create [...]

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This just hit the wire:
WASHINGTON (AP) — Estimates of the number of graves that might be affected by mix-ups at Arlington National Cemetery grew from hundreds to as many as 6,600 on Thursday, as the cemetery’s former superintendent blamed his staff and a lack of resources for the scandal that forced his ouster.
John Metzler, who [...]

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Chalk up another Maywood resident who approves of this city’s unusual experience in municipal governing. City officials last month fired all of Maywood’s employees and outsourced their jobs.
While many communities are fearfully contemplating extensive cuts, Maywood says it is the first city in the nation in the current downturn to take an ax to everyone.
The [...]

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If one took all of the foreign aid that has been given to Zambia since 1960 and invested it in the broad stock and bond market rather than flushing it down the corrupt and bureaucratic foreign aid toilet, Zambians would now enjoy an income per capita of $20,000 from the investment alone … instead of [...]

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As I live through each day, one of the reactions I cannot shake is, “gosh, is there any part of my life that doesn’t have government all over it?” From the second I pour the milk in my coffee (FDA approved) to the time I turn my car on (the registration, emissions inspection and license [...]

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The Supreme Court is hearing arguments in the Doe v. Reed case. The case boils down to whether or not a state ought be forced to reveal the names of individuals who signed a ballot initiative. Aside from bizarrely Orwellian nature of disclosing the names of people who support a particular cause (i.e. would people [...]

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If not happy, then optimistic. One of my students made the nice observation that insurers must be the most optimistic people in the world. Think about why? “They” are placing bets that bad things will not happen to you. And if you think about the multiple types of incentives at play within insurance companies, let’s [...]

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Maybe my cynicism is getting the best of me. Here is a neat article on the results of piles of data collected by mobile GPS maker Tom Tom. The company collected data on its customers and found that people, when faced with an open, uncrowded road, tend to drive at 70mph regardless of what the [...]

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