Wear the sentry's uniform, and...

In a post where he attempts to rally the troops, OneSTDV highlights cynicism on the part of some of the Steveosphere's best. HBD social reformer need not necessarily be an oxymoron, but there are inherently opposing forces operating. In OneSTDV's words:[HBDers] consider themselves the ultimate skeptics, willing to discard the noble lies of race and gender. We strive to see things as they are, and realize our ability to affect meaningful change by...

Top ten creatures in Standard

The following post contains a discussion relating to the competitive M:TG standard format. For the vast majority of readers it will consequently be of no interest, so if you are among them, please don't waste your time.1) Bloodbraid Elf -- Jund is built around her. Anyone who has played in the current standard environment has suffered the emasculation of a turn 4 bloodbraid...

Infidelity rates by ethnicity

++Addition++Commenter Steve astutely pointed out that I forgot to include Italians. The sample size is more than sufficient, I just missed it. The table has been updated appropriately.---The re-posting at R/H/E Notes of a paper on the putative lasciviousness of Swedish women made me wonder about the relationship between ancestry and philandering in the US. The following table, constructed from GSS data, shows self-admitted cheating rates among those...

Why does it seem natural to feel cold toward those who've acquired wealth?

In an Econ Talk podcast a few years back, host Russ Roberts summarizes one of Walter Williams' putatively great economic insights (begins 41:15):Through most of human history, you got rich stealing from your neighbor; through plunder, taking something that belonged to somebody else by knocking him over the head and grabbing his stuff. But it's only recently that you can get rich by serving your fellow man. I would be interested in hearing arguments...

A diamond saved, a (lot of) penn(ies) earned

Gents, before you pop the question, netflix Blood Diamond and make it a date night at home on the couch. It might just save you three months' salary and net you a small SWPL status boost to boot. "T. I. ...

IQ is relevant; it should not be invisible

A recent Econ Talk podcast with Katherine Newman of Princeton featured her work on low wage workers in Harlem during the nineties. I find it worth noting because it serves as a great example of why discussing socio-economic outcomes without taking IQ into account is a fruitless excercise. Roberts never broaches the subject and Newman never mentions it, either:NEWMAN: I broke the findings or the patterns into three groups [of roughly equal size]....

Culling marginal workers during recession leads to greater per capita productivity?

In a recent Econ Talk podcast, host Russ Roberts and guest Garett Jones discussed the relationship between an economy's health and worker productivity, pointing to the real business cycle theory introduced in the early eighties by Edward Prescott and Finn Kydland. RBC theory predicts that during economic slowdowns, productivity will drop because innovation is sparse (it is this real lack of innovation and of attractive investment opportunities that...

Tracking political orientation by age group over time

Last week, NPR ran a story on a Pew Research report on the millennial generation, highlighting the age group's political liberalism. There is little in the report that is surprising, though I found this remark by the president of Pew Research to be prognostic value:Mr. KOHUT: Many people, not just whites, I think only 60 percent of this generation is white. They have a positive...