70 Great Ideas

New York Times magazine has their annual survey of the greatest ideas of the year:

For the seventh consecutive December, the magazine looks back on the passing year through a special lens: ideas. Editors and writers trawl the oceans of ingenuity, hoping to snag in our nets the many curious, inspired, perplexing and sometimes outright illegal innovations of the past 12 months. Then we lay them out on the dock, flipping and flopping and gasping for air, and toss back all but those that are fresh enough for our particular cut of intellectual sushi. For better or worse, these are 70 of the ideas that helped make 2007 what it was. Enjoy.

Check it out.  It looks like a fun and fascinating read.

Here are a few to get you started:

• Ambiguity Promotes Liking
• Appendix Rationale, The
• God Effect, The
• Hope Can Be Worse Than Hopelessness
• Mob Jurisprudence
• Wikiscanning

(HT Law & Econ Prof Blog)

Reversal Of Alzheimer's Symptoms Within Minutes

If this treatment proves successful, the impact of this could be astounding for millions of lives:

An extraordinary new scientific study, which for the first time documents marked improvement in Alzheimer’s disease within minutes of administration of a therapeutic molecule, has just been published in the Journal of Neuroinflammation.

“It is unprecedented that we can see cognitive and behavioral improvement in a patient with established dementia within minutes of therapeutic intervention,” said Griffin. “It is imperative that the medical and scientific communities immediately undertake to further investigate and characterize the physiologic mechanisms involved. This gives all of us in Alzheimer’s research a tremendous new clue about new avenues of research, which is so exciting and so needed in the field of Alzheimer’s. Even though this report predominantly discusses a single patient, it is of significant scientific interest because of the potential insight it may give into the processes involved in the brain dysfunction of Alzheimer’s.”

While the article discusses one patient, many other patients with mild to severe Alzheimer’s received the treatment and all have shown sustained and marked improvement.

I wonder if this works for other forms of dementia too? Regardless, this is incredibly hopeful news for many who are suffering or have loved ones suffering from Alzheimer's.

(HT Glenn Reynolds)

The Law May Be With Episcopalian Breakaways

This could be one more nail in the Episcopal Church's coffin:

Virginia's attorney general is defending the right of 11 conservative Anglican parishes to use the state's Civil War-era "division statute" to leave the Episcopal Church while retaining millions of dollars in assets and property.

Attorney General Bob McDonnell's motion to intervene is a significant setback to the Episcopal Church and the Diocese of Virginia, which have said secular courts have no place in resolving the property dispute — the largest in the church's history.

Mr. McDonnell, a Roman Catholic who is planning a run for governor in 2009, said state law is on the side of the 11 churches, now with the Convocation of Anglicans in North America (CANA).

CANA's case relies heavily on the state's division statute, known as "57-9" because of the section of the state code in which it falls. The statute says that if the majority of a congregation's members decide to leave the parent denomination, that congregation can retain the church's property. In December 2006 and January 2007, the majority of members in all 11 congregations scattered across several counties voted to leave.

I wrote a paper on the decline of the Episcopal Church last year for my law and economics class last year, emphasizing that denominationally owned property kept congregations from leaving the denomination. (Essentially holding them "hostage" thorugh their property.) If the courts rule on the side of the breakaway churches, my prediction is that many more Episcopalian congregations will soon follow suit.

The case is expected to be appealed no matter how it turns out and will likely be heard by the Virginia Supreme Court.

See my related posts:

• What's Wrong With the Episcopals
• Why They Left the Episcopal Church
• Episcopal Church Appoints First Openly-Muslim Bishop?
• The Self-Defeat of 'Secular Christianity'?
• Liberal Christianity is Paying for its Sins?

The USA: More Immigrants Than Anyone and Yet Still Falling Behind?

The Creative Class Exchange on immigration around the world:

The Economist devotes is special report to global immigration. The chart above shows the key flows. Two other key facts.

1. There are an estimated 200 million global migrants world-wide, 3 percent of the world's population.

2. The USA has the largest number of immigrants, but not the largest percentage. Australia does, followed by Switzerland, Canada, Germany, then the USA, Sweden, Ireland, the UK and France (see below).

Could it be, that without even restricting immigration further, the USA is already falling behind. The whole thing is here.

These statistics are interesting and I highly recommend reading The Economist's special report.

While I am in favor of easier immigration to the US, what I do wonder about is that statement that "the USA is already falling behind." By what measure? That sounds more like an alarmist rhetoric than reasoned commentary.

I would argue that the marginal benefit of an immigrant into a populous country like the US is less than that of an immigrant into a less populous country like Australia. The greater population a country has, the more opportunities there are for specialization within the economy, and a greater depth of the domestic market. The US has about 15 times the population of Australia, giving it huge benefits of economies of scale in the domestic market. That same phenomenon explains why New Zealand's economy hasn't done as well as Australia's despite many pro-market reforms. If the benefit of an additional immigrant is less to one country than to another, how can it be said the one that has a lower benefit is "falling behind"?

What I think is a better argument is that immigration usually benefits both the sending and receiving country:

Despite a growing backlash, the boom in migration has been mostly good for both sending and recipient countries, says Adam Roberts (interviewed here).

Easier immigration would benefit the US economy, the immigrants who are moving here, the citizens of the US, and the families of the immigrants who are still back in their country of origin. As I've written before, immigration may be the most effective form of foreign aid. It has many other virtues as well. For all of these reasons, I am for more open immigration policy in the US. I can even come to that conclusion without worrying about America "falling behind".

Here are all of the articles in The Economist's special report on immigration:

• The two-way traffic of migration
• Migration's uneven benefits
• The touchy politics of migration
• Troublesome tougher borders
• Adding up remittances
• Developing countries and migration
• The policies of movement
• The future of migration
• Audio interview
• Sources and acknowledgments

And here are my previous posts on immigration.

The Octopus Who Loves Mr. Potato Head

Presurfer:

Louis, a giant Pacific octopus, clearly thinks two heads are better than one when it comes to toys. The 6 feet wide creature is so attached to Mr Potato Head that he turns aggressive when aquarium staff try to remove it from his tank.

The octopus from the Blue Reef Aquarium in Newquay, Cornwall, was given the toy for Christmas and attacks the net used to fish the toy out every time they try to take it away.

Programmers: Do We Want Scientists or Engineers?

Alex Hung:

Good computer science graduates do not make good software developers. Really, I mean it. But for the polar opposite reason that these two New York University computer science professors think.

When I was in high school my physics teacher once told us, "All physics experiments work. They just may not work the way you want them to."

This encapsulates neatly what software development is all about. On one hand, it is science. It is deterministic. Each programming language statement performs exactly as stated (baring bugs in the compiler, or the SDK, or the OS). On the other hand, software development is closer to engineering where years of experience allows a software developer to spot patterns in the model and apply them to build a system.

Unfortunately, just as in physics, computer science courses do not prepare students for what comes after graduation. Skills that are considered crucial in almost all commercial software projects are either not taught in college or are only touched upon. This disparity between the skills graduates possess and what the industry is looking for means it generally takes one to two years of working in real life project for a graduate to become fully trained.

If computer science departments are not willing to prepare students for real life jobs, perhaps another department (Electrical Engineering for example) or a completely new one should take over that role? After all, you wouldn't want a scientist to build a bridge now, would you?

OneSpace

A very creative use of small living space:

See a slideshow here.

Competition Is A Discovery Procedure

Don Boudreaux (emphasis mine):

My friend (and co-blogger at Market Correction) Andy Morriss yesterday sent this excellent letter to the Wall Street Journal:

Sirs,

David Wessel warns that “the business model for big U.S. banks is broken” and that if bankers don’t devise a better model Rep. Barney Frank will (“How to unbreak the banks,” Jan. 10). Mr. Wessel is correct that most banks’ business models are not currently producing profits, but this is not cause for concern for anyone but their shareholders. Markets are a discovery process, with firms and investors learning as they try new ideas and react to changed conditions. What markets need is a stable regulatory environment, in which every dip in the market does not produce a new set of rules.

Unfortunately, there is little evidence that Rep. Frank and his comrades on the House Financial Services Committee understand this, making it virtually certain that they will rush to “solve” the banking crisis with new legislation. The best assistance Rep. Frank could offer would be to commit his committee to resolute inaction for an extended period of time, offering both banks and investors the assurance that the rules of the game would remain unchanged and allowing them to learn from their experience in the market place.

Andrew P. Morriss
H. Ross & Helen Workman Professor of Law and Business
Professor, Institute for Government and Public Affairs
University of Illinois

I here emphasize only that Wessel's suggestion that someone specialized in winning elections to Congress (such as Rep. Frank) could possibly develop a better business model for banks is ridiculous. It's like supposing that a crocodile, observing some misfortune visited upon an owl, could sensibly develop a better way for birds to behave.

Batman Crossing

(HT Neatorama)

Same Old Corn, Different Flakes

Now with added nuts!

(HT Glenn Reynolds)

PhD Journal Club

(PhD Comics)

Legal Careers Lose Allure, Drop to Dentistry Status

Instapundit:

I GUESS THOSE BIG STARTING BONUSES STILL AREN'T BIG ENOUGH: "College grads who want wealth and social status are passing up law and medicine for careers in investment banking." It not only pays better, it's a better lifestyle. Then there are the law-firm layoffs.

5 Reasons to Take Your Camera Everywhere in 2008

Digital Photography School:

1. You’ll begin to see the world Differently - with a camera in your pocket or bag you’ll find yourself looking for opportunities to use it and when you start looking at the world in that way you’ll start to see if differently.

2. You’ll take more pictures - it sounds obvious - and it is - but the result of more pictures is that you’ll improve your averages of taking a good one!

3. You’ll be more likely to get out of Auto mode - the more you use your camera and see your results the more you’ll find yourself wanting to stretch yourself out of auto mode into using the full potential of your camera.

4. You’ll get to know your camera - the more you use your camera the more familiar you’ll become with it and what it’s capable of. I find that after an intense week with my camera that changing settings becomes second nature and much faster.

5. You’ll miss less ‘Kodak moments’ - you don’t realize just how many opportunities you miss to capture moments photographically until you start carrying your camera around. While I’m a big believer in not relying upon your photography to ‘create’ memories - I think that images are a wonderful way to help remember stories and celebrate life.

Images are good for the soul - don’t miss the opportunity to create them in 2008. Take your camera everywhere!

18 Stunning Bridges From Around the World

Beautiful!

With the technological boom of the last century came a huge increase in construction capability, and rivers, seas or valleys which were once thought to be completely uncrossable were finally overcome by the advent of numerous new, spectacular bridges. So in honour of these incredible engineering achievements, we have selected our favourite few bridges from around the world. We have the very old, the very new, the very-nearly-finished, the very long and of course the ones which just look very, very cool. Take your pick!

I've climbed the Sydney Harbor Bridge and ridden a bike across the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. I've also seen the San Diego-Coronado Bridge from a distance and used to pass the Akashi-Kaikyo bridge on the train when I took business trips to Japan. I'd love to see the rest!

(HT Tyler Cowen)

Duck Herding in India

(HT Neatorama)

Dilbert on the Economics of Oil

Law Prof or Econ Prof?

Tyler Cowen:

I believe if I were starting out today, I would end up as a law professor, not an economist...

Maybe I'm on the right track after all?

Connie Williams (Walter Williams's Wife), RIP

I didn't know until after my field exam last night, but Walter Williams's wife passed away on December 29th:

From Professor Walter Williams: "It is with great sadness that I inform you that Connie, my friend of 50 years and my wife of nearly 48 years, died peacefully yesterday, December 29th. The day after Christmas she had a very minor fall. After the fall she said that she felt okay and we proceeded to eat dinner which went normally. After dinner she felt a bit strange and made an effort to get up from the chair. That was when the effect of the fall started taking place. Within a few minutes, she became totally verbally unresponsive. I called 911. The paramedics arrived quickly and she was helicoptered to University of Pennsylvania trauma center. It turned out that the fall was enough to cause a severe subdural hematoma. She underwent emergency surgery. The neurosurgeon’s prognosis both before and after the surgery was not promising at all. Devyn, who had just left to return to Los Angeles, where she now lives, returned the next day. Connie made me promise there would be no funeral or memorial services for her and I intend to abide by those wishes. She always said that our 35 years in our home in Devon, Pennsylvania, have been the happiest of her life. Therefore, her wish was to be cremated and her remains scattered about our property so that she will always be here. I have lost a dear wife and friend and the person whose partnership with me accounts for much of our success. Devyn has lost a loving mother. And you’ve lost a delightful friend."

This is very sad news indeed.  Professor Williams used to make a lot of jokes in class about making his wife shovel snow, how much he spoiled her, used her bad behavior for illustrating downward sloping demand curves, etc.  You could always tell through his teasing that he loved her deeply.

My prayers go out to Dr. Williams and his family.  May Mrs. Williams rest in peace.

Has Someone Been Watching Me?

(PhD Comics)

Cautiously Optimistic

I think things went okay on my field exam tonight. After talking with a couple friends who also took it, I think we all did well. We should know for sure in a couple more weeks.

I got home about two hours ago and have been busy finishing a ton of paperwork before a meeting with one of my professors tomorrow morning. I also had my Criminal Law casebook waiting for me from Amazon. Unfortunately, the case book will have to wait until tomorrow. I am about out of gas and am looking forward to a good night's sleep!

My Last Field Exam

I'm just leaving home on my way to GMU's Fairfax campus to take my last field exam on the Economics of Religion. If all goes well, in less than 6 hours I will be ABD (All But Dissetation) with my PhD.

International Religious Freedom News

The Becket Fund:

1. Cuban Security Forces Raid Church (Dec. 5)
2. Crackdown in Tibet (Dec. 9)
3. Adventists in Azerbaijan Threatened by Police (Dec. 10)
4. Indonesia: Church Banned from Religious Activity (Dec. 10)
5. Germany: Hesse Upholds Headscarf Ban (Dec. 10)
6. Turkey: Alevi Students Interrogated, Beaten by Teacher (Dec. 11)

Feature:The Times of London documents the story of the daughter of a British imam, forced into hiding after her conversion away from Islam sparked death threats.

International Religious Freedom Archive

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Economic Education Abroad

Greg Mankiw:

From a French textbook:

"Economic growth imposes a hectic form of life, producing overwork, stress, nervous depression, cardiovascular disease and, according to some, even the development of cancer."

Read more here about what European students are learning about economics. (Thanks to The Informed Reader for the pointer.)

Of course, that sentence is not from my favorite French textbook.

Hillary and McCain Win in New Hampshire

Hillary won in New Hampshire today. Looks like the prediction markets called it wrong for the Democrats. They did get it right on McCain however. This continues to be an interesting election season in many respects.

In potential defense of the prediction markets, it looks like Hillary and Obama are tied for the number of delegate votes they will take from New Hampshire.

After I get past my field exam tomorrow, I'll try to look more into what question was tied to this contract on Tradesports.com and what the prediction market was saying prior to today. (With all the studying I've been doing and law school starting today, I forgot to check Tradesports yesterday.)

If thought Tradesports got it wrong today, I'd still put far more trust in their predictions than any pundit I know.

More coverage on New Hampshire here.

P.S. -- Some interesting thoughts from Brendan Loy:

Did New Hampshire's independents outsmart themselves, believing that McCain needed them more than Obama did, and thus deciding to vote Republican in greater-than-expected numbers... producing a McCain landslide and a Clinton-Obama squeaker?

Obama and McCain Predicted

I’ve been so caught up with studying for my field exam and starting law school, I forgot the New Hampshire primaries were today. Tradesports is strongly indicating an Obama and McCain victory.

I meant to get a post up with Tradesports predictions a couple days before the votes started. I'll try to track down to see what they were predicting and get that up soon.

The Founders' Constitution

I had my Founders' Constitution class this morning. Our prof was saying that GMU is the first law school in the country to require a Founder's course for all law students.

Below is a reading list of some of what we're covering this semester. (With links to PDF files.) It looks like we'll be covering some very good stuff:

The English Constitution

• Magna Carta
• David Hume, History of England, Vol. 1, pp. 420-54 (on Magna Carta)
• Petition of Right
• English Bill of Rights

The American Revolution and the New State Governments

• Burke, “Speech on Conciliation with the Colonies”
• Paine, “Common Sense” (Section on the Origin and Design of Government in General and the section presenting Thoughts of the Present State of American Affairs)
• Jefferson, “Summary View of the Rights of British America”
• Virginia Declaration of Rights
• Thomas Jefferson’s Draft of the Declaration of Independence (begins on p. 199)
• Pennsylvania Constitution (1776)
• Virginia Constitution (1776)
• Massachusetts Constitution (1780)

The Articles of Confederation and the Constitutional Convention

• Northwest Ordinance of 1787

The Federal Executive

• Federal Farmer XIII
• Federal Farmer XIV
• Cato, 8 Nov. 1787
• An Old Whig, 11 Dec. 1787

The Bill of Rights

• Madison, “Memorial and Remonstrance”
• Jefferson, “Bill for Establishing Religious Liberty”

The Founders Interpret the Constitution

• Debate in the First Congress over the Removal Power (16, 17, June 1789)
• Madison, Veto Message regarding Bill to Incorporate Episcopal Church (21 February, 1811)
• Controversy over the Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798:
  Virginia Resolution
  Virginia Debate
  Counterresolutions of NY, Del, RI, Mass

School Begins

Today is my first day of classes for law school. This semester I am taking:

• Founders' Constitution
• Criminal Law
• Civil Procedure
• Contracts II
• Legal Writing II

It looks like a good, but busy semester.

An Unintended Benefit of Law School?

As I've been reading many articles and books in preparation for my last PhD field exam this Wednesday, I've noticed I am retaining a lot more of what I'm reading that I used to. Seems like I'm also picking up many things from this material that I didn't when I read them the first time.

I don't know if this is because I've learned more economics since then, because I'm looking at it with fresh eyes, or because reading case books every day for law school is turning me into a better reader? I think it is a mixture of all of the above.

It certainly does seem like my reading concentration and retention are better since starting law school. Now if only that effect will hold up for a couple more days...

Is That A Tripod In Your Wallet?

Timetale's FOZI Tripod:

The Four Laws of Simplicity

Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.
- Leonardo da Vinci

A simple method of simplifying:

The problem with many books and guides on simplifying your clutter, your work life, your desk, your life, is that they are usually too darn complicated.

We need a simple method of simplifying.

So I’ve boiled it down to a simple method of Four Laws of Simplicity (apologies to John Maeda) that you can use on any area of your life, and in fact on your life as a whole:

1. Collect everything in one place.
2. Choose the essential.
3. Eliminate the rest.
4. Organize the remaining stuff neatly and nicely.

This simple method can be applied to every area of your life. My suggestion is to focus on one area at a time, apply the method, and then move to the next area. So, if you just wanted to simplify a couple areas of your life, you could focus on one per week, but if you wanted to simplify your entire life, I’d do one area every couple of days until you’re done.

Follow the link to learn how to apply this method to your closet, your desk, your work tasks, your commitments, and more.

The Reality of Research

(PhD Comics)

Movie Violence Might Temper The Real Thing?

Fascinating!

A paper presented by two researchers over the weekend to the annual meeting of the American Economic Association here challenges the conventional wisdom, concluding that violent films prevent violent crime by attracting would-be assailants and keeping them cloistered in darkened, alcohol-free environs.

Instead of fueling up at bars and then roaming around looking for trouble, potential criminals pass the prime hours for mayhem eating popcorn and watching celluloid villains slay in their stead.

“You’re taking a lot of violent people off the streets and putting them inside movie theaters,” said one of the authors of the study, Gordon Dahl, an economist at the University of California, San Diego. “In the short run, if you take away violent movies, you’re going to increase violent crime.”

Professor Dahl and the paper’s other author, Stefano DellaVigna, an economist at the University of California, Berkeley, attach precise numbers to their argument: Over the last decade, they say, the showing of violent films in the United States has decreased assaults by an average of about 1,000 a weekend, or 52,000 a year.

Read the whole thing!

Make Firm Decisions to Be Happier

Want to be happy? Keeping you options open may not be your best strategy:

The Washington Post digs into the imperfect science of happiness and finds a few common "rules" that govern how we find and value it, many of them related to decisions and uncertainty. For instance, a number of experiments have shown that people tend to overestimate the consequences of events and decisions, to their detriment:

Torn between life choices? The experimental results suggest the worst option is usually indecision -- no matter what choice people make, they are more likely to be okay with the consequences than if they stay on the fence.

A study noted in the article also found that those who had to definitely choose a free item to take home with them ended up happier with their picks than those who were given the option of returning them later. Makes me think twice about some of my electronics purchasing habits.

Yeah me too...

Read all of the Washington Post's article. It's a nice summary introduction to Daniel Gilbert's happiness research.

Probability of Recession Rising

Uh-oh:

In online betting, the probability of recession is now about two-thirds, compared to about one-half a few weeks ago.

Larry Summers says, "I told you so," and calls for a fiscal stimulus. The Economist disagrees.

Congratulations, Kina!

Kina Grannis made it to the final 3 of the Crash the Super Bowl Contest.  Looks like her strategy to take the blogosphere by storm has paid of hansomely.  Here is her latest video...

...and corresponding post describing her excitement:

Thanks to all of you lovely people, I have moved on to the final 3 of the Crash the Super Bowl Contest. Remember that you can vote EVERY day, for THREE weeks!! (yes, this time they tack on another week just to make us all slightly more insane). Three weeks of daily voting... man. But I think we can do it. :)

This also means she will continue to treat us with a daily dose of music of the next three weeks.

Congratulatons, Kina!  Good luck on this final round!

See my previous post on Kina and check out her blog for more.

This Cat Must Be Working On A PhD...

moar funny pictures

(HT Joe Carter)

Olympic Highlights

Japan Probe:

A group of 9 university students performed these “Olympic Highlights” on the Kasou Taishou(also known as Kinchan and Katori Shingo’s All Japan Costume Grand Prix) special that aired last night on NTV.

(HT Neatorama)

Quote: von Neumann on Mathematics

"In mathematics you don’t understand things. You just get used to them."

- John von Neumann, mathematician (1903 - 1957)

(HT Neatorama)