Mr. Burns Endorses Romney

For richer, for poorer

Growing inequality is one of the biggest social, economic and political challenges of our time. But it is not inevitable, says Zanny Minton Beddoes

Good Life Project

Interesting

Awe, Moderate Mitt, I missed you!

That Flawed Stanford Study

Seriously, Stanford? Seriously? I was equally surprised and miffed when I read articles on the initial study and how it seemed to miss the point so egregiously.

The summary line from the piece:

That the authors of the study chose to focus on a trivial aspect of the organic versus conventional comparison is regrettable. That they published a study that would so obviously be construed as a blanket knock against organic agriculture is willfully misleading and dangerous. That so many leading news agencies fall for this stuff is scary.

Deconstruct this...

From the convention stage here, the Republican Party has tried to highlight its diversity, giving prime speaking slots to Latinos and blacks who have emphasized their party’s economic appeal to all Americans.

But they have delivered those speeches to a convention hall filled overwhelmingly with white faces, an awkward contrast that has been made more uncomfortable this week by a series of racial headaches that have intruded on the party’s efforts to project a new level of inclusiveness.

The tensions come amid a debate within the GOP on how best to lure new voters. The nation’s shifting demographics have caused some Republican leaders to worry not only about the party’s future but about winning in November, particularly in key swing states such as Virginia and Nevada.

“The demographics race we’re losing badly,” said Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (S.C.). “We’re not generating enough angry white guys to stay in business for the long term.”

I'm so not used to hearing them speak the truth, that I don't understand it when it is spoken.

US teen invents advanced cancer test using Google

He used Open Access journal articles...

DebtRank

http://www.nature.com/srep/2012/120802/srep00541/full/srep00541.html http://physicsoffinance.blogspot.com/2012/08/debtrank.html

V Motion Project

Darwin Tunes

Survival of the funkiest

cool stuff.

Scissor Sheldon

Mitt Romney is living every social scientist's nightmare

the social scientist in me enjoys this.

Smile

It reduces stress. Really. Even if it is a forced smile held with chopsticks.

The Other Barbarians at the Gates

It’s strange to imagine someone like Greene, who counts Mike Tyson as a close friend, and who has a streak that caused the L.A. party girls to refer to him as “Mean Jeff Greene,” feeling vulnerable. It’s hard to think of any superrich person as vulnerable, just as it’s hard to think that a bear with outstretched claws and giant teeth is more afraid than you are. But over the past few months, it’s become clear that rich people are very, very afraid. Sometimes it feels like this was the main accomplishment of Occupy Wall Street: a whole lot of tightened sphincters. It’s not a stretch to say many residents of Park Avenue harbor vivid fears of a populist revolt like the one seen in The Dark Knight Rises, in which they cower miserably under their sideboards while ragged hordes plunder the silver.

“This is my fear, and it’s a real, legitimate fear,” Greene says, revving up the engine. “You have this huge, huge class of people who are impoverished. If we keep doing what we’re doing, we will build a class of poor people that will take over this country, and the country will not look like what it does today. It will be a different economy, rights, all that stuff will be different.”

What makes countries rich or poor

Somebody figured it out, apparently.

The Dismal Education

Econogrinch

in related ideas: As for Empathy, the Haves Have Not

ARE the upper classes really indifferent to the hopes, fears and miseries of ordinary folk? Or is it that they just don’t understand their less privileged peers?

According to a paper by three psychological researchers — Michael W. Kraus, at the University of California, San Francisco; Stéphane Côté, at the University of Toronto; and Dacher Keltner, the University of California, Berkeley — members of the upper class are less adept at reading emotions.

 Sounds like Mitt to me.

Here’s why: Earlier studies have suggested that those in the lower classes, unable to simply hire others, rely more on neighbors or relatives for things like a ride to work or child care. As a result, the authors propose, they have to develop more effective social skills — ones that will engender good will.

Recipe for Kindness

 Does exposure to nature make us more caring?

Open Happiness Data

The OECD is relaunching its Better Life Index today - and has given us the key data behind it

Better life: relaunching the happiness index

from 0 to 12

Psychology Of Fraud: Why Good People Do Bad Things

How we frame an issue sure is important.