Tuesday, October 17, 2023

The observed effect sizes of cash transfers on cognitive performance (short-term 2-5 wk, long-term 12-13 mos) were roughly three and four times smaller than suggested by prior non-randomized research

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Does alleviating poverty increase cognitive performance? Short- and long-term evidence from a randomized controlled trial Author links open ...

Several studies that claim heat suppresses economic growth fall apart under scrutiny; but the debunker thinks it is astonishing "that eminent economists, in universities with vast resources available to marshal evidence, chose to ignore [his] critique"

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Climate Change and ‘Poor’ South Korea. By David Barker https://www.wsj.com/articles/debunking-study-saying-climate-change-hurts-economic-gro...
Monday, October 16, 2023

Pacifist ChatGPT-3.5 on Christian Wolff's views of civil war. Reflection on corruption of truth.

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Question ... Summarize Ch Wolff's position on civil war in Jus Gentium Answer ... Christian Wolff, a prominent 18th-century German philo...
Sunday, October 15, 2023

[M]any witches she knew were talking about the degree program, announced last week, and were thinking about enrolling

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Bad times in several fronts: Christina Oakley Harrington, a retired academic of medieval history and the founder of Treadwell’s, a London bo...

The Washington Post & Gavin Schmidt on Sept 2023 temps

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1  Honesty at the WaPo...: A sudden spike in global warmth is so extreme, it’s mysterious, Oct 13 2023,  https://www.washingtonpost.com/weat...
Thursday, September 21, 2023

Chicago was once the "City of the Big Shoulders," the "Freight Handler to the Nation"

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Chicago was the "City of the Big Shoulders" in 1914, the "Freight Handler to the Nation" [1]: Laughing the stormy, husky...
Monday, September 11, 2023

Hopelessly optimistic despite the known evidence... "the remarkable durability of that error paints a more pessimistic picture of human reasoning than we were initially inclined to accept"

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We knew this already, although we didn't pay attention, and Tversky & Kahneman certified this before 1974 (Nobel for Kahneman in 200...
Thursday, August 31, 2023

Governmental chutzpah at a maximum: Before, insulation was a must, for the homeowner and for the planet; now, to qualify for a heat pump grant you don't need to install loft or cavity wall insulation

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Press release: Boost to heat pump rollout with plans for cheaper and easier installation. Department for Energy Security and Net Zero and Lo...
Tuesday, August 15, 2023

The main reason why people—even introverted people—feel most authentic when they act extraverted is that it feels good

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Why is authenticity associated with being and acting extraverted? Exploring the mediating role of positive affect. Joshua A. Wilt,Jessie Sun...
Monday, August 14, 2023

Many studies tout interventions as effective when all that was observed was a rise in self-reported desire to learn more about how to reduce suicide or general knowledge about it; there is scant evidence that most suicide prevention strategies are effective, and the public doesn’t know

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McCaffree, Kevin. 2023. “Pulling Back the Curtain on Suicide Research: Understanding Why People Die by Suicide Is a Harder Problem to Solve ...

Chapter 9 - On the Randomness of Suicide

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Chapter 9 - On the Randomness of Suicide. C. A. Soper , Pablo Malo Ocejo and Matthew M. Large.  Current Perspectives on Evolution and Mental...

Democratic Republic of Congo: CMOC, the Chinese operator of the Tenke-Fungurume mine, agreed in April to pay $800mn to the government to settle a tax dispute (plus an export ban for the previous 10 months)

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The new commodity superpowers. Leslie Hook in London, Harry Dempsey in Lualaba Province, and Ciara Nugent in Buenos Aires. Financial Times, ...
Monday, July 17, 2023

People underestimated how often their romantic partner toyed with the idea of breaking up the relationship

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When one's partner wants out: Awareness, attachment anxiety and accuracy. Kenneth Tan, Laura V. Machia, Christopher R. Agnew. European J...
Saturday, July 15, 2023

People cling to ideas they already know at the expense of fresh ideas, regardless of the true quality of the idea

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Greul A, Schweisfurth TG, Raasch C (2023) Does familiarity with an idea bias its evaluation? PLoS ONE 18(7): e0286968, Jul 5 2023. https://d...