the ladybug and the lion

A Thought Provoking Correlation.

From Matthew Yglesias. I don't really agree with analysis, though. We wouldn't have more stuff if we had a bigger manufacturing sector, we'd just probably import less stuff (FYI, I don't support protectionism). There are also a lot other areas—including health related ones—that could use the money we spend on health care: like education and nutrition, both which are known to have positive effects on health.

From Fox News:

Here’s what one interested in making America stronger can reasonably conclude—psychologically—from Mr. Gingrich’s behavior during his three marriages:

1) Three women have met Mr. Gingrich and been so moved by his emotional energy and intellect that they decided they wanted to spend the rest of their lives with him.

2) Two of these women felt this way even though Mr. Gingrich was already married. 

3 ) One of them felt this way even though Mr. Gingrich was already married for the second time, was not exactly her equal in the looks department and had a wife (Marianne) who wanted to make his life without her as painful as possible. 

Conclusion: When three women want to sign on for life with a man who is now running for president, I worry more about whether we’ll be clamoring for a third Gingrich term, not whether we’ll want to let him go after one.

Full story here (yes, there is more). I can't help but wonder whether the author, Dr. Keith Ablow, is making an underhanded comment about the intelligence of women. 

Regrets.

via MindHacks

Harper's Weekly Highlight.

Warren Buffett offered to match any voluntary contribution made by a Republican congressperson to reduce the national debt. "I'll even go three-for-one with McConnell," said Buffett of the Senate minority leader.

—Harper's Weekly.

Apple's Supply Chain.

Apple’s rise to power in our time directly paralleled the transformation of global manufacturing. As recently as 10 years ago Apple’s computers were assembled in the United States, but today they are built in southern China under appalling labor conditions. Apple, like the vast majority of the electronics industry, skirts labor laws by subcontracting all its manufacturing to companies like Foxconn, a firm made infamous for suicides at its plants, a worker dying after working a 34-hour shift, widespread beatings, and a willingness to do whatever it takes to meet high quotas set by tech companies like Apple.

Full article from the NYT.

There's also an episode of This American Life dedicated to this topic. It's worth listening to. 

The Danger Of Yoga.

Black has come to believe that “the vast majority of people” should give up yoga altogether. It’s simply too likely to cause harm. Not just students but celebrated teachers too, Black said, injure themselves in droves because most have underlying physical weaknesses or problems that make serious injury all but inevitable. Instead of doing yoga, “they need to be doing a specific range of motions for articulation, for organ condition,” he said, to strengthen weak parts of the body. “Yoga is for people in good physical condition. Or it can be used therapeutically. It’s controversial to say, but it really shouldn’t be used for a general class.”

Full article from the NYT. 

On Being A Research Scientist.

You are comfortable with feeling like you have no deep understanding of the problem you are studying. Indeed, when you do have a deep understanding, you have solved the problem and it is time to do something else. This makes the total time you spend in life reveling in your mastery of something quite brief. One of the main skills of research scientists of any type is knowing how to work comfortably and productively in a state of confusion. 

From an answer on Quora to the question: What's it like to have an understanding of very advanced mathematics?

Harper's Weekly Highlight.

Michigan and Wisconsin argued over which state was shaped more like a mitten. "We understand their mitten envy," said a spokesman from Travel Michigan. "It's not our fault," said a Wisconsinite from Neenah, "that their thumb is smaller."

—Harper's Weekly.

The SEC.

It is not that they failed to uncover my fraud, it is the fact that for their entire existence they have spent their time and resources on the petty problems of small firms and refuse to deal with the obvious problems and outright violations of the large investment banks who had free reign to cause the eventual destruction of the financial markets. This mentality is still in evidence today.

—Bernie Madoff

Full story at the NYT.

Quotes I Like.

We have moved to the PhD standard from the gold standard.

—James Grant