April 2012
22 posts
3 tags
Create your own election!
So excited about this: I’ve been working with three political scientists to create an election model you can use to forecast 2012. You predict how the economy will do, and where Obama’s approval rating will be in 2012, and we do the rest. You can also rerun old elections and see how they do in the model. I think you guys will really enjoy it.
“Wiley likes to keep his intentions ambiguous, comparing himself to the two-faced...”
– How to Make It in the Art World - Outsource to China — New York Magazine
“Tom Friedman has been quiet about his desire to see Michael Bloomberg run for...”
– The People of the Acela Demand Bloomberg 4 Prez — Daily Intel
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“Tetris was invented exactly when and where you would expect — in a Soviet...”
– Angry Birds, Farmville and Other Hyperaddictive ‘Stupid Games’ - NYTimes.com
Wise words from Nate Silver
There have been only 16 presidential elections since World War II. That simply isn’t a lot of data, and overly specific conclusions from them, like “no recent president has been re-elected with an unemployment rate over 8.0 percent” or “no recent incumbent has lost when he did not face a primary challenge,” are often not very meaningful in practice and will generally not carry much predictive...
“The future of the U.S. economy, apparently, is hot sauces and self-tanning...”
– The top 10 fastest-growing U.S. industries (Hint: Think hot sauce) - The Washington Post
A simple model of restaurant decline
Imagine some diners are, by temperament, venturesome while others are regulars. Over the long term, the best business strategy is to appeal to regulars since they offer a stable client base. But when a restaurant is new, it by definition lacks regulars and needs to appeal to venturesome diners both to get an initial wave of customers and also to attract “buzz” and get the...
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The taxes Americans really pay, in two graphs →
When we focus on the federal income tax, we miss all the taxes that low-income Americans do pay. The payroll tax, for instance. And state sales taxes. And lots of local taxes. Indeed,
Citizens for Tax Justice, a left-leaning tax policy group, produces a study every year showing the total tax burden for different groups once federal, state and local taxes are taken into account. And when you...
“The United States is getting accustomed to a completely crazy level of...”
– For Economists Saez and Piketty, the Buffett Rule Is Just a Start - NYTimes.com
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The Action Trackchair
The Action Trackchair is more than a wheelchair. This go-anywhere beast is the Humvee of personal mobility solutions. With treads instead of wheels, the Trackchair opens up fields and forests for off-roading, slogging through swamps and even fording small streams. How many people can say they took their wheelchair mudding on the weekend? And yes, that’s right, it comes in camo.
“I think the most important thing I took away from all that time with my nose in...”
– A Whole Other Country | Will Wilkinson
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Welfare reform doesn't prove you can cut without...
Quite the opposite, actually:
More here.
cordjefferson:
My white guilt died on Good Friday, April 6, 2012. That was the day my bike got stolen.
Lede of the century, after which comes an 800-word tear about black criminals and a man who has boldly given up on feeling sorry for the African-American community. There’s just one problem: The author has no idea who stole his bike; he’s just assuming it was a black person.
The pissed off...
Americans are either reading more or lying more
Alexis Madrigal:
Remember the good old days when everyone read really good books, like, maybe in the post-war years when everyone appreciated a good use of the semi-colon? Everyone’s favorite book was by Faulkner or Woolf or Roth. We were a civilized civilization. This was before the Internet and cable television, and so people had these, like, wholly different desires and attention...
"You've seen us shaking hands in business suits,... →
shanio:
motherjones:
Behold: A political fundraising letter that’s actually funny. Courtesy of one Al Franken.
The greatest thing about this is that someone on the Al Franken team reads The Hairpin.
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