Good Day for Democracy

I mentioned recently how little political importance I place on voting in the United States. However, I view the recently election in Iraq very differently. I haven't been that supportive of the war for various reasons, but the over 60% turnout in their recent election is very encouraging. Nation building may not be worth the cost, but there seems to be some benefit. The Iraqi people have come out in higher numbers than most first world countries despite, or possibly because of, the threat of violence. These voters and politicians are their founding fathers of Iraqi democracy. Their individual votes may not determine the outcome, but they signal the success of a citizen supported government. This is a good week for all of us who desire a government accountable to the people.

Emptying the Bottle: Mid-March '10 Links

Here is a list of the worthwhile sites I've Bookmarked recently:

• "Green" bio fuels are worse for the environment.
• Congressman Ron Paul is so frugal he returned over $100,000 from his allotted office budget.
• Ways the government has actually made it harder to hire people.
• Imprisoning criminals is cheaper than redistribution of wealth.
• A strong handshake signals that you're healthy.
• "Touch screen" phone that projects on your hand.
• Nullification, popular before the Civil War, makes a comeback.
• Inequality of returns to effort is a good thing.
• Some aid to Haiti hurts local businesses.
• The government can't create unless it takes [cartoon].
• Bird uses bread as bait for fishing [video].
• Spending isn't just a political problem, it's a citizen problem [graphic].
• Prediction markets make you an insta-expert.

If you'd like to follow my shared items live, subscribe.

Learning by Teaching: Ban on Preemptive War

Came across this while teaching World War II in my AP US History class. The Ludlow Amendment, first proposed in 1935, would have required a national vote on any declaration of war by Congress, unless the US had attacked. Here's the exact wording:

SEC. 1. Except in the event of an invasion of the United States or its Territorial possessions and attack upon its citizens residing therein, the authority of Congress to declare war shall not become effective until confirmed by a majority of all votes cast thereon in a Nation-wide referendum. Congress, when it deems a national crisis to exist, may by concurrent resolution refer the question of war or peace to the citizens of the States, the question to be voted on being, Shall the United States declare war on ________? Congress may otherwise by law provide for the enforcement of this section.

I like the idea and the clarity of the wording. Despite harsh criticism from President Roosevelt, the bill almost passed with a vote of 209 to 188.

Science of Humor

Attempting to take the fun out of everything, here's some interesting ideas from Daniel Elkan:

"Humour seems to be a product of humans' ability to make rapid, intuitive judgements" about a situation, followed by "slower, deliberative assessments" which resolve incongruities

But it's not just a gut reaction, it's something deeper:

Yet humour is a far more complex process than primeval pleasures like sex or food. In addition to the two core processes of getting the joke and feeling good about it, jokes also activate regions of the frontal and cingulate cortex, which are linked with association formation, learning and decision-making.

And here's why sense of humors are different:

Perhaps unsurprisingly, personality also appears to play a key role in humour. Mobbs has shown that people who are classed as extrovert and emotionally stable have increased activity in reward areas of the brain during exposure to funny stimuli.

Posture Affects Perspective

Sitting up straight makes you more confident:

Specifically, participants were asked to think about and write down their best or worse qualities while they were sitting down with their back erect and pushing their chest out (confident posture) or slouched forward with their back curved (doubtful posture). Then, participants completed a number of measures and reported their self-evaluations. In line with the self-validation hypothesis, we predicted and found that the effect of the direction of thoughts (positive/negative) on self-related attitudes was significantly greater when participants wrote their thoughts in the confident than in the doubtful posture.

It seems logical to take this in the opposite direction as well. Perhaps praying in a submissive position, kneeling or bowing, will make you feel more humble.

Can Reach the Top Shelf, or Pay Someone To

In honor of my newborn nephew (of my tall brother-in-law), here's something in his favor:

I have reported previously that tall people have an edge on the labor market, and about some speculation why this would be the case. One theory is that they are better at performing some tasks because they are tall, or at least appear to because height is associated with strength and health.

Petri Böckerman, Edvard Johansson, Urpo Kiiskinen and Markku Heliövaara use a Finnish survey and find that smaller people are doing more strenuous work, while taller people typically have jobs where they sit. The height premium does vary with the strenuousness of the job, after controlling for all sorts of indicators that typically determine wages. Would this mean that the wage premium does not come from actual strength used, but rather from intimidation? That would surprise me from Finns, who seem to be leaders in equal opportunity. Is it that they are healthier, as my original post seemed to indicated. May be, but this data had no other indicators of health.

Worthwhile Sentences on Perspective

From Justin Wehr: "Test for whether you truly understand something: Can you explain it to a 10 year old?"

From Scott Sumner: "Happiness isn’t based on anything you achieve, but rather the anticipation of future happiness."

From ScienceDaily: "people who achieve greater social status are more likely to be able to experience life as rewarding and stimulating because they have more targets for dopamine to act upon"

From Eric Barker: "If you're a natural Casanova are you likely to be less ambitious?"

From Tara Parker-Pope: "Vacations do make people happy, but we found people who are anticipating holiday trips show signs of increased happiness, and afterward there is hardly an effect.”

*Past worthwhile sentences.

Involvement is Consumption, Not Production

I mentioned before that I don't necessarily encourage political involvement and that voting is more like cheering than playing. Here's the numbers on why your vote doesn't and never will count:

On average, a voter in America had a 1 in 60 million chance of being decisive in the presidential election.

However, I have voted, but for my own reasons. Here's another for the list, it makes me happier:

So find two university psychologists in new research that looks for the first time at the link between political activity and wellbeing. Malte Klar and Tim Kasser started by interviewing two sets of around 350 college students, both about their degree of political engagement and their levels of happiness and optimism. Both times, they found that those most inclined to go on a demo were also the cheeriest.

So there's a link – but can politics actually make a person happier? In the third study, the academics took a bunch of students and divided them up into groups. The first were encouraged to write to the management of the college cafeteria asking for tastier food. The next lot wrote asking the cafe to source local or Fairtrade products. They were then tested on their wellbeing, and the group who had involved themselves in the political debate were far and away the strongest on the "vitality" scale: they felt more alive and enriched than those who merely complained about the menu.

There are many fascinating aspects to this . First, the activist-students didn't necessarily care about food ethics, but just taking action made them feel better. Second, sending a memo is hardly the most engaging political action – and yet it had a big impact on those taking it. Third, the study flies in the face of the popular wisdom that happiness resides in creature comforts and relative affluence. Perhaps activism gives people a sense of purpose, or of agency or just a chance to hang out with other people. Most likely it does all of the above.

Fun fact: John Tyler the tenth president, never voted, even in his own election.

Importance of Social Networks in a Job Search

We've all heard it before, but here's statistical proof:

We find that contacts' current employment rate has statistically significant effects on unemployment duration: a one standard deviation increase in the network employment rate reduces unemployment duration by about 8 percent; as a benchmark, a one standard deviation increase in own wage at displacement is associated with a 10 percent lower unemployment duration.

Every job that I've had I got through someone I know. From my first job at McDonald's 10 years ago to my current job teaching high school, a contact has helped me at least get an interview. This suggests that we should look out for our contacts, because we are a huge part of their employment. This could also be another unexpected benefit of going to college, having friends who have jobs. It's also another reason why missionary dating (not what you think) can be so important. Who we know greatly influences our future income and sadly the poor are limited in their social sphere. On the bright side, Facebook and other social networking sites should help connect us more and keep transitional unemployment lower.

Emptying the Bottle: Early-March '10 Links

Here is a list of the worthwhile sites I've Bookmarked recently:

• To scare people into giving up drinking during the Prohibition, the federal government poisoned alcohol killing at least 10,000 people.
• Steven Seagal has a music video and it's as bad as you would expect.
• Anniversary pictures taken by friend and photographer Erin Scott.
• In Israel at least, terrorism helps accomplish political goals.
• The Constitution does protect non-citizens.
• Taking a look at what's happened with the Troubled Asset Relief Program.
• ChurchRater.com: Spread of information or making church more like consumer focused?
• Keynesian was born and will hopefully die in the United Kingdom.
• CEO's are a bargain.
• In an attempt to make negligent expectant mothers responsible, Utah may have made miscarriages punishable.
• Good explanation for why I still don't get ChatRoulette, but why many others do.
• Beware of the power of a good story (because it is more convincing than facts).

If you'd like to follow my shared items live, subscribe.