The World at a Glance

Wikipedia has a table containing a list of national superlatives. Here's highlights from the world:

• Highest overall life expectancy (83.5 years): Andorra
• Largest producer of opium (95%) and cannabis: Afghanistan
• Most female heads of government: Bangladesh
• Most globalized country: Belgium
• Highest GDP (real) annual growth rate (21.40%): Bhutan
• Largest number of isolated tribes (67): Brazil
• Lowest literacy rate (23.6%): Burkina Faso
• Longest coastline: Canada
• Largest renewable energy and Carbon producer: China
• Most equal income and highest life satisfaction: Denmark
• Largest % of nuclear energy production (76.2%): France
• World's oldest country (~3200 BC): Iran
• Largest metropolitan area by population (Tokyo): Japan
• Largest military budget as % of GDP (22.9%): North Korea
• Highest GDP per capita: Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, or Qatar
• Highest fertility rate (7.34 births per woman): Mali
• Most economic freedom and level of innovation: Singapore
• Most unstable country: Somalia
• Lowest overall life expectancy (31.8 years): Swaziland

Here's highlights from the United States:

• Largest area of cultivated land
• Highest incarceration rate
• Highest level of gun ownership (90 guns per 100 residents)
• Largest number of immigrants (38,355,000)
• Largest foreign investment and received foreign investment
• Largest arms exporter ($7,454,000,000)
• Most Olympics hosted (8) and most Olympic medals (2551 total)
• Longest total length of railways and roadways
• Highest GDP

via Mesofacts

500th Post!

From my obligatory 1st post to my 500th post, I've really enjoyed learning and writing. Two years ago I posted a word cloud of my blog text. Then again this time last year. Instead of repeating an old idea, I'd like to do something different. There is a document where I keep all my ideas for future posts. You might remember my wife April Fooled me by deleting it (but saving it elsewhere). The list seems to grow more than it shrinks, hence the name of this blog. So here's the word cloud of what you can expect from the next 500 posts:

One final thing, I'm adding a "Favorite Posts" list to my sidebar. Let me know if you had a favorite I missed.

Emptying the Bottle: Mid-May '10 Links

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

• Five cool psychology concepts.
• The "will to live" makes a difference, especially for holidays.
• Age-related IQ decline is partially because of the Flynn Effect.
• Brussels decrees vacations are a human right (earlier).
• Doomsayers slain.
• GM didn't pay back its loans "in full and ahead of schedule" [video] (earlier).
• Prominence of the mafia (and I assume gangs) decreases graduation rates by 2%.
• Diversifying investment not just in products, but also in time.
• Visualization of the Gulf Coast oil spill (a response).
• Supreme Court with no Protestants is probably going to be a reality.

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The Pill Turns 50

Probably the most important thing to happen to women in human history:

It was the first medicine ever designed to be taken regularly by people who were not sick. Its main inventor was a conservative Catholic who was looking for a treatment for infertility and instead found a guarantee of it. It was blamed for unleashing the sexual revolution among suddenly swinging singles, despite the fact that throughout the 1960s, women usually had to be married to get it. Its supporters hoped it would strengthen marriage by easing the strain of unwanted children; its critics still charge that the Pill gave rise to promiscuity, adultery and the breakdown of the family. In 1999 the Economist named it the most important scientific advance of the 20th century, but Gloria Steinem, one of the era's most influential feminists, calls its impact "overrated." One of the world's largest studies of the Pill — 46,000 women followed for nearly 40 years — was released this March. It found that women who take the Pill are less likely to die prematurely from any cause, including cancer and heart disease, yet many women still question whether the health risks outweigh the benefits.

I'm curious what the effect of a birth control pill for men will have.

Amoral Reason for Limited Government

I've often wrestled with many of the moral arguments in favor of small government. Though I value the Declaration of Independence as much as the next American, the idea of personal and property rights being given to us by God has never sat right with my understanding of depraved humanity. Just recently I discovered two different types of libertarianism. The first, Deontological libertarianism, is the idea that acts of force are always immoral, whether by man or government. The other, Consequentialist libertarianism, states that liberty leads to the most prosperous outcome and should for that reason alone be supported. Whether it's drugs, foreign aid, or sustainability, I think that the collective decisions of the market will create a better outcome, and for that reason alone I advocate for it.

Economics of Immigration Reform

Over two years ago I described how I think immigration has been and will continue to be the backbone of American growth. I attempted to disprove the racial, psychological, and economic arguments against opening immigration. In honor of Cinco de Mayo, here is the data to support relaxing immigration laws:

Modest savings in public expenditures would be more than offset by losses in economic output and job opportunities for more skilled American workers. A policy that reduces the number of low-skilled immigrant workers by 28.6 percent compared to projected levels would reduce U.S. household welfare by about 0.5 percent, or $80 billion.

In contrast, legalization of low-skilled immigrant workers would yield significant income gains for American workers and households. Legalization would eliminate smugglers' fees and other costs faced by illegal immigrants. It would also allow immigrants to have higher productivity and create more openings for Americans in higherskilled occupations. The positive impact for U.S. households of legalization under an optimal visa tax would be 1.27 percent of GDP or $180 billion.

Here's another article suggesting that immigration has increased non-immigrant wages:

For each percentage of the workforce that is foreign-born, he found an almost 0.5 percent bump in average wages. In California, where the percentage of immigrants in the workforce has jumped more than 25 points since 1960, that means an almost 13 percent bonus—roughly $8,000.

To show all sides, here is evidence that there is a negative impact on some, namely unskilled minorities, due to increased immigration. However, these poor workers are also consumers who benefit from immigration. They are also taxpayers, and more immigrants means more young workers. As America ages, that becomes more and more important, especially for the solvency of Social Security.

The Will of God

A while back I came across a post entitled: 6 Reasons Pastors Should Blog. Since then I've always desired to have a blogging connection with my church leaders. I can happily report the wait is over. The head pastor of my church, David Bowen, has started a blog. The other leaders of the church have started their own blog as well. In celebration, I'd like to quote a snippet from David's most recent post on how we can know the will of God:

1. MANDATES (Proverbs 9:10, "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.”).

It is through obeying God in all of his revealed will that we gain confidence that he will direct us in matters of his secret will. In other words, I need to settle first whether I am willing to do his will, before he is likely to reveal it to me (John 7:17). Praying for God to show us what he wants us to do is an obvious first step in discerning his specific will for our lives, but such prayer needs to be sincere, offered in reverence and awe of him (James 1:5-6; Proverbs 3:5-6).

2. MIND (Proverbs 16:9, “The mind of man plans his way, but the LORD directs his steps” NASB.)

Rather than being incredibly mystical or strange, the way the Lord has chosen to reveal his specific will to us is through the reason and good sense he has given us. Therefore, as we face a big (or small, for that matter) decision, thinking is the second step. We should take out a piece of paper and draw a line down the middle of it, listing the PRO’s on one side and the CON’s on the other. It is an excellent idea to write down the reasons we believe God is leading us to take a particular course, because when (not “if”) we experience difficulty, we can go back to those reasons for strength to persevere.

3. MENTORS (Proverbs 12:15, “The way of a fool seems right to him, but a wise man listens to advice.”

Our minds (or “hearts” as the literal Hebrew rendering speaks of the core of us that makes decisions) can be very deceptive and wicked (Jeremiah 17:9). It is for this reason that God has told us repeatedly in his book of wisdom par excellence that seeking advice from other wise people is step number three (Proverbs 11:14; 15:22). Although no one else can make the decision for us on what school to go to, what job to take, where to move, whom to marry, etc., others can definitely advise us as to whether we are undertaking a reckless course or not. We do well to listen to their counsel.

Three steps to knowing the will of God sounds awfully easy. But we all know that deciding which path to take is still hard. But go ahead and decide! As Kevin DeYoung’s excellent recent book puts it, “when it comes to our future, we should take some responsibility, make a decision, and Just Do Something” [which is his title]. God is trustworthy!

As I slowly make my way through Proverbs on my other blog, it's nice to hear such a practical application to it.

Worthwhile Sentences on Success

From Alan Reynolds: "Successful people are not docile sheep just waiting to be shorn."

From Dan Pink: "Most people are more frightened of failure than of mediocrity. It should be the reverse."

From David Brooks: "Every move is a partial failure, to be corrected by the next one."

From the Economic Logician: "But not everyone is a good entrepreneur, and encouraging this too much leads some people to become entrepreneurs while they would have been more productive as employees."

From Tracy Morgan: "I like a strong woman, but weak enough to need me."

From previous worthwhile sentences.

Legalize Drugs: The Story

In a recent post, Legalize Drugs: The Facts, I listed 20 fact based reasons why I believe the legalization of drugs would improve the lives of drug users, street level drug dealers, and everyday citizens. Facts however, are not always as convincing as we might think. Here's some research I've shared before showing that fiction books are more convincing than non-fiction books. Similarly, here is economist Tyler Cowen both praising and warning about the strong impact a convincing story can have. In line with that, here's a good fictional story about the costs and benefits of drug legalization. It's one of the subplots of The Wire, a show about the drug trade in intercity Baltimore:

Over the course of this series, police chief Bunny Colvin establishes three drugs-tolerance "free zones" in derelict areas of Baltimore, and the programme carefully and even-handedly analyses how these would work and what the eventual political, media and public reaction would be.

Quickly nicknamed Hamsterdam – a corruption of Amsterdam, "one of those countries where drugs are legal" – the experiment is successful in clearing drug dealing off residential street corners that had been blighted by the dealing and its attendant violence for years. We see peaceful corners presented like a dream or a fantasy, or a trip to the past, with neighbours hanging up their clothes, the radio trilling softly, kids rushing past to play games.

In the show, due to the isolation of the drug trade, there is a 14% drop in violent crime. That is until Major Colvin's superiors find out and raid the zones. The Wire does not present this as the solution to all the problems of the drug trade:

The free zones themselves, while largely violence-free, are shown encouraging addiction and promoting disease and prostitution. (Colvin eventually invites public-health charity workers and harm-reduction experts into Hamsterdam to deal with these problems – an impressively undramatic, realistic touch.) Young children formerly employed by dealers as look-outs are laid off, leaving them idle and in poverty. The viewer is also invited to sympathise with the one person who lives in the derelict area, an elderly woman who tells Colvin: "You say you've got a programme that can place me somewhere else, but you ain't got a programme for what's outside my door." The writers are not afraid to point out flaws in the plan.

To get a complete feel for the implementation and reaction to the free zones, here are some graphic but descriptive summary clips from The Wire, Season 3:

This is a fictional representation of what might happen, but I believe the real life results would be similar. I'll leave you with some a summary of the drug problem from The Corner, the nonfiction book in which The Wire is based on:

It criminalises swaths of society, fills prisons with non-violent offenders, facilitates the creation and enrichment of violent gangs, forces those who use drugs to use adulterated, dangerous products, brings the law into disrepute, and costs vast amounts of money that could be put to better uses.

Emptying the Bottle: Early-May '10 Links

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

• Living dangerously makes you more cautious.
• Democrats recently discussed regulation of health care rates to rein in expected soaring health costs. Yikes.
• US teachers paid less per hour than most industrialized nations' teachers (earlier).
• If you believe life starts with an embryo, are you morally obligated to adopt frozen ones?
• From me: Should We Use Chat Roulette as a Guest? from the Mister Diplomat blog.
• Crying makes you less physically defensive, thereby making you seem emotionally vulnerable.
• Polygraphs are only 85 percent accurate.
• Marketers spent more in 2009 on Internet advertising than in magazines.
• LikeButton.me is a collection of links shared by your Facebook friends.
• History of the world [chart].
• Tolerance isn't widening your view of appropriate, it's not being bothered by things that are not.
• Advice for the Tea Party from a libertarian [video].

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