The Late Andy Rooney on Veterans

As a 60 Minutes fan, I didn't care much for Andy Rooney's everyday complaint journalism. But I did come across this Andy Rooney column from 2004, and I think there is some substance to it:

Most of the reporting from Iraq is about death and destruction. We don't learn much about what our soldiers in Iraq are thinking or doing. There's no Ernie Pyle to tell us, and, if there were, the military would make it difficult or impossible for him to let us know. It would be interesting to have a reporter ask a group of our soldiers in Iraq to answer five questions and see the results:  

1. Do you think your country did the right thing sending you into Iraq?
2. Are you doing what America set out to do to make Iraq a democracy, or have we failed so badly that we should pack up and get out before more of you are killed?
3. Do the orders you get handed down from one headquarters to another, all far removed from the fighting, seem sensible, or do you think our highest command is out of touch with the reality of your situation?
4. If you could have a medal or a trip home, which would you take?
5. Are you encouraged by all the talk back home about how brave you are and how everyone supports you? 

Treating soldiers fighting their war as brave heroes is an old civilian trick designed to keep the soldiers at it. But you can be sure our soldiers in Iraq are not all brave heroes gladly risking their lives for us sitting comfortably back here at home.  

Our soldiers in Iraq are people, young men and women, and they behave like people - sometimes good and sometimes bad, sometimes brave, sometimes fearful. It's disingenuous of the rest of us to encourage them to fight this war by idolizing them.  

We pin medals on their chests to keep them going. We speak of them as if they volunteered to risk their lives to save ours, but there isn't much voluntary about what most of them have done. A relatively small number are professional soldiers. During the last few years, when millions of jobs disappeared, many young people, desperate for some income, enlisted in the Army. About 40 percent of our soldiers in Iraq enlisted in the National Guard or the Army Reserve to pick up some extra money and never thought they'd be called on to fight. They want to come home.  

One indication that not all soldiers in Iraq are happy warriors is the report recently released by the Army showing that 23 of them committed suicide there last year. This is a dismaying figure. If 22 young men and one woman killed themselves because they couldn't take it, think how many more are desperately unhappy but unwilling to die.  

We must support our soldiers in Iraq because it's our fault they're risking their lives there. However, we should not bestow the mantle of heroism on all of them for simply being where we sent them. Most are victims, not heroes.  

America's intentions are honorable. I believe that, and we must find a way of making the rest of the world believe it. We want to do the right thing. We care about the rest of the world. President Bush's intentions were honorable when he took us into Iraq. They were not well thought out but honorable.

Here's me on the topic last year.

Enterprise Car Rental, A Personal Story

It takes a lot to convince me that business is the problem, but it happens. It happened again.

In September I got rear ended on the highway. The road was slick, the car in front of me slammed on their breaks and I did the same. The poor fellow behind me didn't stand much of a chance. He hit me so hard I slid into the car in front of me. Thankfully no one was hurt, everyone was polite, and the officer didn't fine me for a expired licence plate (how do you get a new tag when you don't technically don't have a home address?).

Then came the aftermath. My car was badly damaged but somehow still driveable. I was notified by the other driver's insurance company that I would have to take the car to them to get the damage estimated and to get a car rental voucher. Soon I'd dropped my car off at the body shop and was picked up at Enterpise Rent-A-Car. Here's what they gave me:

If there was ever hope for American car dealers, this vehicle killed it. It's a Chevrolet HHR. Luckily they also left me with a fourth-a-tank of gas. After a week I got a call from Enterprise saying that my last day with the car will be coming up and that I will need to return it. I then called the body shop who informed me that it would be several weeks before they would be done. I informed Enterprise that the voucher should be good for as long as my car was in the shop. They told me I have to contact the insurance company.

Every week I would have to do this dance. Enterprise calls me. I call the body shop. Body shop confirms the time frame they originally gave me. I'd call the other driver's insurance company. They'd call Enterprise. And each week I got gas I couldn't fill up because I was never sure when I would need to return the car to it's original 1/4 tank. After a few weeks I insisted Enterprise just call the insurance company and stopped answering their calls. They continued to call.

After a $37 charge popped up on my card, for what I haven't figured out yet, I called, assured them the voucher was still good and asked them to remove the fee. Which they did after two more reminders. Last week, to top off the great service I'd received, my American-made-PT Cruiser-wanna be broke down. I called the Enterprise office who then told me to call their roadside assistance. After over an hour of waiting they sent someone to jump the battery. It didn't work.

The mechanic leaves and tells me to call Enterprise again. They tell me to wait there for another hour for a tow truck. I tell them the keys will be in the seat and get my brother-in-law to drive me to dinner and a basketball game, then to the Enterprise office to get another car. On the way I call them to confirm I'm coming and they tell me my car has not been towed yet (which I know it has) and can't give me a car.

I show up anyways and explain to them that I have no vehicle because the one they gave me broke down and was towed. I beg them to call the roadside assistance. They do. After 20 minutes on hold they find someone who can confirm my other car has been towed. After giving me a minivan (nicer than my old one granted) then informed me that I should return the car tomorrow to their Wade Hampton branch and that my car will be fixed.

Apparently Wade Hampton is a really long road. Apparently Wade Hampton has an east and west side where the numbers change. Apparently an hour and a half is not long enough to allocate to get somewhere that closes when you apparently don't know where you're going. So I dropped the car off at the body shop, and said good riddance to bad rentals.

Enterprise, they'll pick you up, then let you down.

How to Spot a Liar

After watching the most recent episode of TV's best (only?) reality show Survivor, I remembered maybe the most practical TED Talk yet:

   

My takeaway: liars overcompensate the obvious (eye contact, fidgeting, details), but fail to avoid the subtle (body language, chronology, emotion).

Hyper Halloween?

Good news from The Incidental Economist:

Let’s cut to the chase: sugar doesn’t make kids hyper. There have been at least twelve trials of various diets investigating different levels of sugar in children’s diets. That’s more studies than are often done on drugs. None of them detected any differences in behavior between children who had eaten sugar and those who hadn’t. These studies included sugar from candy, chocolate, and natural sources. Some of them were short-term, and some of them were long term. Some of them focused on children with ADHD. Some of them even included only children who were considered “sensitive” to sugar. In all of them, children did not behave differently after eating something full of sugar or something sugar-free. 

Personally, I think there are so many studies on this issue because after each was completed, the results were met with such skepticism that researchers felt the need to do another. This myth, perhaps more than any other, is met with disbelief when we discuss it, especially among parents. 

In my favorite of these studies, children were divided into two groups. All of them were given a sugar-free beverage to drink. But half the parents were told that their child had just had a drink with sugar. Then, all of the parents were told to grade their children’s behavior. Not surprisingly, the parents of children who thought their children had drunk a ton of sugar rated their children as significantly more hyperactive. This myth is entirely in parents’ heads. We see it because we believe it.

Then why does the myth continue?

Even when science shows time and again that it’s not so, we continue to persist in believing that sugar causes our kids to be hyperactive. That’s likely because there’s an association. Times when kids get a lot of sugar are often times when they are predisposed to be a little excited. Halloween. Birthday parties. Holidays. We may even be causing the problem ourselves. Some parents are so restrictive about sugar and candy that when their kids finally get it they’re quite excited. Even hyper.

HT to Marginal Revolution

Are Men Funnier Than Women?

Nope:

Scientists had 16 male and 16 female subjects write funny captions for 20 New Yorker magazine cartoons in 45 minutes. Then the captions were rated by a different group of 34 male and 47 female subjects. Men’s captions rated higher on average than women’s captions. But only by a mere 0.11 points out of perfect score of 5.0.

Unless you count this:

Maybe men just make more attempts at humor. For example, fewer women win the New Yorker caption contests, but fewer enter. When women do enter, however, they tend to win with fewer attempts compared to men.

Did I mention I teach comedy classes? Men and women accepted of course.

Worthwhle Sentences on Complexity

From F.A. Hayk: “The curious task of economics is to demonstrate to men how little they really know about what they imagine they can design”

From Hugh Hollowell: "rules are what we use when we don’t want to take the time to discover the specifics of the given situation."

From Shadi Hamid: "The true test of being anti-torture is opposing it even when it works"

From Jonah Lehrer: "We are affiliation machines, editing the world to confirm our partisan ideologies."

From Conan O'Brien: “There are few things more liberating in this life than having your worst fear realized”

Difference Between Humans and Animals, Part XXV

Penguins don't have property rights:

Emptying the Bottle: Mid-October '11 Links

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

• Justin makes a creepy face mash-up with his sister.
• "Drive Recklessly" commercial [video].
•  The Onion depressing/funny on Civil Rights legislation [video].
• Atheism, libertarianism, and the difference between skepticism and cynicism [video].
• Clemson is in the top 10 for fan size [graphic].
• Maybe the saddest news I've heard about the Great Recession.
• From me: Difference Between an Expert and a Novice.
• Amish mob violence or a ride-by-shaving.
• Online game for people with OCD?
• Online dating that simultaneously intrigues me economically and sickens me relationally.
• You can scroll through Google Reader with the space bar!

As always, feel free to email me anything interesting you come across.

Frank Deford on the Economics of Minor College Sports

Even though I'm not the biggest sports fan, I must confess I've been listening to sport commentary. But before you get surprised, it's from NPR. For the past few months Frank Deford has been enlightening me to the drama that is organized sports. This week is no exception. Listen here as he takes on the complicated relationship of college academics and college sports.

Multiple Choice Question Paradox

From The American Pageant textbook: