Profanity in Presentations

I use it too much in class, but almost not at all in public lectures. Here is an excellent discussion on the use in public speaking.

Prediction Markets

Nudge

Behavioral Econ gets a department in the UK government. A report on the group and the concept of nudge from BBC4.

More on Dogs and Cats

Animals aren't cheap, but that is because we are rich and willing to spend on their health.

Dogs can cost between $310 and $7,100 to maintain every year and between $4,070 and $101,070 to maintain over a lifetime, says Kiplinger’s Personal Finance. That’s more than kibbles and bits.

Cats are cheaper on average: between $490 and $940 per year and between $7,760 and $15,260 per lifetime. The annual costs take into account many factors, including food, toys, monthly veterinarian visits, and other essential supplies

The first year of owning a cat or dog costs substantially more than the average annual cost. For dogs, the cost of ownership for year one averages between $710 and $8,730; for cats, the cost is between $930 and $2,060. The reason why this cost varies from the average annual cost is due to the purchase price of the pet itself. While both cats and dogs can be found for around $50, some breeds of dogs are sold for $1,000 while select breeds of cats are sold for $750. In addition to the purchase cost, there is also spaying and neutering ($190-$220 for dogs, $145 for cats) as well as an initial medical exam ($70 for dogs, $130 for cats) to account for.

Pets in LA

My colleague Russ Kashian's sister to a comedic riff on pets in LA. Yet another example of why our healthcare "crisis" is a disease of the rich. We will spend money on our own health, adn our pets health, becuase we are rich. That is the reason for growing expenditures, not insurance companies, not obesity, not medical malpractice, and not big pharma.

Race in America

Mississippi. Segregated Prom Dances. The year 2007. The fact that racial attitudes like those discussed in the movie still persist in this country today amazes me. If you are looking for an interesting web movie, here you go.

Psychiatry

The ever intriguing Seth Roberts, describes why he thinks Psychiatry is doomed and anti-depressants barely work.

That is the situation of psychiatrists. I’m sure depression is due to the wrong environment. My work suggests we need to see faces in the morning for our mood-controlling system to work properly. Jon Cousins’ work suggests we need to believe others care about us. Those are two possibilities. Psychiatrists cannot fix the environment. The pieces of the environment we need to be healthy must have been abundant during the Stone Age. This means they must be cheap. Psychiatrists cannot supply things that are cheap and abundant. If that’s what they did, they couldn’t make a living. This means they can only supply something that is not what is missing. Like a repairman who cannot replace a broken part, they are stuck with second-rate solutions. This is the fundamental reason that all mainstream treatments for depression, whether talk or drug, have roughly the same effectiveness — and none of them work very well.

Hmm. Looks like I need to change my environment.