Some quotes from the Overcoming Bias blog from the book Hard Facts. (I’ve cleaned up some spelling errors.) Merit pay for teachers is an idea that is almost 100 years old and has been subject to much research. In one study conducted in 1918, “48 percent of U.S. school districts sampled used compensation systems that…
The placebo effect is perhaps my favorite. That the more “authentic” a pill appears to be, the more effective the placebo effect is my favorite quality about it.
Research on gender and education suggests boys might compete to answer questions to show they are “better” than their peers in the room. You know like how they compete playing video games, athletics, etc. Geek boys strive to be the center of attention by having the rarest toys or knowing the…
Woman 1: The first step is admitting you have a problem. Woman 2: Then we send you off to rehab. Woman 3: iPhone Rehab!
Hanging out with some friends earlier, got me thinking about this. I forget the circumstances of the discussion to start this post germinating in my head. One of the tools people have for seeking a new job is their social networks and increasingly the online ones. LinkedIn seems to be the popular social network for…
The Georgia Public Service Commission might stop requiring AT&T to distribute paper phone books. The rationale seems to be so many people rely on the Internet and use cell phones the phone books are less useful. That only one percent of people inside the Atlanta perimeter asked for one definitely supports stopping the service. Phasing…
Whenever I read on the concerns of biracial adoption, I think of the high school classmate who said it was immoral for me to exist. His point was blacks and whites should not have children, therefore someone like, a product of miscegenation was the result of an immoral act. Perhaps that is a step up…
When it comes to fashion I’m not the brightest candle. After all, my “style” has been the same since 2000 and regularly ridiculed by those have some sense. So it took me a whole week in Haifa to realize about half of the young women in nice clothes wore head to toe black and quarter…
Reading the comments on stories for the Athens Banner Herald, Atlanta Journal Constitution, or even the Chronicle of Higher Education very much disappoints me. For some reason I hope for suggested solution and messages of encouragement. Guess I ought to stop reading the comments sections. 🙁