Edwardnh's Favorite Links from Diigo

Multiple-Choice Tests: Why Sticking With Your First Answer is (Probably) Wrong — PsyBlog

Wed Feb 08 15:07:34 +0000 2012

Why do so many people (including many who should know better, like the authors of test-preparation guides) still say that you should stick with your first answer? Kruger et al. (2005) argue that it's partly because it feels more painful to get an answer wrong because you changed it than wrong because you didn't change it.

Tags: psychology

Obama’s Prospects in Swing States Deteriorated in 2011 | Swampland | TIME.com

Wed Feb 08 14:56:23 +0000 2012

What matters instead is a group of so-called swing states. And on paper, Obama’s fortunes in these states have declined further and faster than they have for the nation as a whole, both since Obama arrived in Washington, and since the midterm elections in 2010.

Tags: obama politics elections

Answering a Murray Defender—David Frum - The Daily Beast

Wed Feb 08 14:39:17 +0000 2012

Behavioral economists do an experiment where they offer two people a $100 bill if they can agree on how to divide it. Even if one partner demands $90, the other should still agree—after all, she'll gain $10 more than she otherwise might have had, and thus emerges a clear winner. Yet people won't do it. They'd rather receive nothing than accept an outcome they regard as unfair. People often act for non-economic motives.

Tags: psychology economics class society

Mississippi Most Conservative State, D.C. Most Liberal - Gallup

Wed Feb 08 13:56:26 +0000 2012

America remains a conservative nation, at least as measured by the ideological labels Americans choose to use to identify themselves. Residents of all states of the union except for Massachusetts and the District of Columbia are more likely to identify as conservative than as liberal, and in every state except D.C., residents are also more likely to say they are moderate than liberal.

Tags: politics society

BBC News - German exports set record of a trillion euros in 2011

Wed Feb 08 13:42:54 +0000 2012

Germany's trade surplus reached 158bn euros (£132bn; $209bn) in 2011 on record exports that rose 11.4% to top 1tn euros for the first time.

Tags: germany trade

Grenzsicherung: Griechenland baut Flüchtlingssperre | FTD.de

Wed Feb 08 13:06:03 +0000 2012

Entlang der Grenze zur Türkei baut Griechenland einen Zaun. Das Bollwerk gegen den Flüchtlingsstrom aus Asien und Afrika ist umstritten - die EU-Kommission hält es für sinnlos

Tags: greece immigration

Is the White Working Class Coming Apart?—David Frum - The Daily Beast

Wed Feb 08 12:58:13 +0000 2012

Charles Murray's new book does not provide an adequate explanation for the collapse of the white working class.

Tags: class wealth-gap society

Random Roger: How and When to Sell

Wed Feb 08 12:49:35 +0000 2012

This is a multi dimensional topic with a lot of variables for each dimension but I will try to cover a lot of ground. Keep in mind this is what we do for client accounts, you may want to do things very differently. I can't say what is right for you, only what we believe is best for our clients. Most of these will be examples of trades we've done and why.

Tags: investing stocks

Mirabile Dictu! Missouri Attorney General Files Criminal Lawsuit on Robosigning « naked capitalism

Wed Feb 08 02:51:36 +0000 2012

What is striking about the indictment by a Missouri grand jury is that the Missouri AG Chris Koster has decided to challenge the banks’ party line that robosigning and related abuses were mere “paperwork problems.” He’s called robosiging what it is: forgery.

Tags: mortgages fraud law

Stocks only look cheap - The Term Sheet: Fortune's deals blog Term Sheet

Wed Feb 08 02:41:35 +0000 2012

According to the bulls, stock prices don't remotely reflect a historic surge in profits. Here's why they're wrong.

Tags: accounting earnings investing stocks

India Cuts Growth Forecast to 6.9% - WSJ.com

Wed Feb 08 01:21:32 +0000 2012

India Tuesday again cut its economic growth forecast for the current fiscal year to 6.9%, which will be the slowest in three years, as aggressive monetary tightening at home and a shaky global economy crimped industrial activity.

Tags: india growth economy

What’s Missing From Charles Murray’s Diagnosis of the White Working Class? | Rortybomb

Tue Feb 07 21:04:03 +0000 2012

those problems of deindustrialization, deemphasizing full employment, a collapsing welfare state in scope and size and runaway inequality didn’t just stop. They’ve keep on moving, causing destabilizing insecurity right up the economic ladder.

Tags: class society wealth-gap crime

Money, like hat-wearing, depends on convention, not laws - FT.com

Tue Feb 07 20:59:19 +0000 2012

Professor Charles Goodhart is right when he says that the value of a currency depends on the confidence people have in the issuer. It is easy to trade US dollars or Swiss francs because of the stability of the US and Switzerland. There will always be valuable goods you can buy with these currencies and the relevant governments will not mess you around. But it is increasingly hard to deal in euros in Greece because no one can be confident any longer that the basis on which they trade will not be changed tomorrow.

Tags: money

With MegaUpload Down, Who’s Next? RapidShare? SoundCloud? DropBox? | TechCrunch

Tue Feb 07 15:35:21 +0000 2012

It’s clear that the US Federal Government is ramping up its fight against illegal file sharing and hosting. It’s the new war on drugs. The plan is to have taxpayers foot the bill and then attack websites rather than regulating or encouraging innovation. The only thing missing is a C.A.R.E. (Computer Abuse Reinforcement Education) presentation at your kids’ grade school. Just say no to perfectly legal data sinks, everyone.

Tags: storage copyright internet law freedom

Get Up to 4.5GB of Extra Space on Dropbox for Uploading Photos and Videos - Lifehacker

Tue Feb 07 15:26:22 +0000 2012

In exchange for trying their experimental build, you can get up to 4.5GB of extra space for free.

Tags: storage android mobile

Why economic inequality leads to collapse | Business | The Observer

Tue Feb 07 15:11:33 +0000 2012

The lesson of the Great Crash was that unequal enrichment provokes asset bubbles, excessive demand for debt and, finally, economic failure. Now we are painfully learning that again

Tags: debt wealth-gap depression history

Greek impasse raise fears of 'Grexit' | Business | guardian.co.uk

Tue Feb 07 14:41:06 +0000 2012

Word of the day is Grexit. It has been coined by Willem Buiter, chief economist at Citigroup, which now sees a greater chance of a Grexit – or Greek exit from the eurozone. Against the backdrop of still to be concluded Greek talks over the latest bailout for the debt-choked country, Citigroup has raised its estimate of such an unravelling of Greece's situation to one in two. It now sees a 50% chance of a Grexit over the next 18 months, up from its previous estimate of just 25-30%.

Tags: greece euro breakup

Streit um Datenschutz: „Facebook ist höchst unprofessionell“ - Facebook - FAZ

Tue Feb 07 14:33:02 +0000 2012

Die österreichischen Kritiker um Max Schrems sehen Facebook auch nach einem Treffen mit Vertretern der Firma nicht auf die europäischen Datenschutzanforderungen eingestellt. Schrems fordert ein Einschreiten irischer Datenschützer.

Tags: facebook privacy europe

Ireland's cheapest house? Cottage with €7,500 reserve - Property & Mortgages, Personal Finance - Independent.ie

Tue Feb 07 14:28:47 +0000 2012

A COTTAGE in Co Leitrim is to go under the hammer next month with a reserve price of just €7,500. The two-bed rural retreat is one of 100 lots to be auctioned in the next Allsop Space auction on March 1.

Tags: ireland housing

Gonna Take Student Loans Eh? in [Market-Ticker]

Tue Feb 07 14:14:54 +0000 2012

The Tennessee House voted in favor of Bill 740 Thursday. The bill would revoke, suspend, or deny a state license to teachers who default on federal and state-issued student loans.

Tags: debt education