Exciting news on the "So you think you have free will?" front. A new study shows that kids respond to sneaky sales pitches:
Popular cartoon characters are influencing the taste preferences of very young children, and not in a positive way, a new study suggests.
Complicated trade issues made simple in Seymour, Ind., home of the last remaining American factory making the basic ironing board. Facing devastating competition from China, the company improved efficiency, automated what it could and got to the point where it could produce the basic unit for $7. But China could do them for $5. So the company sought and received tariffs that kept the Chinese boards off the market. But the basic question: Is this really good policy?
Anything strike you about the results of this research?
A new Ball State University study says text messaging has far eclipsed e-mail and instant messaging as college students' favored way of staying in touch.
The findings show that 97 percent of students now send and receive text messages, while only about a quarter of them use e-mail or instant messaging.
When it isn't trying to bring Arizona to its knees with an economic boycott over its law on illegal aliens, Bloomington spends a lot of time worrying about its own downtrodden. A task force wants to do a better job of providing year-round shelter for the city's homeless, and the definition of that condition is quite expansive:
I get a kick out of seeing all the "human signs" out in front of various businesses, like the guy with the "$5 pizza" sign at Clinton and Rudisill. The ones who dress up are especially interesting -- the tax place on Broadway sends out a Statue of Liberty or Uncle Sam to entice us in March and April, and there's a barbecue place on State that has even trotted out a pig now and then. These walking advertisements add a touch of eccentric whimsy to the otherwise boring urban landscape.
I was a fan of Gov. Daniels' tax amnesty plan in 2005, which critics said would just reward scofflaws and not raise much money anyway. But according to the final report on the plan, more than $244 million in delinquent taxes was raised. The governor's original projection, I believe, was for about a fourth of that amount. For scofflaws not to benefit, the state would have had to carry through with it announced intention to bring out the stick for those delinquents who chose not to take advantage of the carrot.
The Washington Post's Politics and Policy blog points to an article in the evagelical magazine World ("Lessons from a broken man") in which self-deposed Rep. Mark Souder talks about his affair and life after the scandal:
Good news for fans of informed-consent of the governed:
The Indiana Debate Commission says the three candidates in this fall's U.S. Senate election have agreed in principle to take part in three televised debates.
N.M. Guariglia, identified as a foreign policy analyst and columnist, makes a case for a GOP presidential ticket of Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels, "the anti-Obama," and Wisconsin Rep. Ryan, "the cerebral ideas man."
On Daniels:
Screwed again in the Heartland:
The quintessential Las Vegas or Atlantic City casino experience comes with card dealers in ties, feather-festooned showgirls and the most coveted amenity: the free drink.
Yet as casino gambling has migrated from America's storied gambling towns to middle America, the complimentary cocktail hasn't always survived the trip.
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