Spencer Ackerman notes that Muntader al-Zaidi, the guy who threw his shoes at President Bush, is still being interrogated in Baghdad by the Maliki government which probably means he’s being tortured. Sounds like he’s got a lot of credibility on the streets though so I’d expect Maliki to back off once they realize they can’t effectively discredit the guy.
Also, my friend Lirazel (let me know if you want a link) who answers the question of whether people ever throw shoes in a non-insulting manner:
I did a little poking... in addition to tying shoes to the vehicles of the newly married as a symbol of fertility, apparently in the North of England the wives of fishermen used to throw old shoes at their husband's departing boats as a charm to bring them back safely!"
Robert Wright and Joel Achenbach did another fun blogging heads on Thanksgiving. Good for people that like banter.
Apparently the presence of the American flag tends to strengthen nationalism more than patriotism in Americans. Those findings come courtesy of the Lee Sigelman. Wonder if that’s true of other flags. Also, before I acknowledge the validity of the nationalism/patriotism distinction, I’d like to see more research about how much of the population just have patriotism.
Brad Delong notes that even with perfect information, traders tend not to be rational in their valuing of assets. Why? Because if you buy an overpriced good, you can still make money selling it to someone willing to buy it at an even greater mark-up. Apparently the people who make the most money are those that buy a lot at the beginning of declining resources a sim and sell mid-way through. Momentum traders, those who buy when things rise and sell when they fall, do worst. In other words, now is probably a good time to buy stock.
Comments