Favorites August 15th 2022

Agua Caliente, July 2022

ryan cooper @ryanlcooper

airstrikes are still virtually at a standstill compared to Biden's two predecessors airwars.org/conflict-data/

Here's a write up from last year, but the Biden administration continues to not use drone strikes. Darrell Owens wonders why Greenwald hasn't commented on this change.

Axios @axios

A new study warns an "extreme heat belt" will emerge from Texas to Illinois — where the heat index could reach 125°F at least one day a year by 2053. See how your area is affected with our interactive map: trib.al/cNrOJLX

Another reason that it's important that California figures out how to allow more homes to be built along our coastline!

Ethan Mollick @emollick

Authorship in economics is in alphabetical order, yet being listed last lowers perceived contribution! So top Chinese econ PhDs in the US with last names at the end of the alphabet are 20% more likely than others to return to China rather than land a job in a US econ department.

Seems like this is a good opportunity for Economics to change the standard for authorship ranking. Random perhaps?

Connor Sweeney @_ConnorSweeney

Have no idea how @Noahpinion has time to write such detailed pieces every day, but this one was particularly uplifting https://t.co/R6eQ89MUKT

Noah Smith 🐇🇺🇦 @Noahpinion

Nuclear power needs tons of government subsidies, loan guarantees, and other assistance in order to be viable. Solar just needs deregulation. https://t.co/Yu2K6MKitS

I kinda want to see what the equivalent 2015 estimates looked like.

Threads

• Thread describing the central arguments of a new book "From Development to Democracy: The Transformations of Modern Asia". One point is that democracies have arisen from strong dictatorships surprisingly often. Noah Smith proposes Nobel Prizes for dictators who abdicate in favor of democracy.