The Price of Motherhood / Instrumental Variables

The Price of Motherhood - Ready to have a baby? You'll earn 10 percent more if you wait a year. By Steven E. Landsburg
Crooked Timer discussion of same.

How Much for That Kidney Stone? - Can patients keep their excised parts? By David Goldenberg

How Much for That Kidney Stone? - Can patients keep their excised parts? By David Goldenberg: "Generally, yes. Many hospitals are willing to return everything from tonsils to kneecaps."

UroToday

UroToday: "Education and objective methods of penile size evaluation are the best way to remedy this problem."

ugh indeed! hehe

Questions for Daniel C. Dennett - Interview by Deborah Solomon - New York Times: "Ugh. I certainly don't believe in the soul as an enduring entity. Our brains are made of neurons, and nothing else. Nerve cells are very complicated mechanical systems. You take enough of those, and you put them together, and you get a soul."

The New Yorker: The Critics: On Television

The New Yorker: The Critics: On Television: "In an episode a couple of months ago, Brian got a job at The New Yorker. On his first day, he found out that there were no toilets in the bathrooms; the people who worked there, he was told, didn’t need them, because they didn’t have anuses. Later that day, Brian was fired when the editor discovered that he hadn’t graduated from college. We’re all terribly sorry that Brian had such a bad experience, and we’d like him to know that he can come back anytime. There will always be a toilet here for him."

nick paumgarten always makes me smile

The New Yorker: The Talk of the Town:

"Czelusniak explained the frog’s appeal with a statement that sounded like a little poem:
“People are amazed / To see a frog / In a pond / In an office.”"

foodlist

• orzo with chicken ras-el-hanout; romaine and radicchio with blood orange olive oil
• tofu piccata, salad, and ciabatta
• tortilla española with chorizo and more ciabatta
• chile-rubbed red snapper over roasted sweet potatoes; mixed vegtables with tequila-cream sauce; undisclosed chocolate dessert (Birthday dinner for a friend)
• either stir-fried beef with leeks or leek soup and steak fajitas

NPR : Frog in a Can

NPR : Frog in a Can: "In Thailand, a woman is convinced that frog in a can is the next best thing."

The kind of parent I will be.

Generation Pad Thai - New York Times: "Who craves Ho Hos when they've had Scharffen Berger?"

The Bread Is Famously Good, but It Killed McDonald's - New York Times

The Bread Is Famously Good, but It Killed McDonald's - New York Times: "'What took place was a small war between us and McDonald's,' said Onofrio Pepe, a retired journalist who founded an association here devoted to local delicacies. 'Our bullets were focaccia. And sausage. And bread. It was a peaceful war, without any spilling of blood.'"

Federated Is Seeking Buyer for Lord & Taylor Stores - New York Times

Federated Is Seeking Buyer for Lord & Taylor Stores - New York Times: "Moreover, Lord & Taylor's traditional customers are more affluent and contemporary than the typical Macy's shopper, yet not nearly as well-heeled and trendy as Bloomingdale's devotees. Since they do not fit neatly into the demographic groups that Federated is concentrating on, many retail analysts viewed a Lord & Taylor sale as inevitable."

NPR : Trying, and Failing, to Love Lutfisk

NPR : Trying, and Failing, to Love Lutfisk

NPR : Tailor-Made Cartography with Google Maps

NPR : Tailor-Made Cartography with Google Maps: "Some are clearly designed to be useful for everyday life: New York pizza places, Washington, D.C., home prices, and Chicago crime locations. Others are more for fun: find the nearest pub or brewery, peek in on Webcams, or look for a convenient jogging route."

This definitely applies to Scott, I think

CNN.com - Study: Waking up like being drunk - Jan 11, 2006: "'For a short period, at least, the effects of sleep inertia may be as bad as or worse than being legally drunk,' said researcher Kenneth Wright of the University of Colorado at Boulder."

The Media's Crush on Apple

The Media's Crush on Apple: "Half the fun in covering Apple is covering the coverage of Apple. The argument has been made that we in the press are a little nuts about Apple. It's a fact. The highs and lows of Jobs & Co. are so dramatic that the erudite prose practically writes itself. And I can't help but think something is wrong with that."

Non-alternatives to grad school for me:

Bitter Brew - I opened a charming neighborhood coffee shop. Then it destroyed my life. By Michael Idov: "The failure of a small cafe is not a question of competence. It is a sad given."

In Oregon, Thinking Local - New York Times

In Oregon, Thinking Local - New York Times: "Urbanites are just as concerned about open spaces and healthy rural communities as people who live there. When ranchers get to the city, they realize rural areas don't have a corner on values. I think that's what we are most excited about.'"

Down with the fucking realtors association!

Owners' Web Site Gives Realtors Run for Money - New York Times: "'It may be an extension of the 1960's, when we stuck it to the man by protesting the war,' said Mayor David J. Cieslewicz, who notices all the FsboMadison signs around town. 'These days we stick it to the man by selling our own home - and pocketing the 6 percent.'"

Those Weird College Ads - If you like our football team, you'll love our chem labs full of Asian students. By Mike DeBonis

Those Weird College Ads - If you like our football team, you'll love our chem labs full of Asian students. By Mike DeBonis: "To snag applicants who might be worried that Gainesville, Fla., isn't cosmopolitan, the University of Florida plays up its global reach. Florida's ad culminates with a professor arriving at an unnamed Asian airport. As he walks out of the gate, a man shouts to him; the subtitle says, 'Go Gators!' "

Why I'm Happy I Evolved - New York Times

Why I'm Happy I Evolved - New York Times: "More than that, I find that in viewing ourselves as one species out of hundreds of millions, we become more remarkable, not less so. No other animal that I have heard of can live so peaceably in such close quarters with so many individuals that are unrelated. No other animal routinely bothers to help the sick and the dying, or tries to save those hurt in an earthquake or flood."