links: US, university, technology, behavioral economics

United States

• 1 in 100 U.S. Adults Behind Bars, New Study Says (NYT): "For the first time in the nation’s history, more than one in 100 American adults is behind bars, according to a new report."
• Gun Crazy (NYT): "Atrocities like [the school massacres] make Americans feel angry and perhaps helpless."
• Rich man, poor man: The life expectancy gap EPI report showing (for Social Security-covered males) that "the increase in longevity for older participants occurred mostly among those in the top half of the earnings distribution."

University

• Online Video Lectures and Transcripts - European Graduate School EGS Videos of EGS' lectures at Saas-Fee. Also here: YouTube - egsvideo's Channel
• Fulfilling the Promise of Open Content :: Inside Higher Ed: Open content already! I'm not sure we should boycott closed access journals (Danah Boyd), but I'm for anything that speeds the process of making content open and available. I'll do my part by alerting anyone who isn't aware of arXiv.org already to it. If physicists, mathematicians, statisticians, computer scientists, and biologists can do it, why can't the social and human sciences?
• 24C3 - Programming DNA - #2329: Great presentation by Drew Endy at the C3.

Tech

• Opendns: My ISP has recently started serving up ads when you type in an internet address that can't be found. Admittedly it's not as bad as an ISP selectively banning a site, as recently happened in Denmark. The solution to both problems is Opendns. If you're not sure what DNS is, Wikipedia can explain.
• get.theinfo: Neat group for data monkeys. Website: theinfo.org
• "Ich mag technischen Schnickschnack" (Frankfurter Rundschau): Umberto Eco likes gadgets. (German)

Behavioral Economics

• The Audacity of Data: Fantastic article on the rise of behavioral economics.
• The Advantages of Closing a Few Doors (NYT): Behavioral economics lesson (well, sortof) by 3rd century B.C. Chinese general Xiang Yu.

Misc

• Ironic Sans: Idea: A new typography term: keming. noun. The result of improper kerning.