Scrivener.net

Wednesday, March 16, 2005

More short takes.

How to end global poverty

Hernando de Soto, working from the ground up, versus Jeffrey Sachs with a "utopian" plan. [Via Arnold Kling and Roland Patrick]

OK, the presentation isn't exactly fair as De Soto is speaking for himself while Sachs is being critically reviewed. But Sachs' book (introduction by Bono!) isn't webbed, so there we are.


The economics of fake IDs

"If you want to see a security system really tested, put it between teenagers and drinking or sex", says Adam Shostack.


Why Germans love cabbage

It seems it's all in that gene hTAS2R38, which affects taste. Of course -- what else but a genetic mutation could cause an entire population to love cabbage?

See, people really are different. (Now we can all wonder if this gene has anything to do with a population feeling an urge to group up in formation and march into France or Poland.)


If the circuits in your brain were crossed...

... what would Beethoven's Ninth taste like?


There are captive audiences...

... and then there are captive comedians.


Amusing videos

TV Commercials and viral marketing efforts from around the world. Go entertain yourself with 'Karaoke for the Deaf' while I get back to work.