Week Nine Course Update

Some Items That Caught Our Attention

Coordination Failure? “Is it really true that orchestra conductors perform out of time with the music? Jacob de Jongh investigates, and reaches the disturbing conclusion that this is quite common, even among famous orchestras. But if conductors can’t keep the pulse, what purpose do they serve? To find out, he interrogates conductor Adrian Adlam.”

Yeah, But We Have Free Universal Schooling: ““I don’t mince words,” said Eiges, owner and founder of L.A. School Scout, which guides families through K-12 school admissions. “That’s part of what they’re paying me for—to get them through this successfully.” Eiges wouldn’t disclose her fee but said that consultants in L.A. typically charge between $5,000 and $10,000 for their services. That is on top of annual school tuition that can range from $25,000 to $50,000, she said.” 

The Immigration Prize: “Mr. Yaghi, a Berkeley professor, came to the U.S. as a teenager in a refugee family and had limited knowledge of English. He studied at a community college in Troy, N.Y., earned his Ph.D. at the University of Illinois, and had faculty positions at Arizona State, Michigan and UCLA before joining Cal. Only in America, as some of us still like to say.

Professor Yaghi’s path speaks to the varieties of the U.S. immigrant experience. You never know who or how the poorest refugee or migrant might blossom into a world-class scientist or entrepreneur. This is talent the U.S. needs, and immigration is a force multiplier for American innovation.

Stuart Anderson at the National Foundation for American Policy has looked at the three science Nobels awarded since 2000, and immigrants make up 40% of the U.S. winners. As the nearby chart shows, it’s 45% for physics, 43% for chemistry and 32% for medicine.”

Let Them Eat Cake, Academia Edition: “He earns 31,500 dollars a month in a country that taxes half as much as France, and he comes to lecture you on TV about "tax justice."

Maybe We Should Eat the Dogs? “A decade ago, they said there were over 10,000 puppy mills within the United States. Since then, eight states and hundreds of localities have passed these retail sales bans."

… The result? They still say there are 10,000 mills. So "by their own measurements, these bans aren't successful," she continues. "What they are successful at is fundraising….They aren't actually actively engaged in any real animal care." They aren't? I thought the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) and humane societies run animal shelters! But they rarely do. The ASPCA collects more than $300 million in donations but gives only 2 percent of that to shelters. Most of its money goes for advertising and salaries. Its CEO pays himself $1,203,267.”

Hey, Watch the Leather Man … Is weed causing more car crashes?

What’s (Not) Wrong with the Faroese? “There are a lot of undersea tunnels in the Faroes, connecting the islands, with plenty of additional projects underway. As a Californian, these are a mystical luxury. How can a nation of 55,000 people (Petaluma has more), and poorer per capita than my home state, possibly afford them? Per-unit length costs appear to be almost 30x lower than California’s. For example, the 11km Eysturoyartunnilin opened in 2020, and was evidently constructed for $14M per km.”

Bunk: “For now, these theories should be considered false: being bilingual has cognitive advantages; cleanliness makes people more morally lax; listening to Mozart temporarily makes you smarter; simply thinking about money makes you more selfish; people solve problems better under stress” Click for more!

The Only Difference is She Got Caught?

“Convinced that her chances of success as an Asian kid with average grades were less than ideal in the ultra-competitive Bay Area—for good reason, given the proven anti-Asian bias in Ivy admissions processes, which culminated in a Supreme Court lawsuit penalizing Harvard in 2023—Lynn swapped studying for identity hunting. After careful research, she landed on the 2,000-person town of Tioga, North Dakota, as her escape ticket.

Other rumors started to spread about Lynn, as Bashker and her other suite-mates complained about a mildew smell emanating from Lynn’s room and messes she left behind, including rotten food. “It was this nightmare roommate thing,” a student in the dorm tells me.

“She was trying to put a cage in their room for when her boyfriend visited,” one student tells me. “Sex-slave stuff.”

Looking back at the incident, Bashker says she’s “actually kind of impressed” with Lynn’s faking her way into Yale. “At the end of the day, you have to recognize game.”

When I ask Lynn, who is back home living with her parents, what she plans to do next, she doesn’t hesitate: “Change my name and start over.”

The End of Capitalism: “in fact, that Kinney has launched a canned water brand — naturally, it’s called “6 7” water.”

McArthur Geniuses vs. Tyler Cowen’s Fast Grants

Creative Destruction, Rite Aid Edition: “Rite Aid has shuttered all remaining stores, the company revealed Friday. The announcement ends a 63-year run for what was once the US’ third-biggest pharmacy chain.

Rite Aid’s history dates back to 1962, when distributor Alexander Grass opened a drugstore in Scranton, Pennsylvania. Within several years, there were dozens of locations, and Grass renamed the chain from “Thrif D Discount Center” to “Rite Aid.” At its height, Rite Aid operated over 5,000 stores and was known for its popular Thrifty Ice Cream brand…”