Most fans in many popular sports pay less for their tickets than conventional economic theory would predict.

Which poses the question: are team owners therefore irrational?

Not necessarily. There are (at least?) four justifications for such apparent under-pricing.

First, say Krautmann and Berri, owners can recoup the revenues they lose from under-pricing tickets by making more in other ways: selling programmes, merchandise and over-priced food and drink in the stadium.

Secondly, Shane Sanders points out that it can be rational to under-price tickets to ensure that stadia are full. […]

Thirdly, higher ticket prices can have adverse compositional effects: they might price out younger and poorer fans but replace them with tourists […] a potentially life-long loyal young supporter is lost and a more fickle one is gained. […]

Fourthly, high ticket prices can make life harder for owners. They raise fans’ expectations.

{ Stumbling and Mumbling | Continue reading }

oil on wood { Ellsworth Kelly, Seine, 1951 }

A decade ago, negative interest rates were a theoretical curiosity that economists would discuss almost as a parlor game. […] Now, it is the stated policy of some of the most powerful global central banks, including the European Central Bank and the Bank of Japan. […]

So how do negative interest rates work?

It depends. In the cases of interest rate targets set by central banks like the E.C.B. and Swedish Riksbank, they set a negative target rate for banks, and banks in turn pass it along to their customers. The E.C.B., for example, currently has a negative 0.3 percent rate, meaning that when banks deposit money at the central bank overnight, they pay for the privilege.

Banks have different ways of passing the negative rates on to depositors, often framed as fees for keeping money in an account, which is basically negative interest rates by another name.

{ NY Times | Continue reading }

screenshot { David Cronenberg, Scanners, 1981 }

Facial hair, like many masculine secondary sexual traits, plays a significant role in perceptions of an array of sociosexual traits in men.

While there is consensus that beards enhance perceptions of masculinity, age, social dominance, and aggressiveness, the perceived attractiveness of facial hair varies greatly across women.

Given the ease with which facial hair can be groomed and removed entirely, why should some men retain beards and others choose to remove them?

We hypothesized that men with relatively sexist attitudes would be more likely to allow their facial hair to grow than men with less sexist attitudes. […] Men from the USA (n = 223) and India (n = 309) […] Men with facial hair were significantly higher in hostile sexism than clean-shaven men; hostile sexism was a significant predictor of facial hair status.

{ Archives of Sexual Behavior | Continue reading }

photos { Anthony Hernandez }

France becomes first country to force all supermarkets to give unsold food to needy

France gives Facebook 3 months to stop snooping on non-users’ browsing history, then 60 days

Paris gets first meat vending machine

Study Finds You Can Grow Brain Cells Through Exercise

Babies can see image differences that are invisible to adults. They lose this superior skill around the age of five months

Much sleep talking does not occur during dreams

We collected data from 203 conveniently sampled taxi drivers in Gauteng province of South Africa. This study could assist the Department of Transport in designing road safety campaigns that addresses the erroneous beliefs by drivers that road accidents are pre-destined, and not as a result of individual’s driving behavior.

U.S. vehicle safety regulators have said the artificial intelligence system piloting a self-driving Google car could be considered the driver under federal law

1.4% of Enjoy customers have returned their gadgets, compared to the average 22% product return for online purchases in the US

Investors who offer “precise” bids for company shares yield better market outcomes than those who offer round-numbered bids, study

Escorts raised prices in 2015, largely in response to several years of rising hotel costs

Who Marries CEOs, Doctors, Chefs and Janitors

Floating library on Echo Park Lake

Michael Jackson’s pet chimp, Bubbles, is living out his twilight years in Florida

Speed

The classics can be Zzzz

The $49.99 Holdr app tells you if you’re holding your phone or not and This is a $100 mug that tells you what you just poured into it, via a digital screen. And Keep track of your gases with CH4 [all thanks to Tim]

…the immaculate ultrawhite behind the French doors of a new GE Café Series refrigerator […] the white hood of a 50th anniversary Ford Mustang GT […] the white used to brighten the pages of new Bibles, the hulls of super yachts, the snowy filling inside Oreo cookies […]

All this whiteness is the product of a compound known as titanium dioxide, or TiO2. A naturally occurring oxide, TiO2 is generally extracted from ilmenite ore and was first used as a pigment in the 19th century. In the 1940s chemists at DuPont refined the process until they hit on what’s widely considered a superior form of “titanium white,” which has been used in cosmetics and plastics and to whiten the chalked lines on tennis courts. DuPont has built its titanium dioxide into a $2.6 billion business, which it spun off as part of chemicals company Chemours, in Wilmington, Del., last fall.

A handful of other companies produce TiO2, including Kronos Worldwide in Dallas and Tronox of Stamford, Conn. Chemours and these others will churn out more than 5 million tons of TiO2 powder in 2016. China also produces large amounts of the pigment, and its industries consume about a quarter of the world’s supply. Most of China’s TiO2 plants, however, use a less efficient and more hazardous process than the one developed at DuPont. Starting in the 1990s, if not earlier, China’s government and Chinese state-run businesses began seeking ways to adopt DuPont’s methods. Only they didn’t approach the company to make a formal deal. According to U.S. law enforcement officials, they set out to rip off DuPont.

“At first, you’re like: Why are they stealing the color white?” says Dean Chappell, acting section chief of counterespionage for the FBI.

{ Bloomberg | Continue reading }

oil on wood { Ellsworth Kelly, White Plaque: Bridge Arch and Reflection, 1951-55 }

I do have a problem in reference to electronic dance music and pop culture in general. It is becoming more and more difficult for actual artists and talented people to survive. It’s turning every product that’s made in the culture into a commercial. Now, in order for anyone to make money, they have to be a part of an artisanal beer commercial. I can speak for me personally that I write pretty introspective thoughtful records; not good for selling beer. Technology has de-valued not just music, but the idea of artistry and people are no longer willing to pay.

{ Jay Denes | Continue reading }

The music business is something one suffers through in order to be able to make music full time. That being said, most of what gets made is simply a result of economic conditions in a given time period. There’s been no artist development in the record biz for over 20 years now. So, of course music has suffered greatly. People didn’t suddenly get untalented or insincere, there’s just no economic infrastructure left to support the development of excellence. So when it occurs it tends to be a bit of good luck, a hit on a first record that allows an individual or group to have a long enough career to develop their skills.

{ Jay Denes | Continue reading }

screenshot { Sean S. Baker, Tangerine, 2015 }

Even people aged over 90 report better life satisfaction and happiness than those aged 40-59

Clearing Out Old Cells Increases Life Span of Mice by 25 Percent

People who prioritise time over money are happier

New data confirm that for countries worldwide long-term trends in happiness and real GDP per capita are not significantly positively related

People spend too much time on problems in which the reward difference between the options is low

When people choose not to reveal personal information - to be “hiders” - they are judged negatively by others. Observers rate those who reveal even questionable behavior more positively.

Researchers activate previously dormant memory cells

One reason your hair is thinning? Some of it turns into skin.

Progress in psychiatry in the West has been retarded by the proclivity of the discipline to swing violently between 2 approaches to viewing mental illness

‘Roaring and Social Communication in African Lions (3 studies)

Mosquitoes cause more misery and loss to humanity than any other organism. We could wipe them off the face of the earth. Here’s why we don’t.

How not to get killed by a cow (First: don’t try to save your dog.)

Wall Street’s getting crushed by a form of financial engineering you’ve probably never heard of

What Is Blockchain?

“Internet of Things” security is hilariously broken and getting worse

The Covert World of People Trying to Edit Wikipedia—for Pay

Starting with the March issue, due to hit newsstands this weekend, Playboy magazine will no longer feature explicit nudity. In 2014, Playboy-branded products generated $1.5 billion in revenues in China, about a third of the worldwide total.

What I learned from being a stock-photography model

More signs of Uber shaping urban infrastructure

A bot that drives robocallers crazy

trumpdonald.org

Parody Patent Drawings Highlight Silicon Valley Greed [Thanks Tim]

News of the successful use of ether anesthesia on October 16, 1846, spread rapidly through the world. […] Incredibly, this option was not accepted by all, and opposition to the use of anesthesia persisted among some sections of society decades after its introduction.

We examine the social and medical factors underlying this resistance. […] Complications of anesthesia, including death, were reported in the press, and many avoided anesthesia to minimize the considerable risk associated with surgery. Modesty prevented female patients from seeking unconsciousness during surgery, where many men would be present. Biblical passages stating that women would bear children in pain were used to discourage them from seeking analgesia during labor. […] In certain geographical areas, notably Philadelphia, physicians resisted this Boston-based medical advance, citing unprofessional behavior and profit seeking.

{ Journal of Anesthesia History | Continue reading }

photo { Peter Martin, Greenwich Village Nudes, Figure #1, 1951 }

loser.com

[Thanks Tim]

Dutch Police Training Eagles to Take Down Drones

U.K. researcher receives permission to edit genes in human embryos

Duration of urination does not change with body size

We’re the Only Animals With Chins, and No One Knows Why [more]

Why does the brain use so much energy?

The Countries Where People Are the Most Emotionally Complex (Cultures that value interdependence, like Japan, win at being deep)

The present investigation began with the conjecture that people may do better by saying “some other time” instead of “no, not ever” in response to temptations.

Why Are Some People Habitually Late?

Researchers have developed a painkiller that is as strong as morphine, has fewer side effects, and isn’t likely to be addictive

Researchers found a way to partially un-boil an egg

Halting the explosive spread of Zika means waging war with mosquitoes. There are several ways, old and new, to win that war. And: Zika, a virus unknown to most people until recent days

Apple is developing wireless charging for mobile devices

Jobs was just getting started with the “i” motif. (For a while he even called himself the company’s iCEO.)

Conductive concrete that can carry enough electrical current to melt ice during winter storms

Cheesus Christ

Seasonal affective disorder (SAD) is based on the theory that some depressions occur seasonally in response to reduced sunlight. SAD has attracted cultural and research attention for more than 30 years and influenced the DSM through inclusion of the seasonal variation modifier for the major depression diagnosis. This study was designed to determine if a seasonally related pattern of occurrence of major depression could be demonstrated in a population-based study. A cross-sectional U.S. survey of adults completed the Patient Health Questionnaire–8 Depression Scale. […] Depression was unrelated to latitude, season, or sunlight. Results do not support the validity of a seasonal modifier in major depression. The idea of seasonal depression may be strongly rooted in folk psychology, but it is not supported by objective data.

{ Clinical Psychological Science | Continue reading }

photo { Daido Moriyama }

Redbird Reef is an artificial reef located in the Atlantic Ocean, off the coast of Slaughter Beach, Delaware.

The reef comprises 714 ‘Redbird’ New York City Subway cars, 86 retired tanks and armored personnel carriers, eight tugboats and barges, and 3,000 tons of ballasted truck tires.

{ Wikipedia | Continue reading }

photo { Stephen Mallon }

{ The Difference Between Washington D.C. and Philadelphia, In Two Blizzard ‘Dibs’ Signs }

{ Mike Flemming, Hair Flip (The End of Authentic Gestures), 2014 }

Airbnb removes New York igloo charging $200 a night, but snow house was ‘very well constructed’

Harvard psychologist says people judge you based on 2 criteria when they first meet you: Can I trust this person? Can I respect this person?

We find that national percentages of very happy people are consistently and highly correlated with national prevalence of the rs324420 A allele in the FAAH gene

Why Some People Take Breakups Harder Than Others

Why can’t a guy just go again after orgasm?

And so, even as Jared was getting what he purportedly wanted — plenty of sex with plenty of women — he became increasingly bitter and judgmental.

An earnest guy in a dress shirt gets up to pitch Halolife, an e-commerce site for burial services. “It’s a $20bn industry,” he says. “Everyone dies.”

This is rudimentary design at best trying to pass as iconic

When banks in Greece were closed for three weeks last summer, some commentators pointed to Ireland in 1970 to show that a modern economy can function without banks

This study examines differential recognition of top art collectors

Haus in Schwarz (House in Black) by Erik Sturm and Simon Jung

Artist to sit naked on toilet for two days to protest the ‘bullshit’ of the art world

A piece from the early 1960s by Dan Flavin

At 83, Donald Rumsfeld Decided to Develop an App

It’s the one place in the world where I have to seek out bad food. It’s hard to find. The McDonald’s there still cooks their french fries in beef fat.

This Valentine’s Day you can name a cockroach after you ex

{ Margaret Hamilton standing next to listings of the Apollo Guidance Computer source code, January 1969 | Margaret Hamilton (born August 17, 1936) is a computer scientist, systems engineer, and business owner. She was Director of the Software Engineering Division of the MIT Instrumentation Laboratory, which developed on-board flight software for the Apollo space program. | Wikipedia | Continue reading }

Roughly a quarter of the world’s people—some 1.8 billion—have turned 15 but not yet reached 30. In many ways, they are the luckiest group of young adults ever to have existed. They are richer than any previous generation, and live in a world without smallpox or Mao Zedong. They are the best-educated generation ever—Haitians today spend longer in school than Italians did in 1960. Thanks to all that extra learning and to better nutrition, they are also more intelligent than their elders. If they are female or gay, they enjoy greater freedom in more countries than their predecessors would have thought possible. And they can look forward to improvements in technology that will, say, enable many of them to live well past 100. So what, exactly, are they complaining about?

{ The Economist | Continue reading }

art { Matthieu Bourel }

In an update on an old story, an investment banker asks the client to pay by placing one penny on the first square of a chessboard, two pennies on the second square, four on the third, doubling the number on each square that follows. If the banker had asked for this on only the white squares, the initial penny would double thirty-one times to $21,474,836 on the last square. Using both the black and the white squares, the sum on the last square is $92,233,720,368,547,758.

People are reasonably good at estimating how things add up, but for compounding, which involved repeated multiplication, we fail to appreciate how quickly things grow. As a result, we often lose sight of how important even small changes in the average rate of growth can be. For an investment banker, the choice between a payment that doubles with every square on the chessboard and one that doubles with every other square is more important than any other part of the contract. […]

Growth rates for nations drive home the point that modest changes in growth rates are possible and that over time, these have big effects. […]

If economic growth could be achieved only by doing more and more of the same kind of cooking, we would eventually run out of raw materials and suffer from unacceptable levels of pollution and nuisance. Human history teaches us, however, that economic growth springs from better recipes, not just from more cooking.

{ Paul Romer | Continue reading }

After 2.5 millennia of philosophical deliberation and psychological experimentation, most scholars have concluded that humor arises from incongruity. We highlight 2 limitations of incongruity theories of humor.

First, incongruity is not consistently defined. The literature describes incongruity in at least 4 ways: surprise, juxtaposition, atypicality, and a violation.

Second, regardless of definition, incongruity alone does not adequately differentiate humorous from nonhumorous experiences.

We suggest revising incongruity theory by proposing that humor arises from a benign violation: something that threatens a person’s well-being, identity, or normative belief structure but that simultaneously seems okay.

Six studies, which use entertainment, consumer products, and social interaction as stimuli, reveal that the benign violation hypothesis better differentiates humorous from nonhumorous experiences than common conceptualizations of incongruity. A benign violation conceptualization of humor improves accuracy by reducing the likelihood that joyous, amazing, and tragic situations are inaccurately predicted to be humorous.

{ Journal of Personality and Social Psychology }

photo { William Klein }