Daily Data Dump - Friday

Subprime for Students - Why does so much federal money go to for-profit schools—and what happens when the system crashes? Steve Eisman, a Cassandra of the subprime meltdown in real estate, is now focused on the student loan & grant racket in the for-profit education industry. I have nothing against competition forcing the relatively static higher education complex to evolve. In fact I favor it. But with massive government subsidies with minimal oversight being directed toward higher education the market is producing entities which emerge not to provide a genuine service to potential students, but to capture as much of the cash flow from the feds as possible. Barring elimination of government subsidies more aggressive oversight seems the only avenue of correcting the problems in this sector. Is Google Docs Destined To Be a Revolutionary or Footnote?. First, Google Docs lacks some of the power for presentations which desktop office packages have. Second, the flakiness of internet connections means that many people won't use it for 'mission critical' tasks yet. But I assume that over the next ten years you will start to see a shift from desktop applications to web applications even in office productivity software. Do Not Log-Transform Count Data, Bitches! R gives you no excuse. The Essence of Pleasure. Human flourishing is more than "doing the sums." Anthropology, Primatology, and the Definition of Culture: Reply to Sperber. Eric Michael Johnson presents a powerful case. Though do note that in general Dan Sperber, the target of Johnson's critique, views the overall research program he's criticizing positively.