Current Affairs

Stats Professors and State Lotteries

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Last month, Washington and Lee professor Scott Hoover announced that he intended to sue the Virginia State Lottery (a threat that became a lawsuit yesterday).  Hoover, a business finance professor, wasn’t upset that he didn’t win the lottery–he was upset that it had become impossible to win the prize.  His complaint is that the Virginia … Read more

The Poor Tyrant!

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Why
do dictators win elections?  The answer to this is relatively
straightforward–they hold fixed elections.  Everyone knows they’re fixed
and everyone knows who will win before the balloting even begins.  If the actual
numerical results aren’t fixed, then the rules regarding who may contest the
elections and who may vote in them certainly are.  Dictatorial regimes
hold elections to demonstrate to the world that, not only are they giving their
citizens a choice in their leadership, but also that their citizens
resoundingly love them and wouldn’t prefer a more representative, and perhaps
less repressive, government.

If all of that is true, then what went wrong in
Zimbabwe?  Discussion comes after the jump.

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The APSA and AAAS Take Action to Free Jailed Political Scientist

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The American Political Science Association is taking official action on behalf of Dr. Matrouk al-Faleh, a political scientist detained by the Saudi government.  You may have heard about this, especially if you’re a member of the Human Rights section of APSA; if you haven’t, here are some basic facts about Faleh and the consequences of … Read more

Heroin Chic, the Second Wave

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NPR reported a very interesting story this morning on the attempt to steer Afghanistan’s thriving poppy crops away from the opium industry and toward the cosmetic industry. 

For the past several years, a group of Afghan and foreign businessmen
has been trying to offer an alternative, by urging farmers to grow
flowers for perfume instead of for drugs. But it has been a frustrating
and costly project.

See you after the jump.

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Stealing Restaurant Grease for a Living

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The increased prevalence of do-it-yourself energy kits for individuals to convert diesel engines to a bio-diesel source has been hailed by advocates as a clean, cheap, and green-friendly alternative to gasoline.  Conversion Kits, how-to guides, and promotion videos can be found all over youtube.com and similar sites.  One of the promoted benefits is that the consumer can either get used grease oil free from restaurants or even get paid to haul away what was considered a waste product. 

The New York Times is reporting a new trend in which individuals are stealing this former waste product from restaurants:

Outside Seattle, cooking oil rustling has become such a problem that the owners of the Olympia Pizza and Pasta Restaurant in Arlington, Wash., are considering using a surveillance camera to keep watch on its 50-gallon grease barrel. Nick Damianidis, an owner, said the barrel had been hit seven or eight times since last summer by siphoners who strike in the night.

“Fryer grease has become gold,” Mr. Damianidis said. “And just over a year ago, I had to pay someone to take it away.”

…More after the jump.

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