So in a recent post, I mentioned in the comments that my middle son qualifies for a Katie Beckett waiver. That is, he can receive Medicaid as coverage secondary private insurance. The Katie Beckett waiver was instituted by Ronald Reagan,… Continue Reading
Who knew? The Supreme Court upheld ObamaCare. I know there are them those who frequent this blog who oppose the health care on moral and/or political grounds, and that is a position that I take very seriously. However, I am… Continue Reading
I write a lot about evolutionary psychology in my work, and consider it to be explanatorily useful. Many people are off put by evolutionary psychology, though. So I thought I’d try to address some concerns here here. Part of the… Continue Reading
Good Lord. Elizabeth Wurtzel has written a screed that is so prima facie insufferable I wouldn’t think it needed to be addressed. Except it was published in the Atlantic and has 5,000 Facebook likes, so maybe it’s striking a chord.… Continue Reading
There is an amplifying backlash against helicopter parenting. On one hand, I think, “Huzzah! Sing it!” On the other hand, people with whom I broadly agree are throwing around baseless claims and anecdotes to make their points. We should be… Continue Reading
We, as a culture, have some weird views about appetites. We accept readily that some people are just born with an appetite for alcohol and drugs while others aren’t. We accept that the former would have to struggle much more… Continue Reading
The latest in our very important continuing series. Why are 4-year-olds awesome today? Their sense of proportion. My four-year-old comes running breathless into the room, saying, “Mommy, Mommy, wait till you see this! You’re going to be as excited as… Continue Reading
Sad news. One of my favorite professors from my undergraduate days, Andrew Sarris, has died. I think Pauline Kael has ended up much more widely known, but Sarris’s reviews from back in the day were as influential as hers, and remain… Continue Reading
Today, I had to kill time for about half an hour at a local business. A TV was on showing local news at noon. Normally I would ignore it and whisper sweet nothings to my iPad instead. But today was… Continue Reading
I have been interested for some time about the effect of essentially useless moral badges. By “moral badges,” I mean moral choices that one makes as a statement of one’s values, but have very low expected utility. Whether or not… Continue Reading