Medical ghostwriting, by Grassley's committee: http://bit.ly/dsQYk4. HT: Margaret Soltan, University Diaries.

UK Vodka best in world: http://bit.ly/aXwS70. Take this with a bit of tonic. In wine ratings, the rating varies from contest to contest, randomly. If you can't tell which wine is the best, how can you tell which is the best vodka?

Just-in-time for disaster? http://bit.ly/99qVxB. The idea of JIT is to shove your warehousing costs off to the suppliers. The risk is that the suppliers won't keep sufficient supplies for disaster. This is a hidden risk.

The government looks into ghostwriting of scientific articles in medical journals: http://bit.ly/d6eM9U. The well-established procedure is: (1) pharmaceutical company does a study, (2) pharmaceutical company maintains the database, (3) pharmaceutical company hires a medical writer to write the article, and (4) pharmaceutical company arranges with a top academic professor to put his or her name as the lead author. Ghostwriting, if it were a Harvard student putting his name on the product, would be considered plagiarism. The student would typically be expelled.

High Dudgeon, or blowing the whistle at KCUMB on Peltz: http://ping.fm/CmXzL Morals of the story: One, whistleblowers are terrified of being found out; two, if you do whistleblow, blow OUTSIDE the organization and try to create a paper trail.

Dr. Matthew Mintz of George Washington Univ fails to disclose financial conflict of interest with GlaxoSmithKline to Forbes: http://ping.fm/z9zOf (1) Failure to disclose may lead to assumption of bias, but does full disclosure lead to assumption of no bias? (2) People who have conflicts of interest are usually the last to realize it.

Michael Shermer on Fraud in Science: http://bit.ly/dCcCJE. Recognition of the difference between deception and self-deception depends upon determination of intent. This is difficult. First, you have to pick the person who makes the determination. Second, they have to make the determination.

Aristotle, self-sufficiency, and its consequences: http://ping.fm/1d6V1

The macroeconomic equivalent of shrouded attributes: http://bit.ly/aZym9L.

Decades ago, Buffett bought Cities Service. Now it's Venezuela-owned. http://bit.ly/9OnC8D.

Freee e-books: http://ping.fm/WxEgE

Journal of Economic Perspectives is available on line for free: http://bit.ly/bYs7Jm

Competition increases cheating, particularly when individuals are performing poorly: http://bit.ly/ctsiXA

How much is a CEO worth? http://bit.ly/bQ5J96. I am looking for the Graef Crystal article upon which this is based.

Danes always score themselves as happy: http://bit.ly/ae5cF7.

I just heard Luis Rojas Marcos talk about Overcoming Adversity and he was great.

Online course on statistical multilevel modeling: http://bit.ly/9Yifi. from AGelman

Pharma companies influence disease-specific organizations: http://bit.ly/dqL5Q8

Wooden on leadership: http://bit.ly/9jnjcB

Mommy, what's a basis point? http://bit.ly/csWiLE

Salmon on university endowments, mainly Harvard: http://bit.ly/caDO9v.

SLAPP: Strategic lawsuit against public participation. http://nyti.ms/a8Rea3.

Picture of massive sinkhole in Guatemala: http://bit.ly/cspNDF

Bastiat's "That which is seen and that which is not seen": http://ping.fm/NSPlS from Landsburg.