Archives for December, 2004
Earthquake and Tsunami
Posted by Tim Lambert on December 29, 2004 The Sydney Morning Herald has an informative page with news and links for donations. I donated to The Australian Red Cross, who have already raised $3 million. You have to look hard to find any good aspect to such a terrible catastrophe but the generosity of my fellow human beings certainly qualifies.
Lindgren on the NAS Panel on Firearms and Violence
Posted by Tim Lambert on December 28, 2004 Jim Lindgren thinks the panel was too generous to Lott: From the portions that I have read, I found the report sober, impressive, and fair, though there are substantial parts of this literature that I am unfamiliar with. As to Lott’s work, I actually thought that the Council’s report was too generous to his research…
Merry Christmas
Posted by Tim Lambert on December 25, 2004 Here are my kids at the beach on Christmas day. Best wishes to all my readers.
The Worst Presentation Award Goes To…
Posted by Tim Lambert on December 23, 2004 Boffo blog tells the story of a Lott presentation at a workshop about a decade ago: I was not prepared for how truly awful the paper was. His argument concerned how expensive elections have become in this country. … His evidence consisted of a correlation between growth in federal spending and growth in campaign spending,…
The worst argument against global warming gets worserer
Posted by Tim Lambert on December 22, 2004 Louis Hissink has responded to my post on the worst argument against global warming, ever: Well yes Tim, the Holy See seemed to need to recalibrate the calendar, and in Medieval times, no one was observing the heavens for the simple fact that telescopes had not yet been invented. And you didn’t think he would…
Lott responds to the NAS Panel
Posted by Tim Lambert on December 19, 2004 As I predicted, Lott claims that the panel was stacked: My piece in the LA Times is still accurate today. While I will write up a more substantive discussion, James Q. Wilson’s very unusual dissent in the first appendix says a lot. Wilson concluded that all the research provided “confirmation of the findings that shall-issue…
The LA Times sucks
Posted by Tim Lambert on December 18, 2004 Not content with printing op-eds by John Lott, the LA Times has published a piece of disinformation by Nick Schultz. The LA Times fails to disclose that Schultz works for a public relations company that has ExxonMobil as a client. The central message of Schultz’s piece is that science will never resolve the question of…
Reaction to the NAS Panel on Firearms and Violence
Posted by Tim Lambert on December 18, 2004 Stuart Benjamin writes: [John Lott’s] core thesis, though, was called into doubt by a number of researchers, most prominently in a study (and reply, both complete with data sets) written by Ian Ayres and John Donohue, two top empirical economists. They concluded that the data did not support Lott’s assertions regarding right-to-carry laws and crime.…
National Academy of Sciences reports on Firearms and Violence
Posted by Tim Lambert on December 17, 2004 The National Academy of Sciences panel on firearms and violence has reported its findings. The press release says: There is no credible evidence that “right-to-carry” laws, which allow qualified adults to carry concealed handguns, either decrease or increase violent crime. To date, 34 states have enacted these laws. There is almost no evidence that violence-prevention…
Worst argument against global warming, ever.
Posted by Tim Lambert on December 15, 2004 Lavoisier group member Louis Hissink has a response to my post and John Quiggin‘s on the Lavoisier group. A summary cannot do it justice, so I will quote extensively: A quick scan of the blogosphere reporting on William Kininmonth’s recent book launch on Monday 22 November by the Lavoisier Society showed many still retain a…