https://mathlesstraveled.com/2017/05/24/post-without-words-17/

"Do We Overvalue Bike Lanes?"

Bike safety is a difficult thing to measure in part because accidents are so rare. Most studies will study roads that are more towards the right side of the continuum in the image above where you would expect bike lanes to be safer. A lot of the danger from bike lanes won’t appear on crash statistics.

Here is one study that DID look at speed limits of the roads. This is from Belgium and the numbers represent accident risk (higher = more risk).



This shows that in general the more similar a road is to a highway the more safety benefit you get from separation. It confirms, though, what I’ve learned from experience – bike lanes on roads with low speed limits are in general way worse than no infrastructure at all.

http://www.davemabe.com/2017/05/09/do-we-overvalue-bike-lanes/


'In a National Bureau of Economic Research working paper published Feb. 13, the researchers show that voucher expansion appears to bring in enough money to help prevent church closures and mergers. "In an era where many churches face financial hardship, this is an encouraging result," Hungerman said.

However, the researchers found no evidence of vouchers increasing religious activity overall. Instead, Hungerman said, voucher expansion caused significant declines in church donations and church spending on non-educational religious activities. The overall declines are large, the researchers estimate: Since 2000, the Milwaukee voucher program has led to a $60 million decrease in non-educational church revenue in the churches studied.'

'It is surely striking that virtually all classical states were based on grain, including millets. History records no cassava states, no sago, yam, taro, plantain, breadfruit, or sweet potato states. (“Banana Republics” don’t qualify!) My guess is that only grains are best suited to concentrated production, tax assessment, appropriation, cadastral surveys, storage, and rationing. On suitable soil wheat provides the agro-ecology for dense concentrations of human subjects.

In contrast the tuber cassava (aka manioc, yucca) grows below ground, requires little care, is easy to conceal, ripens in a year, and, most important, can safely be left in the ground and remain edible for two more years. If the state wants your cassava, it will have to come and dip up the tubers one by one, and then it has a cartload of little value and great weight if transported.'

http://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2017/06/grain-deep-history-earliest-states.html

'We find that people respond to health signals and increase physician visits. However, we find no evidence that additional care is cost effective. For the “borderline type” (“pre-diabetes”) threshold for diabetes, medical care utilization increases but neither physical measures nor predicted risks of mortality or serious complications improve. For efficient use of medical resources, cost effectiveness of preventive care must be carefully examined.'

'Well, be that as it may, we have two lessons from this kerfuffle.

a). Magazines and newspapers should get scientists, or at least journalists who are scientifically educated, to review books about science. Science journalists without training in math and evolution are unqualified to review Fine’s book.

b). It’s always better to accept a scientific fact than to reject it on ideological grounds. For people will know the truth, and when they see it rejected because of confirmation bias, they can see what’s going on.

It always hurts your cause to behave that way. If science finds that men and women behave differently for evolutionary and genetic reasons, or that humans have behaviors that are holdovers from selection in our ancestors, we can deal with that. Such findings do not inexorably lead to racism, sexism, or bigotry, and there’s no reason why they should. Sure, there may be a few misguided individuals who mistake an “is” for an “ought,” but society no longer works that way. Rejecting the facts because you don’t like them, or because they go counter to your political leanings, is a sure recipe for sinking your cause. First apprehend the facts, and then just deal with them.'