US elections guide 2016-18

https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/all-the-rage/201506/5-ways-deal-angry-people

upd: personally, I should heed #3 and stop calling trampists names.

(no subject)

Another question to explore: Why there was a "silicon valley" but no "laser valley"?

A natural experiment: Narva vs Ivangorod

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/09/world/europe/narva-estonia-ivangorod-russia.html

Even stalwart Russian patriots in Narva concede that, despite their support for Mr. Putin and their anger at Estonian citizenship rules that they say discriminate against Russian speakers, they have no desire to move over the river to Ivangorod.

Institutions matter. There's nothing genetic about Russia's backwardness.

for the link h/t fizzik

(no subject)

It just occurred to me that the "ебанутость" of the current political discourse in the US is not accidental. For example, Bannon directly asks his supporters to be angry, i.e. be extremely (and negatively!) emotional rather than rational, when dealing with economic, social and political issues. In another example, in "Impossible to Ignore" Carmen Simon tells us that to be memorable, a message has to rely mostly on Pavlovian, reflexive responses. Jonathan Haidt also recommends "talking to the elephant," rather than the "driver." Etc.

Overall, the Twitter-driven news cycle reduces our ability to process political news rationally (Kahneman's System 2) and induces visceral partisan response (System 1). News websites and mobile apps stimulate engagement through inflammatory comments, trolling and polarizing views. The window of opportunity to comment and be heard is too short for deliberate rational thinking. As the result, political "ебанутость" rules because we get a strong amplification effect.

I don't see a good solution to the problem.

TIL: advertisement revenues

According to iSpot TV, Hannity's Hannity program earned $153.5 million in advertising revenue so far this year as of October 31. That trails Tucker Carlson Tonight, which generated $161 million in ad revenue during that same time even though it attracts fewer viewers than Hannity.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/jonathanberr/2017/11/11/does-sean-hannity-have-an-advertiser-problem/

I didn't realize how much money these guys were making.