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Just give money to the poor, says a new book by the same name. In it, three British professors say direct cash payments to the developing world’s poor will help economies to grow.
“The letters of Pliny the Younger provide gripping insight into Roman life — and the last hours of a city.” Michael Dirda reviews the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius and the destruction of Pompeii.
“What’s so bad about deflation?” asks Slate. “After all, it’s a pleasant surprise when prices of many items fall.” As it turns out, there is good deflation and bad deflation, but which is which?
“We love them, of course, but new research suggests that having children makes us unhappy — it’s just that none of us feels able to admit it.” The Independent researches a taboo issue.
Matthias Ringmann, a minor scholar and cartographer working in landlocked Eastern France, was responsible for putting America on the map, literally. History, however, has since forgotten him.
In a scientific experiment, men selected women with small feet and long thighs as the most attractive, while women selected men with small wrists. Evolutionary success could explain their choices.
A baby’s first smiles are not likely an expression of inner emotion but “first smiles teach infants the positive associations attached to a smile that we adults already feel,” says one professor of psychology.