Quotes of the day

Any princess is bound to be heartbroken when her testicles finally drop.--Tony Woodlief

From each as they choose, to each as they are chosen.--Robert Nozick

The government's ability to discriminate is basically zero, so you have to choose to allow everything or nothing, because that's all it can decide.--Eric Falkenstein

If Congress was stocked with a few hundred members of the Paul family, if Penn Jillette ran the T.S.A., if the Cato Institute held veto power over every entitlement expansion and overseas military operation, it would make sense to use a long magazine article to fret, in detail, about the perils associated with the minimal state.--Ross Douthat

At the very least, I expect my articles to be noteworthy enough that within a few days Brad DeLong will call me a moronic hypocrite.--Greg Mankiw

One's game face is a tactic used to intimidate the opponent and to bolster one's own self as a player. If a game face is simply a tactic, then who cares? But if one's game face also reflects one's typical approach to life - if the game face is also the life face - then I worry about today's athletes. I wish they smiled more often, if not during games and matches then at least before and after. Mind you, the smiles were not causes of longevity in the study just described, simply markers of how these men presumably lived their lives, happily or not. Pasting a phony smile on your face is not going to make you live longer. But perhaps doing the sorts of things that positive psychologists have shown to produce lasting happiness might be beneficial.--Christopher Peterson

Despite all the qualifications, scores on standardized tests, like the PISA tests, are much more effective ways to compare student achievements in different countries than are average years of schooling and other measures of school years completed. As I indicated earlier, the mediocre performance of the average American student on the PISA and other tests may indicate only that the US school system emphasizes creativity and independent. However, I strongly believe that it is also evidence of the mediocre performance of many American schools. International test scores have been used for decades to push for improvements in the schools available to the lower third of American students through the spread of charter schools, school vouchers, and stronger incentive to teachers, students, and parents. The 2009 PISA test results indicate that some progress is being made in American schools, but considerable room for improvement still remains.--Gary Becker

Analysts and executives have long lamented that the music industry is dying. That is not quite true—it is the record business that is clearly done for, and in its place, touring stands as the top moneymaker for many industry participants.--Annie Lowrey