Money and Computing
FactCheck.org Examines 'Are Federal Workers Overpaid?'
President Barack Obama's recent announcement to freeze the pay of federal civilian workers did little to ice the debate over whether federal workers are overpaid or underpaid. Republican leaders and conservative think tanks claim federal workers are overpaid. They say the average federal worker is paid twice as much as those in the private sector. The federal Office of Personnel Management and unions that represent federal workers say on average they are paid 24 percent less than those in the private sector. Both sides are armed with official government statistics, but neither side is right. more »
Celebrating Free eBooks and Milton's Birthday: The Open Library Launches an Improved Online E-Book Reader
The Open Library (an Internet Archive initiative) has just launched a new version of their online ebook reader (aka BookReader) featuring a new user interface and other tools. BookReader allows users read/search more than two million digitized books more »
Beauty Queens and Battling Knights
In particular, we examine whether people use riskier strategies against attractive people, whether this affects performance, and whether men and women react to attractiveness in the same way. more »
For the Holiday Season, Give Me Real Books
An eBook just isn’t much fun. Where’s the tactile thrill in holding a plastic object or in fiddling with a screen? For me, only one plastic object could fit into the thrill category and it’s not a book of any kind. But, as Gilda Radner was wont to say “never mind,” this is about books, real books. more »