Barbie Has a Great New Commercial - But She Could Still Have a Sensible Body

This Barbie commercial is wonderful about how playing with dolls can develop girls' imagination.

But she still could have a sensibly proportioned body.

Chickpeas are a Powerful Uniting Force Against Religious Nationalism

This is my favorite story today:  a restaurant in Israel offering 50% off to Jewish and Arab patrons who eat together.

The Hummus Bar offers "And real excellent Arab hummus! And great Jewish falafel!" to bring people together.

It is working.

Ryan and Biden Takes Two Steps Toward Orderly Government

Two steps toward orderly government were taken today.

Vice-President Biden, after contemplating the presidential nomination, stepped back.  He was the last serious challenger to Hillary Clinton.  Senator Sanders will, no doubt, keep raising issues for months, but it now seems all but certain that the Democratic Party will unite behind Secretary Clinton.  One party, at least, seems to be set on a path to a serious, governing-oriented candidate.  

The even bigger news is the Paul Ryan has offered to become Speaker of the House - if the Tea Party agrees to unite with the Republicans to work toward governing.  This will be bigger news, I should say, if the Tea Party actually agrees to these terms.  Nonetheless, I appreciate Congressman Ryan's willingness to take on the heavy job of making the House into a governing body again.

The Liberal Party Has a Huge Victory in Canada

The Liberal Party has turned out the Conservative Party by a large margin in Canada.

The Liberals ran on a platform of raising taxes in order to rebuild infrastructure.  Most gratifying to me, they ran against the Conservative fear campaign against Muslims, and for an inclusive and welcoming country.

May our own election next year turn out so well.

Cheaper Weddings Lead to Longer Marriages

This is a most gratifying study:  people who have small, expensive weddings divorce at a higher rate than those with bigger, cheaper ones.

Specifically:

the study found that women whose wedding cost more than $20,000 divorced at a rate roughly 1.6 times higher than women whose wedding cost between $5,000 and $10,000. And couples who spent $1,000 or less on their big day had a lower than average rate of divorce.

The researchers, economists Andrew Francis and Hugo Mialon at Emory, did not know why.

My theory:  people have expensive, fantasy-driven weddings because they are unsure of the marriage, and are trying to drive up the sunk cost.