Things That Are Better than Other Things

1. "Seven" > CAPM, says Tyler Cowen:

   For risky equity assets in the United States, my preferred economic model is simple. Expected return equals seven. That is my model, "Seven."

   Plus of course an random or error term. How's that for Occam's Razor?

2. Robotic cats > plush cats, say researchers:

   "We used the plush cat and a robotic cat and found that a robotic cat was more self-engaging and triggered positive emotions and interest more than the plush cat," Alexander Libin told ABC News. ... Renata Bushko, chair of the Future of Technology Institute where the researchers presented their work, said that the concept could be extended. "Robocats will be very useful in disease management..."

3. "[T]he more homely, but more intelligible, maxims of distributive justice among the Saxons" > "the narrow rules and fanciful niceties of metaphysical and Norman jurisprudence," says William Blackstone (not exactly topical but (to quote Lil Wayne) "I just thought that I should mention it").

4. Putin > all Russian leaders in recent memory, says Perry Anderson (kinda):

   Part of his chilly magnetism is cultural. He is widely admired for his command of the language. Here, too, contrast is everything. Lenin was the last ruler of the country who could speak an educated Russian. Stalin’s Georgian accent was so thick he rarely risked speaking in public. Khrushchev’s vocabulary was crude and his grammar barbaric. Brezhnev could scarcely put two sentences together. Gorbachev spoke with a provincial southern accent. The less said of Yeltsin’s slurred diction the better. To hear a leader of the country capable once again of expressing himself with clarity, accuracy and fluency, in a more or less correct idiom, comes as music to many Russians.

5. Minds > governments, says Lil Wayne:

   Lil Wayne has been attending the University of Houston in Houston, Texas since early 2005, where he began studying political science. According to the Cash Money Records website, Wayne has since switched his major to psychology.