Random links

‘Who is this Robert Smith?’: A quiet billionaire makes some noise with $20 million gift to the African American museum
From an earlier profile of a billionaire recently in the news for paying off the student loan of a whole class: "At least three to seven times a year, he says, he is stopped by police as he drives himself to the airport in Texas. The officers run his tags and check his license. He’s told he was speeding or changed lanes without signaling. The officers send him off, often without a ticket. ... But Smith never worries about missing his flight. His private plane won’t leave without him."
Unpopular speech in a cold climate
"a world in which lawyers are afraid to defend people against a certain kind of accusation is a world in which those accusations can never really be verified, where guilty verdicts bear the whiff of a sham."
We asked ambassadors where they eat when they’re homesick. We did not expect Taco Bell and Ikea.
I was amused.
Social learning and the demise of costly cooperation in humans
"We found that: (i) social information never increased cooperation and usually led to decreased cooperation; (ii) cooperation was lowest when individuals could observe how successful individuals behaved; and (iii) cooperation declined because individuals preferred to copy successful individuals, who cooperated less, rather than copy common behaviours." See also Transparency can reinforce the norm that most people are engaging in corrupt behaviours