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Building new roads isn’t the traffic solving panacea that people think it would be writes Adam Mann:

• Studies have shown that if new roads are built, then the number of drivers increases by a roughly equal amount keeping levels of traffic the same.
• With new roads people will work further away, take more trips, and draw business that will continue to clog up the streets.
• A similar relationship seems true for public transportation.
• The effect works in reverse too. If highways are demolished the amount of traffic still, roughly, stays the same.
• The best way to actually reduce traffic is to introduce congestion pricing where drivers have to pay more for driving on busy roads, thus altering demand.

Read more about the limits to this finding and other details over here.

Source: Wired

Bihar, a state in India, has a radio station that isn’t a radio at all writes Diksha Madhok:

• To listen to this radio station users dial a number and then hang up.
• They will soon be called back and their phone will play 15 minutes of radio and ads free of charge. You can then call again for 15 more minutes.
• The service is run by Hindustan Unilever, a company that sells everything from shampoos to skin creams.
• The service is so successful that Hindustan Unilever has stopped advertizing on traditional radio, since the reach of its own station is higher than any other in the region.
• Bihar has several media dark zones where traditional ad penetration doesn’t reach. Yet such regions are potentially worth up to $25 billion.

Read more about the ingenious idea here.

Source: Quartz

Players from the Czech Republic have never missed a single penalty shoot-out, while Germans have won all their World Cup shoot-outs. In contrast the British and the Dutch are pretty shoddy at them. Why the difference? The Economist offered its perspective:

• Shoot-outs are individualistic and allow time for thinking – unlike the rest of the game. It is a test of nerve, not athleticism.
• Shoot-out results might have become a self-fulfilling prophecy. English and Dutch players may have internalized the idea that they’re bad at shoot-outs, and so they don’t train for them causing players to miss even more of them.
• It might also be about culture. Collectivist cultures are better at shoot-outs than individualistic ones. This is because those from a collectivist culture know that if they fail they won’t have to shoulder the blame alone.
• This is probably also the reason why star players are worse at them than unknown ones. The star ones know they will get a lot of attention if they fail.
• There are other types of pressures. Teams that go first in shoot-outs have the advantage since catching up to a score is more stressful than leading it.
• Players are also more likely to flub a shot which would prevent them losing a match, than one which lets them win.

Read more about the different psychological factors affecting performance, the role of “emotional contagion” and what players should do to be successful at shoot-outs over here.

Source: The Economist

The Discussion is an initiative by some of the creators of Centives to create a database that catalogs the internet’s  analysis, thoughts, and even memes, about things you watched. They recently looked at The Game of Thrones Season 4 Finale, “The Children”. (Warning: show spoilers up to episode 10. Safe for those who haven’t read the books).

1) Varys’ Choice

shiroduck posted what must have been going through Varys’ head. (Source)

shadowst17 points out that male pattern baldness isn’t all that Varys and Homer Simpson have in common. (Link)

2) How To Chain Your Dragon

Brian Feldman wondered if there were better ways for Danerys “breaker of chains” to keep her dragons captive. Feldman concludes that a water prison would be more effective, and describes how it should be built if you ever have to…chain dragons with a taste for human flesh? Wait, what’s Feldman planning? (Link)

3) The Characters Are Motivated By Power

Charlie Jane Anders writes that everyone – from Cersei telling Tywin the truth about her relationship with Jamie, to Jon Snow betraying his honor – is motivated by power in this show. She also points out the slow transition to a full-on fantasy show. “There are not just dragons, but skeleton soldiers, and an ancient mystical tree guy who hints at an epic destiny for Bran. Stannis has come north, in part, because his magical priestess sees an epic battle against evil brewing in the North”. (Link)

4) Differences Between The Show And The Books

In her rundown of the differences between the show and the books Laura Hudson points out that Tywin never officially found out the truth about his twin children in George RR Martin’s narrative. (Link)

lukeatlook wrote about Stannis’ march north and provided some background about “The Children” that rescue Bran. “The elf-hobbit thingy is one of the last Children of the Forest, an ancient race inhabiting Westeros before the First Men came. The Children are the ones who grew weirwood trees. The First Men were at war with the Children until the Pact between the two races.” (Link)

GRVrush2112 described the very different circumstances under which Tyrion’s escape happened in the books. “Tyrion revealed…that for the amount that Jaime loved Cersei…[his] love was not exactly reciprocated and that Cersei had been fucking Lancel [the Lannister cousin]” (Link)

5) Inside The Episode

The show’s creators David Benioff and D. B. Weiss offered their perspective on the episode. “[Tywin] is quite convinced that he’ll be able to talk his way out of this one…he doesn’t believe that this can be the end..Tywin Lannister does not die sitting on the toilet, murdered by his own son.” (Source)

6) Where The Show Went Wrong

Louis Peitzman feels that Season 4 didn’t compare well with other seasons. “Too much of this season ended up being a waiting game: Tyrion waiting for the verdict, the Night’s Watch waiting for the wildlings, Dany waiting for an actual plot line.” (Link)

7) The Episode In Texts

Bill Bradley has a whole series of them. (Link)

8) Two Legends Battle

Gwendoline Christie (Brienne), Rory McCann (The Hound), and Maisie Williams (Arya Stark) talked about the fight scene between Brienne and The Hound. “We were training on sponge floors in a tent…and we come out here and there’s slopes and mountains…and the rock is really…you can’t get rougher rock than volcanic.” (Source)

9) The Leroy Jenkins Cameo

ImBateman made the Leroy connection. (Source)

10) Game Of Thrones Is About The Importance Of Change

Maureen Ryan wrote that this episode and the series as a whole is about what happens to those who refuse to change. She then used that idea to explain what Game of Thrones has to do to become a truly great show. “Tywin’s problems — and his death — are a direct result of his towering privilege. He never struggled with limitations or constrictions: He thought he would always be able to arrange the affairs of his kingdom and his family to his liking…being a ruler doesn’t make you smart, cunning or adaptable, and having power doesn’t disguise your limitations, it often exposes them.” (Link)

Read the rest of the list of 20 reactions, including how earlier episodes had foreshadowed this one, and Westerosi Father’s Day cards over here.

Source: The Discussion

Buzzfeed posted an article titled “11 Secrets About Game Shows That You Probably Never Knew”:

• All the contestants on shows such as Wheel of Fortune appear to be the same height because the shorter contestants stand on platforms.
• Winning a prize can mean losing money. If you win a car you have to pay taxes on it.
• As soon as you leave the studio people will try to buy your prizes from you – at prices far lower than the inflated ones advertised on the show.
• In the French and Russian versions of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire, the audience is notorious for intentionally giving the wrong answer when the Ask The Audience lifeline is used.
• The shows that seem to play out over the course of a week? They’re filmed in a day.

Read the full list and find out more of the tricks of the trade over here.

Source: Buzzfeed

ISIS, the terrorist group that has taken control of vast swathes of territory in Syria and Iraq, clearly has an economic strategy writes Max Fisher:

• The group has captured power plants and is selling electricity to the Syrian government – and using the funds to try to destroy it.
• It has also captured Iraqi oilfields and has plans to sell the oil to fund its operations.
• Up until now though they’ve funded themselves by simply confiscating the properties of those it doesn’t like. Despite calling itself an “Islamic” group this has included the assets of Muslims.
• Those who want to conduct humanitarian operations on its lands need to give the group a cut.
• It then uses that money to pay its fighters more than other groups – further swelling its ranks.
• It currently controls territory roughly the size of Belgium.

Fisher concludes “that ISIS appears to have been so successful…says a lot about their strategic foresight, their long-term ambitions, and their ability to outlast their opponents”. Read it here.

Source: Vox

Via: The Dish

Cracked looked at some surprising things about being a drug dealer:

• A study found that the majority of drug dealers already have jobs – and skilled ones at that. They just sell drugs as a part-time thing.
• In fact, the most successful drug dealers are those that make more money at normal jobs. This is perhaps unsurprising since being a good dealer probably requires a lot of the same skills required to be professionally successful.
• Dealers’ biggest concern isn’t cops – it’s their customers. They can’t call the police to help them and their customers know that they can steal drugs from them.
• Drug dealers often have to go on drug education campaigns. One who sells weed needs to explain that it’s not okay to snort an equivalent amount of cocaine .

Read more here.

Source: Cracked

A football in Brazil can cause an epidemic in China. Zoe Li writes:

• To catch the 2014 football world cup viewers in China will have to get up between 3 and 6 am.
• This has led to a surge in demand for doctor’s notes online.
• A standard pack costs just $0.16. But one with a hospital stamp and a “doctor’s” diagnosis costs about $50.
• One vendor is even offering sick notes with a corresponding medical record at a hospital. These cost $100.
• At least one employer has given up. Rather than deal with sick leave excuses they’ve just offered employees vacation days during the event.

Read more here.

Source: CNN

Facebook – and most web 2.0 sites – could yield undue political influence if they so chose writes Jonathan Zittrain:

• Facebook cooperated with researchers in an experiment where certain users were notified that their friends had voted. Those that did were 0.39% more likely to vote.
• That seems like a tiny amount but in 2000 George W. Bush won Florida by 0.01% of the vote.
• Facebook could, theoretically, identify a closely fought race where it has a preferred candidate. It could then find users that are likely to vote for their candidate (based on the wealth of data that Facebook has on each of its users) and then encourage them to vote.
• This is known as digital gerrymandering. And as companies increasingly seek to personalize their pages for users, more and more companies have the option to engage in it.
• We wouldn’t even necessarily know about it since we don’t know if what we see is any different from what other users see.
• The web giants have shown that they’re not afraid to use their online presence to influence politics. In 2012 major tech sites blacked out their pages to protest against legislation popularly known as SOPA. The legislation did not pass.
• In fact, such digital gerrymandering is actually completely within the scope set by most sites’ user agreements.

Read more about a proposed solution to this problem, and other details over here.

Source: New Republic

Via: Marginal Revolution

Lady Gaga was once all the rage. She’s since fallen off the map. Kat George took a look at what happened:

• Her recent videos have been…boring. The latest one is “G.U.Y.” It includes The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, and an Egyptian Themed Mansion in what seems like a cheap version of what Katy Perry did in Dark Horse.
• It used to be the more sexual Lady Gaga got, the weirder she got. These days she’s just been sexy in a conventional way (see picture above). It’s uninteresting.
• She had a duet with R. Kelly in a song which included the lyrics “do what you want with my body”. It wasn’t her…best moment.
• Her efforts to combat bullying seem to be wasting money more than anything. And her social efforts were a big part of her appeal.
• While she’s always been known for her sensationalist performances, more recently they’ve seemed sensationalist for sensationalism’s sake. The latent intellectualism has disappeared.

George looked at many other factors that may have have contributed to her demise, and concludes that she may have “finally succumbed to the death knell of her career”. Read it here.

Source: Vice