Word: givens
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...Given how limited the impact of the Kyoto Protocol has been, the effects of that error have been modest so far. But if the U.S. adopts a cap-and-trade system with the same mistake, or if the world agrees to a truly global successor to Kyoto, the blowback could be enormous. As long as biofuels are incorrectly treated as 100% carbon neutral, they'll represent an economical way for companies to offset their greenhouse-gas emissions and comply with a tightening carbon cap. One study estimates that if the world were to meet a 50% "cut" in global greenhouse...
...first experiment involved an anonymous game of trust. The 28 study participants were told they would be "receivers," with whom a group of anonymous "senders" had been instructed to invest money. Participants were told that each sender had been given $4 and told that any part of it invested with receivers would be tripled. The job of the receiver, then, was to decide what portion of the dividends to return to the sender...
...reality, there was no sender, and each study participant received $12, making it seem as though the senders had entrusted them with the full $4 they had been given. But would the receivers reciprocate that trust or exploit their unidentified investors? On average, those in the plain-smelling room returned $2.81 to the sender, pocketing the lion's share of the money. But those bathed in the scent of Windex sent back an average of $5.83, returning the senders' blind faith...
...second experiment, researchers aimed to manipulate people's propensity toward charity. Ninety-nine participants were assigned to either a Windex-scented room or a neutral-smelling room and given a packet of tasks to complete. Included in the packet was a flyer soliciting volunteers and donations to the charity Habitat for Humanity. As expected, people in the Windex-sprayed room were more inclined to volunteer and give money than those in the unscented room - 22% of those in the clean group said they wanted to donate money, compared with 6% of the controls...
...vagabond of the air” without fear, barreling through the obstacles of poverty, peril, and gender bias. Nair ignores not only the connotations that air travel has acquired in recent years but also the incredulity that Earhart’s consuming ambition will inspire in viewers given last year’s financial collapse. We no longer live in Earhart’s era of optimism, passion, and, yes, recklessness. But even with its predetermined ending, “Amelia” does not come across as a cautionary tale; it is homage to a time very similar...