Wendell Cox processes new Census data:
Southern states accounted for more than one half of the nation's population growth between 2011 and 2000, despite having little more than one third of the population. Moreover, the South was the recipient of 95% of the inter-regional net domestic migration (people moving from one state to another), with the West accounting for the other 5%, with the losses split between the Northeast and the Midwest.
Brookings highlights other Census findings.
A new study refutes the notion that nicotine is a performance-enhancer:
“Nicotine-affected subjects answer faster than non-nicotine affected subjects, so nicotine has long been regarded as a performance-enhancing substance,” [Signe Vangkilde] says. “But I wanted to examine what happens when you omit motor skills – which relate only to how quickly test subjects answer and not how well.” In other words, she wanted to determine whether the performance of nicotine-affected subjects was faster and better, or faster and worse. Her findings indicate the latter.
'Tis the season:
A reader responds to another who bemoans the loss of ESPN after canceling his cable subscription:
There are two very good options for watching streaming ESPN content. One is the Watch ESPN app, which is restricted to a handful of Internet service providers. I've never used it and am unsure of content restrictions. The other is the ESPN Live via XBox Live. It is not full content (no Sportscenter or Monday Night Football) but I have watched every ESPN network broadcast game played by my favorite college football team via this app. Streaming live or viewed on replay. One could augment that with an MLBTV subscription with an XBOX app coming soon. I'm sure NBATV will be soon to follow. NFL is the difficult one. I chose to go with NFL GameRewind. There's no convenient porting to my television (ie an XBOX, Roku, or Apple TV app) and it's watching everything after the fact, but it serves my purpose.
By the way, according to our unscientific survey of Dish readers, 29% of you have "cut the cable" and 66% of you are sports fans. Another writes:
"Eventually, I would suppose that ESPN would wise up to the fact that they are sitting one of the most valuable assets in the cable package and look for ways to offer their product to streaming viewers on a stand-alone subscription basis." That's exactly what won't happen.
ESPN already has plans to do to Internet service what the content have done to cable. They are blocking access to ESPN3 streaming content and forcing Internet companies to pay a per-online subscriber fee to unblock streaming access. There is no option for individual subscribers to purchase access and there is unlikely to ever be one – it is a much more successful business model to force consumers who don't use your product to pay for it.
Earlier this year, they dipped their toes into exclusive content with their first Badger football game being exclusive to ESPN3. It was a minor game and we received only a couple calls, but of course their hope was to start adding pressure to ISPs to pay the fee to allow access to their content. By resisting any pressure to buy into their Internet content agreement, I will fight this effort of ABC/Disney and other content companies to ruin Internet like they have cable TV. But frankly it will probably take an act of Congress to stop it if they find financial success in this near extortion tactic. Is it actually starting to dawn on people that there are layers of evil beyond the cable company that make their television services so expensive? Is anyone clued into the potential threat to the Internet posed by these content companies?
Alexis Madrigal notes a search engine trend:
[A]t the end of each of the last seven years, searches for 'Christmas' briefly peak higher than searches for the word 'porn.' We're approaching that time of year, and fascinatingly, based on the trends here, I'd have to say that Christmas ain't gonna make it in 2011. Porn will reign all the live long year.
Alyssa Rosenberg marks the 50th anniversary of Black Like Me:
It may be easier to be a tourist in someone else’s life today than it was during John Howard Griffin’s expedition, and there may still be uncomfortable truths to be gleaned from those experiences. But all these experiments assume that visiting another country—even if it’s your own—will actually teach you what it means to live there. Sometimes the greatest possible act of sympathy is to acknowledge that you can’t understand the entirety of someone else’s experiences.
Today on the Dish, the economy exacted enormous strain on the middle class, Andrew put the Ron Paul newsletters in perspective, and he took on the larger issue of bigotry in the GOP. Michael Dougherty offered a short history of the newsletters, readers stormed the in-tray, and Neil Cavuto urged the Republican media to take Ron Paul seriously. WFB would not have disqualified the congressman based on foreign policy, and Paul shirked front-runner treatment as he neared a maximum level of support. We debated Romney's relative weakness, analyzed conservative policy dysfunction on the payroll tax, and in our AAA video, Andrew discussed campaign finance and the First Amendment.
We addressed the security risks of bird flu research, the surge failed by its own standards in Iraq, and Republicans favor "economic and diplomatic efforts" in Iran. Romney changed positions on the Bin Laden raid, the clock ticked for Assad in Syria, and the neocons smothered the debate surrounding America's role in the world. Corruption tainted the adoption process in Ethiopia, and the North Korean famine was perhaps the greatest man-made catastrophe of the post-Cold War period.
The ACA exceeded expectations, polls are like blood tests, and the Depression killed Prohibition. We weighed the dispensability of HR, became well-versed in efficient gift-giving, and considered doing away with presents altogether.
Huntsman's lame joke here, gospel music in the car here, the Christmas of your nightmares here, Moore award nominee here, MHB here, FOTD here, VFYW here, and the kiss of the day here.
— M.A.
Dave Bry wants to "stop giving presents to anyone over the age of 12":
Why do we buy each other gifts? Why do we go to the trouble? So everyone can have to fake more excitement and gratitude than they actually feel upon opening them? “Oh, thanks for this book I told you I wanted that I could have just as easily bought for myself! Thanks for these gloves, this blouse, this bottle of wine. I’m so glad to have this pile of stuff to pack into the car or check at the baggage claim when I could have just bought it on my own time nearer to my own home, or even had it delivered directly to my door. Here, I got you something, too.” It’s like we’ve all entered into this mutual pact that makes everybody's lives a little bit worse. All anybody really wants is money anyway. And since there is a quid pro quo element to the stupid gift-giving tradition, we should all be getting back pretty much what we’d pay out. So let’s just skip it. Or establish a credit system. My gift to you is relieving you of the obligation of getting a gift for me. The gift of relaxation. The money you would have spent on me? Go buy yourself something you want with it. There. We’re even and happier.
Steve Coll reflects on the North Korean famine:
Andrew Natsios, who worked for a charity that responded to the crisis and who then researched the famine and wrote a book about it, cites “many sources” who described North Korean families that chose to expel older members so the young would have more to eat, as well as “anecdotal reports” of grandparents who voluntarily starved themselves to death for the sake of their descendants.
More on the famine here.
The Dish 
