Assorted links

1. How is the Kumbh Mela so easy for India to pull off?: “I asked Mehrotra how this place managed to function so well, especially in contrast to so many permanent Indian cities. “The Kumbh Mela is like an Indian wedding,” he said. “You can do things at this level of intensity only because you know it will be over soon.””

2. Italian fiscal policy, or why expand a Tuscan contemporary art museum that receives only two visitors a day?

3. Are fans of losing teams less healthy?  Or is that result spurious correlation?  The study is here.

4. Threading the needles in Syria.

5. Financial incentives behind overdiagnosis.