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- ARE PEOPLE LESS VIOLENT? (COMMENT). (2)
- Dick Weisfelder: My prior comment was just in the context of sports. Whether or not from Pinker, I have seen the...
- erik: It seems doubtful that human nature has changed. The most likely explanation would be that modern culture gives...
- HOW BANKS PREPARED FOR A U.S. DEFAULT. (2)
- GREECE’S ADVANTAGE IN THE CHICKEN GAME. (2)
- Nick: That makes sense. It reminds me of the stories Pater Familias would tell me about how in Boston the person with...
- Dick Weisfelder: Greece seems to me to be playing a game that Karl Deutsch called “underdog.” While one...
- FOOTBALL PLAYERS DELIBERATELY CAUSING CONCUSSIONS? (3)
- Nick: It was my understanding that boxing gloves were to protect the puncher’s hands and not the...
- Dick Weisfelder: Remember the Roman arenas? Bare knuckled boxing? Such injuries were taken as natural and accepted in...
- Mary Jane Schaefer: This isn’t about football. Or even sportsmanship. Well, it is about sportsmanship. But what...
- A 25 % CHANCE OF A EURO DEFAULT? (1)
- Nick: The fact that this has gone on for so long is pretty perplexing. The Economist is referring back to articles it...
- DECIDING WHAT KIND OF PATIENT YOU ARE. (1)
- Dick Weisfelder: One can be very open to new technology, but also risk averse. The recent debates about how to...
- THE EUROZONE—A CHICKEN GAME WHERE EVERY MEMBER CAN BLOW IT UP? (1)
- Mary Jane Schaefer: This is not a matter of chicken. These are all turkeys.
- ARE PEOPLE LESS VIOLENT? (COMMENT). (2)
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Monthly Archives: January 2009
THE BIG BANG OR A BIG BOUNCE?
THE BIG BANG OR A BIG BOUNCE? I began this blog with a post expressing wonder that radio static was evidence of the Big Bang. What came before the Big Bang? I used to think that we could never know … Continue reading
Posted in Science
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VICTORIAN NOVELISTS AND THE ECONOMY.
VICTORIAN ECONOMISTS AND THE ECONOMY. A famous quote from John Maynard Keynes is: “The long run is a misleading guide to current affairs. In the long run we are all dead.” In today’s Financial Times, there is a letter from … Continue reading
Posted in Economics, Literature
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CHECKLISTS SAVING LIVES (REVISITED).
CHECKLISTS SAVING LIVES (REVISITED). I posted here on Dr. Atul Gutwande’s argument that doctors should use checklists just as house movers, wedding planners and tax accountants do. Today there is a report on a study by Dr. Guwande which tested … Continue reading
Posted in Science
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IT’S THE FIELD, NOT THE CHAINS (COMMENT).
IT’S THE FIELD, NOT THE CHAINS (COMMENT). I had posted here on the football ritual involving the ten yard chain and noted a recent game in which the chain did not reach the ten yards between the 20 yard line … Continue reading
Posted in Football
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IN PRAISE OF BUSINESSMEN.
IN PRAISE OF BUSINESSMEN. Josiah Wedgwood is an example of a businessman dealing with problems that he did not choose. The problems were presented by his pottery business. Bronowski and Mazlish trace his activities to the problems of his business. … Continue reading
Posted in Economics, History
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WEDGWOOD AS A SCIENTIST.
WEDGWOOD AS A SCIENTIST. I bought copies of THE WESTERN INTELLECTUAL TRADITION by J. Bronowski and Bruce Mazlish when our children were infants in order to give one to each of them when they were older. I think it’s that … Continue reading
Posted in Economics, History
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IN PRAISE OF SALESMEN.
IN PRAISE OF SALESMEN. I want to highlight one sentence in the article about Josiah Wedgwood by Judith Flanders. She writes that for Wedgwood, “Selling was an intellectual pleasure, an art form.” I am pleased to see an undervalued profession … Continue reading
Posted in Economics, History
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JOSIAH WEDGWOOD.
JOSIAH WEDGWOOD. The historian Judith Flanders has an article on the bankruptcy proceedings for Waterford Wedgwood that celebrates the accomplishments of Josiah Wedgwood, the man who founded the company over 250 years ago. She praises him for his innovations in … Continue reading
Posted in Economics, History
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AN EARLY VALENTINE.
AN EARLY VALENTINE. This is a report on a paper presented at the annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience. The study used MRI’s to measure brain activity of 17 couples who had been married over 20 years and who … Continue reading
Posted in Science
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“VOICES” USING SIGN LANGUAGE.
“VOICES” USING SIGN LANGUAGE. We are familiar with mentally disturbed people who tell of hearing voices that no one else can hear—in some cases, voices which order them to kill. Lee Bryant sent me this link about a deaf person … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
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