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- 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.
- PLAYING WITH MATCHES NEAR A GASOLINE TANK. (1)
- Mary Jane Schaefer: Why would the French care? As long as they take down Britain?
- NORWAY’S CHRISTMAS BUTTER SHORTAGE. (1)
- Mary Jane Schaefer: Christmas with a butter cookie shortage–in Scandinavia. This isn’t even Scrooge. This...
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Monthly Archives: February 2009
DID COOKING MAKE US HUMAN?
DID COOKING MAKE US HUMAN? I posted here about speculation that cooking was a great labor-saving invention for early man because it reduced dramatically the time spent chewing and here on how eating cooked meals freed up energy for human … Continue reading
Posted in History, Science
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BENJAMIN BUTTON—THE MOVIE.
BENJAMIN BUTTON—THE MOVIE. I posted last summer about Scott Fitzgerald’s short story “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”, saying that I had just read the story and that until then “I could never imagine how anybody—even a genius like Fitzgerald–could … Continue reading
Posted in Literature
2 Comments
“THE MOST SANCTIMONIOUS SONG.”
“THE MOST SANCTIMONIOUS SONG.” I was pleased to see Christopher Hitchens quoting Tom Lehrer that “Little Boxes” was “the most sanctimonious ong ever written.” The song was a staple of folk music in the sixties. It was taken as a … Continue reading
Posted in History
5 Comments
“WHAT DO THE SIMPLE FOLK DO?”—REVOLUTIONARY ROAD.
“WHAT DO THE SIMPLE FOLK DO?” —REVOLUTIONARY ROAD. Many believe that REVOLUTIONARY ROAD, rather than THE READER, should have earned Kate Winslet the Oscar nomination (REVOLUTIONARY ROAD did win her the Golden Globe). One can see the appeal for Hollywood … Continue reading
Posted in History, Literature
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STEROIDS AND THE PLAYERS UNION.
STEROIDS AND THE PLAYERS UNION. I said a year ago about the baseball players union in this post that: “The union has harmed the majority of their players by fighting to prevent drug testing, not only because the players were … Continue reading
Posted in Baseball, Sports
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U.S.TREASURY BONDS: “WE HATE YOU GUYS” BUT THE “ONLY OPTION.”
U.S. TREASURY BONDS: “WE HATE YOU GUYS” BUT THE “ONLY OPTION.” About 18 months ago I posted here about an article in Harvard Magazine which interviewed several economists on the subject of the American dollar. Most thought that the American … Continue reading
Posted in Economics
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MEASURING DEFENSE IN THE NBA.
MEASURING DEFENSE IN THE NBA. Half of the game of basketball is played on defense, but little attention is paid to defensive accomplishments. Offense is measured by scoring, and all fans have a ranking in their heads of the scoring … Continue reading
Posted in Basketball, Sports
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MICROLANGUAGES AND VENETIAN DIALECTS.
MICROLANGUAGES AND VENETIAN DIALECTS. I have previously posted on how a linguist can trace a person’s language to a very small area–blocks in the Bronx or the area in which the bells of a French church can be heard. Roderick … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
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VENETIAN AND ITALIAN.
VENETIAN AND ITALIAN. “Venetian predates Italian by hundreds of years,” says Roderick Conway Morris in his review in the December 12, 2008 TLS of A LINGUISTIC HISTORY OF VENICE by Ronnie Ferguson. Venetian grew naturally out of late Latin in … Continue reading
Posted in History
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“THE REFUSAL TO BE PLEASED” (COMMENT).
“THE REFUSAL TO BE PLEASED” (COMMENT). Nick and Mary Jane have both commented on my post on Samuel Johnson’s repeated use of the phrase “Avoid the refusal to be pleased.” Apparently Johnson used the phrase with several meanings. One was … Continue reading
Posted in Literature
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