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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: July 2009
A QUIBBLE ABOUT RANDOM PROCESSES.
A QUIBBLE ABOUT RANDOM PROCESSES. David Adler in his article says: “But we are also fooled by nearly random processes that look random, even if they aren’t, because the differences are too subtle for us to notice.” Kids, I would … Continue reading
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FLIPPING COINS WITH A BETTER THAN 50/50 PROBABILITY OF WINNING.
FLIPPING COINS WITH A BETTER THAN 50/50 PROBABILITY OF WINNING. Kids, flipping a fair coin is often used as an example of a random process, with a 50% probability of the coin coming up heads. This article, based on David … Continue reading
COMPARING EMERGENCY MEDICAL SERVICES.
COMPARING EMERGENCY MEDICAL SERVICES. The David Brown article concludes by identifying an area where more reductions in heart disease deaths can be obtained: “A big focus in cardiology right now is to get more heart attack victims to the hospital. … Continue reading
SHOULD EVERYONE CARRY ASPIRIN?
SHOULD EVERYONE CARRY ASPIRIN? There is a considerable effort being made to make defribillators more available in public spaces, such as airports, which seems to be a good idea. David Brown’s article suggests another one. The article begins: “Two decades … Continue reading
Posted in Economics, Science
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THE FIGHT AGAINST HEART DISEASE—”EXTREMELY EXPENSIVE AND WILDLY SUCCESSFUL.”
THE FIGHT AGAINST HEART DISEASE—”EXTREMELY EXPENSIVE AND WILDLY SUCCESSFUL.” I argued here that it is wrong to talk about the increase in health care costs without taking into consideration the improvements that those higher costs are achieving. The quote in … Continue reading
Posted in Economics
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GREASE.
GREASE. Kids, the musical comedy/movie GREASE has always seemed to be about my high school. There were over 4000 students at York Community High School when I was there. There was a socioeconomic split that I was aware of more … Continue reading
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OVALTINE.
OVALTINE. Vikki Oritz, who wrote the article on the Roarin’ Elgin that I posted on here, has an article on the Ovaltine plant in Villa Park, Illinois, which was also part of my youth. Villa Park was next to Elmhurst, … Continue reading
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HOW THE ROMANS BUILT ARCHES AND DOMES.
HOW THE ROMANS BUILT ARCHES AND DOMES. This wikipedia article describes the traditional way that Roman arches were constructed: “An arch requires all of its elements to hold it together, raising the question of how an arch is constructed. One … Continue reading
Posted in Architecture
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CONSTRUCTING AN ARCH.
CONSTRUCTING AN ARCH. Henry Nejako sent me this slide show of the ongoing construction of the Hoover Dam Bypass, also known as the Colorado River Bridge with the caption “Acrophobiacs beware.” In case the New York Times link goes down, … Continue reading
Posted in Architecture
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HOW DO BRIGHT RED MALE CARDINALS SURVIVE?
HOW DO BRIGHT RED MALE CARDINALS SURVIVE? Jack Sanders, who writes a wonderful column on birds in the Darien Times, asked this question. It’s the kind of question that scientists ask and that never occur to me. As with many … Continue reading
Posted in Science
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