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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: October 2009
“HYPEROPIA.”
“HYPEROPIA.” I have posted (for example, here) about the problems that people have in deferring gratification. But I also posted here about my brother Elmer’s insight of forty years ago that one can store up happy memories and that students … Continue reading
Posted in Science
2 Comments
THE COSTS OF TOO LITTLE MEDICAL TESTING.
THE COSTS OF TOO LITTLE MEDICAL TESTING. Medical tests are not like ice cream or cake which people will be tempted to indulge in if they are free. Tests are uncomfortable and time consuming at best. There is a lot … Continue reading
Posted in Science
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HARMFUL HEADLINES.
HARMFUL HEADLINES. The author of the article, Gina Kolata, is a good science writer, but I don’t understand how or why the article was written, and it seems to me that it can be harmful. The article indicates that the … Continue reading
Posted in Journalism, Science
2 Comments
BALANCING BENEFITS AND COSTS OF MAMMOGRAMS.
BALANCING BENEFITS AND COSTS OF MAMMOGRAMS. My brother Elmer and I were independently struck by this article—and struck by the same sentence in the article. The point of the article is that “the American Cancer Society is now saying that … Continue reading
Posted in Journalism, Science
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SEEING WITH DAVID HOCKNEY’S EYES.
SEEING WITH DAVID HOCKNEY’S EYES. What I liked about this article is the way it shows David Hockney telling the writer, Carol Kino, how Hockney sees a beloved alleyway of trees, issuing orders on how to look. (“The ash tree … Continue reading
Posted in art, Uncategorized
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COCKTAILS MADE WITH LAPHROAIG.
COCKTAILS MADE WITH LAPHROAIG. Lee Bryant called my attention to the fact that there has been a Laphroaig cocktail contest in San Francisco. Lee commented: “Talk about the acid test of a good bartender.” This site describes the winning cocktails. … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
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TASTING NOTES ON LAPHROAIG.
TASTING NOTES ON LAPHROAIG. When Henry Nejako was visiting us a while ago, he tasted some of the Laphroaig that I was drinking. His comments included: “kerosene”… “creosote”… “turpentine’ ….”pitch.” It occurred to me to look up what some other … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
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A JOURNAL OF REPLICATED RESULTS.
A JOURNAL OF REPLICATED RESULTS. In the article by Robert Samuelson I posted on yesterday, he questions whether increased health expenditures have much effect on health. He says: “But the connections between being healthy and more health spending are loose. … Continue reading
Posted in Economics, Politics
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WILL THE NEXT GENERATION BE DOWNWARDLY MOBILE?
WILL THE NEXT GENERATION BE DOWNWARDLY MOBILE? Kids, in this article, Robert Samuelson presents a plausible scenario (one of many, of course) for the next 20 years (2010 to 2030). Suppose health care spending continues to grow at rates comparable … Continue reading
Posted in Economics
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DEFENDING THE FRENCH LANGUAGE.
DEFENDING THE FRENCH LANGUAGE. Max Colchester’s article traces the 18 month path of a proposed translation of “cloud computing” as “information en nuage.” The proposal was ultimately rejected, but the French authorities have been successful with other efforts to establish … Continue reading
Posted in History
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