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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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Category Archives: History
VICTORIAN HARPOONS IN TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY WHALES.
VICTORIAN HARPOONS IN TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY WHALES. Nick and his friend Jane went to the whaling museum in New Bedford recently and were struck by the fact that whales are being found today that are carrying harpoons that were fired in … Continue reading
Posted in History, Literature, Science
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THE LAKE BELOW THE OPERA.
THE LAKE BELOW THE OPERA. The audience watching The Phantom of the Opera may well think that there are elements of fantasy in the story. However, as Neil Shea points out: “Beneath the Paris Opera House, for example, sits a … Continue reading
MAPS OF THE UNDERGROUND QUARRIES OF PARIS.
MAPS OF THE UNDERGROUND QUARRIES OF PARIS. Here is a website with maps of the underground quarries of Paris from the year 1200 on. “Quarries being exploited (gypsum and limestone) are colored in orange, and the abandonned [sic] quarries are … Continue reading
THE CAVERNS UNDER PARIS.
THE CAVERNS UNDER PARIS. I said in this post that Graham Robb’s THE DISCOVERY OF FRANCE was a great book. His new book PARISIANS is also a great book. It has many stories about Paris artfully told—stories which seem to … Continue reading
Posted in History
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WINNING WITH FEWER VOTES—IOWA AND NEW HAMPSHIRE.
WINNING WITH FEWER VOTES—IOWA AND NEW HAMPSHIRE. It is bizarre that two small states have such a large role in choosing the major party candidates for President. Kids, the way that journalists have determined which candidates have “won” each in … Continue reading
Posted in History, Politics
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CHRISTMAS CLUBS.
CHRISTMAS CLUBS. With Black Friday and Cyber Monday, it seems that Christmas shopping is more important than it’s ever been. Contrary to appearances, it was more important back in the day. Tim Harford had an article in the Financial Times … Continue reading
Posted in Economics, History
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PLAYING WITH MATCHES NEAR A GASOLINE TANK.
PLAYING WITH MATCHES NEAR A GASOLINE TANK. Here is a Guardian summary of events on Friday December 16 relating to the Eurozone crisis. If you scroll through you will see that it was a hectic day. At 5:50 p.m. Fitch … Continue reading
THE EUROZONE—A CHICKEN GAME WHERE EVERY MEMBER CAN BLOW IT UP?
THE EUROZONE—A CHICKEN GAME WHERE EVERY MEMBER CAN BLOW IT UP? I began a discussion of chicken games in connection with the debt ceiling negotiations (here is some of the discussion). Radek Sikorski, the Foreign Minister of Poland, gave a … Continue reading
PRICING FAT TAIL RISK.
PRICING FAT TAIL RISK. Kids, you will note that the “fat tail risks” that are currently being recognized by the crude oil markets—possible trouble in Russia or the Middle East, collapse of the eurozone— are also fat tail risks in … Continue reading
Posted in Economics, History, Politics
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WHAT DO FAT TAILS LOOK LIKE?
WHAT DO FAT TAILS LOOK LIKE? Kids, I have posted about Nassim Nicholas Taleb’s assertion that people mistakenly assume that the probability of most events is described by the usual normal or “bell-shaped” curve. Taleb thinks—as did Benoit Mandelbrot—that rare … Continue reading
Posted in Economics, History
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