I actually gasped when I awakened this morning and saw this. Thomas Schelling, winner of half of this year’s Nobel Prize in Economics (note to the sticklers: yes, it is technically the “Bank of Sweden Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel– it’s awarded by the Nobel Foundation, get over it), was the [...]
Current reports suggest that the death toll from the recent 7.6 earthquake in Pakistan stands at over 18,000. What if it got Osama bin Laden? It’s unlikely, but consider that the shaking was reported to be very strong in Kabul. Chitral, Pakistan, one of the areas in which bin Laden is likely hiding, is closer: [...]
“If we abandon our ideals in the face of adversity and aggression, then those ideals were never really in our possession. I would rather die fighting than give up even the smallest part of the idea that is “America.” –Captain Ian Fishback Captain Ian Fishback, a West Point graduate serving with the 82nd Airborne Division, [...]
At Orlando Weekly, there is a story about an underground restaurant that serves manatee. In addition to the descriptions of how manatee tastes (indistinguishable from possum, apparently), it offers a view into how some anti-environmentalists view the world. Interestingly, the poachers seem to like the idea of a free-market system for manatee protection: “‘It works [...]
[This is the commentary promised earlier] I’ve come across the phrase “Economics is about people, not curves” several times, and each time those repeating it have taken it to mean something different. Some have used it in criticism of the way economics is taught, others seem to mean it as an attack on the Neoclassical [...]
Newscientist.com news service reported the findings of Richard Price, a physicist at the university of Texas at Brownsville, to the horror of all weight conscious people: “Your waistline may be spreading, but you can’t blame it on the expansion of the universe.” “Since atoms are made up mostly of empty space, with electrons ‘orbiting’ the [...]