Category Archives: sciences

what hath Coxeter wrought

pretty hyperbolic tilings

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the bathtub curve has two ends

Average life expectancy for a population is normally given from birth; but it seems to me more useful to distinguish youth mortality (e.g. from birth-defects or malnutrition) from that of adulthood (violence, accidents) and age (heart disease &c). I’d like … Continue reading

Posted in medicine | Leave a comment

market failure

asparagirl had some peevish things to say about the then-looming New York transit strike. It wouldn’t be a problem if public transportation were open to competition – but neither the city nor the union wants that, obviously.

Posted in economics, politics | Leave a comment

have you ever tried to come up with titles for fourteen hundred blog entries all at once?

A Dust Devil on Mars

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Uni High

My hi-skool’s alumnal newsletter came this week. I am pleased to learn that my fellow escapees include someone more eminent than that guy who writes about baseball for Newsweek, namely the late economist James Tobin, whose autobiography names two previous … Continue reading

Posted in economics, me!me!me! | 1 Comment

matters not reported in the Red Book of Westmarch

Ever wonder about the economy of Middle-Earth? Like: What do Rangers eat, where do their children sleep, and how do they pay for their beer at the Prancing Pony? What do the goblins of the Misty Mountains eat between dwarves? … Continue reading

Posted in economics, prose | 4 Comments

some spine, man!

This week KTEH showed a Lovejoy episode in which the owner of a splendid collection of Jewish antiques is made to crawl for having acquired it by bartering food and supplies to the ghetto of Cracow during the war. Heaven … Continue reading

Posted in cinema, economics | Leave a comment