Archive for the 'Research' Category
The value of the US dollar
A summary of how money works in the US:
Congress needs money.
The money it collects from taxes does not cover the money it needs so it borrows money.
Much of the money congress borrows is from a private bank called the Federal Reserve.
Congress is then in debt to the Federal Reserve for the amount borrowed, plus interest.
The [...]
Filed under: Knowledge, Research | 3 Comments
US Energy Usage Trends
In 22 years, the US GDP has gone from about 20,000 to 35,000 per capita while energy use per capita has remained almost the same. Apparently it is possible for a country to increase the GDP without increasing energy use. It’s also interesting that the US and the UK are the only two countries who [...]
Filed under: Economics, Environment, Knowledge, Research | Leave a Comment
There is plenty of oil left
I found this graph (pdf) from an interesting lecture from a UC Berkeley physics professor who had some good data on the availability of oil and the feasibility of several types of ‘alternate’ energy sources, mostly in the context of automobiles.
Basically this shows that we’re not going to “run out of oil” as is so [...]
Filed under: Literature, Research | 1 Comment
Notes on Plato’s Crito
I know very, very little about philosophy. I’m trying to fix this by going back and reading some. Tonight I read Plato’s Crito, in which Crito tries to persuade Socrates to escape from prison and avoid death by fleeing to another city.
If Socrates was so content upon obeying the law and doing what was just, [...]
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Solving the top problems
The Copenhagen Consensus has made a list of the worlds top problems in order of priority. Their question is if we had 50 billion dollars to solve a problem, where would we be able to affect the biggest change.
This is one of those ideas that strike you as obvious once you’ve seen it but took [...]
Filed under: Environment, Research, Science | 4 Comments
It’s a fairly negative view of the world but an interesting take nonetheless.
Hurrah for Capitalism, Its Many Warts and All – New York Times
In his novel “I Married a Communist,” Philip Roth writes: “He tells you capitalism is a dog-eat-dog system. What is life if not a dog-eat-dog system? This is a system [...]
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Mardi Gras basics Part 2: Holy Trinity – Slashfood:
Most every country or region uses a trinity, or a basic mix of flavors (generally vegetable-based, spice-based, or a combination of the two) for a majority of their signature dishes which include soups, stews, sauces, or variations thereof.
That’s something I did not know, but is interesting. Is [...]
Filed under: Health, Knowledge, Research | Leave a Comment
The Flow of a Debate
As much as I enjoy the process of debating, the goal of argument is, in my opinion, to arrive at truth, or if that can’t happen, at least get to the point where both points of view are understood and agree to disagree. The latter ideally only happening in certain cases, for example when there [...]
Filed under: Business, Design, Knowledge, Research, Technology | Leave a Comment
Any Excuse for a Siesta
I am definitely a proponent of naps so any ammo that will help me justify taking a nap is welcome (yet another bias I seek to find supporting evidence for).
Seed: Siesta Touted As Defense Against Heart Disease:
…in a long-term study of Greek men and women, the ones who took at least three 30-minute siestas every [...]
Filed under: Health, Knowledge, Research, Science | Leave a Comment
