I don't know if he originated the idea, but Jared Diamond did discuss the east-west vs. north-south axis argument in his book Guns, Germs, and Steel. I think most people read it as college freshmen now, but just in case I recommend everyone who has not read that book for a good grasp on some of the basic ideas about…

Winter is Coming.

Hearted!

Don't forget that when parents choose not to vaccinate their children they put other people's children at risk as well. NPR ran a heart-wrenching story about a baby boy who contracted measles from an older child who was not vaccinated by her parents. Both children thankfully recovered but in the case of the baby it…

Strangely enough, your comment is more true than you know. Apparently the "solution" that country employs for homosexuality is forced sex change operations: [goo.gl]

Ah, you got me. I MADE A MISTAKE ON THE INTERNET!

I think this episode really reinforced how much I enjoy a married couple on the Tardus. It is a nice change of pace after four and a half single female companions (Rory joined Amy half way through last season so some of that time was the typical Doctor+female companion setup).

Half-full: It's just a positive spin on an otherwise painful and frightening ordeal.

So now the goal of groups like this is to spread misinformation?

Haha, I know, these government conspiracies are really plainly obvious. I mean, that's how we all KNOW that those miners from your country who were supposedly "trapped" were really party of a conspiracy to distract attention from the aftermath of the earthquake in Chile, right? I am SO glad you see the truth!!!

I have not taken the change to listen to them as I tend to get sick to my stomach about these sorts of things, but if you look on YouTube there are audio recordings of people in the floors of the World Trade Center above where the planes hit who dialed 9-1-1; according to the video descriptions the calls last up until…

There are actually a lot of economists who would agree with you and argue that from a "fairness" standpoint the government ought to subsidize retraining programs and the like. In fact, I know lots of states sponsors programs like that, but the devil is always in the details of determining how much to spend on…

Actually, I'd agree with you even more than you think. Technological improvement benefits all of us tremendously. Retraining people who are displaced by it is the equitable thing to do. However, if it also pushes people into new, growing industries then I'd say it's rational as well.

Sorry. I accidentally posted twice and the editing system is not letting me at least edit down one of my comments right now. A bad mix of labor and capital maybe?

I assure you that firms will not completely eliminate their use of labor. Instead, they'll choose a mix of capital and labor like they've always done. This is because of something called the law of diminishing marginal returns: At some point, for each additional unit of labor (capital) used the additional product…

I assure you that firms will not completely eliminate their use of labor. Instead, they'll choose a mix of capital and labor like they've always done. This is because of something called the law of diminishing marginal returns: At some point, for each additional unit of labor (capital) used the additional product…

USPS could probably be competitive if:

Well, I think it's safe to say that many people feel there are plenty of non-Luddite reasons for wanting to burn down the local Best Buy...

I'm not sure which country you were in at the time, but if that had happened in almost any jurisdiction in the United States and you had been caught later you would have been required to return the items without repayment.

I always thought it was because Apple had a hard time getting carriers to adopt the iPhone initially and so they signed the exclusive deal with AT&T. Why they are not currently on all the carriers out there now that that is over is beyond me, however.