katz's comments

Excellent list.

Thermal paper faxes is still very much in use. Thermal paper is also replacing dot-matrix printers in cash registers.

I don't think that publishing research as open access will affect book publishing. The reason for the existence of commercial journals was the printing costs and distribution. With the internet this has basically disappeared.

Books, esp. undergraduate college texts will remain extremely profitable for the foreseeable future.

Yeah. The way they used the photos was kinda disrespectful (IMHO). They used it as rotten would use photos (sensationalist). This paragraph irritates me:

"The human brain is surprisingly bloody. I've worked in neuroscience labs, and I'm used to seeing brains that are stored in glass jars filled with formaldehyde, the preserved tissue a lifeless gray. But this brain—removed from a warm body just a few hours ago—looks bruised, its folds stained purple. Blood drips from the severed stem, forming puddles on the stainless steel table."

If they used a photo of the brain for a reasonable purpose (e.g. showing different areas) it would be acceptable. The way they did it was just tasteless.

> e, but why not use the Euro instead of the U.S. Dollar then? The Euro is not connected to any individual nation,

Yes, but isn't there one European Central bank? That is the problem.

> you don't have to be "smart", you have to fit in. economics is a self-referential discipline. there is no real standard of truth or verity or validity of a theory and hence a lot of bickering even about fundamental questions.

The closer a theory fit to practice (e.g. economic modelling) the better it is.

> those who arguably understand economics very well (say a soros)

There is a difference between understanding macro economics and a person doing dubious and unethical things to get money (e.g. Soros). Soros was involved in many dubious financial transactions and was found guilty of insider trading in France. What he did in Hong Kong may not be entirely illegal but it certainly is completely unethical.

Also - their is a difference between macro-economics and things such as stock trading or currency speculation.

On the other hand - most people have a problem with a lot of economists because of what their results are (i.e. not progressive).

This is kinda stupid. It is much safer to be cynical about strangers.

Also, asking a stranger to "watch over your stuff" is unfair. You are burdening him with the responsibility of your stuff while their is nothing in return for him.

Everyone always acts out of self interest.

Do you really believe that he would "make things better"? He probably greased a lot of palms to ensure that he is not extradited to the US.

He will continue greasing palms (with stolen money) and start again with his corruption. There are numerous examples of this being the case.

A good example is Jurgen Harksen. He was on the run from German authorities and decided to hid in South Africa. He quickly started on the corruption bandwagon again and formed close "relationships" with various politicians.

A leopard does not magically change its spots.

The correct name is Nobel Memorial Prize.

It is not a "bogus" prize - I can assure you that you have to be pretty smart to earn one.

> No, but people's DESIRE for gold can change quite quickly.

Whether or not people's desire for gold and PGMs change or not - they will still desire products that use PGMs (e.g. catalytic converters). Gold has some awesome properties.

Also - the desire for gold is 1000's of years old. Until women will be happy with a plastic engagement ring gold will remain valuable.

> Why did housing prices crash over the last year? Was it because so many houses were created in 12 months? No, it was because people's estimation of the value of houses went down, due to new and better information.

I thought it was because loans were given too easily (i.e. too much money in circulation).

> Gold is certainly not immune to such effects.

The reason why some people prefer gold as a store of value is because the government can't use inflation to rob you of your money. Inflation occurs always when the government prints more money and it serves as a hidden taxation. In the course of history a lot of governments printed money in order to finance its numerous social experiments (Germany, Zimbabwe, etc...)

The problems in Zimbabwe could have been averted if the government was forced to back their currency (partially) by gold.

Whether or not gold should be used as a medium of exchange is up to debate. The bigger question is: What gives you confidence in the value of a dollar?*

* substitute dollar with your local currency of choice (pound, Australian dollar, Euro, Zim dollar, rand, etc...)

Are you sure?

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Bernard-Madoff/45015537510

> But now I'm wondering if, from a utilitarian perspective, the world would have been better with him in jail.

No - he corrupted politicians. That is how it works in most African countries - give a lot of money to politicians in exchange for protection from any legal problems.

This regularly happens in the country to its south and in Zimbabwe (e.g. John Bredenkamp).

That is true. There is another problem: most companies want a person with executive experience in the specific field.

There are only a few people with that experience since there are only a few companies.

In most countries, if the police performs any raid on your premises all costs (e.g. fixing doors) are paid for by the state. I also doubt that the cost of doors is that high (compared to other expenses).

Pretoria, South Africa

That is true. Most users (at least me) install ad-blocking software because of moving advertisements (flash/gif). Why do every site want to give you an epilepsy attack?

> If it's a "mild inconvenience", surely you won't mind paying for n instances, for non-trivial n.

For all crimes there is a false search rate. A good example is a normal drug "bust" or a stolen property bust.

And yes - with the enforcement of most laws there is an inconvenience. A good example is a traffic stop - they check your license, check if the driver is drunk, check if the car is stolen, check for outstanding warrants of arrest and they may search the car.

What is the right number of car stops by police to enforce the law?

CP is more difficult because people can do this without going outside the home. That just means that the police should occasionally check inside the home.

> think that's like trying to empty the ocean with a teaspoon.

The problem is this: either something is a crime and the police enforce it or something is illegal. Just because it is difficult to enforce a crime does not mean that the crime should not be enforced.

The problem with paedophilia is that it is extremely difficult to enforce. It is not as if a 5 year old kid will walk up to a police station and file a complaint. The internet made it near impossible to enforce paedophilia laws.

If the cops have to cause a mild inconvenience to 50 people to successfully prosecute one bad guy - then so be it.

TB is usually a final stage disease that people with AIDS get. It is one of the most common ones (AIDS only destroys the immunity). When you hear someone who died of AIDS or lung infection in a high-AIDS country (e.g. South Africa) you can be fairly sure that it is AIDS.

TB can almost always be cured in healthy adults. The point being - even if you rescue 10 million people form dying from TB - 10 million would probably die of something else.

The best focus for anti-AIDS programs is probably things such as mother to child prevention (i.e. preventing an unborn baby from contracting AIDS from his mother, and providing formula milk to new mothers). The effects of this is measurable.