2 Cows – Economics explained with cows
Using a farmer with two cows is fun way to explain complex economic systems. SOCIALISM You have 2 cows. You give one to your neighbour. COMMUNISM You have 2 cows. The state takes both and gives you some milk. FASCISM You have 2 cows. The state takes both and sells you some milk. NAZISM [...]
China Builds a 30 Storey Building In Just 15 Days
A Chinese contractor has smashed all records for fast-track construction putting up a 30-storey hotel in just 360 hours (15 days). The amazing construction feat has been captured in a time-lapse video. Chinese firm the Broad Group grabbed world attention last year when it built a 16-storey residential block in just five days. The firm [...]
Living in a city can harm your fertility
City-slickers, compared with their rural counterparts, are wealthier and have better job prospects. They enjoy bountiful food, superior healthcare and cleaner sanitation. But babies born in cities are more likely to grow up to have increased fertility problems according to a new study. Daily exposure to pollution can set us up for a lifetime of ill-health. [...]
Imagine the economic crisis is a pub
Mary is the proprietor of a bar in Dublin. She realises that virtually all of her customers are unemployed alcoholics and, as such, can no longer afford to patronise her bar. To solve this problem, she comes up with new marketing plan that allows her customers to drink now, but pay later. She keeps track [...]
Welfare Britain
Most Britons support the welfare state but more and more are becoming enraged by the wantonly idle. John Humphreys seeks a solution to Britain’s dependency culture. The writing is spidery, the occasional ink blob suggesting an old steel nib that had seen better days and the grey [...]
How capitalism has changed our lives and why Marx was right
Karl Marx may have been wrong about communism but he was right about much of capitalism, philosopher John Gray writes. As a side-effect of the financial crisis, more and more people are starting to think Karl Marx was right. The great 19th Century German philosopher, economist and revolutionary believed that capitalism was radically unstable. It [...]
How algorithms are taking over our world
Computers using algorithims are taking over our world and they are doing it in a far more subtle way than science fiction would have us believe. Behind every smart web service is some even smarter web code. From the web retailers – calculating what books and films [...]
Why we need drama in our lives
I was at a Kurt Vonnegut talk in New York a few years ago. Talking about writing, life, and everything. He explained why people have such a need for drama in their life. He said, “People have been hearing fantastic stories since time began. The problem is, they think life is supposed to be like the stories. [...]
Russell Brand on Newsnight
Remarkable entertaining interview with comedian Russell Brand by BBC Newsnight presenter Jeremy Paxman in which Brand gives a scathing and erudite take on celebrity from inside the bubble. Tweet This Post
Is your e mail killing you?
Overuse of e mail can cause extreme health problems according to new research. A new study by the Radcati Group discovered that 40% of UK men were spending 2 hours a day dealing with e mails and that 62% of men were sending work e mails out of hours. “We’re living through an information overload” [...]
