Here at Astraea, we have used the internet to teach ourselves many skills and ideas that helped enrich life and work. We’ve also tried to share ideas on our website, such as through the blog and putting our course notes on the website. That was fine 15 years ago when we started, but nowadays on-line …
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Author:astraea
Wall Street taking more money out of your pockets
Apparently a bunch of Wall Street executives is suing JP Morgan for a few billion, alleging fraud concerning sub-prime mortgages. This happened to AIG too. The trouble is that the executives who committed the fraud are not indicted and have suffered little if any consequence of their alleged criminal fraud. It is the people owning …
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Learning with your nose.
It has always seemed that smells have been neglected in curricula. Yes, school children can be stinky, but that is a by product of a high density of sticky bodies. Adults can be stinky too. What has always been striking is how a smell can evoke a memory or an idea. That cranial connection signalled …
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Mens sana in corpore sano, again.
Another study, this one of about 5,000 children, found links between exercise and exam success in English, maths and science. It’s not new science, but it’s good to remember it in this age of obesity and conveniences which allow people to do less and less. Here’s the BBC report and some other relevant links if …
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What men really want.
It doesn’t hurt to ask the question “What do men really want?”, especially since wondering about “What women want“. A couple of articles seemed to shed some light on how men think (Doh!). Not 100% right for everyone, all the time, but a step in the right direction of knowing yourself. There’s pop psychology like …
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How dangerous are drugs?
A new study published by the Lancet on November 1st ranks 20 drugs (legal and illegal) on 16 measures of harm to the user and to wider society, such as damage to health, drug dependency, economic costs and crime. The Economist presents a useful graphic of the results. Interestingly alcohol is at the top. Maybe …
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Big company CEOs earned 275X the typical employee.
That’s a huge difference. And it’s not the difference between the top and the bottom, it’s the difference between the average and the average of the bosses. According to a report in The New Yorker, in 1965 big company CEOs earned 20X the typical employee; today it’s 275X. In terms of productivity and value added, …
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What women want. Love, desire and … something else.
It has always seemed that heterosexual relationships are fraught with tension that is stimulating when young and dissipates with age. Maybe that is because we are giving each other different signals, interpreting them differently or just because we want different things. It has always seemed that “guys just want sex” is a fair generalisation, and …
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Sadly, evidence proves privilege breeds corruption.
It is convenient to assume that people without resources are prone to unethical behaviour, especially if you’ve got lots of stuff. You might imagine that someone who lives in a cardboard box is likely to steal, simply because they need to eat. But the opposite is true. If you’ve got the stuff, prepared to be …
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Have we run out of water already?
The review of China’s water supply in The Economist was presented as a sober economic review, as usual. But the information and data is frightening. If disaster isn’t here now, it is certainly here soon. Why? China, which accommodates 10% to 15% of humanity, consumes 400 m3 per person per year which is only a …
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