domingo, 30 de novembro de 2014

Prisioneiros

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Desenvolvimento econômico

Why are some parts of the world so rich and others so poor? Why did the Industrial Revolution--and the unprecedented economic growth that came with it--occur in eighteenth-century England, and not at some other time, or in some other place? Why didn't industrialization make the whole world rich--and why did it make large parts of the world even poorer? In A Farewell to Alms, Gregory Clark tackles these profound questions and suggests a new and provocative way in which culture--not exploitation, geography, or resources--explains the wealth, and the poverty, of nations.
Countering the prevailing theory that the Industrial Revolution was sparked by the sudden development of stable political, legal, and economic institutions in seventeenth-century Europe, Clark shows that such institutions existed long before industrialization. He argues instead that these institutions gradually led to deep cultural changes by encouraging people to abandon hunter-gatherer instincts-violence, impatience, and economy of effort-and adopt economic habits-hard work, rationality, and education.
The problem, Clark says, is that only societies that have long histories of settlement and security seem to develop the cultural characteristics and effective workforces that enable economic growth. For the many societies that have not enjoyed long periods of stability, industrialization has not been a blessing. Clark also dissects the notion, championed by Jared Diamond in Guns, Germs, and Steel, that natural endowments such as geography account for differences in the wealth of nations.
A brilliant and sobering challenge to the idea that poor societies can be economically developed through outside intervention, A Farewell to Alms may change the way global economic history is understood.

quarta-feira, 26 de novembro de 2014

Apresentação do modelo GSMS-SS





Sabe que significa "Beg the question"?


Beg the Question

Common Saying: To beg the question
Please.JpgLet’s face it – 99% of people reading this list will not know the correct meaning of “beg the question”, but that implies that the mistaken meaning should really be considered correct through common usage – so let us not fight about right or wrong – I will just state the facts: “to beg the question” does not mean “to raise the question”. Originally the phrase was “to begge the question” and it appeared in English around the 1580s. It is a reference to a question (or phrase) which implies the truth of the thing it is trying to prove. Confusing? Okay – here is an example: “why does England have fewer trees per acre than any other country in Europe?” This is a “begged question” – the person asking is implying that England has fewer trees – when in fact, it may not. Another example is “he must be telling the truth because he never lies”. Decartes was begging the question when he said “I think, therefore I am”. Oh – and for those of you who are used to using the term in the wrong way, consider using “prompt the question” as a correct alternative.
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segunda-feira, 24 de novembro de 2014

Política e ordem legal numa sociedade sem estado

This book elaborates and defends the idea of law without the state. Animated by a vision of peaceful, voluntary cooperation as a social ideal and building on a careful account of non-aggression, it features a clear explanation of why the state is illegitimate, dangerous and unnecessary. It proposes an understanding of how law enforcement in a stateless society could be legitimate and what the optimal substance of law without the state might be, suggests ways in which a stateless legal order could foster the growth of a culture of freedom, and situates the project it elaborates in relation to leftist, anti-capitalist and socialist traditions.
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quinta-feira, 20 de novembro de 2014

Conheça a elite do poder do Brasil

http://ultimosegundo.ig.com.br/os-60-mais-poderosos/aldemir-bendine/524e9963bea86fca0d000001.html#

Presta atenção, por favor


Ironia

9 Irony
On the previous list of errors I included Irony as a bonus – it deserves its own place and a fully description so here it is. There are four types of irony (none of which resemble remotely anything in Alanis Morissette’s song:
I. Verbal irony
This is when the speaker says one thing but means another (often contrary) thing. The most well known type of verbal irony is sarcasm. For example: “He is as funny as cancer”.
II. Tragic irony
Tragic irony occurs only in fiction. It is when the words or actions of a character contradict the real situation with the full knowledge of the spectators. For example: In Romeo and Juliet, Romeo mistakenly believes that Juliet has killed herself, so he poisons himself. Juliet awakens to find Romeo dead so she kills herself with his knife.
III. Dramatic Irony
In drama, this type of irony is when the spectator is given a piece of information that one or more of the characters are unaware of. For example: in Pygmalion, we know that Eliza is a prostitute, but the Higgins family don’t.
IV. Situational Irony
Situational irony is when there is a difference between the expected result and the actual result. Take for example this account of the attempted assassination of Ronald Regan: “As aides rushed to push Reagan into his car, the bullet ricocheted off the [bullet-proof] car, then hit the President in the chest, grazed a rib and lodged in his lung, just inches from his heart.” The bullet proof car – intended to protect the president, nearly caused his death by deflecting the bullet.
You may want to check out our list of 10 images of irony.
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Sabemos que ....

This Crisis Was Foreseeable … Thousands of Years Ago


Economists, Military Strategists and Others Warned Us … Long Ago

We’ve known for 5,000 years that mass spying on one’s own people is always aimed at grabbing power and crushing dissent, not protecting us from bad guys.
We’ve known for 4,000 years that debts need to be periodically written down, or the entire economy will collapse. And see this.
We’ve known for 2,500 years that prolonged war bankrupts an economy.
We’ve known for 2,000 years that wars are based on lies.
We’ve known for 1,900 years that runaway inequality destroys societies.
We’ve known for thousands of years that debasing currencies leads to economic collapse.
We’ve known for millennia that torture is a form of terrorism.
We’ve known for thousands of years that – when criminals are not punished – crime spreads.
We’ve known for hundreds of years that the failure to punish financial fraud destroys economies, as it destroys all trust in the financial system.
We’ve known for centuries that monopolies and the political influence which accompanies too much power in too few hands are dangerous for free markets.
We’ve known for hundreds of years that companies will try to pawn their debts off on governments, and that it is a huge mistake for governments to allow corporate debt to be backstopped by government.
We’ve known for centuries that powerful people – unless held to account – will get together and steal from everyone else.
We’ve known for hundreds of years that standing armies and warmongering harm Western civilization.
We’ve known for over 300 years that going into debt to pay for war ruins any nation.
We’ve known for 200 years that allowing private banks to control credit creation eventually destroys the nation’s prosperity.
We’ve known for two centuries that a fiat money system – where the money supply is not pegged to anything real – is harmful in the long-run.
We’ve known for 200 years that a two-party system quickly becomes corrupted.
We’ve known for over a century that torture produces false and useless information.
We’ve known since the 1930s Great Depression that separating depository banking from speculative investment banking is key to economic stability. See this, this, this and this.
We’ve known for 80 years that inflation is a hidden tax.
We’ve known for 79 years that war is a racket that benefits the elites but harms everyone else.
We’ve known since 1988 that quantitative easing doesn’t work to rescue an ailing economy.
We’ve known since 1993 that derivatives such as credit default swaps – if not reined in – could take down the economy. And see this.
We’ve known since 1998 that crony capitalism destroys even the strongest economies, and that economies that are capitalist in name only need major reforms to create accountability and competitive markets.
We’ve known since 2007 or earlier that lax oversight of hedge funds could blow up the economy.
And we knew before the 2008 financial crash and subsequent bailouts that:
  • The easy credit policy of the Fed and other central banks, the failure to regulate the shadow banking system, and “the use of gimmicks and palliatives” by central banks hurt the economy
  • Anything other than (1) letting asset prices fall to their true market value, (2) increasing savings rates, and (3) forcing companies to write off bad debts “will only make things worse”
  • Bailouts of big banks harm the economy
  • The Fed and other central banks were simply transferring risk from private banks to governments, which could lead to a sovereign debt crisis
Postscript:  Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it … and we’ve known that for a long time.
Fonte

domingo, 16 de novembro de 2014

Alturas

Homens mais alto e mais baixo do mundo se encontram em Londres

Um chega aos 2,51 metros, o outro não passa dos 54,6 centímetros: o homem mais alto do mundo, o turco Sultan Kösen, encontrou-se, nesta quinta-feira, com o menor, o nepalês Chandra Bahadur Dangi.
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Proteção de minoria


sexta-feira, 14 de novembro de 2014

Armadilha da violencia

As 50 cidades mais violentas do mundo; Brasil tem 16 na lista

SÃO PAULO – Antes de escolher um destino para viajar, muitos se preocupam em conferir se o local é seguro. O Business Insider listou as 50 cidades mais violentas ao redor do mundo.
Trinta e quatro das piores cidades do ranking estão localizadas na América Latina, sendo que o assassinato é o crime mais comum na região do que em qualquer outra parte do mundo. O destaque vai para San Pedro Sula, uma cidade em Honduras.
O Brasil não passa longe dessa lista negra e abriga 16 municípios violentos. Além dos assassinatos, o tráfico de drogas, guerras de gangues, instabilidade política, corrupção e a pobreza influenciam na alta violência nas cidades da lista. Confira:

quinta-feira, 13 de novembro de 2014

"Esquerda" e "direita" no Brasil

O começo do fim da hegemonia 'de esquerda'
Julio Daio Borges


Desde o século XX que a Europa tem uma referência para o mal, é o nazismo. E o fascismo. Por causa das guerras. Por causa da destruição. Por causa do genocídio.

Talvez por serem ditaduras de esquerda, Stálin, na "Eurásia", e Mao, na Ásia, perdem para Hitler e Mussolini na comparação. Embora tenham matado mais gente. E governado por mais tempo, causando diferentes estragos.

No Brasil da metade do século XX pra cá, a ditadura militar é o mal. E a direita. Por isso qualquer pessoa que se identifique, minimamente, com a direita é logo chamada de "fascista".

Nesse contexto, desde 1964, ser "de esquerda" ficou, automaticamente, associado a ser "do bem". A querer o bem do Brasil. O bem do povo, o bem de todos...

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terça-feira, 11 de novembro de 2014

Vortex

Você tem ideia de como nosso sistema solar se move no universo? Choque-se


Todos nós conhecemos o modelo acima, que mostra o nosso Sol parado no centro de nosso sistema solar e os planetas girando ao seu redor. Fomos apresentados a esse modelo durante nossa vida escolar, o que nos levou a acreditar que ele se trata de uma verdade quase incontestável. E agora que sabemos que até mesmo a nossa estrela principal está em movimento na galáxia, surge a questão de como os mundos que a cercam a acompanham.

Como as leis da física mentem

In this sequence of philosophical essays about natural science, the author argues that fundamental explanatory laws, the deepest and most admired successes of modern physics, do not in fact describe regularities that exist in nature. Cartwright draws from many real-life examples to propound a novel distinction: that theoretical entities, and the complex and localized laws that describe them, can be interpreted realistically, but the simple unifying laws of basic theory cannot.
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Luther insulta

Martin LutherWhoever tolerates and listens to you should know that they are listening to the devil himself, incarnate and abominable, as he speaks out of the mouth of a possessed person.
From Infiltrating and Clandestine Preachers, pg. 393 of Luther's Works, Vol. 40

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Insultos filosóficos

2. Friedrich Nietzsche on Immanuel Kant
“That most deformed concept-cripple of all time.” [via]
1. Arthur Schopenhauer on Georg Hegel
“Hegel, installed from above, by the powers that be, as the certified Great Philosopher, was a flat-headed, insipid, nauseating, illiterate charlatan who reached the pinnacle of audacity in scribbling together and dishing up the craziest mystifying nonsense.” [via]
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sexta-feira, 7 de novembro de 2014

Democratismo


Venezuela

000_Mvd6644356.jpgVenezuela vive como se fosse um "estado de exceção", diz ONU

Nações Unidas acusam o país de torturar e humilhar presos políticos e forçar mulheres presas a praticar sexo oral com seus captores

da recação com AE

A ONU acusou o governo da Venezuela de ter humilhado, ameaçado e torturado cerca de três mil manifestantes presos durante protestos realizados no primeiro semestre de 2014. A acusação foi feita nesta quinta-feira 6, em reunião do Comitê de Defesa dos Direitos Humanos das Nações Unidas, que afirma que o país latino-americano vive como se estivesse em um “estado de exceção”. Esta é a primeira vez em mais de uma década que a Venezuela participa do encontro, que acontece em Genebra, na Suíça, e vai até a sexta-feira 7.

De acordo com a ONU, que diz estar impedida de entrar no país, os presos foram obrigados a ficarem nus e foram ameaçados de estupro. “Temos informações de que, durante os distúrbios de fevereiro, mais de três mil pessoas foram detidas, desnudadas, ameaçadas de estupro e não foram autorizadas a ter acesso a um advogado”, afirmou o relator do comitê, o dinamarquês Jen Modvig, que diz haver diversas denúncias além das 183 violações aos direitos humanos e dos 166 casos de maus tratos registrados oficialmente. Entre as denúncias, estão as de que mulheres detidas foram “forçadas a manter sexo oral” em seus captores e liberadas dias depois.
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quinta-feira, 6 de novembro de 2014

Quem são nossos lideres?


Macroeconomia depois o Crash

Some would argue that the financial crash revealed failings in the discipline of economics as well as in the financial system. The main post-war approaches to economics, based on neo-classical and new- Keynesian principles and modelling, failed to anticipate the crash or the depth of the slump that followed. In this monograph, Roger Koppl, drawing on ideas from the Austrian school and the work that has been done on policy uncertainty argues that the missing ingredient in many economic theories is a proper theory of "confidence". The author is not only able to make sense of Keynes' "animal spirits", but also demonstrates how "Big Players" - often, though not always, government agencies - can undermine confidence, reduce long-term investment, increase speculation and reduce economic growth over a long period of time. From crisis to confidence not only describes the process through which the economy must go through before a full recovery after the financial crash, it also describes the journey that must be travelled by the discipline of economics. As economics students and other commentators question post-war macro-economics, Roger Koppl provides some of the answers needed to understand the long slump after the financial crash. A theory of confidence is needed in any economic framework that is to explain one of the most important periods in modern economic history.
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segunda-feira, 3 de novembro de 2014

A importância de dizer histórias fictivas

http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2014/11/the-psychological-comforts-of-storytelling/381964/
Stories can also inform people’s emotional lives. Storytelling, especially in novels, allows people to peek into someone’s conscience to see how other people think. This can affirm our own beliefs and perceptions, but more often, it challenges them. Psychology researcher Dan Johnson recently published a study in Basic and Applied Social Psychology that found reading fiction significantly increased empathy towards others, especially people the readers initially perceived as “outsiders” (e.g. foreigners, people of a different race, skin color, or religion).

A corrupção de lei

Justiça no mundo moderno
http://www.lewrockwell.com/2014/11/bionic-mosquito/mr-justice-stalin/

domingo, 2 de novembro de 2014

Gravidade

You Know How This Experiment Ends, But You Should Watch It Anyway

You Know How This Experiment Ends, But You Should Watch It Anyway
Most of you know that any two objects dropped in a vacuum will fall at the same rate. Some of you have probably even seen it demonstrated in person. But you've never seen this classic experiment reproduced in the world's biggest vacuum chamber – and you really should.