Interesting articles of the week
- Depression’s Upside by Jonah Lehrer, posits that ruminative thought may be an adaptive mechanism for a more realistic, attentive outlook conducive to working through social issues.
- Is Algebra Necessary? by Andrew Hacker, paints a depressing picture about 33% of american students, who are unable to pass high school because of mandatory algebra. He’s right that algebra is not used by most of the population, and that it doesn’t ‘teach someone to think logically’. But, I disagree that lowering the bar for graduation is the solution. Rather I propose desystemization. Let’s go back to a flexible system of private schools. Historically, they held a higher bar than today’s state-run baby-sitting service; refusing to admit students who didn’t already know basic skills like reading and arithmetic. Let’s encourage responsibility by putting the onus on the student, not some ineffectual administrator.
- Abandoning Algebra Is Not the Answer by Evelyn Lamb, rebuts the above by claiming that it teaches perseverance in the face of difficult material. Also claims the failure rate is the result of poor teaching, but offers no solution (and notes that people who know math go to other higher-paying jobs). I still propose desystemization.
- The Heretic by Tim Doody, reports on a talk given by Dr. James Fadiman about his research into LSD and the case for psychedelic freedom.
- Hayek on the Paradox of Saving by Robert Blumen, shows how Hayek refutes the paradox of thrift by demonstrating that it results shift/reallocation of money and resources so that “the entire system reaches a new equilibrium at a higher level of savings by means of adjustments everywhere else: in labor and in capital; in prices and in quantities; in production and in consumption.”
- Building the Perfect System by Capitalizing on Gresham’s Law by the handle Aristotle, which argues that the fractional reserve system is something we desire. This article also made me realize that any stable long-term system should make a distinction between currency, which is used for trading, and money, which is used for savings. We should let the two float with respect to each other, for we desire different things in each.
- Buying and Selling Strategies by Marin Katusa, a talk given at PDAC 2012. This contained many strategies regarding timing around warrents, private placement options, and insider moves, all of which definitely make a difference for the junior mining stocks. Definitely the best material about how to conduct the fundamental research about companies that I’ve seen so far.
- American Dream Film explains, in entertaining graphics, the origin of our currency slavery to the Fed.