Новости за 23.01.2014

In his new book, Tim Harford attempts to demystify macroeconomics in the same way his earlier bestseller, The Undercover Economist, demystified microeconomics. Using his characteristic conversational style, Harford will discuss abstract macroeconomic ideas, explaining the most common models of recessions and the difficulty of discriminating between them on empirical grounds. For example, was the crisis of 2008 driven by supply- or demand-side factors? And why do failures of the financial sector seem to have such severe economic consequences? Читать дальше...

TSA has 3,000 officers watching over airport crowds, trying to spot terrorists by picking out indicators of stress, fear and deception.

We all like to believe that, at least in fantasy fiction, the good characters win out because they are... well, good. But maybe there is another, simpler, explanation. Maybe it's because the evil characters are weakened by a deficiency in vitamin D, which our bodies make when exposed to sunlight. Good thing there weren't multivitamins in Middle Earth. The hobbit - an unexpected deficiency. "OBJECTIVE: Vitamin D has been proposed to have beneficial effects in a wide range of contexts. W

You'd think the Angry Nerd would be square in the targeting sights of The Big Bang Theory. You'd think he'd love the show. And yet…and yet….

You'd think the Angry Nerd would be square in the targeting sights of The Big Bang Theory. You'd think he'd love the show. And yet…and yet….

You'd think the Angry Nerd would be square in the targeting sights of The Big Bang Theory. You'd think he'd love the show. And yet…and yet….

Masahiro Tanaka, the star Japanese pitcher who reached a contract agreement Wednesday, got the most: $155 million for seven years, although he will surely opt out after four years, as long as he is pitching well. While the Yankees missed the playoffs last fall, the Boston Red Sox and the St. Louis Cardinals reached the World Series with just two players, one per team, on nine-figure contracts. The Cardinals win with a few stars and a self-sustaining farm system that pumps out impact players every season. Читать дальше...

In his first book of all new, previously unpublished material since 2007, best-selling humorist P. J. O’Rourke turns his lens on his fellow post-war babies. In The Baby Boom: How It Got That Way … And It Wasn’t My Fault … And I’ll Never Do It Again, O’Rourke draws on his own experiences and leads readers on a candid, laugh-out-loud journey through the circumstances and events that shaped a generation. “We’re often silly, and we’re spoiled by any measure of history,” writes O’Rourke. “At the same time we made the world a better place ... Читать дальше...