Needing just the right amount of chaos.......

     But if the government itself is a chaos and an absurdity, if it rules without helping, and commands without leading,—how can we persuade the individual, in such a state, to obey the laws and confine his self-seeking within the circle of the total good?  No wonder an Alcibiades turns against a state that distrusts ability, and reverences number more than knowledge.  No wonder there is chaos where there is no thought, and the crowd decides in haste and ignorance, to repent at leisure and in desolation.  Is it not a base superstition that mere numbers will give wisdom?  On the contrary is it not universally seen that men in crowds are more foolish and more violent and more cruel than men separate and alone?

-Will Durant,  The Story of Philosophy

Next..................................................

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Works every time...................................

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Lies, Damn Lies, and Statistics....................

Manipulate the data all you want, but the numbers themselves tend not to lie.

thanks craig

Numbers.................................

“There are 10^11 stars in the galaxy. That used to be a huge number. But it's only a hundred billion. It's less than the national deficit! We used to call them astronomical numbers. Now we should call them economical numbers.” 
-Richard P. Feynman

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Fun with numbers...............

........................................Happy 11/12/13 !

Happy Paraskevidekatriaphobia Day.....................

All you triskaidekaphobics out there may not enjoy today.  I choose to believe it is a lucky day, thank you.

Can this possibly be true.............?

From Greg Mankiw's Blog:

John Lott points out the following: "So far this year there have been 848,000 new jobs. Of those, 813,000 are part time jobs.... To put it differently, an incredible 96% of the jobs added this year were part-time jobs."

Woe the economist....................................

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