The Lounge

I've recently become interested in studying economics, but I don't know where to start. So, if anyone knows any books or online resources that would be good for a relative beginner, I would be glad to know. I'm more interested in macroeconomics here, and capital, markets, etc. Thanks in advanced.

Here is a snipit from newscientist 'Yo' is the word when 'he' or 'she' won't do 05 January 2008 Mark Peters Magazine issue 2637 ADRIAN QUINTERO is a transgender person with strong feelings about pronouns. "Our language really needs words to acknowledge folks who do not feel included in the gender binary," says Quintero, who uses the pronouns "ze" (or "zie") and "hir", because "they have the freedom to mean something other than, or in addition to, male and female". Quintero's mother, Elaine Stotko, shares this interest. A linguistics expert at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, she was fascinated when in 2004 a teacher in her Linguistics for T…

The education system in the USA is regularly attacked for being second class, at best. Many reasons are given, most reflecting the particular bias of the observer - teacher unions bad, parents coddle kids, too much homework, too little homework, too many video games, etc. I heard someone say that we, as a society, don't really want to fix the system, because if we had truly educated citizens, who would buy all the crap? And we do buy a lot of crap in this country. Its a huge part of the economy. Is this a conspiracy of some sort? Are we all complicit? Or is it just the way we have evolved as a society, with now so much inertia in the manufacturing, advertising, dis…

Please note: This is posted in the general discussion section because it is about an upcoming event. The last thing I want is a rehash of this silly problem. That said, we will finally have an answer to this silly question on January 30, when the boys at MythBusters try to make a plane take off while on a moving conveyor belt. A preview: .

Why not? The government should feel responsible for encroaching on our lives, so why not give some of it back?

Has this been done before? Probably. A quick search didn't find it, so I'm starting a new thread. Ha! Post your favorite quotes from scientists... go! Here's mine: "Now we know that we shall never know" -- Werner Heisenberg

I thought it was because there must have been a lot of bickering... but looking for a religion thread that isn't closed showed me that some times they are just closed because they are religion. Are these discussion forbidden in this non-science section under "other topics"? And why?

My civilian service starts tomorrow. :| While the Finnish army service typically takes 6-12 months, the non-military civilian service is always 12 months. (Although with my luck it probably gets reduced to 8 months after I've completed it) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conscientious_objection_throughout_the_world#Conscientious_objection_in_Finland On the other hand after the training period of three weeks it's basically just a normal job that you do for (nearly) free so it probably won't hinder my forum spamming to any noticeable extent.

Does anyone here have a Darwin fish on their cars? I've got two pins, one that I bought myself and one that I got for Christmas which currently adorns my backpack. I must say, however, that my opinions on it are mixed. I find a lot of people find it really offensive. I didn't expect that. I saw it as a somewhat appropriate symbol: Darwinians, in a southern high school at least, are in respects reminiscent of the early Christians in pagan Rome. It pokes fun at overt pop religiosity and the sort of smug superiority that motivates people to appropriate an ancient symbol of persecution to prove their sanctimony on their bumpers. I've been accused of mocking early Christi…

If time is fast; what is the speed of time and how do you measure it?

Sombody just sent me this link to a video on another forum. http://www.albinoblacksheep.com/flash/posting

Ok, so, supposedly I go to a university that is specifically geared for science and technology and whatnot. Mind you, it is one of the best ones in the nation for it, ranked among the top 100. Well, anyways, today they had some winter festival or something, and they did have some good stuff like games, etc. But, it was in there where I saw the abomination: A psychic. Yes, that's right, for this event they actually wasted their money on having a psychic come to a university that specializes science and technology. And even worse, there was a big line for this quack. While I'm pretty sure there were some people that just went to him just so they could poke some fun, I c…

Here is a list of ways that one could possibly destroy the Earth : http://qntm.org/?destroy What this does is that it takes all of the ways that could be conceived and then gives it a feasibility rating. Of course, when I speak of destroying the Earth, I mean blowing it up to bits. Enjoy........... Oh, and why would one want to do this? Well, here's a list of reasons.... --> http://qntm.org/?why

tabellae pro Lilith Written by: Giorgio Martoni On behalf of: The SoloMon Dear Lilith I had previously thought that the southern city of the keys would be the place that would enable us to unlock the understanding of consciousness, however the noise of the city became almost unbearable, Considering the only environment of respite was the wildlife sanctuary squeezed between two hotels. After a couple of months I realized sub consciously, That the Mongolian descendent with x taped eyes had actually pointed up stream when he mentioned urbs constructum super lumen oil, And I had pondered the thought that the stone huts were once made of wood…

Hi all, Anyone here can tell me any link to a website which provides free, non-downloadable movie subtitles. The subtitles should not use any software. Any 1 please!

Short stories for environmental science? You see sci-fi for various scientific thoughts or ideas. Anything of course from time travel to even cybernetic things and beyond. Yet for the simple concept of some post nuclear war type scenario sci-fi based on environmentalism really does not exist. I think the definition of such and science overall have properties far to similar to dissociate and of course giving ecology for example or environmental chemistry for another the environment surely exists as far as people are could empirically concern. Now I have a few neat ideas on short stories and just wanted to bounce them around. One is in which people master quan…

Tell me guys, how long do you think forever is? Or what it feels like? Or something...

hello alls.. ermm,today i just want to bring a controversial topic to be discuss by us..ok? the topic is quite mystery and yet have been demystified with absolute solution or so on..the topic is about savant people...ok,what you guys will keep in mind when somebody talk about savant people? is it savant people can be assume as a brilliant human-being? anybody can elaborate this topic to a perfect description is allow to do that here..

I feel the solstice, the low sun and gathering cold; I appreciate our lights. Religion must honor the physical or it is perverse.

As a Newbie at this site - just to get up to speed - is there some historical reason why the Politics section is "Private"?? I recognise that it is easier to have political debate when all the posters are in one country and are debating similar issues. Even in an Oz-based site I use we have problems with people from different states not quite grasping what the others are on about. I imagine international politics can get even more heated than national ones. Perhaps I have put up some answers to my own question...

I didn't know where this thread would be most appropriate, so I just settled on "general discussions." How many of you guys and gals can see yourself availing yourselves of this new "toy?" http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/life/main/5414105.html

Excerpts from a small piece by columnist Anjana Ahuja in The Times, Dec. 31st: ...."News of a credible, if somewhat cheerless, theory about how science advances. It is not through reason and rational debate that it creeps forward, but by death. Which, when you think about it, is rather obvious:youthful ideas march into established territory, to the dismay of the old guard. Rarely do the guardians of the status quo convert: they go to their graves sticking stubbornly to their beliefs.Only in their absence can fresh ideas bloom and take hold." This hypothesis from David Weintraub "Is Pluto a planet?", and David Schuster, reviewer, Sky And Telescope. There's more: ..…

Highly unlikely I'll be posting on here for a couple of weeks, so just to say Happy Holidays to everyone, and a fantastic New Year. Cheers everyone, Snail

This is the theory of the universe. No, it isn't a theory, it is a fact. First of all, you have to keep this in mind: Anemicpsyche is a putz. I am putzy in every possible way and I will pwn all the putz trophies. Now then, since I am a putz, I am now your bitch, your slave, your putz. I have powers beneath your comprehension and I am one of the biggest losers any of you can imagine. All people on this site will look down on me, and this site will be better off if I was never born. This site will cheer when I'm gone. The thing you need to remember is that only a true moron tries to impress anyone with post-whoring. Now, these are my whines: -my pants are wet …

Laws of Nature, Source Unknown It's a nice article that appeared in the NY times. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/18/science/18law.html?_r=1&oref=slogin