.Paul Krugman Blog

An Essay on Criticism 'Tis hard to say, if greater Want of Skill Appear in Writing or in Judging ill, But, of the two, less dang'rous is th' Offence, To tire our Patience, than mis-lead our Sense: Some few in that, but Numbers err in this, Ten Censure wrong for one who Writes amiss; A Fool might once himself alone expose, Now One in Verse makes many more in Prose. 'Tis with our Judgments as our Watches, none Go just alike, yet each believes his own. In Poets as true Genius is but rare, True Taste as seldom is the Critick's Share; Both must alike from Heav'n derive their Light, These born to Judge, as well as those to Write. Let such teach others who themselves excell, And censure freely who have written well. Authors are partial to their Wit, 'tis true, But are not Criticks to their Judgment too?

Building cities of the future now 21 February 2013Last updated at 01:14 ET By Jane Wakefield Technology reporter Technology being used in urban communities around the world hints at how we may live in the cities of the future Around the world new cities are being built while those we have lived in for centuries are being upgraded for the future. Scientists Begin to Unravel Gigantic Space Ribbon This 3-D diagram shows the ribbon (grey) wrapping around our bubble-like heliosphere like a belt. Grey lines show the interstellar magnetic field lines astronomers believe creates this mysterious ribbon. Credit: Adler Planetarium/IBEX Team In 2009 astronomers using NASA’s Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX) spacecraft accidentally came across a giant ribbon-like formation snaking its way across the boundary between our solar system and interstellar space. Ever since, its true nature has remained a riddle astronomers have been unable to solve. But now, they believe they are a step closer to explaining this bizarre structure.

The Sixth Wave Prediction is a dangerous game. Not only is it difficult in foresight and easy in hindsight, but it also carries the possibility that you’ll be completely and utterly wrong. THE SIXTH WAVE makes a very bold prediction indeed. It predicts the next wave of innovation. The act of predicting the future does have some advantages, whether you’re right or not. The 10 Happiest Cities In The World The U.S. is a pretty unhappy place compared to Europe, Australia, and South America. That’s according to a survey of 10,000 people in 29 countries from market research company GfK Custom Research. Conducted in 2009, the Anholt-GfK Roper City Brands Index, claims that San Francisco is the only U.S. city to crack the list of the 10 happiest cities in the world. Who else came out on top, and why? Rio de Janeiro is at the top of the list for its many outdoor and cultural attractions, shopping centers (is that really a measure of happiness?), performances, and general amusement.

Popular High School Books Available as Free eBooks & Audio Books Every year, thousands of American high school students read a common selection of great novels — classics loved by young and old readers alike. Today, we have selected 20 of the most popular books and highlighted ways that you can download versions for free, mostly as free audio books and ebooks, and sometimes as movies and radio dramas. You will find more great works — and sometimes other digital formats — in our twin collections: 600 Free eBooks for iPad, Kindle & Other Devices and 550 Free Audio Books. So please give them a good look over, and if we’re missing a novel you want, don’t forget Audible.com’s 14 day trial.

Satellite Data Find Freshwater Losses in Middle East RELEASE : 13-049 NASA Satellite Data Find Freshwater Losses in Middle East WASHINGTON -- A new study using data from a pair of gravity-measuring NASA satellites finds that large parts of the arid Middle East region lost freshwater reserves rapidly during the past decade. Scientists at the University of California at Irvine (UC Irvine); NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.; and the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colo., found during a seven-year period beginning in 2003, parts of Turkey, Syria, Iraq and Iran along the Tigris and Euphrates river basins lost 117 million acre feet (144 cubic kilometers) of its total stored freshwater. That is almost the amount of water in the Dead Sea. The researchers attribute about 60 percent of the loss to pumping of groundwater from underground reservoirs. Famiglietti said GRACE is like having a giant scale in the sky.

Contours of the World Economy 1-2030 AD:Essays in Macro-Economic History By: Angus Maddison This book seeks to identify the forces which explain how and why some parts of the world have grown rich and others have lagged behind. Encompassing 2000 years of history, part 1 begins with the Roman Empire and explores the key factors that have influenced economic development in Africa, Asia, the Americas and Europe. Part 2 covers the development of macroeconomic tools of analysis from the 17th century to the present. Part 3 looks to the future and considers what the shape of the world economy might be in 2030. Combining both the close quantitative analysis for which Professor Maddison is famous with a more qualitative approach that takes into account the complexity of the forces at work, this book provides students and all interested readers with a totally fascinating overview of world economic history.

More About US Austerity Following up on this post, you get an even better picture if you include state and local government spending. Yes, states and localities generally have to more or less balance their budgets — but the feds could and should have provided much more aid, so s&l austerity was also a policy choice. If we look at total government spending as a share of potential GDP, we get this: So overall government spending as a share of potential GDP is less than one percentage point higher than it was before the recession. Now, you want to consider that in the context of the huge negative hit to private spending that took place when the housing bubble burst. Here’s residential investment as a share of potential GDP:

Christian mythology Christian mythology is the body of myths associated with Christianity. Within contemporary Christianity, the appropriateness of describing Christian narratives as “myth” is a matter of disagreement. George Every claims that the existence of "myths in the Bible would now be admitted by nearly everyone", including "probably all Roman Catholics and a majority of Protestants".[1] As examples of biblical myths, Every cites the creation account in Genesis 1 and 2 and the story of Eve's temptation.[1] A number of modern Christian writers, such as C.S. Preface: The War Against Cliche by Martin Amis At one time, "Literature and Society" was a phrase so much on everyone's lips that it earned itself an abbreviation: Lit & Soc. And Lit & Soc, I seemed to remember, had been for me a long-running enthusiasm. When complacently preparing my new collection of essays and reviews, The War Against Cliché, I planned to assemble my pieces on literature and society (pieces on FR Leavis and Lionel Trilling, and on lesser figures like Ian Robinson and Denis Donoghue). But when I leafed through the massed manuscripts I found only a handful of essays, all of them written, rather ominously, in the early 70s (when I was in my early 20s).

A Renaissance in Economics The American President Ronald Reagan once quipped, “The nine most terrifying words in the English language are, ‘I’m from the government and I’m here to help.’” I get the same shivers when someone introduces themselves as an economist. For, in its current form, the economics curriculum at Oxford and other Anglo-Saxon universities is far too detached from reality. Demand curves, utility maximization equations and abstract mathematical models serve only to distort the worldview of undergraduate students. Norse rituals Norse pagan worship is the traditional religious rituals practiced by Norse pagans in Scandinavia in pre-Christian times. Norse paganism was a folk religion (as opposed to an organised religion), and its main purpose was the survival and regeneration of society. Therefore, the cult was decentralized and tied to the village and the family, although evidence exists of great national religious festivals. The leaders managed the cult on behalf of society; on a local level, the leader would have been the head of the family, and nationwide, the leader was the king. Pre-Christian Scandinavians had no word for religion in a modern sense. The closest counterpart is the word sidr, meaning custom.

Review: The War Against Cliche by Martin Amis The War Against Cliché: Essays and Reviews 1971-2000 Martin Amis 506pp, Cape, £20 Buy it at a discount at BOL Since Martin Amis asks readers "to keep an eye on the datelines which end these pieces", it's worth pointing out that I was 13 when he published the first of them. By the time of the last he was past 50 and I was over 40.