An amusing History of Economics

It is not always works of fiction which are amusing to read, sometimes non-fiction can make for an amusing read also. This is often true of the fifteen or more "education-for-the-layman" books written by Paul Strathern. Besides five novels, he has also written numerous books on science, philosophy, history, literature, medicine and economics. This one is his stab at the history of economics ideas, written around the turn of the millenium. I picked up my used copy for peanuts in a second-hand book store in Stratford-upon-Avon(UK); it had previously been in the Stratford college library and is a bit dog-eared ;-) ISBN 0-241-14134-6.

I must admit that I was at first misled by the title, assuming it was background material on the 1964 Stanley Kubrick movie Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb in which Peter Sellers played such magnificent multiple roles.

Strathern starts with the arrival of the concept of Zero in Europe (about 1200 AD), the invention of double-entry book-keeping, then the South Sea Bubble (Adam Smith). He goes on to cover ideas from Karl Marx, John Maynard Keynes and lesser men, as well as the crash of 1929 etc. Finally he wraps up with Game Theory, as outlined by John von Neumann (aka Dr. Strangelove) who also worked on the Manhatten Project. Sadly he doesn't cover others, e.g. John Nash ( A Beautiful Mind) in the detail he deserved (Nash won the Nobel Prize for Economics in 1994). The book was written 20 years ago, so doesn't cover the Euro-chaos caused by Draghi nor the brave efforts of Dr. Wolfgang Schäuble to contain Draghi and balance the German budget over almost a decade (2009-2018). But it's still an amusing read :-)

The photo below shows John von Neumann (aka Dr. Strangelove) when he was working at Los Alamos, taken afaik, by Richard Feynman.

John von Neumann developed the nuclear MAD strategy - Mutually Assured Destruction - hence the nickname Dr. Strangelove.

Comments (3)
Jenny (Ibiza) is astounded : "Most people don't even read books any more, and you read TEXTbooks for amusement?" I am a proponent of lifelong learning :-)
Cop Car wrote " Thanks for an interesting posting, Stu. There recently was an interesting interview with Esther Duflo (co-winner of 2019 Nobel Award for Economics) on the radio, concerning research into/findings concerning poverty alleviation approaches. Not a big movie fan, I have been pleased to have stumbled across several movies on the Turner Classic Movies channel during the past week: The Dirty Dozen, Dr Strangelove, To Kill a Mockingbird, Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolf. Hunky Husband spent decades working on or managing programs concerning the B-52 and I spent a few years working dynamics on it, so Dr Strangelove is a favorite. Each time I've watched, over the years, I've had an overwhelming desire to do a wee remake of the film by using a flexible model in the depictions of the flying B-52. Obviously, in making the film, an actual plane could not be used for the shots and a flexible model would have been beyond the affordable technology of the day." My favourite of the B-52 scenes was Slim Pickens (sic!) - as Major T. J. "King" Kong - riding the bomb all the way down to ground zero :-) The marching music as the B-52 flew through the valleys was great too :-) FWIW : Duflo and her husband Banerjee have their new book coming out this month; maybe I'll get around to reading it at Xmas?
Cop Car replied " Pickens was great in the role, especially (as you pointed out) that terminal ride; but, AFAIK, Dr Strangelove was the only movie (of his many, many movies) in which I saw him. Other than Bad Day at Black Rock and Duel at Diablo, I doubt I saw a "western" after the age of 8. I was aware of Pickens much as I am aware of Lady Gaga - without actually seeing her. The music during the low-level B-52 flight scenes was relentless, wasn't it? HH made a few similar flights (NOT over USSR!) as navigator, back in the day. I'm awaiting arrival of the book by Duflo and Banerjee to hit my local library." Meanwhile, re poverty alleviation, here is Reich (sic!, german for rich ;-)) on YouTube debunking the GOP opposition to taxing the super-rich. Re the B52 bomb run : I'd always thought of the B52 as a high altitude bomber; dropping the H-bomb so close and so low as in the movie leaves no room to escape the blast. The UK's low-level transsonic nuclear(W177) bomber, the Buccaneer S2, was a toss-bomber for this very reason.

Copyright ^© Ole Phat Stu on November 14, 2019 permalink Comments Email

The Day the Wall fell :-)

30 years ago today, the Berlin Wall was opened. Probably due to an incompetent burocracy in East Berlin, with Schabowski reading from notes of a meeting he had not attended himself and announcing on TV the borders to West Germany would be open "effective immediately". The border guards didn't know what had happened to them! Thousands upon thousands of East Germans swept across the border, celebrating by climbing on the much hated Berlin Wall that evening. Here's a photo of the thus occupied Wall.

People on both sides celebrated as you can see in the photo above.

It took a while for Germany officially to become reunited, but this was the start. The Iron Curtain (of which the Berlin Wall was a part) was gradually dismantled. Places like Modlareuth (where the border went through the middle of the village) still remind us what it was like. I've blogged about the Cold War Iron Curtain elsewhere, so I won't repeat myself today.

Suffice it to say we are all celebrating again :-)

Copyright ^© Ole Phat Stu on November 9, 2019 permalink Comments Email

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Tuesday, November 5, 2019

Transit of Mercury coming on 11/11/19

You have a (rare) chance to see Mercury transiting across the face of the sun on the upcoming monday, 11/11/19, cloud cover and location permitting.

Rare? Yes. Although Mercury passes by every 4 months, it rarely transits the sun as seen from Earth because the orbit of Mercury is inclined by 7° relative to Earth's orbit, meaning it usually passes above or below the sun.

My little photo at the top shows the transit of Venus (not Mercury) that I photographed in 2004 (not nearly as good as NASA's photo of the Venus transit). But Mercury is much smaller than Venus, blocking out only 1/200 th of the sun's diameter, and so will be much harder to see. Of course, you should NEVER look directly into the sun, even without a telescope. You can go blind doing that. You need to use a strong (dark) filter, I use one transmitting only the H_α spectral line. Eclipse sunglasses are NOT suitable for use with binoculars or a telescope, not dark enough! My alternative is to use the telescope at low power (15*) to project an image of the sun onto a piece of white card and photograph the image there (see above). If you don't have a scope, a pinhole should do the trick in a darkened room.

The transit will begin at 13:35 Central European Time, peak at 16:20 CET and end at 19:04 CET (by which time, sadly, the sun will have set here).
Aside : In 2004 I timed the entry and exit of the 2004 Venus transit (we could see all of that one from Germany) and so got the Earth-Sun distance to within 3% by simple geometry. The size of the orbits of all the other planets (including Pluto back then) was then deduced using Kepler's laws. So how geeky is this, I have personally measured the size of the solar system :-)

So get ready in time and see if you can get a photo of this transit of Mercury. Using the recommended H_α spectral line filter and magnification, this is what you might expect to see :-

Update 11/11/19 sunset : We had low clouds all day, so I didn't get to see the transit from here. Nor was I prepared to drive 150 miles east just to get clear skies :-(

Copyright ^© Ole Phat Stu on November 5, 2019 permalink Comments Email

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Sunday, November 3, 2019

Harley Oldtimer sidecar outfit now restored

My good friend Frank has spent most of this year restoring an oldtimer Harley FLHTC sidecar found as a dilapidated semi-wreck and, I must admire, he has done a magnificent job. It looks better than new! So here are some photos for you to admire his restoration work too.

The Harley Oldtimer sidecar outfit looks new, but is over 30 years old :-)

Shiny, well polished, impeccable, and to my surprise, no oil leaks!

So now his wife, Ulrike, and their dog, Rosie, get packed in the sidecar and can join him on his outings around the local area :-)

The dog is tucked well in behind the windscreen and so is out of the breeze.

He recently got it evaluated by an authorised vintage-vehicle rating agency. Here is his Certificate of Excellence, optimal level 1 (out of 5, by comparison my Porsche is only level 2). They don't come any better!

Well done, Frank, a magnificent restoration job!

Copyright ^© Ole Phat Stu on November 3, 2019 permalink Comments Email

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