Zach Landes

"A far-right Italian party is offering 1,500 euros ($1,900) to parents who name their children after the fascist dictator Mussolini or his wife. The small Movimento Sociale-Fiamma Tricolore (MS-FT) party denies its gesture is racist and says the names Benito and Rachele are merely "nice"." - Zach Landes via Bookmarklet

"I think the thing that trips up most people when they think about the Big Bang, is thinking about it in terms of an explosion, like a supernova or a nuclear bomb. This leads to some typical inaccurate assumptions. * Since the Big Bang, the universe has expanded from a central point. * The universe must be expanding into something, what? * There was a time BEFORE the Big Bang. These assumptions come from thinking about the Big Bang as a typical explosion, one originating from a single point and spewing matter out concentrically from there. That’s not what the Big Bang was." - Zach Landes via Bookmarklet

""It sounds corny, but it bothers me about the country. The country did a lot for me," Carl Icahn says. "I had nothing, I grew up in Queens, I was able to go to a good college, I made all this money. And I feel sad because you do have a great country, it's just sad that the system is dysfunctional." One problem is lack of accountability: "You had very few real, functioning boards to control what went on on Wall Street," he says. The CEO "puts friends on the board, his cronies, and in the end those guys aren't going to throw him out. These CEOs, with many exceptions, are very mediocre guys."" - Zach Landes via Bookmarklet

"Hey Tim, I'm glad you feel I did your site justice. There is something I'd be interested to know more about: What is the involvement of the Danish government in your project? Did they assist you with funding the infrastructure? Is it a completely private, for-profit venture? Thanks!" - Zach Landes

"Well said, Fred. Two points I'd like to comment on. First of all, as regards foreign policy: I absolutely agree with you, and Barack Obama, re: sitting down with the bad guys. When you refuse to talk to your adversaries, you don't contribute to change - you take yourself out of the game. And second, regarding redistribution of wealth: as a postgraduate at the London School of Economics in economic history, one of my interests has been the effect of income inequality (and convergence) on economic growth. If one reads any number of great economic historians, e.g. Sokoloff, one sees that there is significant cause to believe that income inequality has historically stunted economic growth. Is it not better for everyone, in the long run, to have a strong economy? History suggests that keeping the lower and middle classes either lower or middle has a negative effect on growth. There is not only the interest of social welfare and natural rights, but economic reasons to support Obama's tax..." - Zach Landes

please! - Zach Landes