A Brief Primer On Economists

Posted: 9/11/2018

I have tried many times before in my blog here to characterize economics and economists. Here is an attempt to distill some fundamentals of what I have learnt so far over several decades as an economist.

1. Many prominent past and present economists are not much more than sycophants (German term: Steigbügelhalter) to government power and control
2. Economics is not a dismal science, but many economists are indeed dismal
3. Too many past and present economists prefer centralism and statism while they despise the chaotic nature of free markets and federalism; entrepreneurs; or the voluntary and free exchange between humans
4. Since 1776, economists are still very lousy at predicting business cycles or economic depressions
5. Since 1776, economists still advise politicians on how to run an economy into the ground. They deliberately assist in misguided policy measures to induce the next depression, recession or crisis or they make them much worse  
6. Since 1776 economists still have not learnt or to appreciate more the self healing nature of free markets or spontaneous order to come out of an economic depression or recession

Colossal German Government Failure

Posted: 9/10/2018

A Brief Summary

1. One of the most important responsibilities of any civilized government is to protect its citizens especially if individual gun ownership and voluntary militia are generally not allowed
2. Germans are very proud of their Rechtsstaat (rule of law), but the political elites running Germany for many years have undermined this trust for decades and it has become worse with the dramatic influx of criminal immigrants
3. Merkel has opened up German borders like floodgates in 2015 in violation of EU regulations to allow a massive 2+ million immigrants (non EU refugees, asylum seekers, or migrants) to come into the country within 2 years or so without any planning or procedure. Neighboring countries were shocked by this unilateral decision. Immigrants were treated to a lavish taxpayer funded welcome and cash and in kind benefits
4. Dozens or so murders (plus life threatening injuries)  and deadly terrorist attacks were committed within the last three years by immigrants that either were previously indicted for crimes in Germany or they used forged papers to enter the country or they lied about their person when entering. Some of these criminals were even repeat offenders
5. The German government (federal and state governments) failed on a colossal scale to immediately apprehend these criminal immigrants and to deport them ASAP
6. The German judiciary has applied extremely lenient sentencing again and again on criminal immigrants or the courts blocked or delayed common sense measures. For decades, the guiding principle of the German judiciary has been very lenient sentencing and maximum perpetrator protection at the expense of crime victims (actual and future). These guiding principles have finally come home to roost in the wake of criminal immigrants
7. The so called division between left wingers and right wingers in Germany is a huge and deliberate diversion to distract from the real issue at hand: fundamental government failure at all levels

What To Do

1. As a minimum comedian (Kabarettistin) Merkel needs to resign ASAP. This is by far not the only major reason that this incompetent chancellor has to finally step down
2. Common sense towards criminal immigrants needs to be restored ASAP. Immediate apprehension and deportation would be a starting point
3. Immigrants ought to be required to do work right away
4. Any taxpayer funded cash and in kind benefits to immigrants need to be reviewed and reduced where possible and justified
5. Judicial decisions need to be reviewed and the the judiciary needs to be reformed

In Praise Of The Autodidact

Posted: 9/8/2018  Updated: 12/30/2018

Formal education and in particular academic education is so much overrated and hyped in our and in past times that a correction or a reminder is in order.

History is full of individuals (women and men) who did not have the privilege of such education, but they achieved great things in their lives largely by self education (plus homeschooling).

Thanks to the Internet, we will probably see more accomplished autodidacts in the future. The antiquated system of formal and academic education with its strong elitist features has probably prevented many very capable and talented individuals from achieving their potential especially in science, math, and medicine.

Here is an eclectic selection of a few famous and lesser famous people without much formal education (in no particular order or ranking):

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Edison
2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjamin_Gompertz
3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjamin_Franklin
4. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Faraday
5. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abraham_Lincoln
6. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Srinivasa_Ramanujan
7. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Anning
8. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georg_Ohm

India Is Catching Up Fast!

Posted: 9/6/2018

Just read this amazing story: Two Years Ago, India Lacked Fast, Cheap Internet—One Billionaire Changed All That Mukesh Ambani’s national 4G network for Reliance Jio, which charges pennies for data, is bringing hundreds of millions online for the first time (hope it will not be behind a paywall; I was able to read whole story, but not a 2nd time)

India is catching up fast! Great story! Great entrepreneur! All this at a truly breathtaking speed! An economic miracle! Two thumbs up!

Some salient quotes from the article (emphasis added; risking copyright issues):

1. “India’s richest man is catapulting hundreds of millions of poor people straight into the mobile internet age.”
   [This is not an exaggeration]
2. “Mukesh Ambani, head of Reliance Industries, ... one of India’s largest conglomerates, has shelled out $35 billion of the company’s money to blanket the South Asian nation with its first all-4G network”
3. “Jio, which means “to live” in Hindi, has signed up 215 million subscribers since it went live in 2016, making it India’s No. 4 mobile provider, after Bharti Airtel Ltd. , with 345 million, Vodafone Group PLC and Idea Cellular Ltd.”
   [Competition is good!]
4. “Some rivals began rolling out 4G services in some cities, but Mr. Ambani wanted to build a network that would also cover more than 18,000 cities and towns and 200,000 villages, touching some places that didn’t have electricity yet. That required more than 200,000 cell towers and 150,000 miles of high-tech fiber-optic cable, ...”
5. “At the launch of service in September 2016, Jio made phone calls and text messages free for subscribers, and made unlimited data free for the first three months, eventually extending it to six months. After that, Jio’s data price would be a quarter the industry average.”
6. “Jio transmitted more data in the first year of its operation than any carrier ever world-wide, … . India last year surpassed the U.S. in the number of apps downloaded from the Google Play store, …. Monthly data traffic in India per user has jumped 570% in the two years since Jio launched ...”
7. “On a recent day at Jio’s sprawling tree-lined headquarters on the outskirts of Mumbai, its young staff of more than 25,000 … In one men’s bathroom, a sign on the mirror said, “You are looking at an innovator!””
   [What does the mirror in the ladies restroom say? Perhaps, you are looking at an entrepreneur?]

What People Do For Protein!

Posted: 9/5/2018

Just have seen these two odd balls at a local grocery store (not sure I would like any of them):

Unflavored bulletproof collagen based protein

Pure bone broth protein

The Sneezing Gene Must Go!

Posted: 9/5/2018  Revised: 5/3/2019

Very high up on my wish list of genes to eliminate from the human genome! CRISPR to the rescue!

This wish is nothing to sneeze at (no pun intended)!

On the lighter side of life!

Nitrogen & Cancer Diagnostics

Posted: 9/4/2018

Motto: Cancer is history!

Trigger

Just read Disrupted Nitrogen Metabolism Might Spell Cancer Tests show that too little of this basic element is as problematic as too much.

Here is the link to the scientific paper: Urea Cycle Dysregulation Generates Clinically Relevant Genomic and Biochemical Signatures

This article is about urea cycle dysregulation (UCD; increases & decreases of urea levels), which is common in multiple cancers. UCD increases leads to mutation bias.  UCD serves as a biomarker in cancer patients’ bio-fluids. “Taken together, our findings demonstrate that UCD is a common feature of tumors that profoundly affects carcinogenesis, mutagenesis, and immunotherapy response.”

“These pyrimidine-related mutations are a double-edged sword. On the one hand, they render the cancer more aggressive, reducing patients’ survival, but they also generate protein fragments that make the tumor more “sensitive” than average to the impact of the immune system. Therefore, tumors with a dysregulated urea cycle are more likely to be susceptible to immunotherapy” (emphasis added)

As always, presuming this research will be confirmed.

Significance

Caveat: I am not an expert!

1. This research may lead to fairly simple and practical diagnostics for multiple different cancers (e.g. liver, melanoma)
2. Possibly, early detection of multiple multiple different cancers
3. Possibly, a way to make multiple different cancers more responsive to immunotherapy
4. Possibly, a way to check the effectiveness of a immunotherapy
5. Possibly, new treatments based on induced urea cycle dysregulation

Fascinating New Research On Microglia

Posted: 9/4/2018

Trigger

Just read The brain's tiny thrill-seekers.

Here is the original press release of the Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine: The brain’s tiny thrill-seekers Microglia, the immune cells of the central nervous system, differ in male and female mice. MDC researchers report on the sex-specific features in Cell Reports. Their findings could change how we treat neurological diseases.

Here is the scientific paper: Transcriptional and Translational Differences of Microglia from Male and Female Brains. Here is the link to the PDF file.

The headline of this article is very poorly chosen as if sensationalism or feminism were driving it. Presuming, the findings of this new research will be confirmed.

“Microglia are the primary immune cells of the central nervous system [in particular, the brain], similar to peripheral macrophages.” (Wikipedia)

Significance

Caveat, I am not an expert!

1. Brain differences between males and female mice exist. The researchers actually found a surprising variety of differences (e.g. size of cells, activation & responses, protein regulation etc.). Confirmation of human differences pending
2. These findings could lead to a better understanding why the life expectancy between males and females are different for biological reasons
3. Better treatments for sex-specific differences in psychiatric and neurological disorders
4. One day, perhaps the human microglia cells of males and females will be merged to get the best of both worlds

Can AI Tell Whether You Will Be A Future Killer?

Posted: 9/3/2018

Just read this article: This new AI can track 200 eye movements to determine your personality traits (Science paper is here)

To quote (emphasis added):

1. “Using over 200 physical behaviours, such as the frequency with which subjects blinked, the researchers established connections between eye movements and personality traits.”
2. “Using a state-of-the-art machine learning method and a rich set of features encoding different eye movement characteristics, we were able to reliably predict four of the Big Five personality traits (neuroticism, extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness) as well as perceptual curiosity only from eye movements.”
3. “Our findings demonstrate a considerable influence of personality on everyday eye movement control, thereby complementing earlier studies in laboratory settings. ”
4. “Studies reporting relationships between personality traits and eye movements suggest that people with similar traits tend to move their eyes in similar ways.”

Unfortunately, the sample population with only 42 participants is very small.

To take this a few steps further, perhaps as early as within a few years we would possibly be able if a person has a propensity to become a killer if not treated. Thus children could be screened early on etc.

If this is no or little hype, then mind reading etc. is achievable within a generation.

Julie d'Aubigny - Swordswoman & Opera Singer

Posted: 9/1/2018

Trigger

Just watched this very interesting documentary about the history of dueling on YouTube.

Did you know there were also women who would duel each other?

Did you know there were women who dueled men?

Mademoiselle Maupin

Was I stunned to learn in the above video there was even a woman, i.e. Julie d’Aubigny (1670/1673–1707), who dueled in disguise three man at the same time and she prevailed victorious. What a story! Unfortunately, the above video only mentions her name briefly as La Maupin. Not much background about this woman, who was  apparently famous in her time for her “tumultuous career and flamboyant life” is given. It took me a little while to figure out who she was (see my sources below).

She is also renowned for her very beautiful voice as an opera singer in Paris.

Here is a salient excerpt about her upbringing: “..., his [father] views on the proper education of women was not. He raised his daughter in much the ways that the royal pages were trained in the household of the Comte d'Armagnac. She was instructed in writing, dancing, grammar, and drawing, and d'Aubigny [her father] himself trained her in the art of the sword. He seems to have thought that training with rapier and foil was the only way that one could be safe upon the streets of Paris, and determined to see his child safe, regardless of her sex.” (Source 3; emphasis added)

Behind many accomplished women you find men who supported them.

Wish, I had more time to do research about the life of this woman.

Motto: Women, who dared succeeded!

Sources:

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julie_d%27Aubigny
2. http://www.badassoftheweek.com/lamaupin.html
3. http://www.eldacur.com/~brons/Maupin/LaMaupin.html