Category Archives: amusements

amusements, beliefs, quotes, science, thoughts

Quotes of the Week

The usual eclectic and eccentric mix this week …

If you can’t see the bright side of life … then polish the dull side.

Wear short sleeves … Support your right to bare arms!
Thoughts of Angel

The very concept of “average” necessarily implies variability.
Emily Nakoski, On monkeys, bullshit, and scale

I hold this truth to be self-evident, that a debt crisis cannot be resolved with more debt.
Hellasious on Quantum Economics

It seems to me that our three basic needs, for food and security and love, are so mixed and mingled and entwined that we cannot straightly think of one without the others.
MFK Fisher quoted in Why Do People Eat Too Much?

Ponder less on what you yourself perhaps think than on what will be the thoughts of the majority of others who, carried away by your authority or your reasons, become persuaded that the terrestrial globe moves among the planets. They will conclude at first that, if the earth is doubtless one of the planets and also has inhabitants, then it is well to believe that inhabitants exist on other planets and are not lacking in the fixed stars, that they are even of a superior nature and in proportion as the other stars surpass the earth in size and perfection. This will raise doubts about Genesis, which says that the earth was made before the stars and that they were created on the fourth day to illuminate the earth … then in turn the entire economy of the Word incarnate and of scriptural truth will be rendered suspect.
17th-century Rector of the College of Dijon writing to the priest-scientist Pierre Gassendi. With thanks to Barnaby Page.

amusements, current affairs, science

Quantum Economics

This is an old one, but given the current dire situation of a good proportion of the Euro-zone countries, it seems strangely apposite — again!

Quantum Economics

The discussion of the creation of money and debt puts me in mind of the creation of virtual particle/antiparticle pairs in the vacuum. I wonder how many other Quantum Physics concepts can be applied to money.

Cash is not continuous but exists in discreet levels. The smallest quantum of money is called the Plank Penny.

Like energy and matter, money can be converted into things and vice versa. However during the conversion some money is always lost to a form of entropy called VAT.

It is not possible to be absolutely sure of both where your money is and how much it is worth. Finding out how much your money is really worth involves spending it which destroys the money. This is called the Uncertainty Principle.

Large accumulations of money distort the economic space around them producing an effect comparable to gravity. This is called the Million Pound Note effect.

Large accumulations of debt (anti-money) also have the effect of attracting more debt. Eventually the debt can collapse under its own weight forming a black hole. The space near a black hole is characterised by strong economic distortions such as hyperinflation and large amounts of spin.

The three laws of thermodynamics, apply equally to economics:
1. you can’t win
2. you can’t break even
3. you can’t get out of the game.

And the final reason why economics is like quantum physics? If you think you understand it, then you don’t really understand it at all.


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amusements

And there's yet more …

I just don’t know where our local auction house finds this stuff, but here’s a further selection of oddities from their latest sale.

A diamond and cabochon ruby nappy pin
[For the man who has everything]

A miniature of Nivrutti said to be by Hagargrundji

An advertising print dated 1903 showing a policeman on a horse drinking Cadbury’s cocoa “Most Refreshing”
[I knew that horses drink water, but not cocoa!]

A bottle of Nuits St Georges Grand Vin de la Cote D’Or 1955, a 2nd edition ‘The Heroes at the Victoria Cross’ painted by Harry Payne, twelve reliefs portraying the various deeds of daring valour performed by British soldiers from the Crimean War onwards, an old decorator’s handbook and a Tegamsee Bavarian doll, etc.

A George V silver square nut dish and an American nut dish similar …
[Ooo-errr Missus]

South American embroidered ties and carved nuts …
[Painful]

Five old metal underground signs, – via Bank, via Charing X, Northern Line, etc.

Two knob kerries, probably Zulu, each with two bands of plaited copper …
[And there was I thinking knob kerries were some sort of Scotch rock bun]

An important taxidermy specimen of a quetzal, mounted upon a branch rooted in moss, grasses and dead leaves, the glazed case with label of James Gardner …

A superb full length beaver fur coat, double breasted, half belt, pocket flaps
[Snigger]

A fantastic lot … including a Beswick robin, a Sylvac bowl, a large quantity of tea wares including Gladstone china Country Garden pattern, tea cups and saucers, vases, tureens, Coronation mug, ginger jar, balance scales, an old mincer, copper kettle, wooden elephants, Mrs Beeton’s Everyday Cookery, gardening book, a book by Vitalogy, CDs, a mobile record player, a Morris 1000, a metronome, handbags, Chinese figures, a wicker basket, silk scarf and fabrics, board games, scents, etc.

A stuffed otter and a stuffed otter head, the latter mounted on an oak board … in poor condition

A Brixton picnic hamper with original fittings …
[Is this a new euphemism for an Italian violin case?]

An electric single bed with mattress and frame
[Interesting variant on an electric fence! Presumably it’s to ensure your teenagers don’t misbehave?]