My blog title has been borrowed from a recent Project Syndicate article: A World of Debt. Early 2018, I published my blog Deficits, Losses, and (Government) Debt. My 2018 diagram (obviously) excluded the impact of the 2019-2023 pandemic, which created lots of new government debt. With hindsight, my 2018 diagram contained too much and too little information. Hence,...
Knowledge
Has morality become a benchmark for others?
1 Jun, 2023
Ethics and morality used to be a benchmark for evaluating our own deeds, words and intentions (eg, good-bad, right-wrong). Today, other people insist on evaluating what we say or do. We could call them prudes (Dutch: fatsoensrakker), the righteous (Dutch: moraalridder), or woke (Dutch: deugen). Hence, my blog title: is morality now a benchmark for judging others...
Inequality and polarization
31 May, 2023
Recently, Belgian newspaper De Standaard published an article stating that a feeling of impoverishment pushes voters towards extremist sides. Hence, more inequality is responsible for more polarization in our societies. Also see my April 12 blog: Politics, a belief in (in)equality. For some time, I have noticed an increasing radicalization in the beliefs of...
Why does a week have 7 days?
30 May, 2023
The answer to my question above is quite interesting. The ancient Sumerians used a Base-60 numeral system (eg, 60 seconds). Wiki: "The number 60, a superior highly composite number, has twelve factors, namely 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 10, 12, 15, 20, 30, and 60, of which 2, 3, and 5 are prime numbers." Our Base-10 or decimal system "was invented between the...
Is time ‘a stubbornly persistent illusion’?
29 May, 2023
It's impossible giving a definition of time without including geographical location, gravity, and/or speed in that definition. “The distinction between the past, present and future is only a stubbornly persistent illusion”, according to theoretical physicist Albert Einstein (eg, 2009 book, quote). Quite often, I don't know which day it is. The amount of sunlight...
They’re openly saying it: Brexit has failed. But what comes next may be very dark indeed (the Guardian)
28 May, 2023
The Guardian title: They’re openly saying it: Brexit has failed. But what comes next may be very dark indeed Guardian subtitle: The ‘remoaner elite’, the civil service, the BBC, universities, unions, refugees: anything is blamed but Brexit itself By: Jonathan Freedland Date: 19 May 2023 "It lasts no more than a second, but it is a moment for the ages. Interviewed on...
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