Andreas Kluth, the Berlin bureau chief of the British magazine The Economist, wrote an essay called “Being German is No Laughing Matter“. Here is the beginning of that essay: Shortly after moving back to Germany in 2012 after decades of absence, mainly in Anglo-Saxon countries, I took my kids to the Berlin zoo. The children […]
Tag: national
Assuming You Are From There, Your Character Cannot Be Assumed
News about character: “The Inaccuracy of National Character Stereotypes,” Robert R. McCrae, Wayne Chan, Lee Jussim, Filip De Fruyt, Corinna E. Löckenhoff, Marleen De Bolle, Paul T. Costa Jr., Martina Hřebíčková, Sylvie Graf, Anu Realo, Jüri Allik, Katsuharu Nakazato, Yoshiko Shimonaka, Michelle Yik, Emília Ficková, Marina Brunner-Sciarra, Norma Reátigui, Nora Leibovich de Figueora, Vanina Schmidt, […]
Dead in one country, but still alive in another
“Apparently a patient can be dead in one country, but still alive in another, under the same circumstances,” writes Dr. Erwin Kompanje of Rotterdam, The Netherlands, in his essay “How dead is a brain dead patient?” BONUS (for philosophers): The Shrödinger’s Cat paradox is not exactly analogous to this, but also is not exactly not.
Math Exercise: Security Clearances for Everyone
Today’s Improbable Math Exercise is about national security, whatever that is. The Newser web site reports: A whopping 4.2 million people have access to classified government information, according to a new government report. That’s a far cry from the 2.4 million estimate the Government Accountability Office came up with just two years ago, and, the Washington […]