13th Selected Links

Some links for your weekend perusal:

1. 'The Straussian Moment', 2007 essay by Peter Thiel.

2. The Birthday Paradox - or why in a random group of 23 people there is a roughly 50% chance two of them will have the same birthday.

3. Real estate flipping in Ancient Greece? I stumbled on this passage in Xenophon's Oeconomicus. Jump down to 20.21 to read the following exchange between Ischomachus and Socrates: "Now nothing improves more than a farm that is being transformed from a wilderness into fruitful fields. I assure you, Socrates, that we have often added a hundredfold to the value of a farm. There is so much money in this idea, Socrates, and it is so easy to learn, that no sooner have you heard of it from me than you know as much as I do, and can go home and teach it to someone else, if you like."

4. 'Against the Social Discount Rate', article by Tyler Cowen and Derek Parfit.

5. Michael Sandel's Harvard Justice course is available free online, and the lecture videos are brilliant and entertaining.

Have a nice weekend,


Joe