12 APR 2013 by ideonexus
A Biased Explanation of Foxes and Hedgehogs
How Foxes Think Multidisciplinary: Incorporate ideas from different disciplines and regardless of their origin on the political spectrum. Adaptable: Find a new approach—or pursue multiple approaches at the same time—if they aren’t sure the original one is working. Self-critical: Sometimes willing (if rarely happy) to acknowledge mistakes in their predictions and accept the blame for them. Tolerant of complexity: See the universe as complicated, perhaps to the point of many fundament...Nate Silver provides a very negative portrayal of those who think like hedgehogs, settling down in one field of expertise, compared to those who think like foxes, darting from field to field.
17 MAR 2013 by ideonexus
The Origin of Interest
The international trading became the most profitable of all enterprises, and great land-"owners" with clear-cut king's "deeds" to their land went often to international gold moneylenders. The great land barons underwrote the building of enterprisers' ships with their cattle or other real wealth, the regenerative products of their lands, turned over to the lender as cccollateral. If the ship did come back, both the enterpriser and the bankers realized a great gain. The successful ship ventur...From when bankers would hold cattle as collateral, and the cattle had calves. The calves were the interest.