Category Archives: statistics

Spotify quantifies the Top Beatles Album

Posted on January 9, 2020 by

What’s the best Beatles album?  This is a question any self-respecting fan wrestles with on a regular basis.  What criteria do we use to decide?  Level of experimentation and growth?  What we revisit the most?  The album with the most … Continue reading →

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Book review: Annie Duke ~ Thinking in Bets (2019)

Posted on January 6, 2020 by

Gambling fascinates me and I like stories associated with gamblers. Kerry Packer is an endless source of pleasure for me. He was famously irritated by a braggart in a Las Vegas casino who wanted everyone to know he had a … Continue reading →

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What gambling really is

Posted on December 19, 2019 by

…world-class poker players taught me to understand what a bet really is: a decision about an uncertain future. Duke, Annie. Thinking in Bets (p. 3). Penguin Publishing Group. Kindle Edition. Chris

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Why the west is stagnant

Posted on December 5, 2019 by

Thomas Piketty, the French economist, calculates that more than half of total wealth in Germany* today is inherited — an estimate confirmed by German economists. In the 1960s and 1970s, the share was just a little over 20 per cent. … Continue reading →

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Technology and beneficial job destruction

Posted on November 14, 2019 by

Introduction Traditionally work was regarded as a necessity. This is challenged by constant improvements in technological devices and strategies. Entire sectors of employment have disappeared. The changes cause immediate pain through unemployment, which is the price of economic innovation. Constant … Continue reading →

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Book Review: Richard Davies ~ Extreme Economies: Survival * Failure * Future – Lessons from the World’s Limits (2019)

Posted on November 7, 2019 by

Davies book has three parts. Each part is a case study. Davies’s book reflects global fieldwork, which is done brilliantly. Section one: Survival features an eye-catching analysis of Angola prison in Louisiana, USA. American justice(?) is barbaric,…average sentence for an … Continue reading →

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Football Review: The European Qualifiers Autumn 2019 – England vs Kosovo, Czech Republic and Bulgaria (all away fixtures)

Posted on October 21, 2019 by

It’s difficult making sense of European qualifying matches so let’s look at England’s opponents. FIFA’s ranking system has England at 4th; Kosovo 120th; Czech Republic 44th and Bulgaria 62nd. Translating this into English football league positions gives us.1 England at … Continue reading →

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