JOAO's CORNER

Sweet Dreams

2012-01-23T01:13:00.001Z

Yeah, I know, free will is a bitch

2012-01-20T00:44:00.003Z

Image from here

This is funny

2012-01-19T00:15:00.001Z

Via Greg Mankiw

Melancholy monsters

2011-12-31T22:42:00.005Z

via io9

Get to the point

2011-12-22T22:27:00.002Z

Via 1+1=1

Internet now and then

2011-12-17T00:31:00.002Z

Via Phd Comics

The big squeeze continues

2011-12-11T00:23:00.003Z

As a sequel to this post:

After a permanent cut in nominal wage of 8.5% in January and an extraordinary cut of 3.5% in December, in the next two years (at least) we will have a cut of 14% in nominal wages per year (public sector only).

Will it be worthwhile?

Variables

2011-12-07T23:22:00.001Z

Via Phd Comics

47%

2011-12-07T00:58:00.003Z

That's the depreciation forecasted by Nomura Securities International for the new Portuguese currency in case of an Euro implosion.

Nomura

Via Delito de Opinião

Quote of the day

2011-12-04T00:36:00.002Z

“You can have peace. Or you can have freedom. Don't ever count on having both at once.”

Robert A. Heinlin

Source

Quote of the day

2011-11-13T22:56:00.004Z

"This is not Wall Street, this is Hell. We have some little something called integrity."

Supernatural

Best of luck

2011-11-09T01:57:00.001Z

source

Quote of the day

2011-10-21T20:53:00.003+01:00

"The lawyers I saw there had about as much in common with the man who had defended me at fifteen as automated machine rifle fire has with farting. They were cold, professionally polished and well on their way up a career ladder which would ensure that despite the uniforms they wore, they would never have to come within a thousand kilometres of a genuine firefight. The only problem they had, as they cruised sharkishly back and forth across the cool marble floor of the court, was in drawing the fine differences between war (mass murder of people wearing a uniform not your own), justifiable loss (mass murder of your own troops, but with substantial gains) and criminal negligence (mass murder of your own troops, without appreciable benefit). I sat in that courtroom for three weeks listening to them dress it like a variety of salads, and with every passing hour the distinctions, which at one point I'd been pretty clear on, grew increasingly vague. I suppose that proves how good they were."

Altered Carbon by Richard Morgan

Sargent and Lucas - This is very funny

2011-10-20T22:47:00.002+01:00

Via Greg Mankiw

Quote of the day

2011-10-19T23:58:00.007+01:00

"His face looked back at me on the screen, pale. Scared, but not scared enough. Or maybe scared of someone else. Anyone who bar-codes their employees isn't likely to be the forgiving type, and the reflex of longheld obedience through hierarchy is usually enough to overcome fear of a combat death. That's how you fight wars, after all - with soldiers who are more afraid of stepping out of line than they are of dying in the battlefield.

I used to be like that myself."

Altered Carbon by Richard Morgan

Quote of the day

2011-10-14T23:38:00.004+01:00

“Life is too short to be living somebody else's dream.”

Hugh Heffner

This is the first time I see Keynes on video

2011-10-03T22:10:00.002+01:00

Via Twenty-Cent Paradigms

Economics is everywhere

2011-09-23T23:34:00.002+01:00

According to a recent paper by a University of Helsinki researcher:

"The size of male organ is found to have an inverse U-shaped relationship with the level of GDP in 1985. It can alone explain over 15% of the variation in GDP. The GDP maximizing size is around 13.5 centimetres, and a collapse in economic development is identified as the size of male organ exceeds 16 centimetres. "

Via Freakanomics

9/11

2011-09-11T00:42:00.000+01:00

Portugal's GDP figures for the second quarter of 2011

2011-09-10T19:12:00.007+01:00

GDP decreased -0.9% after a decrease of -0.5% in the first quarter.

As a result of austerity measures, domestic demand fell sharply, outweighting the good performance of the external demand contribute to GDP growth.

...all components of domestic demand decreased, with private consumption showing the biggest decline. YoY private consumption decreased -3.7%, the biggest drop since this series were built. (Note: the next chart shows contribution to GDP growth, not YoY growth)

The next chart is the most encouraging, showing that exports have been behaving fairly well, with the second consecutive quarter with YoY growth of 8.4%.

MOTELx

2011-09-09T22:22:00.002+01:00

MOTELx, Lisbon's International Horror Cinema Festival, is currently taking place. Last year George Romero was here. This year we have Eli Roth, among others.

Take a look.

Quote of the day

2011-08-31T22:48:00.002+01:00

Obama wishes to be president of a country that does not exist. In his fantasy US, politicians bury differences in bipartisan harmony. In fact, he faces an opposition that would prefer their country to fail than their president to succeed…

Martin Wolf

Via Brad deLong

I wouldn't go so far, but...

2011-08-10T20:36:00.002+01:00

Via 1+1=1

Your judgement

2011-08-06T17:26:00.002+01:00

My life so far

2011-08-04T20:11:00.005+01:00

Before College - The great hibernation

College - The golden age

After college, early jobs - The great unravelling

Marital relationship - The dark ages

Divorce - Hey, life is ok after all

Phd Student - The great enlightenment a.k.a I can do all that cool stuff too

Yes, jail indeed

2011-07-17T18:44:00.002+01:00

Via CNN

Blogger

2011-07-16T01:42:00.003+01:00

Source: Dilbert.com

Why the US needs health-care reform

2011-07-15T18:51:00.002+01:00

Via Bradford deLong

Next stop: jail?

2011-07-15T14:48:00.003+01:00

Via CNN

2011: The year of the big squeeze

2011-07-13T20:19:00.004+01:00

My nominal wage cut in January (public sector worker) : 8.5%

My nominal wage cut next December (all workers) : 3.6%

My nominal wage cut: 8.5% + 3.6% = 12.1%

Inflation rate: 3.4%

Real wage decline: 12.1% + 3.4% = 15.5%

Increase in mortgage monthly installment due to increase in interest rates (so far): 5.1%

The illustrated guide to a Phd

2011-07-09T22:52:00.002+01:00

in here

I wish to thank HP...

2011-07-07T21:44:00.003+01:00

... for taking a piece of crap, painting it in black and selling it with a misleading name as HP Deskjet F2420.

Quote of the day

2011-06-29T01:28:00.003+01:00

I can picture in my mind a world without war, a world without hate. And I can picture us attacking that world, because they'd never expect it.

Jack Handey, "Deep Thoughts"

Not fair

2011-06-25T01:21:00.001+01:00

Via 1+1=1

Noir

2011-06-12T19:49:00.002+01:00

Via Empty Kingdom

I have a dream

2011-06-05T21:37:00.002+01:00

Via fyvm

26 robotic animals

2011-06-03T22:49:00.002+01:00

Source: tutorial51

The true size of Africa

2011-06-03T22:42:00.001+01:00

Via Information is beautiful

Pakistan spiders flee floods in web-covered trees

2011-06-03T22:36:00.003+01:00

Via Wired

Free online books

2011-06-03T22:30:00.000+01:00

... in here.

Crazy intersections

2011-06-02T19:34:00.002+01:00

I think I could be lost in here for a week running around in circles...

Via Dark Roasted Blend

Quote of the day

2011-05-28T17:24:00.003+01:00

"All this was inspired by the principle--which is quite true within itself--that in the big lie there is always a certain force of credibility; because the broad masses of a nation are always more easily corrupted in the deeper strata of their emotional nature than consciously or voluntarily; and thus in the primitive simplicity of their minds they more readily fall victims to the big lie than the small lie, since they themselves often tell small lies in little matters but would be ashamed to resort to large-scale falsehoods. It would never come into their heads to fabricate colossal untruths, and they would not believe that others could have the impudence to distort the truth so infamously. Even though the facts which prove this to be so may be brought clearly to their minds, they will still doubt and waver and will continue to think that there may be some other explanation. For the grossly impudent lie always leaves traces behind it, even after it has been nailed down, a fact which is known to all expert liars in this world and to all who conspire together in the art of lying."

Adolf Hitler

Source: Wikipedia

Disclaimer: I do not endorse nazism or anything related to it. It's just that I see this technique of the Big Lie being used over and over and it makes me sick.

Quote of the day

2011-05-11T23:13:00.000+01:00

"The intellectual is someone who has found something more interesting than sex."

Edgar Wallace

What do the Finns have to know about Portugal

2011-05-07T02:14:00.001+01:00

Portugal bailout program (draft)

2011-05-04T21:02:00.002+01:00

Or, to be more accurate:

Portugal: Memorandum of Understanding on Specific Economic Policy Conditionality

Just in case you are curious.

Bin Laden is dead: Finally

2011-05-02T23:00:00.003+01:00

Via Lotusmodern

Photo: Michael Appleton for the NYT, taken in Times Square

I recommend this one

2011-05-01T00:09:00.000+01:00

Amazon.co.uk

A Reduced Set of Nobel Prize Winners in Economics

2011-04-30T23:42:00.004+01:00

If you were asked to reduce the list of the "Nobel Prize in Economics" winners to only three, however unfair this surely is, who would you choose?

My choice:

Paul Samuelson

Gary Becker

Joseph Stiglitz

Don't worry, Africa

2011-04-28T22:43:00.002+01:00

Via 1+1=1

For a dear friend

2011-04-20T20:42:00.002+01:00

Your turn

2011-04-18T22:07:00.002+01:00

Dear Mary...

2011-04-15T23:44:00.001+01:00

source

Yes I will

2011-03-26T02:37:00.000Z

Great Depression Picture

2011-03-25T22:53:00.002Z

An 18-Year Old Mother from Oklahoma.

Via Goodshit

Quote of the day

2011-03-25T22:11:00.001Z

"Governments, if they endure, always tend increasingly toward aristocratic forms. No government in history has been known to evade this pattern. And as the aristocracy develops, government tends more and more to act exclusively in the interests of the ruling class — whether that class be hereditary royalty, oligarchs of financial empires, or entrenched bureaucracy."

— Politics as Repeat Phenomenon: Bene Gesserit Training Manual (from Frank Herbert’s Children of Dune). (via hugonebula)

Via 1+1=1

Quote of the day

2011-03-13T23:14:00.006Z

Ladies and gentlemen!
You've read about it in the newspapers!
Now shudder as you observe.
Before your very eyes.
That most rare and tragic of nature's mistakes!
I give you...the average man!

Physically unremarkable, it has instead a deformed set of values.
Notice the hideously bloated sense of humanity's importance.
The club-footed social conscience and the withered optimism.
Most repulsive of all, are its frail and useless notions of order and sanity.
If too much weight is placed upon them...they snap.

How does it live, I here you ask?
How does this poor, pathetic specimen survive in todays harsh and irrational world?
The sad answer is "not very well".

Faced with the inescapable fact that human existence is mad, random and pointless, one in eight of them crack up and go stark slivering buggo!
Who can blame them?
In a world as psychotic as this...any other response would be crazy!

Joker in The Killing Joke by Alan Moore

A nazi chronology with emphasis in anti jewish measures

2011-03-08T19:51:00.002Z

... in here. It is impressive how fast it all happened.

The Oscar: my bets

2011-02-27T13:26:00.003Z

I've seen True Grit, The Fighter, Black Swan, 127 Hours, Inception, The Social Network.

From this sample I choose for Best Picture either Inception or Black Swan. 127 Hours is boring, but I liked all the others.

Natalie Portman for Best Actress in a Leading Role.

Directing for Black Swan.

Christian Bale for Best Actor in a Supporting Role.

I have no opinion for Best Actor in a Leading Role, but I haven't seen The King's Speech.

Quote of the day

2011-02-25T22:51:00.001Z

“You have enemies? Good. That means you’ve stood up for something, sometime in your life.”

Winston Churchill

Let me count the ways...

2011-02-16T22:38:00.001Z

Via Phd Comics

The world works in mysterious ways

2011-01-24T00:23:00.000Z

Via Lotusmodern

Answer: yes

2011-01-24T00:21:00.001Z

Tron: the early days

2011-01-19T01:03:00.002Z

Via Dweebist

Immediately

2011-01-18T01:24:00.002Z

Via Dweebist

Quote of the day

2011-01-16T01:52:00.002Z

"If the [senses] are continually overloaded, their breakdown is to be expected"

Ewen Cameron

Martyrs

2011-01-03T01:00:00.001Z

A very heavy and disturbing film...even for me

To whom it may concern

2010-12-23T21:57:00.002Z

Via News Day Laura

Chart of the day #2

2010-12-13T23:08:00.005Z

GDP growth in 3rd quarter was driven by net external demand (GDP growth was 1.7%, 1.4%, 1.4% for each quarter of 2010).

All components of domestic demand had slower growth comparing with previous period. Investment growth remains negative.

Exports kept strong growth and imports declined as a consequence of bleak domestic demand.

Source.

Chart of the day

2010-12-13T23:01:00.003Z

The National Statistics Office released last week the 3rd quarter figures for GDP growth. I will post some charts related to those figures. This is the first one.

Source.

The 10 Greatest Apocalyptic Novels of All Time

2010-12-06T00:05:00.000Z

here.

Alien vs Predator

2010-12-05T23:30:00.001Z

Via Newsday Laura

Quote of the day

2010-11-17T22:52:00.002Z

"You all laugh at me because I'm different, I laugh at you because you're all the same."
John Davis

Exam answer

2010-11-11T00:36:00.002Z

Via News Day Laura

I think this guy overdid it a bit

2010-11-10T00:11:00.001Z

Via Steroid Freaks

More Academic Humour

2010-11-06T00:55:00.002Z

Via Phd Comics

How your brain sees your body

2010-10-23T22:03:00.001+01:00

Via io9

Bats

2010-10-23T20:31:00.002+01:00

Via GoodShit

Question

2010-10-14T21:59:00.002+01:00

This may not please everybody, but I like good sarcasm:

Q: What is christianity?

A: It is the belief that a two-thousand-year-old jewish zombie can make you live forever if you symbolically eat his flesh and telepathically tell him that you accept him as your master, so he can remove an evil force from your soul that is present in humanity because a rib-woman was convinced by a talking snake to eat an apple off a magical tree in a wonderland.

Via News Day Laura

Slurp

2010-10-13T23:22:00.001+01:00

Via 1+1=1

Quote of the day

2010-09-30T19:47:00.002+01:00

If you are in a camp and a bear attacks, you don't have to be faster than the bear, you only need to be faster than the slowest camper.

Michael Ruppert

Quote of the day

2010-09-27T22:42:00.001+01:00

“My grandfather did not cross 4000 miles of the vast Atlantic ocean to see this country overcome by immigrants”

Stephen Colbert to congress.

Via GoodShit

wake to songbirds wake to crows

2010-09-07T00:02:00.002+01:00

Photography by Jonathan Levitt

Via Conscientious

Lucky's last photo

2010-08-31T23:41:00.002+01:00

Via Dweebist

Boys will be boys

2010-08-28T23:16:00.002+01:00

Via Dweebist

Repeat after me

2010-08-28T23:08:00.001+01:00

Via 1+1=1

Sentences you will never read in a paper

2010-08-28T23:03:00.002+01:00

Via Blog do Leonardo Monasterio

Source: Phd Comics

Michael Madsen

2010-08-25T00:29:00.003+01:00

Photo by Chris Fortuna

Big tree

2010-08-24T00:26:00.001+01:00

Via GoodShit

Uma

2010-08-23T23:57:00.001+01:00

Huxley vs Orwell: which dystopia are we getting near?

2010-08-23T21:22:00.004+01:00

Click image to enlarge. If not enough, click here to source (big image)

Via The Big Picture

Quote of the day

2010-08-23T20:06:00.003+01:00

In mathematics things are proved; in other subjects they are not.

Introduction to Proofs in Mathematics

by James franklin and Albert Daoud

Still no sleep

2010-08-23T01:18:00.000+01:00

via xkcd

... and now something completely different

2010-08-23T01:14:00.001+01:00

Via Phd Comics

Whitaker

2010-08-23T00:12:00.002+01:00

Susan

2010-08-23T00:05:00.000+01:00

Frances

2010-08-22T23:57:00.000+01:00

Newman

2010-08-22T16:03:00.000+01:00

Cheadle

2010-08-22T00:56:00.000+01:00

Freeman

2010-08-22T00:51:00.002+01:00

Scott

2010-08-22T00:49:00.000+01:00

JOAO's CORNER

Sweet Dreams

Yeah, I know, free will is a bitch

This is funny

Melancholy monsters

Get to the point

Internet now and then

The big squeeze continues

Variables

47%

Quote of the day

Quote of the day

Best of luck

Quote of the day

Sargent and Lucas - This is very funny

Quote of the day

Quote of the day

This is the first time I see Keynes on video

Economics is everywhere

9/11

Portugal's GDP figures for the second quarter of 2011

MOTELx

Quote of the day

I wouldn't go so far, but...

Your judgement

My life so far

Yes, jail indeed

Blogger

Why the US needs health-care reform

Next stop: jail?

2011: The year of the big squeeze

The illustrated guide to a Phd

I wish to thank HP...

Quote of the day

Not fair

Noir

I have a dream

26 robotic animals

The true size of Africa

Pakistan spiders flee floods in web-covered trees

Free online books

Crazy intersections

Quote of the day

Quote of the day

What do the Finns have to know about Portugal

Portugal bailout program (draft)

Bin Laden is dead: Finally

I recommend this one

A Reduced Set of Nobel Prize Winners in Economics

Don't worry, Africa

For a dear friend

Your turn

Dear Mary...

Yes I will

Great Depression Picture

An 18-Year Old Mother from Oklahoma.

Quote of the day

Quote of the day

A nazi chronology with emphasis in anti jewish measures

The Oscar: my bets

Quote of the day

Let me count the ways...

The world works in mysterious ways

Answer: yes

Tron: the early days

Immediately

Quote of the day

Martyrs

To whom it may concern

Chart of the day #2

Chart of the day

The 10 Greatest Apocalyptic Novels of All Time

Alien vs Predator

Quote of the day

"You all laugh at me because I'm different, I laugh at you because you're all the same."John Davis

"You all laugh at me because I'm different, I laugh at you because you're all the same."

John Davis

Exam answer

I think this guy overdid it a bit

More Academic Humour

"You all laugh at me because I'm different, I laugh at you because you're all the same."
John Davis