Rockefeller family The Rockefeller family /ˈrɒkɨfɛlər/ is an American industrial, political, and banking family that made one of the world's largest fortunes in the oil business during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with John D. Rockefeller and his brother William Rockefeller primarily through Standard Oil.[1] The family is also known for its long association with and control of Chase Manhattan Bank.[2] They are considered to be one of the most powerful families, if not the most powerful family,[3] in the history of the United States. Real Estate and Institutions[edit] The Rockefeller Center and the RCA Building, December 1933 The family was heavily involved in numerous real estate construction projects in the U.S. during the 20th century.[4] Chief among them: Conservation[edit] The family was honored for its conservation efforts in November, 2005, by the National Audubon Society, one of America's largest and oldest conservation organizations, at which over 30 family members attended.
John Forbes Nash, Jr. John Forbes Nash, Jr. (born June 13, 1928) is an American mathematician whose works in game theory, differential geometry, and partial differential equations have provided insight into the factors that govern chance and events inside complex systems in daily life. His theories are used in market economics, computing, evolutionary biology, artificial intelligence, accounting, politics and military theory. Early life[edit] Nash was born on June 13, 1928, in Bluefield, West Virginia. Education[edit] Nash attended kindergarten and public school. Nash's advisor and former Carnegie Tech professor R. Major contributions[edit] Game theory[edit] Nash earned a doctorate in 1950 with a 28-page dissertation on non-cooperative games.[7][8] The thesis, which was written under the supervision of doctoral advisor Albert W. Nash's major publications relating to this concept are in the following papers: Nash, JF (1950). Mathematics[edit] Nash did ground-breaking work in the area of real algebraic geometry:
Vincent van Gogh Vincent Willem van Gogh (Dutch: [ˈvɪnsɛnt ˈʋɪləm vɑn ˈɣɔx] ( );[note 1] 30 March 1853 – 29 July 1890) was a Post-Impressionist painter of Dutch origin whose work—notable for its rough beauty, emotional honesty, and bold color—had a far-reaching influence on 20th-century art. After years of painful anxiety and frequent bouts of mental illness,[1][2] he died aged 37 from a gunshot wound, generally accepted to be self-inflicted (although no gun was ever found).[3][note 2] Letters Vincent c. 1873 aged 19. This photograph was taken at the time when he was working at the branch of Goupil & Cie's gallery in The Hague.[5][6] Although many are undated, art historians have generally been able to put them in chronological order. Biography Early life Vincent c. 1866, approx. age 13 As a child, Vincent was serious, silent, and thoughtful. The house "Holme Court" in Isleworth, where Van Gogh stayed in 1876 [23][24] Van Gogh's religious zeal grew until he felt he had found his true vocation. Emerging artist
Freemasonry Freemasonry is a fraternal organisation that traces its origins to the local fraternities of stonemasons, which from the end of the fourteenth century regulated the qualifications of masons and their interaction with authorities and clients. The degrees of freemasonry, its gradal system, retain the three grades of medieval craft guilds, those of Apprentice, journeyman or fellow (now called Fellowcraft), and Master Mason. These are the degrees offered by craft, or blue lodge Freemasonry. The basic, local organisational unit of Freemasonry is the lodge. Masonic Lodge Palazzo Roffia, Lodge in Italy set out for French (Moderns) ritual The Masonic Lodge is the basic organisational unit of Freemasonry. The bulk of Masonic ritual consists of degree ceremonies. Most lodges have some sort of social calendar, allowing Masons and their partners to meet in a less ritualised environment.[7] Often coupled with these events is the obligation placed on every Mason to contribute to charity. History
Pablo Picasso Picasso, Henri Matisse and Marcel Duchamp are regarded as the three artists who most defined the revolutionary developments in the plastic arts in the opening decades of the 20th century, responsible for significant developments in painting, sculpture, printmaking and ceramics.[4][5][6][7] Picasso demonstrated extraordinary artistic talent in his early years, painting in a realistic manner through his childhood and adolescence. During the first decade of the 20th century, his style changed as he experimented with different theories, techniques, and ideas. His work is often categorised into periods. While the names of many of his later periods are debated, the most commonly accepted periods in his work are the Blue Period (1901–1904), the Rose Period (1904–1906), the African-influenced Period (1907–1909), Analytic Cubism (1909–1912), and Synthetic Cubism (1912–1919). Early life Pablo Picasso and his sister Lola, c.1889 Picasso showed a passion and a skill for drawing from an early age. Fame
Law of averages The law of averages is a layman's term used to express a belief that outcomes of a random event will "even out" within a small sample. As invoked in everyday life, the "law" usually reflects bad statistics or wishful thinking rather than any mathematical principle. While there is a real theorem that a random variable will reflect its underlying probability over a very large sample, the law of averages typically assumes that unnatural short-term "balance" must occur.[1] Typical applications of the law also generally assume no bias in the underlying probability distribution, which is frequently at odds with the empirical evidence.[citation needed] Examples[edit] Belief that an event is "due" to happen: For example, "The roulette wheel has landed on red in three consecutive spins. See also[edit] References[edit]
Arabic numerals Arabic numerals or Hindu-Arabic numerals[1][2] or Indo-Arabic numerals[3] are the ten digits: 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9. They are the most common symbolic representation of numbers in the world today. The first positional numerical system developed in Babylon in the 2nd millennium BC. In English, the term Arabic numerals can be ambiguous. Although the phrase "Arabic numeral" is frequently capitalized, it is sometimes written in lower case: for instance, in its entry in the Oxford English dictionary.[6] This helps distinguish it from "Arabic numerals" as the East Arabic numerals specific to the Arabs. History[edit] Origins[edit] The Babylonian placeholder was not a true zero because it was not used alone. The numerals used in the Bakhshali manuscript, dated between the 2nd century BCE and the 2nd century CE. Modern-day Arab telephone keypad with two forms of Arabic numerals: Western Arabic/European numerals on the left and Eastern Arabic numerals on the right Folk etymologies[edit]
Leonardo da Vinci Leonardo daVinci (1452-1519) It may seem unusual to include Leonardo da Vinci in a list of paleontologists and evolutionary biologists. Leonardo was and is best known as an artist, the creator of such masterpieces as the Mona Lisa, Madonna of the Rocks, and The Last Supper. Yet Leonardo was far more than a great artist: he had one of the best scientific minds of his time. The most heavenly gifts seem to be showered on certain human beings. Leonardo's scientific and technical observations are found in his handwritten manuscripts, of which over 4000 pages survive, including the one pictured on the right, showing some rock formations (click on it to view an enlargement). Leonardo knew well the rocks and fossils (mostly Cenozoic mollusks) found in his native north Italy. In Leonardo's day there were several hypotheses of how it was that shells and other living creatures were found in rocks on the tops of mountans. How did those shells come to lie at the tops of mountains?
Luca Pacioli - Father of Accounting Fra Luca Bartolomeo de Pacioli (sometimes Paccioli or Paciolo; 1445–1517) was an Italian mathematician, Franciscan friar, collaborator with Leonardo da Vinci, and seminal contributor to the field now known as accounting, and is also referred as Father of Bookkeeping(in fact,he is the Father of double entry system of Book-keeping).[2] He was also called Luca di Borgo after his birthplace, Borgo Sansepolcro, Tuscany. Life[edit] Luca Pacioli was born in 1445 in Sansepolcro (Tuscany) where he received an abbaco education. In 1475, he started teaching in Perugia, first as a private teacher, from 1477 holding the first chair in mathematics. Mathematics[edit] Woodcut from De divina proportione illustrating the golden ratio as applied to the human face. Pacioli published several works on mathematics, including: Tractatus mathematicus ad discipulos perusinos (Ms. Translation of Piero della Francesca's work[edit] Chess[edit] See also[edit] Notes[edit] Sources[edit] Bambach, Carmen (2003).
The Great Depression, the gold standard and FDR The Great Depression, the gold standard and FDR April 26, 2008 – Comments (8) This is the second part, this time on the Great Depression. Sorry for the length but I just kept on writing, it is a fascinating theme. You can read the first part on the roaring 1920s and the stock market crash 1929 here. The Great Depression (GD) was a period were economies worldwide contracted over several years. The USA was one of the hardest hit, as from 1929-1933 their economy contracted 30% and unemployment rose to 25% by 1933 from 4%. After the huge stock bull market during the 1920s, the Fed started to raise rates early in 1929 to reduce speculation. So, huge fortunes were destroyed in the crash of 1929. Today we live in a system of flexible currency rates. Back then however it was thought that currencies had to be stable and that flexible currencies were bad for international trade. The gold standard forced the central banks (CB) to accumulate massive gold reserves. OK, let's go to the videoclips.
The roaring 1920s and the Crash 1929 The roaring 1920s and the Crash 1929 April 20, 2008 – Comments (11) I'm going to do a two part series about the 1929-1932 bear market and the following great Depression. The roaring 1920s and the great bull market: The roaring 20s were a time of great prosperity and with many technological developments. Of course the stock market also rose. So since the last bear market 1920 the Dow Jones Industrials rose 5 fold to 381 on September 3, 1929. Chart from djindexes.com who have a nice article with more details of the 1920-1929 bull market. The bear market 1929-1932: There were no real news that caused the crash. After that the market recovered until April 1930 when it reached 294. Chart from Millionaires became beggars, family fortunes were destroyed, the small investor lost everything. Of course there were some who made a fortune by selling short like Jesse Livermore or Bernard Baruch. But enough words, here a nice 20 min. videoclip docummentary of the Crash 1929:
Russ Roberts: Why Friedrich Hayek is Making a Comeback By Russ Roberts This article originally appeared in the Wall Street Journal on June 28, 2010. He was born in the 19th century, wrote his most influential book more than 65 years ago, and he's not quite as well known or beloved as the sexy Mexican actress who shares his last name. Yet somehow, Friedrich Hayek is on the rise. When Glenn Beck recently explored Hayek's classic, "The Road to Serfdom," on his TV show, the book went to No. 1 on Amazon and remains in the top 10. Why the sudden interest in the ideas of a Vienna-born, Nobel Prize-winning economist largely forgotten by mainstream economists? Hayek is not the only dead economist to have garnered new attention. But now that the stimulus has barely dented the unemployment rate, and with government spending and deficits soaring, it's natural to turn to Hayek. First, he and fellow Austrian School economists such as Ludwig Von Mises argued that the economy is more complicated than the simple Keynesian story.