If for some reason you are trying to look up the average heights of people in various countries, you’ll quickly find that the tallest countries are in northern Europe or the Balkans, where men are just over 6 feet on average and women are around 5″7. The shortest are certain poor countries, such as Bolivia,Continue reading “Countries’ True Heights”
A Pan-Canadian NFL Team
Canada does not have a single stadium that would be suitable for an NFL franchise. Canada does, however, have four stadiums that are not too unsuitable: Montreal’s Olympic Stadium, Edmonton’s Commonwealth Stadium, Vancouver’s BC Place, and Toronto’s Rogers Centre. Instead of a city like Toronto spending $1 billion or so on a new stadium inContinue reading “A Pan-Canadian NFL Team”
A New Baseline for the NBA: Staying In Bounds Behind the Net
The NBA has to decide if it wants to put its baseline courtside seats and cameramen as close to the net as they used to be before Covid. Having more open space this season may be allowing players to drive at the net with more speed and less risk of injury. But, of course, keepingContinue reading “A New Baseline for the NBA: Staying In Bounds Behind the Net”
Back-of-the-Envelope World City
1000 square feet per person, for an apartment with a large balcony, is very comfortable. For 10 billion people to have 1000 square feet is 10 trillion square feet. With 10-story buildings, 10 trillion square feet would require 1 trillion square feet of land. 1 trillion square feet is 92,900 square km…let’s round thatContinue reading “Back-of-the-Envelope World City”
Earthquakes
This article is about earthquakes and other disasters. I hope it’s informative, rather than just morbid or ill-timed or pointless.. With an estimated 144,000 deaths so far as a direct result of the Covid-19 virus, this is the first disaster in the past decade to have killed at least 50,000 people. However, it is theContinue reading “Earthquakes”
Solar-Based Space Power
Hello! I hope you are all doing as well as possible right now. Since many of us are stuck inside for the time being, I’m going to try to revive this blog a bit. For this first post, let’s talk about space-based solar power. The idea is a popular one; it is exciting (outer space!)Continue reading “Solar-Based Space Power”
2019 Year in Review: GDP Growth
An in-depth version of this article was originally published on Rosa and Roubini Associates GDP can often be a misleading measurement, and a year can sometimes be a misleadingly short period of time to measure. A review of a past year’s GDP growth trends may nevertheless serve as a useful starting point for understanding theContinue reading “2019 Year in Review: GDP Growth”
The Mezzanine
What if, instead of building subway mezzanines underground, we put them at surface level, creating the space to do so by preventing automobiles from passing directly above each subway station? Eliminating underground mezzanines may become more viable as passengers pay for their subway tickets digitally rather than via fare booths or turnstiles If each car-freeContinue reading “The Mezzanine “
The Double Double
Imagine there existed a Narrow Tram: a streetcar or light rail train that is only about half as wide as the streetcars and LRTs most cities use today. Narrow trams could fit more easily on narrow streets where there is not otherwise room for a transit-only lane. They might also squeeze into unused edges ofContinue reading “The Double Double”
Two Half-Baked Montreal Expos Stadium Ideas
The Washington ex-Pos won the World Series earlier this week, at the end of a very exciting playoff run. It would be nice if Montreal could get a team again: hopefully they will take Tampa Bay’s, and so join their neighbours Toronto, Boston, New York, and Baltimore inside the American League East. If Montreal decidesContinue reading “Two Half-Baked Montreal Expos Stadium Ideas”
Future Economics 