D.N.A. ::{{deadly number arts}}::
by {@merica::} {::inj@}
Art of evasion
The first step to avoiding an attack is recognizing it. Before any training begins in another magic set, the mystical art of evasion must be learned well. The number ninja walks an invisible world, and in this world lie perils both natural and man-made.
First lesson:
The surface world appears passively, mostly seen and heard.
The number ninja must take an active role to navigate the invisible.
Reaching out, making contact between reality and your mind is a necessary step on the way to harmony.
Ninjas must question and verify things on a daily basis.
Money mojo
Statistics & Money
Statistics come from the CIA World Factbook.
Countries often compete to have the largest economy. They measure the economy every year in money terms. The value of money is always changing (inflation), but we can estimate a dollar's value at a given time by looking at prices. The most popular measure is called GDP or Gross Domestic Product. This same measure tells us how much the country earns and spends. It's important to remember that GDP = total production = total income = total spending. The CIA estimates the United States GDP in 2006 was $13.16 trillion or $13,160,000,000,000.
We just read how GDP is the sum total of everyone's production or income or spending. If we take the average, we get 'per capita GDP'. With over 300 million people in the United States, the per capita GDP was $43,800. Think about what you could buy for $43,800 in 2006 and you will get a good idea of what this number means.
1. John, Jane, Jojo and Jimmy Doe are the average American family. Every year, Parents, John & Jane earn four times per capita GDP, let's call it 4X. They contribute 4X worth of work at their jobs every year. And each year, the family spends 4X.
a) How much did the Does earn in 2006? (5 pts)
b) If John and Jane Doe each work forty hours per week, fifty weeks each year; how much is their hourly wage? (10 pts)
c) The median American income was about $26,000 in 2006. Knowing this, do the majority of Americans make more or less than average? Explain. (15 pts)
2. The Andersons are another average American family. Dick and Bonny are married and have a daughter, Sue. They have an income of three times per capita GDP, or 3X.
a) If the Andersons only spend 2X during the year, where does the rest of their income go? (10 pts)
b) But Dick only makes 1.5X from his job and Bonny & Sue don't have jobs. Where could the remaining income come from? (10 pts)
The American Mortgage Game
1. Janet and her partner Dorothy recently decided to buy a home together. They plan to get a mortgage loan from a bank, and repay it over the next fifteen years. Before they go home shopping, they need to calculate how much money they can afford to borrow.
(a) Janet and Dorothy earn $90,000 per year (after taxes). Last year, they saved 20% of the total and payed $20,000 for apartment rent. How much money did Janet and Dorothy spend after rent last year?
(b) If they spend the same amount next year, how much will be left over to pay the mortgage?
(c) Every month, Janet and Dorothy will pay back part of the mortgage loan plus interest.
coming soon!!!
The Inflation Game
Social geomancy
People are social animals but unlike wolves, our societies can take a variety of shapes. By looking at those geometric forms and their properties, we'll explore the ways you can begin to understand and then shape the social world around you.
The triangle (aka pyramid, left) is perhaps the most stable and enduring of social structures. Humans take their place within society as it is defined from top to bottom. Resting flatly on one of it's sides, the triangle is always narrowest at the top and widest at the bottom. With great effort, this shape can be rotated (i.e. revolution) but the result will always be another triangle with this same property.
1. Why have triangle-shaped societies been so often seen in human history? (10 pts)
In Euclidean geometry, a circle is the set of all points in a plane at a fixed distance, called the radius, from a given point, the center. [...] Early science, particularly geometry and astronomy/astrology, was connected to the divine for most medieval scholars. [...] a symbol of God's act of Creation, as many believed that there was something intrinsically "divine" or "perfect" that could be found in circles.
[excerpted from WIkipedia]
A square (regular quadrilateral) is a special case of a rectangle as it has four right angles and parallel sides. Likewise it is also a special case of a rhombus, kite, parallelogram, and trapezoid.
[excerpted from Wikipedia]
2. Can you think of past or present societies that have resembled circles or squares in their structure?(5 pts)
3. What possibilities for the future of human society do you imagine, and how do these qualities resemble the symbolic properties of geometric shapes? (5 pts)?