metamerist

Big Media vs Big Tech

2012-01-16T22:40:00.003-06:00

Market caps of big media companies vs big technology companies in hundreds of billions of dollars.

Candle

2011-12-11T20:05:00.000-06:00

"My candle burns at both ends
It will not last the night;
But ah, my foes, and oh, my friends -
It gives a lovely light."

Edna St. Vincent Millay, "A Few Figs from Thistles", 1920
US poet (1892 - 1950)

Success

2011-11-27T22:40:00.002-06:00

According to billionaires, tips for success...

1. Figure out what you’re so passionate about that you’d be happy doing it for 10 years, even if you never made any money from it. That’s what you should be doing.
2. Always be true to yourself.
3. Figure out what your values are and live by them, in business and in life.
4. Rather than focus on work-life separation, focus on work-life integration.
5. Don’t network. Focus on building real relationships and friendships where the relationship itself is its own reward, instead of trying to get something out of the relationship to benefit your business or yourself.
6. Remember to maximize for happiness, not money or status.
7. Get ready for rejection.
8. Success unshared is failure. Give back — share your wealth.
9. (A secret so powerful, we simply cannot tell you)
10. Successful people do all the things unsuccessful people don’t want to do.

source:
Robert Frank
The Wealth Report, October 28, 2011
http://blogs.wsj.com/wealth/2011/10/28/billionaires-share-their-secrets-to-success/

ht:
The Big Picture

Going In Style

2011-11-22T21:33:00.002-06:00

RIP: Lee Strasberg (1901-1982), Art Carney (1918-2003), George Burns (1896-1996).

The Descendants

2011-11-21T07:27:00.004-06:00

Excellent!

"Expertly mixing tears and laughs with the sort of alchemy not seen since "Terms of Endearment," this superbly written, directed, acted, and yes, Oscar-friendly movie perfectly captures the blackly comic insanity that can overtake a family forced to confront an impending death." - New York Post, Lou Lumenick

[full review]

Downton Abbey

2011-11-20T22:52:00.000-06:00

Excellent!

Otherwise

2011-11-18T23:20:00.001-06:00

"This is a poem of gratitude about the simple pleasures of life. Jane Kenyon died several years ago of cancer."

Library of Congress: Otherwise

Intouchables

2011-11-13T21:30:00.004-06:00

Looking forward to seeing the new hit French film, but it sounds like I'll have to wait until March to see it...

"It's the surprise French box office hit of the year: a caustic comedy about a quadriplegic aristocrat and his awkward, black home-help from one of Paris's poor, suburban high-rise ghettoes.

Intouchables – or the Untouchables – has confounded French critics who dreaded the possibility of a cliche-ridden, ham-fisted take on the poor suburban 'banlieue', race and disability. Instead, the film has been hailed as a masterpiece, and the comedy of the year. It sold 2m tickets in under a week. Paris crowds are queueing around the block and pre-booking tickets. It is set to open in 40 countries, including the United States in March, where Harvey Weinstein has bought an option for an American remake..."

more at The Guardian

To Live And Die In L.A.

2011-11-11T21:53:00.004-06:00

At the beginning of Huang Chung's career, all the members performed under pseudonyms. Jeremy Ryder was "Jack Hues", Nick Feldman was "Nick DeSpig", and Darren Costin was "Darren Darwin" (and later, just "Darwin"). "Jack Hues", incidentally, is a play on the French term "j'accuse". -- Wikipedia

From the film To Live And Die In L.A. starring William Peterson and Willem Dafoe.

Wang Chung
To Live And Die in L.A.
1985

Smalltown

2011-11-08T22:46:00.000-06:00

Bronski Beat
Smalltown Boy
1984

Used To Be

2011-11-04T21:10:00.002-05:00

"A long time ago, we used to be friends
But I haven't thought of you lately at all
If ever again, a greeting I send to you,
Short and sweet to the soul is all I intend..."

The Dandy Warhols
We Used To Be Friends
2003

Lament

2011-11-03T21:56:00.003-05:00

This lament, so somber, yet so beautiful...

The Solas
Lament for Frankie
2005?

"Kennedy was diagnosed with Ewing's sarcoma, a vicious form of cancer, in 1992. Despite his illness Kennedy continued to tour and record with Altan. The band released Island Angel in 1993, and continued to tour through 1994, the year of his death. Although Kennedy had experienced 18 months in remission, the cancer returned "full blast" afterwards.^[9] He died on 19 September at the age of 38 in the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast."

Wikipedia: Frankie Kennedy

Murmuration

2011-11-03T21:44:00.001-05:00

Murmuration from Sophie Windsor Clive on Vimeo.

via kottke

Stupid Girl

2011-11-03T08:57:00.002-05:00

Not a lot from the late 1990s has stood the test of time with me, but Garbage's work certainly has...

Garbage
Stupid Girl
1996

DUSTINSPAGNOLA

2011-11-03T08:52:00.003-05:00

DUSTINSPAGNOLA

What You Want

2011-11-01T22:17:00.000-05:00

Joe Jackson
You Can't Get What You Want (Till You Know What You Want)
1988

Trumbo

2011-11-01T22:14:00.001-05:00

Seabiscuit

2011-11-01T22:09:00.001-05:00

Seabiscuit vs. War Admiral - 1938 Match Race (Pimlico Special)

Richard Harris

2011-11-01T08:25:00.002-05:00

One of the greatest storytellers, Richard Harris (1930-2002) appearing on Letterman in 1994.

Across Rooftops

2011-10-31T22:35:00.002-05:00

"The traffic lights are changing
The black and white horizon
I leave the quiet redstone
And walk across the rooftops..."

Paul Buchanan
A Walk Across the Rooftops (acoustic)
2004

Originally from his band's excellent 1983 release: The Blue Nile - A Walk Across the Rooftops.

Shout

2011-10-29T06:56:00.001-05:00

The Style Council
Shout To The Top
1984

Three Waltzes

2011-10-28T09:16:00.002-05:00

Aimee Mann
Amateur
1995

Elliott Smith
Waltz #2
1998

Yann Tiersen
La Valse d'Amelie
2001

National Avenue

2011-10-27T06:23:00.002-05:00

don't be surprised, it's only me
i've come to see just how you are
you look very good
must be since you left that factory
how's paul,
is he working?
no, who works these days?

but you used to have a job
in the caravan in the street
even that's gone these days
i remember when you used to want to
buy the used car of your dreams...

Red Guitars
National Avenue (Sunday Afternoon)
1986

Tides

2011-10-26T23:19:00.002-05:00

Moving, harmonious, dissonant, comforted, troubled, spontaneous, determined...

Nitin Sawhney
Tides
1999

Living Photos

2011-10-26T23:13:00.002-05:00

Video demonstrating excellent work rendering 3D objects into 2D scenes...

Rendering Synthetic Objects into Legacy Photographs

Kevin Karsch, Varsha Hedau, David Forsyth, Derek Holem
Univesity of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

link

Break Out

2011-10-25T20:16:00.003-05:00

"When explanations make no sense
When every answer's wrong
You're fighting with lost confidence
All expectations come..."

A favorite video from 1986. Musically: delightful, mirthful pop. Visually: it's stood the test of time, thanks to lead singer Corinne Drewery's wonderful sense of style, the clothes, and the vibrant colors intermixed with selective desaturation.

Swing Out Sister
Break Out
1986

The Trapeze Swinger

2011-10-25T19:55:00.001-05:00

"Please remember me, happily
By the rosebush laughing
With bruises on my chin, the time when
We counted every black car passing..."

Iron & Wine
The Trapeze Swinger
2008

Jitter

2011-10-25T19:44:00.003-05:00

Filed under Today I Learned...

The Roman Lucretius's scientific poem "On the Nature of Things" (c. 60 BC) has a remarkable description of Brownian motion of dust particles. He uses this as a proof of the existence of atoms:

"Observe what happens when sunbeams are admitted into a building and shed light on its shadowy places. You will see a multitude of tiny particles mingling in a multitude of ways... their dancing is an actual indication of underlying movements of matter that are hidden from our sight... It originates with the atoms which move of themselves [i.e., spontaneously]. Then those small compound bodies that are least removed from the impetus of the atoms are set in motion by the impact of their invisible blows and in turn cannon against slightly larger bodies. So the movement mounts up from the atoms and gradually emerges to the level of our senses, so that those bodies are in motion that we see in sunbeams, moved by blows that remain invisible."

(Although the mingling motion of dust particles is caused largely by air currents, the glittering, tumbling motion of small dust particles is, indeed, caused chiefly by true Brownian dynamics. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brownian_motion)

I Don't Know

2011-10-24T22:39:00.004-05:00

"I don't know what you smoke
Or what countries you've been to...
If you speak any other languages
Other than your own, I'd like to meet you."

I first heard Lisa Hannigan singing on Damien Rice's "Volcano." The video above was filmed at Dick Mac's Pub in Dingle, Ireland. I'm willing to bet the passion and joy of these musicians will fill you with warm fuzzies and put a smile on your face.

Lisa Hannigan
I Don't Know
2009

Take Shelter

2011-10-24T22:02:00.001-05:00

"Take Shelter powerfully lays bare our national anxiety disorder - a pervasive dread that Curtis can define only as 'something that's not right.'" -- Melissa Anderson, Village Voice

Cotton

2011-10-24T09:18:00.002-05:00

"This song is for the rats
Who hurled themselves into the ocean
When they saw the explosives in the cargo hold
Were just about to blow..."

John Darnielle of the Mountain Goats
"Cotton" live solo
date unknown

Madonna

2011-10-23T22:52:00.006-05:00

"Lost Madonna of the Wasps,
I wonder where we crossed
I wonder where she lost me.
Lost Madonna of the Wasps,
She's dying in the frost.
I wonder what she cost me."

Robyn Hitchcock
Madonna of the Wasps (live)
1989

Easter Parade

2011-10-23T22:28:00.004-05:00

"...In the bureau, typewriter's quiet
Confetti falls from every window
Throwing hats up in the air
A city perfect in every detail
Easter parade..."

A song or a poem following a few piano keys? In any case, it well demonstrates the striking impressionism of this group.

The Blue Nile
Easter Parade (Live)
1990

She Saw

2011-10-23T14:22:00.004-05:00

"...Letters and numbers surround you
And out on the corner
A policeman is sending flowers
It feels like a movie..."

An acoustic version of a track found on The Blue Nile's 2004 release, "High".

Paul Buchanan
She saw the world
date unknown

Motortown

2011-10-22T13:12:00.003-05:00

A theme continues...

The Kane Gang
Motortown
1987

YouTube comment: "A searing indictment of the delusion that the loss of manufacturing in the 1980's was acceptable. They 'work for pennies in Motortown', a deunionised low wage economy left people to the mercy of the unregulated market. From that you get inequality and social breakdown. The Kane Gang were ahead of their time in nailing the folly of laying to waste whole communities in the north east and elsewhere. A good pop tune with a lesson even more urgent in 2009."

Requiem for Detroit

2011-10-22T13:00:00.002-05:00

BBC Documentary: Requiem For Detroit from Logan Siegel on Vimeo.

May as well make doom and gloom a theme today.
Recommended: The BBC Documentary "Requiem for Detroit"

California and Bust

2011-10-22T09:52:00.003-05:00

"The smart money says the U.S. economy will splinter, with some states thriving, some states not, and all eyes are on California as the nightmare scenario. After a hair-raising visit with former governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, who explains why the Golden State has cratered, Michael Lewis goes where the buck literally stops—the local level, where the likes of San Jose mayor Chuck Reed and Vallejo ﬁre chief Paige Meyer are trying to avert even worse catastrophes and rethink what it means to be a society."

Vanity Fair article

David & David
Welcome to the Boomtown
1986

Downtown Train

2011-10-22T09:27:00.001-05:00

Tom Waits
Downtown Train
1985

Hazards of Confidence

2011-10-22T09:12:00.004-05:00

Daniel Kahneman, emeritus professor of psychology and of public affairs at Princeton University and a winner of the 2002 Nobel Prize in Economics, writes in the NYT on the hazards of confidence:

"The confidence we experience as we make a judgment is not a reasoned evaluation of the probability that it is right. Confidence is a feeling, one determined mostly by the coherence of the story and by the ease with which it comes to mind, even when the evidence for the story is sparse and unreliable. The bias toward coherence favors overconfidence. An individual who expresses high confidence probably has a good story, which may or may not be true."

link

Internet Trends 2011

2011-10-22T08:59:00.000-05:00

link

Harvest Moon

2011-10-16T23:01:00.002-05:00

Elliott Smith's cover of Neil Young's Harvest Moon.

Bulletproof

2011-10-15T23:46:00.000-05:00

La Roux
Bulletproof
2009

Submarine

2011-10-15T09:51:00.002-05:00

"In all, this is a movie that is partial to youth as a state of being. The grownups seem finished, as frozen in their lifetime roles as creatures out of myth or the Bible. But Oliver and Jordana have the freedom to go anywhere, do anything, become anything. Submarine is an exhilarating surprise." - David Denby, The New Yorker (review link)

Hitchens and the Girl

2011-10-12T20:59:00.003-05:00

via Why Evolution Is True:

"When Christopher Hitchens got the Dawkins Award in Houston, I posted the following report from Chron.com:

Though [Hitchens] was asked a variety of questions from the audience, none appeared to elicit more interest than the one asked by eight-year-old Mason Crumpacker, who wanted to know what books she should read. In response, Hitchens first asked where her mother was and the girl indicated that she was siting beside her. He then asked to see them once the presentation was over so that he could give her a list.

As the event drew to a close, Mason and her mom, Anne Crumpacker of Dallas, followed him out. Surrounded by attendees wanting a glance of the famed author, Hitchens sat on a table just outside of the ballroom and spent about 15 minutes recommending books to Mason."

link

Hitchens’ list of books and authors:

Dawkins’ Magic of Reality, Greek and Roman myths, particularly those compiled by Robert Graves, anything satirical, all of Shakespeare, Geoffrey Chaucer, Ayaan Hirsi Ali (author of Infidel and Nomad: From Islam to America: A Personal Journey Through the Clash of Civilizations), PG Wodehouse (“for fun”), David Hume, and Charles Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities.

Feynman :: Rules of Chess

2011-10-12T20:28:00.003-05:00

The late great genius explains the process of rational inquiry via chess analogy.

"One way that's kind of a fun analogy to try to get some idea of what we're doing here to try to understand nature is to imagine that the gods are playing some great game like chess. Let's say a chess game. And you don't know the rules of the game, but you're allowed to look at the board from time to time, in a little corner, perhaps. And from these observations, you try to figure out what the rules are of the game, what [are] the rules of the pieces moving.

You might discover after a bit, for example, that when there's only one bishop around on the board, that the bishop maintains its color. Later on you might discover the law for the bishop is that it moves on a diagonal, which would explain the law that you understood before, that it maintains its color. And that would be analogous we discover one law and later find a deeper understanding of it.

Ah, then things can happen--everything's going good, you've got all the laws, it looks very good--and then all of a sudden some strange phenomenon occurs in some corner, so you begin to investigate that, to look for it. It's castling--something you didn't expect.

We're always, by the way, in a fundamental physics, always trying to investigate those things in which we don't understand the conclusions. We're not trying to all the time check our conclusions; after we've checked them enough, they're okay. The thing that doesn't fit is the thing that's most interesting--the part that doesn't go according to what you'd expect.

Also we can have revolutions in physics. After you've noticed that the bishops maintain their color and that they go along on the diagonals and so on, for such a long time, and everybody knows that that's true; then you suddenly discover one day in some chess game that the bishop doesn't maintain its color, it changes its color. Only later do you discover the new possibility that the bishop is captured and that a pawn went all the way down to the queen's end to produce a new bishop. That could happen, but you didn't know it.

And so it's very analogous to the way our laws are. They sometimes look positive, they keep on working, and all of a sudden, some little gimmick shows that they're wrong--and then we have to investigate the conditions under which this bishop changed color... happened... and so on... And gradually we learn the new rule that explains it more deeply.

Unlike the chess game, though... In the case of the chess game, the rules become more complicated as you go along, but in the physics when you discover new things, it becomes more simple. It appears on the whole to be more complicated, because we learn about a greater experience; that is, we learn about more particles and new things, and so the laws look complicated again. But if you realize that all of the time, what's kind of wonderful is that as we expand our experience into wilder and wilder regions of experience, every once in a while we have these integration in which everything is pulled together in a unification, which it turns out to be simpler than it looked before."

Accidents

2011-10-12T08:36:00.000-05:00

Elvis Costello
Accidents Will Happen
1979

Bonny

2011-10-11T23:07:00.000-05:00

Prefab Sprout
Bonny
1985

Le Herisson (the Hedgehog)

2011-10-11T22:51:00.002-05:00

"At times The Hedgehog suggests a Gallic 'Harold and Maude,' with an intellectual gloss as it celebrates the life force passed from an older generation to a younger. But its concept of vitality isn't the popular cliché of kicking up your heels, breathing deeply and gorging on ice cream. It is an aesthete's ideal of pursuing moments of ecstatic perfection in art and companionship."
-- Stephen Holden, NYT
full review

Kid Charlemagne

2011-10-07T09:01:00.003-05:00

Kid Charlemagne
Steely Dan
2000

DVD

Johnny Come Home

2011-10-06T08:07:00.000-05:00

Fine Young Cannibals
Johnny Come Home
1985

3 Stories

2011-10-06T08:03:00.000-05:00

Steve Jobs Stanford Commencement Speech 2005

Steve Jobs

2011-10-05T21:43:00.003-05:00

Thank you for showing us how to dream... R.I.P.

Newport 1958

2011-10-04T22:32:00.004-05:00

Anita O'Day (10/18/1919–11/23/2006) performs at the 1958 Jazz Festival in Newport, Rhode Island.

My Ever Changing Moods

2011-10-04T08:04:00.001-05:00

Volvo P 1800

2011-10-04T08:01:00.002-05:00

At Least

2011-10-04T07:53:00.002-05:00

Another fine poem, much enjoyed.

"At Least" by Raymond Carver from Where Water Comes Together With Other Water (1985)

Writer's Almanac link

The Old Oaken Bucket

2011-10-03T22:47:00.002-05:00

How dear to this heart are the scenes of my childhood,
When fond recollection presents them to view!
The orchard, the meadow, the deep-tangled wild-wood,
And every loved spot which my infancy knew!
The wide-spreading pond, and the mill that stood by it,
The bridge, and the rock where the cataract fell,
The cot of my father, the dairy-house nigh it,
And e'en the rude bucket that hung in the well-
The old oaken bucket, the iron-bound bucket,
The moss-covered bucket which hung in the well.

That moss-covered vessel I hailed as a treasure,
For often at noon, when returned from the field,
I found it the source of an exquisite pleasure,
The purest and sweetest that nature can yield.
How ardent I seized it, with hands that were glowing,
And quick to the white-pebbled bottom it fell;
Then soon, with the emblem of truth overflowing,
And dripping with coolness, it rose from the well
The old oaken bucket, the iron-bound bucket,
The moss-covered bucket arose from the well.

How sweet from the green mossy brim to receive it,
As poised on the curb it inclined to my lips!
Not a full blushing goblet could tempt me to leave it,
The brightest that beauty or revelry sips.
And now, far removed from the loved habitation,
The tear of regret will intrusively swell,
As fancy reverts to my father's plantation,
And sighs for the bucket that hangs in the well
The old oaken bucket, the iron-bound bucket,
The moss-covered bucket that hangs in the well!

Samuel Woodworth, 1813

Thanks to Garrison Keillor for bringing this to light. Perhaps you can find the mp3 for The Writer's Almanac, October 3, 2001.

Running Up That Hill

2011-08-07T23:49:00.003-05:00

Can't remember if I ever posted this. If so, it's worthy of a repost. Never thought I'd ever offer a link to a cover of the Kate Bush classic, but this group wins me over every time I hear it.

Reptile

2011-07-29T06:57:00.000-05:00

When Patents Attack!

2011-07-29T06:39:00.003-05:00

When Patents Attack!

This American Life covers the software patent disaster, patent trolls and Nathan Myhrvold. I'm beginning to wonder if the U.S. is going to run out of industries to destroy, and I can 't help but wonder if the mainframe and mini manufactures of the 70s and 80s had been able to patent software, and do so as aggressively, if Bill Gates, Steve Jobs or Larry Ellison would be names anyone recognizes today. They might be punching a clock at DEC. Are tomorrow's Gates and Jobs going to be cut off at the knees by patent trolls before they even have a chance? One rule to follow, if one is to avoid being a contemptible bastard, is leaving the place as clean as you found it.

On Judgment

2011-06-09T08:16:00.003-05:00

For many years, and to great success, Nordstrom provided new employees with a handbook consisting of a single card that read:

Welcome to Nordstrom

We're glad to have you with our Company. Our number one goal is to provide outstanding customer service. Set both your personal and professional goals high. We have great confidence in your ability to achieve them.

Nordstrom Rules:

Rule #1: Use best judgment in all situations.
There will be no additional rules.

Please feel free to ask your department manager, store manager, or division general manager any question at any time.

wonderfully lingering

2011-06-06T22:22:00.002-05:00

visions
swiveling
wafting
from
abrasive
asphalt

ghosts
circling
hovering
just
above
earth

a push
a grimace
a wobble
a gyration
a smile

fear
apprehension
fortitude
perseverance
joy

a sunny day
a parking lot
a father
a son
a bicycle

years ago
at this place
99% in the past
1% still here
wonderfully lingering

Ode to a Shih Tzu

2011-06-06T08:18:00.002-05:00

O tiny ferocious toy!
Towering human Gozilla?
Undaunted.
Genetically,
A wolf.
Instinctually?
Clearly.
But, morphologically,
Not so much.
Raff! Raff! Raff!
O tiny ferocious toy!
Equal in size to a shoe.
Does it give you pause?
The Serengeti,
Bereft of roving Pomeranians.
O tiny ferocious toy!

Let's Go Out Tonight

2011-03-29T22:29:00.002-05:00

Let's Go Out Tonight. The Blue Nile. 1989.

Changes

2011-03-29T22:24:00.000-05:00

Seu Jorge - Changes - 2005

Heartland

2011-02-17T22:03:00.000-06:00

Heartland. The The. 1986.

Playmobil Stop Motion - Joy Division - Transmission

2011-02-09T21:14:00.001-06:00

Joy Division. Transmission. 1979.

Easy A

2011-02-03T23:54:00.001-06:00

If it were made by John Hughes, I'd count it as among the best in class. To a certain extent, it's a wonderful homage to Hughes. Great writing, great supporting actors, and a fabulous job by Emma Stone. If you liked Say Anything or The Sure Thing, I recommend going with it.

Tribute to Daniel Auteiul

2011-02-02T23:52:00.000-06:00

Tribute to Daniel Auteiul.

There is a Light

2011-02-01T22:59:00.000-06:00

The Smiths. There is a Light that Never Goes Out. 1986.

I'm Not Yours

2011-01-31T22:19:00.000-06:00

Angus & Julia Stone. I'm Not Yours.

An Education

2011-01-30T08:48:00.000-06:00

A favorite film from last year, based the Nick Hornby novel of the same name. London in the 60s, Carey Mulligan's portrayal of the prodigious protagonist is wonderfully done, and the supporting actors are great as well.

Waiting for a Train

2011-01-28T21:37:00.001-06:00

Salt Lake City. December 2010.

Ghosts of Amsterdam

2011-01-28T21:30:00.002-06:00

How to be a Retronaut. Ghosts of Amsterdam.

Wish Me Well

2011-01-28T21:27:00.000-06:00

The Blue Nile. Wish Me Well. 1996

Improving the Cognitive Toolkit

2011-01-28T21:05:00.006-06:00

2011's Edge Question:

WHAT SCIENTIFIC CONCEPT WOULD IMPROVE EVERYBODY'S COGNITIVE TOOLKIT?

164 great thinkers respond here

25 years ago...

2011-01-28T08:26:00.002-06:00

Twenty-five years ago, the Challenger exploded to the shock of all. President Reagan addressed the nation.

1986.

Upular

2011-01-27T08:41:00.000-06:00

Great fan vid tribute to Pixar's wonderful film, "Up"

iOxford

2011-01-27T07:55:00.002-06:00

One of the lesser known sections of the iTunes store is "iTunes U" which is home to a large collection of freely available lectures from some of the best universities in the world. In addition to their being wonderfully lacking in cost, everything is well integrated into iTunes in a way that makes it simple and easy to load a course into one's iPod. I've been particularly enjoying lectures in philosophy that are among many podcasts from Oxford. (Thanks, Oxford!)

In Between Days

2011-01-26T23:22:00.001-06:00

1986. The Cure live. In Between Days.

Holding Back the Years

2011-01-26T23:10:00.002-06:00

1986. Simply Red. Holding Back the Years.

Reflections on 1986

2011-01-26T22:56:00.005-06:00

2011. Twenty five years since 1986.

1986. Double. The Captain of Her Heart.

Exit

2011-01-25T21:21:00.003-06:00

Recommended, and now nominated for an Oscar, is Banky's film on street art:

Marwencol

2011-01-25T21:04:00.004-06:00

The past couple of years have been a gauntlet, but I'm now feeling compelled to return to this place.

Recommended:

Why I can't stop reading Mormon housewife blogs

2011-01-25T20:59:00.001-06:00

Emily Matchar in Slate:

"...Their lives are nothing like mine -- I'm your standard-issue late-20-something childless overeducated atheist feminist -- yet I'm completely obsessed with their blogs. On an average day, I'll skim through a half-dozen Mormon blogs, looking at Polaroids of dogs in raincoats or kids in bow ties, reading gratitude lists, admiring sewing projects..."

link

Night

2011-01-25T09:12:00.002-06:00

Hold On

2011-01-25T08:59:00.003-06:00

Recommended:
Nettwerk's Top 10 Videos of 2010

Why the Rich Are Getting Richer

2011-01-25T08:54:00.002-06:00

Robert C. Lieberman in Foreign Affairs:

"...And yet a curious thing has happened in the midst of all this misery. The wealthiest Americans, among them presumably the very titans of global finance whose misadventures brought about the financial meltdown, got richer. And not just a little bit richer; a lot richer. In 2009, the average income of the top five percent of earners went up, while on average everyone else's income went down. This was not an anomaly but rather a continuation of a 40-year trend of ballooning incomes at the very top and stagnant incomes in the middle and at the bottom. The share of total income going to the top one percent has increased from roughly eight percent in the 1960s to more than 20 percent today..."

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Predicting the Predictors II

2010-05-08T08:44:00.003-05:00

A few years ago, I expressed concerns with the prospect of what might happen when financial models begin predicting financial models. You may have noticed that a number of stocks instantly fell to a penny the other day, including Accenture. Oops.

The Big Idea: Messaging

2009-01-25T11:10:00.007-06:00

On the subject of software and the problems we face in its construction, I've often noted my feelings regarding communication being an important but understated problem. A few days ago, I stumbled onto an old (1998) post by Alan Kay:

"Just a gentle reminder that I took some pains at the last OOPSLA to try to remind everyone that Smalltalk is not only NOT its syntax or the class library, it is not even about classes. I'm sorry that I long ago coined the term 'objects' for this topic because it gets many people to focus on the lesser idea.

The big idea is 'messaging' - that is what the kernal of Smalltalk/Squeak is all about (and it's something that was never quite completed in our Xerox PARC phase). The Japanese have a small word - ma - for 'that which is in between' - perhaps the nearest English equivalent is 'interstitial'. The key in making great and growable systems is much more to design how its modules communicate rather than what their internal properties and behaviors should be. Think of the internet - to live, it (a) has to allow many different kinds of ideas and realizations that are beyond any single standard and (b) to allow varying degrees of safe interoperability between these ideas..."

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The Pros

2009-01-02T10:33:00.003-06:00

Just remember: Stocks haven't hit bottom, but they're going to post big gains. You just have to time it right.

Eartha Kitt, R.I.P.

2008-12-25T22:02:00.002-06:00

So many times I thought about seeing her perform, but I never did...

Artist: Eartha Kitt
Song: Santa Baby

Feynman: O-ring

2008-12-24T04:19:00.003-06:00

The Space Shuttle Challenger disaster in 1986 led a storm of finger pointing and obfuscation with regard to blame, responsibility and cause. Physicist Richard Feynman, who was on the investigative commission, became enormously frustrated with with the situaton and delivered one of the greatest smack downs in history, explaining the problem clearly and concisely in terms a child could understand on national television.

The following video includes both Feynman's explanation and a re-enactment added by an unknown third party.

In this day and age when people are so frequently baffled by b.s., such simplicity and clarity are sorely needed.

A+B = 1, ergo B = 1-A

2008-12-20T10:26:00.009-06:00

Here's a chart from Negligent Driving that would probably make Darrell Huff blush.

Guess what? When the percentage of fatal accidents involving alcohol goes down, the percentage of accidents not involving alcohol goes up!

The headline above the chart claims the overall quantity of traffic fatalities have increased. Not sure if that's true (and per capita would be more relevant), but the chart attempting to show the alleged skyrocketing problem with negligent driving doesn't appear to have anything to do with quantity.

Initially, I wondered why the red and black lines don't sum to a perfect 100%, but Fatalities involving BAC below the legal limit probably explains what appears to be the small missing percent.

Fleet Foxes

2008-12-17T06:23:00.001-06:00

NPR published its take on the best music of 2008 with Fleet Foxes coming out on top. Looks like the folks at Sub Pop Records were cool enough and smart enough to post the videos on YouTube with embedding allowed (thanks!), so please check them out, and if you like them, give them your support.

Artist: Fleet Foxes
Song: White Winter Hymnal
Disc: Fleet Foxes
Year: 2008

Deflation: No Comprende

2008-12-17T05:59:00.005-06:00

File this under economic things I apparently do not understand.

If you search the news for deflation, you'll find a lot of people worrying about it, but from what I can tell the drop in consumer prices is largely due to the collapse of the oil price bubble (which I know a little bit about because I got burned by it, or at least singed).

When gasoline shot up to more than $4 per gallon people went crazy, legislators accosted allegedly greedy oil executives in the national forum, folks accused gas station owners of gouging, consumer prices shot up due to rising production costs, nations rioted, governments became unstable, etc. And this wasn't very long ago, months.

I can only imagine how absurd it would be if the time span were even more compressed:

Monday: Gas $1.50 per gallon. Life is good.
Tuesday: Gas $4.00 per gallon. Inflation! Horrors! The sky is falling!
Wednesday: Gas back down to $1.50 per gallon. Deflation! Horrors! The sky is falling!

There's something I'm apparently not getting.

Why Philosophy?

2008-12-16T23:15:00.000-06:00

In spite of being a prodigious computer geek in my youth, I had trouble sticking to a major in college, and I still wonder what I'd do differently if were starting afresh. Years after graduation, I developed a great interest in and passion for studying philosophy, but since then I've gotten plenty of shrugs from friends in response to my advocacy of the possibility of majoring in philosophy.

Leiter Reports pointed me to a nice post by a personal finance blogger who recently gave his answer to the question Why Major in Philosophy?

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Vincent Scordo writes:

"I came across some old philosophy books in my study this morning and it got me thinking about the value of an undergraduate degree in philosophy. And I can already hear the jokes, so please keep them to yourself! ; - ) At first glance, a Bachelor of Arts degree in philosophy provides no real practical application in the real world. After all, you will not receive any specific training that can lead to a job, are required to read esoteric texts, and will never arrive at a 'right answer' during a final exam or short quiz. So, why on earth are US colleges and universities struggling to keep up with the demand from students wanting to both take courses and major in philosophy?

As an ex-Philosophy major, I can tell you that my degree is invaluable and I would certainly study the same subject if I had to start all over again (I would maybe throw in a degree in Economics as well). If we cut to the chase, a degree in philosophy provides the following benefits..."

His list of benefits and more: here

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Back to me:

To many, philosophy sounds like the least practical thing one can do with one's college career, but even if career earning potential is a major consideration, a recent Wall Street Journal article indicates philosophy majors have even done pretty well financially:

"Your parents might have worried when you chose Philosophy or International Relations as a major. But a year-long survey of 1.2 million people with only a bachelor's degree by PayScale Inc. shows that graduates in these subjects earned 103.5% and 97.8% more, respectively, about 10 years post-commencement. Majors that didn't show as much salary growth include Nursing and Information Technology." (link)

Abandoning Your Family

2008-12-14T14:46:00.000-06:00

Good, funny satirical writing is always too hard to find, but a piece titled Three Simple Ways to Abandon Your Family by Ralpha Gamelli brought some good whole-hearted laughs. Three different means of escape are offered, the first of which being the classic stogie run disappearance:

"1. Start smoking at least three months prior to attempting your deception. (Six months is actually preferable.) This will lend you the credibility that’s fundamental to success. For example, you wouldn’t claim to be going out to buy a newspaper if you’ve never before shown an interest in reading the paper. Each puff will cement in your family’s mind the notion that you’ll have to regularly go out to replenish your supply of cigarettes.

2. Don’t smoke inside the house. This will betray the hostile feelings that have been building up toward your family for many years. Smoke outside on the porch, so they’ll think you still care about them. This way, when the big day finally arrives, they’ll be far less suspicious that you’re leaving forever."

more here: Three Simple Ways to Abandon Your Family

Again & Again

2008-12-12T21:39:00.000-06:00

"LQC has been tantalising physicists since 2003 with the idea that our universe could conceivably have emerged from the collapse of a previous universe. Now the theory is poised to make predictions we can actually test. If they are verified, the big bang will give way to a big bounce and we will finally know the quantum structure of space-time. Instead of a universe that emerged from a point of infinite density, we will have one that recycles, possibly through an eternal series of expansions and contractions, with no beginning and no end."

New Scientist

"And Nietzsche, with his theory of eternal recurrence. He said that the life we lived we're gonna live over again the exact same way for eternity. Great. That means I'll have to sit through the Ice Capades again. It's not worth it." - Woody Allan (Hannah and Her Sisters)

Moral Inversion

2008-12-12T21:37:00.000-06:00

Jim Rogers:

"What is outrageous economically and is outrageous morally is that normally in times like this, people who are competent and who saw it coming and who kept their powder dry go and take over the assets from the incompetent," he said. "What's happening this time is that the government is taking the assets from the competent people and giving them to the incompetent people and saying, now you can compete with the competent people. It is horrible economics."

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