tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16327141251186934262024-03-18T21:10:56.783-07:00Malaise Precismalaiseprecishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06559867567783156221noreply@blogger.comBlogger1197125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1632714125118693426.post-34333622048731396832016-05-09T04:17:00.002-07:002016-05-09T04:17:29.722-07:00You do youThe phrase has been seeping into our family conversations courtesy of K1. A search turned up this delightlful Colson Whitehead <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/05/magazine/how-you-do-you-perfectly-captures-our-narcissistic-culture.html?_r=0">article</a>.<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Wherever
you hail from, you’ll recognize “You do you” and “Do you” as
contemporary versions of that life-affirming chestnut “Just be
yourself.” It’s the gift of encouragement from one person to another,
what we tell children on the first day of kindergarten, how we reassure
buddies as they primp for a blind date or rehearse asking for a raise.
You do you, as if we could be anyone else. Depending on your essential
qualities, this song of oneself is cause for joy or tragedy. </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
You’ve
also come across that expression’s siblings, like the defensive,
arms-crossed “Haters gonna hate” or the perpetually shrugging “It is
what it is.” Like black holes, they are inviolable. All criticism is
destroyed when it hits the horizon of their circular logic, and not even
light can escape their immense gravity. In a world where the selfie has
become our dominant art form, tautological phrases like “You do you”
and its tribe provide a philosophical scaffolding for our
ever-evolving, ever more complicated narcissism. </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
William Safire, <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/07/magazine/07wwln_safire.html">writing in these pages in 2006</a>,
coined a word for these self-justifying constructions: “tautophrases.”
This was in the midst of his investigation into the ubiquity of “It is
what it is,” as evidenced in its use by cultural specimens as disparate
as Britney Spears and Scott McClellan, a press secretary for President
George W. Bush. (Pause to reminisce.) Whether the subject is an
imperfect situation to be endured (“The new coffee in the break room is
the pits”) or an existential conundrum (“My body is a bunch of atoms
working in brief harmony before death returns them to the universe”),
“It is what it is” effectively ends the discussion so that we can stop,
nod in solemn agreement and move on. </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
According
to Safire, “It is what it is” has many tautophrasal relatives and
ancestors. “What’s done is done,” “What will be will be.” The striking
thing about his examples is how many of them preserve and burnish the
established order. When God informs Moses, “I am that I am,” he is
telling the prophet, “Look, get off my back, I’m God.” I’ve never argued
with a bush, burning or otherwise, but I imagine they’re quite
persuasive. “Boys will be boys” and “A man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta
do” excuse mischief and usually worse, reinforcing the dominant
masculine code. It’s doubtful that “I just discovered penicillin!” or
“Publishing Willa Cather’s ‘My Antonia’ was the most satisfying moment
of my career” elicited a gruff “A man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do,”
but perhaps I am cynical. Popeye’s “I yam what I yam,” however, remains
what it has always been — the pathetic ravings of a man who claims
superstrength, when it is obvious to everyone else in the room that
spinach merely ameliorates the symptoms of an undiagnosed vitamin
deficiency. A scurvy dog, indeed. </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
While
the word “tautophrase” didn’t take off, the phenomenon it described
blossomed, abetted by hip-hop. Sure, philosophical resignation has been
a part of the music as far back as 1984, when Run-D.M.C. reeled off a
litany of misfortune — “Unemployment at a record high/People coming,
people going, people born to die” — and underscored it with a weary,
“It’s like that/and that’s the way it is.” But grandiosity, narcissism
and artful braggadocio have also been integral to hip-hop from the
start, whether they were the fruit of a supercharged sense of self or a
coping mechanism for a deleterious urban environment. As with everything
interesting in black culture, hip-hop’s swaggering tautophrases have
been digested and regurgitated by the mainstream. Last year, Taylor
Swift somewhat boringly testified that not only are “Haters gonna hate,”
they’re gonna “hate hate hate” exponentially, presumably in direct
proportion to her lack of culpability. Instead of serving the
establishment (monotheism, patriarchal energies), the modern tautophrase
empowers the individual. Regardless of how shallow that individual is.</blockquote>
<div class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="1161" data-total-count="4849" id="story-continues-1">
<br /></div>
<div class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="1161" data-total-count="4849" id="story-continues-1">
More at the link. The article should also have mentioned that the original <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/What's_done_is_done">source</a> for "What's done is done" is none other than Lady Macbeth.</div>
malaiseprecishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06559867567783156221noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1632714125118693426.post-79224883244746238332016-05-09T04:12:00.000-07:002016-05-09T04:12:02.726-07:00The broad appeal of Captain America Civil WarCould it be because the age of the actors cuts across a wide spectrum?<br />
<br />
<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 470px;">
<colgroup><col style="mso-width-alt: 4790; mso-width-source: userset; width: 98pt;" width="131"></col>
<col style="width: 48pt;" width="64"></col>
<col style="mso-width-alt: 4278; mso-width-source: userset; width: 88pt;" width="117"></col>
<col style="width: 48pt;" width="64"></col>
<col style="mso-width-alt: 3437; mso-width-source: userset; width: 71pt;" width="94"></col>
</colgroup><tbody>
<tr height="39" style="height: 29.25pt; mso-height-source: userset;">
<td class="xl65" height="39" style="border-color: rgb(68, 114, 196); border-style: solid; border-width: 0.5pt 0.5pt 1pt; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-weight: 700; height: 29.25pt; width: 98pt;" width="131">Actor</td>
<td class="xl65" style="border-color: rgb(68, 114, 196); border-style: solid; border-width: 0.5pt 0.5pt 1pt; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-weight: 700; width: 48pt;" width="64">Year Of Birth</td>
<td class="xl65" style="border-color: rgb(68, 114, 196); border-style: solid; border-width: 0.5pt 0.5pt 1pt; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-weight: 700; width: 88pt;" width="117">Decade of
birth</td>
<td class="xl65" style="border-color: rgb(68, 114, 196); border-style: solid; border-width: 0.5pt 0.5pt 1pt; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-weight: 700; width: 48pt;" width="64">Age</td>
<td class="xl65" style="border-color: rgb(68, 114, 196); border-style: solid; border-width: 0.5pt 0.5pt 1pt; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-weight: 700; width: 71pt;" width="94">Age decade</td>
</tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td height="20" style="background: rgb(217, 225, 242); border: 0.5pt solid rgb(68, 114, 196); font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; height: 15pt;">Chris Evans</td>
<td class="xl66" style="background: rgb(217, 225, 242); border: 0.5pt solid rgb(68, 114, 196); font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">1981</td>
<td class="xl66" style="background: rgb(217, 225, 242); border: 0.5pt solid rgb(68, 114, 196); font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">80s</td>
<td class="xl66" style="background: rgb(217, 225, 242); border: 0.5pt solid rgb(68, 114, 196); font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">35</td>
<td class="xl66" style="background: rgb(217, 225, 242); border: 0.5pt solid rgb(68, 114, 196); font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">30s</td>
</tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td height="20" style="border: 0.5pt solid rgb(68, 114, 196); font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; height: 15pt;">Robert Downey Jr</td>
<td class="xl66" style="border: 0.5pt solid rgb(68, 114, 196); font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">1965</td>
<td class="xl66" style="border: 0.5pt solid rgb(68, 114, 196); font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">60s</td>
<td class="xl66" style="border: 0.5pt solid rgb(68, 114, 196); font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">51</td>
<td class="xl66" style="border: 0.5pt solid rgb(68, 114, 196); font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">50s</td>
</tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td height="20" style="background: rgb(217, 225, 242); border: 0.5pt solid rgb(68, 114, 196); font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; height: 15pt;">Scarlett Johansson</td>
<td class="xl66" style="background: rgb(217, 225, 242); border: 0.5pt solid rgb(68, 114, 196); font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">1984</td>
<td class="xl66" style="background: rgb(217, 225, 242); border: 0.5pt solid rgb(68, 114, 196); font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">80s</td>
<td class="xl66" style="background: rgb(217, 225, 242); border: 0.5pt solid rgb(68, 114, 196); font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">32</td>
<td class="xl66" style="background: rgb(217, 225, 242); border: 0.5pt solid rgb(68, 114, 196); font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">30s</td>
</tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td height="20" style="border: 0.5pt solid rgb(68, 114, 196); font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; height: 15pt;">Sebastian Stan</td>
<td class="xl66" style="border: 0.5pt solid rgb(68, 114, 196); font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">1982</td>
<td class="xl66" style="border: 0.5pt solid rgb(68, 114, 196); font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">80s</td>
<td class="xl66" style="border: 0.5pt solid rgb(68, 114, 196); font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">34</td>
<td class="xl66" style="border: 0.5pt solid rgb(68, 114, 196); font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">30s</td>
</tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td height="20" style="background: rgb(217, 225, 242); border: 0.5pt solid rgb(68, 114, 196); font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; height: 15pt;">Anthony Mackie</td>
<td class="xl66" style="background: rgb(217, 225, 242); border: 0.5pt solid rgb(68, 114, 196); font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">1978</td>
<td class="xl66" style="background: rgb(217, 225, 242); border: 0.5pt solid rgb(68, 114, 196); font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">70s</td>
<td class="xl66" style="background: rgb(217, 225, 242); border: 0.5pt solid rgb(68, 114, 196); font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">38</td>
<td class="xl66" style="background: rgb(217, 225, 242); border: 0.5pt solid rgb(68, 114, 196); font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">30s</td>
</tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td height="20" style="border: 0.5pt solid rgb(68, 114, 196); font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; height: 15pt;">Don Cheadle</td>
<td class="xl66" style="border: 0.5pt solid rgb(68, 114, 196); font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">1964</td>
<td class="xl66" style="border: 0.5pt solid rgb(68, 114, 196); font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">60s</td>
<td class="xl66" style="border: 0.5pt solid rgb(68, 114, 196); font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">52</td>
<td class="xl66" style="border: 0.5pt solid rgb(68, 114, 196); font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">50s</td>
</tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td height="20" style="background: rgb(217, 225, 242); border: 0.5pt solid rgb(68, 114, 196); font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; height: 15pt;">Jeremy Renner</td>
<td class="xl66" style="background: rgb(217, 225, 242); border: 0.5pt solid rgb(68, 114, 196); font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">1971</td>
<td class="xl66" style="background: rgb(217, 225, 242); border: 0.5pt solid rgb(68, 114, 196); font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">70s</td>
<td class="xl66" style="background: rgb(217, 225, 242); border: 0.5pt solid rgb(68, 114, 196); font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">45</td>
<td class="xl66" style="background: rgb(217, 225, 242); border: 0.5pt solid rgb(68, 114, 196); font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">40s</td>
</tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td height="20" style="border: 0.5pt solid rgb(68, 114, 196); font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; height: 15pt;">Chadwick Boseman </td>
<td class="xl66" style="border: 0.5pt solid rgb(68, 114, 196); font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">1976</td>
<td class="xl66" style="border: 0.5pt solid rgb(68, 114, 196); font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">70s</td>
<td class="xl66" style="border: 0.5pt solid rgb(68, 114, 196); font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">40</td>
<td class="xl66" style="border: 0.5pt solid rgb(68, 114, 196); font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">40s</td>
</tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td height="20" style="background: rgb(217, 225, 242); border: 0.5pt solid rgb(68, 114, 196); font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; height: 15pt;">Paul Bettany</td>
<td class="xl66" style="background: rgb(217, 225, 242); border: 0.5pt solid rgb(68, 114, 196); font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">1971</td>
<td class="xl66" style="background: rgb(217, 225, 242); border: 0.5pt solid rgb(68, 114, 196); font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">70s</td>
<td class="xl66" style="background: rgb(217, 225, 242); border: 0.5pt solid rgb(68, 114, 196); font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">45</td>
<td class="xl66" style="background: rgb(217, 225, 242); border: 0.5pt solid rgb(68, 114, 196); font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">40s</td>
</tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td height="20" style="border: 0.5pt solid rgb(68, 114, 196); font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; height: 15pt;">Elizabeth Olsen</td>
<td class="xl66" style="border: 0.5pt solid rgb(68, 114, 196); font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">1989</td>
<td class="xl66" style="border: 0.5pt solid rgb(68, 114, 196); font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">80s</td>
<td class="xl66" style="border: 0.5pt solid rgb(68, 114, 196); font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">27</td>
<td class="xl66" style="border: 0.5pt solid rgb(68, 114, 196); font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">20s</td>
</tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td height="20" style="background: rgb(217, 225, 242); border: 0.5pt solid rgb(68, 114, 196); font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; height: 15pt;">Paul Rudd</td>
<td class="xl66" style="background: rgb(217, 225, 242); border: 0.5pt solid rgb(68, 114, 196); font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">1969</td>
<td class="xl66" style="background: rgb(217, 225, 242); border: 0.5pt solid rgb(68, 114, 196); font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">60s</td>
<td class="xl66" style="background: rgb(217, 225, 242); border: 0.5pt solid rgb(68, 114, 196); font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">47</td>
<td class="xl66" style="background: rgb(217, 225, 242); border: 0.5pt solid rgb(68, 114, 196); font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">40s</td>
</tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td height="20" style="border: 0.5pt solid rgb(68, 114, 196); font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; height: 15pt;">Emily VanCamp</td>
<td class="xl66" style="border: 0.5pt solid rgb(68, 114, 196); font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">1986</td>
<td class="xl66" style="border: 0.5pt solid rgb(68, 114, 196); font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">80s</td>
<td class="xl66" style="border: 0.5pt solid rgb(68, 114, 196); font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">30</td>
<td class="xl66" style="border: 0.5pt solid rgb(68, 114, 196); font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">30s</td>
</tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td height="20" style="background: rgb(217, 225, 242); border: 0.5pt solid rgb(68, 114, 196); font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; height: 15pt;">Tom Holland</td>
<td class="xl66" style="background: rgb(217, 225, 242); border: 0.5pt solid rgb(68, 114, 196); font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">1996</td>
<td class="xl66" style="background: rgb(217, 225, 242); border: 0.5pt solid rgb(68, 114, 196); font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">90s</td>
<td class="xl66" style="background: rgb(217, 225, 242); border: 0.5pt solid rgb(68, 114, 196); font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">20</td>
<td class="xl66" style="background: rgb(217, 225, 242); border: 0.5pt solid rgb(68, 114, 196); font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">20s</td>
</tr>
</tbody></table>
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<div>
Nah, it's probably just because it's a good story. (Not great - but better than Age of Ultron).</div>
malaiseprecishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06559867567783156221noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1632714125118693426.post-39567280753391479812016-04-28T09:31:00.001-07:002016-04-28T09:31:27.805-07:00Microbreweries reviving America's cities<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lubec,_Maine">Lubec</a>, Maine isn't exactly a city. We were there last summer for a few days and enjoyed it. If what James Fallows <a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/notes/all/2015/10/the-american-futures-blog/411148/#note-477447">believes</a> is true - that breweries can be an engine of growth - all the best to <a href="https://www.facebook.com/Lubec-Brewing-Company-1406990739591377/">Lubec Brewing</a>. I enjoyed the beer at <a href="http://www.watersttavernandinn.com/">Water Street Tavern</a> and the food was good too! The bonus was sitting outside and watching the seals.malaiseprecishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06559867567783156221noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1632714125118693426.post-1467312788542799812016-04-27T08:08:00.004-07:002016-04-27T08:08:34.794-07:00The failure of the greatest triumph of economicsOne of the greatest triumphs of economic theory is that agents gain from trading with each other. The proof either from a Ricardian or an Edgeworth box framework is irrefutable and together with the Heckscher-Ohlin model have formed the basis for argument for free trade.<br />
<br />
Reality has always been more complex however and <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/26/business/economy/where-jobs-are-squeezed-by-chinese-trade-voters-seek-extremes.html?smid=tw-share&_r=1">recent research</a> shows the consequences.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Cross-referencing
congressional voting records and district-by-district patterns of job
losses and other economic trends between 2002 and 2010, <a href="http://www.ddorn.net/papers/ADHM-PoliticalPolarization.pdf" title="The study.">the researchers found</a> that areas hardest hit by trade shocks were much more likely to move to the far right or the far left politically.<br />“It’s
not about incumbents changing their positions,” said David Autor, an
influential scholar of labor economics and trade at the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology and one of the paper’s authors. “It’s about the
replacement of moderates with more ideological successors.”<br />Mr.
Autor added: “In retrospect, whether it’s Trump or Sanders, we should
have seen in it coming. The China shock isn’t the sole factor, but it is
something of a missing link.”</blockquote>
<div class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="184" data-total-count="1552">
<br /></div>
<div class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="184" data-total-count="1552">
Autor adds:</div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Mr. Autor, like most economists, is still persuaded of the
long-established benefits that global trade confers on the economy as a
whole. But he recognizes that angry voters have valid reasons to be
frustrated.<br />“It’s a matter of diffuse benefits and concentrated costs, but our political system hasn’t addressed those costs,” he said.<br />Some
staunch defenders of globalization, like Gary Clyde Hufbauer, a senior
fellow at the Peter G. Peterson Institute for International Economics in
Washington, also acknowledge that the federal government has failed to
adequately address the needs of workers dislocated by lowered import
barriers.<br />But
the benefit of free trade is “10 times the size of the losses,” he
said. “Free trade really helps working-class people in terms of lower
prices for products. The benefits are skewed toward people with lower
income because they spend a much larger fraction of their income on
merchandise.”</blockquote>
<div class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="300" data-total-count="7789">
<br /></div>
<div class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="300" data-total-count="7789">
If the gains from trade are as large as economists claim to be then why hasn't the political system found a way to fully compensate the losers in terms of lifetime incomes. Let's say free trade lowers the price of clothing by one dollar. Why not impose a tax of say 90 cents on clothing and use this tax to compensate the workers who have lost their jobs as a result for as long as they would have worked (perhaps until age 65)? Or, target the losers, calculate the size of their losses in terms of lifetime incomes and then find a tax rate that would equate these losses. The tax would not be permanent but it would trade off a higher rate with a lower time frame for the tax. </div>
<br />malaiseprecishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06559867567783156221noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1632714125118693426.post-71510396662695039252016-04-26T05:44:00.003-07:002016-04-26T05:44:32.981-07:00The problem with Hillary<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/26/us/politics/bernie-sanders-campaign.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=first-column-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news">This</a> comment nailed it for me:<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Cynthia Kral, 38, of Pittsburgh, said she would never vote for Mrs.
Clinton. “I cannot trust her,” Ms. Kral said, adding that she planned to
vote for a third-party candidate or write in Mr. Sanders’s name in the
general election. “I feel like she can be bought on anything, and for
her to be president — that kind of scares me.”</blockquote>
<br />
This and the obvious rush for the dollars that came after they left the White House.malaiseprecishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06559867567783156221noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1632714125118693426.post-24068828465494472802016-04-26T05:40:00.001-07:002016-04-26T05:40:24.383-07:00Indiana Jones and the changing of timeWatched Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom last weekend. I had not remembered very much of it. It probably won't pass the new sensibilities of today. I found the depiction of India and Indians somewhat offensive.<br />
<br />
In contrast Raiders of the Lost Ark did not offend me but would John Rhys Davies as Sallah be accused of cultural appropriation today?malaiseprecishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06559867567783156221noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1632714125118693426.post-52960850450572450432016-04-19T16:14:00.004-07:002016-04-19T16:14:59.867-07:00Is AlphaGo really such a big dealIn some ways yes as described in this <a href="https://www.quantamagazine.org/20160329-why-alphago-is-really-such-a-big-deal/">article</a> in Quanta with the same title as this post. But not mentioned often enough is this:<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span class="entry-content" itemprop="articleBody">For the last 20
years, we’ve had exponential growth, and for the last 20 years, people
have said it can’t continue. It just continues. But there are other
considerations we haven’t thought of before. If you look at AlphaGo, I’m
not sure of the fine details of the amount of power it was using, but
I wouldn’t be surprised if it was using hundreds of kilowatts of power
to do the computation. Lee Sedong was probably using about 30 watts,
that’s about what the brain takes, it’s comparable to a light bulb.</span></blockquote>
<span class="entry-content" itemprop="articleBody"><br /></span>
<span class="entry-content" itemprop="articleBody"><a href="http://www.macleans.ca/society/science/the-meaning-of-alphago-the-ai-program-that-beat-a-go-champ/">This</a> is from <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geoffrey_Hinton">Geoff Hinton</a>. Also interesting is this <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/feb/16/demis-hassabis-artificial-intelligence-deepmind-alphago">article</a> on Demis Hassabis one of the founders of Deepmind on what the future might be:</span><br />
<span class="entry-content" itemprop="articleBody"><br /></span>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span class="entry-content" itemprop="articleBody">Most AI systems are “narrow”, training pre-programmed agents to master a
particular task and not much else. So IBM’s Deep Blue could beat Gary
Kasparov at chess, but would struggle against a three-year-old in a
round of noughts and crosses. Hassabis, on the other hand, is taking his
inspiration from the human brain and attempting to build the first
“general-purpose learning machine”: a single set of flexible, adaptive
algorithms that can learn – in the<strong> </strong>same<strong> </strong>way biological systems do – how to master any task from scratch, using nothing more than raw data.</span></blockquote>
malaiseprecishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06559867567783156221noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1632714125118693426.post-19119422161606308342016-04-17T06:01:00.003-07:002016-04-17T06:01:53.238-07:00Netflix = CableSigned up for Netflix and the first thing I did was to see what movies were available:<br />
Edge of Tomorrow? Nope.<br />
Matrix? Nope.<br />
Whiplash? Nope.<br />
Snow White and the Huntsman? Nope.<br />
<br />
It feels like cable TV - a whole lot of nothing except old reruns. I wanted movies on demand and all I got was cable.malaiseprecishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06559867567783156221noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1632714125118693426.post-65353673334294537792016-04-15T15:16:00.000-07:002016-04-15T15:16:44.680-07:00Technology advances in stutter stepsI wanted a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holodeck">holodeck</a> and all I got was a pair of <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/mar/29/oculus-rift-review-roundup-virtual-reality-price">goggles</a>?malaiseprecishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06559867567783156221noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1632714125118693426.post-53126755743099742162015-01-15T06:01:00.001-08:002015-01-15T06:01:27.652-08:00NYC impressionsThe pedestrians are very aggressive. Example: Rather than wait for the walk signal they walk when when the lights are red for the cars. What if cars run the red light?<br />
<br />
Example: Sometimes when there is a lull (and not absence of cars) because cars are turning away instead of coming straight, pedestrians surge into the street taking up half the road. They sometimes stare down drivers who are forced to stop even though they have the green light and they have occupied the street.<br />
<br />
Traffic in Washington DC in comparison seems extremely sedate. Note to self when in DC: Take a deep breath and think, New York, New York.<br />
<br />
Not related to NYC, but perhaps the culture that is NY? Last summer in update NY we stopped for lunch at an Italian restaurant. Near the end of the meal the waiter asked if I would be paying by cash or credit card. When I said credit he sighed and said it was too bad - if I were paying with cash he would not charge me the sales tax. (Yes, it was a rather expensive lunch.)malaiseprecishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06559867567783156221noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1632714125118693426.post-69792183974951878242015-01-14T04:33:00.002-08:002015-01-14T04:33:09.917-08:00Remotely from Penang, againI had been surprised that there was a <a href="http://malaiseprecis.blogspot.com/2014/11/remotely-from-penang.html">list </a>that indicated that Bangkok and Penang had great Internet speeds which was not something I had experienced. This time round I tried it again and it is only slightly better and the experience was fairly uneven. In Bangkok I wasn't able to stream Coursera videos without significant lag and buffering. YouTube videos seemed to be fine. Downloading a 80 MB file took about 15-20 minutes. In Penang, this was much the same. Most likely it depends on the telco as well as the amount of traffic at the time. I'm thinking that the list is pretty much meaningless.malaiseprecishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06559867567783156221noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1632714125118693426.post-26935551560364566662015-01-14T04:26:00.001-08:002015-01-14T04:26:14.026-08:00Traveling over the holidaysWe decided to try traveling to Penang and Bangkok this past Christmas season. The lines at Dulles airport were long but the (cute red headed) CBP agent was surprisingly cheerful when she checked our passports and let us through. That alone was enough to make my day.<br />
<br />
Surprisingly, we didn't have to remove laptops from our carry-ons nor did we have to remove our shoes. This was not the case at other airports however. In Dubai and Bangkok we had to take the laptops out of our bags. We didn't remove our shoes although some passengers did and the security staff there did not indicate anything to us. The security procedures aren't evenly applied to say the least.<br />
<br />
One surprise (for me who doesn't travel much) was the introduction of machines for reading passports at Dulles. However, it didn't seem to make much of a dent in the lines although it is hard to tell when <i>you're </i>the one in a long line. As always, helpful airport staff directed us to which counters we could wait at since we weren't eligible for the machines.<br />
<br />
Automated passport processing has already been in place for a while in Penang (at least since last year). Place the passport in the bin, take a fingerprint scan and then you're done. This is only for Malaysian citizens however. It isn't clear to me what this has to be the case. Now that most passports have biometric information (and possibly chipped) it seems that almost everyone who has a new passport should be able to be processed by a machines. It is way more pleasant than waiting in a long line and much faster.malaiseprecishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06559867567783156221noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1632714125118693426.post-56926366988889704912015-01-14T04:12:00.001-08:002015-01-14T04:12:38.731-08:00Penang and Bangkok in DecemberWow, the weather was cool - I have forgotten that this was possible 28 degrees C for most of the time. Of course it is also monsoon season with its annual <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014%E2%80%9315_floods_in_Southeast_Asia_and_South_Asia">floods</a>. This is in contrast to the heat and humidity of July and August when we usually visit.malaiseprecishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06559867567783156221noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1632714125118693426.post-22724616126204052972014-12-12T11:19:00.003-08:002014-12-12T11:21:42.361-08:00Anthropologists are better than we think<a href="http://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2014/12/are-anthropologists-better-than-you-think.html">MR </a>posted the question: Are anthropologists better than you think? Apparently at least the US government thinks so.<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'Guardian Text Egyptian Web', Georgia, serif; line-height: 24px;">Many independent scholars are critical of what they see as the US government's efforts to militarise social science in the service of war. In May 2008, the American Anthropological Association (AAA) </span><a class=" u-underline" data-component="in-body-link" data-link-name="in body link" href="http://www.aaanet.org/issues/policy-advocacy/upload/Minerva-Letter.pdf" style="-webkit-transition: border-color 0.15s ease-out; background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border-bottom-color: rgb(220, 220, 220); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 0.0625rem; color: #005689; cursor: pointer; font-family: 'Guardian Text Egyptian Web', Georgia, serif; line-height: 24px; text-decoration: none !important; transition: border-color 0.15s ease-out;">wrote to the US government</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'Guardian Text Egyptian Web', Georgia, serif; line-height: 24px;"> noting that the Pentagon lacks "the kind of infrastructure for evaluating anthropological [and other social science] research" in a way that involves "rigorous, balanced and objective peer review", ...</span> </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Citing a summary critique of the programme sent to HTS directors by a former employee, Price reported that the HTS training scenarios "adapted COIN [counterinsurgency] for Afghanistan/Iraq" to domestic situations "in the USA where the local population was seen from the military perspective as threatening the established balance of power and influence, and challenging law and order." </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
One war-game, said Price, involved environmental activists protesting pollution from a coal-fired plant near Missouri, some of whom were members of the well-known environmental NGO Sierra Club. Participants were tasked to "identify those who were 'problem-solvers' and those who were 'problem-causers,' and the rest of the population whom would be the target of the information operations to move their Center of Gravity toward that set of viewpoints and values which was the 'desired end-state' of the military's strategy."</blockquote>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'Guardian Text Egyptian Web', Georgia, serif; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1rem; padding: 0px;">
This is from the <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/environment/earth-insight/2014/jun/12/pentagon-mass-civil-breakdown">Guardian</a>.</div>
malaiseprecishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06559867567783156221noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1632714125118693426.post-53602342750137681792014-12-12T08:16:00.000-08:002014-12-12T11:19:58.697-08:00Is it time to return to print adsThere is something about <a href="http://www.adweek.com/news/advertising-branding/worlds-17-best-print-campaigns-2013-14-158466">print ads</a> that isn't captured by electronic screens. Even more so now that it is entirely possible <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/dec/09/online-ads-robot-fraudsters">that</a>:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Robot fraudsters account for nearly a quarter of “people” watching
online video ads and more than one in 10 display ads, according to the
largest investigation to date into the digital advertising industry.<br />
...<br />
Bot fraudsters infect unsuspecting computer users with malware –
malicious software. Sophisticated botnets mimic the behaviour of online
consumers, pausing at ads, watching videos, switching websites and even
putting items in shopping carts. This fake traffic is often bought by
publishers who are unaware their audience is fake.</blockquote>
<br />
Despite all the advances that the Internet has brought us - the business model remains selling ads - and this is the domain of the great technology giant of our time - Google whose ads are about as eye-catching as ... er, well nothing. It is also the domain of the same technology behemoth's video ads via You Tube which are as good as, er, TV ads?<br />
<br />
So should businesses continue to advertise online via Google or any kind of broad ad generating system such as Amazon? Or should they focus on narrow channels as is already happening - via Facebook, Hulu, etc.? Does this spell the beginning of the end for Google's business model?malaiseprecishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06559867567783156221noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1632714125118693426.post-32363139233600458702014-12-12T07:22:00.001-08:002014-12-12T07:22:07.395-08:00Things I never knew<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'Guardian Text Egyptian Web', Georgia, serif; line-height: 24px;">Authorities warned of minor flooding along the Sacramento River in Tehama County and Cache Creek in Yolo County.</span></blockquote>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'Guardian Text Egyptian Web', Georgia, serif; line-height: 24px;">From the </span><a href="http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2014/dec/12/california-storm-mudslides-evacuations" style="font-family: 'Guardian Text Egyptian Web', Georgia, serif; line-height: 24px;">Pineapple Express</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'Guardian Text Egyptian Web', Georgia, serif; line-height: 24px;">. After all, YOLO.</span>malaiseprecishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06559867567783156221noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1632714125118693426.post-85316793119858404792014-12-11T04:19:00.000-08:002014-12-11T04:19:08.722-08:00Android + Java = ?Java is so riddled with <a href="http://krebsonsecurity.com/2014/04/critical-java-update-plugs-37-security-holes/">security flaws</a> that I am not sure why Google decided not to offer an alternative language when it decided to release Android Studio. As far as I can tell this is just a switch from Eclipse to InteliJ. Even worse is the the fact that Java is still being used for new development.<br />
<br />
It's time to <a href="http://www.infoworld.com/article/2608647/application-development/oracle-hasn-t-killed-java----but-there-s-still-time.html?page=2">kill Java</a> but Google and its ilk are continuing to promote a language that is riddled with security problems thereby prolonging its useless life. Schools still <a href="http://introcs.cs.princeton.edu/java/home/">teach</a> the language without any discussion to about its security flaws.malaiseprecishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06559867567783156221noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1632714125118693426.post-851418389311908412014-11-09T06:24:00.003-08:002014-11-09T06:24:54.780-08:00I hate the switch back to standard timeIt gets dark too early.<br />
More time for nefarious elements of society to roam and search for prey.<br />
<br />
As it is we already spend most of the year in DST.<br />
Why not just make it permanent.malaiseprecishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06559867567783156221noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1632714125118693426.post-45355559673479402462014-11-08T03:52:00.001-08:002014-11-08T03:52:33.446-08:00Remotely from PenangI saw on <a href="https://nomadlist.io/">NomadList</a> the best places to live and work remotely (HT: MR) and was surprised that Penang was in the Top 20. The <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/constructionandproperty/11142745/The-best-places-to-live-and-work-remotely.html">Telegraph</a> also reproduced the list.<br />
<br />
The Internet experience I had when I was there last year was disappointing to say the least. Wifi was spotty in our residence - the signal kept getting dropped. Okay - it might have been an equipment issue. When it worked however, there was a significant slowdown in Internet speeds around 5 pm and after. I'm not sure if it was due to the pipe in our neighborhood or not but I suspect that people got home from work and went on the Internet and overwhelmed the network.<br />
<br />
We're going again and perhaps we'll experience something different this time - hopefully.malaiseprecishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06559867567783156221noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1632714125118693426.post-29471005662130513902014-10-24T06:45:00.001-07:002014-10-24T06:45:36.131-07:00Paying with your fingerHT: <a href="http://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2014/10/digital-non-cash.html">Marginal Revolution</a>. Wrong finger unfortunately.<br />
<br />
<img alt="Venezuela" class="alignnone wp-image-64350" height="411" src="http://2378nh2nfow32gm3mb25krmuyy.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Venezuela-1024x682.jpg" width="617" />malaiseprecishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06559867567783156221noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1632714125118693426.post-83684788220767566102014-10-18T10:28:00.000-07:002014-10-18T10:28:06.812-07:00Teksi sapu meets the 21st century<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illegal_taxicab_operation">Teksi sapu</a> + Internet = <a href="https://www.uber.com/">UberX</a><br />
<br />
I had been looking forward to this service coming to Malaysia especially Penang since public transportation there is virtually non-existent if you live in the Green Lane area. Even worse is the traffic which is comparable to being on the DC Beltway at rush hour except that in Penang it is everywhere during rush hour.<br />
<br />
Unfortunately, like <a href="http://baltimore.cbslocal.com/2014/08/07/maryland-commission-rules-uber-must-be-regulated-2/">some jurisdictions</a> in the US this is seen more as a threat to taxi companies than a way to alleviate congestion and perhaps even decrease pollution.<br />
<br />
From the above link:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
The Maryland Public Service Commission has labeled Uber a common
carrier. It’s a move the company says could make it impossible for them
to operate here in Maryland.</blockquote>
And from <a href="http://www.thestar.com.my/News/Nation/2014/09/23/JPJ-warns-teksi-sapu-drivers-Nationwide-crackdown-to-start-from-Oct-1/">Malaysia</a>:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Private vehicles offering a taxi-like service through the Uber mobile app are doing so illegally. </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
They would face the full brunt of the law during a nationwide
crackdown by the authorities from Oct 1, Road Transport Department
(JPJ) director-general Datuk Seri Ismail Ahmad said yesterday. </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
He said the service was akin to <em>teksi sapu</em> or <em>kereta sapu</em> as the vehicles were not licensed to carry fare-paying passengers.</blockquote>
<br />
<br />malaiseprecishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06559867567783156221noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1632714125118693426.post-74182256537591766052014-10-13T12:25:00.001-07:002014-10-13T12:25:25.383-07:00On misreading "mending wall"Possibly, the most famous line in the poem is "good fences make good neighbors".<br />
<br />
How should it be interpreted or more generally is there a wrong interpretation? When trying to interpret a poem is there even a wrong interpretation? According to<a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/daily-dish/archive/2010/05/palin-on-robert-frost/186667/"> Andrew Sullivan</a>, yes. In his post, Sullivan quotes a comment from one of his links:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
The narrator of the poem is annoyed by his neighbor’s insistence that there <em>has</em>
to be a fence between them. If only his neighbor would get beyond his
father’s beliefs originating in an old proverb and reconsider his
thinking.</blockquote>
Reading the poem, I actually don't detect any annoyance - puzzlement, perhaps, and even some mischievous questioning of why "good fences make good neighbors". Yet the speaker in the poem continues to participate in the annual ritual of rebuilding the wall.<br />
<br />
An even more over the top critique of the positive interpretation of the phrase that good fences indeed make good neighbors is from <a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2010/05/sarah-palin-misinterprets-robert-frost/57248/">Eleanor Barkhorn</a> who appears not to have read the poem at all. She writes:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"Mending Wall" is a polemic against building walls that separate us from
our neighbors—the poem opens with the line,"Something there is that
doesn't love a wall" and goes on to describe the narrator's attempts to
talk his neighbor out of putting one up.</blockquote>
Polemic? Hardly. Clever, yes. And the speaker never really tries to talk his neighbor out of rebuilding it. However barkborn has pointed out another often quoted line: "Something there that doesn't love a wall". Every year, the wall falls down - why? The cold New England winters and the <b>frost </b>buildup between the cracks as well as the expansion and contraction due to temperature changes is the something that doesn't love a wall. Yes, the speaker does seem to indicate that the natural state of the wall is for it to fall. There is a sense that the rebuilding of the wall is an annual ritual that he participates in despite his concerns - perhaps an acknowledgment that the wall is <i>necessary </i>- necessary for what?<br />
<br />
Possibly this is the only time he sees his neighbor so the wall allows them to get together to rebuild it every year. Possibly the wall delineates not only their property lines but also delineates each other's responsibility toward each other and the act of rebuilding the wall is one that reestablishes the unwritten responsibilities and rules.<br />
<br />
There is no wrong way to interpret a poem although I don't really see Sullivan and Barkhorn arguing persuasively that good fences do <i>not </i>make good neighbors. Another comment comes from a <a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2014/02/-em-dead-poets-society-em-is-a-terrible-defense-of-the-humanities/283853/">defender </a>of the humanities who says parenthetically:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
In a like manner, how often has Frost’s “The Mending Wall” been quoted
out of context in debates about immigration reform? “Good fences make
good neighbors,” indeed.</blockquote>
His disdain for the line good fences make good neighbors is clear - yet he does not argue against it since that is not the point of his article. His argues why<i> Dead Poets Society</i> is such a bad movie because the students do not take part in careful reading or analysis of the texts that are in the movie. He writes:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
In a hackneyed speech about resisting conformity that he seems to have
delivered many times before, Keating invokes that oft-invoked but rarely
understood chestnut, “The Road Not Taken”: “Robert Frost said, ‘Two
roads diverged in a wood and I / I took the one less traveled by / And
that has made all the difference.’” </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Wha—? Has Keating actually read the poem from which he so blithely
samples? For Robert Frost said no such thing: a character in his poem
says it. And we’re meant to learn, over the course of that poem, that
he’s wrong—that he’s both congratulating and kidding himself. He chooses
his road ostensibly because “it was grassy and wanted wear”; but this
description is contradicted in the very next lines—“Though as for that,
the passing there / Had worn them really about the same,” and—more
incredibly still—“both that morning equally lay / In leaves no step had
trodden black.” He wants to claim to have taken the exceptional road, if
not the spiritual high road; but he knows on some level that it’s a
hollow boast. </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Keating hasn’t actually read “The Road Not Taken” in any meaningful
sense; rather, he’s adopted it, adapted it, made it his own—made it say
what he wants it to say. His use of those closing lines, wrenched from
their context, isn’t just wrong—it’s <em>completely</em> wrong, and
Keating uses them to point a moral entirely different from that of
Frost’s poem. (In a like manner, how often has Frost’s “The Mending
Wall” been quoted out of context in debates about immigration reform?
“Good fences make good neighbors,” indeed.)</blockquote>
As a student of poetry should know - sometimes there can be multiple interpretations of a poem each just as valid as he shows in his analysis of <i>The Road Not Taken</i>. Yes, Keating was wrong in that Frost didn't literally mean what he said. On the point that while the speaker of the poem may not have said something - it doesn't mean that the poet isn't the speaker of the poem - nor is the poem always about what it seems to say it is about.<br />
<br />
In the end the all article really ends up showing is that the author decided to interpret it one way: "He wants to claim to have taken the exceptional road, if not the spiritual high road; but he knows on some level that it’s a hollow boast." Although there are <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/frosts-road-not-taken-poem-interpretation-2014-3">different </a>interpretations as well:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="line-height: 1.5em;">"So the point of the poem is
that everyone wants to look back and think that their choices matter.
But in reality, s--t just happens the way that it happens, and it
doesn’t matter."</span></blockquote>
<span style="line-height: 1.5em;">In the end, both the author and Dead Poets Society are about equal in their defense of the humanities.</span>malaiseprecishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06559867567783156221noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1632714125118693426.post-23351371453035621922014-04-11T05:18:00.000-07:002015-01-14T04:13:42.301-08:00So much for open source, crowd source, and all other sources<br />
The programming mistake that resulted in <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2014/04/11/the-man-who-says-he-gave-the-internet-heartbleed-talks-about-his-mistake/?tid=pm_national_pop">Heartbleed</a>:<br />
<blockquote>
“I was working on improving OpenSSL and submitted
numerous bug fixes and added new features…In one of the new features,
unfortunately, I missed validating a variable containing a length.”<br />
After he submitted the code, a reviewer “apparently also didn’t
notice the missing validation,” Seggelmann said, “so the error made its
way from the development branch into the released version.”<br />
Dr Seggelmann said the error he introduced was “quite trivial,” but acknowledged that its impact was “severe.”</blockquote>
The model relies on crowds except when crowds are sparse (oxymoron?) and quick reaction. This model applies to Wikipedia and financial markets as well. It relies even more strongly on so-called "self-correcting" mechanisms since crowds can also act like herds.<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Apparently, mistakes such as Seggelmann’s aren’t rare. Programmers on <a href="http://www.reddit.com/r/programming/comments/22p30f/robin_seggelmann_denies_intentionally_introducing/">Reddit</a> sympathized with him and swapped stories of their own coding errors.<br />
“Really, the only reason that most of us haven’t caused such a
massive f—up is that we’ve never been given the opportunity,” one wrote.<br />
So if errors like these are easy to make and have potentially disastrous consequences, why isn’t something being done?<br />
“It would be better if more people helped improving [OpenSSL],” Seggelmann <a href="http://mashable.com/2014/04/10/heartbleed-programmer/">told Mashable</a> via e-mail. “The more people look at it, the less likely errors like this occur.”</blockquote>
<br />
Apparently not a conspiracy either:<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Seggelmann, who lives in Münster,
Germany, told the Herald he didn’t insert the error on purpose, as some
conspiracy theorists have suggested.</span><br />
“It was a simple programming error in a new feature, which
unfortunately occurred in a security relevant area,” he said. ”It was
not intended at all, especially since I have previously fixed OpenSSL
bugs myself, and was trying to contribute to the project.”</blockquote>
<br />
But what if some agency hypnotized him to make the mistake? Conspiracies can never die - they just take on a different form. malaiseprecishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06559867567783156221noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1632714125118693426.post-38597322877647563972014-04-11T05:11:00.002-07:002014-04-11T05:11:28.143-07:00Huh?Headline in <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/harvard-journal-says-gospel-of-jesus-wife-is-ancient-not-a-modern-forgery/2014/04/10/7b172910-c0f7-11e3-bcec-b71ee10e9bc3_story.html?tid=pm_pop">WaPo</a>:<br />
<h1>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span class="entry-title">Harvard journal says “Gospel of Jesus’s Wife” is ancient, not a modern forgery</span></span></h1>
<h1>
<span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: small;">So does this mean it's an ancient forgery?</span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span class="entry-title"> </span></span></h1>
malaiseprecishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06559867567783156221noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1632714125118693426.post-44494885150411571512014-01-31T09:49:00.002-08:002015-01-14T04:27:58.326-08:00Guess the missing word<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Woolley believes this is because the iPod material made______ more effective teachers. They had professional videos
illustrating their lessons, and language support. “You’re not
substituting the technology for face to face conversations,” he said.
“You’re using technology as an adjunct, to better make a point.” Woolley
felt that the technology, instead of distracting _______, inspired
them. “It gave them more enthusiasm,” he said, “because it had more
success and they were having more fun.”</blockquote>
The word is: missionaries.<br />
<br />
Or perhaps more aptly, this is what colleges and MOOCs can learn from the the CoLDS.<br />
<br />
From: http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2014/01/the-facebook-of-mormon/283467/ malaiseprecishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06559867567783156221noreply@blogger.com0