Sunday video fun — fireworks display
Honoring the end of a holiday weekend, here’s the NYC fireworks display from this year.
If that’s not enough to satisfy that fireworks itch, here’s a link to a YouTube search for “fireworks display.”
July 6, 2008
July 4, 2008
June 30, 2008
Quantum stickiness, Hawking and teh funny
From KurzweilAI.net, micromachine stiction, Stephen Hawking tackles the universe’s inflation and defining humor.
How a quantum effect is gumming up nanomachines New Scientist news service, June 28, 2008 Researchers are making progress in overcoming static friction, or or “stiction,” which sticks together the parts of micromachines on scales of between 10 and 300 nanometers and limits progress in reducing their size, affecting computer hard drives and other devices with small moving parts.
Stiction is due to the Casimir effect, a quantum-mechanics phenomenon that causes surfaces to be attracted. Methods to reduce its effect include use of patterned surfaces, suspending the components in a liquid, and use of metamaterials.
Hawking ‘close’ to explaining universe’s inflation New Scientist (article preview), June 28, 2008 Starting with current observations of the universe and working back to narrow down the initial set of possibilities and by treating the early cosmos as a quantum object with a multitude of alternative universes that gradually blend into ours, Stephen Hawking and colleagues think they are close to perfecting an answer to explain why the infant universe expanded so rapidly.
(Subscription required)
Mechanism and function of humor identified by new evolutionary theory PhysOrg.com, June 27, 2008 Humor occurs when the brain recognizes a pattern that surprises it, suggests Alastair Clarke in the forthcoming book, Humour.
“Now that we understand the mechanism of humour, the possibility of creating an artificial intelligence being that could develop its own sense of humour becomes very real,” he says. “This would, for the first time, create an AI capable of exhibiting one of the defining characteristics that make us human, making it seem significantly less robotic as a result.”
June 29, 2008
POPaganda on public television
I’m not going to tell you how to vote, but I would heavily suggest hitting this link and voting for POPaganda.
I’m sure the other two films are wonderful, but my loyalties lie with Ron and his amazing artwork.
From the link:
POPaganda: The Art & Subversion
June 27, 2008
Boosting brain power
I’d love to get my hands on one of these devices. Or maybe just track down some plans and build one.
Want to Enhance Your Brain Power? Technology Review, June 26, 2008 Researchers at the National Institute for Neurological Disorders and Stroke are studying how applying gentle electrical current to the scalp can improve learning.
The transcranial direct current stimulation (TDCS) deviceuses a simple nine-volt battery, which passes about 2 to 2.5 milliamps of electrical current directly to the brain through the scalp and skull.
Researchers found that direct current stimulation could improve memory in participants asked to learn and then recall a list of 12 words.
June 26, 2008
Post number …
… 500. Woot!
I started this blog early this year. This post marks the 500 mark. And in exciting news, this blog will soon be distributed through the Newstex “Blogs on Demand” syndicate.
Thanks for the support and do keep on reading. You can expect more of the politics, technology and business, with a little extra … mix I strive to post.
Blog glossary
If you’ve ever wondered about some of the blog-specific words and phrases out there in the blogoshpere, look no further. Here’s a great blog glossary courtesy of Samizdata.
June 23, 2008
George Carlin, RIP
Stand-up comedian George Carlin has died at 71 of heart failure.
His work the last few years was a lot of the old crank and not quite as funny, but he delivered many classic lines and honed some of the great comedy routines of the last forty-plus years. His voice and (strong) opinions will be missed.
From the link:
Carlin, who had a history of heart and drug-dependency problems, died at Saint John’s Health Center in Santa Monica about 6 p.m. PDT (9 p.m. EDT) after being admitted earlier in the afternoon for chest pains, spokesman Jeff Abraham told Reuters.
Known for his edgy, provocative material, Carlin achieved status as an anti-Establishment icon in the 1970s with stand-up bits full of drug references and a routine called “Seven Words You Can Never Say On Television.” A regulatory battle over a radio broadcast of the routine ultimately reached the U.S. Supreme Court.
In the 1978 case, Federal Communications Commission vs. Pacifica Foundation, the top U.S. court ruled that the words cited in Carlin’s routine were indecent, and that the government’s broadcast regulator could ban them from being aired at times when children might be listening.
June 22, 2008
Moodstream by Getty Images
Moodstream is an odd/interesting multimedia online tool from Getty Images. It’s probably better for you to just try it out than for me to attempt a description.
Here’s what the creators have to say:
Moodstream is a powerful brainstorming tool designed to help take in inspiring, unexpected directions. Whether you want images, footage or audio, or just need a stream of fresh ideas, tweak the Moodstream sliders to bring a whole new creative palette straight to you.
Ready? Stream. Create.
June 21, 2008
Fired for teaching creationism …
… and just a little thing about branding crosses onto students.
An Ohio middle-school teacher, John Freshwater, lost his job for ignoring district warnings and continuing to teach christian beliefs, and for using a high-frequency generator to brand crosses into the arms of his students.
The best quote from the link:
Freshwater’s friend Dave Daubenmire defended him.
“With the exception of the cross-burning episode. … I believe John Freshwater is teaching the values of the parents in the Mount Vernon school district,” he told The Columbus Dispatch for a story published Friday.
Yeah, take away the cross branding and continuing to use the bully pulpit of a middle-school science classroom to teach something better placed in a philosophy, theology, mythology or fiction study group, and I’m sure he’s an asset to the district.
June 19, 2008
Midwest under water
The flooding along the Mississippi River in the Midwest is shocking. Hopefully all the affected communities will get a break in the weather soon and can begin the rebuilding process.
From the link:
Since the flooding began, 20 levees have been breached — 11 of them in the St. Louis area — and as many as 30 more remain in peril. Estimates of the damage to farmland throughout the Midwest ranged from 2 million to 5 million acres of crops, pushing corn prices close to a record price of $8 a bushel. The U.S. Department of Agriculture is said to be planning a thorough review of the damage later this month.
June 17, 2008
Ethernet cables for $500?
I’ve blogged about audiophile lunacy before and this certainly isn’t the worst example out there, but it seems Denon is marketing some ethernet cables to audiophiles for a whopping five hundred dollars.
From the Boing Boing (second) link:
The people who sell super-expensive cables are on the march from Audiophileland to Nerdasia. Are we ready for the onslaught? First up: $500 ethernet cables from Denon!
IP is what we usually send over these cables, error-corrected from end-to-end. This means, generally, that throughput, rather than quality, is what drops with interference or long runs—the networking cards perform integrity checks on incoming packets and ask for re-sends if they’re imperfect.
From a standard computing perspective, then, this cable is outright robbery if what you use it for involves ethernet networking, with routers and computers and what-have-you.
June 15, 2008
Ross and his charts
Ross Perot, the founder of EDS and one-time presidential candidate who pretty much put Bill Clinton into the White House, is known (and parodied) for his love of charts. To that end he has an interesting website full of various charts — Perotcharts.com.
Two particularly outline the out-of-control budget deficit, and the GOP’s complicity in the situation.
Here’s one on surpluses and deficits over the last 40 years:
This next chart and analysis covers the national debt for the same time period. Notice how the debt fell only during Clinton’s time in office. It’s distressing to me how fiscally irresponsible the GOP has become. There’s absolutely nothing conservative about the fiscal policy this nation has operated under the last seven-plus years.
But wait a minute! All of the so-called “debt clocks” show that the national debt is now in excess of $9 trillion. Where is the $4 trillion discrepancy? Answer: See the next two charts (Growing National Debt: Intragovernmental Holdings and The Growing National Debt: Combined).
This is the cumulative amount of money that the government has borrowed from outside sources to meet its obligations during the years that it runs deficits. Debt Held by the Public includes domestic buyers, such as mutual funds, state and local governments, Federal Reserve banks, commercial banks, insurance companies, and individuals, as well as private foreign entities and central banks of foreign countries. Of the $5.1 trillion in outstanding public debt at the end of 2007, domestic investors owned 55 percent ($2.8 trillion) and foreign investors held 45 percent ($2.2 trillion). When the government runs surpluses, the debt gets paid down as can be seen from the trough in the late 1990s.
(Hat tip: the Daily Dish)
June 14, 2008
Saturday video fun — “I got dumped for Obama”
According to the YouTube description, “A response to Obama Girl. Inspired by true events. “
June 13, 2008
Real life imitates art, the Boondocks version
It looks the actual R. Kelly child prostitution trial turned into something very close to the “Boondocks” episode on that trial. The fictional animated show is a great social satire. Sounds the real-life trial was more a farce.
From the NRO (second) link:
Great Moments in Jurisprudence [Mark Hemingway]
Incredibly, R&B singer R. Kelly was just acquitted on 14 counts related to child pornography after a videotape of him surfaced some years ago in which he could be clearly seen micturating on and fornicating with 14-year-old girl. That’s bad enough, but here’s the kicker from his attorney’s closing arguments:
Showing the jury a studio photograph of the alleged victim on a large screen, he then told them that if they were going to find Kelly guilty of 14 counts of child pornography, “you are going to have to call (the alleged victim) 14 times individually and collectively a whore.”
Barely audible, he whispered, “My momma told me when we were kids, ‘if you ain’t got something nice to say about someone, don’t say it about her.”
He concluded his argument saying, “How are you 14 times going to call her a whore?”
Now hold up. R. Kelly shouldn’t be found guilty for videotaping the the sexual abuse of an adolescent girl because it would ruin her reputation?! What is this? Saudi Arabia?
June 12, 2008
The internet is changing our brains
Just read Nicholas Carr’s piece in the July/August 2008 print Atlantic Monthly, “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” The article raises some very interesting points, most importantly bringing into sharper focus the relatively new neuroscience idea that our brain continually changes, improves and otherwise re-wires itself. This is counter the long-held belief that once you reach adulthood, your brain is permanentlyset. Sort of like concrete poured into a mold. Instead the medium a malleable, and the mold is constantly refiguring itself.
The larger concept is the internet, and its unique structure, is affecting the way we access and process information. Certainly true. I’ve included an excerpt from the article about how acquiring a typewriter affected Nietzsche’s writing.
I completely understand this idea. When writing for business or media I use the computer keyboard, but when writing fiction I often will write in longhand. It’s a different experience and it slows my thinking down forcing me to contemplate each word a bit more. Sure I do some fiction at the keyboard, but much of that writing is done with pen set to paper. And my journal of many years is one hundred percent longhand. Something about the pen, or pencil, scratching across the page still appeals to me. Plus I like looking at the large stack of spiral-bound notebooks holding my thoughts dating back twenty-plus years.
From the article:
Sometime in 1882, Friedrich Nietzsche bought a typewriter—a Malling-Hansen Writing Ball, to be precise. His vision was failing, and keeping his eyes focused on a page had become exhausting and painful, often bringing on crushing headaches. He had been forced to curtail his writing, and he feared that he would soon have to give it up. The typewriter rescued him, at least for a time. Once he had mastered touch-typing, he was able to write with his eyes closed, using only the tips of his fingers. Words could once again flow from his mind to the page.
But the machine had a subtler effect on his work. One of Nietzsche’s friends, a composer, noticed a change in the style of his writing. His already terse prose had become even tighter, more telegraphic. “Perhaps you will through this instrument even take to a new idiom,” the friend wrote in a letter, noting that, in his own work, his “‘thoughts’ in music and language often depend on the quality of pen and paper.”
“You are right,” Nietzsche replied, “our writing equipment takes part in the forming of our thoughts.” Under the sway of the machine, writes the German media scholar Friedrich A. Kittler, Nietzsche’s prose “changed from arguments to aphorisms, from thoughts to puns, from rhetoric to telegram style.”
The human brain is almost infinitely malleable. People used to think that our mental meshwork, the dense connections formed among the 100 billion or so neurons inside our skulls, was largely fixed by the time we reached adulthood. But brain researchers have discovered that that’s not the case. James Olds, a professor of neuroscience who directs the Krasnow Institute for Advanced Study at George Mason University, says that even the adult mind “is very plastic.” Nerve cells routinely break old connections and form new ones. “The brain,” according to Olds, “has the ability to reprogram itself on the fly, altering the way it functions.”
June 11, 2008
More on libertarian seasteading
I’ve blogged about this subject before, and here’s a take from Cato-at-Liberty by Timothy B. Lee on libertarian seasteading. I think the concept of post-, extra-national libertarian communities is very interesting. My above linked blog post covers Peter Thiels’ investment in the Seasteading Institute. Looks like Tim also thinks this monetary input is a strong factor in this idea’s potential for success.
From the second link:
Over at Ars Technica, I have an in-depth discussion of seasteading, an effort by a group of Silicon Valley libertarians to develop technology for living on the open oceans in a cost-effective manner. They argue that government is an industry with excessive barriers to entry, and they aim to change that by creating a turnkey solution for starting your own community.
History is littered with utopian projects, libertarian and otherwise, that fell far short of their lofty goals. At first glance, the Seasteading Institute looks like just another utopian scheme. But there are at least two reasons to think this one might accomplish more than its predecessors. First, recognizing that it would take many decades to develop a self-sufficient ocean metropolis, Friedman and his partners have chosen to focus largely on short-term engineering challenges. They want to build cheap, durable sea platforms that anyone can purchase. Second, they’ve raised half a million dollars from Peter Thiel, the libertarian entrepreneur who co-founded PayPal and is now a major investor in Facebook. Thiel’s backing will allow them to move beyond the extensive background work they’ve already done and begin the expensive task of actually designing and building their first prototype, which they hope to splash down in San Francisco Bay in the next few years.
June 7, 2008
It’s the end of an era
Deadspin editor Will Leitch is quitting to join the staff of New York Magazine. I don’t read Deadspin as often as I once did (I even own a “You’re with me leather” t-shirt), but read through today and found Will’s announcement from a couple of days ago.
Will’s almost three years atop the site he founded was a good ride. Who can forget Carl Monday or Dee Mirich. Or the Bill Simmons comment page take-down on ESPN the very first day of comments. Simmons’ Page Two work still doesn’t allow comments because of that Deadspin reader fueled rampage.
Will says he’ll still post at Deadspin after starting his contributing editor position. It just won’t be the same.
From the first link:
We started this site on September 8, 2005, with a simple headline: “Welcome to Deadspin. We Come With a Pure Heart and Mirthful Disposition.” We think that’s still pretty much true; we try to keep our disposition mirthful at all times. But sometimes that’s more difficult to do than others; this is one of those times.
It is with heavy heart — yet mirthful disposition! — that we announce that our time as Deadspin editor is about to draw to a close. After almost three years of plugging away around here, we are leaving as editor of Deadspin on Friday, June 27. We have accepted a job as a contributing editor for New York magazine. We’re excited about it, but, obviously, this has been our baby and our life every day for three years — which is about four decades in blog time — and we’re too emotional about the whole thing to get into much more detail about how we feel about the whole matter.
We’ll still be writing for the site, even after we’re not the editor anymore, so you’re not gonna get rid of us that easily. (We kind of love it here; we have nothing but manhugs and fistpoundsfor the Gawker crew, and vice versa.) We’ll go into the details more over the next few weeks, but we’ll just leave you today with a simple quote of “It’s probably time,” and then try not to dribble tears on our keyboard.
Saturday video fun — the Celtics’ Gino
For the NBA finals, here’s the scoreboard favorite from Boston — “Gino” from a 1977 American Bandstand episode dancing to “Shake your Booty” by KC and the Sunshine Band. His moniker comes from the overly tight Gino Vannelli concert shirt he’s sporting.
Sadly for Boston fans, and maybe something of an omen for the series with the Lakers, the Wall Street Journal tracked down “Gino” (probably subscriber only link) and found out his name is Joe Massoni. Sadly Joe died at 34 in 1990 from pneumonia. As it turns out the shirt was so tight because he borrowed it from the tiny chick to his right in this video according to the WSJ story.
But in better days, he was a disco king on Bandstand:
June 6, 2008
More Singularity and living 3D nano-microscopy
From KurzweilAI.net. Ray Kurzweil talks about the Singularityon NPR and a new technique allows for nano-level microscopy on living cells.
Will We Recognize The Future? Science Friday, June 6, 2008What happens when the rate of technological change becomes so fast that the fundamental nature of what it means to be human changes too? On Science Fridayon NPR (June 6, 2009 at 3 PM), host Ira Flatow talks with inventor, technologist and futuristRay Kurzweil about the idea of the Singularity — what happens when technology advances so much that it’s impossible to predict what happens next. Will artificial intelligence, nanotechnology, and biotechnology be able to completely reshape what it means to be human?
This is a call-in radio show.
Pretty on the Inside Technology Review, June 5, 2008University of California, San Francisco and Ludwig Maximilians University researchers are using a new technique called 3-D structured-illumination microscopy to view living cells with 100 nanometers resolution.
Cells prepare for division by condensing their DNA into chromosomes (Lothar Schermelleh, Peter Carlton)The new microscope illuminates cells with interference patterns. When a fine cellular structure reflects this light, it changes the pattern slightly. The microscope collects it, then software interprets the changes and creates an image.
The inner workings of living cells have previously been impossible to resolve with optical microscopes, which are limited to a resolution of about half the wavelength of visible light, around 200 nanometers. Electron microscopy has the resolution, but can only be used on dead cells.
Spectrum Singularity special
IEEE Spectrum Online has a special report on the Singularity. I haven’t read much of it just yet, but looks pretty cool.
Vernor Vinge pens one article.
Here’s an excerpt:
In that event, I expect the singularity will come as some combination of the following:
The AI Scenario: We create superhuman artificial intelligence (AI) in computers.
The IA Scenario: We enhance human intelligence through human-to-computer interfaces—that is, we achieve intelligence amplification (IA).
The Biomedical Scenario: We directly increase our intelligence by improving the neurological operation of our brains.
The Internet Scenario: Humanity, its networks, computers, and databases become sufficiently effective to be considered a superhuman being.
The Digital Gaia Scenario: The network of embedded microprocessors becomes sufficiently effective to be considered a superhuman being.
The essays in this issue of IEEE Spectrum use similar definitions for the technological singularity but variously rate the notion from likely to totally bogus. I’m going to respond to arguments made in these essays and also mine them for signs of the oncoming singularity that we might track in the future.
June 4, 2008
The “Hillary is 44″ people …
… are nuts. The final post last night was titled, “When Will Obama Concede?”
It’s one thing to fully support your candidate. It’s another to enter an Onion-like alternate reality where facts on the ground cease to exist. Maybe these last six-plus years of Orwellian abuse of the language politic has addled the posters at the site.
(For those who miss the reference and don’t get the link to the Onion — it’s a news satire website.)
From the first link:
On the night Obama lost South Dakota (Obama’s own projections had him winning South Dakota by 15 percent) he spoke in the same hall in which Mondale conceded to the Reagan landslide.
Obama will either concede now or in November.
June 3, 2008
This is one great post …
… from the New Republic’s Christopher Orr channeling Detroit Piston GM, Joe Dumars. Especially funny here on the last day of primary voting.
From the link:
It’s no great surprise that some are trying to push us out of this series. From the beginning, it’s been clear that the media and league elites have been looking for an exciting new face, instead of a team, like ours, that has proven its mettle by making it to the Conference Finals six* years in a row. We saw it in the Western Conference as well, where officials and news outlets made clear they were sick to death of the reigning champion San Antonio Spurs and behaved like cheerleaders for the media-darling Lakers. Heck, they almost managed to persuade fans that a hokey, small-town act like the New Orleans Hornets was a legitimate contender. It is safe to say that this has been the most rigged coverage in modern sports history.
But back to the series in question. Yes, Boston has won four games and Detroit only two. But it’s hard to imagine a more arbitrary and undemocratic way to determine this series’s outcome than “games won.” It is, after all, a bedrock value of the game of basketball that all points must be counted. But how can that be the case when every point beyond the winning point is ignored? There are literally dozens of layups, jumpers, free throws, and (yes, even) dunks that our opponents want to say don’t count for anything at all. We call on the NBA to do the right thing and fully count all of the baskets that were made throughout the course of this series.
Once you abandon the artificial four-games-to-two framework that the media has tried to impose on the series, a very different picture emerges, with the Celtics leading by a mere 549 points to 539. Yes that’s right, the margin between the two teams is less than one percent—a tie, for all intents and purposes. This is probably the closest Conference Finals in NBA history, though I will thank you not to check on that.
Take the time to read the whole thing. It’s worth it.
(Hat tip: the Daily Dish)
June 2, 2008
Bo Diddley, RIP
Man, there’s been a spate of entertainment and arts deaths recently — I’ve run multiple RIPs and I certainly haven’t covered most of the significant events.
Bo Diddley, the man with the square guitar and a true rock & roll pioneer, is dead at 79. He’s probably better known for the guitar shape than of his actual music. A great artist and a great innovator. Bo, take your rightful spot in that celestial choir …
From the link:
In the 1950s, Mr. Diddley — along with Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Jerry Lee Lewisand a few others — helped reshape the sound of popular music worldwide, building it on the templates of blues, southern gospel and rhythm and blues. His original style of R&B influenced generations of musicians. And his Bo Diddley syncopated beat — three strokes/rest/two strokes — became a stock rhythm of rock ’n’ roll.
Update: Here’s a link to a few relevant YouTube clips assembled by Reason’s Jesse Walker.
May 25, 2008
Dick Martin, RIP
Dick Martin, co-host of the awesome goodness that was “Rowan and Martin’s Laugh In,” has died at 86.
During Trio’s all-too-brief stint on DirecTV I had the joy to watch “Laugh In.” Brilliant comedy and satire. The flying fickle finger of fate has come to rest on Martin, but I’m guessing the laughs go on.
Memorial Day weekend video fun — La Di Da Di
Someone found this blog searching for “Slick Rick.” I have no idea which post ranked that high in search results, but in honor of that random webizen, and to make the holiday weekend a little bit slicker, here’s the original …
(And yes, I know Rick D isn’t Slick Rick, but if Rick D isn’t slick himself, the definition of “slick” needs an amendment.)
And for a holiday bonus, here’s Snoop Dogg with a somewhat portly Doug E. Fresh …
Enjoy.
May 22, 2008
Peter Thiel invests in libertarian micronations
From KurzweilAI.net — I’ve recently blogged about PayPal founder, Peter Thiel. He’s making news again by investing in offshore communities destined to become libertarian strongholds. Pretty cool idea if you ask me …
Peter Thiel Makes Down Payment on Libertarian Ocean Colonies Wired, May 19, 2008 With a $500,000 donation from PayPal founder Peter Thiel, a Google engineer and a former Sun Microsystems programmer have launched The Seasteading Institute, an organization dedicated to creating experimental ocean communities “with diverse social, political, and legal systems.”
Artist’s conception of a large seastead based on the spur design (Valdemar Duran)The seasteaders want to build their first prototype for a few million dollars, by scaling down and modifying an existing off-shore oil rig design known as a “spar platform.”
May 18, 2008
Q&A with George Soros
The May 15, 2008, New York Review of Books had an interesting interview with financier George Soros. They covered financial regulation, currency, the housing crisis and the global economy. The interview even touches briefly on politics.
This interview is a great read to hear a highly educated opinion on all those subjects. For those who see the name “George Soros” and only think of the man who pumped tens of millions into the 2004 election to attempt and unseat Bush 43, this interview might open your eyes a bit.
He’s not Democratic ideologue. Maybe for a bit more market regulation than I prefer, but after these last few years beginning with the Enron debacle it’s hard to argue for a completely free market. And he’s certainly made a whole lot more money out of all the markets he discusses than I have – and most other people for that matter.
Here’s two samples from the interview.
… on the 2004 election:
Woodruff: A larger question on the campaign—you gave, I believe, something like $23 million in 2004 to various Democratic efforts: MoveOn.org and candidates. Far less than that so far this year—why the change?
Soros: Well, because I think that was a unique time when not having President Bush reelected would have made the situation of this country and of the world much better. I think now it’s less important. And, in any case, I don’t feel terribly comfortable being a partisan person because I look forward to being critical of the next Democratic administration.
… on his philosophy of market regulation:
Woodruff: What of your book and the philosophy that comes of it?
Soros: In human affairs, as distinguished from natural science, I argue that our understanding is imperfect. And our imperfect understanding introduces an element of uncertainty that’s not there in natural phenomena. So therefore you can’t predict human affairs in the same way as you can natural phenomena. And we have to come to terms with the implication of our own misunderstandings, that it’s very hard to make decisions when you know you may be wrong. You have to learn to recognize that we in fact may be wrong. And, even worse than that, it’s almost inevitable that all of our constructs will have some kind of a flaw in them. So when it comes to currencies, no currency system is perfect.
So you have to recognize that all of our constructions are imperfect. We have to improve them. But just because something is imperfect, the opposite is not perfect. So because of the failures of socialism, communism, we have come to believe in market fundamentalism, that markets are perfect; everything will be taken care of by markets. And markets are not perfect. And this time we have to recognize that, because we are facing a very serious economic disruption.
Now, we should not go back to a very highly regulated economy because the regulators are imperfect. They’re only human and what is worse, they are bureaucratic. So you have to find the right kind of balance between allowing the markets to do their work, while recognizing that they are imperfect. You need authorities that keep the market under scrutiny and some degree of control. That’s the message that I’m trying to get across.
May 9, 2008
Friday video fun — cool metronome clip
Great example of momentum resonance effect … (Go check out Phil Plait’s awesome explanation of this video.)
Hat tip: Boing Boing Gadgets
