tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-179078922011-10-22T09:48:53.492-05:00Like public broadcasting without the membership drives.EPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06683712805446344850noreply@blogger.comBlogger3891100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17907892.post-38985073423524277672011-01-23T11:44:00.008-06:002011-01-23T12:03:13.201-06:00

Well, yes, sorry.This NPR piece on health care was interesting, relevant to a discussion we had recently. It's an interview with Atul Gawande on ways he radically lowered costs of a few systems by providing more comprehensive care to the biggest consumers of medical care in those groups.Sometimes I go off about the huge RAND study, which showed that giving people free care can lead to greater

Thomas Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02923018121067699692noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17907892.post-50712027546492667862010-03-13T16:25:00.002-06:002010-03-13T16:26:20.109-06:00

Groklaw, "An Explanation of Computation Theory for Lawyers," from back in late 2009: Consider the following list of statements.* All software is data.* All software is discovered and not invented.* All software is abstract.* All software is mathematics.If my understanding of the US patent law is correct, whether or not any of these statements is true could determine whether or not software is

Thomas Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02923018121067699692noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17907892.post-59066082645031438472009-12-08T12:52:00.003-06:002009-12-08T14:07:50.008-06:00

Freakonomics recently had a nice article on Climategate as a Rorshach test. Original coverage here. For the record, I originally read Climategate thinking, "One the one hand, a lot of academics have these sort of aggressive private conversations about their dissatisfaction with their data. On the other hand, the data really should have been released years ago if we're going to set global policies

Thomas Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02923018121067699692noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17907892.post-44007764145738285612009-10-09T12:00:00.002-05:002009-10-09T12:19:43.568-05:00

The incomparable Wright Thompson (a fellow Mizzou alumnus), has a fascinating story on ticket prices and their effect on the social contract held between sports teams and their fans.As a sports fan I agree with the general tone of the article. While owners and athletes quibble over who should be portrayed as the greediest, the fans are continually asked to pay more and more exorbitant prices.

EPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06683712805446344850noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17907892.post-84709062241786834362009-09-22T10:08:00.002-05:002009-09-22T10:12:08.000-05:00

If there were any questions as to why relations with Russia have become noticeably more difficult since Bill Clinton left office, it could be the foreign policy of the Bush administration....Or it could be that Boris Yeltsin likes to walk around the U.S. in his underwear.I guess we'll never know.

EPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06683712805446344850noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17907892.post-9029850882030025392009-09-16T15:32:00.002-05:002009-09-16T15:43:58.885-05:00

One thing that is consistently brought up when critiquing the sports media is the concept of an 'East Coast Bias'. I've long held this to be less a stereotype and more of a truism. I have found today that this concept is false. Kind of. Deadspin (one of the most vitriolic websites in all of sports) had the writers of the now defunct FJM website on as guest editors. They enlightened me today

EPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06683712805446344850noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17907892.post-5481462939519549192009-09-10T11:19:00.006-05:002009-09-11T23:56:24.381-05:00

Following a team through relegation has its upside: you get to see your team win. Solid consolation.Newcastle somehow got crushed by Leyton Orient in the preseason, but now that the league has started, they lead the table with 13 points (4-1-0).UPDATE: ESPN360 offers a wide variety of live sports online, from Eurobasket to Australian Rugby. The Football League (the second highest league in the UK

Thomas Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02923018121067699692noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17907892.post-5945941498106180302009-09-10T11:00:00.005-05:002009-09-10T11:13:28.275-05:00

One of my favorite comics is released as a film tomorrow. It's called Whiteout. There aren't any tights.Mercury News suggests it's among the worst films of all time.The Orlando Sun doesn't have anything good to say either.I liked the comic because Greg Rucka made the protagonist stunningly vulnerable. She is not some superhot action hero; it's not Charlie's Angels. She's a normal person doing a

Thomas Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02923018121067699692noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17907892.post-118932874687321862009-09-06T15:48:00.002-05:002009-09-06T15:50:39.388-05:00

Users might have mixed feelings about webapps vs. desktop apps, but developers do not.Desktop apps, your men are already dead.

Thomas Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02923018121067699692noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17907892.post-8710955129324894452009-09-04T10:36:00.003-05:002009-09-04T10:44:41.478-05:00

Ok, health care discussions are hitting overload, they are getting dull and wearing everyone out. But I always like a piece that takes a viewpoint outside of those most prominently discussed and argues that viewpoint carefully.How American Health Care Killed My FatherI wouldn't say the article is controversial, it just argues that the health insurance industry creates perverse incentives, and

Thomas Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02923018121067699692noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17907892.post-32847285368690025602009-09-02T09:08:00.003-05:002009-09-02T09:16:19.610-05:00

A Bank of America branch manager in downtown Tampa Bay, Florida refused to cash a man's check because he would not submit a thumbprint (standard operating procedure for BoA).The man was born with no arms.Note: The worst part of the situation was the refusal by the bank's manager to admit wrongdoing. The extended article from the St. Petersburg Times notes the bank manager stating (paraphrased)

EPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06683712805446344850noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17907892.post-5033057110131675872009-09-01T03:12:00.003-05:002009-09-01T03:15:31.479-05:00

Well, Disney is buying Marvel.The day Wolverine teams up with Mickey Mouse in a wacky crossover is coming.

Thomas Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02923018121067699692noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17907892.post-73125515210660917492009-09-01T01:42:00.005-05:002009-09-01T03:07:07.624-05:00

Larva Labs posted sales numbers for its apps, comparing the viability of the Android Marketplace with the iPhone App Store. Conclusion: Unlike the untold riches to be found in the App Store, the $60/day they get from Android is not helping them buy "that summer home."First, it should be noted that Android only has 1/5th the market share of the iPhone, and it has been out for under a year (the

Thomas Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02923018121067699692noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17907892.post-69214512495965596122009-08-31T09:37:00.003-05:002009-08-31T10:26:13.278-05:00

Wikipedia is implementing a measure of trust, by highlighting recently edited content in bright colors.I worry about all moves of Wikipedia to bake in reliability of content, because they all seem to degrade the key virtues of Wikipedia. However, I think this change is an especially bad idea.This change gives vandals a new method of attack. Suppose you cannot get your text into the article,

Thomas Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02923018121067699692noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17907892.post-36959306230077747572009-08-21T09:50:00.003-05:002009-08-21T10:10:31.085-05:00

The Kansas City Star has an excellent piece on the possible roots of the anger directed at health care reform. The thrust of the story focuses on the fact that despite government's best intentions, many Americans lives have gotten worse - and because of this there is an ever growing distrust of government and belief that government does not solve people's problems effectively. This is

EPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06683712805446344850noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17907892.post-16538674031906384202009-08-16T00:45:00.004-05:002009-08-16T00:59:04.917-05:00

This happens too often.

Thomas Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02923018121067699692noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17907892.post-7027513894039300372009-08-13T16:28:00.005-05:002009-08-13T17:15:02.309-05:00

I wonder if texting via some sort of radial menu would be faster than the teeny QWERTYs on smart phones.I'm thinking of something like this:You'd navigate the wheel with your thumb. The top menu is on top of the image, two submenus are displayed below, they would activate as soon as you made the first part of the gesture.* It may be counterintuitive to dream of replacing one press with a few

Thomas Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02923018121067699692noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17907892.post-24180276027020345572009-08-13T12:37:00.003-05:002009-08-13T12:47:52.554-05:00

The free trade infrastructure is currently the best framework to ensure other states actually comply with international standards on certain issues. The offenses are complaint driven, and there are clear penalties for violations.Now we see the free trade framework from the GATT and WTO extended to cover free speech in China, by forcing it to allow certain books and publications (and CDs/DVDs)

Thomas Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02923018121067699692noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17907892.post-60870671650063804842009-08-12T06:04:00.004-05:002009-08-12T06:28:49.226-05:00

Meghan McCain is feuding with Coulter and Malkin.Malkin said that Meghan McCain should just get it over with and leave the Republican party.Ordinarily, I wouldn't think anyone would care. But this raises an interesting question. What would a split in the Republican Party look like?The first view that springs to mind is that a moderate Republican party would just split the base of the right,

Thomas Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02923018121067699692noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17907892.post-9047424064680342612009-08-09T12:28:00.003-05:002009-08-09T13:09:09.341-05:00

Wall Street Journal has a story, picked up by Chris Matyszczyk at cnet, about coffee shops discouraging laptop use.Could these trends ever become widespread?The economics here are the same as air conditioning, free parking, or the IKEA ferry, or any other service extended for free to intice patrons. A business provides free parking to encourage patrons to buy their primary goods. There are some

Thomas Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02923018121067699692noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17907892.post-35979121240271804092009-08-08T06:22:00.007-05:002009-08-08T06:41:47.217-05:00

The rationale for health care reform is largely rooted in the claim that Americans pay more for health care while receiving less.A few weeks ago, Marginal Revolution pointed out that the "amount we spend" comparisons never consider the cost of subsidizing medical education in places like France.The Becker-Posner blog now argues that US health outcomes are not worse once you control for the

Thomas Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02923018121067699692noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17907892.post-18018674854052529382009-08-06T15:12:00.003-05:002009-08-06T16:03:22.963-05:00

I just spent a big chunk of time trying to add a header to only some of my pages in a document in OpenOffice.In the end, it wasn't too hard: Insert a page break using the menu, not ctrl+enter. That insert page menu allows you to select a new style for your new pages. If you do so, the headers on the new section won't infect the old section or vice versa.The slowest part of this process was

Thomas Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02923018121067699692noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17907892.post-53041805287323353572009-07-31T10:09:00.004-05:002009-07-31T10:18:19.021-05:00

Forbes features a solid article on the search industry. Nothing revolutionary, but noting some of the obstacles keeping the small guys out of the game, why it's different from the search wars of old. Mostly, the dataset of "the web" grows every year, and so becomes harder and harder for small, new players to index with time.Some small, targeted search engines have emerged. Real estate, travel,

Thomas Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02923018121067699692noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17907892.post-71884396004681518022009-07-24T13:20:00.002-05:002009-07-24T13:37:37.993-05:00

There are two sides to every story and neither side is backing down. What follows are the facts of the case:1. Henry Louis Gates Jr. arrived home tired after a long trip from China.2. He found his door jammed and asked his driver to help him open the door.3. A neighbor called the police reporting a potential break-in.4. The police arrested Gates Jr. on the grounds of disorderly conduct.This

EPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06683712805446344850noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17907892.post-6158444417231208372009-07-23T22:26:00.003-05:002009-07-23T23:59:15.452-05:00

An insightful note discusses how free apps like the upcoming Google Wave fit into Google's overall strategy. Remarkable for a slashdot comment, the note is worth reading.The basic outline is that Google is actively trying to drive down the marginal profits on a number of desktop apps. Google's offerings all work independent of platform. If you can change your OS without changing any of the apps

Thomas Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02923018121067699692noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17907892.post-3084795710146535052009-07-23T15:49:00.006-05:002009-07-23T16:02:19.456-05:00

Harvard Law Professor Elizabeth Warren analyzes medical bankruptcy. Surprisingly, most of those entering medical bankruptcy had health insurance which covered their problems at the beginning of their illness. Inevitably, such individuals lose their job halfway through their illness (perhaps due to their long absences from work, or an inability to continue heavy labor after developing a heart

Thomas Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02923018121067699692noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17907892.post-3839516109306693522009-07-19T15:13:00.005-05:002009-07-19T16:21:35.369-05:00

Imagine a world, world A, where things proceed normally most days, but every so often, time freezes completely. There are no effects to this freezing of time. Outside observers from another world, world B, are able to witness this event, but unable to communicate it to the inhabitants of World A.Is it reasonable on World A to believe that occasionally time freezes, to no lasting effect? The first

Thomas Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02923018121067699692noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17907892.post-64750438338391435282009-07-18T15:21:00.013-05:002009-07-18T17:00:04.547-05:00

Obama is pushing for further stimulus. It might be good to trot out the arguments we saw on this back in January.Princeton Economist Paul Krugman has laid out the numbers for his pro-stimulus analysis here. He relies on Okun's Law, which details the relationship between unemployment and GDP. It suggests we need a much larger stimulus than is in play (probably much larger than is politically

Thomas Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02923018121067699692noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17907892.post-71330232511203295122009-07-13T13:49:00.017-05:002009-07-13T15:37:51.894-05:00

Bill Moyers discusses health care with a former health insurance PR man. NPR ran a special comparing care around the world a while back, some figures from that report are captured here.I worry that outside of NPR, the picture of state funded care becomes really distorted. The Moyers interview cites Sicko, and seems to suggest that foreign state sponsored care is utopian. It also points to scare

Thomas Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02923018121067699692noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17907892.post-13822360183490143922009-07-13T13:28:00.004-05:002009-07-13T13:49:09.640-05:00

This isn't really news, demographics have consistently reported Twitter as a 20-30 something phenomenon.I don't think it's very surprising either. Twitter is best used as a news aggregator, and teens don't care about news. Also, unlike Facebook, no one will follow you on Twitter if you're not saying something valuable or linking to something interesting. I think teens need the false sense of

Thomas Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02923018121067699692noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17907892.post-67711913507793232012009-07-10T00:44:00.007-05:002009-07-10T01:15:59.962-05:00

It's weird, but I'm a little amazed that these exist. Not Carl Sagan amazed, but I still think that characters you can stack on top of one another are a neat idea. ̼⌂̺͛ᴖ̲̿ᴥ̲̿ᴖ̺͛⌂̼Unicode doggies aside, the stars still probably reign as the best source of awe sense ancient times:(There are a lot of similar videos on youtube. I recommend those discussing the Hubble Deep Field, if you can track them

Thomas Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02923018121067699692noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17907892.post-42866620566174967992009-07-07T01:36:00.002-05:002009-07-07T01:41:38.201-05:00

I've blogged before about the Bossaerts et al paper that found improved productivity of a commons relative to a patent system, now more research joins that trend with a radically different study from Prof. Torrance of the University of Kansas School of Law.Press Release.The paper is being released under a Creative Commons license on SSRN, so everyone can access it.

Thomas Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02923018121067699692noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17907892.post-37168723450608159502009-07-06T01:20:00.008-05:002009-07-06T02:07:10.171-05:00

We were wondering the other day whether or not some older films get hyped far beyond how good they are. I'm not sure, others seem to have fallen off the popular radar for no good reason.In way of a small, completely unscientific sample, I recently saw four 'classics', and I was more or less split on them. They included a silent film, "Pandora's Box", war films "Bridge on the River Kwai" and "

Thomas Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02923018121067699692noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17907892.post-7474274766643938432009-06-27T09:04:00.002-05:002009-06-27T09:23:03.749-05:00

I am hoping to start a new series here, titled "People Are Strange". It's pretty self explanatory, but I would note that the only order these are placed in is chronological. By this I mean to point out that in no way do I believe that the following post is the best or most illustrative reason why people are strange any more than then the next is second best/illustrative. I'll just post them as

EPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06683712805446344850noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17907892.post-3445005001926675922009-06-27T08:08:00.003-05:002009-06-27T08:31:08.233-05:00

I felt that one of the exciting ideas proposed by candidate Obama on his path to becoming President Obama was the idea of engaging the taboo regimes of Cuba and Iran in diplomatic talks. While I still feel this is the correct path to take with Cuba (who appears to be far down the list of threats to our nation), I am beginning to second guess engagement with Iran (at least as timing is concerned)

EPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06683712805446344850noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17907892.post-92079429062835299942009-06-23T02:50:00.006-05:002009-06-23T04:15:44.887-05:00

Some premises...1) Carbon based fuels have historically had an absurdly high level of net energy potential compared to alternative sources of energy. (This is also evidenced by our very reliance upon them.)2) Poor but growing nations with massive populations currently sit on mountains of this incredibly cheap and effective energy.(1, 2 [pdf])3) The reductions of carbon necessary to reverse global

Thomas Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02923018121067699692noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17907892.post-10736567545390142622009-06-05T23:38:00.003-05:002009-06-05T23:44:47.874-05:00

Freakonomics links to a Wired article discussing the progress of Go-playing computers, and speculates as to when computers will be able to outperform humans at financial markets.If I had any money, I would definitely invest it with a hedge fund manager named Hal. If computers could outperform human financiers, would planned economies suddenly make sense again?For a darker picture of surrendering

Thomas Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02923018121067699692noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17907892.post-28721552409695179922009-05-30T18:48:00.003-05:002009-05-30T18:50:17.991-05:00

Netflix seems to be losing some of my ratings, something I only realized after playing with the Netflix Ratings Grabber.Can't find any information on this topic yet, maybe a server is down for them.This makes me worried, database management seems like a core thing they do; it seems like they would want to be good at that.

Thomas Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02923018121067699692noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17907892.post-26264327192416840492009-05-30T09:07:00.002-05:002009-05-30T09:16:33.474-05:00

The New York Times had an interesting piece on Supreme Court tendencies which boils down to: the side that receives the most questions loses 86% of the time.Two interesting pieces from the article:1. The reality of judicial questions is that the justices are attempting to persuade colleagues through their questions and the responses they ellicit.2. Using the Dictionary of Affect Language, the

EPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06683712805446344850noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17907892.post-5051714652088999892009-05-28T14:27:00.010-05:002009-05-30T18:47:21.493-05:00

1. sum(x,1,100), x^22. D Flat Mixolydian Scale is also known as "Khamaj Thaat" (and what it sounds like).3. A graph of the overlapping lifespans of Charles Dickens, Emily Dickinson, and Stephen Wolfram.Sadly Alpha does not know that 1, 4, 9, 6, 5, 6, 9, 4, 1, 0 is the periodic cycle of the terminal digit of integer squares, something mathy it might learn by consulting the OEIS. Also, google

Thomas Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02923018121067699692noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17907892.post-54902835243812410252009-05-24T09:37:00.002-05:002009-05-24T09:47:24.538-05:00

EP: When I read Thomas' post on beauty pageants, I remembered that I had at my disposal a wealth of knowledge regarding pageants - my good friend Heather Tuttle. An avid viewer of the Miss America pageant, she was my best hope for a reasoned response to Thomas' titillating theme. It took some time, but she came through as expected; below is her response.Since before I can remember, following

EPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06683712805446344850noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17907892.post-86943922683925128542009-05-16T03:37:00.003-05:002009-05-16T03:42:16.372-05:00

The Economist discusses how the EU is weathering the global financial storm (the ship is sinking).The article hints at two theories as to why this is so:1) Mercanitlism. If you rely on exports, a positive trade balance, then you get the worst of it when the consumer nations cut back to essentials.2) Rigid labor markets. If a country does not allow employers to fire workers in a downturn, then its

Thomas Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02923018121067699692noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17907892.post-76098518353560346752009-05-15T23:36:00.002-05:002009-05-15T23:47:55.595-05:00

True Blood Season Two begins soon. The promotional poster involves a little blood on a black background, or perhaps another image...There's a promotional video here, featuring a new single by Bob Dylan (that's right, he turns 68 next week, and he is still releasing singles.)The show has good moments and bad, but I'm amazed how seriously it takes itself. I'm hanging on to see how the show reveals

Thomas Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02923018121067699692noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17907892.post-78508005506092827632009-05-15T01:56:00.007-05:002009-05-15T14:37:20.636-05:00

When I saw Miss California discuss gay marriage, I was not struck so much by her opinions as by how her answer lacked any sense of composition. She seemed to double back on herself: "The greatest thing about America is choice, especially when that choice is not being gay." What?It seems like just the other day Miss Teen USA gave an eloquent discussion of the pressing educational need for

Thomas Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02923018121067699692noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17907892.post-66432894476098741412009-05-14T00:08:00.009-05:002009-05-14T17:02:26.636-05:00

Some pics from the weaving in last night's episode of Lost:The bit at the top to me looks something like "ΘΞΟΙ ΤΟΣΑ ΔΟΝΞΝ ΟΣΑΦΡΣΣΙ ΣΜΣΙ ΜΞΝΟ???..."The bit below, that Ben touches, seems like "ΤΟΙ ΟΔΒΙΑ ΔΟΙΕΝ". TOI = "Namely" according to google translate, Greek to English. The rest translates to gibberish, so I'm probably getting a lot of characters wrong there.When asked what lies in the shadow

Thomas Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02923018121067699692noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17907892.post-44588083199163365392009-05-10T08:04:00.007-05:002009-05-10T15:10:30.997-05:00

The proposition debated (a few weeks back) was "It is wrong to pay for sex."MacKinnon had a good closing speech. Especially stinging was her observation that no one ever made the prima facie case for the sex transaction. Would've been nice to hear a "generally, there's a (pareto) mutual benefit from economic exchanges" from Tyler Cowen. Still, I think his strategy was well formulated. The

Thomas Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02923018121067699692noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17907892.post-48243842571841619182009-05-04T13:21:00.002-05:002009-05-04T13:24:49.524-05:00

I'm glad the softball got kicked to the rear of the paper.The lameness of that question was probably heightened by the fact it came on the heels of Michael Sherer's probe on the state secrets privilege.

Thomas Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02923018121067699692noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17907892.post-74433876956533247592009-04-30T16:07:00.007-05:002009-04-30T16:44:08.025-05:00

Continuing our ongoing series on torture, Jon Stewart's extended interview/debate with Cliff May on Torture is pretty interesting, the three parts are up here.I thought the most philosophically interesting part of the conversation hit in the third clip. Cliff May points out the incongruity of claiming that torture is impermissible, while shooting suspected terrorists in Pakistan with Predator

Thomas Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02923018121067699692noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17907892.post-87600339253990180822009-04-30T15:11:00.003-05:002009-04-30T15:30:08.026-05:00

Condoleezza Rice struggles at civility responding to a student's question about torture. I get the feeling Bush Administration officials could have used more practice responding to challenging questions. via FP Passport.

Thomas Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02923018121067699692noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17907892.post-13965488069251149542009-04-26T13:53:00.006-05:002009-04-26T14:11:41.634-05:00

I can understand why some people would oppose torture no matter its effectiveness. I can understand those who believe torture would be acceptable if preventing some greater harm, but unacceptable if ineffective. I cannot begin to understand why anyone would lie to suggest torture was effective when they knew that it was not.Torture for the sake of torture? That's like supervillain evil.

Thomas Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02923018121067699692noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17907892.post-73404663801461278462009-04-23T15:04:00.003-05:002009-04-23T15:24:38.936-05:00

PEP 8, the style guide for Python, contains a great deal of sensible advice for writing readable code. The discussion of comments, explanatory prose sprinkled throughout a program, insisted upon some interesting conventions.1. "You should use two spaces after a sentence-ending period."The two space rule is no longer standard practice. In fact, the vast majority of contemporary style guides

Thomas Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02923018121067699692noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17907892.post-2484456366813219262009-04-23T12:38:00.002-05:002009-04-23T13:08:34.072-05:00

Dan Lybarger has a piece on how local radio (and maybe conglomerated journalism more widely) has failed us all, with some memorable examples.

Thomas Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02923018121067699692noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17907892.post-80035859894331625892009-04-22T22:58:00.003-05:002009-04-23T00:04:18.464-05:00

rc3 has a neat post on some dilemmas in environmentalism.The closer:Higher commodity prices create incentives to limit waste, but also make increasingly invasive extraction methods economically feasible. There was a recent article in National Geographic about mining for gold in the face of rising gold prices that exemplifies this problem. Rising commodity prices lead directly to habitat loss,

Thomas Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02923018121067699692noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17907892.post-64202043018585206342009-04-13T22:55:00.006-05:002009-04-16T15:51:09.753-05:00

France made me consider stating my concerns with hard IP protections in another way. Here's a tentative sketch of an argument, inspired by Kevin Murphy's analysis of the stimulus earlier this year.Kevin Murphy developed an equation including all the meaningful variables he could imagine to evaluate the social utility of any stimulus. I'm going to attempt a similar approach to determine the social

Thomas Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02923018121067699692noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17907892.post-24351264725319628742009-04-13T19:13:00.003-05:002009-04-13T19:21:21.314-05:00

The NY Times provides the details.Apparently the political tactics involved were pretty animated. The Assembly is a 577 member panel. The measure failed by a vote of 21 to 15. The conservative proponents sat alone waiting for the vote, expecting it to pass without opposition. The socialist party rushed in a small coup at the last minute to catch Sarkozy's group off guard.

Thomas Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02923018121067699692noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17907892.post-31118316385652543552009-04-12T20:25:00.010-05:002009-04-12T22:18:22.210-05:00

Because I know you are all too busy to click through a list of 25 that TIME refuses to put on one page. Generacion Y: a blog written about harsh political realities in Cuba, written from within Cuba. The prose alone merits a read. On the normalization of relations between Obama's US and Cuba: "What will the party militants think if they’re ordered to accept those whom, until recently, they hated?

Thomas Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02923018121067699692noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17907892.post-86263756626400513662009-04-12T19:55:00.002-05:002009-04-12T20:02:38.851-05:00

Sam Rockwell as a lunar miner, Kevin Spacey as a crazy robot, what's not to love?Hopefully the movie won't be scuttled by heavy handed political commentary about energy companies.

Thomas Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02923018121067699692noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17907892.post-37799541735781393812009-04-12T19:35:00.004-05:002009-04-12T19:50:51.072-05:00

Also, a handy guide to a few of our most useful and profound inventions so far.

Thomas Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02923018121067699692noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17907892.post-89445731036918766202009-04-11T15:03:00.009-05:002009-04-11T22:31:33.058-05:00

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles wraps up the season. The numbers suggest it was the series finale.The show consistently exceeded my expectations. The writers constantly included little moments to prove they were one step ahead of the audience. A character might say something odd, or make a mistake, another character would inevitably call them on it just as the snarky comment was coming

Thomas Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02923018121067699692noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17907892.post-9172985068536909132009-04-07T15:30:00.001-05:002009-04-07T15:31:18.242-05:00

Is this related to this?

Thomas Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02923018121067699692noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17907892.post-83432327031192403662009-04-07T15:07:00.003-05:002009-04-07T15:20:55.612-05:00

A few months ago, Robert X. Cringely shook off the editorial chains of PBS to operate independently. Since that time, he has insistently pushed a number of new sites or technologies:* Home Account, a mortgage management site Cringely personally helped create (described by one commenter as "a huge dissapointment")* Parrot Secrets, a $70 book for parrot owners (described by many commenters as an

Thomas Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02923018121067699692noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17907892.post-4029218674513220472009-04-07T02:22:00.002-05:002009-04-07T02:26:55.215-05:00

The Guardian lists the hottest Experimental Games in a recent article. Interesting list. Many focus on letting the player interact with the very sequence of events, like changing the course of time, or becoming the storyteller.So far, gaming has occasionally tried to emulate the storytelling power of films and novels. This level of empowerment might provide a storytelling direction gaming can

Thomas Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02923018121067699692noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17907892.post-9933391810274717422009-04-05T10:27:00.011-05:002009-04-05T11:39:17.827-05:00

Intellectual property law involves extending monopolies to individuals to reward them for creative effort. Monopolies are notoriously inefficient, but they are considered a Hobson's Choice for the development of new pharamaceuticals: you can get results with monopolies or not at all. (Patent monopolies sometimes lead to startling ethical results, like when genetic researchers shut down

Thomas Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02923018121067699692noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17907892.post-35824160961691393072009-04-05T08:02:00.007-05:002009-04-05T10:26:50.035-05:00

There are two major threads of climate change skepticism. The first argues that climate change is not real, while the second just argues that it's not worth preventing. (Considering the second thread, carbon regulation skepticism might be a more accurate label for these two positions.)The first thread, hard climate change skepticism, raises scientific objections which are mostly laughed at. The

Thomas Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02923018121067699692noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17907892.post-81527676579531017862009-04-05T00:14:00.005-05:002009-04-05T01:31:21.170-05:00

"No electronics on airplanes" is a worthless reg; Tech dirt has the details.With all the needlessly aggressive and often ineffectual security measures, I had wondered for a long time about that ban. That article crosses off a few plausible explanations.I do not buy the ban as a courtesy to annoyed passengers. It's a security reg, not a reg from a customer satisfaction council. I do not buy the

Thomas Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02923018121067699692noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17907892.post-86490652343109183632009-04-03T02:38:00.002-05:002009-04-03T03:04:43.248-05:00

The New York Times has a profile of a gaming group from out in Long Island. It mentions some staples of the Bloc, including my current favorite, Dominion.The Times piece is essentially fluff, but board gaming is one of those hobbies that can always use more press. All the lowest quality examples seem to have the highest popularity in the general US population (Monopoly, Sorry? Those aren't even

Thomas Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02923018121067699692noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17907892.post-87016112345593257922009-03-29T22:13:00.004-05:002009-03-29T23:11:31.925-05:00

The Nation and The Washington Times have implemented a sort of e-petitions system which they will use to funnel questions to the President. I've been asking for something like this for a while, so I'm pretty pleased.The results have so far been, well, interesting, like questions on whether or not we should legalize marijuana to help the budget shortfall.The interesting bit about that question is

Thomas Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02923018121067699692noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17907892.post-89521065044268499032009-03-29T16:36:00.005-05:002009-03-29T16:47:34.012-05:00

I would like to encourage anyone reading this to visit Fareed Zakaria's GPS page on TV.com and vote to up-rate the show. It's one of the most intelligent shows on television, but is currently rated "mediocre" by the philistines on the TV.com website. Rating the show may involve creating an account on the site. But without your help, the fine folks at TV.com might decide information on Zakaria's

Thomas Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02923018121067699692noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17907892.post-61141080517479216912009-03-29T04:44:00.021-05:002009-03-29T07:56:55.266-05:00

Shueisha publishes magazines in Japan, magazines like Weekly Shonen Jump. Shonen Jump's weekly circulation in the mid-1990s was upwards of 6.5 million. For comparison,* Time's weekly circulation in the US at that time was just over 4 million. People, around 3 million. Keep in mind, the US population is twice that of Japan.There's an deeply held, if unstated, American conviction that the States

Thomas Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02923018121067699692noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17907892.post-77293454862900941472009-03-27T19:48:00.005-05:002009-03-27T20:16:56.606-05:00

Daniel Hannan railed against British PM Gordon Brown a few days ago. Brown's been saying that the British economy is suffering from an international crisis. Hannan responds, "It is true that we are all sailing together into the squalls. But not every vessel in the convoy is in the same dilapidated condition. Other ships used the good years to caulk their hulls and clear their rigging, in other

Thomas Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02923018121067699692noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17907892.post-81453566652940823512009-03-25T01:35:00.004-05:002009-03-25T15:58:53.145-05:00

An upcoming IQ² US debate will feature the proposition "It Is Wrong to Pay for Sex". I previously noted that economist Tyler Cowen and feminist Catherine MacKinnon will speak on opposite sides of the debate, among other noted intellectuals.Two prima facie arguments leap to mind regarding this proposition, one against, and one for. I have laid them out categorically, eschewing natural prose in an

Thomas Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02923018121067699692noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17907892.post-40488936287317833272009-03-25T00:58:00.004-05:002009-03-25T01:35:15.423-05:00

Academic Earth is a Hulu-like site collecting academic lectures from some of the world's top universities.MIT's OpenCourseWare project has been making it easy to gain high quality education for free, but a site that aggregates the best academic lectures from several universities demonstrates how we are making self-education ever more accessible through the staggering power of the

Thomas Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02923018121067699692noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17907892.post-31616712735022970102009-03-24T16:18:00.003-05:002009-03-24T16:37:03.473-05:00

Adam Pash of Lifehacker was apparently so distraught by Muxtape's closure that he made a clone of it over at Mixtape.me. This version does not host any mp3 files, but just streams them from artist pages around the web, so it may skirt the issues Muxtape faced.I'm not sure content owners will understand the distinction. After the Boxee fiasco, I get the feeling content owners simply don't

Thomas Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02923018121067699692noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17907892.post-52175118389198755962009-03-22T19:01:00.004-05:002009-03-22T19:51:58.750-05:00

That's the subject of a controversial article at TechCrunch.The most novel bit wasn't that consumers have more ways to defeat internet ads, though they do, or that consumers ignore puhsed ads, though they do, but that the internet kills the value of advertising in all media.What socially valuable purpose do push (unrequested) ads serve? Let's set aside the cynical view of an advertiser engaging

Thomas Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02923018121067699692noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17907892.post-77252003449162565502009-03-22T09:51:00.001-05:002009-03-22T10:43:42.355-05:00

The media has been hoping for an iPod killer roughly since 2004.It seems as though the phrase "iPod Killer" has changed in use over time. At first, it was reserved for players from large corporations, upcoming launches from groups like Microsoft or Sony. Then it was used for players with astounding arrays of features, like the iRiver products. Now it's used for portable players that are

Thomas Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02923018121067699692noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17907892.post-18537271438143792342009-03-20T03:39:00.005-05:002009-03-20T04:02:56.156-05:00

The other night, prominent members of the Bloc gathered to watch Lost.A suggestion was raised that Lost waits 45 minutes to provide any meaningful info, and we did have a really long scene of Jin running through foliage. But this episode gave us the biggest payout in the middle, even though I didn't really catch the importance of it at first.We've been wondering for a few episodes who the baby

Thomas Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02923018121067699692noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17907892.post-45732737175636926032009-03-18T16:03:00.004-05:002009-03-18T17:10:52.670-05:00

Recently, my hard drive failed. I heard it coming, heralded as it was by the signature clicks and whines of a dying machine. Lucky me, the warning signs meant almost everything got backed up. Almost. I never bothered to make a Windows recovery disk. So, a week or so ago, facing the daunting task of getting XP back on the machine without a disk, I simply opted to install Ubuntu 8.10.The last time

Thomas Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02923018121067699692noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17907892.post-18790486804662447572009-03-17T04:09:00.007-05:002009-03-17T04:55:43.412-05:00

[9/11 was a t]errible shame, but we had a lot more than two buildings blown up during the ‘40s when America was providing most of the munitions to Hitler...-Alan MooreThe interview contains more lucid moments, explaining why he distrusts Hollywood, and why he finds the American Superhero tradition dull. But make no mistake, this man utterly despises America, and would likely hate any comic book

Thomas Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02923018121067699692noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17907892.post-11275571727102125882009-03-17T03:52:00.003-05:002009-03-20T04:04:58.886-05:00

From the article on the Hot Pot, one can learn all of the following:1: The Asian hot pot originated in Mongolia.2: There is little evidence to support that.3: The Mongolian hot pot tradition originated from nomadic tribes, and is the father of the Chinese hot pot.4: A nomadic household would avoid the tools required for hot pots, to save volume and weight during migration.

Thomas Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02923018121067699692noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17907892.post-53554479134582769132009-03-13T06:38:00.011-05:002009-03-13T07:59:09.929-05:00

I am a huge fan of Stewart, so maybe this is my own bias... but Jim Cramer looked like David Brent during this debate. You alternate between feeling sorry for nice guy Cramer who just wants everyone to like him, and then suddenly wondering if Cramer should be in jail.It wasn't even that Jon Stewart laid out his best arguments, his side was mostly built around footage he scrounged up from a

Thomas Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02923018121067699692noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17907892.post-87742283402851079672009-03-12T22:31:00.008-05:002009-03-12T23:40:03.450-05:00

NPR hosts a series of debates on miscellaneous pertinent topics, panels of 3-for and 3-against are formed with the world's leading public intellectuals (with specialized expertise on the topic). Audiences vote for or against the motion before and after the debate, the winner persuades more audience members.Coming up is a debate on the motion: blame Washington more than Wall Street for the

Thomas Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02923018121067699692noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17907892.post-28205629730080804462009-03-12T21:25:00.004-05:002009-03-12T21:49:48.907-05:00

If you make something that steals copyrighted content, you can be shut down unless you can demonstrate "significant non-infringing uses." None immediately come to mind for Torrent Droid.Hackaday has a writeup on the thing, Wired also covers the app.There was apparently a contest for someone to create the app on a site that allows you to pledge money for programmers to create apps, androidandme,

Thomas Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02923018121067699692noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17907892.post-91279504328870994252009-03-11T12:21:00.009-05:002009-03-11T12:42:36.470-05:00

1. Boxee and Hulu are locked in a death struggle over whether or not the one can access the other. Boxee is an open source* media center which lets you easily watch internet video on your television. Hulu streams full television shows from major networks over the internet, and for a time, provided full support to Boxee integration. Recently, Hulu was asked to remove official support for Boxee by

Thomas Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02923018121067699692noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17907892.post-77852466617618269092009-03-11T05:07:00.010-05:002009-03-12T12:47:48.363-05:00

I was accused of using a "sloppy parallel" in my last post. I believe I used a silly or ridiculous parallel, but I don't believe it was sloppy. To explain what I mean, I have to explain how parallels work in moral discussions. Towards that goal, this became far less of a response to the concerns of the last post, and far more a discussion of why I discuss ethics in the peculiar ways I do, using

Thomas Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02923018121067699692noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17907892.post-61184858080110012042009-03-09T15:01:00.005-05:002009-03-09T15:47:54.524-05:00

Bush poured money into Iraq with little hope of progress, Obama is pouring money into recovery efforts that I worry are similarly doomed. Just as I was starting to feel a sense of deja vu for an administration that seems detached from all the positions I consider compelling, Obama ends the ban on stem cell research.I consider the end of this ban as a no-brainer good decision for the benefit of

Thomas Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02923018121067699692noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17907892.post-52154113364100163662009-03-08T11:59:00.002-05:002009-03-08T12:29:01.381-05:00

Sharon Keller made waves recently by denying "lawyers for a man facing execution... extra time to file a last-minute appeal" according to the New York Times. It is an apparently common practice to provide such a service to the defense in a capital offense. Instead she shut down at 5PM sharp, allowing the state to execute the defendant. That on its face is probably a debatable practice, but one

EPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06683712805446344850noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17907892.post-10236071829647317012009-03-07T18:18:00.005-06:002009-03-07T19:30:03.079-06:00

I will not try and make the case that Sarah Palin was the victim of character assassination because I do not believe that is the case. The Journal of Experimental Psychology posits that the hyperfocus (by everyone) on Sarah Palin's looks cost John McCain the election. At first I was skeptical, but the study (unlike the teaser) does a good job of noting that the focus was on the effect of

EPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06683712805446344850noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17907892.post-87074319825402302062009-03-07T08:19:00.004-06:002009-03-07T08:41:34.251-06:00

Jon Stewart's Network moment happened on March 4th. The reviews are mixed. My favorite piece was by Charley Blaine of MSN Money. He did the best job of fairly summarizing Stewart's piece with only a small measure of conjecture tossed in regarding Rick Santelli's possible motive for cancellation. He also adds a juicy bit about how the leaders at the Fox Business network are probably dancing in

EPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06683712805446344850noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17907892.post-49763380119830286062009-03-03T21:11:00.002-06:002009-03-03T21:24:08.553-06:00

Brains never used to be appreciated by braun, and vice versa. That mindset is coming to an end (has ended) with the increasing amount of money that is being invested in sports entertainment. From the rise of sabremetrics in baseball to the birth of the salary cap in football, sports franchise owners are relying more frequently on the skills of mathmeticians and accountants to help them find

EPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06683712805446344850noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17907892.post-29296651497061426842009-02-27T02:10:00.005-06:002009-02-27T04:43:41.000-06:00

I. Peak PopulationWhenever you get a chance to watch a speech by Hans Rosling, take it. Last month he posted a video discussing the peak of population growth, and it's very interesting.Rosling has spent most of his life working on health and development issues, currently he is closely involved with a project to help individuals around the world access and manipulate demographic data, at

Thomas Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02923018121067699692noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17907892.post-84344222029955024992009-02-23T22:18:00.003-06:002009-02-23T22:20:18.533-06:00

When Freakonomics author Steve Levitt, whose career is made on finding the flaws in various institutions, supports a program, you know it is doing interesting new work for the benefit of all.He blogs this week on the Urban Healthcare Initiative, a plan to radically reform Emergency Care in Chicago, doubtless an area that could use some work.

Thomas Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02923018121067699692noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17907892.post-59685341210342668152009-02-23T22:06:00.004-06:002009-02-23T22:15:04.239-06:00

Kosmix is a new search engine attempting to penetrate the "deep web."For a good starting place, check out their page on Bobby Jindal, my fav for the McCain VP, my fav for the Republican Party challenger in 2012, and to deliver the Republican response to Obama's State of the Union on Tuesday.I'm not well equipped to measure their deepweb capabilities, but I notice two things right off:1) Novel

Thomas Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02923018121067699692noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17907892.post-87894931181503474712009-02-23T21:04:00.009-06:002009-02-26T00:32:59.304-06:00

Randy Barnett discusses the 14th Amendment a bit at the end, the same Randy Barnett who took California's Medical Marijuana case to the Supreme Court. Barnett is really good at crafting arguments that force the Supreme Court to either abandon a series of precedents or engage in radical social change. (They can be expected to squirm a bit, then opt for the former.) I suspect Errol Tyler's claim

Thomas Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02923018121067699692noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17907892.post-86185956136573208612009-02-23T19:33:00.003-06:002009-02-23T20:14:23.355-06:00

Highs:- Sean Penn's "You commie homo-loving suns of guns! I did not expect this, and I want it to be very clear I know how hard I make it to appreciate me often." A good line against the moral majority. He then undercut that delicious bit of subversion by explicitly chastising those that voted for Proposition 8. Ladies and gentlemen... Sean Penn!- Ben Stiller's Joaquin Phoenix impersonation.

EPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06683712805446344850noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17907892.post-37582906515590386232009-02-22T21:54:00.001-06:002009-02-22T22:01:11.292-06:00

Kottke provides an appreciation of Eyes Wide Shut, a film I'm still not convinced was really transcendent. But at the end of the post, he includes a list of why 1999 may have been the greatest year in film in a long time.It's hard to argue with Run, Lola, Run!, Being John Malkovich, The Matrix and Princess Mononoke.

Thomas Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02923018121067699692noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17907892.post-73555499107291940642009-02-20T15:29:00.003-06:002009-02-20T15:58:18.761-06:00

I consider Tyler Cowen a fairly brilliant guy, and he's influenced a lot of how I think about various issues. He's an economist, a gamer, and an academic, so he has a hell of a start endearing himself to me.Because I hold Mr. Cowen in such high esteem, I was surprised to read his post today, which criticized Spin's move from a 5 point ranking system to a 10 point scale.I almost exclusively read

Thomas Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02923018121067699692noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17907892.post-56304955090102390542009-02-17T15:24:00.003-06:002009-02-17T15:34:37.995-06:00

I just learned that the Chinese phrase for US Dollars (above, pinyin Měi Jīn) literally translates to "beautiful gold."What are the chances that explains Chinese over-investment in the currency?

Thomas Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02923018121067699692noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17907892.post-61189910862249784752009-02-17T09:03:00.005-06:002009-02-17T11:19:46.653-06:00

Three problems:1) Dollhouse's premise is ridiculous, and further, the creators knew it was ridiculous, as the skeptical FBI agents discuss how ridiculous it is in the first episode.2) The scifi tropes are heavily recycled. Confused protagonist being mindfucked by a super secret organization? We're mining material from The Pretender here, maybe My Own Worst Enemy. That's a really bad sign.3) The

Thomas Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02923018121067699692noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17907892.post-9258487017938859962009-02-16T11:17:00.004-06:002009-02-16T11:34:25.673-06:00

This was only a matter of time, and Google's apparently been offering domains for a while now. The major flaw plaguing the domain name business was lack of reputability of a large, well-known company. GoDaddy was clawing it's way up that chain, but can't compete with the visibility of MS or Google. Up til now, Google hasn't really pushed GoDaddy or the smaller players out of the spotlight here,

Thomas Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02923018121067699692noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17907892.post-86277421131846203382009-02-12T01:29:00.004-06:002009-02-12T01:57:03.282-06:00

Peak Oil is the theory that the world is quickly running out of oil, such that oil prices are likely to begin rising, never to lower again. You might suspect this is a hot topic when oil prices are very high, or at least when gas prices are very high, and that I'm bucking some trend.But grabbing data on the number of searches on peak oil (Google Trends), the historical price of gasoline (DoE),

Thomas Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02923018121067699692noreply@blogger.com0