Hello Julia and Nicholas, I received a voicemail today from Jim Reid. The message was (exact transcription), “Mike this is Jim Reid calling with the Hanover Police. Please give me a call at 448-1108. No emergency, just gotta talk to you. Thank you.” So, I’m sure you know where this is going: This was a […]
Archives for April 2006
April 17, 2006
Stuff You Don’t Have Time To Read Either
* The Wealth of Networks: How Social Production Transforms Markets and Freedom (book, wiki, free pdf). * Collaborative Thesaurus Tagging the Wikipedia Way (abstract, pdf, author’s blog). * Integral Communication (review, master’s thesis pdf). They all look great. Wish I had time to read them. Maybe next year.
April 17, 2006
Once in a while you get shown the light…
…in the strangest of places if you look at it right. The earth is not handed down to you from your parents, it is on loan to you from your children. —Message printed on Ruth’s check.
April 15, 2006
Kunstler Interview
Continuing the video theme, The Orion Online posts a five-part video interview with James Howard Kunstler, author of The Long Emergency. Each video segment is six or eight minutes long. If you want a summary of the book, Rolling Stone excerpted it just before publication.
April 15, 2006
Pay Special Attention To Human Faces
Berkeley economist Brad DeLong experiments with video. A worthy 2:45 of your attention.
April 14, 2006
Regulating Sliced Bread
I am tired of buying pre-sliced loaves of bread that have an odd number of slices. WTF? What do you do with one slice of bread? Is this some sort of industry handout for the songbirds or something? There oughta be a law.
April 12, 2006
A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall
Oh, where have you been, my blue-eyed son? Oh, where have you been, my darling young one? I’ve stumbled on the side of twelve misty mountains, I’ve walked and I’ve crawled on six crooked highways, I’ve stepped in the middle of seven sad forests, I’ve been out in front of a dozen dead oceans, I’ve […]
April 12, 2006
Primary Sources
From a phone conversation: “I got email from MoveOn.org and Working Assets – something about Iran. I thought, ‘I should go over to Notio and see what’s up.’” Scary, isn’t it?
April 12, 2006
An Awkward Third Bridge Steak
Idle Words (“brevity is for the weak”) brings us Argentina On Two Steaks A Day: The classic begginer’s mistake in Argentina is to neglect the first steak of the day. You will be tempted to just peck at it or even skip it altogether, rationalizing that you need to save yourself for the much larger […]
April 12, 2006
New Service Offering
Do you need to procrastinate more? We can help. Notio is now offering a new service: Procrastination Coaching. We have dozens, hundreds even, if not thousands, of ways to avoid the critical to-do items on your list. Our program includes advanced techniques such as using non-profit volunteer work to avoid the paying gigs, using life […]
April 12, 2006
Let’s Just Dwell On It
Here’s a good analysis from Bill Arkin at the Washington Post: A war with Iran started purposefully or by accident, will be a mess. What is happening now though is not just an administration prudently preparing for the unfortunate against an aggressive and crazed state, it is also aggressive and crazed, driven by groupthink and […]
April 12, 2006
Touch Base
Yesterday I got three emails with the subject “Touch Base” or “Touching Base.” One from a current colleague, one from a contractor about to start a project, and one from a former co-worker I hadn’t caught up with in a while. I can’t remember the last time I got an email with that subject, so […]
April 11, 2006
Speculative Is Not a Synonym For Untrue
Billmon conducts a thought experiment. Maybe it’s just me, but I’ve been at least a little bit surprised by the relatively muted reaction to the news that the Cheney Administration and its Pentagon underlings are racing to put the finishing touches on plans for attacking Iran – plans which may include the first wartime use […]
April 9, 2006
Nuclear Weaponeers
Hopefully this article is disinformation for state negotiations. If it’s not, then we’re in for a game-changer: The lack of reliable intelligence leaves military planners, given the goal of totally destroying the sites, little choice but to consider the use of tactical nuclear weapons. “Every other option, in the view of the nuclear weaponeers, would […]
April 8, 2006
Quote Of The Day
“Keep in mind that four psyches will be vying for control: two innocent children who are confused and hurt, and two adults trying to make strong heroic statements. Take care of the children.” —David Kantor, My Lover, Myself
April 7, 2006
This Week’s Mail
Jeff: Might be a question of ‘adequation’. Adequation is one of the seven paradigmata. (The third, I believe.) The one that has to do with issues like “What sort of answer would you find satisfying for that question?” In other words: It’s particularly difficult to find something if you both aren’t looking for the same […]
April 7, 2006
A High Degree of Mental Extensity
Here is an excerpt from a list of psychology tests from 1890. Mental Time 37. The time stimuli must work on the ear and eye in order to call forth sensations. 38. The reaction-time for sound, light, pressure and electrical stimulation. 39. The perception-time for colours, objects, letters and words. 40. The time of naming […]
April 7, 2006
Focus Over Planning
It’s amazing, really. If you actually get up early, get your butt in the chair at work, focus, don’t surf the web, avoid blogging, have enough caffeine, ignore unrelated phone calls, turn off email, don’t clean your office, don’t run errands, don’t call anyone for lunch, don’t buy office supplies, and do only things that […]
April 6, 2006
Quality of Life
I read an alumni profile recently of someone who graduated in 1950, and is quoted as saying, “I worked there from sophomore year through senior year. The work paid much of my way through college.” He worked as a waiter at the college-owned restaurant. I wonder if you could pay your way through college today, […]
April 6, 2006
Flu Simulation
Real modeling, from rocket scientist guys: Simulation of a pandemic flu outbreak in the continental United States, initially introduced by the arrival of 10 infected individuals in Los Angeles…. Without vaccination, antiviral drugs, or other mitigation strategies, the entire nation becomes infected within a few months. Depending on the reproductive number R0, effective intervention strategies […]