Sam Speak A Floyd Waterson Production |
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known is finite, the unknown infinite; intellectually we stand on an islet in the midst of an illimitable ocean of inexplicability. Our business in every generation is to relcaim a little more land." --T.H. Huxley |
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Tuesday, November 24, 2009Europe Many Years LaterI've just returned from Spain. On the rare occasions when I came upon the news while traveling over there, all was focused on the European football match fixing scandal plus the French winning a controversial match against Ireland in World Cup qualifying play. Emotions were high on both issues. It was great. Last century Europeans killed each other in great wars. Today, they argue over soccer. Things are getting better all the time. Monday, November 09, 2009Break'nI'll be indisposed for the next couple weeks. Likely no posts until November 24. Enjoy our little globe in the meantime. Friday, November 06, 2009Second Most Important Story of the Week
Kevin Drum nails it. Read it. People need to stop trusting the authorities so damn much.
Go GreenLost in all the other drama of the week were the continued protests in Iran. This is one small bit of footage that shows what the protesters are up against. It is a sad and outraged video of the week. Thursday, November 05, 2009Politics as UsualElected officials are pressuring the FDIC to go slow in closing small community banks. As Calculated Risk points out, politics as usual doesn't cut it in this financial crisis.
Wednesday, November 04, 2009Another Self Driving Car Update
Two in one week, a good sign about the coming of the self-driving car. Today, we read about Stanford readying a version of a self-driving car to travel at top speeds to the top of Pike's Peak.
The mechanical engineering students are creating an autonomous -- or KindleI broke down and bought a Kindle in anticipation of an upcoming trip. It's enroute. Last I saw on Amazon, it had left Illinois. One of the neat things about the device is that even as it sits in a box in a truck, I can order books on Amazon that will download wirelessly into my Kindle. When it arrives I'll already have a number of books loaded up on it. The downside is I keep finding books to order that are not available on the Kindle, quite a few really. For example, Pozen's "Too Big to Save: How to Fix the U.S. Financial System" is not available on the Kindle. This is not some obscure book. It's recently released. Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged is also not available.* I've been ordering a variety of free books, including Origins of the Species and the Canterbury Tales. I'll be curious when I receive my Kindle if free electronic books are very well done. Finally, I ordered an old Donald Westlake book that one never sees in a brick and mortar store. That alone may be worth the price of the Kindle. I'll report back, of course. *I had never read it and figured I was too old to enjoy it but a friend suggested I check it out so I started reading an old hardcover my Dad gave me many years ago. But, I don't want to lug that door stop on my trip. So far, I find Rand melodramatic but it does have a certain charm. Of course, I'm only a fifth of the way through the 1000 pages so we'll see if the charm lasts. The Conservative Defense of Stimulus
Tuesday, November 03, 2009Self-Driving Car UpdateThe Singularity Institue has posted videos from their recent conference, including Brad Templeton's talk on self-driving cars. Templeton calls AI for self-driving cars not Artificial General Intelligence but Artificial Horse Intelligence. The general consensus of the speech is that the technology will be possible by 2020, longer than what I have been predicting but still not that long from now. The big news of the talk is the X-Prize folks are looking at establishing a prize around self-driving car technology. This may be what is needed to get to the next level of self-driving car technology. Monday, November 02, 2009That's a lot of groceries
I heard today that 25% of Koreans buy their groceries online. This is helped by Korea's far superior broadband speeds compared to the U.S. It's yet another metric showing how far behind America is falling behind other countries. Soon the only thing we'll be ahead in is debt. BTW, I've been thinking of using Amazon.com's grocery service which so far is only available here in the Seattle area. I will not be dissuaded by low broadband speeds.
Thursday, October 29, 2009Who Controls Whom?
Technology Review tells us the mouse and keyboard are passe:
It's a good time to be communicating with computers. No longer are we constrained by the mouse and keyboard--touch screens and gesture-based controllers are becoming increasingly common. A startup called Emotiv Systems even sells a cap that reads brain activity, allowing the wearer to control a computer game with her thoughts. Tuesday, October 27, 2009Strange WorldsVia Accelerating Future we learn that mole rats can't get cancer and now scientists think they know why.
I have a sudden urge to go underground. Monday, October 26, 2009China Energy ImprovementsAnother area the United States risks falling behind China are efforts at energy efficiency and developing cleaner energy.
It won't be a smooth road and there are some signs that China's economy may be in a bubble but it's nonsense that China is doing nothing to clean up their environment. Friday, October 23, 2009Video of the WeekI've been watching the fun documentary on IFC this week about Monty Python. This, of course, has driven me to YouTube to watch favorite clips of their work. I'd have to say the stoning scene in the Life of Brian is in my top three and is the video of the week: Wednesday, October 21, 20091931?Jim Manzi at National Review makes a similar point to the one I made the other day. Are we really free and clear of a second great depression?
Again, I don't necessarily think this is a second great depression we're in but I also don't think we know yet. Tuesday, October 20, 2009Interesting SentencesI found these to fit the title:
The writer, Michael Yon, then goes on to say we (America) should "adopt' Afghanistan, essentially committing ourselves to raising the country for 20 years. That's one hell of a commitment. Will America and the world really be safer by a long-term commitment in Afghanistan? Can we afford it fiscally? Will we make things better or worse there with our large and extended presence? Yon did not answer these questions satisfactorily. Monday, October 19, 2009No DepressionWhile on an exercise bike yesterday morning a number of economists on Fareed Zakaria's show kept talking about how we averted a depression by the skin of our teeth. You read about and see folks talking about how we avoided a second great depression a lot lately. Some will argue it's thanks to the actions of the fed or the stimulus or because of the powers of the market or some other reason. I wonder how they know we've actually averted a depression. Sure the stock market reached 10,000 the other day and the loss of jobs is slowing but in 1930 things looked like they were getting better too. That didn't turn out too well. I am not predicting the stock market is going to crash some more or the job situation is going to get a lot worse but it sure seems early to say the coast is clear. Even if we aren't facing a Great Depression 2, there's also the possibility of a lost decade ala Japan. The best evidence that we aren't facing another depression is not U.S. economic numbers but the strength of economies overseas. On the other hand, Japan's economy went nowhere while the rest of the world grew at a good rate. In other words, let's wait a bit before we decide what exactly our current economic state is. Balloon BoyMost interesting take of balloon boy story was probably this.
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