To counter my recent browsing habits--I had 46 tabs open earlier this evening--I have established a tab non-proliferation pact with my browser. And by this, of course, I mean that I have reset my homepage to this.
Btw, I sometimes also blog over here with some other geeks.
Also, I gleaned from one of those tabs (pdf) that US F-15s & F18s cannot really penetrate Iranian SAM defenses, only the new $200MM F-22s and $80MM F-35s can do that. I know, I know, we shouldn't invade Iran. But I have become used to this sole super-power thing--I would still like the option to invade Iran with zero Air Force losses, you know?
30 Rock Memories
So I saw this photo and was reminded of 30 Rock:Jack: "Lemon, I like a woman with ambition; it’s like seeing a dog wearing clothes."
Of course, thinking of that makes me a bad person.
Favorite Explanation of the Financial Crisis
Here:
Our forefathers claimed America by giving those Indian bros pox infested blankets. And we are claiming the rest of the world by doling out our MBS, our structured products, our overpriced assets and a little friend called contagion. FYI pox be in all that crap.When the US wins, we win. When the US loses, we still win relative to the RoW, taking you down more than US. This is why we are the hegemon, bro.
I For One Welcome Our New Computer Overlords
NYTimes has an interesting op-ed on whether or not we outsmarted ourselves with securitization and credit-default swaps over the past several years. "Beware of geeks bearing formulas" is the folksy one-liner from the demi-god Warren Buffet that they use to snag your eye. I love this quote, from a, err, prominent thinker about technology and society:
But we are suggesting neither that the human race would voluntarily turn power over to the machines nor that the machines would willfully seize power. What we do suggest is that the human race might easily permit itself to drift into a position of such dependence on the machines that it would have no practical choice but to accept all of the machines' decisions. As society and the problems that face it become more and more complex and machines become more and more intelligent, people will let machines make more of their decisions for them, simply because machine-made decisions will bring better result than man-made ones. Eventually a stage may be reached at which the decisions necessary to keep the system running will be so complex that human beings will be incapable of making them intelligently. At that stage the machines will be in effective control. People won't be able to just turn the machines off, because they will be so dependent on them that turning them off would amount to suicide.
The thinker? Ted Kacynski in his Unabomber Manifesto. (Point 173) Maybe the guy wasn't so bad after all....
But we are suggesting neither that the human race would voluntarily turn power over to the machines nor that the machines would willfully seize power. What we do suggest is that the human race might easily permit itself to drift into a position of such dependence on the machines that it would have no practical choice but to accept all of the machines' decisions. As society and the problems that face it become more and more complex and machines become more and more intelligent, people will let machines make more of their decisions for them, simply because machine-made decisions will bring better result than man-made ones. Eventually a stage may be reached at which the decisions necessary to keep the system running will be so complex that human beings will be incapable of making them intelligently. At that stage the machines will be in effective control. People won't be able to just turn the machines off, because they will be so dependent on them that turning them off would amount to suicide.
The thinker? Ted Kacynski in his Unabomber Manifesto. (Point 173) Maybe the guy wasn't so bad after all....
Rich White Suburbs Suit Me Well
That's my basic conclusion about life in Palo Alto. If I had to choose a single representative anecdote it's that Stanford has stables so students can bring their horses with them to school.
I like that.
I will probably take a riding course next quarter. I am looking forward to buying knee-high European riding boots and wearing them to class on days I have lessons. Maybe I can carry a riding crop with me all the time, especially on dates. Yes, that way. In the words of Kent: "nodding my head and hi-fiving my bros" right now.
One disturbing development: some squirrels here are nearly black. Satan squirrels. Running outside is dicey.
I like that.
I will probably take a riding course next quarter. I am looking forward to buying knee-high European riding boots and wearing them to class on days I have lessons. Maybe I can carry a riding crop with me all the time, especially on dates. Yes, that way. In the words of Kent: "nodding my head and hi-fiving my bros" right now.
One disturbing development: some squirrels here are nearly black. Satan squirrels. Running outside is dicey.
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