"More homes and businesses lost power as a result of Hurricane Sandy than from any other storm in U.S. history"
Thursday, November 8, 2012
Sandy's Impact
According to a corporate communication from a major power company,
Wednesday, November 7, 2012
TBD on a theme of declining empires
The British lesson of the Industrial Revolution: The drawbacks to being 1st:I am amazed by the relevance of this historical account (emphasis is mine).
One of the drawbacks to being the pioneer in the Industrial Revolution, Paul Kennedy writes in The Rise and Fall of British Naval Mastery, was that the British, being first, simply were not accustomed to competition. Hence both their industrial and social practices were encumbered, he writes, by "complacency and inefficiency."
As a result, he continued, the British educational system failed to keep pace with the Americans and Germans in churning out engineers and technologists. And even when innovators surfaced, they did not necessarily succeed. Britain was a major innovator in the steel industry, he writes, but was surpassed because its wealthy did not back innovation with investments.
Freakonomics on Mass Transit
Can Mass Transit Save the Environment? Right Wing or Left Wing, Here’s a Post Everybody Can Hate:
(Photo: RJ Schmidt)
A major rationale — perhaps the major rationale — touted by supporters of mass transit is that by reducing our output of greenhouse gases and other pollutants, transit can help save the environment. The proposition seems intuitive and even obvious: by no longer encasing each traveler in thousands of pounds of difficult-to-move metal, surely transit is more energy-efficient. Plenty of analyses prove this. But then again, Aristotle, who was revered as the infallible font of truth for more than 1,000 years, proved that heavier objects fall faster than lighter ones and that women have fewer teeth than men. Might studies that demonstrate transit is greener be similarly wrong?
(Photo: RJ Schmidt)
Convictonomics
The New Economics of Crime and Punishment: It now costs more than $70 billion a year to keep 7 million people behind bars, on parole, or on probation. The best way to address this problem is not with ad hoc political negotiations or by rehashing the age-old debate about retribution versus rehabilitation. What we need is convictonomics: a coldly rational economics-based approach to crime and punishment.
The Electoral College?
What’s Up with the Electoral College?:
The Electoral College is an anachronistic system used in the United States to elect our president. It was created to address a series of technical and political problems that were present in the early days of our democracy — most notably, the issues of slow communications (it took tremendous time and effort to get vote tallies back to Washington from distant states) and of suffrage (the idea of a pure popular vote was a hard sell when you had Southern states containing large populations of enslaved African Americans and unenfranchised women). But we’ve been doing this national election thing for a few hundred years, the suffrage issue is sorted out, and we have good telecommunications — so why do we still have the Electoral College? In a word: Federalism. There are actually lots of interesting arguments for and against the system, and a few are discussed in the videos below.
In this pair of videos, C. G. P. Grey explains the issues inherent in the Electoral College system, and points out examples of how it has caused arguably unfair results in the past — including three elections in which the candidate who didn’t win the popular vote did win the election. (To be clear, under the rules, those candidates won fair and square; the question at hand is whether the rules themselves are fair.) Take a look, and consider the question: Is this system really fair?
Also relevant: The Electoral College Survival Guide; How Do We Break a Presidential Election Tie?; and How Nate Silver Predicted Obama’s Win (the first time, anyway).
The Electoral College is an anachronistic system used in the United States to elect our president. It was created to address a series of technical and political problems that were present in the early days of our democracy — most notably, the issues of slow communications (it took tremendous time and effort to get vote tallies back to Washington from distant states) and of suffrage (the idea of a pure popular vote was a hard sell when you had Southern states containing large populations of enslaved African Americans and unenfranchised women). But we’ve been doing this national election thing for a few hundred years, the suffrage issue is sorted out, and we have good telecommunications — so why do we still have the Electoral College? In a word: Federalism. There are actually lots of interesting arguments for and against the system, and a few are discussed in the videos below.
In this pair of videos, C. G. P. Grey explains the issues inherent in the Electoral College system, and points out examples of how it has caused arguably unfair results in the past — including three elections in which the candidate who didn’t win the popular vote did win the election. (To be clear, under the rules, those candidates won fair and square; the question at hand is whether the rules themselves are fair.) Take a look, and consider the question: Is this system really fair?
Also relevant: The Electoral College Survival Guide; How Do We Break a Presidential Election Tie?; and How Nate Silver Predicted Obama’s Win (the first time, anyway).
Tech Review: Computerized Cars
With Computerized Cars Ahead, GM Puts IT Outsourcing in the Rearview Mirror:
The Detroit automaker is bringing thousands of IT jobs back in-house as it seeks faster software innovation.
For a dramatic sign of the strategy reversal under way at General Motors as it moves on from its 2009 bankruptcy, look no further than the IT department.
When Randy Mott, the company’s new chief information officer, took the position in February, the company had been outsourcing its information technology work—just like countless other global corporations seeking to shed costs. A massive 90 percent of this work was being done outside the company.
The Detroit automaker is bringing thousands of IT jobs back in-house as it seeks faster software innovation.
For a dramatic sign of the strategy reversal under way at General Motors as it moves on from its 2009 bankruptcy, look no further than the IT department.
When Randy Mott, the company’s new chief information officer, took the position in February, the company had been outsourcing its information technology work—just like countless other global corporations seeking to shed costs. A massive 90 percent of this work was being done outside the company.
Tuesday, November 6, 2012
The rewilding of the Northeast | Gene Expression
The rewilding of the Northeast | Gene Expression:
Lake Placid, credit: Wikimedia
If you accept the thesis reported by Charles C. Mann the great eastern forest which the American settlers turned into farmland was actually secondary growth. The consequence of the depopulation of vast swaths of North America of its indigenous population due to disease which preceded the expansion of Europeans (recall that until 1800 whites hugged the Atlantic coast, leaving the interior to indigenous people by and large). And yet by 1900 that great forest was gone. Now it’s back again. A piece in The Wall Street Journal highlights how incredibly robust the recovery has been, America Gone Wild:
Lake Placid, credit: Wikimedia
If you accept the thesis reported by Charles C. Mann the great eastern forest which the American settlers turned into farmland was actually secondary growth. The consequence of the depopulation of vast swaths of North America of its indigenous population due to disease which preceded the expansion of Europeans (recall that until 1800 whites hugged the Atlantic coast, leaving the interior to indigenous people by and large). And yet by 1900 that great forest was gone. Now it’s back again. A piece in The Wall Street Journal highlights how incredibly robust the recovery has been, America Gone Wild:
…Since the 19th century, forests have grown back to cover 60% of the land within this area. In New England, an astonishing 86.7% of the land that was forested in 1630 had been reforested by 2007, according to the U.S. Forest Service. Not since the collapse of Mayan civilization 1,200 years ago has reforestation on this scale happened in the Americas, says David Foster, director of the Harvard Forest, an ecology research unit of Harvard University. In 2007, forests covered 63.2% of Massachusetts and 58% of Connecticut, ...
Monday, November 5, 2012
Recommended Reading: Inside the Mansion—and Mind— of Kim Dotcom, the Most Wanted Man on the Net
A classic comic book baddie millionaire, an ex-con expatriate German ex-hacker lording over his own personal Pirate Bay just 30 minutes north of Auckland. Kim Dotcom was presented as a big, bad man, larger-than-life, larger than his 6′ 7″, perhaps 350-pound frame. We saw him posed with guns and yachts and fancy cars. We watched him drive his nitrox-fueled Mega Mercedes in road rallies and on golf courses, throwing fake gang signs at rap moguls and porn stars, making it rain with $175 million in illicit dotcom booty.Inside the Mansion—and Mind— of Kim Dotcom, the Most Wanted Man on the Net
His alleged 50-petabyte pirate ship was Megaupload.com, a massive vessel carrying, at its peak, 50 million passengers a day, a full 4 percent of global Internet traffic. Megaupload was a free online storage locker, a cloud warehouse for files too bulky for email. It generated an estimated $25 million a year in revenue from ads and brought in another $150 million through its paid, faster, unlimited Premium service.
What's behind the cable bill?
Prisoners of Cable from The Atlantic
This is the best analysis I have seen on the war between the DIY tech innovators and the Cable TV establishment. I have been an obstinate cable customer for some time but I can appreciate the business side of the argument.
This is the best analysis I have seen on the war between the DIY tech innovators and the Cable TV establishment. I have been an obstinate cable customer for some time but I can appreciate the business side of the argument.
“The whole idea that there’s a lot of people out there that want to drop [cable] and just have a Netflix or an HBO—that’s not right.” And indeed, pay-TV services added 200,000 U.S. customers in 2011; HBO and Cinemax subscriptions grew by 7 million globally in the first half of this year...
Sunday, November 4, 2012
Friday, November 2, 2012
How the internet economy works: Guns, butter and bandwidth
How the internet economy works: Guns, butter and bandwidth:
Most people know certain things about the Internet. They know that cables run under the sea, that wires come into your homes, and that modems carry the digital signals to your devices.
But they’ve probably never heard of Internet Exchange Points, and that’s where the magic of the Internet really happens.
Most people know certain things about the Internet. They know that cables run under the sea, that wires come into your homes, and that modems carry the digital signals to your devices.
But they’ve probably never heard of Internet Exchange Points, and that’s where the magic of the Internet really happens.
Humans Can't Be Empathetic And Logical At The Same Time
I've been saying this for years...
Humans Can't Be Empathetic And Logical At The Same Time:
Humans Can't Be Empathetic And Logical At The Same Time:
Logic Versus Empathy Anthony I. Jack, Abigail Dawson, Katelyn Begany, Regina L. Leckie, Kevin Barry, Angela Ciccia, Abraham Snyder
Brain scans find that the two modes are mutually exclusive.
Logic and emotion tend to be considered as polar opposites. Think about the analytic CEO-his actions make sense in the science of profit, but when it means using cheap human labor or firing a couple hundred employees, there's an apparent lack of concern for the human consequences of his actions. Many choices are a struggle to compromise the two systems--and that may have to do with how our brains are wired.
A new study published in NeuroImage found that separate neural pathways are used alternately for empathetic and analytic problem solving. The study compares it to a see-saw. When you're busy empathizing, the neural network for analysis is repressed, and this switches according to the task at hand.
Logic and emotion tend to be considered as polar opposites. Think about the analytic CEO-his actions make sense in the science of profit, but when it means using cheap human labor or firing a couple hundred employees, there's an apparent lack of concern for the human consequences of his actions. Many choices are a struggle to compromise the two systems--and that may have to do with how our brains are wired.
A new study published in NeuroImage found that separate neural pathways are used alternately for empathetic and analytic problem solving. The study compares it to a see-saw. When you're busy empathizing, the neural network for analysis is repressed, and this switches according to the task at hand.
Thursday, November 1, 2012
Watch This Amazing, 360-Degree On-Board Video of Red Bull's F1 Racer
Watch This Amazing, 360-Degree On-Board Video of Red Bull's F1 Racer: While immersive panoramic photos aren't anything new, a 360-degree video that's controlled through your mouse and keyboard is.
In a Race Between a Self-Driving Car and a Pro Race-Car Driver, Who Wins?
In a Race Between a Self-Driving Car and a Pro Race-Car Driver, Who Wins?:
Humans, but only by a few measly seconds.
AP
A self-driving car and a seasoned race-car driver each speed around Northern California's three-mile Thunderhill Raceway loop. Which car will get the fastest time?
Before you place your bets, a little setup: Send a pro out on a racetrack, and the driver will automatically find what is mathematically the quickest route around it. They navigate with such adept muscle memory that elite drivers can handle sudden changes in friction on the road without increasing cognitive workload.
Humans, but only by a few measly seconds.
AP
A self-driving car and a seasoned race-car driver each speed around Northern California's three-mile Thunderhill Raceway loop. Which car will get the fastest time?
Before you place your bets, a little setup: Send a pro out on a racetrack, and the driver will automatically find what is mathematically the quickest route around it. They navigate with such adept muscle memory that elite drivers can handle sudden changes in friction on the road without increasing cognitive workload.
Gear for the next one
In case of emergency (gear for this one or the next):
Some people in New York are fine, some are not. I don't know that this list of helpful emergency gear will be helpful this late, but I figure it's better than one more post about which smartphone rules.
(*By demand, most of this list in Amazon list form.)
Some people in New York are fine, some are not. I don't know that this list of helpful emergency gear will be helpful this late, but I figure it's better than one more post about which smartphone rules.
(*By demand, most of this list in Amazon list form.)
5 talks on the state of democracy
5 talks on the state of democracy:
Rory Stewart opens this talk from TEDxHousesofParliament with a joke:
“Little Billy goes to school and his teacher asks, ‘What does your father do?’ Billy replies, ‘My father plays piano in an opium den.’”
But when the teacher confronts the father about his occupation, she gets a different answer. As Stewart finishes the joke, “The father says, ‘I’m very sorry, yes, I lied. But how can I tell an 8-year-old boy that his father is a politician?’”
Rory Stewart opens this talk from TEDxHousesofParliament with a joke:
“Little Billy goes to school and his teacher asks, ‘What does your father do?’ Billy replies, ‘My father plays piano in an opium den.’”
But when the teacher confronts the father about his occupation, she gets a different answer. As Stewart finishes the joke, “The father says, ‘I’m very sorry, yes, I lied. But how can I tell an 8-year-old boy that his father is a politician?’”
Neil Sheehan reviews my new book, and my article in Atlantic tickles Special Ops
Neil Sheehan reviews my new book, and my article in Atlantic tickles Special Ops:
My book
on American generalship comes out today.
Here is Neil Sheehan's review
of it in the Washington Post. He
calls the Vietnam section "the best part of the book." (There also is a review
in the Wall Street Journal by Andrew
Roberts. He likes my writing more than Sheehan does but disagrees with my
conclusions.)
I've been busy lately. Here is an article
I have in the current issue of the Atlantic.
Special Operators must get their copies early somehow, as I've began hearing
from them about it in the middle of last week. Also, an Air Force general
writes, "much truth in this article and it does not apply just to the
Army. The proclivity to promote non-risk taking, non-controversal, middle
of the road, do-nothings to senior general officer positions from
2008 to 2012 has really affected the Air Force in a negative way."
And here's a good interview that ran
this morning Steve
Inskeep of NPR about the book.
on American generalship comes out today.
Here is Neil Sheehan's review
of it in the Washington Post. He
calls the Vietnam section "the best part of the book." (There also is a review
in the Wall Street Journal by Andrew
Roberts. He likes my writing more than Sheehan does but disagrees with my
conclusions.)
I've been busy lately. Here is an article
I have in the current issue of the Atlantic.
Special Operators must get their copies early somehow, as I've began hearing
from them about it in the middle of last week. Also, an Air Force general
writes, "much truth in this article and it does not apply just to the
Army. The proclivity to promote non-risk taking, non-controversal, middle
of the road, do-nothings to senior general officer positions from
2008 to 2012 has really affected the Air Force in a negative way."
And here's a good interview that ran
this morning Steve
Inskeep of NPR about the book.
USAF's Youngest B-52 Now 50 Years Old
USAF's Youngest B-52 Now 50 Years Old:
The US Air Force's fleet of B-52 bombers soldiers on, showing no signs of retiring in the near future. The youngest aircraft, the last to leave the production line, tail# 61-0040, is now 50 years old, and based at Minot AFB, North Dakota. Of 744 B-52's built, around 75 'H' models remain in service, with some expected to last until 2040, when they will be an incredible 80 years old !
The picture shows 61-0040 on display at the McConnell AFB Open House last month.
The US Air Force's fleet of B-52 bombers soldiers on, showing no signs of retiring in the near future. The youngest aircraft, the last to leave the production line, tail# 61-0040, is now 50 years old, and based at Minot AFB, North Dakota. Of 744 B-52's built, around 75 'H' models remain in service, with some expected to last until 2040, when they will be an incredible 80 years old !
The picture shows 61-0040 on display at the McConnell AFB Open House last month.
More bad Generals
The Wash Post: Accusations against generals cast dark shadow over Army
The accusations leveled against three Army generals over the past six months are as varied as they are striking, the highest-profile of a growing number of allegations of wrongdoing by senior military officials...
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