Blog Posts

Kindle book prices: another genius move

Take a book that I was interested in, “The Lords of Finance”, by Liaquat Ahamed. This is a brand new book, very timely that I heard mentioned on TV. Prices: - **Sample...

Amazon’s kindle on iPhone – Genius

The other day, [Amazon released a free application on the iPhone (and iPod Touch.) On the surface, just another ebook application.](http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html/ref=amb_link_83811991_2?ie=UTF8&docId=1000301301&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=right-1&pf_rd_r=1YP113BP56SN3V5NAENM&pf_rd_t=101&p...

A (fairly) understandable explanation of the math behind the market meltdown

This article is somewhat mathematical but I am sure it still hugely simplifies the logic that led us astray. If you are a pop-math-head like me you will find it interesting: > “For five years, Li’s formula, known as a [Gaussian copula functi...

The Stimulus Gets Its Own Logo

Check out this post The Stimulus Gets Its Own Logo: > "From now on, all projects associated with the simulus will be adorned with the following logo. Whatcha think? Whatever you think about Obama, you can’t argue that his team has some good graphic design skills. Of course, this isn’t the first stimulus plan to have a logo. FDR had his own for the National Recovery Administration. Obama’s is far less fascist."

What I learned at Transparency Camp

There are people in our government who are strongly pushing for more openness and who are very focused on delivering better, more modern, service to citizens. They operate under some severe constraints, in some cases from rules and regulations that seem to have become obsolete. Yet you c...

Enjoyable article about BO in the Washington Post

“Each morning when he arrives at the Oval Office, President Obama asks his staff to deliver him a package containing 10 letters. It is a mere sampling of the 40,000 or so that Americans send to the White House every day — a barrage of advice from students and teachers, small-business owners and th...

Transparency Camp

Everything’s a camp today, Foo Camp, Bar Camp and now Transparency Camp. I am attending this gathering in Washington D.C. to get closer to what’s going on in the open government movement. This is a pretty succinct summary of what it’s about: > “Convening...

Twitter Week on Portals and KM

Bill Ives has been running “twitter week” this week on his blog Portals and KM. Here something from his concluding post: [Concluding Twitter Week: Predictions on How Twitter Will Change Blogs in 2009](http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/typepad/WGHl...

Content Management Systems just don’t work.

I am often asked what technology someone should use to create their web presence. I know Ruby on Rails well, but I often also recommend checking out Drupal. I know much less about Drupal but I know its reputation and I know its track record. So I’ve felt comfortable with my view. But, check this pos...

[GEEKY] Towards a DataRSS

I wrote this short paper to formulate some ideas that have been percolating in the back of my mind for something I think of as Data Rss. Check it out here.

Funny piece of sh*t

http://www.theonion.com/content/themes/common/assets/onn_embed/embedded_player.swf Sony Releases New Stupid Piece Of Shit That Doesn’t Fucking Work

Flying cars yo?

http://foxnews1.a.mms.mavenapps.net/mms/rt/1/site/foxnews1-foxnews-pub01-live/current/videolandingpage/fncLargePlayer/client/embedded/embedded.swf

Liquid water on mars

“NASA’s Phoenix lander may have captured the first images of liquid water on Mars – droplets that apparently splashed onto the spacecraft’s leg during landing, according to some members of the Phoenix team.” (from Newscientist.com)

[GEEKY] Solution to something that has annoyed me

Check out the “article: Getting “Open With” back under control.” Thanks.

mySociety are doing interesting stuff in the public arena

A british organization (or should I say organisation?) called mySociety has done some really cool publically minded open source projects. Sites like FixMyStreet and WhatDoTheyKnow make so much sense and it would seem to me could **...

Saving the newspapers. A modest proposal.

You know I am a fan of the Newspapers. I’ve written about it several times, [wondering out loud whether our collective desire to get everything for cheaper and cheaper, eventually for free, wo...

How Corrupt is Our Language in Economic Discourse?

Check out this post How Corrupt is Our Language in Economic Discourse?: > "And as Deirdre McCloskey has put it, when your intellectual range is from M-N you think you are being open minded ...

Poem: Tortoise by Tim Mason

Tortoise by Tim Mason I set my pace deliberately keeping precious what matters under the hard shell I show the world. Truth is survival counts each step I take assures that. I’m not much on ambition, but how long you folks been around? I put that question to Aesop when he was a betting lad – gave my bookie good odds against his rabbit I left him with a moral and a question “can you hang?” Takes time to comprehend but patience comes with my pace so let me rephrase that how do you follow your dreams? Me, I keep what’s precious under the hard shell I show the world.

Micro volunteering

A very interesting article about volunteering, and applying the wikipedia philosophy to volunteering. Here he sets the scene: > “People have a problem with volunteerism: Now this statement is ...

Who can I believe about the economy?

The problems in our economy right now are real, I believe. Tons of people have lost jobs, and my investment accounts also prove it. I guess there’s no debate about that. But the question is, what to do about it. My observations: - Politicians on both sides are equally passionate yet totally contrad...