aMap
http://www.amap.org.uk/

Visualization of arguments

Cool widget that allows you to browse with cursor over brain maps

STV for wabi-sabi + "Wabi-sabi is a set of philosophical principles that relate Buddhist concepts that can be observed in meditation to all aspects of design. For the first time it occurred to me that Dukkha (the fundamental lack of satisfaction with anything in the physical realm), Anicca (impermanence, lack of any "timeless" principle), and Anatta (lack of "self", or the idea that any object can be complete in and of itself and exist separately from the subject) apply to all things we create."

Excellent article referencing Buddhist principals that may be very helpful to me...

Huge repository of papers in academic philosophy

PhilPapers is a comprehensive directory of online philosophy articles and books by academic philosophers. We monitor journals in many areas of philosophy, as well as archives and personal pages. We also accept articles directly from users, who can provide links or upload copies. Some features require that you sign in first, but creating an account is easy and free.

An index of current research in philosophy. Also offers forums, discussion groups, and advanced bibliographic tools for philosophers.

"I wrote these principles after reflecting on the content of contemporary newspapers and broadcast media and why that content disquieted me. I saw that I was not disturbed so much by what was written or said as I was by what is not. The tacit assumptions underlying most popular content reflect a worldview that is orthogonal to reality in many ways. By reflecting this skewed weltanschauung, the media reinforces and propagates it. I call this worldview the American Cargo Cult, after the real New Guinea cargo cults that arose after the second world war. There are four main points, each of which has several elaborating assumptions. I really do think that most Americans believe these things at a deep level, and that these misbeliefs constantly underlie bad arguments in public debate."

Minimalist satire on ordinary attitudes

Don't constrain your self by making too much part of your identity (reminds me of much of Tom Robbins's writing)

Paul Graham

DISCLAIMER - I am not endorsing anything here!

save

The lolcats, the Internet's most famous felines, may be hilarious. But in their yearning, I see nothing less than the tragedy of the human condition.

" Though some of these wonderful remarks were given decades ago, we believe they are as relevant and important, perhaps increasingly so, as the more current speeches. Thus we encourage you to read them all, recognizing and celebrating your own constant commencement into tomorrow, finding ways to place it firmly within the context of progress for all humankind."

including Barack Obama, Toni Morrison, John F. Kennedy etc

The commencement ceremony affirms each student's search for knowledge. It often includes a graduation speech which seeks to put their recent hard (or not so hard) work into the context of their future. Many of us hear one or two commencement addresses as graduates or listen to a handful as spectators. Yet -- as we graduate from one year to another, one relationship to another, one experience to another -- we always are learning. Though these myriad departures and arrivals of everyday existence are seldom met with ceremony, words traditionally reserved for momentous occasions may ring true and inspirational at any hour. That's why we created this unique archive of commencement addresses, selecting an eclectic menu of twenty nine extraordinary speeches from the thousands that we have reviewed since beginning work on this initiative in 1989.

Cracked waxes downright philosophic. I love it. Mostly because they're right. We spend far too much time thinking about what we want, scared to admit that we don't know, worried that means we'll never get anywhere, when sitting and worrying about it all is doing less to help us than virtually any other activity except killing ourselves.

according to experts, it says almost everything we think about what would make us happy is dead wrong. Let's look at the five things we're most wrong about, with some pictures of adorable animals for good measure.

What do one mathematician, one artist, and one musician all have in common? Are you interested in zen Buddhism, math, fractals, logic, paradoxes, infinities, art, language, computer science, physics, music, intelligence, consciousness and unified theories? Get ready to chase me down a rabbit hole into Douglas Hofstadter's Pulitzer Prize winning book Gödel, Escher, Bach. Lectures will be a place for crazy ideas to bounce around as we try to pace our way through this enlightening tome. You will be responsible for most of the reading as lectures will consist primarily of motivating the material and encouraging discussion. I advise everyone seriously interested to buy the book, grab on and get ready for a mind-expanding voyage into higher dimensions of recursive thinking.

I want to read this article...it looks fascinating.

Ted Kaczynski, the convicted bomber who blew up dozens of technophilic professionals, was right about one thing: technology has its own agenda. The technium is not, as most people think, a series of individual artifacts and gadgets for sale. Rather, Kaczynski, speaking as the Unabomber, argued that technology is a dynamic holistic system. It is not mere hardware; rather it is more akin to an organism; it seeks and grabs resources for its own expansion; it transcends human actions and desires. I think Kaczynski was right about these claims. In his own words the Unabomber says: "The system does not and cannot exist to satisfy human needs. Instead, it is human behavior that has to be modified to fit the needs of the system. This has nothing to do with the political or social ideology that may pretend to guide the technological system. It is the fault of technology, because the system is guided not by ideology but by technical necessity.”

The ultimate problem is that the paradise the Kaczynski is offering, the solution to civilization so to speak, is the tiny, smoky, dingy, smelly wooden prison cell that absolutely nobody else wants to dwell in. It is a paradise billions are fleeing from. Civilization has its problems but in almost every way it is better than the Unabomber’s shack.

"Education is an admirable thing, but it is well to remember from time to time that nothing that is worth learning can be taught." -- Oscar Wilde

Good introduction to X-phi, as rediculous as it sounds.

Philosophers used to combine conceptual reflections with practical experiment. The trendiest new branch of the discipline, known as x-phi, wants to return to those days. Some philosophers don’t like it.

a new philosophy field? holy moly. really good read.

Philosophers used to combine conceptual reflections with practical experiment. The trendiest new branch of the discipline, known as x-phi, wants to return to those days. Some philosophers don’t like it

Gödel mistrusted our ability to communicate. Natural language, he thought, was imprecise, and we usually don't understand each other. Gödel wanted to prove a mathematical theorem that would have all the precision of mathematics—the only language with any claims to precision—but with the sweep of philosophy. He wanted a mathematical theorem that would speak to the issues of meta-mathematics. And two extraordinary things happened. One is that he actually did produce such a theorem. The other is that it was interpreted by the jazzier parts of the intellectual culture as saying, philosophically exactly the opposite of what he had been intending to say with it.

goel and the nature of mathematical truth

There is a difference between an excuse and a reason, know the difference.

Moral lesson

At once a optimist and a cynic, Vonnegut's love for humanity recognized and embraced each of its shortcomings. With his satirical blend of science fiction and humanism, Vonnegut gifted us with his clever one-liners and pearls of wisdom mixed in with the occasional dirty drawing. Following are a few of the gems he cast along the way, in the only acceptable format for true widom these days, the motivational poster.

Motivational posters with quotes of Kurt Vonnegut

The Cult of Done Manifesto 1. There are three states of being. Not knowing, action and completion. 2. Accept that everything is a draft. It helps to get it done. 3. There is no editing stage. 4. Pretending you know what you're doing is almost the same as knowing what you are doing, so just accept that you know what you're doing even if you don't and do it. 5. Banish procrastination. If you wait more than a week to get an idea done, abandon it. 6. The point of being done is not to finish but to get other things done. 7. Once you're done you can throw it away. 8. Laugh at perfection. It's boring and keeps you from being done. 9. People without dirty hands are wrong. Doing something makes you right. 10. Failure counts as done. So do mistakes. 11. Destruction is a variant of done. 12. If you have an idea and publish it on the internet, that counts as a ghost of done. 13. Done is the engine of more.

ts as done. So do mistakes.

Hi

we have directed all of our energies and intelligence to inventing machinery that does nothing but increase the supply of information. As a consequence, our defenses against information glut have broken down; our information immune system is inoperable. We don't know how to filter it out; we don't know how to reduce it; we don't know to use it. We suffer from a kind of cultural AIDS.

go fast do less

If you smacked a kid in the face with a bottle of Johnson's No More Tears, would it create beautiful irony?

matter

By Christopher Hitchens

What the author of Das Kapital reveals about the current economic crisis by Christopher Hitchens

Writing is good for you!

A friend of mine who happens to be a famous designer (this person shall remain nameless) said something not long ago about one of my projects that really pissed me off. At the time, I objected to this person’s tone and delivery, thinking it inappropriate. After all, we’re friends! But given some distance from the event, I realize now that, the formal qualities of the remarks aside, this person had a point. They weren’t necessarily right, mind you, but there was a legitimate criticism at the core, to which I should have paid attention. In retrospect I realize that getting hot and bothered about this person’s tone said something much less flattering about me than about the person.

The notion of speaking openly, honestly and objectively about work is inherent to learning how to be a better X...."This is why art, film and architecture have achieved such great heights in our society: those art forms are economically robust enough to support a vibrant critical class."

"To put a finer point on it: are we being honest with one another?" - also designer zu designern

The importance of honest criticism (in every profession).

Why is programming fun? An extract from Fred Brooks' (Frederick P. Brooks Jr.) book, The Mythical Man-Month. Fred Brooks coined the term "no silver bullet" that is famous in the field of computers.

seneca

life philosophy

Stoicism

The impression I formed of the M.B.A. experience was that it involved taking two years out of your life and going deeply into debt, all for the sake of learning how to keep a straight face while using phrases like “out-of-the-box thinking,” “win-win situation,” and “core competencies.”

Taylorism vs. Mayoism: Both management theories fail.

Most of management theory is inane, writes Mathew Stewart, the founder of a consulting firm. If you want to succeed in business, don’t get an M.B.A. Study philosophy instead. [Atlantic Magazine, June 2006]

This was on the del.icio.us Popular Booksmarks list. I've only read the first paragraph, but I am finding myself inclined to agree with the general thrust of this article. To be read in full later.

A look at some of the flawed thinking that prompts people who believe in certain non-scientific concepts to advise others who don't to be more open-minded. music © QualiaSoup Category: Education Tags: open-mindedness pseudoscience paranormal supernatural contradiction anecdotal evidence prejudice close-mindedness fallacious thinking

A look at some of the flawed thinking that prompts people who believe in certain non-scientific concepts to advise others who don't to be more open-minded.

Good article on being hypercritical.

Knowing what's wrong is a prerequisite for fixing it. That may sound trite, but...

As far back as I can remember, I was told I would grow up to be an artist. By age six, my obsessively detailed renderings of Mechagodzilla, et al. were already drawing attention from adults. By the time I was eight years old, my parents had been persuaded by teachers and friends to enroll me in private art lessons. I recall the informal "admissions test" with my first art instructor. A scale model of a bull was placed in front of me on a table and I was asked to draw it. The plastic bull was a faithful reproduction, full of muscles and knobby joints. It was an ugly, forlorn thing, far removed from my normal subject matter. After a few minutes, the resulting drawing was roughly in proportion, the details were well represented, and the perspective was pretty close. I was in. Thus began eight years of regular art instruction. I progressed from pencils and pastels to watercolors and acrylics, and finally to oils. The content was mostly classical: lots of still lifes and landscapes. Meanw

Interesting piece, via S.teave

John Siracusa on the role criticism plays in design.

The frantic global rush to connect everyone to everyone, all the time, is quietly giving rise to a revised version of socialism. Communal aspects of digital culture run deep and wide. Wikipedia is just one remarkable example of an emerging collectivism—and not just Wikipedia but wikiness at large.

The frantic global rush to connect everyone to everyone, all the time, is quietly giving rise to a revised version of socialism.

The latest research suggests a more prosaic, democratic, even puritanical view of the world. The key factor separating geniuses from the merely accomplished is not a divine spark. It’s not I.Q., a generally bad predictor of success, even in realms like chess. Instead, it’s deliberate practice. Top performers spend more hours (many more hours) rigorously practicing their craft.

Genius - The Modern View

IQ persistence and success

"The key factor separating geniuses from the merely accomplished is not a divine spark. It’s not I.Q., a generally bad predictor of success, even in realms like chess. Instead, it’s deliberate practice. Top performers spend more hours (many more hours) rigorously practicing their craft."

finally, someone seems to be working toward secularism in a quiet, reasonable and unsensationalist way

The Reason Project is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit foundation devoted to spreading scientific knowledge and secular values in society. The foundation draws on the talents of prominent and creative thinkers in a wide range of disciplines to encourage critical thinking and erode the influence of dogmatism, superstition, and bigotry in our world.

A Non-Profit Dedicated to Reason. Created by Sam Harris.

I cannot convey to you the size of my man-crush on Reg Braithwaite.

"Let's recap. When we explain something in our heads, our explanations have three properties that matter to whether we are optimistic or not: Whether we explain things in a personal or impersonal way, whether we explain things in a specific or general way, and whether we explain things in a permanent or temporary way. / [...] / Optimists explain good things as being personal, general, and permanent, and explain away bad things as being impersonal, specific, and temporary. And if you point out the contradiction in their explanations, they see no contradiction. To them, the bad stuff really isn't about them, it's just that one thing that one time."

mit Online Course Materials education tolearn

During the summer of 2007, Gödel, Escher, Bach was recorded especially for OpenCourseWare. Below are links to the videos, along with breakdowns of the video content.

comment on the issue of fairness in teaching elementary physics

‘About 6-7 years ago, I was in a philosophy class at the University of Wisconsin, Madison (good science/engineering school) and the teaching assistant was explaining Descartes. He was trying to show how things don't always happen the way we think they will and explained that, while a pen always falls when you drop it on Earth, it would just float away if you let go of it on the Moon. My jaw dropped a little. I blurted "What?!" ’

But to the stakeholders -- managers, CEOs, customers, shareholders, etc. -- software development is a mystery. They don't want to know everything about it, but they want to know enough to be able to predict the behavior of software development, at least approximately.

Why do we need an analogy? We know what we do. We program computers, with all that entails. And we know what that means, because we do it. But to the stakeholders -- managers, CEOs, customers, shareholders, etc. -- software development is a mystery. They don't want to know everything about it, but they want to know enough to be able to predict the behavior of software development, at least approximately.

t replace a programmer with just any other programmer and get similar results. It also suggests that you should evaluate what kind of project you're creating when you decide who your team should be, and how it will run. The creation of mysteries and young adult fiction and so-called "bodice rippers" and the vast sea of nonfiction books all have their own particular structure and constraints (you'd be surprised at how rigid and controlling publishers are about these things, as if they are manufacturing some kind of basic commodity -- "the murder has to happen in the first 10 pages" etc.). None of these are the mass-market bestsellers ("killer apps") that are sold by the author's voice and style (few of which I find readable). The mass-market bestsellers usually don't coincide with the great writers, since most people don't have the patience to read these meta-craftsmen, just as most programmers don't read the source code for compilers.

Agreed. Interesting comments, too. I write one-liners, short stories and novels in Python. I have many unfinished novels.

The joy of less.

you matter

By Lera Boroditsky

ong time, the idea that language might shape thought was considered

Interesting recent work on Linguistic relativity / Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis related ideas in cognitive linguistics

Something to think about when you wonder if you “see” reality.

So we’re forced to realize a very interesting conclusion. The wavelength of a photon certainly reflects a color – but we cannot produce every color the human eye sees by a single photon of a specific wavelength. There is no such thing as a pink laser – two lasers must be mixed to produce that color. There are “real” colors (we call them pure spectral or monochromatic colors) and “unreal” colors that only exist in the brain.

While we consider this rather trivial today, at the time you’d be laughed out of the room if you suggested this somehow illustrated a fundamental property of light and color. The popular theory of the day was that color was a mixture of light and dark, and that prisms simply colored light. Color went from bright red (white light with the smallest amount of “dark” added) to dark blue (white light with the most amount of “dark” added before it turned black).

Article sobre beneficis dels estudis clàssics :)

Resulta que Tim O'rEilly estudió Clásicas.

"I've been deeply influenced by Aristotle's idea that virtue is a habit, something you practice and get better at, rather than something that comes naturally. "The control of the appetites by right reason," is how he defined it. My brother James once brilliantly reframed this as "Virtue is knowing what you really want," and then building the intellectual and moral muscle to go after it."

Scientology leader David Miscavige is the focus of this special report from the St. Petersburg Times. Former executives of the Church of Scientology, including two of the former top lieutenants to Miscavige, have come forward to describe a culture of intimidation and violence under David Miscavige. These former Scientology leaders served for years with Miscavige.

If you want to make a personal decision that only you can make like whether or not you should start a business, try putting into writing a list of arguments for and against the idea. If that fails, consider divination. Suppose you have studied the idea from all angles, have done all your homework, and worked out all the consequences and pros and cons in your mind, and yet still remain indecisive. You now must follow your heart and tell your brain to shut up. The multitude of available divination techniques are very useful for determining your own semi-conscious desires, as they each present a complete ambiguous and random pattern that your own subconscious will assign meaning to.

3. Happiness Must be Shared The other night I was watching the movie adaptation of Into the Wild, the true story of Chris McCandless (see above photo which is a self-portrait found undeveloped in McCandless's camera after his death). Fed up with the rat race, McCandless graduated college in the early 1990's, left his worried parents in the dust, sold all his belongings, and ventured deep into the Alaskan wilderness. Before dying of starvation, he seemed to regre

3. Happiness Must be Shared The other night I was watching the movie adaptation of Into the Wild, the true story of Chris McCandless (see above photo which is a self-portrait found undeveloped in McCandless's camera after his death). Fed up with the rat race, McCandless graduated college in the early 1990's, left his worried parents in the dust, sold all his belongings, and ventured deep into the Alaskan wilderness. Before dying of starvation, he seemed to regret his isolationist ways and wrote these last words in his journal, “Happiness only real when shared.”

We’ve all heard countless studies, articles and TV interviews on happiness. But the other day I stumbled upon something that is just now being revealed to the media for the first time.* It's a 72 year old study that began all the way back in 1937 when 268 Harvard University sophomores were asked to participate in a study measuring “a formula-some mix of love, work, and adaptation-for a good life.” And while many of those who were college sophomores in 1937 are now dying or in their fading twilight, this study continues to be diligently maintained to this very day.

Presented entirely unironically, but these are hilarious (random caps make everything funnier, obviously). I especially like #2: When in Company, put not your Hands to any Part of the Body, not usually Discovered.

. I want people to appreciate the work I’ve done and the value of what I’ve made. Not pass on by waving “sucker” as they drive their fancy cars

via robrohan via http://developers.slashdot.org/story/09/07/14/1414259/6-Reasons-To-License-Software-Under-the-ALGPL

However, I’d like to explain why I use the GPL after decades of writing open source software and after a couple of “successful” projects. These are my reasons for using it, and only apply to me and what I want to do with my software from now on. You are free to your own opinions and choices, and I hope you’ll respect mine.

"I love open source, but companies? Companies are going to have to pay from now on. That’s how economics works. If it’s good enough for you to use, why then it’s good enough for you to pay for it."

so true.

Huxley vs Orwell

view on the future

from Postman's Amusing Ourselves to Death--in cartoon form

"Orwell feared those who would deprive us of information. Huxley feared those who would give us so much that we would be reduced to passivity and egotism."

Turned up on oursignal.com ...

Topic for discussion in AP

Steven Pinker on how violence has declined over history.

Interesting, somewhat counterintuitive hypothesis here - mankind has been getting steadily LESS violent since pre-historic times - and a bunch of theories as to why.

Steven Pinker explains why he thinks humans have evolved to be more peaceful over time.

The discourse notebook is an effort (in conjunction with 'The Bernstein Tapes'*) to make available lectures in contemporary continental philosophy. For questions, comments, or to share a lecture, send an email to: Todd.Kesselman@gmail.com

The discourse notebook is an effort (in conjunction with 'The Bernstein Tapes'*) to make available lectures in contemporary continental philosophy.

A collection of lectures on philosophy.

!! digital information을 세번쩨 replicator로 규정. 그런데 그것이 copy,mutation,natural selection을 모두 충족하는가? 글쓴이에 의하면 현재의 컴퓨터들은 웹 상에서, 인간의 통제를 벗어나 스스로 복제하고, 정보를 수집하며, 편집하고, 뭐..그런말을 하는데.. / / mutation은 없고 summary만 있을뿐 아닌가? 그리고 natural selection은 혹시 virus에 의한것을 말하는가? 그렇다면 너무 유치하고.. 검색순위 상단에 오르는 것을 말한다면 그것은 인간에 의한것인데?

There's a new type of evolution going on and it may not be to our liking, says Susan Blackmore

Memes are a new kind of information - behaviours rather than DNA - copied by a new kind of machinery - brains rather than chemicals inside cells. This is a new evolutionary process because all of the three critical stages - copying, varying and selection - are done by those brains. So does the same apply to new technology?

25 Great Thinkers Every College Student Should Read August 6th, 2009 By Donna Scott College is for expanding one’s intellectual horizons. Unfortunately, drinking and having fun can distract from learning about history’s great thinkers. From Mark Twain to Confucius, an educated individual should posses some knowledge of certain philosophers, artists and thinkers. Here are 25 great thinkers every college student should read, even if professors don’t assign them.

College is for expanding one’s intellectual horizons. Unfortunately, drinking and having fun can distract from learning about history’s great thinkers. From Mark Twain to Confucius, an educated individual should posses some knowledge of certain philosophers, artists and thinkers. Here are 25 great thinkers every college student should read, even if professors don’t assign them.

p your desk. Re-arrange furniture. Add some color to that space. Make the place where you work really enjoyable. So enjoyable that work there won’t be perceived as

A great article. Every thing is perception. i beleive in it

Review of Biocentrism in the Discover magazine

The farther we peer into space, the more we realize that the nature of the universe cannot be understood fully by inspecting spiral galaxies or watching distant supernovas. It lies deeper. It involves our very selves.

Humans don’t always make the most rational decisions. As studies have shown, even when logic and reasoning point in one direction, sometimes we chose the opposite route, motivated by personal bias or simply "wishful thinking." This paradoxical human behavior has resisted explanation by classical decision theory for over a decade. But now, scientists have shown that a quantum probability model can provide a simple explanation for human decision-making - and may eventually help explain the success of human cognition overall.

Need to read more carefully; till then, count me as skeptical

LOL. The first few sentences made me think of Busemeyer, even before he was mentioned.

Unfortunately, this isn’t a great model. Mostly because it’s based on the idea that there is a small group of people in authority, who will tell you what to do and what you need to know, and you must follow this obediently, like robots. And you must not think for yourself, or try to do what you want to do. This will be met with severe punishment.

I was at a Kurt Vonnegut talk in New York a few years ago. Talking about writing, life, and everything. He explained why people have such a need for drama in their life. He said, “People have been hearing fantastic stories since time began. The problem is, they think life is supposed to be like the stories. Let's look at a few examples.”

I was at a Kurt Vonnegut talk in New York a few years ago. Talking about writing, life, and everything. He explained why people have such a need for drama in their life. .He said, “People have been hearing fantastic stories since time began. The problem is, they think life is supposed to be like the stories. Let's look at a few examples.”

Life change may seem to take years to achieve but there are steps you can walk today and in the next week that perhaps can change your life forever. Most are

Kanso - Simplicity or elimination of clutter. Enso Fukinsei - Asymmetry or irregularity. Shibui - Beautiful by being understated, or by being precisely what it was meant to be and not elaborated upon. Shizen - Naturalness. Absence of pretense or artificiality. Yugen - Suggestion, rather than revelation. Datsuzoku - Freedom from habit or formula. Seijaku - Tranquility. An energized calm, stillness, solitude.

“In 18 months I’m going to start my own company,” the problem with that sentence is the 18 months. What you’re really saying is, “I’m afraid.”

Omia tuotteita konsultoinnin sijaan.

> We’ve had a lot of things not work, and that’s OK too. If it’s a good idea and it gets you excited, try it, and if it bursts into flames, that’s going to be exciting too. People always ask, “What is your greatest failure?” I always have the same answer – We’re working on it right now, it’s gonna be awesome!

Jim Coudal is a truly inspiring character. His company decided to shift from the standard model of selling their creative services to clients, to a model of creating products which they own and have full control over. And they’ve been very successful at it. Coudal Partners is proof that you can indeed create your own reality. (interview, article)

get out there.

The Basic Laws of Human Stupidity

For this year's list, we walked right past the usual suspects and went looking for trouble. We wanted radicals, heretics, agitators—big thinkers with controversial, game-changing propositions. We found a prison reformer who wants to empty jails, an economist who thinks foreign aid hurts more than it helps, and a military theorist who believes the US should launch preemptive cyberattacks, right now.

Shipping is a feature. A really important feature. Your product must have it.

Jamie Zawinski is what I would call a duct-tape programmer. And I say that with a great deal of respect. He is the kind of programmer who is hard at work building the future, and making useful things so that people can do stuff. He is the guy you want on your team building go-carts, because he has two favorite tools: duct tape and WD-40. And he will wield them elegantly even as your go-cart is careening down the hill at a mile a minute.

Philosophy class online from Harvard University.

<<Justice is one of the most popular courses in Harvard’s history. Nearly one thousand students pack Harvard’s historic Sanders Theatre to hear Professor Sandel talk about justice, equality, democracy, and citizenship. Now it’s your turn to take the same journey in moral reflection that has captivated more than 14,000 students, as Harvard opens its classroom to the world. This course aims to help viewers become more critically minded thinkers about the moral decisions we all face in our everyday lives. In this 12-part series, Sandel challenges us with difficult moral dilemmas and asks our opinion about the right thing to do.>>

good post

Reference Guide on ourFreedom &amp; Responsibility Culture <br />These slides are meant for reading,<br />rather than pr

What we find particularly intriguing is the section on hiring and firing. They want every manager to ask themselves: “Which of my people, if they told me they were leaving in two months for a similar job at a peer company, would I fight hard to keep at Netflix?” Anybody who doesn’t make that list should be offered a severance package right now so we can open a slot to find a star performer for that role. Another highlight: Netflix has no vacation policy! They don’t have a “rule” about 9 – 5 work - their rule is simpler: get your job done, and do it well. They realized if they didn’t track the hours employees worked, why would they track the hours they DON’T work? There is also no policy on clothing, but as of yet, no one has come to work naked (Patty McCord, 2004). The lesson: You don’t need detailed policies for everything. Here’s the part where they devalue training (you should probably stop reading here. . .)

This makes me want to work for Netfilx. No, wait. It makes me want to built the same values into meta4 so I never have to leave.

To discover great hacks, we must always be searching for the true nature of our reality

An interesting perspective on hacking and systems, particularly relevant to the Saving Game

Notes on methods to eliminate corruption in a system by making honesty the most advantageous course of action

"Here’s a self-enforcing protocol for determining property tax: the homeowner decides the value of the property and calculates the resultant tax, and the government can either accept the tax or buy the home for that price. Sounds unrealistic, but the Greek government implemented exactly that system for the taxation of antiquities. It was the easiest way to motivate people to accurately report the value of antiquities."

Jonathan Chait, 09/14/09, The New Republic takes AR seriously in a long art (c. 5,000 words?), ostensibly a review of Burns and Heller's books. Lousy article, but Chait gets some imp things right: says AR is different in regarding redistribution wrong, not in practical terms, but moral terms. But stresses that the moral issue is the virtuous and productive being sacrificed to the lazy and immoral. Says she has been very influential among the right.

On Ayn Rand's legacy and the American right: "Ayn Rand's novels tend to strike their readers with the power of revelation, and they are read less like fiction and more like self-help literature, like spiritual guidance. Again and again, readers would write Rand to tell her that their encounter with her work felt like having their eyes open for the first time in their lives... The likes of Gale Norton, George Gilder, Charles Murray, and many others have cited Rand as an influence. Rand acolytes such as Alan Greenspan and Martin Anderson have held important positions in Republican politics. "What she did--through long discussions and lots of arguments into the night--was to make me think why capitalism is not only efficient and practical, but also moral," attested Greenspan. In 1987, The New York Times called Rand the "novelist laureate" of the Reagan administration. Reagan's nominee for commerce secretary, C. William Verity Jr., kept a passage from Atlas Shrugged on his desk."

The differences between rational thinking and intelligence.

Is George W. Bush stupid? It's a question that occupied a good many minds of all political persuasions during his turbulent eight-year presidency. The strict answer is no. Bush's IQ score is estimated to be above 120, which suggests an intelligence in the top 10 per cent of the population. But this, surely, does not tell the whole story. Even those sympathetic to the former president have acknowledged that as a thinker and decision-maker he is not all there. Even his loyal speechwriter David Frum called him glib, incurious and "as a result ill-informed".

Annotated link http://www.diigo.com/bookmark/http%3A%2F%2Fwww.edge.org%2F3rd_culture%2Fschirrmacher09%2Fschirrmacher09_index.html

He is interested in George Dyson's comment "What if the price of machines that think is people who don't?" He is looking at how the modification of our cognitive structures is a process that eventually blends machines and humans in a deeper way, more than any human-computer interface could possibly achieve. He's also fascinated in an idea presented a decade ago by Danny Hillis: "In the long run, the Internet will arrive at a much richer infrastructure, in which ideas can potentially evolve outside of human minds."

by David Stewart

""in cultural history, the list has prevailed over and over again. It is by no means merely an expression of primitive cultures. A very clear image of the universe existed in the Middle Ages, and there were lists. A new worldview based on astronomy predominated in the Renaissance and the Baroque era. And there were lists. And the list is certainly prevalent in the postmodern age. It has an irresistible magic. … We have a limit, a very discouraging, humiliating limit: death. That's why we like all the things that we assume have no limits and, therefore, no end. It's a way of escaping thoughts about death. We like lists because we don't want to die. … we believe that we are able to see more in them. A person contemplating a painting feels a need to open the frame and see what things look like to the left and to the right of the painting. This sort of painting is truly like a list, a cutout of infinity.""

via damon/jeff s

"The Vertigo of Lists"

Italian polymath Umberto Eco: "I like lists for the same reason other people like football or pedophilia."

"...how, as a human being, does one face infinity? How does one attempt to grasp the incomprehensible? Through lists, through catalogs, through collections in museums and through encyclopedias and dictionaries."

Introduction by John Brockman "What is this stuff, you ask one another," says the narrator in Rebecca Newberger Goldstein's new novel 36 Arguments for the Existence of God: A Work of Fiction, "and how can it still be kicking around, given how much we already know?"

There's an excerpt from novel here, but the important part is the non-fiction appendix analyzing and refuting the actual arguments for God.

ハーディのパラドクス cf.http://www.thevarsity.ca/article/18481-u-of-t-scientists-prove／論文http://www.iop.org/EJ/article/1367-2630/11/3/033011/njp9_3_033011.html

Since its birth in the 1920s, physicists and philosophers have grappled with the bizarre consequences that his theory has for reality, including the fundamental truth that it is impossible to know everything about the world and, in fact, whether it really exists at all when it is not being observed. Now two groups of physicists, working independently, have demonstrated that nature is indeed real when unobserved. When no one is peeking, however, it acts in a really odd way.

Yet more proof that the stuff down at a quantum level makes no sense when thought about using metaphors derived at a human level.

Seneca, a Spanish-born philosopher of Rome who lived in the first century A.D., was one of the prominent sages of the Stoic school. He's chiefly remembered today for his Moral Essays, a collection of twelve articles on various ethical themes. "On The Shortness Of Life" is an essay addressed to a friend, and it is excerpted and condensed here from Moses Hadas' fine work, The Stoic Philosophy Of Seneca.

True.

financial crisis

Great article -- recommended by Jeremy Shapiro. One part of the argument: the fallacy of the belief in diversification and complexity.

Very interesting article about the causes of the current crisis.

By Jerry Z. Muller Thursday, January 29, 2009 Major recessions are characterized by something novel. Opacity and pseudo-objectivity created the crisis today.

In the low self-esteem group, those who repeated the mantra felt worse afterwards compared with others who did not. However people with high self-esteem felt better after repeating the positive self-statement - but only slightly. The psychologists then asked the study participants to list negative and positive thoughts about themselves. They found that, paradoxically, those with low self-esteem were in a better mood when they were allowed to have negative thoughts than when they were asked to focus exclusively on affirmative thoughts. Writing in the journal, the researchers suggest that, like overly positive praise, unreasonably positive self-statements, such as "I accept myself completely," can provoke contradictory thoughts in individuals with low self-esteem. Such negative thoughts can overwhelm the positive thoughts.

BBC NEWS | Health

Repeating affirmations which are, in your perception, not true will not actually help. Just the opposite, in fact.

A UK psychologist said people based their feelings about themselves on real evidence from their lives.

3D virtual browsing. Interface it a bit clunky, but I heart me some virtual books.

Welcome to our gallery of Turning the Pages™ presentations - high-quality digital facsimiles of manuscripts which replicate the physical experience of reading the original works as closely as possible. We hope that these will give you a flavour of the fascinating and diverse range of material held within our collections. We will be adding more items soon. Launch Turning the Pages™ 2.0 * Full 3D version - high end, full functionality. (Need help?) * Silverlight version - if you cannot use the 3D version, try this one. (Need help?) * Accessible version - if you're still having difficulty, try this version. (Need help?) The Turning the Pages™ Library currently includes these manuscripts. William Stukeley's Life of Newton Thomas Paine's iron bridge design Woolsthorpe Paine letter The Constitutions of Carolina Anatomical drawings of the human lymphatic system The fundamental constitutions of Carolina Foot Richard Waller's watercolours of English flowers and grasses

Welcome to our gallery of Turning the Pages™ presentations - high-quality digital facsimiles of manuscripts which replicate the physical experience of reading the original works as closely as possible.

Welcome to our gallery of Turning the Pages™ presentations - high-quality digital facsimiles of manuscripts which replicate the physical experience of reading the original works as closely as possible. We hope that these will give you a flavour of the fascinating and diverse range of material held within our collections. We will be adding more items soon.

7/10

One of my Subject

Morality in animals

This thinking is another indicator of a change in human assumptions about animal consciousness -- from uncaring reductionism to reflective respect. This is not new. In 1966, Conrad Lorenz made much the same point in On Agression, but noted that humans are the only animals whose moral principles against violence are so often breached in the form of murder and war.

Scientists studying animal behaviour believe they have growing evidence that species ranging from mice to primates are governed by moral codes of conduct in the same way as humans.

Animals possess a sense of morality that allows them to tell the difference between right and wrong, according to a controversial new book.

"An agnostic thinks it impossible to know the truth in matters such as God and the future life with which Christianity and other religions are concerned. Or, if not impossible, at least impossible at the present time."

This morning I found myself lying around, enjoying a lazy weekend with my wife and kids, basking in the peaceful simplicity of today. It’s in these moments that I find not only my greatest happiness, but my purpose in life. I am here not to achieve or even to change the world, but simply to live. Life is a gift, and I’m happy to accept every moment of it. And so, in this spirit, I thought I’d dig through my archives and share a few favorite posts, to help others find this peace. A lot of Zen Habits readers are new, and haven’t taken the time to peruse the 800+ posts I’ve written. Shame on you! :) Here’s a good way to get started. If you want more, check out the Beginner’s Guide to Zen Habits, or see the newly revamped Zen Habits archives for every post ever published here. 12 Classic Posts You Might Not Have Read Don’t read these all at once: 1. Peaceful Simplicity: How to Live a Life of Contentment 2. The Four Laws of Simplicity, and How to Apply Them to Life 3. The Cu

...mirror neurons fire when you merely watch another person perform a similar act. It's as if the neuron (more strictly the network of which the neuron is part) was using the visual input to do a sort of "virtual reality simulation" of the other person's actions—allowing you to empathize with her and view the world from her point of view.

Brain stuff from VS Ramachandran

Ramachandran - recent piece (Jan. 09) on what various bizarre neurological disorders might imply about the self.

Is this what Antony is saying when he writes about Epilepsy? "Now imagine these same circuits become hyperactive as sometimes happens when you have seizures originating in the temporal lobes (TLE or temporal lobe epilepsy). The result would be an intense heightening of the patient's sensory appreciation of the world and intense empathy for all beings to the extent of seeing no barriers between himself and the cosmos—the basis of religious and mystical experiences. (You lose all selfishness and become one with God.) Indeed many of history's great religious leaders have had TLE. My colleague, the late Francis Crick, has suggested that TLE patients as well as priests may have certain abnormal transmitters in their brains that he calls "theotoxins"."

murphys laws

The best designs never survive contact with the client.

Murphy Laws Site - Graphic Design Laws

Striking a balance between custom code (Rails) and off-the-shelf software (CMS)

"Ruby on Rails is an excellent framework for building web applications. Perhaps the best. But it's not currently very well suited to what I call web sites. The difference is simple. In a web site, the unique business value comes from the content creators (authors, bloggers, photographers, etc). In a web application, the business value comes directly from the programmers. Twitter, Google, Basecamp and eBay are web applications. CBSSports.com, KentuckyDerby.com, corporate brand sites and original news sources are all web sites."

The Ruby on Rails CMS Dilemma

explains why rails doesn't have a good cms

Soup-to-nuts

philosophy

Video lectures. There is one thing I can be sure of: I am going to die. But what am I to make of that fact?

Audio, video, and course materials.

PHIL 176: Death

Yele lections

Sean Carroll

A cool look at why we view the world we do and why certain actions can't be reversed.

"This site presents strategies and resources for faculty members and graduate assistants who are teaching Introduction to Philosophy courses; it also includes material of interest to college faculty generally. The mission of TΦ101 is to provide free, user-friendly resources to the academic community."

My Website

Bernard d'Espagnat: What we call 'reality' is just a state of mind http://hub.tm/dkmur

Quantum reality

父が仕事で東京に出てきたので呑みに行った。父は教育畑の人で、あと１年少しで定年を迎える。ここ何年か県の教育庁で仕事をしていたが、今年度からはまた学校に転属になった。 　その席で聞かせてくれた話がいろいろ面白かったので忘れないうちに書いておこうと思う。 　父曰く……

Japanese self-thinker. A rare-find.

またいつか読んで確認したいと思う。棚卸したら面白そうなのでブクマ。

quotes Mike Taylor: "I want to make things, not just glue things together." http://bit.ly/9Yxm1V

In a recent interview, Don Knuth wrote: 'The way a lot of programming goes today isn't any fun because it's just plugging in magic incantations — combine somebody else's software and start it up.' The Reinvigorated Programmer laments how much of our 'programming' time is spent pasting not-quite-compatible libraries together and patching around the edges.

fuentes de relativa calidad/precio (son gratis XD) sansserif todas ellas

Why do you get up in the morning?

Thoughts on how to use positivity to shape your existence

What is neoliberalism, and what's it done to our universities?

Short-term transactions-for-profit replace long-term planning designed to produce a more just and equitable society. Everyone is always running around doing and acquiring things, but the things done and acquired provide only momentary and empty pleasures (shopping, trophy houses, designer clothing and jewelry), which in the end amount to nothing. Neoliberalism, David Harvey explains, delivers a “world of pseudo-satisfactions that is superficially exciting but hollow at its core.” (”A Brief History of Neoliberalism.”)

a good description of commodity-based thinking

As Ronald Coase put it in his classic article, “The Problem of Social Cost” (Journal of Law and Economics, 1960): “The question to be decided is: is the value of the fish lost greater or less than the value of the product which the contamination of the stream makes possible?” If the answer is more value would be lost if my factory were closed, then the principle of the maximization of wealth and efficiency directs us to a negotiated solution: you allow my factory to continue to pollute your stream and I will compensate you or underwrite the costs of your moving the stream elsewhere on your property, provided of course that the price I pay for the right to pollute is not greater than the value produced by my being permitted to continue.

Well defined article analyzing the disjointed humanism taught at institutes of higher education. NeoLiberalism.

Programming is like sleeping! Send to people who don't understand why you need to be in the zone to program. Absolutely love it.

Simply The Me

how a programmer works

pecial sermon to get to sleep. Some people do it quick, some do it very slow. Some even have trouble getting to sleep when they need to, so they take pills or make themselves

Great explanation of how programmers work. Very good read for managers.

So the setup is “snappy, intuitively appealing argument without obvious problems” vs. “rebuttal I probably don’t have time to read, let alone analyze closely.” If we don’t sometimes defer to the expert consensus, we’ll systematically tend to go wrong in the face of one-way-hash arguments, at least outside our own necessarily limited domains of knowledge. Indeed, in such cases, trying to evaluate the arguments on their merits will tend to lead to an erroneous conclusion more often than simply trying to gauge the credibility of the various disputants. The problem, of course, is gauging your own competence level well enough to know when to assess arguments and when to assess arguers. Thanks to the perverse phenomenon psychologists have dubbed the Dunning-Kruger effect, those who are least competent tend to have the most wildly inflated estimates of their own knowledge and competence. They don’t know enough to know that they don’t know, as it were.

Via Brad Plumer, I see Cato’s Jerry Taylor is riled at responses to an open letter ad the Institute published in which a group of scientists signed off on a statement questioning the strength of the case for catastrophic climate change. I’m broadly sympathetic with his irritation at the proportion of ad hominem attacks in debates like these, but I’m not sure I agree with his bottom line in context: An argument’s merit has nothing to do with the motives of the arguer, the credentials of the arguer, or the popularity of the argument. Full stop. No exceptions.

The one-way hash argument is an excellent illustration of why argument from authority is not always wrong.

Sam Harris - brilliant!

Catholicism made me a humanist before I knew the word. When people rail against "secular humanism," I want to ask them if humanism itself would be okay with them. Over the high school years, my belief in the likelihood of a God continued to lessen. I kept this to myself. I never discussed it with my parents. My father in any event was a non-practicing Lutheran, until a death bed conversion which rather disappointed me. I'm sure he agreed to it for my mother's sake.

Incl. list of bookmarks to "Best of Naggum" usenet articles

Some essays, flames and other stuff by Erik Naggum

“Busy does not equal important. Measured doesn't mean mattered.” – Seth Godin There’s a hidden message in this post – it’s your free prize inside. Whether you find the free prize or not, this post will make you think. About your life. About work. About just about everything. Why? Because it’s a distillation of lessons from a man named Seth. Seth Godin is an author, an agent of change, a meaning maker, and an Idea Merchant.

“Busy does not equal important. Measured doesn’t mean mattered.” – Seth Godin

Seth condensed into 25 essential lessons/insights

At no point was matter spewing forth from anything. Space and time itself was being created first. Ordinary matter (atoms, molecules etc) was created out of tiny imbalances of energy left over from the inflationary period.

The Big Bang was not an explosion of matter into space, rather it was an explosion of space ITSELF, and since space and time are interconnected, we really have to say it was an explosion of space AND time, or space-time.

I feel kind of like having some sort of stroke upon reading these, but man, they are *perfect*. ... except I'm still honestly not sure they're real? THEY'RE JUST TOO PERFECT.

I want to meet a serious woman who both challenges me intellectually and inspires me to noble things by her beauty.

Mocking TheAtlasphere.com

The comments are quite excellent too, especially pauls101 comparing Marx's and Rand's flaws of abstraction.

Two weeks ago, Ayn Rand aficionado Alan Greenspan admitted to a House subcommittee that his libertarian economic worldview had been shaken by events on Wall Street; last week, Governor Paterson approvingly cited Rand’s advocacy of stout individualism, which he says citizens of New York State will need during the budget crisis. Meanwhile, on TheAtlasphere.com, a dating site, Rand fans are just looking for love; below, excerpts from user profiles. Lewis, London, U.K. I love intelligent, sassy girls, particularly those working in consulting or investment banking (but other fields are great too). Really, nothing is hotter than an accomplished girl in a suit, as long as she is willing to settle down and have my children. I want a girl who will support my ambitions against the naysayers in society.

"And when the surface is scratched, what you find below is extraordinary - or, rather, extraordinarily difficult to make good, clear sense of. Lying in wait are arguments that lead to, if not sheer lunacy, then bullets we're loathe to bite."

Consider a photo of someone you think is you eight years ago. What makes that person you? You might say he she was composed of the same cells as you now. But most of your cells are replaced every seven years. You might instead say you're an organism, a particular human being, and that organisms can survive cell replacement - this oak being the same tree as the sapling I planted last year.

Whether or not God exists, thinking about Him or Her doesn't require divinely dedicated neurological wiring. Instead, religious thoughts run on brain systems used to figure out what other people are thinking and feeling. The findings, based on brain scans of people contemplating God, don't explain whether a propensity for religion is a neurobiological accident. But at least they give researchers a solid framework for exploring the question. "In a way, this is a very cold look at religious belief," said National Institutes of Health cognitive scientist Jordan Grafman, co-author of a study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. "We're only trying to understand where in the brain religious beliefs seem to be modulated."

Whether or not God exists, thinking about Him or Her doesn't require divinely dedicated neurological wiring.

"In a way, this is a very cold look at religious belief," said National Institutes of Health cognitive scientist Jordan Grafman, co-author of a study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. "We're only trying to understand where in the brain religious beliefs seem to be modulated."

Whether or not God exists, thinking about Him or Her doesn't require divinely dedicated neurological wiring. Instead, religious thoughts run on brain systems used to figure out what other people are thinking and feeling. The findings, based on brain scans of people contemplating God, don't explain whether a propensity for religion is a neurobiological accident. But at least they give researchers a solid framework for exploring the question.

So, as an aide to programmers looking to improve their ability to produce and critique aesthetic arguments, I've put together a short reading list of items I find both accessible and helpful. These texts vary from actual art criticism to art history and theory. They also vary in vintage — from the very recent to more than 100 years old — and in format — from serious book-length essays to short art criticism and reportage.

Commercial Open Source in Europe Versus the US

We just finished the first Europe Open Source Think Tank (OSTT). Andrew Aitken of Olliance and Alexandre Zapolsky of Linagora hosted a fantastic event. I highly recommend it to anyone who can attend. During the course of the two days...

Jim Carrey profile

cool article on the existential nature of jim carrey's comedy

To quote Martin Buber: “The world is not comprehensible, but it is embraceable."

article about jim carey

jim carrey, the existential clown!

Why Jim Carrey makes us uncomfortable

Smile, Breathe and go slowly

RT @draenews: Del the tao of productivity | Zen Habits: http://bit.ly/cshRLw

In this age of digital communication, we’re busier than ever. And yet, in all of our sound and fury, we seem to have no time for focus, for what’s important, for thinking.

Check out this nice meaty post by @RossHudgens. So much good stuff here that I keep going back: http://bit.ly/bfnTCm

Paul Graham is most famous for heading up Y Combinator, a seed-stage startup funding firm, and also for Hacker News, a social news website revolving around computer hacking, startup companies, and as their submission guidelines state, “anything that gratifies one’s intellectual curiosity”. Graham’s essays online are highly regarded for their insight and relevance – and his book, Hackers and Painters, is no different. To help inform the great insights from the book, I included the essay title and summary, as Graham offers in the contents. A few chapters had only one or two notes or none at all, because they were overly technical or not particularly relevant to a wider audience. I have included those at the end.

Great list of thoughts from Paul Graham: http://www.rosshudgens.com/thoughts-from-paul-graham/

How To Become a Millionaire In Three Years | Jason L. Baptiste http://bit.ly/apxllI

forget about the headline - these advices are simple and clever

A list of strategies an entrepreneur should employ. Some of them seem to contradict each other but worthy of occasional review.

Peter Samuelson, interviewer. 29 April 2010.

<miah> http://vimeo.com/11414505

i agree 100% on the following One of the more embarrassing and self-indulgent challenges of our time is the task of relearning how to concentrate. The past decade has seen an unparalleled assault on our capacity to fix our minds steadily on anything. To sit still and think, without succumbing to an anxious reach for a machine, has become almost impossible.

A brief post by Alain de Botton about fasting from cultural consumption.

... @ City Journal. "Our minds, no less than our bodies, require periods of fasting."

Curiously, boldly short comment on distraction: "The need to diet, which we know so well in relation to food, and which runs so contrary to our natural impulses, should be brought to bear on what we now have to relearn in relation to knowledge, people, and ideas. Our minds, no less than our bodies, require periods of fasting."

The obsession with current events is relentless. Our minds need to go on a diet - by Alain de Botton

@ale_benevides Yes, we probably need to go on a "diet" and change our relation to knowledge, people, and ideas http://ow.ly/1Zjzc

Hint: 13/27

Great! When intuition and math probably look wrong: http://bit.ly/9ohKuV #mathematics #science – Amir Kassaei (AmirKassaei) http://twitter.com/AmirKassaei/statuses/17519030506

pain is inevitable, suffering is optional.

RT @draenews: Del Letting Go of Attachment, from A to Zen | Zen Habits: http://bit.ly/anTfzc

I liked this article. talks about letting go of bad attachments. Relationships, feelings.....

любопытная критическая статья о программировании как роде занятий и программистах как человеческих особях (можно разбирать на цитаты)

надо прочитать статью по программированию

The only weapons we have are simplicity and convention. Tattoo that on your forehead in reverse so that you always see it reflected in the screen.

"Cleverness cannot win. The only weapons we have are simplicity and convention" -- Jonathan Edwards http://bit.ly/bN6uNc – Kent Beck (KentBeck) http://twitter.com/KentBeck/statuses/14886605168

"cleverness cannot win": http://is.gd/cNTaE — крайне труднодоносимая до ярких крутых кодеров истина. – Иван Сагалаев (isagalaev) http://twitter.com/isagalaev/statuses/16088129633

About how Dunnung-Kroeger began as a theory

RT @arkarthick: The End of Busy (Zen Habits) http://bit.ly/cGmzUp #work #job #tips RT @nonkanya

Doing nothing is better than being busy doing nothing Stop being busy and your job is half done

RT @arkarthick: The End of Busy (Zen Habits) http://bit.ly/cGmzUp #work #job #tips RT @nonkanya

Doing nothing is better than being busy doing nothing Stop being busy and your job is half done

Too often, a vast collection of possessions ends up possessing its owner. The asset I most value, aside from health, is interesting, diverse, and long-standing friends. My wealth has come from a combination of living in America, some lucky genes, and compound interest. Both my children and I won what I call the ovarian lottery.

Warren Buffett has committed to giving away 99% of his wealth. Now, he explains his thinking in this remarkable op-ed.

"Fate's distribution of long straws is wildly capricious." - Warren Buffett / I have huge respect for this man. http://bit.ly/dlgWg4

If you had any idea of how people really lived in Western Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and many parts of Asia...

ein im Ausland lebender Amerikaner liest s. Landsleuten die Leviten, lesenswert (English) http://bit.ly/9mcDsE ich fand es spannend #vfbb – Vera F. Birkenbihl (VeraFBirkenbihl) http://twitter.com/VeraFBirkenbihl/statuses/18785239408

If you had any idea of how people really lived in Western Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and many parts of Asia...

ein im Ausland lebender Amerikaner liest s. Landsleuten die Leviten, lesenswert (English) http://bit.ly/9mcDsE ich fand es spannend #vfbb – Vera F. Birkenbihl (VeraFBirkenbihl) http://twitter.com/VeraFBirkenbihl/statuses/18785239408

Artist, Scientist And Philosopher

Web Designer as The Artist, Scientist And Philosopher - Smashing Magazine

It's a stretch as presented here, but it's still a good thought.

Web Designer as The Artist, Scientist And Philosopher - Smashing Magazine - http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2010/07/09/web-designer-as-the-artist-scientist-and-philosopher/

Artist, Scientist And Philosopher

Web Designer as The Artist, Scientist And Philosopher - Smashing Magazine - http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2010/07/09/web-designer-as-the-artist-scientist-and-philosopher/

Artist, Scientist And Philosopher

Web Designer as The Artist, Scientist And Philosopher - Smashing Magazine - http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2010/07/09/web-designer-as-the-artist-scientist-and-philosopher/

Artist, Scientist And Philosopher

The Misconception: Your opinions are the result of years of rational, objective analysis. The Truth: Your opinions are the result of years of paying attention to information which confirmed what you believed while ignoring information which challenged your preconceived notions.

RT @joegerstandt: RT @valdiskrebs: Great post on confirmation bias by @notsmartblog -- http://bit.ly/a2f5yq

Reading: How to be Insanely Productive and Still Keep Smiling http://bit.ly/dnVQs5 via @zen_habits

Excelentes tips para una mayor productividad (más allá de la onda NA del post)

I could hack on projects like this and nobody would care at all because I'm a famous programmer, and there is no such thing as famous programmers. I don't exist. I'm an enigma.

2010-06-20 14:47:48 <Acropolis> http://sheddingbikes.com/posts/1275989245.html

There Are No Famous Programmers: http://sheddingbikes.com/posts/1275989245.html via @dandean - wow #yam #dev #fame #philosophy

Let me tell you about this cool new web server. I figured out how to merge the ZeroMQ event polling system with the libtask coroutine library so that you can use libtask to handle tons of TCP/UDP and ZeroMQ sockets in a single thread. I then took this very cool hack, and started building a web server using my Mongrel HTTP parser, but I modified the parser so that the same server on the same port can handle HTTP or Flash XMLSockets transparently. The next step is to get this server to route HTTP and XMLSocket JSON messages to arbitrary ZeroMQ backends. I was inspired by this so much that I registered utu.im and may try to bring it back. Not sure how or when though.

This article gave me one of those 'aha' moments, cutting through life's noise and clutter, touching something inside that says "truth". It is why I read Leo's thoughts.

To read it weekly

Beautiful, insightful post on our RESISTANCE to change.

inertia

inertia

People commonly use the word "procrastination" to describe what they do on the Internet. It seems to me too mild to describe what's happening as merely not-doing-work. We don't call it procrastination when someone gets drunk instead of working.

Paul Graham.

"Most people I know have problems with Internet addiction. We're all trying to figure out our own customs for getting free of it. That's why I don't have an iPhone, for example; the last thing I want is for the Internet to follow me out into the world. [5] My latest trick is taking long hikes. I used to think running was a better form of exercise than hiking because it took less time. Now the slowness of hiking seems an advantage, because the longer I spend on the trail, the longer I have to think without interruption."

"The world is more addictive than it was 40 years ago." "Already someone trying to live well would seem eccentrically abstemious in most of the US... You can probably take it as a rule of thumb from now on that if people don't think you're weird, you're living badly." "We'll increasingly be defined by what we say no to."

as the world becomes more addictive, the two senses in which one can live a normal life will be driven ever further apart. One sense of "normal" is statistically normal: what everyone else does. The other is the sense we mean when we talk about the normal operating range of a piece of machinery: what works best. These two senses are already quite far apart. Already someone trying to live well would seem eccentrically abstemious in most of the US. That phenomenon is only going to become more pronounced. You can probably take it as a rule of thumb from now on that if people don't think you're weird, you're living badly.

You can probably take it as a rule of thumb from now on that if people don't think you're weird, you're living badly. http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1549363.