INTERESTING: Life after basketball “fame”

Thursday, April 1, 2010

http://www.philly.com/inquirer/sports/20100401_The_1985_Wildcats__Where_are_the_champs_now_.html?viewAll=y

Posted on Thu, Apr. 1, 2010
The 1985 Wildcats: Where are the champs now?
Compiled by Pat Maguire and Anthony Machcinski
Inquirer Staff Writers

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Villanova’s stunning 66-64 win over Georgetown for the NCAA basketball championship took place exactly 25 years ago.

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While most are dithering through life, or prattling about April Fool jokes, here’s some wisdom — life goes on. I found it because of a modest “manhattan college” connection. But in reading it, it gave me a sense of “continuity”. Well written. Only apparently one man’s life was a “train wreck”. One was unfindable. And, everyone else made their way. Is it always like that? In those proportions. Throughout history, do we all “labor in the vineyard” and pass namelessly away without much of a splash?

Sadly seems so.

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INTERESTING: Better to walk a human?

Tuesday, March 30, 2010

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/12/14/the-best-walking-partner-man-vs-dog/

December 14, 2009, 12:27 pm
The Best Walking Partner: Man vs. Dog
By TARA PARKER-POPE

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Is it better to walk a human or to walk a dog?

New research from the University of Missouri has found that people who walk dogs are more consistent about regular exercise and show more improvement in fitness than people who walk with a human companion. In a 12-week study of 54 older adults at an assisted living home, 35 people were assigned to a walking program for five days a week, while the remaining 19 served as a control group. Among the walkers, 23 selected a friend or spouse to serve as a regular walking partner along a trail laid out near the home. Another 12 participants took a bus daily to a local animal shelter where they were assigned a dog to walk.

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With very surprising results.

Unless you’re a student of human nature!

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INTERESTING: Two views; we need the third

Saturday, March 27, 2010

http://www.bspcn.com/2010/03/23/no-to-socialism/

*** begin quote ***

This morning I was awoken by my alarm clock, powered by electricity generated by the public power monopoly regulated by the US Department of Energy. I then took a shower in the clean water provided by the municipal water utility. After that, I turned on the TV to one of the FCC regulated channels to see what the National Weather Service of the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration determined the weather was going to be like using satellites designed, built, and launched by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. I watch this while eating my breakfast of US Department of Agriculture inspected food and taking the drugs which have been determined as safe by the Food and Drug Administration.

At the appropriate time as regulated by the US Congress, and kept accurate by the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the US Naval Observatory, I get into my National Highway Traffic Safety Administration approved automobile and set out to work on the roads built by the local, state, and federal Departments of Transportation, possibly stopping to purchase additional fuel of a quality level determined by the Environmental Protection Agency, using legal tender issued by the Federal Reserve Bank. On the way out the door, I deposit any mail I have to be sent out via the US Postal Service and drop the kids off at the public school.

After work, I drive my NHTSA bar back home on DOT roads, to a house which has not burned down in my absence because of the state and local building codes and Fire Marshal’s inspection, and which has not been plundered of all its valuables thanks to the local police department.

I then log on to the internet which was developed by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Administration and post of FreeRepublic.com and Fox News forums about how SOCIALISM in medicine is BAD because the government can’t do anything right.

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http://www.csmonitor.com/Money/Mises-Economics-Blog/2010/0326/Samizdat-The-Libertarian-alarm-clock

*** begin quote ***

   “This morning I was awoken by my alarm clock built by the ingenuity of millions of individuals all working for their own gain, but whose efforts were coordinated by the prices for labor and materials and finished goods provided by the free market. I then took a shower in the clean water provided by the shower head, pipes, and sanitation facilities whose construction also involved the efforts of thousands of people acting in their independent interest. After that, I turned on the TV to The Weather Channel, whose owners include one of the largest multi-national corporations and private equity companies, to see the week’s forecast presented in a clear, informative (and even entertaining) manner. I watched this while eating breakfast of General Mills’ inspected food and taking drugs whose strong brand name gives me confidence in its safety.

   At the time which millions of people coordinate their activities to take advantage of each other’s knowledge and skills, I leave for work. I get into my Japanese-designed, Mexican-supplied, Michigan-assembled automobile and set out to work on the roads built by construction contracting companies and named after corrupt politicians, possibly stopping to purchase additional fuel that was shipped from the Middle East by an oil company at a per gallon cost many times lower than the price of having a letter delivered across the street by the government monopoly that loses millions of dollars each year. To make the purchase there is no need to leave the pump; I am able to slide a piece of plastic into a small slot and get credit extended to me by a bank who has never met me in person. On the way out the door, I put out the Fed-Ex envelope containing the documents I need to arrive across the country tomorrow morning and drop the kids off at the public school which is attended by only the best students, thanks to the high home prices in the area.

   After work, I drive my Japanese-Latino-Midwestern car back home, to a house which has not burned down in my absence because of materials developed in the research and development departments of hundreds of corporations and which has not been plundered of all is valuables thanks to the lock on the door and a sign advertising the security company whose services I employ. My piece of mind was not interrupted by the thought of these events anyway, as I have both fire and homeowners insurance through privately held insurance company.

   I then log on to the internet to watch and listen to artists who don’t appeal to a broad enough audience to make it onto one of the few channels that a government monopoly allows to be broadcast. I then log onto the democraticunderground.com to post about how DEREGULATING the medical industry is BAD because low-cost, quality health care can never be provided by greedy, self-interested people.”

*** end quote ***

It feels like there could be third one. What would it look like if humans weren’t deluded at all by the meme of government?

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INTERESTING: Disputed Island Disappears

Friday, March 26, 2010

http://news.slashdot.org/story/10/03/26/1342258/Disputed-Island-Disappears-Into-Sea

Disputed Island Disappears Into Sea from Slashdot by samzenpus

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RawJoe writes “India and Bangladesh have argued for almost 30 years over control of a tiny island in the Bay of Bengal. Now rising sea levels have ended the argument for them: the island’s gone. From the article: ‘New Moore Island, in the Sunderbans, has been completely submerged, said oceanographer Sugata Hazra, a professor at Jadavpur University in Calcutta. Its disappearance has been confirmed by satellite imagery and sea patrols, he said. “What these two countries could not achieve from years of talking, has been resolved by global warming,” said Hazra.'”

*** end quote ***

Great, now that’s how to solve problems. Talk until they disappear. Wonder if it works with politicians?

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INTERESTING: “Deal or No Deal” strategy

Sunday, March 21, 2010

Did you ever see “Deal or No Deal”?

As an IT Architecture / BPR kinda guy, I think you have to have a strategy to get through the game. (Hey, I play penny slots too. No genius here.)

The only way to get a MILLION is to have two MILLION cases at the end.

Strategy is critical to escape with a prize.

I think that can apply some elementary statistics or probability theory.

You can predict the “banker’s offer” approximately and that leads you to a process to play.

It seems to me that you can compare the offer based on picking a low or high case. Then you make the decision from that.

Suppose, for example, at any point in the game, the distribution of cases can tell you what to do relative to the offer.

The offer is “fair” if EV = ∑ (p sub i * V sub i) is equal to the Banker’s Offer.

When receiving the Banker’s Offer, one can calculate the EV (ALL) of the current set of cases, the EV (HIGH) dropping the highest case, and the EV (LOW) dropping the lowest case. In a truly random game, you can calculate the potential loss EV (LOW) – EV (ALL) . And the potential gain EV (HIGH) – EV (ALL).

The offer can then be subject to the same test.

IF there is only ONE high value, the OFFER is usually cut in half.

By comparing the potential gain versus the potential loss, that determines if the contestant should take the offer or not.

You can’t pick cases, (although 26 seems to have a MILLION more than probability would dictate), but you can have a money management strategy.

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INTERESTING: A taxonoly for conspiracy threories

Saturday, March 20, 2010

Since I stand accused as a tin foil hat, I thought I should embrace it.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/233518

Know Your Conspiracies
NEWSWEEK’s guide to today’s trendiest, hippest, and least likely fringe beliefs.
By David A. Graham | Newsweek Web Exclusive
Feb 12, 2010

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Like recurring nightmares, conspiracy theories aren’t necessarily gone for good just because they disappear for a while. They often come back, sometimes in slightly different forms. Their last golden age came during the middle of the Bush administration, which saw rumors from the political left about connections between the Bushes and the bin Ladens, insinuations about the military-industrial complex and the Patriot Act—actually, pretty much every plotline in Michael Moore’s Fahrenheit 9/11. Nothing breeds paranoid theories like political exile, which means that with Democrats back in the White House, it’s the right’s turn to take up the standard, a task it isn’t shirking. And of course, several leftist theories remain in circulation. If you’re having a hard time keeping all these paranoid points of view straight, here’s a handy primer.

*** end quote ***

*** begin quote ***

1. Barack Obama was not born in the United States
2. Anthropogenic global warming is a hoax.
3. Goldman Sachs intentionally created the economic crisis.
4. Democrats’ health plan will create death panels.
5. Barack Obama is a secret Muslim.
6. Sarah Palin is not the mother of her 1-year-old son, Trig.
7. ACORN is part of a liberal conspiracy to steal elections.
8. FEMA is establishing detention camps.
9. The Council on American-Islamic Relations is trying to infiltrate Capitol Hill and spread jihad.
10. Obama wants to conscript Americans into a civilian defense corps.
11. Time magazine wants to restrict the Internet to licensed users.
12. 9/11 was an inside job.
13. The Omnibus One-World Government, Unified Currency, Dollar-Abolishing, Free Trade–Advocating Theory of Everything

*** end quote ***

That’s a list; not a taxonomy!

What makes up a “good conspiracy”?

Buzz, coverups, and some truth in the the theory.

My taxonomy: (1) Government; (2) Political; (3) Historical; and (4) Miscellaneous.

(1) Government

(1-1) 9/11 Truthers have shown enough to convince me that we didn’t get the whole story.

(1-2) Did FDR deliberately provoke the Japanese to attack Pearl Harbor and act to ensure it was a disaster.

(2) Political

(2-1) “Barack Obama”. Not that he wasn’t born in the USA; I don’t know. Just that there is a tremendous coverup of all his documentation. AND, someone is spending a ton of money to keep it hidden.

(2-3) The “Progressive Movement” is a conspiracy to convert the USA into a Marxist state.

(3) Historical; and

(3-1) Kennedy Assassination. Does any one believe that Oswald shot a magic bullet from a terrible rifle at an angle at moving target?

(3-2) The Lusitania was carrying contraband arms and should not have been an incident.

(3-3) The Federal Reserve Bank is “The Creature From Jekyll Island,”

(4) Miscellaneous

(4-1) Man Caused Global Warming, Please come shovel out my sidewalk!

(4-2) Apollo moon landings were “staged”

Is there a better taxonomy?

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INTERESTING: Chaos creates order

Friday, March 5, 2010

http://www.economics21.org/commentary/health-care-chaos-and-challenge-chickens-manhattan

Health Care, Chaos, and the Challenge of Chickens in Manhattan
John O’Leary and William D. Eggers | 02/24/2010

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The paradox is that chaos creates order, while control can result in chaos. In an effort to control outcomes, free exchange is curtailed and the essential ordering signals of price and profit are lost—leading to misallocation of resources and outcomes that nobody likes.

Few of us appreciate how mundane chaos really is and how we are essentially surrounded by it.

Consider: Who is in charge of getting the right number of chickens to Manhattan every day? After all, few chickens live there, but a lot of chickens get eaten there. The typical Manhattanite downs about sixty pounds of chicken a year, in every imaginable form, from chicken chow mein to chicken nuggets, from organic chicken to those little cubes that float in your can of chicken soup. Untold thousands of people participate in providing for Manhattan’s ever-changing chicken needs, from truck drivers to restaurant owners, from grocery store managers to Arkansas chicken farmers. Who is in charge? Who makes sure that New York City winds up with the right amount of the right kind of chicken?

The answer is: No one. The chaos of the uncontrolled buying and selling of the market produces an orderly pattern of exchanges that coordinates the activities of independent yet interdependent participants. The result, without any central planning, is an adaptable and ever-changing arrangement that generally meets the needs of Manhattan’s chicken eating public. The government provides certain oversight and context for the market. The U.S. Department of Agriculture watches over chicken farms and the city’s Board of Health licenses and inspects restaurants. Chickens are hauled over public roads and contract disputes between chicken farmers and truckers are resolved in public courts. But when it comes to the essence of the chicken delivery system—how much chicken, of what kind, at what price—it is the invisible workings of supply and demand that align the productive activities of a loose network of thousands of people (and companies) in making sure New Yorkers get their chicken potpie, chicken vindaloo, and extra-spicy buffalo chicken wings.

*** end quote ***

Interesting, no central authority using force to “enforce an orderly market”. No “market failures”. Just lots of folks seeking their own best interests as they see them. That’s called “freedom”. If the gooferment didn’t “inspect” chickens — ignore for the moment that this is a farce because they don’t do any “inspecting” — just look into what they really do! — do you think the marketplace wouldn’t figure out how to make chickens safe? Kosher, Halal, WalMart, supermarket guaranties, Consumers Reports or Underwriters’ Laboratory, consumers or buyers talking to each other.

And don’t even get me started on the “roads” argument. No roads in Disney World?

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INTERESTING: GLenn Beck does the Nolan chart

Friday, February 26, 2010

http://www.glennbeck.com/content/articles/article/198/36981/

Glen Beck is “doing” the Nolan Chart.

Wonder if he’s going to mention the Zero Aggression Principle?

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http://www.ncc-1776.org/whoislib.html

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Who is a libertarian?

Zero Aggression Principle (“Zap”)

   “Zero Aggression Principle”:

   A libertarian is a person who believes that no one has the right, under any circumstances, to initiate force against another human being for any reason whatever; nor will a libertarian advocate the initiation of force, or delegate it to anyone else.

   Those who act consistently with this principle are libertarians, whether they realize it or not. Those who fail to act consistently with it are not libertarians, regardless of what they may claim.

   — L. Neil Smith

   Formerly called the “Non-Aggression Principle”, or “NAP”

*** end quote ***

Or Amendment Zero?

*** begin quote ***

I propose a Constitutional Amendment providing that, if any public official, elected or appointed, at any level of government, is caught lying to any member of the public for any reason, the punishment shall be death by public hanging.

— L. Neil Smith

*** end quote ***

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INTERESTING: A screw job

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

http://www.impactlab.com/2010/02/14/a-screw-in-coffin/screw-coffin2/

February 14th, 2010 at 10:54 am
A Screw-In Coffin
in: Great New Product, New Inventions, Science & Technology News

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A series of burial containers having means by which they can be pressed, agitated, screwed and or self bored into a receiving material, provide low cost interment methods with hermetic sealing, security locking, plaque and memorial markers and built in flower and flag receptacles. They greatly excavation labor and burial costs while providing the respectful funeral services currently practiced. They also decrease the land space required for each burial and provide for burials in normally unused areas within the cemetary, greatly increasing the number of burials possible in each cemetary. The apparatus and methods can be used for all sizes of humans and pets as well as for undergound storage of equipment. supplies, food, water, fuel or other such material as may be reaquired to be made.

*** end quote ***

Most interesting.

Seems like it could be a cemetary space saver. Or a way to cache “contraband”!

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INTERESTING: Meme, like genes for ideas

Sunday, February 14, 2010

meme: A cultural element or behavioural trait whose transmission and consequent persistence in a population, although occurring by non-genetic means (esp. imitation), is considered as analogous to the inheritance of a gene.

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