Small Sample-Size Theater

Facebook’s IPO: How Mark Zuckerberg plans to retain dictatorial control his company. (Slate)

Sun, 05 Feb 2012 23:22:30 -0800

Facebook’s IPO: How Mark Zuckerberg plans to retain dictatorial control his company. (Slate):

Matthew Yglesias. The estate planning details were new to me — the class B shares with magnified voting rights lose their mojo if sold to anyone else, with an exception for a designated transfer in the event of Mark Zuckerberg’s death.

The Fireplace Delusion (Sam Harris)

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 20:45:00 -0800

The Fireplace Delusion (Sam Harris):

I recently stumbled upon an example of secular intransigence that may give readers a sense of how religious people feel when their beliefs are criticized. It’s not a perfect analogy, as you will see, but the rigorous research I’ve conducted at dinner parties suggests that it is worth thinking about. We can call the phenomenon “the fireplace delusion.”

Via Steven Moffat, via Julian Simpson

Tyson Discrimination Verdict Restored by Appeals Court (nytimes.com)

Mon, 26 Dec 2011 22:26:52 -0800

Tyson Discrimination Verdict Restored by Appeals Court (nytimes.com):

On Dec. 16, more than a year after the initial decision, the appeals court reversed course. The new ruling was opaque and grudging, but Mr. Clemon said he welcomed it, particularly since it is very unusual for a federal appeals court panel simply to change its mind. “I don’t recall it ever happening,” said Mr. Clemon, who graduated from law school in 1968.

When I Got the Call (The Nation)

Sun, 13 Nov 2011 14:06:21 -0800

When I Got the Call (The Nation):

Katha Politt talks to God.

Cost of false positives (Laughing Meme)

Fri, 07 Oct 2011 20:22:37 -0700

Cost of false positives (Laughing Meme):

I’ve had this browser window open for weeks, trying to figure out what I wanted to say about it. It connects the difficulty of eradicating spam (where falsely labeling something as spam is much worse than accidentally letting one through) to the challenge of screening for very rare things in general, whether you’re screening for diseases or trying to identify terrorists.

I went to college with Kellan. I have a clear recollection from ~1995 of walking into a computer lab and gently making fun of him for learning Perl out of a big book. Turned out, he was about eight months ahead of me, and over the years that gap has somewhat widened.

The Benjamin Franklin Effect (You Are Not So Smart)

Fri, 07 Oct 2011 19:57:00 -0700

The Benjamin Franklin Effect (You Are Not So Smart):

Marvelous essay, filling in some psychological gaps in my understanding of the Stanford Prison Experiment. I’m going to have to buy that book.

Relative sales of girl-scout cookies (Wired)

Fri, 02 Sep 2011 09:12:42 -0700

Relative sales of girl-scout cookies (Wired):

Via @rands

Pseudonymity, Privacy and Responsibility on Google+

Mon, 29 Aug 2011 15:11:08 -0700

Pseudonymity, Privacy and Responsibility on Google+:

Kee Nethery stacks up straw men, and burn them down.

A meditation on GlaDOS

Sun, 14 Aug 2011 13:42:56 -0700

A meditation on GlaDOS:

Herein find, from before Portal 2 came out, an art-historical analysis of GlaDOS’ motivations and emotional state. It opens up into a spectacular rabbit hole. Via @lostinfont.

Is this thing still on?

Fri, 05 Aug 2011 19:33:10 -0700

How do I flip it over and shake the spiders out of it?

Linda Greenhouse: Justice in Dreamland

Fri, 20 May 2011 14:33:45 -0700

Linda Greenhouse: Justice in Dreamland:

Linda Greenhouse, the world’s best Supreme Court reporter, on the worst Supreme Court decision in years.

Philip IV, Restored

Mon, 03 Jan 2011 10:36:11 -0800

Philip IV, Restored:

Great use of a Flash interface, depicting the before and after restoration of a Velazquez portrait of Philip IV.

The 2010 Seattle Seahawks: Worst. Playoff. Team. Ever? (Nate Silver)

Mon, 03 Jan 2011 09:00:26 -0800

The 2010 Seattle Seahawks: Worst. Playoff. Team. Ever? (Nate Silver):

The Seahawks are not any garden-variety 7-9 team: they are an incredibly bad 7-9 team.

Wakemate's charger

Fri, 31 Dec 2010 14:03:00 -0800

This morning I received an email from Perfect Third, the company making the Wakemate sleep-monitoring gizmo, recommending I desist in using the USB power brick which shipped last week with their hardware. TechCrunch applied their usual levelheaded gloss.

I finally thought to put the Wakemate brick next to an Apple iPhone brick, which it resembles in every physical detail. The resemblance continued:

(Click to embiggen.)

Note the black void where the “JET Apple Japan” box appears, and how Apple’s puzzling warning text is re-rendered as “Caution: for use with infor technology equipment”. The space occupied by Apple’s green dot is empty as well (the dot, I believe, indicates that this charger is from a later batch than the ones Apple sourced with their own problems.)

Apple’s charger says it was designed by Apple, and I haven’t seen any others quite like it until now. Electrical failures notwithstanding, making perfect reproductions of Apple kit seems chancy for a company selling hardware which depends on a counterpart iOS app.

On Moscow's Escalators

Wed, 15 Dec 2010 14:47:00 -0800

On Moscow's Escalators:

There are 643 [escalators] in the Moscow Metro. This is a system, like Washington’s, with deep, deep stations, but, unlike in Washington, passengers here are rarely left to hoof it on their own up or down immobilized stairways. It wouldn’t work, because people don’t walk fast enough. At rush hours fully loaded trains run on 90-second intervals; it’s up to the escalators to get the passengers delivered, but just as important, to whisk them away again before they start bunching up and spilling off the platforms and onto the tracks.

90 second intervals! Great story. Via Natalia Luckyanova.

Harbinger or Hoax: The First Painting of Kim Jung Un? (Foreign Policy)

Wed, 15 Dec 2010 14:39:08 -0800

Harbinger or Hoax: The First Painting of Kim Jung Un? (Foreign Policy):

It’s Culture Wednesday! Please enjoy this circuitous analysis through art history and the North Korean edition of Kremlinology to figure out whether a painting depicts the DPRK’s heir apparent or his more popular grandfather, and the meaning of both scenarios. Via Brad Steinbacher.

Why Transformers 2 Made No Sense

Fri, 26 Nov 2010 14:47:01 -0800

Why Transformers 2 Made No Sense:

And somehow I still liked it more than the first one.

Estrella Family Creamery Defies FDA Over Recall (NYT)

Wed, 24 Nov 2010 12:53:43 -0800

Estrella Family Creamery Defies FDA Over Recall (NYT):

This version of events is a little more nuanced than the one on Madison Market’s registers.

Governors

Mon, 22 Nov 2010 12:32:37 -0800

Three governors’ races I failed to note until well after the election: Medicare fraudster Rick Scott won in Florida, anti-evolution reprobate Sam Brownback won in Kansas, and ex-Republican Lincoln Chafee won in Rhode Island.

Noted lunatic Jan Brewer won in Arizona, which wasn’t a surprise, but as in Kansas, I can’t think of a single advantage Obama gained in plucking Kathleen Sebelius and Janet Napolitano out of the KS and AZ governor’s offices, and sending them off to cabinet hell. Two years ago I assumed the wisdom of those moves would be revealed in time, but now they look worse than ever.

Don't Forget Me

Mon, 22 Nov 2010 10:55:00 -0800

I hadn’t noticed, but Neko Case’s lovely “Don’t Forget Me” from Middle Cyclone turns out to be a Harry Nilsson cover. Neil Diamond’s currently picking up the same song, covered in much the same style. He ducks the “when we’re older, and full of cancer” line, though. Oh, the things one can learn from other people’s twitter followers.

The Nilsson documentary I missed at SIFF a few years ago is now available via Netflix instant, with a high rating.