There’s a concept in both the social and hard sciences called path dependence. To oversimplify, it basically says that everything that happens influences everything that subsequently happens – and provides positive feedback to what you are going to do. It always has an influence, even if only infinitely small. It was with this in mind… Continue reading The Depression & Path Dependence
Pixelated – in a Good Way
Every now and then I come across a piece of software that makes me think “damn, that’s cool.” Most recently, I’ve been playing with thumber. It’s a simple premise: feed it a Quicktime .mov and it turns it into a post of thumbnails. Nothing more, nothing less – and the results are beautiful. Check out… Continue reading Pixelated – in a Good Way
Efficient Markets
I couldn’t help but notice on Friday that Freddie Mac’s stock ticker looked like this: Take a look at the chart for a sec. It closed the previous day at $8. It opened at about half that, $4 – or a 50% plunge. Then it rose steadily throughout the day to down a mere $0.25… Continue reading Efficient Markets
So That’s Where All The Woolly Mammoth’s Went…
As a kid I was fascinated by the fact that back in the day there used to be woolly mammoths, sabertooth tigers, milodons, etc. roaming across the plains. I mean, what sort of six year old boy couldn’t love something like this: For the uninitiated, that’s a sabertooth tiger a.k.a. a Smilodon taking down a sloth while… Continue reading So That’s Where All The Woolly Mammoth’s Went…
Quebec: No Love from Map-Makers
For some reason, I keep coming across maps that seem to misplace Quebec. This Aer Lingus map showed upstate New York in up-province Quebec. Now today I came across this map in Wired: It’s a game of Risk from 2027 and the world has a new group of nations that didn’t exist a mere 20… Continue reading Quebec: No Love from Map-Makers