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Wed, Oct 2, 2019 From 2001 to 2017, the incarceration rate for black men declined by 34 percent.

Black progress short Wed, Oct 2, 2019 From 2001 to 2017, the incarceration rate for black men declined by 34 percent. Tall trees short Wed, Oct 2, 2019 Researchers Discover the Tallest Known Tree in the Amazon 88.5 meters, or over 290 feet As hedge fund grandma used to say short Tue, Oct 1, 2019 A truism at the commodities hedge fund I used to work at was the “the Saudis are always lying” along with “never be long a country’s currency if they have their own word for afternoon nap” Diversity riddle short Tue, Oct 1, 2019 Between 2013 and 2016, 90% of Oracle’s hires were people of color. money + fire = VC short Tue, Oct 1, 2019 Venture capital (VC) has delivered poor returns for more than a decade. Mushrooms & civilization short Tue, Oct 1, 2019 Psilocybin mushrooms occur in higher concentrations around human settlements than in “wild nature” (still today). Links for June homesteading Sun, Jun 9, 2019 The possession of a cow or two, with a hog, and a few geese, naturally exalts the peasant. Links for June links Fri, Jun 7, 2019 In favour of about one citizen in five hundred, who, by education or practice in scribbling, has acquired a tolerable style as to grammar and construction, so as to bear printing; or who is possessed of a press and a few types. The Best Self-Sufficiency Blogs homesteading Mon, May 13, 2019 Here are my favorite self-sufficiency blogs, along with links to content I particularly enjoyed. Note that I continue to expand this list whenever good articles hit my RSS reader. Last updated 06/26. Links for May links Sun, Apr 28, 2019 Any point of a rhizome can be connected to anything other, and must be. Links For December links Mon, Dec 8, 2014 File this under “everything you believe about yourself is lie”: “Surveys of the psychological literature suggest that perception of skill is often only moderately or modestly correlated with actual level of performance. Links For November links Sat, Nov 1, 2014 “Several studies have indicated that, for men, regular blood donation results in a massive reduction in heart attack. Book Review: A Random Walk Down Wall Street book Sat, Aug 9, 2014 _(Note: this review originally appeared on a sister-site I’m building out, Top Financial Advisor, but I’m cross-posting it for readers here, as part of my ongoing book reviews. Web Roundup: Links For August links Thu, Jul 31, 2014 Useful Science is a super cool website, aimed at summarizing instrumentally useful science. Review and Summary: Advertising Secrets of the Written Word book Tue, Jul 22, 2014 I made you a promise. I promised that book reviews were going to become a regular thing around here — you know, in my Born to Run review and summary, where I said: “I plan for this to be the first in a very long tradition of reviewing books, so stay tuned for more. Fixing VirtIO Code 39 misc Sun, Jul 20, 2014 I’m recording this here in case anyone else is unfortunate enough to encounter this Code 39 message, and so that she can avoid wasting several hours of her life attempting to fix it, by instead Googling it and reading this. Web Roundup: Links For July links Tue, Jul 1, 2014 3 book recommendations straight from Amazon’s CEO, Jeff Bezos: The Goal, The Innovator’s Solution, and The Effective Executive. Web Roundup: Links For June links Mon, Jun 2, 2014 Regarding MMOs: 23 percent of men play as women, but only 7 percent of women try taking a walk on the hairier side. The Unreasonable Effectiveness of Checklists philosophy Mon, May 12, 2014 Dr. Peter Provonost had a problem. People were dying and — to borrow a line from Fight Club — not in the Sylvia Plath, Tibetan Buddhist, we’re-all-dying-so-get-used-to-it sense of the word. Web Roundup: Links for May links Fri, May 2, 2014 Expensive wine doesn’t taste better: “In a sample of more than 6,000 blind tastings, we find that the correlation between price and overall rating is small and negative, suggesting that individuals on average enjoy more expensive wines slightly less. Why Category Theory Matters math Wed, Apr 30, 2014 I hope most mathematicians continue to fear and despise category theory, so I can continue to maintain a certain advantage over them. What I’m Watching misc Sat, Apr 26, 2014 From most recommended to least (roughly): The movie Manufacturing Consent details Noam Chomsky’s criticism of the media, covering Indonesia’s invasion of East Timor and media bias generally. Web Roundup: More Links For April links Sat, Apr 19, 2014 Andrew Drucker has a paper where he mentally multiplies ten-digit numbers by exploiting human image recognition. Math Jokes excerpt Thu, Apr 17, 2014 The AMS has a 2005 paper “Foolproof: A Sampling of Mathematical Folk Humor” which is — delightfully — filled with math jokes. It Probably Won A Prize excerpt Wed, Apr 16, 2014 Architect Sam Sloan coordinated a project in which employees … were able to select their own office furniture and plan office layout … Since both the Seattle and Los Angeles branches of the FAA were scheduled to move into new buildings at about the same time, the client for the project, the General Services Administration, agreed with architect Sloan’s proposal to involve employees in the design process in Seattle, while leaving the Los Angeles office as a control condition where traditional methods of space planning would be followed. Why Dogs Bark At Night excerpt Tue, Apr 15, 2014 A reformed thief, telling of his success, put it this way, “I’m telling you, if I had a hundred dollars for every time I heard a dog owner tell their dog to ‘shut up and go lie down’ while I was right outside their window, I’d be a millionaire. Herbert Simon’s Ant cogsci Tue, Apr 8, 2014 Here’s a metaphor that comes to me by way of Nobel laureate and Turing award recipient Herbert Simon. Web Roundup: Links for April links Mon, Apr 7, 2014 A sociology-style deconstruction of the pick-up community. Nearly twice as many black men than black women are looking for a long-term relationship, or so they report. You Could Have Discovered Quantum Mechanics excerpt Mon, Mar 24, 2014 Quantum mechanics is what you would inevitably come up with if you started from probability theory, and then said, let’s try to generalize it so that the numbers we used to call “probabilities” can be negative numbers. The Creative Process Demystified cogsci Mon, Mar 24, 2014 Jack Kerouac is a liar. Okay, let me rewind. I don’t know how much experience you’ve had with creative writing types — pale, imaginative creatures — but let me tell you how they talk about Jack Kerouac. Why Do We Think The Way We Do? cogsci Thu, Mar 6, 2014 I sometimes experience a sort of mental disconnect — a sense of knowing what I’m going to think before I bother to think it. Links for March links Thu, Mar 6, 2014 A review of linear algebra, with pictures instead of matrix computation — which, if the Lord God had possessed a bit more foresight, would have been banned in Leviticus instead of shrimp. People All Think The Same cogsci Tue, Mar 4, 2014 On May 7th of 1997, Garry Kasparov — the second strongest chess player of all time — was hunched over a chess board. Does the internet lie? (Hint: Yes.) misc Fri, Feb 28, 2014 Yesterday, I saw someone spin this very plausible theory about why it’s so repellent when someone brags about their IQ on the internet. Statistician on a Plane Joke excerpt Thu, Feb 27, 2014 Speaking of probability and statistics, there is the story of a statistician who told a friend that he never took airplanes: “I have computed the probability that there will be a bomb on the plane,” he explained, “and although this probability is low, it is still too high for my comfort. Love Is Not A Choice And Other Tools For Thinking philosophy Sun, Feb 23, 2014 I’m not much of a romantic. If I wanted to hack romance I’d start with going through all the literature on the mate preferences of chimpanzees, bonobos, and great apes generally. What Makes Something Interesting? cogsci Sat, Feb 22, 2014 Francis Galton, cousin of Charles Darwin and maybe best known for his work on intelligence, was a bit obsessed with the idea that people have certain innate traits. More Links For February links Thu, Feb 20, 2014 Users with many Facebook friends are less likely to post about politics and gay rights. The Ultimate Guide to Simulated Annealing compsci Sun, Feb 16, 2014 Imagine that you’re approached by the Greek goddess of discord, Eris and, given that Eris is a cruel goddess, she places you into the mathematical space above. Where are the women in the IT industry? sex Tue, Feb 11, 2014 It has become fashionable as of late for media outlets like Gawker and others to attack Silicon Valley, math, computer science, and the hard sciences generally for being unfriendly to women. The Science of Habit philosophy Sat, Feb 8, 2014 The truth is that everyone is bored, and devotes himself to cultivating habits. Links For February links Wed, Feb 5, 2014 What’s the most bullshit-sounding-but-true fact you know? My personal favorite: “There used to be a flying reptile that was as tall as a giraffe. Why Replication Is Important philosophy Sat, Jan 25, 2014 Every bit of evidence one can acquire, in any area, leads one that much closer to what is true. Does race exist? misc Fri, Jan 24, 2014 No one in her left brain could reject reductionism. When Is It OK To Break The Rules? philosophy Wed, Jan 8, 2014 I propose a new way of thinking about rules. Not as something that distinguishes between what one is allowed and not allowed to do, but rather as a penalty that certain actions carry. Could OSX’s Spotlight Suck More? Doubt It misc Sun, Jan 5, 2014 There was a post about a week ago about how new computer science students don’t get the Unix philosophy and the power (and great responsibility) of the command line. An Interesting Academic Field misc Mon, Dec 30, 2013 I’m troubled by not only how much I don’t know, which is legion, but how much that I don’t know that I don’t know. What Is Wisdom? philosophy Tue, Dec 24, 2013 There’s an art to knowing when; Never try to guess. Two Cultures of Number Theorists excerpt Mon, Dec 23, 2013 There is a famous distinction in prime number theory between the number theorists who like to multiply primes, and the number theorists who like to add primes. Scott Aaronson on Mathematics excerpt Wed, Dec 18, 2013 From Luke’s recent interview of Scott Aaronson (theoretical compsci guy at MIT, who blogs here): Criticism of Economics econ Fri, Nov 29, 2013 I don’t have the requisite expertise to lay out compelling criticism of economics as a whole, and I suspect such an endeavor would be profitless (heh). An Argument Against An Agument Against Nihilism philosophy Wed, Nov 20, 2013 Skepticism, while logically impeccable, is psychologically impossible, and there is an element of frivolous insincerity in any philosophy which pretends to accept it. Feynman on the Supernatural excerpt Wed, Nov 6, 2013 The nurse recorded the time of death, 9:21 P.M. He discovered, oddly, that the clock had halted at that moment —just the sort of mystical phenomenon that appealed to unscientific people. Bad at math? Have you tried steroids? math Fri, Nov 1, 2013 Men with lower T performed better than other groups on measures of spatial/mathematical ability, tasks at which men normally excel. Sir John Harington on Treason excerpt Fri, Oct 25, 2013 I thought about titling this as “Sir John Harington on Selection Effects,” but treason seemed more compelling. Reading Math: Tips and Heuristics math Tue, Oct 8, 2013 Reading math is tough. So tough that even Fields Medal winner Bill Thurston wrote about his near-constant confusion. Thurston on Confusion excerpt Sun, Oct 6, 2013 Mathematics is a process of staring hard enough with enough perseverance at at the fog of muddle and confusion to eventually break through to improved clarity. Being a Good Person Does Not Depend On Perfection philosophy Mon, Sep 30, 2013 The difficulty lies, not in the new ideas, but in escaping from the old ones, which ramify, for those brought up as most of us have been, into every corner of our minds. Is belief a choice? philosophy Sat, Sep 28, 2013 ‘Snow is white’ is true if and only if snow is white. No, I Love You More excerpt Thu, Sep 26, 2013 Kaprio, Koskenvuo, and Rita (1987) noted that in the week following the death of a spouse, suicide rates are elevated almost tenfold for women, and almost seventyfold for men. Depressed? Try Plastic Surgery philosophy Thu, Sep 26, 2013 Ohlsen, Ponten, and Hamburt (1978) noted that twenty-five of seventy-one women in their study were receiving psychiatric treatment prior to a breast augmentation procedure, whereas only three continued to do so after the operation. Let Them Eat Lobster excerpt Wed, Sep 25, 2013 Prior to [the mid-19th century], lobster was considered a mark of poverty or as a food for indentured servants or lower members of society in Maine, Massachusetts, and the Canadian Maritimes, and servants specified in employment agreements that they would not eat lobster more than twice per week. Is veganism for women? sex Wed, Sep 25, 2013 I recently tried my hand at making this bean-based, vegan taco filling (recommended), and noticed something curious while reading the recipe’s comments: Are introverts ever happier than extroverts? sex Mon, Sep 23, 2013 Here’s one actual perk of being a wallflower: Although extraverts are generally happier than introverts, Kette (1991) found that extraverted prisoners were less happy than introverted prisoners. Great Math Quotes math Thu, Sep 19, 2013 I don’t collect many things, who needs that junk? But I do have a collection of great math quotes that I’d like to share with you. Omar on Reading philosophy Sun, Sep 15, 2013 Either the books contain what is in the Koran, in which case we don’t have to read them, or they contain the opposite of what is in the Koran, in which case we must not read them. Women Friends are Better Friends sex Sat, Sep 7, 2013 The Justice Department now seems to be saying that prison rape accounted for the majority of all rapes committed in the US in 2008, likely making the United States the first country in the history of the world to count more rapes for men than for women. Math Art: Picasso as a Mathematician math Wed, Aug 28, 2013 Math art. I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life, to live so sturdily and Spartan-like as to put to rout all that was not life, to cut a broad swath and shave close, to drive life into a corner, and reduce it to its lowest terms. Why Some Weird Beliefs Aren’t philosophy Mon, Aug 26, 2013 People hold a lot of weird beliefs, but these weird things seem a whole lot less weird once you understand the reasoning behind them. Book Summary: The Psychology of Happiness book Mon, Aug 5, 2013 The Psychology of Happiness.” width=“199” height=“300” srcset=“https://rs.io/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/psychology-happiness-michael-argyle-paperback-cover-art-199x300.jpg 199w, https://rs.io/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/psychology-happiness-michael-argyle-paperback-cover-art.jpg 200w” sizes=“(max-width: 199px) 100vw, 199px” />This is my The Psychology of Happiness summary. Book Summary: Happiness: Lessons from a New Science book Mon, Aug 5, 2013 Happiness: Lessons From a New Science.” width=“195” height=“300” srcset=“https://rs.io/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/happiness-lessons-from-a-new-science-cover-195x300.jpg 195w, https://rs. Predictions for 2014 misc Wed, Jan 2, 2013 The One Million Dollar Paranormal Challenge goes unclaimed. The price of an ounce of marijuana in Colorado drops to under 150, half of what it’s going for today. I Hate My Phone misc Wed, Oct 19, 2011 I read an interesting interview with Matias Duarte, Android’s head of user experience, this morning.