links: September 2010 Archives

(dave: try "game 4")

Vast forests have already been sacrificed to the public debate about the Tea Party: what it is, what it means, where it's going. But after lengthy study of the phenomenon, I've concluded that the whole miserable narrative boils down to one stark fact: They're full of shit. All of them.

Iceland’s main interest rate was lowered on Friday to 6.25 per cent, while its ten-year debt is also trading around this level. Ireland’s cost of long-term, borrowing rose on Friday to 6.5 per cent. So Irish interest rates are now higher than Icelandic interest rates. Icelandic interest rates are now lower than Irish rates: just take that in for a second. The country that defaulted on debts, shut down its delinquent banks, burned the bondholders, allowed its currency to fall and did everything ‘wrong’, according to the Irish establishment now, is regarded by the financial markets as a safer bet than Ireland. Think about it. Iceland is a country where the residents refused to allow international bankers bleed the country dry and put the policy of making the people stump up for the banks to a referendum. Obviously, the people rejected the idea of paying foreign banks what the banks demanded.

LORNA SIGGINS THERE’S a wee school of thought that the Erse is better suited to communication at sea, ignoring, as it does, some of those Viking and Anglo Saxon terms resonant of an imperial era.

The HKO is a government department of Hong Kong responsible for forecasting weather and issuing warnings on weather-related hazards.

So what did the investigators find? I think you probably know the answer to that question. They found nothing. Nada. Zip. There wasn’t even a hint of a correlation between TCV exposure and either ASD, AD, or ASD with regression: There were no findings of increased risk for any of the 3 ASD outcomes. The adjusted odds ratios (95% confidence intervals) for ASD associated with a 2-SD increase in ethylmercury exposure were 1.12 (0.83–1.51) for prenatal exposure, 0.88 (0.62–1.26) for exposure from birth to 1 month, 0.60 (0.36–0.99) for exposure from birth to 7 months, and 0.60 (0.32– 0.97) for exposure from birth to 20 months. In the covariate adjusted models, we found that an increase in ethylmercury exposure in 2 of the 4 exposure time periods evaluated was associated with decreased risk of each of the 3 ASD outcomes. We are not aware of a biological mechanism that would lead to this result.

So get your kids (and yourselves) vaccinated and save them & their playmates from this whooping cough bullshit, which is actually killing actual kids and not, you know, magically infecting them with autism. Vaccination is one of the greatest human discoveries ever -- yes, Kanye, OF ALL TIME -- has saved countless lives, and has made countless more lives significantly better. So: Buck. Up.

Raj Patel, in his recent book, The Value of Nothing , puts it very well. “The great unwinding of the financial sector showed that the smartest mathematical minds on the planet, backed by some of the deepest pockets, had not built a sleek engine of permanent prosperity but a clown car of trades, swaps and double dares that, inevitably, fell to bits.” .. We know, in the famous Wilde phrase that inspired the title of Patel’s book, the price of everything and the value of nothing. We place little or no value on essentials like water, clean air, diverse species and the ability to feed everyone on the planet. Instead, we place enormous value on profit, and allow it to subsume virtually every other consideration.

In the late 1970s, a half-century trend toward growing income equality reversed itself. Ever since, U.S. incomes have grown more unequal. Middle-class incomes stagnated while the top 1 percent's share of national income climbed to 24 percent. Middle-income workers no longer benefit from productivity increases, and upward mobility, long the saving grace of the American economy, has faltered. Why is this happening? In the following 10-part series, Slate's Timothy Noah weighs eight possible causes of what Princeton economist Paul Krugman has labeled the Great Divergence. This 30-year trend "may represent the most significant change in American society in your lifetime," Noah writes, "and it's not a change for the better."

The effectiveness of a treatment is not determined by democratic vote, it is determined via scientific method. Evidence-based therapy is the order of the day, particularly given limited resources. Because of fiscal constraints it is often extremely difficult to obtain best treatment for very ill patients. This situation can only be worsened if funds are wasted on what has been described at a recent conference of junior doctors in the UK, as “witchcraft”. The label is well merited in my opinion.

"These sightings are happening all the time, but there's always a veil of secrecy surrounding them from governments," Gould said. "It's a global conspiracy. A few powerful countries influence and dictate the way we think."

Neil has written a true account of life with ADD/ADHD. Some, (not all), symptoms are misdiagnosed and are the result of implants or knowledge capsules placed there by extra terrestrial beings, some of whom are multidimensional in nature.

The new data.worldbank.org website that's launching today is designed to make the vast wealth of open data easier to use. The Bank is increasing the number of indicators available on the site from 339 to more than 1,200, and it has substantially improved its API. Four different languages are supported on the site, along with an improved data browser, feedback buttons, instant search, and embeddable widgets.

The new data.worldbank.org website that's launching today is designed to make the vast wealth of open data easier to use. The Bank is increasing the number of indicators available on the site from 339 to more than 1,200, and it has substantially improved its API. Four different languages are supported on the site, along with an improved data browser, feedback buttons, instant search, and embeddable widgets.

If your App looks like it was cobbled together in a few days, or you’re trying to get your first practice App into the store to impress your friends, please brace yourself for rejection. We have lots of serious developers who don’t want their quality Apps to be surrounded by amateur hour.

Method for Madness [Paperback] David Gerrold (Author)

Borderlands developer Gearbox Software has taken the reins of the first-person shooter, which Take-Two Games will release next year. Two levels of the game are being shown to attendees at PAX 2010, the massive videogame gathering this weekend in Seattle. (The photos above were snapped on the show floor during demo sessions.)

How about this for arrogant: the South is the Real America? The Authentic America. Really?

These guys cold called me today. They were very insistent that they were based in Central, but the caller ID clearly said Long Distance. (Plus, Sheung Wan is not really Central.) They were also very insistent that it wasn't a sales call but it was exactly the same sort of "little yeses" script marketers love to use.

Where have all the economic gains gone? Mostly to the top. The economists Emmanuel Saez and Thomas Piketty examined tax returns from 1913 to 2008. They discovered an interesting pattern. In the late 1970s, the richest 1 percent of American families took in about 9 percent of the nation’s total income; by 2007, the top 1 percent took in 23.5 percent of total income.

In both sections there was a phone number to call to opt out. One of the sections was highlighted in a different colour, particularly to draw a reader's attention. ... Additionally, Mr Cramb has the option any time he receives a call he does not want to inform the calling company that he wishes it to remove his name from its call list, and it will gladly do so. ... Eugene R. Raitt, chairman, Hong Kong Direct Marketing Association

Do stuff more efficiently and make fewer mistakes by acting like you are teaching someone how to do it.

The time is here for responsible Americans to put up or shut up. I refer specifically to those who have credibility among the guileless and credulous citizens who have been infected with notions so carefully nurtured. We cannot afford to allow the next election to proceed under a cloud of falsehood and delusion.

It doesn’t help that the internet gives us nearly limitless exposure to amazing work, talented individuals, and excellent execution. It’s easy to feel inadequate when you compare yourself to the very best, but even they weren’t born with those skills and they wouldn’t have them if they never started.