FRAMED-Andi Wittmann Rider profile from Felix Urbauer on Vimeo.

war and peace

Are human beings essentially good or bad? Has the past century witnessed moral progress or a moral collapse? Do we have grounds for being optimistic about the future?

Steven Pinker tries to answer these questions in his latest book (looks like a lengthy, but interesting read)
here is a video that breaks down his postition
it looks like he presents a compelling argument yet contrarian argument especially considering certain affairs of the world.
here is his full length talk

Oh boy, not again

Soo I kind of got hit by a car....again.

here is the breakdown of what happened

Steve Jobs

"Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma - which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary." - Steve Jobs

Oligopoly much?

(click to expand)

Anonymous e-mail

MailNesia - Anonymous e-mail in seconds:

ever need to send an email anonymously like when signing up for websites that you don't want knowing your email?

claims there is no registration or password necessary.

I have not used it but I can see the appeal it would have. check it out and tell me what you think

the 99% that used to be

Here are the sources because it is hard to read in the original

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Posthumous pirating

Is it wrong to pirate an artists work after they have died? I know that pirating is wrong and that pirating a work after an artist has died takes money away from those who publish or perform the artists work. But something inside me sees it as a different things to pirate an artists work after they have died. I mean have you ever heard of a dead person complain from being ripped off? I can understand the case if an artist had specifically stated that any profits post death should go to family or charity, but if the artist is dead then what?
Now in thinking about this I can see two cases but with each I feel differently about them. Take the case of classical music, say a piece by Mozart. Mozart has been dead for hundreds of years and Mozart or his family has likely not seen a cent from the sales of reproductions of his music, yet I would have a hard time trying to justify pirating it because I would be unjustly depriving the performers of due payment.
But what about the case in which there are no performers? What about say an Ebook? Would it be wrong to pirate it? I mean it is very likely that these days printers already have a digital copy. Is ten bucks a fair price for a digital copy of a book when the author would never see a cent of it?

Before I sign off I would just like to reiterate that I am not trying to justify or promote stealing. Really I was just trying to answer the question of who does a piece of artwork belong to? The artist or the distributor. If it belongs to the artist then it seems to me that the cost of posthumous works should be significantly reduced.
But as is likely with other questions, the answer I seek is probably much more complicated than a simple yes or no

Slime Molds!

Slime molds are really awesome! They come in a variety of otherworldly forms and exhibit some really striking characteristics.

There is a great write up on em on in the NYT today by Carl Zimmer. I have enjoyed Carl Zimmers work and he does a pretty good job explaining cool science stuff in a way that captures your attention.
but back to the slime molds! here is a cool video that shows just some of the interesting characteristics of slime molds

(on an unrelated note, I really like the music in this. If someone wanted to get it for me that would be awesome)
How do the single cells of the slime mold know how to organize themselves without any sort of nervous system organizing them?

The peculiar characteristic of slime molds to organize themselves can also be used to predict and understand the most efficient way to distribute resources. Because slime molds do not have any of the advantages a circulatory system brings us, slime molds have to adapt in different ways. Scientists have tested slime molds organizational skills by placing food resources in the same patterns as train stations. here we can see the results

Health Care Debate

Kind of interesting to see how things seem so similar yet nothing has really changed. Even back then there were the same concerns of spiraling health care costs, and balancing private and public sector intervention.