Jun 05 2003
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Bible code ‘predicts’ nothing

Posted by | science | No Comments

This month’s Skeptic column in Scientific American elegantly debunks Bible Code claptrap. One of the things that Shermer points out in the article is that a ‘prediction’ is a statement that something will happen in the future. To look at something written in the past and say that it could possibly be restated to fit something that has already happened is not a prediction. The Bible Code did not ‘predict’ anything, but with a suitably contrived descramber it can ‘postdict’ almost anything, true or false, sense or nonsense. Following the success of Bible Code I comes Bible Code II, such is the power of the parasitic meme. This is bullshit that people want to believe, but no matter how hard they try to, it will always provably be bullshit. Via Boing Boing: Scientific American: Codified Claptrap — The Bible Code is numerological nonsense masquerading as science

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Jun 05 2003
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Friendster

Posted by | technology | No Comments

I liked Marc Canter’s observation that anything beyond 1 degree if separation is just that – separated. However, I finally gave in and signed up to Friendster a while back, my tactic being to assume that by choosing one person who is a consumate networker, I would now have a PDNA a Personal Digital Networking Assistant and wouldn’t have to do anything (except be like those selfish peer-to-peer software users who never share anything). My Friendster account now says “You are connected to 12729 people in your Personal Network, through 1 friend.” – Hilarious. Can anyone guess the identity of my PDNA? Friendster – Home

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Jun 04 2003
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Bull

Posted by | business | No Comments

For no other reason than I am personally bored with being pessimistic, I have a feeling that others may be too and that this rally may last. Dow Closes Above 9,000 for First Time in 8 Months

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May 27 2003
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Scouts dishonor

Posted by | politics | No Comments

Ross Mayfield points out some disturbing facts about the boy scouts movement: “Meanwhile, the Boy Scouts ban atheists and gays. With the supreme court granting the right to private civil society organizaitons to be exclusive, extreme interests are balkanizing. Again, this is a market with few sellers.” I guess this is no surprise from the organization that has historically shared some of the styling and aspirations of the Hitler Youth. On my honor, I will do my best | csmonitor.com

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May 27 2003
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How to measure Google’s performance pre IPO

Posted by | search engines | No Comments

How could you have made more than 10 times your money in less than a year, subsequent to the .com crash? – by buying stock in a .com Last July Ask Jeeves teamed up with Google to have Google supply advertising alongside search. The deal replaced Overture and involves a revenue split between Google and Ask Jeeves, with the majority going to Ask Jeeves. Since most of Ask Jeeves’ revenue comes from this, and since most of Google’s revenue comes from similar, this is a vicarious way of tracking Google’s performance while they are still a private company. The results are outstanding, Ask Jeeves is now worth 13 times what it was before the deal with Google. Contra Costa Times | 07/19/2002 | Ask Jeeves, Google team up for profits

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May 23 2003
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Where is the semantic web? – In weblog publishing tools.

Posted by | technology | No Comments

Dave Winer: “Anyway, I don’t see any killer apps in the RDF crowd. I see lots of people with strong opinions and not much software.” Lets face it, this is true. But the fact that it is true hides something absolutely extraordinary. From the way all of our brains are configured, to the way every language on earth has subjects, predicates and objects, to the way any box of any form you fill in on the web has a URL a label for the box and a value you type in – all these things are what the model of RDF is about. There is something profound about a non-hierarchical messy network and triples – I suspect it is the way our brain is wired and the way that any language or information based upon this wiring has to be expressed. So why aren’t people using RDF, where are the…

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May 22 2003
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The Third Industrial Revolution

Posted by | globalization | No Comments

Before 911, the most serious impact on day-to-day life in the West might arguably have been a result of globalization. But globalization and its effects are still an issue: “The recent gyration in the prices of oil and other primary products was related to concerns about the Iraq war and terrorism and masks the trend of falling prices.” The former vice minister for international affairs in Japan’s Finance Ministry thinks that there is a general trend towards global deflation caused by the information and life sciences revolution and globalization. Cheap goods from China and India may once again account for nearly half the world’s production after almost 200 years. He argues, however, that if deflation hits the US it will be nothing like as destructive as during the 1930’s. “The world is shifting from an era of structural inflation to one of deflation, in which prices for most manufactured goods…

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May 21 2003
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Bureaucrats decide world’s tallest building

Posted by | architecture | No Comments

Nick Aster points out that the ‘World Council on Tall Buildings’ (straight out of the X-men) decided that the Petronas Towers in KL are the tallest building in the world despite the fact that the Sears tower in Chicago is blatantly taller. “Measured to the top of the radio masts, Sears’ height is 1,518ft, which easily eclipses Petronas’ 1,483ft. Trouble is, the masts on top of the Sears Tower don’t count, but the mast on top of Petronas’ does. Hmm, confused? The masts on the Sears tower are not considered to be a part of the actual building, so the official measurement stops at 1,450ft. So Petronas gets the crown.”

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May 21 2003
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Conspiracies are not what they are cracked up to be

Posted by | politics | No Comments

Jeff Jarvis is sensibly skeptical of conspiracy theories: “I never buy a conspiracy theory, for I argue that the world — and especially government and especially big business and very especially big media — are simply not well-organized enough to conspire. That’s why synergy doesn’t sell. No, I don’t believe in conspiracies.” Given that: a. conspiracies, as a subset of mysteries, are seductive and intriguing; b. people who think alike will independently behave alike, without having to go to the significant bother of conspiring. One can assume that the universe of claimed conspiracies is much, much larger than the number which are real. But I still think that Michael Jackson’s behaviour plausibly points to him having been abducted by aliens.

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May 21 2003
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The memetics of weblogs

Posted by | darwinism | No Comments

Interesting empirical study of rules of meme spreading from looking at weblog postings, from the excellent Microdoc News. via Doc Searls “Rarely can an individual blogger get a story going.” “The best blog stories are those that are branded with a word or phrase that is highly identifiable with that story.” “The stories that get going are not usually subject specific blogs but stories that cut across all interests of the blogging community.” “When bloggers action is not requested, most often stories get up and running for longer.” “Perhaps the last conclusion we came to in this study is that blogs cannot be read in isolation from each other. Blog stories are understood and appreciated in aggregate and not in isolation. On the other hand, mainstream media stories tend to be read in isolation rather than read and compared. “ Microdoc News: Dynamics of a Blogosphere Story

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