Certain Habits

Catching up on reading over Thanksgiving, I came across the following:

The century is still young. What’s next? On September 2, 1859 an unusually large coronal mass ejection by the Sun cause intense magnetic fields on Earth which if they happened today would cause a large fraction of the big electric power transformers to fail in large electric grids. Large areas of industrialized countries would be without electric power for months. Picture cities evacuated due to lack of power to operate water pumps. Picture massive computer server farms sitting dark. Banks would fail.

The 20^th century was a relatively mild, wet, and calm century as compared to the 19^th century. We would make a mistake to expect the 21^st century will be as calm as the 20^th. … Do not be shocked if a severe turn of events happens.

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Google has a knack for developing a technological capability and then leveraging it to transform seemingly unrelated industries, making a better solution, a FREE solution, or, more often, both.

Witness last month’s announcement of free turn by turn directions for all Android phones. This is the product of several capabilities.

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This is Treasury Secretary Larry Summer’s calming message, as explained by David Leonart at the New York Times:

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Mark Cuban asked that question recently in his typically provocative fashion. Here’s a sample so you can get a feel for the argument. (But read the whole thing):

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Microsoft “has effectively created a Mac look and feel with Windows 7.” The source? Head of Microsoft UK operations.

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Implicit premises: (1) Our highly trained intelligence agencies just take the public statements of terrorist groups at face value. What, that guy’s not a terrorist anymore? Whatever you say, Osama; guess we’ll shut down the microphones. (2) We have no laws that might permit us to track or wiretap people who are plotting murder and mayhem if they’re not considered an “agent of a foreign power” under FISA. Like, if you just want to commit mass murder, but it’s not international terrorism? We’re just stumped. Go ahead, I guess.

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… as the hype would have it, the show would be one of the best ever produced for American television. It’s both.” Benjamin Schwartz, “Mad About Mad Men,” The Atlantic, November 2009 Read the rest of this entry »

I finally got around to reading Rolling Stone’s recent article on naked short selling. Here’s a taste of the thesis:

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“2 is not equal to 3, not even for large values of 2.”

– Grabel’s Law; ht the other Jason Glerum

Or rather, who caused the collapse? Don’t miss the answer here.