Matt's Tumbles

Dec 25
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Fantastic book by one of the great minds of Austrian economics.  Goes into the detail behind the confusing flow of money in a central bank system, and in particular the US Federal Reserve system.  Explains inflationary and deflationary insentives put in place and used by these institutions.  Also good explanation of the differences between a warehouse and commidity view of banking as well as touching on some of the legal precedences regarding this question.  At the end is a brief historical summary of banking in the US.  A must read for understanding money supply, inflation, and the current jargon around the fed and the US economy.

Fantastic book by one of the great minds of Austrian economics.  Goes into the detail behind the confusing flow of money in a central bank system, and in particular the US Federal Reserve system.  Explains inflationary and deflationary insentives put in place and used by these institutions.  Also good explanation of the differences between a warehouse and commidity view of banking as well as touching on some of the legal precedences regarding this question.  At the end is a brief historical summary of banking in the US.  A must read for understanding money supply, inflation, and the current jargon around the fed and the US economy.

Dec 23
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An interesting although brief read on some random thoughts about the physiological and evolutionary underpinnings of music in humans. While the author exhibits the pretentiousness and know-it-all-ness typical of evolutionary psychology works, there are a few gems dealing with categorization and prototyping theories regarding human thought with references to the originators that made it worth reading. As a side note, there was a section using birthdays that felt like a complete lift from Marvin Minsky’s Society of Mind with no credit… hmmm… As another side note, the last 2 chapters of the book felt basically like a justification for existence after Steven Pinker dismissed music from an evolutionary perspective as a free loader riding the coat tails of language, and completely useless.

An interesting although brief read on some random thoughts about the physiological and evolutionary underpinnings of music in humans. While the author exhibits the pretentiousness and know-it-all-ness typical of evolutionary psychology works, there are a few gems dealing with categorization and prototyping theories regarding human thought with references to the originators that made it worth reading. As a side note, there was a section using birthdays that felt like a complete lift from Marvin Minsky’s Society of Mind with no credit… hmmm… As another side note, the last 2 chapters of the book felt basically like a justification for existence after Steven Pinker dismissed music from an evolutionary perspective as a free loader riding the coat tails of language, and completely useless.

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» http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/21/diy-head-tracker-takes-wiimote-hacking-to-dizzying-new-heights/

sweet video on wii based head tracker with some great shots from the cameras perspective

Nov 29
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“ The combination of having a moral justification and believing that the end justifies the means, that’s really the recipe for moral disaster. I think you see that in the Bush administration. The Bush administration is so certain that it’s right that they will twist any law, make up any evidence and do whatever it takes. And they really believe that they are good people. They don’t think they’re evil, they’re fighting for what they think is good. But they’re so blind about the nature of morality that they end up doing terrible, terrible things.
— http://voxday.blogspot.com/2007/11/interview-with-jonathan-haidt.html
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Atlas Shrugged Life changing book.  Ayn Rand puts together a story that cements thoughts that have been rolling around my head for several years now.  She tells the story of good and evil from an entirely different perspective.  Most religions advocate love for those who do not deserve it, and help for those who have not earned it.  To the extent to which you do these things you are good.  Ayn tips this on its head and instead contends that this is the real evil.  That those who produce and think for themselves are good and those who ride off the backs of others are bad.  Brilliant.

Atlas Shrugged

Life changing book.  Ayn Rand puts together a story that cements thoughts that have been rolling around my head for several years now.  She tells the story of good and evil from an entirely different perspective.  Most religions advocate love for those who do not deserve it, and help for those who have not earned it.  To the extent to which you do these things you are good.  Ayn tips this on its head and instead contends that this is the real evil.  That those who produce and think for themselves are good and those who ride off the backs of others are bad.  Brilliant.

Oct 11
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Freeware This was a widely irreverent take on the freaky side of the human spirit. Involving sex with mold based robots by a select few “moldies” (humans with a taste for their smell), everything goes wrong when an over zelous researcher downloads alien brains into moldie bodies. These aliens nearly destroy the earth by pushing it into the sun, and then things start to get interesting. Very zany, but not for the feint of heart (or stomach).

Freeware

This was a widely irreverent take on the freaky side of the human spirit. Involving sex with mold based robots by a select few “moldies” (humans with a taste for their smell), everything goes wrong when an over zelous researcher downloads alien brains into moldie bodies. These aliens nearly destroy the earth by pushing it into the sun, and then things start to get interesting.

Very zany, but not for the feint of heart (or stomach).

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Distraction Continuing on the interesting political themed books I have been reading of late, this one has politics, economics, corrupt governors, and beautiful posits about anarchic networked technological communities.  At times a bit slow, but chocked full of great ideas. Thumbs up. 

Distraction

Continuing on the interesting political themed books I have been reading of late, this one has politics, economics, corrupt governors, and beautiful posits about anarchic networked technological communities.  At times a bit slow, but chocked full of great ideas.

Thumbs up. 

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Dune Fantastic book set in a vague future far down the path of human space colonization.  Combining the intrigues of a set of houses not unlike those of Shakespeare with the epic storytelling of Lord of the Rings.  As an added bonus, dream of planet transformation, creation of super civilizations, all with a realistic take on economics! Must Read.

Dune

Fantastic book set in a vague future far down the path of human space colonization.  Combining the intrigues of a set of houses not unlike those of Shakespeare with the epic storytelling of Lord of the Rings.  As an added bonus, dream of planet transformation, creation of super civilizations, all with a realistic take on economics!

Must Read.

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The Gods Themselves A fantastic look into an alternative universe complete with its own alien species with 3 sexes, multiple universe theory with a neat spin on entropy flowing between them, and great thoughts on intelligence vs. tenacity. Not only does it capture the political drama of academic science every bit as well as Faster than the speed of light, also very exciting is the description of the politics between the two diverging societies of humans on earth and the moon, with intriguing details regarding theoretical life on a moon colony. Many thumbs up.

The Gods Themselves

A fantastic look into an alternative universe complete with its own alien species with 3 sexes, multiple universe theory with a neat spin on entropy flowing between them, and great thoughts on intelligence vs. tenacity. Not only does it capture the political drama of academic science every bit as well as Faster than the speed of light, also very exciting is the description of the politics between the two diverging societies of humans on earth and the moon, with intriguing details regarding theoretical life on a moon colony.

Many thumbs up.

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» 43 Things

This is a cool site where you can enter your goals, make comments on your progress, and see what other people are attempting (or just wishing) to do.

It seemed a bit lame at first glance, but when I plopped in my email and added a few goals, I felt better!  Kind of like the feeling you get after reading GTD and write everything down.  Maybe with this simpler model, I’ll actually do something with it!