Short Takes
- Lip Reading Babies: Utter nonsense!
January 17, 2012 | 8:54 pmSays psychologist David Lewkowicz of Florida Atlantic University, who led [a] study published yesterday…
’The baby in order to imitate you has to figure out how to shape their lips to make that particular sound they’re hearing,’’
Can you “figure out” why this is utter nonsense? I should as obvious as monkey see, monkey do. With this sort of thing passing for science, we are surely doomed.
- The Mark of Cain
November 9, 2011 | 3:13 amWatching Herman Cain duel with his female accusers is like watching the Jerry Springer Show. Not a pretty picture. If you partake, be sure an wash you hands afterwards.
- The Truth About Sovereign Debt
November 1, 2011 | 4:01 pmDuring the housing bubble people bet on rising home prices by taking out loans on to-good-to-be true terms and investment banking made bets on the rising home prices by lending on to-good-be-true terms. Everyone drank the Kool Aid. Prices went down. Having made bad bets, home owners should default on their loans and bankers should take their losses. This is the simple-minded logic of every-man-for-himself market economics.
The nations that joined the EU placed bets on rising economic prosperity that would come from joining the EU and adopting the Euro and borrowing from the EU banks on to-good-to-be-true terms. The EU investment bankers made speculative bets on EU member nations by lending them billions on to-good-to-be-true terms. The borrower economies went down not up. Everyone drank the Kool Aid and having made bad bets the borrowers should default on their loans and the bankers should take their losses. This too, is the simple-minded logic of every-man-for-himself market economics.
So how do the bankers hold the world hostage to their bad bets? They claim they are too big to fail. In other words, the only game they know is heads they win, tails we lose.
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Archive for Short Takes »
- Lip Reading Babies: Utter nonsense!
Author Archives: Vagabond
Fear and Loathing in Yosemite Valley
We swim in a river of time, carving our stories into the landscape in much the same manner as the rivers and glaciers that created the Yosemite Valley’s ever-changing landscape during their long and sinuous journey to the sea. But … Continue reading
Dancing in Afghanistan (updated)
Seriously now, consider this fascinating paradox of shared system aims and adversarialism.
System Concept 1: A nation’s military is an enterprise system aimed to fight and win wars.
System Concept 2: The system we define as “war” is one in which two … Continue reading
Tom Cruise in Afghanistan
When it comes to Waterloos, Obama’s cup runneth over. According to the media, his star is falling at a precipitous rate. Among the big three star killers, Afghanistan is looming large, along with healthcare and the budget deficit. I’ve made … Continue reading
I Long for an Honest Con
James Kwack wrote about telecom “innovation” on Simon Johnson’s “Baseline Scenario” blog…
“NewYork Times technology columnist David Pogue is mounting a campaign against those canned messages that cellular carriers play after the greeting on your mobile phone voicemail… – you know, … Continue reading
Me and Obama in Afghanistan
In 1972 I traveled overland from Europe to Afghanistan. I was on my way to India to get enlightened. I took the Orient Express to Istanbul, crossed the Bosporus straits by boat, and boarded another very slow train across Turkey and Iran. … Continue reading
