Links for Later 6-11-15

1. Electrical stimulation of the vagus nerve may help migraine, tinnitus, epilepsy, stroke...
2. The role of the default mode network in creativity. Effect of training on the DMN.
3. Did Nancy Pelosi "misread" the Democratic Caucus on trade and the TPP?
4. Brad DeLong misjudged Niall Ferguson, Paul Krugman didn't.
5. On the trail of the Last Universal Cellular Ancestor, before the kingdoms of life were separate.
6. Proportional map of the world's languages.
7. The stoners who became the US government's source for guns & ammo.

You've been Wrong about Every Prediction in the Last Five Years

Steve Liesman points out Rick Santelli's forecasting record. Paul Krugman points out why the traders (who lost money listening to Santelli) still applaud him

Links for Later 4-11-13

1. Is grad school a cult? “In academia, perseverance is redefined as the ability to suffer silently or to survive on family wealth.”
2. CISPA is an idiotic intrusion on your privacy by people who have no idea about technology or civil rights.
3. Scott Turow also seems to have no idea about technology in publishing or the true scope of property rights.
4. Ten websites that will get you started on coding.
5. The real pivot.
6. Time series in big data.
7. Why funding science is always a good idea.

Thomas Nagel Mind and Cosmos Roundup

I'm going to end up reading that Thomas Nagel book that has everyone atwitter, even though the reviews of it so far make me think that his alternative theory of non-reductionist, non-materialist reality is like watching Kirk Cameron explain Christianity, in that it's so poorly done that it encourages you to believe the exact opposite, due to the sloppy thinking exhibited in the argument. Though I'm a christian, Cameron makes a stronger argument for atheism that Hitchens ever did. Though I'm sympathetic to critiques of the materialist worldview, I think Nagel makes a stronger case for why the physical world is all there is than most materialists.

Reviews of Mind and Cosmos:

Jennifer Slusser, New York Times
H Allen Orr, NYRB
Andrew Ferguson, The Weekly Standard
Brad DeLong's comments from his blog
Leiter Reports, also here, here
Leiter & Weissberg, The Nation

Links for Later 8-22-12

1. 10 useful command line tools.
2. Tucker Max is in psychotherapy, takes yoga classes, has a steady girlfriend, and drinks kombucha. This is shocking, I guess.
3. Noahpinion takes down Niall Ferguson's Newsweek cover story

Links for Later 4-18-12

1. The disused platforms at the Wilson L Station explained
2. Twitter's latest idea: the Innovator's Patent Agreement
3. Thomas Friedman, Duncan Black's choice for Wanker of the Decade
4. If you complain loudly enough about military intelligence, they will put you in charge
5. The Tools Book trailer
6. CISPA=SOPA II
7. Death by swan
8. Tiger parents of Rome

Links for Later 3-22-12

1. Critique of Jonah Lehrer's Imagine
2. "The White Savior Industrial Complex"
3. Monks' marginalia
4. The Supreme Court upholds the laws of nature
5. Dan Savage responds to Rick Santorum "praying for him"
6. Just look at these pop art monstrosities
7. Top 10 lessons of the Iraq War (#1: We lost.)
8. Kony 2012 director diagnosed with "reactive psychosis", colloquially known as flipping out under stress
9. You'll get my Facebook password when you take it from my cold, dead hands
10. Mass Effect's deeply unsatisfying ending to be retconned
11. Stupid debate about reviving the draft
12. Mitt Romney's litigious, anti-gay, billionaire backer
13. Mark Leyner returns!
14. Dangerous Minds threw a heck of a party the other night
15. No, he's not really flying by flapping his arms
16. Giant polaroids of light from a giant prism
17. How Obama tried and failed to sell out the liberals last year
18. Kevin Smith's done making films, y'all
19. Ben McKenzie on Southland
20. "Questions No One Knows the Answers To"
21. China Mieville on monsters

Links for Later 12-16-11

1. A sampling of Japanese kamon (family crests)
2. A selection of Christopher Hitchens articles and talks from The Browser
3. Slate's collection of Hitchens articles
4. Hitchens' Mark Daily memorial article
5. A short Kelly Link interview
6. SOPA markup delayed indefinitely
7. SOPA only supported by astroturfers and industry flacks?
8. Bradley Manning pre-trial hearing begins
9. Gingrich proposes abolishing Article III of Constitution to save America from having judges

Links for Later 11-22-11

1. Jeremy Renner's weird career
2. Unemployment by college major (don't worry about it)
3.  Rep. Joe Walsh is clueless about vets, OWS, child support, etc.
4. Best review of Breaking Dawn to date
5. New info on cancer causing airport scanners
6. Fred Wilson on the difference between copyright infringement and theft

99% Explained to the 1%, Take Two

Joshua Brown puts it succinctly: "this is why they hate you and want you to die."

Credentials

In which Charles Stross argues with a numpty (great term, that) who wants to know what possible credentials (other than being an SF author of the first rank) Stross has that lets him talk about the problems of space flight.

My usual response to people who ask for my credentials is to state that I am worshipped as a god. Mr. Stross is nicer than I.