Thursday, June 28, 2012

Khan Academy

Khan Academy:

'via Blog this'

Five Possible Silver Linings in the Obamacare Decision

Five Possible Silver Linings in the Obamacare Decision:

"By placing the ACA under the umbrella of the tax power, Roberts may have made the ACA easier to overturn by several orders of magnitude.  The ordinary process, of course, requires 60 votes to overcome a filibuster in the Senate.  But when it concerns budgetary matters, including taxes (like the Bush tax cuts), 51 votes are sufficient to put the law on hold for 10 years.  So, theoretically, 51 Republicans will be capable now of overturning the ACA at least for ten years (at which point it could be reviewed again).  Fifty-one Republicans could have attempted this in any case, but now they can do so with much greater plausibility because this is a matter of taxing and spending and not regulation of commerce."

'via Blog this'

Monday, June 18, 2012

http://m.seekingalpha.com/article/476231-a-crash-course-in-the-weird-world-of-a-liquidity-trap


Sent from my iPhone

this pretty much explains why Bernanke is doing what he has been doing for the past 5 years, in a way that no politician would ever dare attempt.  Part of it is dangerously misleading, because although it is true that monetary expansion is not inflationary in a liquidity trap, it is incredibly inflationary if/when the economy rebounds.  So monetary expansion isn't any more destructive than lighting a fuse.  Overall, this is a really good explanation of where the U.S. economy is now, but you can't draw too many conclusions from this, because the situation in Europe makes things more complicated.

I analyzed the chords of 1300 popular songs for patterns. This is what I found. | Blog – Hooktheory

I analyzed the chords of 1300 popular songs for patterns. This is what I found. | Blog – Hooktheory:

'via Blog this'

Sunday, June 3, 2012

The Milgram extension

Seth's Blog

In his famous experiment, Stanley Milgram gave his subjects a switch and then encouraged them to give (fake) electric shocks to his confederates if they were slow to follow instructions.

The internet has become a giant version of this, except the shocks are real.

You give people a switch and they can shock you whenever they choose, disrupt your day, cloud your horizons and generally make you feel like a failure.

Of course, that switch has always been given to certain members of your family or co-workers or teachers. But now, thanks to the ability of a total stranger to dump his anxiety or anger on you, the switch is easily handed to hundreds or thousands of people.

Extending the circle of people who are able to zap you is human nature. It's easy to do and tempting, too (because it feels as though you're gaining the ability to have others approve of you). On balance, my guess is that a large number of strangers holding on to electric shock buttons is a dangerous situation. But it's up to you.

Sent with Reeder


Sent from my iPhone

Funniest ventriloquist act ever. Dying laughing.


 
Navigated from The Next Web | shared via feedly mobile



Sent from my iPhone