§23

2003-06-18T22:53:00.000-04:00

For better or worse ... its time to look into REAL ESTATE and here are some interesting strategies

2003-03-10T18:28:00.000-05:00

Threading continues here

2003-02-08T22:35:00.000-05:00

Did you know that Solar Cycle #23 is in progress?

2003-01-25T13:03:00.000-05:00

Morrowind Watch: After freeing myself from Zelda nearly a decade ago, thanks to my thoughtful -- keep dad tied up in something harmless ;-) -- kids, I've become immersed in Elder Scrolls: Morrowind (Bethesda Softworks; Xbox). WOW! This game is really something else ... and foreshadows the future of cyberspace. My character, Echo, a Magister Ludi Breton has leveled up to level 12. The game is nothing short of Arthur Schopenhouer's The World As Will and Representation in a box. The implications are phenomenal. Technically ... its quite a dramatic step in Object Oriented Coding and Computing. Some of you may (rightfuly) claim that on-line RPGs (role playing games) are far superior and more complex due to the nature of the interactions. But on the XBOX, you can reload the last saved game and replay it ... if you don't like the outcome. There's lots more to express about philosopy, metaphilosophy, representations, decision theory, choice and consequences. Its not quite MicroMuse as far as world building, but the graphics are incredible and you don't have to be a computer geek to play it. (Geeks? Geeks are great people; sometimes incredibly successful ... check with Bill G. -- Lord of the Geeks). more later ...

2003-01-21T01:16:00.000-05:00

According to the New York Times "new discoveries are showing that cells contain an army of RNA snippets that do much more than act as DNA's messenger. The discoveries are helping to refine the prevailing theories of genetics — or even upend them." ... It reports "In a paper published in Nature on Thursday, Dr. Ruvkun and his colleagues at Harvard and Massachusetts General Hospital used RNA interference to turn off almost all of a worm's genes, one at a time, to discover those linked to obesity. Doctors hope that RNA interference will one day be used for medicine, inactivating genes, say, in tumors or viruses." THIS IS AWESOME -- continuing the story the Times explains ..."Under what is known as the central dogma of genetics, genes, which are the recipes for making proteins, are part of the DNA of the chromosomes. When a protein is to be made, the DNA is copied onto a corresponding piece of single-stranded RNA, known as messenger RNA, that delivers the recipe to the cell's protein-making machinery. Proteins make up most of a cell and perform most of its functions, including turning genes on and off.

But new evidence suggests that some RNA is not merely the intermediary between DNA and protein, but the end product. Some huge stretches of DNA that do not contain protein-coding genes and have been considered "junk" actually hold the code for some of this RNA." -- I NEVER thought it was junk -- that must have been somebody else ;-)

So much for DOGMA ... it turns out that "Some genes ... produce tiny RNA's, known as micro-RNA's or miRNA, which are about 21 to 23 bases ... letters, in length. The micro-RNA's bind to matching pieces of messenger RNA, turn it into a double strand and keep it from doing its job. The process effectively stifles the production of the corresponding protein."

Well - I guess calling this blog §23 may have been a good thing after all.

2003-01-19T14:32:00.000-05:00

Reflecting on the implication of the last post on marketplace ... perhaps its really time to shift the orientation from mass market to micromarkets or even nanomarkets. Mass markets will obviously not go away, but, as the Coffee Lady would say, its "to marvel at" that we are getting to the point where one book or product is targeted to one customer in a world with close to ten billion people. Eric Drexler ... where are you? Nanotechnology meets Nanomarkets?

2003-01-19T14:01:00.000-05:00

Robert N. Seitz reviews The Prodigy: a Biography of William Sidis, America's Greatest Child Prodigy - by Amy Wallace. IF I follow the ultimate reasoning ... Sidis was perhaps not as special as the press would like to have made him out to be. In fact, the presss wanted to create a celeb, and he just didn't play along, for many reasons... But his treatment did inspire others to reflect on uncommon talents. What's really amazing now is that Wallace's book is fetching over $118 on market place. Is this a great country or what?

2003-01-19T12:28:00.000-05:00

FANTASY and ANTI-FANTASY
obviously Harry doesn't meet Sally here, but ... some other neat things happen ...

... in other megafantasy events ....Crossroads of Twilight by Robert Jordan (The Wheel of Time, Book 10) is very welcome! The debate will rage .. Lord of the Rings - Harry Potter, or Wheel of Time? Who is the best .... and we haven't even touched Card or V.Vinge .... so many choices so little time ...

ANTI-FANTASY ... or Brutal Reality ?

U.S. Master Tax Guide, 2003 -- CCH Incorporated

U.S. Master Estate and Gift Tax Guide, 2003 -- CCH Tax Law Editors

I support both sides of the debate ... so please bring both coffee and tea ... OK we need taxes, but not too much ... That's the trick (remember the Ole Roman Empire).

2003-01-04T19:58:00.000-05:00

William James Sidis in THE EXTENT OF RIGHTS opined that "life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness" are more principles than rights ...Sort of Rawlsian ... if you ask me ... But what can you expect of a peridromophile?

2002-12-26T19:09:00.000-05:00

Black Crunch jams Universal cycle Space might end up dark, thick and boring. PHILIP BALL reports on work by Banks and Fishler and Khoury, Ovrut, Seiberg, Steinhardt and, Turok From Big Crunch to Big Bang. It would appear that if M-theory is correct, depending on the shape of space - we might get stuck in a crunch where "the smallest kinks in density are amplified into black holes ... the whole of space-time would congeal into a very lumpy soup - a black crunch."

This might not happen, however, if the Universe were doughnut-shaped. A reassuring thought for the Dunkin Donut - Krispy Kream crowd ... a reason to get to understand donuts better ;-).

BTW ... the previous post regarding Condorcet implies destruction of inequality of opportunity ... nobody gets anything without effort ...

2002-12-26T12:59:00.000-05:00

More interesting Medieval Technology links ...Paul J. Gans (Department of Chemistry, New York University) provides a Medieval Technology Timeline. I can't fully put my finger on it ... but I think its important. Lewis Mumford's Technics and Civilization had something to do with it. Technology is a wonderful thing .... sometimes ... it allows you to take some pretty odd pulses here and there ... like what's on Glenn "Instapundit" Reynold's mind. Or his "Million Readers A Month" minds. [well not quite a million yet, but sounds good ... sort of the 'Million Men March' but better]. Or the fact that over half of the search engines get to instapundit by looking up: instapundit, instapunditcom, reynolds, and glenn. By contrast, Krinsky sends only 0.36 percent; sex 0.18 percent; 0.17% go for bellesiles. Is there a Zipf Law significance to this?

While we're on the topic of technology ... is there any relevance to Condorcet's prescription that "the three tendencies that the entire history of the past shows will be characteristic features of the future are: (1) the destruction of inequality between nations; (2) the destruction of inequality between classes; and (3) the improvement of individuals, the indefinite perfectibility of human nature itself--intellectually, morally, and physically. The equality to which he represents nations and individuals as tending is not absolute equality but equality of freedom and of rights. Nations and men, he asserts, are equal if equally free and are all tending to equality because all are tending to freedom." ????

2002-12-18T22:16:00.000-05:00

Just finished reading Ralph Peters' chapter "The Hourglass Wars" in The Role of Naval Forces in 21st Century Operation by Richard H., Jr. Shultz (and Robert L., Jr. Pealtzgraff . Pretty eye opening ... and to think that it was published June 2000! His insight ... the power of group hatred .... This chapter is a must read if we want to understand the future (and the past). One of his observations is "Masses hate. In turn, hate bonds the masses". This may seem trivial or obvious (or wrong to some) ... but the fact is that world population is increasing at an accelerating rate, with more 'masses' aggregating - in ever more dismal conditions - providing fertile ground for hateful masses. Truths and Trends must enter and stay our national awareness - Peters definitely rang the bell. [A recent book by Peters is Beyond Terror: Strategy in a Changing World -- just discovered the reference --- if its anything like the Hourglass Wars chapter ... it is sure to contain valuable insights. It will definitely be on my immediate reading list]. NE CRAS ... I get it. I wander how many others really do.

2002-12-18T22:15:00.000-05:00

adjusted

2002-12-18T20:01:00.000-05:00

Driving the other day on 23rd Street ... Yes 23rd Street is a real street ... A question crossed my mind ... are we witnessing a real " Clash of Civilizations" or just a Clash of Egos. Is the world order being remade or merely rehashed? Sam, where are you when we need you? (Sam Huntington .... of course). Are Egos of Leaders the embodiments of national aspirations? Some day we might look back and sigh ... and ask our children why .... [sounds like a song but I can't tell the cells are turning colors].

2002-12-17T00:07:00.000-05:00

Who said "In the new electric age of information, the backward countries enjoy some specific advantages over the highly literate and industrialized cultures. For backward countries have the habit and understanding of oral propaganda and persuasion that was eroded in industrial societies long ago"? What does this have to do with Trent and Al?

2002-12-14T17:41:00.000-05:00

Interesting search today on Thomas ... Relief Bills:
I didn't know there were so many relief bills ...

House Bills 107th Congress:

240. For the relief of Rigaud Moise, Cinette Dorlus Moise, Jean Rigaud Moise, and Phara Moise. (Introduced in House) [H.R.242.IH]

241. For the relief of Akintomide Apara. (Introduced in House) [H.R.243.IH]

311. For the relief of Mrs. Marie Marlow of Friendswood, Texas. (Introduced in House) [H.R.313.IH]

312. For the relief of Moise Marcel Sapriel. (Introduced in House) [H.R.314.IH]

313. For the relief of Imbeth Belay. (Introduced in House) [H.R.315.IH]

390. For the relief of Nancy B. Wilson. (Reported in House) [H.R.392.RH]

391. For the relief of Ashley Ross Fuller. (Introduced in House) [H.R.393.IH]

482. For the relief of James Mervyn Salmon. (Introduced in House) [H.R.484.IH]

483. For the relief of Geert Botzen. (Introduced in House) [H.R.485.IH]

484. For the relief of Barbara Makuch. (Enrolled as Agreed to or Passed by Both House and Senate) [H.R.486.ENR]

485. For the relief of Eugene Makuch. (Enrolled as Agreed to or Passed by Both House and Senate) [H.R.487.ENR]

520. For the relief of Frank Redendo. (Introduced in House) [H.R.522.IH]

521. For the relief of Thomas J. Sansone, Jr. (Introduced in House) [H.R.523.IH]

605. For the relief of Mrs. Florence Narusewicz of Erie, Pennsylvania. (Introduced in House) [H.R.607.IH]

720. For the relief of Desmond J. Burke. (Introduced in House) [H.R.722.IH]

764. For the relief of Marleen R. Delay. (Introduced in House) [H.R.766.IH]

765. For the relief of Valentine Nwandu. (Introduced in House) [H.R.767.IH]

804. For the relief of Michael and Julie Schindler. (Introduced in House) [H.R.806.IH]

805. For the relief of Rabon Lowry of Pembroke, North Carolina. (Referred to Senate Committee after being Received from House) [H.R.807.RFS]

854. For the relief of Donna Christine Fargo. (Introduced in House) [H.R.856.IH]

855. For the relief of Romeo P. Teodoro. (Introduced in House) [H.R.857.IH]

902. For the relief of Paul Green. (Introduced in House) [H.R.904.IH]

903. To provide for the relief of Kathy Barrett. (Introduced in House) [H.R.905.IH]

1157. For the relief of Stefan Zajak and Teresa Bartoszewska-Zajak. (Introduced in House) [H.R.1159.IH]

1256. For the relief of Sarabeth M. Davis, Robert S. Borders, Victor Maron, Irving Berke, and Adele E. Conrad. (Introduced in House) [H.R.1258.IH]

1284. For the relief of Kuan-Fan Hsieh. (Introduced in House) [H.R.1286.IH]

1383. For the relief of Gao Zhan. (Introduced in House) [H.R.1385.IH]

1384. For the relief of Alexandre Malofienko, Olga Matsko, and their son, Vladimir Malofienko. (Introduced in House) [H.R.1386.IH]

1410. To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to provide relief for payment of asbestos-related claims. (Introduced in House) [H.R.1412.IH]

1535. For the relief of Perla Franccesca Segovia. (Introduced in House) [H.R.1537.IH]

1536. For the relief of Thomas McDermott, Sr. (Introduced in House) [H.R.1538.IH]

1537. For the relief of Ghassan Mohamad Rajeh. (Introduced in House) [H.R.1539.IH]

1576. For the relief of Abecnego Monje Ortiz, Dolores Ortiz, and Eneyda Monje Ortiz. (Introduced in House) [H.R.1578.IH]

1577. For the relief of Juan Gonzalez and Mayra Valenzuela. (Introduced in House) [H.R.1579.IH]

1586. To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to provide tax relief for the conversion of cooperative housing corporations into condominiums. (Introduced in House) [H.R.1588.IH]

1591. For the relief of Bruce Watson Pairman and Daniele Paule Pairman. (Introduced in House) [H.R.1593.IH]

1601. To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to grant relief to participants in multiemployer plans from certain section 415 limits on retirement plans. (Introduced in House) [H.R.1603.IH]

1682. For the relief of the Philippine citizens collectively referred to as the `Marcos Entourage'. (Introduced in House) [H.R.1684.IH]

1707. For the relief of Adela T. and Darryl Bailor. (Introduced in House) [H.R.1709.IH]

1766. For the relief of Thomas Patrick McEvoy. (Introduced in House) [H.R.1768.IH]

1855. For the relief of Ana Esparza and Maria Munoz. (Introduced in House) [H.R.1857.IH]

1950. For the relief of the R.E. Goodson Construction Company, Incorporated. (Introduced in House) [H.R.1952.IH]

2008. For the relief of Kadiatou Diallo, Laouratou Diallo, Ibrahima Diallo, Abdoul Diallo, and Mamadou Bobo Diallo. (Introduced in House) [H.R.2010.IH]

2009. For the relief of Zhenfu Ge. (Introduced in House) [H.R.2011.IH]

2091. For the relief of Rodney E. Hoover. (Introduced in House) [H.R.2093.IH]

2168. For the relief of Steven Joseph Sweeney. (Introduced in House) [H.R.2170.IH]

2243. For the relief of Anisha Goveas Foti. (Enrolled as Agreed to or Passed by Both House and Senate) [H.R.2245.ENR]

2270. To amend the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 to provide for debt relief to developing countries who take action to protect critical coral reef habitats. (Referred to Senate Committee after being Received from House) [H.R.2272.RFS]

2430. For the relief of Richard W. Schaffert. (Introduced in House) [H.R.2432.IH]

2431. For the relief of Thair Bihnam, Christine Bihnam, Jamie Alan Bihnam, and Natash Bihnam. (Introduced in House) [H.R.2433.IH]

2432. For the relief of Mohamed Abshir Musse. (Introduced in House) [H.R.2434.IH]

2662. For the relief of Brenda Jean Nellis. (Introduced in House) [H.R.2664.IH]

2792. To provide relief from the alternative minimum tax with respect to incentive stock options exercised during 2000. (Introduced in House) [H.R.2794.IH]

2829. For the relief of Patricia and Michael Duane, Gregory Hansen, Mary Pimental, Randy Ruiz, Elaine Schlinger, and Gerald Whitaker. (Introduced in House) [H.R.2831.IH]

2925. To limit the amount of total compensation for top executives of air carriers that receive certain Federal relief. (Introduced in House) [H.R.2927.IH]

2969. For the relief of Inna Hecker Grade. (Introduced in House) [H.R.2971.IH]

3177. For the relief of certain aliens who were aboard the Golden Venture. (Introduced in House) [H.R.3179.IH]

3354. For the relief of Mohamed Abshir Musse, Mariam Musse Gul, Abdullahi Mohamed Abshir, and Madina Mohamed Abshir. (Introduced in House) [H.R.3356.IH]

3417. For the relief of J.L. Simmons Company, Inc., of Champaign, Illinois. (Introduced in House) [H.R.3419.IH]

3418. To direct the Secretary of the Treasury to issue appropriate guidance for use by victims of disasters in their application to charitable organizations for relief. (Introduced in House) [H.R.3420.IH]

3608. For the relief of Lindita Idrizi Heath. (Introduced in House) [H.R.3610.IH]

3666. For the relief of Charmaine Bieda. (Introduced in House) [H.R.3668.IH]

3756. For the relief of So Hyun Jun. (Enrolled as Agreed to or Passed by Both House and Senate) [H.R.3758.ENR]

3948. For the relief of Anne M. Nagel. (Introduced in House) [H.R.3950.IH]

3962. For the relief of Rudy Valente Jauregui. (Introduced in House) [H.R.3964.IH]

4017. To provide that the marriage penalty relief provisions of the Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001 shall be permanent. (Referred to Senate Committee after being Received from House) [H.R.4019.RFS]

4080. For the relief of Germalyn Selga Salto and Carl Gino Selga Salto. (Introduced in House) [H.R.4082.IH]

4541. For the relief of Richi James Lesley. (Introduced in House) [H.R.4543.IH]

4614. For the relief of Alfonso Quezada-Bonilla. (Introduced in House) [H.R.4616.IH]

4623. For the relief of Zdanko Lisak. (Introduced in House) [H.R.4625.IH]

4660. For the relief of Sharif Kesbeh, Asmaa Sharif Kesbeh, Batool Kesbeh, Noor Sharif Kesbeh, Alaa Kesbeh, Sondos Kesbeh, Hadeel Kesbeh, and Mohanned Kesbeh. (Introduced in House) [H.R.4662.IH]

4711. For the relief of Laura Maldonado Caetani. (Introduced in House) [H.R.4713.IH]

4827. For the relief of Olivera Goronja. (Introduced in House) [H.R.4829.IH]

4861. For the relief of Rodney Allan Green and Wendy Sharon Green. (Introduced in House) [H.R.4863.IH]

5112. To make emergency supplemental appropriations for fiscal year 2002 to provide relief from damages caused by flooding in the Guadalupe River valley in 2002. (Introduced in House) [H.R.5114.IH]

5313. For the relief of Web's Construction Company, Incorporated. (Introduced in House) [H.R.5315.IH]

5360. For the relief of Irina V. Kotlova-Green and her son, Nikita Kotlov. (Introduced in House) [H.R.5362.IH]

5375. For the relief of John Castellano. (Introduced in House) [H.R.5377.IH]

5451. For the relief of the heirs and assigns of Hattie Davis Rogers of the Nez Perce Indian Reservation, Idaho. (Introduced in House) [H.R.5453.IH]

5553. For the relief of Jesus Raul Apodaca-Madrid, Adan Apodaca-Bejarano, Maria de Jesus Madrid-Tarango, Francisco Javier Apodaca-Madrid, Alma Delia Apodaca-Madrid, Maria Isabel Apodaca-Madrid,... (Introduced in House) [H.R.5555.IH]

5580. For the relief of Jaya Gulab Tolani and Hitesh Gulab Tolani. (Introduced in House) [H.R.5582.IH]

5618. For the relief of the Pottawatomi Nation in Canada for settlement of certain claims against the United States. (Introduced in House) [H.R.5620.IH]

5689. For the relief of Natasha Oligovna Russo and Anya Oligovna. (Introduced in House) [H.R.5691.IH]

5690. For the relief of Mounir Adel Hajjar. (Introduced in House) [H.R.5692.IH]

5691. For the relief of Oleg Rasulyevich Rafikov, Alfia Fanilevna Rafikova, Evgenia Olegovna Rafikova, and Ruslan Khamitovich Yagudin. (Introduced in House) [H.R.5693.IH]

5709. For the relief of Durreshahwar Durreshahwar, Nida Hasan, Asna Hasan, Anum Hasan, and Iqra Hasan. (Introduced in House) [H.R.5711.IH]

Who are all these people? I guess we'll have to look at these one at a time ...

besides that ... its time to rexamine Medieval Technology .... OK there's some modern stuff there too ... how about metamedieval?

2002-09-15T21:15:00.000-04:00

NO! There are no Volokhian Kazakh Porn Baron Hit-Magnets here ... just musings of an expostmodern metaphilospher (what ever that is). The only items we bare are plain thoughts expressed via alternate basis vectors. The search engines do the rest to themselves. Its time the engines get upgraded - perhaps by having a button (and the underlying algorithms) for intelligent adult discussion that can disambiguate (establish a single semantic or grammatical interpretation ) as appropriate. OK I really didn't mean to go on about search engines. Tonight's exercise was only aimed at locating missing knowledge (not forbidden knowledge). Wow what a trip ... Leaving aside some of the detours, I ended up at "The Marketplace of Ideas" - by Louis Menand. The piece is a real GEM.

This is required reading for the 'professoriate'. Apparently, we're into postdisciplinarity. Menand reminds us however that "Doctoral programs are, of course, the most conservative bastions of an institutionally conservative profession" - but concludes with "The academic's job in a free society is to serve the public culture by asking the questions the public does not want to ask, by investigating the subjects it cannot or will not investigate, by accommodating the voices it fails or refuses to accommodate." I am not sure that this is the right approach at all. Why should the academic look to investigate subjects that the public can't or won't?

First, academics are part of the public (although a small part). Where does it say that acadmics and the public are mutually exclusive? Second, at least in my mind, academics should investigate the subjects they believe are worth investigating. The algorithms for determining worth will obviously vary (and that alone will lead to a variety of subjects studied). Which brings me back to my original point of departure. What about the "missing knowledge"? Is there an APB about it? How longs has it been missing? What exactly is it that is missing? And that we must leave to another time.

2002-09-15T17:30:00.000-04:00

Psychohistory: Hari Seldon’s dead hand? Donald Kingsbury Psychohistorical Crisis got a bum rap. IN reality -- its great!

Publishers Weekly's review states "For all its ambitions, this work lacks the great storytelling qualities of Asimov's trilogy and captures only some of its ambience." - and ... - for my money the Kingsbury treatment of Psychohistory and its implications are more direct and robust. Asimov is great ... but he started drfiting towards unusal mental powers and gaia arguments, where Kingsbury doesn't require such crutches. Perhaps the Gaia hypothesis has merit, but its not needed for a good yarn. Kingsbury uses some rather sophisticated and deep underlying principles of logic. Its definitely worth a read!

2002-09-02T23:28:00.000-04:00

Totally Random today:

Form and Function ; Uni -form; some basic incongruity. -- It was really hard to find "waking Ned Devine" in middle america today (not Target, Circuit City, Wal-Mart, Turtles, Blockbusters --- no shows --- finally, had to resurt to amazon.)

Costruction and DeConstruction?

Albert-László Barabási writes about the New Science of Networks while the ever present A.I. suggests that Lawrence Lessig's The Future of Ideas: The Fate of the Commons in a Connected World is somehow weakly or strongly connected ... The semantic purchasing webs rule.

2002-08-23T20:39:00.000-04:00

Listen ... forget about SATs and LSATs go for Phonemic Awareness ... right at the start... according to an interesting google butterfly (what are those) located while hunting for precursor words ... so here's part of the story ...

Phonemic awareness, a precursor to competency in identifying words, is one of the best predictors of later success in reading.
--------
Children's awareness of the phonemic structure of spoken words is an extremely strong predictor of their success in learning to read. Because useful knowledge of spelling-sound correspondences depends on such phonemic awareness, children who fail to acquire it are severly handicapped in their ability to master print.

Actually, in all truth, I really wanted to talk about pivot words, but I started down a slippery slope leading to a chilling conclusion resulting in creative tension .... oops -- andre breton would roll in his grave.

2002-08-10T00:21:00.000-04:00

rescribed fom the star bloglog: (09 August 2002 +) FREEDOM !/? What is freedom? A Platonic Ideal? Freedom from opression? Freedom from want? Freedom from Pain? Freedom from intrusion? These are all "freedom-from"s. There's also the "freedom-to"s. Freedom to think? Freedom to assemble? Freedom to mispel Fredom? Friedom, Fridom? Freedam? Fredame? Free for all? Such an attractive idea. Free Lunch? Is there such a thing as free-lunch? Where is it served? Why? Free spirits? Free souls? Free sex? Free enterprise? Free is good? Free is bad? Free Fries with a hamburger?

2002-08-08T23:14:00.000-04:00

Oh yes, I forgot to mention ... PYY3-36 pills are sure to be the coming thing .... R U READY?

2002-08-08T23:07:00.000-04:00

miracle of miracles in the works .... according to HELEN PEARSON in nature "Bulky, fibrous foods such as vegetables, which move further down the gut before they are fully digested, stimulate the release of more PYY3-36 than fast foods, which are mainly dissolved in the stomach, says Bloom. He suspects that eating particular types of food could help to tell the brain that you are full and also prevent overeating.

PYY3-36 is thought to work alongside a 'hunger' hormone called ghrelin, which the stomach secretes when empty; it acts on the same nerves in the hypothalamus."

The gory technical details "Gut hormone PYY3-36 physiologically inhibits food intake" RACHEL L. BATTERHAM and many others
" Food intake is regulated by the hypothalamus, including the melanocortin and neuropeptide Y (NPY) systems in the arcuate nucleus. The NPY Y2 receptor (Y2R), a putative inhibitory presynaptic receptor, is highly expressed on NPY neurons in the arcuate nucleus, which is accessible to peripheral hormones. Peptide YY3-36 (PYY3-36), a Y2R agonist, is released from the gastrointestinal tract postprandially in proportion to the calorie content of a meal. Here we show that peripheral injection of PYY3-36 in rats inhibits food intake and reduces weight gain. PYY3-36 also inhibits food intake in mice but not in Y2r-null mice, which suggests that the anorectic effect requires the Y2R. Peripheral administration of PYY3-36 increases c-Fos immunoreactivity in the arcuate nucleus and decreases hypothalamic Npy messenger RNA. Intra-arcuate injection of PYY3-36 inhibits food intake. PYY3-36 also inhibits electrical activity of NPY nerve terminals, thus activating adjacent pro-opiomelanocortin (POMC) neurons. In humans, infusion of normal postprandial concentrations of PYY3-36 significantly decreases appetite and reduces food intake by 33% over 24 h. Thus, postprandial elevation of PYY3-36 may act through the arcuate nucleus Y2R to inhibit feeding in a gut–hypothalamic pathway."

I am not sure what all this means, but its making me hungry ...NOT.

2002-08-08T22:12:00.000-04:00

The New York Times reports "Scientists at I.B.M. and the Nion Corporation have developed an advanced electron microscope optics system that makes possible the creation of the most precise images yet, with resolving power less than the radius of a single hydrogen atom." WOW! What's next?

So I am looking at Weinberg's Gravitation and Cosmology (I must admit, I've never really read it thoroughly, just skimmed it for the juicy parts). Stevie is REALLY GOOD ... I never really appreciated all the effort that had gone into disproving the fifth posutlate. Can yoou imagine, Ptolemy, Proclos,Nasir al Din al Tusi, Levi ben Gerson, P A Cataldi, Giovanni Alfonso Borelli, Giordano Vitale, John Walis, Saccheri, Lambert, Legendre ... Were all of these Highlanders? But it had to be Carl that finally took the big leap, Carl Friereich Gauss that is, and Bolayi, and Lobachevski. So whats all this contravariancy all about?

2002-08-04T13:58:00.000-04:00

August 2009: How Google beat Amazon and Ebay to the Semantic Web via evhead. Will LockeStep ever step up to the plate? If he only knew about trusted networks. But who can you trust?. Gotta take a look at the Robot Exclusion Protocol.
“Hi! I'm from Google. I'm a Googlebot! I will not kill you.”

“I know what you are.”

“I'm indexing your apartment.” ....

2002-07-27T12:17:00.000-04:00

Via TITAN , on the Life of John D. Rockefeller, Sr. -- I continue to be amazed at the co-evolution of free markets and highly controlled markets. On another tangent there, I didn't have a clear understanding of the extent of JD's significant involvement with higher education. I clearly was aware of Rockeffeler's namesake university, but not of his invovlement with Spelman Seminary, Vassar, and surely not of his foundational role with the University of Chicago.

A first attributed to JD was the use of a professional chemist, Herman Frasch, to conduct systematic research. Of this period Alfred North Whithead said "The greatest invention of the nineteenth century was the invention of the method of invention"

note to self: chaos to self-organization in constrained markets.

2002-07-25T21:02:00.000-04:00

WHY? WHY? WHY? How did this happen? How is it that we're on the verge of squandering an irreplaceable national (if not global) treasure?

Fire Still Burning On Sequoia National Forest

Thursday, July 25, 2002 9:00 a.m.

Acres Burned: 57,000

Date Started: July 21, 2002 @ 2:15pm

Groves: 11 Threatened

Location: Sequoia National Forest, North of Kernville. The fire started near Roads End Resort and is burning on both sides of the Kern River on both the Cannell Meadow and Hot Springs Districts. The fire has primarily advanced north, west, and east from the start location. The fire continues to be active in several areas; the Upper Kern River drainage above Johnsondale, the Rincon Trail area on the Kern Plateau, and along the Cherry Hill Road on the Western edge of the Kern Plateau.

Fire Equipment Assigned: 10 helicopters, 10 air tankers, 17 dozers, 9 water tenders, 87 fire engines, 53 handcrews, and numerous support personnel. Total personnel 1,551.

Fire Personnel Assigned: approximately 911 personnel, 30 hotshot crews, 4 crews, and numerous support personnel.

Evacuations: Johnsondale, Camp Witsett, Pyles Boys Camp, Lloyd Meadow Road (22S82), Ponderosa, Parker Pass, and Horse Meadow..

Road Closures: 99 is closed north of Kernvile at the Tulare County Line (approx. 2 mi. North of Kernville). Sherman Pass/Cherry Hill Road leading East off of Mountain 99 are closed. Parker Pass is closed at California Hot Springs. Western Divide is closed. HWY 190 is closed at Redwood Drive near Camp Nelson. We recommend that anyone planning a trip into this area call prior to leaving home for the most current updates on road closures and evacuations.

Weather Forecast: Sunny, temps will be maximum 80-85 at 8000 ft and 90-95 at 5000 ft with humidity 15-20%, winds are southwest 8-15 mph on the ridgetops. The slope/valley winds will be variable less than 5 mph in the morning with occasional gusts to 15 mph.

Structures Lost/Threatened: structures at the Road's End Resort were lost. 200 residences and 10 commercial properties are threatened.

The Giant Sequoias live for thousands of years. Locked in their cells and structure are living memories of this planet, and perhaps the mysteries of longevity and health, and here we at the edge of unspeakable loss. Who will speak for the dead Sequoias?

2002-07-21T18:28:00.000-04:00

Added some web tools on the right side bar:
§ 23.t.1 N Z Bear Ecosystem
§ 23.t.2 MIT Blogdex
§ 23.t.3 EatonWeb

Are there any other good BlogScopes out there?

2002-07-20T14:06:00.000-04:00

Today's insight, invest in deltas.

2002-07-18T21:01:00.000-04:00

as a member of the 89th, the answer must be 119.

For those who really want to know, a thread to the future-past.

2002-07-16T22:14:00.000-04:00

I was almost on the path to memelogging. I had full intentions today to go ahead and memelog about blogology and quickly found out that, well, there's already a blogology blogspot. I thought to suggest the obvious, study the blog phenomea, but on calm reflection I decided that this is already underway at some bloglab. It is fascinating to explore the blogosphere. Gosh, there's a blogocracy out there. Following E.O. Wilson practice, maybe it would make sense to engage in socioblogology?

According to lloydwood here are some memelogs:

weblog, credited to Jorn Barger.
googlewhacking, credited to Gary Stock
warchalking, credited to Matt Jones.
blogstreaming, credited to Lloyd Wood

What about archeoblogology? or psychoblogology? or paleoblogology? Does anthropoblogoly make sense? or philoblogology? Or how about instablogology? What happens when an antiblog runs into a blog? Do we get a tremendous release of energy? Do we need to get a physicoblogologist to develp a quantum blogfield theory for the interaction? This of course brings up the question of whether there blogarks (or perhaps blarks)? Perhaps we need to invest in high energy blark accelerators? Then, Murray can write a book about the tiger and the blark.

Oh well, if you have any insights on this phenomena, --drop me a bnote.

2002-07-13T00:20:00.000-04:00

note to self ... examine - Metaphysics of Art - Nietzsche's and Schopenhauer's Theories of Art - located here. Follow the chain Schoppenhauer --> influences --> Schroedinger --> Quantum Theory. Schroedinger also writes "What is Life" that influences Crick to embark on understanding genetics via molecular theory --> Double Helix theory --> the rest is history.

2002-07-13T00:04:00.000-04:00

anti503 -- lets try this again ... Isenprinciples: (1) Research is useful, and (2) If you are going to fish, use a big hook.

This time ... I'm looking at SMART Letter #72. 72 is critiquing (sp?? its getting late) Clayton Christensen owner of the disruptive innovation meme. Isen(berg) takes CC to task for selling out to CISCObucks. I particularly admire his realization that "Because technology is so cheap and so available, and because the Internet is end-to-end, new innovative, even disruptive applications can appear anywhere, e.g., a teenager's bedroom, and move anywhere, e.g., an equities trading floor."

2002-07-12T20:56:00.000-04:00

David Isenberg on SIP ... pretty interesting if you asked me. How did we miss this? In a seperate piece he talks about capacity "144 fibers can carry up to 230 terabits per second using today's technology. That's enough throughput for three 64-kilobit voice circuits for every human on earth." where is this you might ask? According to David ... "There are already eight conduits and who-knows-how-much 864-fiber cable buried next to the Garden State Parkway, about a kilometer from isen.com headquarters." .. wait a minute ... that's awesome ... what are we missing?
More isen wisdom is located here. There (here there) is a rare copy of Rise of the Stupid Network: Why the Intelligent Network was once a good idea, but isn't anymore. Also, there cites data I've been looking for a long time:
This is what he says:

Arie deGeus, in his master work, "The Living
Company" (Harvard, Boston, 1997), examined thousands of companies to try to discover what it takes to adapt to changing
conditions. He found that the life expectancy of the average company was only 40 years - this means that telephone company
culture is in advanced old age. De Geus also studied 27 companies that had been able to survive over 100 years. He concluded
that managing for longevity - to maximize the chances that a company will adapt to changes in the business climate - is very
different than managing for profit.

2002-07-08T23:07:00.000-04:00

Steve Denbeste's recent posting on school vouchers (U.S.S. Clueless) goes through a meandering discussion about how vouchers might and help and then again how they might not. It states correctly, the "dirty little secret of the educational system, which everyone knows and no-one wants to talk about, is that kids do not all have the same potential".

Some kids are smarter than others. Some kids will absorb knowledge like a sponge; but on others all attempts at education will bounce off like rain on a newly-waxed car. If you take Johnny Genius from the top 5 percentile, and Danny Dullard from the bottom 5%, then Johnny Genius is going to outscore Danny Dullard on those tests no matter what educational environment each of them is in. Put Johnny Genius in a mediocre school and give Danny Dullard the best tutors that money can buy, and Johnny Genius will still get a higher score on the tests when evaluation day comes So when the students of one school get a better score than those of another school, does it mean that the teachers in the first school are doing a better job? It turns out that there's no way of knowing. A true evaluation of the performance of a school would need to determine how well each student in that school maximized their own potential, but no-one knows how to measure that.

It is the last statement I object to. For a while, I was under the same impression, and then, through the amazing power of the internet, some rabble-rousing and luck, I did a little bit of research, and came away with a tiny gem of a surprise I just didn't know how to bin. I came across the the 1998 edition of the Digest of Education Statistics, which stated:

In the fall of 1998, about 67.3 million persons were enrolled in American schools and colleges. About 3.8 million were employed as elementary and secondary school teachers and as college faculty. Other professional, administrative, and support staff of educational institutions numbered 4.2 million. Thus about 75 million people were involved, directly or in-directly, in providing or receiving formal education. In a nation with a population of about 270 million, more than 1 out of every 4 persons participated in formal education.

Those were staggering stats. The obvious questions was "are we getting our money's worth?" Clearly many feel we're not.

I posted a suggestion for a National Educational Manhattan Project ....

Perhaps we need a Manhattan Project for Education (I think we DO!) Get a some really brilliant people (Caliber of Feynman, Fermi, Von Neuman, Teller, ... ) to tackle the issue of education, give them a staff of 2000 brilliant young men and women to work on this for sevral years ... lets see what would happen if we invested several hundred billion dollars (current equivalent of Manhattan Project) on a really focused Educational Product.

Literally within minutes I was informed of Project Follow Through (FT). The goal of FT was to aid disadvantaged children -- it morphed into what appears to be the world's largest educational experiment According to the record, "it began in 1967 as part of President Johnson's ambitious War on Poverty and continued until the summer of 1995, having cost about a billion dollars. Over the first 10 years more than 22 sponsors worked with over 180 sites at a cost of over $500 million in a massive effort to find ways to break the cycle of poverty through improved education."

The best summary of Project Follow Through was given by Billy Tashman in Newsday

Project Follow Through, America's longest, costliest and perhaps, most significant study of public school teaching methods quietly concluded this year. The good news is that after 26 years, nearly a billion dollars, and mountains of data, we now know which are the most effective instructional tools. The bad news is that the education world couldn't care less.

Another assessment was documented by Cathy Watkins Project Follow Through: A Case Study of Contingencies Influencing Instructional Practices of the Educational Establishment -- Project Follow Through, originally conceived in 1967 as a social action program to extend Head Start into the primary grades, became an educational experiment aimed at finding effective methods for educating disadvantaged children. Follow Through, in effect, created a national learning laboratory, providing a unique opportunity to study the effectiveness of a variety of educational methods. The results indicated that the Direct Instruction model and, to a lesser degree, the Behavior Analysis model provided viable solutions to the problem of teaching disadvantaged children. Yet the results of the Follow Through evaluation have been virtually ignored by the educational establishment. This paper presents a case history of Project Follow Through and examines the factors that have led the educational establishment to ignore teaching methods that are effective in raising the academic achievement of disadvantaged children.

If you accept the fact that early action is better than later action (its sort of hard to make up 10 years of poor foundation in the next 2 or three years), it looks like a lot is known regarding helping kids get a great foundation. Yes, Johnny will always beat Danny unless Johnny is prevented from learning -- BUT, the reality is that there may be a lot fewer Danny's than one might think.

The muted result of FT was that after comparing many methods of instruction, and normalizing the results (yes - it turns out that it is possible to do scientific studies after all) there was a clear winner --Siegfried Engelmann'
Direct Instruction Method . The analysis

The Follow Through data confirm that Direct Instruction has these features. The program works across various sites and types of children (urban blacks, rural populations, and non-English speaking students). It produces positive achievement benefits in all subject areas - reading, language, math, and spelling. It produces superior results for basic skills and for higher-order cognitive skills in reading and math. It produces the strongest positive self-esteem of the Follow Through programs."

There's more, a lot more, to the story, but that's for another time. I agree with Steve's stated position "Aside from that, I don't expect any important result." But for different reasons. The sad reality stares us in the face: there were many great results already, and for reasons not well articulated by experts, the results remain hidden in plain view. Whether you're for or against vouchers for one reason or another, in the end you may well find the "reason" you're championing one position or another has nothing to do with education. In the end, it may well be that education will have less to do with what ever we end up with in the voucher debate.

Concluding thought: it still makes sense to launch a "Manhattan Project" for education

2002-07-07T21:38:00.000-04:00

All things being equal? All things being equal ALL THINGS ARE NOT EQUAL. There may be a 'nice' prejudice that all things should be equal, but reality bites pretty hard. Rawls argues that one should have equal starting opportunity to succeed given a hypthetical initial equal distribution of resources (intelligence, money, health, genetic makeup). I agree! In reality that initial condition just doesn't hold. Likewise, we're all born in different places, not the same place, and to different parents. What does this have to do with anything? Plenty. The United States of America is not equal to any other nation you could name, nor should it be. This is has a lot to do with the International Criminal Court. It also has a lot to do with the future of this globe and the community of nations it hosts. The policies adopted and resources applied by US taxpayers revererberate throughout Earth and even our solar system (just in case you've been snoozing ... there are quite a few man made artifacts ... most of them made in the good ole USofA ... traversing our solar system). So all things are not equal.

This situation has tremendous ramifications on our Tax Code. Can you believe it, survival of the human race depends on our boring Tax Code. That's enough to keep you up at night. It sometimes keeps me up. Whether we have enough money to apply to something as a matter of policy is indeed important. There are some things that private interests just won't do. Especially if there's the Bermuda Out. Empires have perished as a result of poor tax planning. Who should pay for what and why is a terribly important issue.

2002-07-07T20:56:00.000-04:00

Does the Universe care about Right & Wrong? Good & Evil? Hot & Cold? From a small sampling of blogbrews, it would appear that most are concerned with real or perceived injustices, social issues, humorous situations, cats and dogs, inconsistencies, political / geopolitical / realpolitikal issues. What about the objective universe? Is there such a things as an objective universe? One can argue that sentients (a la homo sapiens sapiens) are an essential part of the universe, ergo the universe cares. If this is true, can there be an objective universe?

2002-07-06T13:39:00.000-04:00

Templates finally arranged ... main course is now possible. What are the BIG questions? For a while there was a frenzy to pose Grand Challenge questions. Where are the questions? Where are the answers? 1990-2000 was supposed to be the "Decade of the Brain". SO what happened? What are the grand horse races? We had the space race, the genome race, what's the current or upcoming race? Does it matter? Will we beat Vinge's Singularity?

BPS [BlogPostScript] It turns out there's an actual record of the Decade of the Brain Program. There ... you've got it. Now we're almost ready, the stage is almost set. Next step is hunting down Maxwell's Demon. We'll call him Jimmy right now. Other important charcters in the play are Schroedinger's Cat Erwina and Lorenz's Butterfly. We're almost ready, but we have to find just a few more denizens of the metaphysical realms. If you know where they are ... let me know.

2002-07-05T17:35:00.000-04:00

Goodbye to Ted Williams ... a legend in the baseball world. 83 is a good age.

2002-07-05T16:29:00.000-04:00

Blogger publishing is down right now. I wanted to get going. Now there's a chance I'll forget it all. Is blogging like extended memory? Is memory like a blog? Just some snippets here and there? Which are more important, questions or answers? I particularly like Schopenhauer's dictum: "Our task is not so much to see what no one yet has seen but to think what nobody yet has thought about that which everybody sees."

2002-07-05T14:47:00.000-04:00

Why is this blog called § 23 (SECTION 23)?