In Poker Match Against a Machine, Humans Are Better Bluffers. Aside from the obvious appeal of combining poker and computing, I got a kick out of this story because the Unabomber has made a name in the fashion world. Unlike computer chess programs, which require immense amounts of computing power to determine every possible future … Duplicate hold’em poker
Set times are finally available here, but Adobe Flash is required. I hate that some web sites exclude non-Flash clients from receiving content so here is a text file containing the set times for the 7/28 NYC show. The venue map shows bleachers in the VIP section. Nice. Thinking of showing up around 3:30 to … Rock the Bells set times posted
Internet Phone Company Halts Operations. Whoa. Looks like I lucked out big time. Was doing everything I could to switch to Sunrocket a few months ago as their prepaid deal was very attractive. ISP was having frequent outages at the time, however, so I cancelled service and returned the VOIP equipment during the trial period. … Sunrocket flames out?
The Evolutionary Brain Glitch That Makes Terrorism Fail. Picked up from Schneier’s blog, excellent analysis as always. Although Bin Laden has complained that Americans have completely misunderstood the reason behind the 9/11 attacks, correspondent inference theory postulates that he’s not going to convince people. Terrorism, and 9/11 in particular, has such a high correspondence that … Terrorism as failed tactic
Surgeon General Sees 4-Year Term as Compromised. Why would anyone try to water down a report on secondhand smoke? Who is bought and sold? Former Surgeon General Richard H. Carmona told a Congressional panel Tuesday that top Bush administration officials repeatedly tried to weaken or suppress important public health reports because of political considerations. The … You tell me it calms your nerves
The Nonconformist. Now that I’m no longer a subscriber, I occasionally miss some good tidbits from the NYT, especially when it’s in the magazine. Mass Appeal. For someone who works with technology as much as I do, I’m quite the laggard when it comes to Web 2.0 stuff. I really admire some of the Threadless … Missing the NY Times
Put away the flags. [Zinn] One of the effects of nationalist thinking is a loss of a sense of proportion. The killing of 2,300 people at Pearl Harbor becomes the justification for killing 240,000 in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The killing of 3,000 people on Sept. 11 becomes the justification for killing tens of thousands of … Bowin’ down to the flag, ya got a bullet in ya head
Feds Working Against CA Emissions Law. Yet another example of government selling out the people in favor of business interests. Agency employees then called the lawmakers, Democrats and Republicans, working off a script that said letting California implement its own emissions controls on automakers could create “a patchwork of regulations on vehicle emissions which would … Swimmin’ in half truths and it makes me wanna spit
Random obsession yesterday. I was trying to remember the name of a friend and work colleague who had died about seven years ago, but I could come up with only his first name. Thwarted, I tried to recall friends who had died much earlier in my youth and could do no better. This saddened me … In memoriam
Interestingly, Rock the Bells tickets for the NYC 7/28 show have gone on sale again. Resale prices on Ebay have fallen sharply. I decided to buy a VIP ticket afterwards, but there’s no way I will get $160 for my remaining GA ticket (that was after exorbitant Ebay/Paypal fees). Days after the first sellout, GA … Supply and demand