One of the great motive forces in man’s action is the desire to reduce uncertainty. Almost everything we do can be viewed as “insurance”. We eat now in case we are unable to eat later. We build a roof over our head on a sunny day so that we might be dry in case it rains. We save money for the same reason.
Best convocation rant ever?
This found its way to my email inbox, and it was such a good rant I feel compelled to give it voice here: Continue reading “Best convocation rant ever?”
Truth is not a four-letter word
A man claiming to be Truth arrives at the temple, and wishes to meet the Dalai Lama.
Announced, Truth enters, sits, and the two sit long, in silence, examining each other.
Truth eventually breaks the silence, and says: “I am here.”
The Dalai Lama asks: “What took you so long?”
Truth responds: “I did not know what I was, nor where I was to be found.”
Dalai Lama: “Do you know now?”
Truth: “I cannot know.”
Dalai Lama: “Welcome, Truth” Continue reading “Truth is not a four-letter word”
Order, or dark matter?
In a previous post I mention emergent order in freely operating complex systems. In this one I want to make a scientific prediction. I believe that it will be discovered that “dark matter” and “dark energy” do not exist. John Moffat’s arguments in “Reinventing Gravity” are strong. Continue reading “Order, or dark matter?”
Bacq 2 Bretton Woods
I hope if you are reading this, you understand that we didn’t invent money, we discovered it, and that gold is money, or more correctly, currency. We should really reserve “money” to describe the idea alone, and “currency” for what we use to trade.
We have all lived in a time when things other than gold are used as money, i.e. our fiat currencies. When I was born and through my childhood, gold was still very much in use, and that “gold is money” was common knowledge. Continue reading “Bacq 2 Bretton Woods”
Why gold, why tree?
Seeing as we still have the site up, I thought it might be a good idea to try and find all the old passwords etc, find my way in, and try to recall how to create a post here. Done. Now, do I have anything to say? Um, well yes. Lets start with some jokes…
Chinese fortunes, cookie!
Christy and I try to stay apprised of world events and developments, but we may not always read the same stuff. I had bumped into the following document by HSBC (the division that isn’t kiting gold on the LBMA;-) at zerohedge and found it interesting, and different than my ill-informed impression gleaned from miscellany.
This document, though lengthy, paints a China that is less centrally-controlled than we might from the outside believe. True, if you want to get any power you still need to climb the communist party ladder, but the degree of autonomy “granted” to (assumed by?) provinces and larger cities is greater than I would ever have suspected. There also appears to be more diversity and specialization within the country from a politico-economic perspective than I had imagined. The half-empty bullet trains I expected.
It seems like China has embraced the “growth is good” story from the west in a bear-hug, and given the way incentives are working within their system, it is unlikely the pedal will come off the metal any time soon. Especially if no-one listens to Beijing. Should we expect the end-game there to turn out any differently than it did for “us”?
Long but informative, enjoy.
What a Beautiful Day
It is a gorgeous day today in Ottawa. When I came out the door to walk the dog there was a cardinal on my frozen(!) birdbath. I love feeding the birds (my birds, I often think), despite the squirrels and those nominal birds, the pigeons. I inherited my birdbath from my parents’ house in Toronto, and it reminds me fondly of my father. It is made of cement, and has a squirrel climbing the base. It came from a peculiar cement casting shop in Fesserton, Ontario, a small town on the way to our cottage on Georgian Bay. My father and mother bought all sorts of stone creatures from this shop and they festooned their “funny farm” near Fesserton with them, a strange property they bought on a whim as it saved us when the weather or the nightfall prevented our getting to the cottage by boat. Now they festoon our house in Ottawa, and having caught the bug, we also have two large lions guarding our front porch bought from the same shop.
Here is a picture I took a while back of some Raspberry Finches enjoying the bath.
Sports update! Maple Leafs eaten alive!
The picture says it all. Thanks to Jeffie for the phun photo. Click to zoom in.
Halloween 2010 CNN: Scary kids
The other day I had happened to mention CNN and Christy had, my paraphrasing allowed, jumped in quickly: “CNN? Scary.” I didn’t understand, I hadn’t watched CNN in eons.