A bottomless pit of contrivance?(from office.microsoft.com) A few days ago in Alberta, a heat spike was forecast. The power-generating giant TransAlta seems to have anticipated its own spike as two of its large coal-fired electricity generating plants were shut down for “unscheduled maintenance” creating a classic supply and demand divergence—huge demand with limited supply, with […]
TransAlta Culpa (Again) ? Read More »
If you are a believer in “free-markets” and laissez-faire, perhaps an excursion beyond Milton Friedman (& company) might prove useful. Here is one suggestion: Flash Boys: A Wall Street Revolt by Michael Lewis © 2014 In trying to unravel a Wall Street mystery, several people, hired and headed by Brad Katsuyama of RBC (Royal Bank
High-Frequency Déjà Vu Read More »
If a family member or friend who had psychopathic tendencies took out an insurance policy on your life, would you be concerned? What if a group of strangers engaged in a betting pool concerning your mortality? What if your corporate employer secretly or deceptively (or even openly) planned to profit from your insured death, or
In the 1970s, Robert D. Hare developed a Psychopathy Checklist-Revised [1985 / 2003] (PCL-R),1 setting out the following character traits and behaviors: glib and superficial charm denial grandiosity parasitic lifestyle need for stimulation sexual promiscuity pathological lying early behavior problems cunning and manipulating lack of realistic long-term goals lack of remorse failure to accept responsibility
A Plague of Psychopaths ? Read More »
(OR, Alas! Alas! Wo is US!) In remembrance of the 120th year of the death of Joseph Ferdinand Keppler (1 February 1838 Vienna – 19 February 1894 New York) … an Austrian-born American cartoonist and caricaturist, who greatly influenced the growth of satirical cartooning in the United States;[*] and the 125th year of the publication
AWAKE !!to the price-tag ofdelusion. Once upon a time, Adam Smith said: People of the same trade seldom meet together, even for merriment and diversion, but the conversation ends in a conspiracy against the public, or in some contrivance to raise prices. (The Wealth of Nations, p. 148—I.X.I) Once upon a (more recent) time, foreigners
Has Anyone Noticed ? Read More »
A [mathematical] ceiling is a [philosophic] term used to describe “the unseen, [unacknowledged, peer-enforced] barrier that keeps [many modern scientists] from rising to the upper rungs of [knowledge and truth], regardless of their qualifications or achievements.” (Adapted by this blogger from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glass_ceiling ) IF Plato (/ Socrates) is right: ▪ that “The Divided Line”1 as
A Mathematical Ceiling ? Read More »