Weekend Reading XCV
by uber
The US Government spends a lot of money to hire some extremely smart people. I am sure I am not alone in wondering what the bleeding edge of the NSA or other secret organisations looks like with respect to the current state of the art in civilian research, and what Google, Facebook or Microsoft have in their Skunkworks?
https://medium.com/stanford-select/keeping-secrets-84a7697bf89f
We’re in the twilight period where ‘that person is flying’ means they are uncontactable by email. For many business people and academics it’s perhaps the last refuge from the telecommunications Skinner Box. I’ve been on several flights with WiFi, but have so far not been tempted to hit the button: I am thankfully insignificant enough that my correspondents can wait. In the interim, we’re going through precisely the same cycle of overcharging, edge-conditions and confused outrage that every billed service is subject to. One of the challenges with flights is that they are, almost by definition, passing through different jurisdictions, so regulatory enforcement is more complex even than, say, with data roaming.
http://www.trendhunter.com/trends/singapore-airlines-billed-me-1200-for-the-internet
Ryanair Advert
Ryanair have changed quite a lot over the years, and are changing again now. This is presumably from before the O’Leary days. I wonder is their friendlier new image an early indication that cut-backs in service are goin too far?
The VHS Internet
Any collection like that this fails to include Hyperland (which has both Douglas Adams and Tom Baker!) is woefully incomplete.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLI6R9qwXheraD43gyVcPCwRI8F4NyKZ7F
Doing Business in Japan
Several Westerners that I know who married Japanese women took their wives’ names. It’s a fascinating culture, especially from the perspective of an increasingly entrepreneur-obsessed Anglosphere. Even French models often seem quite strait-jacketed compared to our own world.
On the one hand the notion of a job for life with a defined track seems appealing, but the pressure to get that job, and the competition to do well at each rung in the ladder, probably makes the benefits of the security vanish in practice.
http://www.kalzumeus.com/2014/11/07/doing-business-in-japan/
The Topic that Dystopian Films will not Touch
This does not just extend to a single genre. Whitewashing is a widespread practice.
Monkey Island Sword-fighting Game
How appropriate…
http://www.int33h.com/test/mi/
Statistical Inference for Everyone
This might be of interest for people. I’ve not read it yet, but it is probably an excellent partner to Think Bayes.
http://web.bryant.edu/~bblais/statistical-inference-for-everyone-sie.html