Category Archives: Technology

On The Wings Of Butterflies

Posted on August 13, 2007 by MichaelW

My favorite class of all time was a course on chaos theory that I took my senior year in college. I think it was listed as part of the Chemistry Department’s curriculum (hey, whaddya know, it still is!), but it … Continue reading →

Posted in Environment, Media, MichaelW's Page, Technology | 2 Comments

Americans Addicted to Freedom

Posted on August 9, 2007 by Keith_Indy

And proud of it!!! Sen. George Allen makes a good point. Contrary to some pundits, Americans are not “addicted to oil” but are instead addicted to freedom – freedom of movement especially, former Sen. George Allen (R-Va.) told a large … Continue reading →

Posted in Domestic Politics, Economics, Keith's Page, Technology | Leave a comment

Guerrillas In Our Midst (Updated)

Posted on July 20, 2007 by MichaelW

Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying War against them, or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort. No Person shall be convicted of Treason unless on the Testimony of two Witnesses to the … Continue reading →

Posted in Domestic Politics, Foreign affairs, Law, MichaelW's Page, Notes on the war, Technology | 3 Comments

Bio-Fuel Increases Price of Ice Cream

Posted on July 16, 2007 by Keith_Indy

The increase in the amount of bio-fuel production, specifically ethanol, is driving up the costs of anything that feeds or is produced with grain. This is leading to higher prices for milk, ice cream, cereal, and a host of other … Continue reading →

Posted in Domestic Politics, Economics, Environment, Keith's Page, Technology | 2 Comments

News Brief, America, Frack Yeah Edition

Posted on June 28, 2007 by Joshua Foust

Defense It saddens me to see that a general neglect of our soldiers has a long and storied tradition in this country. I honestly think us to be better than that. Uh-oh, is our new strategy in Iraq geared for … Continue reading →

Posted in Domestic Politics, Foreign affairs, Military Matters, Notes on the war, Technology | 4 Comments

Trading Dependencies

Posted on June 25, 2007 by Keith_Indy

Instapundit links to an article in Reason about how the increased production of ethanol is leading to higher prices for food. I also think it could lead to increasing reliance by America on foreign grain. Which, as we saw with … Continue reading →

Posted in Developmental economics, Domestic Politics, Economics, Environment, Keith's Page, Technology | Leave a comment

Purdue creates scientifically based animation of 9/11 attack

Posted on June 21, 2007 by Keith_Indy

Well, all the attention crashed their web servers, so they’ve hosted the simulation on YouTube. I must say I’m impressed with the animation. You can certainly see why a collapse was near inevitable with what looks like 1/3 of the … Continue reading →

Posted in Keith's Page, Technology | 3 Comments

Flooding risk remains in parts of New Orleans

Posted on June 21, 2007 by Keith_Indy

Gee, parts of N’Awlins are still under sea level (and unlikely to change.) You would think the above headline was a given. And why does it NOT surprise me that what the local leaders were most concerned about… As part … Continue reading →

Posted in Domestic Politics, Keith's Page, Louisiana Politics, Technology | Leave a comment

News Brief, Konyr Edition

Posted on June 19, 2007 by Joshua Foust

Defense The Vatican-embassy in Baghdad is too understaffed and too restricted to be useful, Ambassador Crocker told SecState Rice. He said we are either at war or we are not at war, and the priorities of the Department must reflect … Continue reading →

Posted in Domestic Politics, Economics, Foreign affairs, Military Matters, Notes on the war, Technology | Leave a comment

News Brief, I Was A Lover Edition

Posted on June 12, 2007 by Joshua Foust

Cross-posted at The Conjecturer. Defense Could the shakeup at JCS be an indication of a possibly positive move toward skepticism on Iraq? Possibly. I’m more intrigued with putting two Navy guys in charge of our insurgency campaigns—what kind of insight … Continue reading →

Posted in Developmental economics, Domestic Politics, Foreign affairs, Military Matters, Notes on the war, Technology | 19 Comments

News Brief, Я ненавижу ваше лицо Edition

Posted on June 1, 2007 by Joshua Foust

Cross-posted on The Conjecturer. Defense The IDF is generally thought of as one of the world’s top armies—though it lacks expeditionary capability (which is usually a function of solid logistics), its warfighting is top notch. Not so, according to the … Continue reading →

Posted in Domestic Politics, Election 2008, Foreign affairs, Hugo Chavez, Media, Military Matters, Notes on the war, Technology | 9 Comments

News Brief, Still At War With Oceania Edition

Posted on May 30, 2007 by Joshua Foust

Cross-posted at The Conjecturer. Defense An entire security detail was abducted in Baghdad, in a secure area, leading to questions about the extent to which local security forces are collaborating with the insurgents, whether private companies are appropriate agents, and … Continue reading →

Posted in Foreign affairs, Military Matters, Notes on the war, Technology | Leave a comment

Garbage In, Garbage Out

Posted on May 16, 2007 by Keith_Indy

I’ve often commented that I don’t really trust computer climate models because they’ve seemed to me to be missing a lot of variables. So, it’s a little satisfying to see this article, which shows that MIT researchers are enhancing the … Continue reading →

Posted in Domestic Politics, Economics, Environment, Keith's Page, Technology | 2 Comments

News Brief, Untitled 4 Edition

Posted on May 15, 2007 by Joshua Foust

The Pentagon Oh, Noah. The CIA isn’t the only spy agency with a questionable kid’s page. There is also the NSA, which urges children to learn cryptography. I don’t think these are bad things per se (and the CIA’s large … Continue reading →

Posted in Domestic Politics, Economics, Foreign affairs, Military Matters, Technology | Leave a comment

Sunny Times for Chinese Solar Power?

Posted on May 13, 2007 by Lance

To get rich is glorious in China nowadays. Scientists are no exception. A top home-grown inventor, 41-year-old Ma Xin, is currently engineering a reverse takeover of a small Singapore-listed investment company, Rowsley, in a deal worth 2.7 billion Singapore dollars … Continue reading →

Posted in Environment, Investing, Lance's Page, Technology | Leave a comment

News Brief, Hands Away Edition

Posted on May 10, 2007 by Joshua Foust

Cross-posted at The Conjecturer. The Pentagon Philip Carter has by far the best response to the Army’s misguided new OPSEC rules. Interesting report on nuclear submarine dismantlement, though the end contains a curious gaffe: the submarine in that picture is … Continue reading →

Posted in Foreign affairs, Military Matters, Notes on the war, Technology | Leave a comment

News Brief Is Beyond Thunderdome Today

Posted on May 8, 2007 by Joshua Foust

Cross-posted on The Conjecturer. The Pentagon Remember that time the DoD freaked out over secret Canadian radio tracking coins? Turns out some contractors were spooked by the image of a flower, and their concerns were sent without review or criticism … Continue reading →

Posted in Developmental economics, Foreign affairs, Media, Military Matters, Notes on the war, social science, Technology | Leave a comment

News Brief, Ship The Majestic Suffix Edition

Posted on May 8, 2007 by Joshua Foust

Cross-posted at The Conjecturer. The Pentagon Unintended consequences: up-armored Humvees can trap soldiers inside during attacks. Already the cost of the war has ballooned far beyond the original $50 billion price tag President Bush suggested in 2002. Where does it … Continue reading →

Posted in Domestic Politics, Economics, Foreign affairs, Media, Military Matters, Notes on the war, social science, Technology | 25 Comments

News Brief, I Would Have Posted This Yesterday But Was At The Hospital Edition

Posted on May 5, 2007 by Joshua Foust

Cross-posted on The Conjecturer. The Pentagon Tony Snow declared the milblogging scandal overreported, but then admitted he didn’t know what he was talking about. See for yourself if such a major change in OPSEC rules was over-done. Lockheed Martin builds … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Developmental economics, Domestic Politics, Foreign affairs, Military Matters, Notes on the war, social science, Technology | 1 Comment

News Brief, Planet Unicorn Heyyy Edition

Posted on May 3, 2007 by Joshua Foust

Cross-posted at The Conjecturer, where you’ll find an explanation for the edition name. I’m sorry. The Pentagon I think Lance should have highlighted Blackfive’s major point about the stupid restrictions on war blogs: the Pentagon has already lost the information … Continue reading →

Posted in Domestic Politics, Economics, Environment, Foreign affairs, Media, Military Matters, Notes on the war, social science, Technology | 5 Comments

News Brief, Ordinary World Edition

Posted on May 2, 2007 by Joshua Foust

Cross-posted on The Conjecturer. The Pentagon The Post today slams Bush for his “rush to failure” in deploying missile defense to Europe—rightfully so, as the system is far from useable, and needlessly expensive and provocative. Here’s the best part, though: … Continue reading →

Posted in Domestic Politics, Environment, Foreign affairs, Law, Military Matters, Notes on the war, social science, Technology | 9 Comments

News Brief, Casimir Pulaski Day Edition

Posted on May 1, 2007 by Joshua Foust

Cross-posted at The Conjecturer. The Pentagon Ready for SkyNet? The MULE is. So is the Reaper. “Full spectrum capabilities” and “Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR)”—however the hell they are defined this week—are how the Air Force is to win the … Continue reading →

Posted in Developmental economics, Domestic Politics, Foreign affairs, History, Military Matters, Notes on the war, Technology | Leave a comment

Venezuela Seizes Oil Operations

Posted on May 1, 2007 by Keith_Indy

Get ready for higher gas prices, as inexperienced bureaucrats take over the operations of 4 major refineries. Venezuela stripped the world’s biggest oil companies of operational control over massive Orinoco Belt crude projects on Tuesday, a vital move in President … Continue reading →

Posted in Developmental economics, Domestic Politics, Economics, Environment, Hugo Chavez, Keith's Page, Technology | Leave a comment

News Brief, Pitseleh Edition

Posted on April 27, 2007 by Joshua Foust

Cross-posted at The Conjecturer. The Pentagon When START stops, what happens to Prompt Global Strike? Let’s think of this question in the context of Volodiya scrapping arms control accords with Europe. Rumors that the 15-month extension was a bad joke, … Continue reading →

Posted in Developmental economics, Foreign affairs, Military Matters, Notes on the war, Religion and theology, social science, Technology | Leave a comment

The Home of the Future

Posted on April 26, 2007 by The Poet Omar

Professor Richard Horden of University of Munich recently unveiled a new permanent or semi-permanent housing unit design: the m-ch. While not exactly a title that set marketing execs hearts aflutter, the idea is actually pretty amusing. The original concept was … Continue reading →

Posted in Environment, Technology, The Poet Omar's Page | Leave a comment

News Brief, I Want to Be Your Sledgehammer Edition

Posted on April 25, 2007 by Joshua Foust

Cross-posted at The Conjecturer. I’m going go try to shorten these and better group them thematically at some point, but I just find too much during the day to really limit things. Should I give up the pretense of exhaustiveness? … Continue reading →

Posted in Developmental economics, Domestic Politics, Foreign affairs, Hugo Chavez, Libertarianism, Military Matters, social science, Technology | 13 Comments

News Brief, Under Pressure Edition

Posted on April 23, 2007 by Joshua Foust

Cross-posted at The Conjecturer. The Pentagon All the protests from the DoD about the “surprise” test of China’s ASAT missile were completely invented. They knew it was happening, and chose to use it for P.R. Even so, they’re starting to … Continue reading →

Posted in Domestic Politics, Foreign affairs, Media, Military Matters, social science, Technology | Leave a comment

Is It Plagiarism?

Posted on April 20, 2007 by Joshua Foust

Lance was teasing me for not posting this here. I may be mistaken, but my review of Laurence Jarvik’s article on NGOs in Central Asia, which I had posted at The Registan, is re-posted without attribution on the subscription section … Continue reading →

Posted in Media, Music, Technology | 5 Comments

Shift Happens: No more boring statistics

Posted on April 14, 2007 by Lance

(Via: Pajamas) Please watch this. In understanding the world our ignorance is a problem, but greater still are the things which we believe we know about the world that we do not. Luckily for you, this is entertaining. Within minutes … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture, Developmental economics, Economics, Education, Race, social science, Technology | 2 Comments

Want Progress, Race it, or Militarize it

Posted on April 5, 2007 by Keith_Indy

An electric motorcycle is tearing up the track, and setting records. And improving at a very impressive rate. 6/10ths of a second gain in 3 months. A123Systems today announced that The KillaCycle, the world’s quickest electric motorcycle and the official … Continue reading →

Posted in Keith's Page, Sports, Technology | 2 Comments

Shift Happens

Posted on March 23, 2007 by Lance

We live in a fast changing world. I consider that a good thing: glumbert.com – Shift Happens [tags] China, India, technology, economics, politics, US, jobs, education [/tags]

Posted in Developmental economics, Domestic Politics, Economics, Foreign affairs, History, Lance's Page, social science, Technology | Leave a comment

How Green is that Prius??

Posted on March 22, 2007 by Keith_Indy

Apparently not as much as we’ve been led to believe, when you total up the entire environmental costs. Now, if you only look at fuel costs for running the vehicle, they sure are green. But what about all those materials … Continue reading →

Posted in Domestic Politics, Economics, Keith's Page, Technology | 10 Comments

Computer Language Pioneer John Backus Passes

Posted on March 20, 2007 by Keith_Indy

From the New York Times via Pajamas Media, I learned that John Backus died on Saturday. Now, the name probably doesn’t mean anything to most people. In fact, it didn’t mean anything to me, until I saw the computer language … Continue reading →

Posted in Education, Keith's Page, Technology | 1 Comment

I Want My, I Want My

Posted on March 15, 2007 by Keith_Indy

I Want My, I Want My, I Want My IraqTV… What would Dire Straits do with this? This should get some eyes and ears of the video game generation off the computer games for a while, and onto some things … Continue reading →

Posted in Foreign affairs, Keith's Page, Media, Military Matters, Technology | 2 Comments

Touching the Third Rail of Climate Policy

Posted on February 12, 2007 by Lance

Al Gore and Richard Branson have finally touched it. What is the third rail? Ways to actually extract CO2 from the atmosphere, or CO2 capture. Why is capturing and extracting CO2 the third rail? Once again I turn to the … Continue reading →

Posted in Domestic Politics, Economics, Environment, Lance's Page, Libertarianism, Technology | Leave a comment

Trading in Virtual Reality

Posted on February 12, 2007 by Lance

I first was tipped off to this by Alex Tabarrok and went to Edward Castranova’s who sent me to the Synthetic Worlds Initiative. It is there that I read the story about Sony Online Entertainments new study on virtual trade. … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture, Economics, Lance's Page, Technology | 8 Comments

America The Pillar

Posted on February 5, 2007 by MichaelW

It is often suggested, without serious objection, that American military spending and prowess allows European governments to free-ride on our military budget, and thus to spend lavishly on social programs. But are those social programs also heavily subsidized by American … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, Foreign affairs, Libertarianism, MichaelW's Page, Technology | 3 Comments

Now this is Cool! Really, Really Cool

Posted on February 1, 2007 by Lance

Oh my god. I want this, I want it now! Especially if I get to listen to cool minimalist music while I work. Be patient and sit through the stupid Microsoft ad. Maybe I am the last to see this, … Continue reading →

Posted in Technology | 6 Comments

Now this is Cool

Posted on February 1, 2007 by Lance

Hat tip Tyler Cowen. We have here a 3-D world map based on Economic activity. It requires Flash Player. Technorati Tags: Economics, Map, economic activity, cool powered by performancing firefox

Posted in Economics, Lance's Page, social science, Technology, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Virtual reality keeps becoming more real

Posted on January 23, 2007 by Lance

The expansion of the influence of virtual worlds continues. From Blake Hounshell, formerly known on the internet as Praktike: Reuters will conduct a series of interviews with artists, politicians and executives at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland next … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, Foreign affairs, Lance's Page, social science, Technology | 2 Comments

Hugo’s (Invisible) Handiwork

Posted on January 9, 2007 by MichaelW

Is Hugo Chavez a gift to mankind? Man’s greatest accomplishment is his ability to adapt. Whether through technological development, increased efficiency, innovation of skill, or just good old fashioned hard work, mankind always finds a way to meet its needs … Continue reading →

Posted in Developmental economics, Economics, Foreign affairs, History, Hugo Chavez, Libertarianism, MichaelW's Page, Technology | 2 Comments

Following up on Virtual Reality

Posted on January 3, 2007 by Lance

As a brief follow up on my longer speculative piece on the economic and political consequences of the rise of virtual economies I suggest this review (via Coyote Blog) from PC Magazine of Second Life. Then there’s the virtual charity … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture, Economics, Lance's Page, Law, Libertarianism, social science, Technology | 3 Comments

The Virtues of Economics in a Virtual World

Posted on December 27, 2006 by Lance

I must admit I find this article on virtual property rights from the Washington Post fascinating. Questions about online property rights, the legal status of those rights, currency exchanges to convert online currency into our own rather insubstantial fiat money, … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture, Domestic Politics, Economics, Lance's Page, Law, Libertarianism, Media, social science, Technology | 4 Comments

The Holiday Season kicks off with a bang!

Posted on December 22, 2006 by Lance

It is a rare happenstance that my weekday mornings start of as well as mine did this morning. Two busy people rushing to get ready for work. Most of our readers can surely empathize. Of course I have now discovered … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture, Humor, Lance's Page, social science, Technology | Leave a comment

Escaping the Boredom of Weapons

Posted on December 5, 2006 by Lance

Go ahead, you know you want to know what I mean. Hat tip to Jon Henke. [tags]weapons, guns, bombs, cannons, exploding tits, acid balloons, etc. [/tags]

Posted in Humor, Lance's Page, Technology | 2 Comments

Staying abreast of the implant issue-Updated

Posted on November 19, 2006 by Lance

The FDA which has finally decided to allow silicone breast implants back onto the market: The decision appeared to end a controversy over the safety of silicone implants that lasted more than two decades and resulted in thousands of lawsuits … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture, Domestic Politics, Economics, Environment, Lance's Page, Law, Libertarianism, Media, Technology | 63 Comments

Firefox

Posted on October 31, 2006 by Lance

I am not the most tech savvy blogger on the internet, but I do spend a fair amount of time on the web. So I have been waiting for my beloved Firefox’s latest upgrade. I also had the chance over … Continue reading →

Posted in Lance's Page, Technology | 5 Comments