Are you ready for some Superbowl? As always it seems so long from December to the Superbowl, and thoughts of football have already left my head. And who should I root for? I usually root for the West Coast, or the NFC, but the 49ers? Argh.
I think ... yeah, the Chiefs. They haven't been in it for a loong time...
Games to play ... Obduction! From Cyan, billed as a spiritual successor to Myst and Riven. Okay, I'll try it. I'm not much of a gamer, but I do like the puzzly-a-la-Myst kind.
Books to read ... A Truck Full of Money. From Tracy Kidder. "A perfectly executed, exquisitely reported parable of the Internet age and the wild, mad adventure that is start-up culture." Okay, then.
Edward Snowden: "The problem of fake news isn't solved by hoping for a referee but rather because we as participants, we as citizens, we as users of these services help each other. The answer to bad speech is not censorship. The answer to bad speech is more speech." Amen.
The incomparable Led Zep, performing Dazed and Confused live in 1973. Yes of course Jimmy Page is playing guitar with a cello bow. JPJ and Bonham are enjoying the show as much as we are. And Plant the voice! The correct volume for this is 11.
I saved this so I could link it for you: a wide-ranging interview with Peter Thiel. I had the privilege of working for Peter for while, back at PayPal, when he was still just Peter. He was smart then and smarter now.
Read the article and you'll see; he has this pleasant trick of always being between you and the middle, no matter where you are.
I know, "your majesty, there is no second", but if I had to pick it was the Walmart commercial featuring space travelers from various movies. That was pretty great.
Oh, and the halftime show? Meh. Not a good place for strippers in my opinion, I prefer musical acts. Best ever was Tom Petty (2008) though Lady Gaga was great (2017) as were U2 (2012) and Michael Jackson (1993).
I began the day watching the World Cyclocross Championships and as expected Mathieu Van Der Poel won and won big, wire to wire by over two minutes. And it wasn't that close. He is honestly the best rider on a bike at the moment, and I would not be surprised to see him winning more big classics on the road this spring.
His incredible victory in the Amstel Gold race last year was no fluke.
Roger Simon: America's coming three-party system. Watching the Democratic party recoil to Bernie Sanders' ongoing success in the past week, I was wondering if this might happen. If he wins in Iowa and New Hampshire - and right now, it sure looks like he will (who would stop him not Biden or Warren) - then he's going to be well on his way to winning a Socialist party nomination. And Bloomberg will take the rest of the Democratic party and probably some Republicans too. How interesting.
Oh, yeah, and happy palindrominal day. 02/02/2020. I almost tried to post at 2:02:02, but I figured that would be redundant. Some say it's the most palindrominal day ever! (I link, you decide)
I almost hate to mention this because I hope they don't become too popular (and I know how many of you are reading this :), but I love JSX. This little airline flies from Burbank to Oakland and Phoenix in cute little jets from hangers on the other side of the airport and there's no lines, no taking off your shoes and jackets, and it's just great. And it doesn't even cost more.
The other day I asked: "Imagine that you're making a magic potion. You're a wizard with a long beard. But - the potion only works if you wait exactly 45 minutes before you stir it. If you stir it before or after the potion's totally ruined. You don't have a smartphone. You don't have a watch. You don't have any kind of time measuring device. What you have is two fuses of irregular consistency. The one thing you know for a fact is that it takes an hour for each of these fuses to burn from one end to the other. How do you use these to measure exactly 45 minutes?"
Ignore that you're a wizard with a long beard.
Take the first fuse, and light both ends. At the same time light one end of the second fuse.
After exactly 30 minutes, the flames from the two ends of the first fuse will meet and the fuse will go out.
At that moment, light the other end of the second fuse.
After exactly 15 more minutes, the flames from the two ends of the second fuse will meet and the fuse will go out.
I think "adventures in perception" would be a great tagline for my blog :)
Heh; this book actually exists - apparently it's a good overview of "quantum action at a distance". I love the picture, either the kid or the Dad could be me :)
So... does quantum entanglement really exist? Or is it a phenomenon which is "only" perceptual?
Shelly Palmer: How do you see the Future? "It’s not a game. It’s a test. And your answers are your future." A great framework for understanding what you believe.
Waaay back in April 2016 - before Trump was elected, or taken seriously as a Presidential candidate - Bernie Sanders suggested that low voter turnout among poor people hurt our democracy. He was right about differential voting rates between economic classes, but is that good or bad? Maybe from his perspective as an ardent Socialist, it's bad. But from my perspective, I think wealthier people are more intelligent (causation actually runs the other way), and hence more likely to understand candidates and issues and make good decisions for everyone. What do you believe?
Economist: Britain after Brexit. After not having supported Brexit nor having understood why the majority of British people voted to leave the EU, the Economist editors double down by hoping Boris Johnson will follow Liberalism as his lodestar. This is *not* the Onion, but you could be forgiven for thinking so.
More Economist: Who will be Donald Trump's most forceful foe? Before you click through, ask yourself who do you think is the answer to this? And then read their answer: Joe Biden (!?). Um ... no. I believe the editors have lost the thread entirely.
Apropos: In Dem primary field, the idea of a moderate is a myth. Obama was the second most liberal person in the Senate (behind John Kerry), and literally all of the current Democrat candidates are to the left of him. Including [former Republican] Michael Bloomberg.
From the New Yorker: The Rock. In which a huge new diamond is found, and disrupts the industry. I always like reading about diamonds as the classic case of marketing to create demand ... did you know that diamonds are not rare? (And are in fact more common than many gemstones which are less valuable?) Anyway, cool.
Good news: A new spacecraft will examine the sun close up. "On February 10th a rocket blasted off from Florida carrying Solar Orbiter, a European space probe designed to solve some of them. This craft will spend the next two years performing fly-bys of Venus and Earth, using the gravity of both planets to kick itself into an unusual orbit that will take it well above the ecliptic, the plane in which all of the sun’s planets orbit." Yay.
Founders at work: Steve Wozniak. Linked via Paul Graham who comments "lots to learn from in this". No kidding. A great overview of what makes great engineers, and great products. I love the emphasis on elegance; I believe Woz would agree with W=UH :)
Finally this: The Lion Sleeps Tonight. Bummed to hear of the passing of Joseph Shabalala, founder of Ladysmith Black Mambazo. One of the best concerts I've seen from a band I didn't know at all when I saw them was LBM. They were at the Greek Theater - it was filled - and just about everyone in the audience sang along.
Hi all ... my Tesla Model S just passed 200K, after 7 years!
Max charge used to be 270 and daily (90%) was 245. Now is 245 and 220, so a loss of about 11%.
Biggest regret is that they've become so popular :)
Biggest unexpected benefit is the supercharger network, unknown when I bought the car.
Biggest maintenance issue is tires; I get about 20K per set, so am on about my 10th set.
Biggest nice thing is not stopping for gas all the time. And 200K is about 10K gallons or about $30K.
[Update: another big nice thing is being able to take any and I mean any car off the line. I didn't even list this at first because I've come to take it for granted, but in the early days it was so much fun accelerating onto the freeway next to a Corvette or BMW or Porsche :)]
Biggest too-bad-ness is not being able to use diamond lanes anymore. That was nice for a long time.
Biggest thing I didn't know when I bought the car – how nice it would be to have such a big trunk. And roof rack. I do regret that I'm not allowed to tow things but understand there’s a nice aftermarket solution to this now and might explore it.
Many new features via software updates; biggest include voice command, creep, GPS enhancements (traffic!), audio enhancements (spotify!), geofencing for garage door and air shock leveling, enabling WiFi, trip predictor, and valet mode. And fireplace!
Worst change is getting rid of the skeuomorphic UI (shown at left) and giving in to Windows 8 look. Although full screen GPS in 10.x is good. And browser has become so slow as to be unusable, not sure why (overall memory consumption?)
Ongoing engineer-ness in the UI: using Wh/mi as a unit. C'mon like anyone knows what that means. Ave mph would be okay.
Are you ready for some Superbowl? As always it seems so long from December to the Superbowl, and thoughts of football have already left my head. And who should I root for? I usually root for the West Coast, or the NFC, but the 49ers? Argh.
This is so great. Not clear what happened yet in Iowa, but seems plausible... 
The other day 
From the New Yorker: 
Hi all ... my Tesla Model S just passed 200K, after 7 years!
Worst change is getting rid of the skeuomorphic UI (shown at left) and giving in to Windows 8 look. Although full screen GPS in 10.x is good. And browser has become so slow as to be unusable, not sure why (overall memory consumption?)
Hi all I'm gone sailin', back in March...
