Some distilled 17th century wisdom

A review of Gracian

The Art of Worldly Wisdom: A Pocket Oracle

a book of three hundred aphorisms for making one’s way in the world and achieving distinction.

It provides advice not only for modern “image makers” and “spin doctors,” but also for the candid: for those who insist that substance, not image, is what really matters. “Do, but also seem,” is Gracián’s pithy advice

The book was imitated by La Rochefoucauld, cherished by Friedrich Nietzsche, and translated into German by Arthur Schopenhauer. Nietzsche observed that “Europe has never produced anything finer or more complicated in matters of moral subtlety.”

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Some thoughts from the guru of stats viz

Tufte

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R incantations

This is great! I love R and use it a lot but am always learning new tricks. Here is a nice recipe list for many simple, useful, common tasks.

R spells for data wizards

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A step forward in interfaces

Better brainwave sensors
Development will probably advance fast. I bet this technology leads to amazing capabilities

EEG control

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Do it yourself secure cloud storage

OwnCloud

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On forecasting

I think forecasting is very important. Of course, most of the past 20 years or so of my career have been spent actually making a living forecasting...
Good resources abound. Here is a free Forecasting textbook


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Follow your passion vs. get really good at something

Book review from Kevin Kelly

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Cool cloud service for writing

Includes versioning tools and a lot more that supports collaborative writing

Draft


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Privacy plus convenience

I don’t know what balance the US government hopes to strike, but what I do know is that privacy and convenience are technologically possible, and we need not relinquish security to attain it.

Jeremy Kun

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Exercise

High intensity training can get you in pretty good shape.
The following example workout needs no props except a chair.
The only thing you need is the self discipline to do it...

Seven minute intense workout

1. Jumping jacks Total body

2. Wall sit Lower body

3. Push-up Upper body

4. Abdominal crunch Core

5. Step-up onto chair Total body

6. Squat Lower body

7. Triceps dip on chair Upper body

8. Plank Core

9. High knees/running in place Total body

10. Lunge Lower body

11. Push-up and rotation Upper body

12. Side plank Core

Explaining and simplifying climate change

Climate change info flow chart


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Microsoft in 2001

Actually understood user interface design!

UI design

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Nolan bushnell's anti aging games

Anti aging games

$12.99 a month

Haven't yet checked out the free trial.


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A list of eight

Pretty decent financial blogs

The Big Picture

Rhoades scholarly financial planner

Pragmatic capitalism

Reformed broker

Above the market

Wpfau

For financial planners

Abnormal returns

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Macro ethics

I wonder if gaming based on heterogenous ethics / values helps at the macro level?

http://neweconomicperspectives.org/2013/03/without-an-effective-macroethics-our-civilization-is-doomed.html#more-5010

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More good personal finance

From Zvi Bodie

http://risklessandprosper.com/resource-library/getting-started/


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Some stoic texts

http://www.ibiblio.org/stoicism/reference/classical-texts/

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The School of Life - Good Ideas for Everyday Life

The School of Life - Good Ideas for Everyday Life

more from Alain de Botton.  Worth exploring

Awakening - Joshua Lang - The Atlantic

Awakening - Joshua Lang - The Atlantic

Anaesthesia, consciousness ...

Learning Charisma - Harvard Business Review

Learning Charisma - Harvard Business Review

Charisma is not all innate; it’s a learnable skill or, rather, a set of skills that have been practiced since antiquity. Our research with managers in the laboratory and in the field indicates that anyone trained in what we call “charismatic leadership tactics” (CLTs) can become more influential, trustworthy, and “leaderlike” in the eyes of others. In this article we’ll explain these tactics and how we help managers master them.

The tech debate blasts off (a linkfest) - Towards a leisure society

The tech debate blasts off (a linkfest) - Towards a leisure society

see the debate blast off in serious economic circles during the last quarter of 2012.
I thought it might be useful, as a result, to provide some links to the most recent developments — since the debate really is moving quickly now.

Epistemology...

Fact vs. non fact


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What is svchost.exe And Why Is It Running? - How-To Geek

What is svchost.exe And Why Is It Running? - How-To Geek

Very useful information for understanding all of the crapware service bloat in Windows.
I've got about 75% of all RAM committed when I turn on my ThinkPad, and performance sucks at just about anything.  Didn't used to be this bad, so I decided to do some maintenance, but it's not obvious what's what.  I mean, come on, "svchost.exe" ??  that's the process name for anything launched by DLLs or from services.  Which services can I get rid of?  iTunesHelper for one, I don't use iTunes very often on this computer.  but I try to stop the automatic launch of the process at startup, and a few days later, there it is again...

Some philosophy

http://andrewsullivan.thedailybeast.com/2012/09/dead-philosophers-society.html?utm_source=pulsenews&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+andrewsullivan%2FrApM+%28The+Daily+Dish%29


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Four kinds of philosophical people | Talking Philosophy

Four kinds of philosophical people | Talking Philosophy

The ideal philosopher lives up to her name by striving for wisdom. In practice, the pursuit of wisdom involves developing a sense of good judgment when tackling very hard questions. I think there are four skills involved in the achievement of good judgment: self-insight, humility, rigor, and cooperativeness.

Why passwords have never been weaker—and crackers have never been stronger | Ars Technica

Why passwords have never been weaker—and crackers have never been stronger | Ars Technica

The ancient art of password cracking has advanced further in the past five years than it did in the previous several decades combined. At the same time, the dangerous practice of password reuse has surged. The result: security provided by the average password in 2012 has never been weaker.

http://andrewsullivan.thedailybeast.com/2012/08/your-fragile-digital-life.html

 Last weekend, tech journalist Mat Honan faced the digital equivelent of a random act of violence when hackers, attracted to his three-letter Twitter username, picked him for an attack

Stoicism�/� Getting Stronger

Stoicism�/� Getting Stronger


Hormetism is a practical set of tools that can help you lose weight, get fit, or even improve your eyesight. But thinking of it as just “as set of tools” actually undervalues the benefits of Hormetism, because it leaves out the greatest benefit: a path to freedom from stress and a means of increasing your physical, mental and spiritual strength.  Hormetism is at once a broad perspective on living and a specific set of techniques that can free you from distractions and foster your ability to focus on the important things in life–even the most challenging ones–with greater engagement and joy, and with less distraction from negative emotions such as anger, fear, worry, and the other negative manifestations of stress. Hormetism is not just a set of tools, it is an overarching philosophy of life.
But did Hormetism come out of nowhere, or are there historical precedents?  Within the history of both Western and Eastern philosophies, there is one that comes closet:  Stoicism, one of the earliest and noblest of the philosophies to arise from the legacy of Socrates, over two millenia ago.

Language Style Matching Results

Language Style Matching Results

power dynamics — he thinks it's possible to tell who has a higher social status or holds the power in any situation based on who uses the word "I" more often. You'd think it would be the person who thinks he's more important, but it turns out it's actually the person who feels more insecure. When we're fixated on how we're coming across, our language reflects our self-consciousness.

More on intelligence

Cognitive training

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/22/magazine/can-you-make-yourself-smarter.html

Dan Hurley

Or just good exercise

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/22/magazine/how-exercise-could-lead-to-a-better-brain.html


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'Sounds of silence' proving a hit: World's fastest random number generator

'Sounds of silence' proving a hit: World's fastest random number generator

Now my favorite