prior probability

This is the view from my hotel room in Bogota:

Via the July 12 edition of El Tiempo (my translation):

The 43rd circuit court of the Bogotá tribunal ordered the prohibition of the sale of all iPhones and iPads that handle 5G technology in Colombia. This decision arises from several patent infringement lawsuits between Apple and Ericsson.

The court held that Apple infringed Colombian patent NC2019/0003681, which is necessary to develop 5G technology. This patent was granted to Ericsson in 2019 and is valid until December 2037.

The full article (in Spanish) is available here.

Inspired by Sheree’s “Thursday Doors” feature on her fun blog View from the Back, below are some of my favorite doors that I saw while walking through the streets of La Candelaria, the colonial zone of Colombia’s capital city.

Tyler Cowen delivered the keynote address at this year’s meeting of the International Adam Smith Society (IASS), which is being held in Bogota, Colombia. The first question from the audience (at minute 50 of the video) is from yours truly.

I will be blogging sporadically, if at all, this week as I am attending the 2022 International Adam Smith Society Conference, which is taking place at the Universidad de los Andes in Bogotá, Colombia. Also, here is a link to this year’s program.

“Trying to rank institutions of higher education is a little like trying to rank religions or philosophies. The entire enterprise is flawed, not only in detail but also in conception.” Colin S. Diver.

1. “Is There Life After Rankings?” by Colin Diver (President of Reed College). This excellent essay from the November 2005 issue of The Atlantic explains why Reed College refuses (rightly, in my review) to play the rankings game.
2. “What College Rankings Really Tell Us” by Malcolm Gladwell (via The New Yorker). This February 2011 article explains how any system of rankings depends entirely on what weights we assign to what variables.
3. “An Investigation of the Facts Behind Columbia’s U.S. News Ranking” by Michael Thaddeus (Professor of Mathematics). This recent exposé (March 2022) explains how Columbia University was able to manipulate the U.S. News rankings game.

In honor of James Edmund Caan, below is a montage of scenes from The Godfather featuring this great actor. My personal favorite is number 2, a scene that Mr Caan actually improvised (see here)!