Notice how a single car in the video below creates a chain-reaction leading to a traffic jam. Thus the paradox: given driver behavior, what if building more highways (or expanding existing ones) doesn’t result in reductions of traffic jams? Instead, what if more or wider highways just creates more opportunities for more traffic jams?
Pictured below is a computer keyboard monument created by artist Anatoly Vyatkin. This massive sculpture was designed to mimic an IBM PC keyboard. It consists of 86 stone blocks, each weighing up to 1,000 pounds, and is located in Yekaterinburg, Russia. (You can find more pictures of this fascinating monument here.)
Hat Tip: Cliff Pickover (via Twitter).
On this Mother’s Day, we wish to remember “Abuela Cuca,” our beloved maternal grandmother …
Our beloved grandmother
File this post under “confirmation bias” or “reverse halo effect.” Nate Silver is the world-famous “data scientist” whose claim to fame is his ability to predict elections by aggregating polling data. Last summer (July 20, 2015), Silver explained why Donald Trump had a <5% chance of winning the Republican nomination. Last fall (Nov. 23, 2015), Silver grudgingly conceded that Trump had a <20% chance of being nominated. This week (May 4, 2016), with the campaign all but over, Silver finally recognized that Trump will be the Republican nominee. So, what should we make of this spectacular failure on Silver’s part to predict the outcome of this contest? More importantly, why did it take Nate Silver so long for him to update his priors? (FYI: Via Zero Hedge, Tyler Durden (or Daniel Ivandjiiski) explains in this excellent post why Silver was unable to distinguish between the signal and the noise.)
h/t: mangodebango (via imgur)
Earlier this year, we wrote up an in-depth series of blog posts discussing the moral bases of “the presidential pledge,” i.e. the solemn pledge all the Republican presidential candidates made to support the eventual nominee of their party. (Here is very our first post on this topic.) Now that businessman Donald J. Trump — the only candidate on the Republican side who remains in the contest — has unofficially won his party’s nomination, it will be fascinating to see how many of the losing candidates will break their pledge and the reasons given for breaking it.
Happy Anniversary, dearest Sydjia!
Congratulations to our students Cassidy Singer and Jacob Triton. This semester, they submitted an innovative final project (see video above) discussing the legal and ethical aspects of their proposed start-up business, ExpressU, an on-campus ride-sharing service. Mr Cassidy presented the project to our undergraduate Law and Ethics class and ended up receiving the most votes for “best presentation” from his fellow students. In addition, props to Sarah Lane for her presentation (Trilogy Coffee) and to Marina Ribeiro and Chris Mitchell for their project (The Socket). You can check out last semester’s winners here.
Pop Quiz: With cable television on one end of the learning spectrum (superficial and shallow) and good books on the other end (deep and thoughtful), which end of this spectrum is the Internet closer to?
Photo credit: F.E. Guerra-Pujol
Hopefully It’s Interesting.
In Conversation with Legal and Moral Philosophers
PhD, Jagiellonian University
Books, papers, and other jurisprudential things
Ramblings of a retiree in France
BY GRACE THROUGH FAITH
Natalia's space
hoping we know we're living the dream
Lover of math. Bad at drawing.
We hike, bike, and discover Central Florida and beyond
Making it big in business after age 40
Reasoning about reasoning, mathematically.
I don't mean to sound critical, but I am; so that's how it comes across
remember the good old days...
"Let me live, love and say it well in good sentences." - Sylvia Plath
a personal view of the theory of computation
Submitted For Your Perusal is a weblog wherein Matt Thomas shares and writes about things he thinks are interesting.
Logic at Columbia University
Just like the Thesis Whisperer - but with more money
the sky is no longer the limit
Technology, Culture, and Ethics
Just like the horse whisperer - but with more pages
Poetry, Other Words, and Cats
prior probability 