Quicksilver Sulfide
http://www.rvermillion.com/blog/
a subject on which almost everything remains to be done....en-us2006-05-14T12:48:04-05:00Privacy and the War
http://www.rvermillion.com/blog/archives/000300.html
The NSA is in the news again with reports that they asked for, and received, the call records, sans personally identifying information, from all major telcos but Qwest. While it appears that the government didn't violate any laws with this...Public Policyrichard2006-05-14T12:48:04-05:00Probability and Predictions
http://www.rvermillion.com/blog/archives/000299.html
One of the things that has bothered me for some time now is how people make and communicate predictions about the future. To pluck an (important) example from the headlines, the CIA and other intelligence analysts have said that Iran...Mathematicsrichard2006-05-13T12:16:53-05:00Link
http://www.rvermillion.com/blog/archives/000298.html
Link. Expression of delight....Humorrichard2006-04-12T09:35:50-05:00Survival of the Fittest
http://www.rvermillion.com/blog/archives/000295.html
The debate about evolution has raged in the comments below for several days. And it keeps returning to "survival of the fittest" and whether the concept is a tautology or not. And if not, whether it can produce falsifiable predictions....Sciencerichard2006-03-27T23:59:28-05:00Apropos "absurdity"
http://www.rvermillion.com/blog/archives/000296.html
In The New Yorker, H. Allen Orr reviews Daniell Dennett's new book, Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomenon. The book, an attempt to look at the phenomenon of religion from a scientific view, resonates with my absurd belief...Philosophyrichard2006-03-27T18:02:05-05:00More France
http://www.rvermillion.com/blog/archives/000294.html
An unusually blunt and bleak piece about France's latest woes at the Washington Post: This is the second time in four months that France has been seized with violent protests. And in an important sense, these are counter-riots, since the...Foreign Policyrichard2006-03-25T21:32:09-05:00Israel Lobby
http://www.rvermillion.com/blog/archives/000292.html
While it hasn't gotten a great deal of press, the recent "working paper" from the Kennedy School on the The Israel Lobby and US Foreign Policy has sparked a lot of outrage. It's truly remarkable what these two professors wrote...Foreign Policyrichard2006-03-25T16:55:05-05:00La petit vessie de Chirac
http://www.rvermillion.com/blog/archives/000293.html
I thought that I would allow myself to quietly gloat about this, but at the advice of a friend, I will laugh my ass off: PRESIDENT CHIRAC stormed out of the first session of a European Union summit dominated by...Foreign Policyrichard2006-03-25T16:12:09-05:00Vendetta
http://www.rvermillion.com/blog/archives/000291.html
Julia and I just got back from V for Vendetta and I really enjoyed the movie. It did a very good job of building tension, making the oppression palpable, and making you feel invested in the characters. The dialogue, which...Culturerichard2006-03-24T23:33:24-05:00"Absurd" belief
http://www.rvermillion.com/blog/archives/000289.html
It seems the blogosphere is awash in "absurd" beliefs. Not one to miss a bandwagon, I'll confess one (of probably many) of mine. It's actual a "contentious" belief combined with an "absurd" just-so story of sorts: The Self is nothing...Philosophyrichard2006-03-22T10:50:36-05:00Why Appliances Buck the Trend (or Economic Illiteracy)
http://www.rvermillion.com/blog/archives/000288.html
So I was all ready to point to this article at the New York Times as an interesting and timely follow-on to my post below on incomparability.... but instead, I'm forced to write about economic illiteracy in the media. The...Economicsrichard2006-03-11T11:30:58-05:00On Incomparability
http://www.rvermillion.com/blog/archives/000285.html
One of the things I've been thinking about recently is the difficulty in comparing and/or equating different products so that you can derive meaningful metrics about the category. To some extent this is a reflection of a larger ontological problem...Economicsrichard2006-03-08T21:15:00-05:00Robotic Pack Mule
http://www.rvermillion.com/blog/archives/000286.html
The New Scientist reports : A nimble, four-legged robot is so surefooted it can recover its balance even after being given a hefty kick. The machine, which moves like a cross between a goat and a pantomime horse, is being...Technologyrichard2006-03-06T01:20:06-05:00Port Deal
http://www.rvermillion.com/blog/archives/000283.html
The latest political showdown and Bush Administration controversy seems to be the UAE ports deal. Everyone seems a bit shocked that Bush has threatened to veto any legislation blocking or delaying the deal, and that he did it so quickly...Politicsrichard2006-02-23T09:14:03-05:00Fixing Copyright
http://www.rvermillion.com/blog/archives/000281.html
A modest proposal on how to fix the current copyright system and restore the balance with the public domain.Modest Proposalsrichard2006-02-20T08:23:54-05:00