http://www.rvermillion.com/blog/ a subject on which almost everything remains to be done.... en-us 2006-05-14T12:48:04-05:00 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 Policy richard 2006-05-14T12:48:04-05:00 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... Mathematics richard 2006-05-13T12:16:53-05:00 http://www.rvermillion.com/blog/archives/000298.html Link. Expression of delight.... Humor richard 2006-04-12T09:35:50-05:00 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.... Science richard 2006-03-27T23:59:28-05:00 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... Philosophy richard 2006-03-27T18:02:05-05:00 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 Policy richard 2006-03-25T21:32:09-05:00 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 Policy richard 2006-03-25T16:55:05-05:00 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 Policy richard 2006-03-25T16:12:09-05:00 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... Culture richard 2006-03-24T23:33:24-05:00 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... Philosophy richard 2006-03-22T10:50:36-05:00 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... Economics richard 2006-03-11T11:30:58-05:00 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... Economics richard 2006-03-08T21:15:00-05:00 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... Technology richard 2006-03-06T01:20:06-05:00 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... Politics richard 2006-02-23T09:14:03-05:00 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 Proposals richard 2006-02-20T08:23:54-05:00