I’ve never read anything by Lant Pritchett that wasn’t interesting, and this brief blog article is no exception. It’s a good reminder that “broad based… Read More »Lant Pritchett on Poverty, Economic Growth and Charity
In order to understand recursion, you must first understand recursion. Nerdy Proverb I’d been planning to do a little writeup on recursion and iteration to… Read More »The difference between recursion and iteration, stack overflow
This lecture – from the exceptional Wang Gungwu – is tremendous on all of the above and more besides. Wang is the embodiment of a… Read More »Wang Gungwu on Overseas Chinese identity and assimilation in Southeast Asia, Singaporean exceptionalism, European and Asian maritime history
This footage from 1979 shows how much Health and Safety culture has changed in less than a generation. Not a safety harness or carabiner in… Read More »Not long ago; or, Little by little (7): Fred Dibnah, Steeplejack – health and safety edition
Alan Becker breaks down key elements of animation from Thomas and Johnston’s Disney Animation: The Illusion of Life. Recommended. Slow in, Slow Out; or, (Sine)… Read More »Alan Becker: Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston’s 12 Principles of Animation (and a bit of the beauty of maths)
I came across this paper via Ezra Klein’s NYT piece about Elon Musk and Twitter. It reads like a blend of Finite and Infinite Games… Read More »C. Thi Nguyen on Twitter, Gamification and Thin Metrics
This is a nice summary of the Lovecraftian worldview from James Lovegrove’s Sherlock Homes and the Miskatonic Monstrosities, to compare and contrast with your own.… Read More »Lovecraftian Theology; or, Holmes in the Hammam
THE YEAR WAS 2081, and everybody was finally equal. They weren’t only equal before God and the law. They were equal every which way. Nobody… Read More »Harrison Bergeron: Kurt Vonnegut imagines true equality
Let’s say it one more time: YouTube is amazing, and Kevin Kelly and Tyler Cowen are right to describe it as the world’s preeminent educational… Read More »The Brilliance of Honda (and Mini Motor Man) (and YouTube)
These might be the most important qualities for doing anything. Talent In every interview I’m asked what’s the most important quality a novelist has to… Read More »Haruki Murakami on Writing: Talent. Focus. Endurance.