Unabashed Utopia
I wrote about Russell Brand’s call for an unspecified revolution this past Friday. I liked his eloquent and indignant dismissal of the current political and economic system but he did not provide a vision of what a revolution should aim [...] Read more
Profitless Prosperity
If a Company is making huge profits this year but will not make any profits in the future, it is worthless in the eyes of an investor. But if it loses money this year and next year and may lose [...] Read more
Russell Brand and the Revolution
Russell Brand helped edit the latest issue of New Statesman. He leads off the magazine with an epic rant that is worth reading in its entirety. If you need some motivation, watch this 10 minute clip of him. Essentially, Brand [...] Read more
Community Surprises
There are many examples of online communities, as well as many examples of ways to engage, promote and respect those communities. At USV we think about this a fair amount. But sometimes online communities can surprise you in unexpected ways. [...] Read more
Forget Zombies: Start Worrying about Bacteria
Halloween is coming up. But if you really want to scare yourself, I suggest you read this interview with an associate director at the CDC about the “end of antibiotics.” Essentially we are not only seeing more bacteria that are [...] Read more
Homeschool Wednesday: University Courses
Growing up in Germany I was always bored in math class, despite going to “Gymnasium” (the branch of Germany’s multi-tiered system that leads up to university) and even taking the most advanced math class in our school (the so-called “Leistungskurs [...] Read more
Tech Tuesday: Finite State Machines (Introduction)
As promised (threatened?) Tech Tuesday is embarking on a look at the theoretical side of computer science. We also call this the theory of computation and it deals with two big questions: first, what are the limits to computation (known [...] Read more
Reclaiming Control of My Schedule
I am implementing a radical change to my scheduling: my default is going from saying yes to a meeting request to no. For a long time I have tried to meet with pretty much everybody who sincerely reached out to [...] Read more
Inspiration, move me brightly
"But no matter, the road is life" - Jack Kerouac Everyone is, rightly, talking about the wonderful and heartfelt and authentic essay by Macklemore about the incredible year they have had. It's that good, it should be read. It is [...] Read more
