Fri 26 February 2010 | -- (permalink)

Are you familiar with the Monty Hall Problem? Read up on it now if you haven't. It's from the old show Let's Make a Deal. And most people fundamentally misunderstand the probabilities involved in deciding whether to stick with the door you picked or switch once Monty opens one of …

Wed 24 February 2010 | -- (permalink)

Dajax promises super easy setup for AJAX support in Django applications. They do make it look easy, but I'm not sure I like the approach of specifying a DOM element inside my Python code.

Tue 23 February 2010 | tags: cslewis, cyberbullying, dailylinks, dereksivers, ianbicking, leadership, losangeles, management, python, ranking, toppcloud, -- (permalink)

What I've been reading lately:

• Video: Wonderfully conceptualized, beautifully executed - (37signals) -
• Olympics 1, AIG 0: Why Forced Ranking Is a Bad Idea
  • Quick tip for management: If your company is so big that you have to give up individualized assessments of performance in favor of a system that makes you …

Thu 04 February 2010 | tags: dailylinks, django, expertise, genius, happiness, hbr, language, marginalrevolution, marketsineverything, marriage, penelopetrunk, pinax, python, -- (permalink)

What I've been reading lately:

• Marginal Revolution: Markets in everything
  • Ziploc bags that deter people from stealing your sandwich by making it look like it's moldy. Genius.
• The Making of an Expert - Harvard Business Review - Extensive research shows that expert performance is not inborn, it's something you build. The ingredients …

Wed 27 January 2010 | tags: antichoice, antilife, brainstorming, budget, corruption, dailylinks, decisionmaking, deficit, dereksivers, doublex, india, prochoice, programmers, prolife, software, testers, -- (permalink)

What I've been reading lately:

• Why testers? - Joel on Software - Joel Spolsky says that your testers should *not* be programmers.
• There are always more than two options | Derek Sivers - "(At very least, add 'do nothing' and 'go insane' as choices.)"
• The Zero Rupee Note
  • A creative, gutsy, and chuckle-inducing response …

Mon 25 January 2010 | tags: 1stamendment, comcast, customerservice, dailylinks, eugenevolokh, explodingoffers, music, nalp, security, startups, supremecourt, terrorism, underwearbomber, worstcompanyiveeverhadtodealwith, -- (permalink)

What I've been reading lately:

• I surrender, Comcast
  • In case there was any doubt, Comcast service is still an epic fail. Especially if you just want internet.
• Language Log » Modal deafness - Not everyone hears music in the same way. Many people, even musically trained ones, can't reliably tell the difference …

Mon 25 January 2010 | -- (permalink)

Jonathan Adler at The Volokh Conspiracy points to a Wall Street Journal op-ed with this stunning fact:

...over the past decade pension costs for [California] public employees increased 2,000%. State revenues increased only 24% over the same period.

Part of the problem is retiring baby boomers.  A bigger part …

Sat 23 January 2010 | tags: archive, art, cancer, chess, china, computers, csrf, css, dailylinks, foreignpolicy, google, hillaryclinton, javascript, kasparov, mutatation, secondlife, smoking, statedepartment, websecurity, xss, -- (permalink)

What I've been reading lately:

• Hillary Clinton Extends Foreign Policy To The Internet And Wants Your Help
  • I wondered in a recent post how the State Department felt about Google being the leader in recent developments in our foreign policy with China. Judging by this post, the answer is "left …

Fri 22 January 2010 | tags: atmskimmer, copyright, dailylinks, flds, lawschool, libraries, piracy, polygamy, publishing, scams, schneier, security, warrenjeffs, -- (permalink)

What I've been reading lately:

• The Polygamists — National Geographic Magazine
  • An outstanding article. It even quotes Warren Jeffs' personal journal: "The Lord directed that I go to the sun tanning salon and get sun tanned more evenly on their suntanning beds." Via Brooke Adams' blog "The Plural Life."
• The Volokh …

Fri 22 January 2010 | -- (permalink)

Ben Casnocha says you can find out a lot about a society by asking its youth "Do you want to work for the government?" That leaves me wondering, what exactly do you find out? Some reasons for people to answer "yes":

1. If a lot of youngsters want to work for …