This summer I deployed star charts in hopes of gaining skills and acquiring better habits. The star charts started on the 13th of July and ended whenever I realized they were no longer working. In this post I will try to identify why.

This qualitative review of my progress will …

Finding the location of photos and paintings of real places around the world.

On July 7 UNESCO announced this year's additions to the list of World Heritage sites. Among the newly added locations we find the mountain range of Qinghai Hoh Xil

Qinghai Hoh Xil

Qinghai is a large province in western China.

Hoh Xil means "Blue Ridge" in Mongolian. (A friend tells …

You can find the paper here

I frequently make the mistake of reading HN comments. Many of the comments on this study had nothing to do with the study. The top comment makes a reference to arcahic bards and the detrimental effects of writing information down. But the paper doesn't …

I discovered a new subreddit today. Take a look at r/AccidentalWesAnderson. Wes Anderson directed the award winning Grand Budapest Hotel as well as Moonrise Kingdom. Both of these films are among my favorites.

So what makes a Wes Anderson film?

• pastel
• symmetry
• 60s decor
• backgrounds that intentionally look like …

Today Matt Perault visited the Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs. Matt has been the head of Facebook's Global Policy Division for the past five years. Here I provide some commentary on his comments today.

Snowden

Perault claims that the Snowden revelations were wrong. Specifically he pointed to an …

First, That the idea or belief of a word of God existing in print, or in writing, or in speech is inconsistent in itself for the reasons already assigned. These reasons, among many others, are the want of an universal language; the mutability of language; the errors to which translations …

According to Wikipedia:

Although the content is similar to the Discourses of Epictetus, it is not a summary of the Discourses but rather a compilation of practical precepts. Eschewing metaphysics, Arrian focused his attention on Epictetus's work applying philosophy in daily life.

So, chapter 1 says:

Some things are in …

In the Song of Roland I ran into a battle cry which escaped translation. The italics are not mine.

He saw the miscreant stretched on earth:

"Caitiff, thy threats are of little worth.

On, Franks! the felons before us fall;

Montjoie!" 'Tis the Emperor's battle-call.

And again

"Well fought," said …

1283-1350 Japan. Imperial Court. Poet. Buddhist monk in 1324.

He developed the Japanese aesthetic: beauty is indissolubly bound to its perishability. He wrote, "If man were never to fade away like the dews of Adashino, never to vanish like the smoke over Toribeyama, but lingered on forever in this world …