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Powerthirst - arrrgh!

I need gratuitous amounts of energy!!!

Gawker Artists

I hate ads, but I love this Gawker artist box.



It feels so true today...

When Hippies run the world

Wow...no surprise, when hippies run the world, it becomes a commune. It totally worked with the USSR... to quote Homer: "In theory - Communism works. In Theory"

Why We Banned Legos

I'd pull my kids out of this school.

Valuable lessons that could've been taught:
1. Scarcity premium - the special lego pieces are scare and have intrinsic value, umm..isn't that the way the earth works? Oh I forgot, we have limitless resources.
2. Efficient Markets - okay, to equilibrate supply and demand in a zero-sum game environment, market mechanisms must take place. The "market" is the mechanism humans have created to distribute resources just like "government" is the system humans have created to share power.
3. Specialization of labor - one kid wanted to make an airport. Not all kids can make airports because there aren't enough pieces to go around. Solution - instead of telling the kids to make something equally valuable on their own, let's just ban airports...or make them all public (umm..tragedy of the commons?).

So, instead of an interesting Legotown with real life dynamics and lessons, this is the system/framework that the teachers ended up fabricating:

• All structures are public structures. Everyone can use all the Lego structures. But only the builder or people who have her or his permission are allowed to change a structure.

• Lego people can be saved only by a "team" of kids, not by individuals.

• All structures will be standard sizes

A hippie, vegan, lego-commune! Zero incentive to innovate and limited self expression.

Warren Buffett on Charlie Rose

Wisdom from Warren. Entirely worth the hour...



A couple takeaways:

1. Philanthropic organizations that are funded to perpetuity result in both good and poorly run organizations that end up being interested in longevity and self-preservation rather than efficacy.

2. Contrary to what the average investor thinks - minority shareholders in a public companies have little influence over what the company actually does.

3. Trust your managers. Don't engage in "make work" activities.

The case against psychics

The irony of the argument for psychics and ESP is the exact same one defenders of religion use: if you can't prove it doesn't exist, then it's plausible that it does.

That's why I love this article.