An Early Entry in the Series

I'm reading "Devil Take the Hindmost: A History of Financial Speculation". I like it so far, especially because the author scatters asterisks on nearly every page. The notes below are where the real fun lies. In one, we find that Edmond Hoyle* titled one of his works Essay towards making theDoctrine of Chances easy to those who understand Vulgar Arithmetick only. In other words, the original Probability for Dummies.

* Yes, the Hoyle who was an authority on card and other games.

More Silver Linings in the Economic Storm Clouds

Divorces are down, along with pet ownership! As a confirmed cani-phobe, I would be much more likely to donate to a fund to humanely euthanize these furry money pits to free up resources for much more important needs. And once again, no, I did not run over the family dog on purpose. Sheesh.

Evolution of Divination

I have had a very minor (and I hasten to add, academic) interest in divination ever since I learned about the ancient Chinese practice of heating animal bones and reading the future in the resulting cracks (scapulamancy). What fascinates me more than the divination itself is the amazing proliferation of techniques over the centuries. This wikipedia entry here (scroll down to "common methods") barely scratches the surface. This link gives a better picture, and is good for a few laughs. Scatoscopy, anyone?

If you bother for consult the wiki list, you will notice one called "cybermancy," which employs computers. This is not really new. It's pretty well developed and you can even purchase software that will allow your computer to pray for you, round the clock. It's not yet available on the iPhone.

Well, move over Cybermancy, there's a new kid on the block. Still needs a -mancy or -scopy name, though. It's divination by "asymetric language trend analysis" of random web postings.

Win

Lots of funny stuff here, if you like to laugh at other people's mistakes. If you'd rather just brood over your own, I can't help you. BTW, I am providing the g-rated link, and I salute the site for providing one.

Pop Culture is a Wilderness to Me

Maybe it's me being increasingly superannuated (love that word), but it seems like more and more of popular culture is a series of increasingly obscure inside jokes. If you saw this t-shirt, would you know what it was about? I would, but only because I accidentally caught this hilarious video. It takes a lot of work to be in on the jokes, and I just can't keep up.

I guess I shouldn't complain about the increasing levels of irony in our culture. I once made a t-shirt that said

"Wisconsin Concrete Park: The world calls it Art. Fred Smith said it was something he just did."*

Back in the 80's, it never caught on. Now, it might sell in the thousands.

* The t-shirt did not have a hyperlink.

City of Ember

I have a short review of the movie up on Scott Nehring's site. Couple of things about this movie I did not comment on in the review:

Ember is built to shelter a remnant of humanity from a nuclear holocaust. This is not mentioned in the movie (my kids, who are fans of the books, told me). Seems like such a 1980's kind of worry. Kind of dates the author.

This movie is one of the most agenda-free kids movies I've seen in a long time. No ideology, no worldview, no moral, nothing. The only lesson learned is that when the lights start failing in your giant cave home, it's time to look for a way out.

The movie, though mediocre, gave me a plot idea, which I was going to share here, but perhaps I'll turn it into another of my extremely popular short stories.