Adrian Scott

from http://newmogul.com/item?id=12702
“It appears to me that the models we have used for centuries are basically flawed. They require a perfect market and logical decisionmakers that only take rational decisions. None of these are true in real life.

Markets are, in my opinion, much better explained by chaos theory and as emergent phenomena driven primarily by psychological factors.

So the question is: Are there any models that can explain random fluctuations and crashes and surges in the market?”

My Answer:

Yes, see the book The Origin of Wealth. ( http://www.ryze.com/books.php?isbn=1422121038 ) for plenty of references and more. The models you mention are not hundreds of years old actually. They are more recent, and are based on clearly inaccurate assumptions, as you allude to, such as rationality, perfect information, etc. Given the psychology and sociology involved etc., it’s more of a dynamical system with various feedback loops etc. Enjoy, hope this helps. -a http://www.adrianscott.com/

Just gave a talk on Social Media Trends at the iFront conference in Belgrade, Serbia. Download the presentation.

We’ve now released the 0.2.0 version of “Adrian Remembers Me”, a little package to help people get started quickly doing a google app engine application that has an independent, non-google account membership system, which includes some photo upload code too. We’ll gradually build in more security features, etc.

Check it out if you’re just getting rolling w/ GAE and let us know how it hits ya!

http://www.adrianremembersme.com/

Great sessions at the Google I/O conf, and even better networking with the GAE team and other developers outside of the sessions. Intriguing session from the team doing GAE code for walkscore.com . Great promises from GAE team for new releases soon, message queueing api, big file support, switchable django .96 or 1.0 in app.yaml file (if i recall correctly from Guido van Rossum). Datastore etc insights from Ryan Barrett. Django-ing advice from Lindsey on GAE Team, also from Best Buy team. All in all a productive time. Looks like I’ll have to dig into google web toolkit a bit… Google Wave interesting, though i’m not as wowed as other folks for some reason…

useful thread to read for those using google app engine

redundancy / uptime is key and google is not yet providing it in their current setup, based on this thread.

i hope some best practices and other enhancements can be developed.

fun quote from Ben Stein re waiting for your personal government bailout:

“You have been — you are now — bombarded every day with TV shows, radio news, and newspapers telling you of this government support plan and that government support plan and how they are going to rescue you. To which I can only say, when you hear the word ‘government,’ in your mind, substitute the words ‘Department of Motor Vehicles.’ When was the last time they rescued you? When was the last time they bailed you out of anything at all?

full article

Nice article on risk and Value at Risk from the beginning of the year, in the new york times
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/04/magazine/04risk-t.html?_r=2&pagewanted=1

An article in the New York Times by Stanford bioengineering professor Stephen Quake today reminds us what a professor does on a daily basis, and what their responsibilities are.

When you’re a student in university, sometimes you think that being a professor will mean lots of freedom to do whatever research you want.

The reality is that, for computer scientists especially, you can often create an arrangement in the workplace where you’ll have more time to do research, possibly with some time for whatever random topics you want to play with, with better pay, which can include stock options that could end up making you financially independent. You can also have a better chance of seeing your inventions put into use by people.

A few good quotes from the article:

“depending on the department, the professor must find between 25 percent and 75 percent of his or her salary from outside grants. ”

“So not only do they have to worry about publish or perish, it’s also funding or famine, in the very real sense that without a grant there might not be food on the family dinner table!”

“professors become highly attuned to the institutional priorities of various funding agencies — often at a cost to their own creativity and desired research directions.”

“I have seen my own grant proposals get chewed up and rejected with comments like “typically bold, but wildly ambitious,” and wondered why it is wrong to be ambitious in one’s research.”

From Public Knowledge . org:

A proposed amendment to the stimulus package, put forth by California’s Sen. Feinstein, would allow ISPs to “deter” copyright infringement through network management techniques. The amendment is very, very controversial for a couple of reasons:

1. Infringement can’t be found through “network management” techniques. There are legal uses for copyrighted works even without permission of the owner.

2. It would require Internet companies to examine every bit of information everyone puts on the Web in order to find those allegedly infringing works, without a hint of probable cause. That would be a massive invasion of privacy, done at the request of one industry, violating the rights of everyone who is online.

Find out how you can Take Action

UPDATE: The House and Senate stimulus packages passed without copyright filtering language attached, but now the concern is that the language could return in the closed-door conference committee that works out the differences between the bills. Right now, we need you to contact those conferees and tell them to leave out this controversial provision.

There’s a fun article on gaming the higher-education system in the U.S. A few additional thoughts:

GET PAID TO GO TO GRAD SCHOOL

- Why not go for a full scholarship for your grad school while you’re at it? Oh and not just full scholarship, but GET PAID to go to grad school too. What we’re talking about is going for a fellowship. Tips on how to do so:

- Apply for Ph.D. program, as it’s much easier to get a fellowship for a Ph.D. program. (You can get your master’s while in the Ph.D. program, along the way.)

- Really consider what you want to study. I’m not sure on the latest stats, but I recall it being much easier to get a fellowship in science and engineering than the humanities. In the 90’s the U.S. National Science Foundation was giving grad fellowships to 1 in 8 applicants, not sure what the current stats are. One in eight is pretty nice given the potential benefit, but each university itself often gives a few fellowships, etc.

BEFORE HIGH SCHOOL

- Get into Johns Hopkins University’s Center for Talented Youth program when you are 11 or 12 years old. This was a huge help in my education.

CUT UNIVERSITY COSTS BY DOING IT IN HALF THE TIME

- I got my four-year degree at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in two years, by coming in with 1.5 years of credit and doing the remaining 2.5 years in two years. Did it so quickly i wasn’t very organized for grad school applications I got ( / ‘negotiated’ ) credit for university level courses through CTY ( see above ) and other university-level courses I sat in on before going to RPI / Rensselaer. ( I’ll always appreciate RPI / Rensselaer for their support. ) So my university tuition fees were for 2 years of undergrad, not 4.

I hope this helps someone out! Good luck!