This explains a lot. The Dunning-Kruger effect describes the phenomenon whereby people who don’t know anything about something think they know more than those who do. The peculiar part is that those who lack the expertise are often far more confident and forceful when they discuss the issue than those who are knowledgeable. This is because those who…
Archives for December 2007
An Oversimplification of the Subprime Morgage Crisis
I’m not an economist, but I read a lot. Here’s what happened: greed + stupidity. Greed on the part of the lenders, i.e. taking advantage of people who can’t read finance terms, and stupidity on the part of…people who can’t read finance terms. Here’s how it plays out: Greedy, immoral people loan stupid amounts of money to people…
A Three-Dimensional Approach to Organizing Your Feeds Using Google Reader
I’m constantly optimizing how I do things, and nowhere is this more important to me than with my feed reader. I happen to use (and highly recommend) Google Reader, and what follows is a multi-tiered approach to classifying and reading your feeds using an often ignored feature of the application. The Problem The fundamental problem is input management.…
Say Goodbye to U.S. Particle Physics
This is sickening. Fermilab, The United States’ main particle physics lab, is being hamstrung by congress’s latest omnibus bill. This is the same bill that approves billions for the war in Iraq but will result in hundreds at the lab being laid off permanently and countless others having to take extended time without work. The bill reduces Fermilab’s…
Port Mirroring on a Cisco 3550 Switch
Just for reference… Source port(s): Switch# config t Switch(config)# monitor session 1 source interface fastethernet 0/1 Switch(config)# monitor session 1 source interface fastethernet 0/2 Switch(config)# monitor session 1 source interface fastethernet 0/3 Switch(config)# monitor session 1 source interface fastethernet 0/4 (however many you want to monitor) Destination port: Switch(config)# monitor session 1 destination interface fastethernet 0/24 …then exit…
Is It Wrong to Have Children?
I’ve thought a lot about having children over the years. Not so much whether I wanted to have them, but why people in general want to have them. More specifically, I’ve been trying to determine whether or not it’s becoming immoral to do so. Everyone knows that once a good parent has a child they become rather selfless.…
Was the Last Time Your Last?
I used to be into BMX bikes. I was obsessed. Every little thing about it was interesting. The brakes, the handlebars, the different types of mags–all of it. One day–I don’t remember when–I got off my last BMX bike. I wish I would have realized it when it happened. Later in life I got into skateboarding. My favorite…
5 Things My Second Generation iPhone Better Do
As most already know, the second generation of the iPhone will be released next year — possibly around April. For most people the major feature, which has already been confirmed, will be the network speed improvement, i.e. the move from EDGE to 3G. While I think this will be a great improvement (assuming I don’t lose too much…
Apple vs. AT&T
As you may have heard, AT&T’s chief executive disclosed last week that the second version of the iPhone will be coming next year. And most importantly, he said it’ll be 3G. Think of what that does to sales of the current version of the device — and right before the most important sales period for consumer electronics. How…