Wednesday, November 8, 2017

I feel like this article has more than a whiff of pearl clutching, but it is describing something very real and...

I feel like this article has more than a whiff of pearl clutching, but it is describing something very real and prompts a lot of hard thinking about the Internet in general.

In short -- children's programming on the Internet doesn't even rise to the level of pablum and it's an obvious example of how mis-aligned incentives and algorithms can get a little bonkers.


https://medium.com/@jamesbridle/something-is-wrong-on-the-internet-c39c471271d2

Thursday, November 2, 2017

Max Gladstone's newest book The Ruin of Angels is another installment of his excellent Craft Series -- which...

Max Gladstone's newest book The Ruin of Angels is another installment of his excellent Craft Series -- which re-imagines modern global finance in a fantasy milieu. There's a couple of excellent bits of dialog I want to excerpt here:

First -- Kia is talking with R'ok about its past dealings with Kai's sister Ley. R'ok is a spider-mantis demon-thing made of glass:

Kai felt something twist in her stomach. “Were you and Ley close?”

“We never slept together, if that’s what you mean,” R’ok said.

“Is that even— I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to—”

“Quite all right. It is possible, if one is willing to be patient and respect the range and diversity of . . . apparatus. But, no.

----

Later on, Zedda is talking to Vogel, a zombie crime lord she owes money to:

“I wanted to talk about my debt,” Zeddig said.

“I’m listening.”

“You mentioned a train job.”

“It’s a job,” Vogel said. “There’s a train involved. The rest is somewhat negotiable.”

Good stuff and highly recommended.

I'd like to meet with a financial planner to discuss the state of my 401(k) among other things.

I'd like to meet with a financial planner to discuss the state of my 401(k) among other things. Do people have any recommendations for a independent financial planner (i.e. they aren't in bed with any particular financial services company)?