Erlend Reigstad

http://www.businessinsider.com/unsold-cars-around-the-world-2009-2

(From The Business Insider via Consumerist.com)

One is reminded of the story of the Italian anarchist who on trying in immigrate in the 1920s when asked to answer the question:

“Do you advocate the overthrow of United States by force or violence?”

Circled “force”.

Comment from “Joe Smith” on the Freakonomics-blog

I just finished “The Yiddish Policemen’s Union” by Michael Chabon. The book is real good, detective stories is not normally my cup of tea (with a few exceptions) but this one resonates with me. It has a counter-factual history backdrop, but presented in a very subtle manner and leaves one thinking there should be some sort of appendix.

Also it’s dark and hence the title of this post. It’s silly but I can best describe the book as a “film noir” and it didn’t take long before I started thinking someone should make a movie based on the book. At this point I checked IMDB and guess what? The Coen-brothers are writing and directing the picture, scheduled for theatres in 2010. Excellent story, brilliant directors - sound like a recipe for a great movie.

Time: 19.59 Location: On the airport express bus

Text: The flight is delayed, expected departure 21:40

and then again

Time:  21.03 Location: At the airport

Text:  The flight is delayed, expected departure 22:20

I need a bigger kitchen…

Update (24/5-09):

It seems I’m not alone

You can no more win a war than you can win an earthquake.

Jeannette Rankin (1880 - 1973)

(From www.quotationspage.com)

I buy books on impulse, often following a recommendation. My last two reads were Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance (Robert M. Pirsig), a favourite among readers of Lifehacker.com and The Black Swan (Nassim Nicholas Taleb), recommended by the Economist a while back. A couple similarities between the two are striking, though they are (at least nominally) in different genres:

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance (ZMM) is fast becoming a classic, preaching Quality through interchanging present and past tense. It’s written like fiction but seems to be based partly on the author’s experiences.

The Black Swan is the former trader explaining in a cock-sure fashion how stupid you are (to some extent maybe even being right). On the cover it says “part literary essayist, part empiricist, part no-nonsense mathematical trader”, mostly essay (in chapters) I’d say.

(1) Neither author is practising philosophy but yet their both entire books are filled with philosophic reference and content. Greeks are both heroes and villains in either book.

(2) Everyone is wrong, according to the authors. Well, not everyone but the vast majority of those that are experts in the respective subjects, while the rest of mankind is merely mislead. There is also a solution, namely to stop listening to those that are wrong (i.e. the experts).

(3) To achieve what they are getting at rhetorically, both authors are willing to show their opponents in a very non-flattering way. Taleb does this without shame, interpreting what others mean like the devil reading the bible. Pirsig is less mean but I still don’t quite believe the portray of people at University of Chicago.

So - did the reading of two similar books result from my sources of recommendation, mere chance or a third option? I’d say chance, only it seems that The Dice Man (Luke Rhinehart) that I’m halfway through run along the same lines. Also:

The generation of random numbers is too important to be left to chance.

Robert R. Coveyou

(From www.quotationspage.com)

As an Opera-user I do get attached to my browser and secretly believe Mozilla-users to be all wrong. Yet, I am willing to give Google a chance, if only for the fact that lately Gmail has been requiring tweaks in Opera.

First verdict:

• Fast, especially Gmail
• Seems to handle most sites and content, only exception thus far being Outlook Web Access in simple-mode (same as Opera)
• Neat tracking of memory use (shift+esc)
• Needs ad-blocking and (many) more options for customisation
• The cartoon presenting Chrome implicitely takes the credit for a few functions well-known in Opera
• Sleek graphics (good) but reminds me somewhat of Apple (not so good)

Three may keep a secret, if two of them are dead.

Benjamin Franklin (1706 - 1790)

and

To get something done, a committee should consist of no more than three men, two of whom are absent.

Robert Copeland

(Both from www.quotationspage.com)

I think it would be a good idea. 

Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948), when asked what he thought of Western civilization.

(From www.quotationspage.com)