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zeke4ahs

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So what’s everybody reading or watching? My new favorite tv show is Killing Eve. It’s about a female assassin, on BBC , starring Sandra Oh as the detective trying to catch her. Creepy good. I’m reading Killers of the Flower Moon, about the murders of Native Americans in Oseage County and the beginnings of the FBI. Just saw RBG, and was surprised at how gorgeous she was. Also had no idea she was involved in women’s issues since college and tried 6 cases at Supreme Court, winning 5 of them. What’s everyone else enjoying?
 
So what’s everybody reading or watching? My new favorite tv show is Killing Eve. It’s about a female assassin, on BBC , starring Sandra Oh as the detective trying to catch her. Creepy good. I’m reading Killers of the Flower Moon, about the murders of Native Americans in Oseage County and the beginnings of the FBI. Just saw RBG, and was surprised at how gorgeous she was. Also had no idea she was involved in women’s issues since college and tried 6 cases at Supreme Court, winning 5 of them. What’s everyone else enjoying?

The Americans! Final episode next week. My stoker and I have run through dozens of possible endings. Probably will be different from any of those.

Reading Lawyer Games. An inside baseball account of the 4 trials about the murder in Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. I don’t recommend it unless you are a lawyer wannabe or mostly retired lawyer with time on his hands.
 
The Americans! Final episode next week. My stoker and I have run through dozens of possible endings. Probably will be different from any of those.

Reading Lawyer Games. An inside baseball account of the 4 trials about the murder in Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. I don’t recommend it unless you are a lawyer wannabe or mostly retired lawyer with time on his hands.

I am reading The Battle of Britain: Five Months That Changed the World.

A short time ago I finished Bosch's new season (very goid). I am thinking of adding the Bosch books to my reading list. We just started Alias Grace, I am not sure what I think of it yet. It is a murder mystery set in 1840's on Netflix.
 
So what’s everybody reading or watching? My new favorite tv show is Killing Eve. It’s about a female assassin, on BBC , starring Sandra Oh as the detective trying to catch her. Creepy good. I’m reading Killers of the Flower Moon, about the murders of Native Americans in Oseage County and the beginnings of the FBI. Just saw RBG, and was surprised at how gorgeous she was. Also had no idea she was involved in women’s issues since college and tried 6 cases at Supreme Court, winning 5 of them. What’s everyone else enjoying?
There are exactly two shows on TV right now worth watching: The Americans and Westworld.

I am currently reading Chuck Klosterman's But What If We're Wrong? It's an interesting rambling collection of thoughts about the problems with naive realism, which is essentially the position that the world more or less works the way we think it works. I.e., while we still have some details to fill in, we've pretty much figured out what's going on. History suggests this confidence is misplaced, and Klosterman attempts to imagine how the future might look back on us after it discovers that many of the things we take for granted as absolutes are shown to be wrong.
 
There are exactly two shows on TV right now worth watching: The Americans and Westworld.

I am currently reading Chuck Klosterman's But What If We're Wrong? It's an interesting rambling collection of thoughts about the problems with naive realism, which is essentially the position that the world more or less works the way we think it works. I.e., while we still have some details to fill in, we've pretty much figured out what's going on. History suggests this confidence is misplaced, and Klosterman attempts to imagine how the future might look back on us after it discovers that many of the things we take for granted as absolutes are shown to be wrong.[/QUOTE I watch both of those and love them. The other thing I like is Billions. Can't wait for series finale of the Americans. No idea which way it's going to go. The one thing I really want is for Stan to get to confront Phillip.
 
last books:
  • Idea Factory: Bell Labs (very good)
  • Mismeasure of Man (not good)
current book:
  • Creativity, Inc (just ok)
Next:
  • Perfectionists: precision engineers (Winchester)
  • Dealers of Lightning: Xerox PARC and the Dawn of the Computer Age
  • Lila: An Inquiry Into Morals
Music: Nathaniel Rateliff, and for some reason Steve Earle

TV: only tv i will tune into is Antiques Roadshow, This Old House, and some local arts show that is before this old house....my kids watch Cartoon Network shows on Hulu, and i will admit i get sucked into those
 
Been in the "saved for later" section of my Amazon cart for several months now. Based on your recommendation I'm going to move it into my shopping cart.
It's very engaging, very well written, and chock full of interesting insights. I'm now in the agricultural revolution, which Harari says was a great boon to our species but pretty much of a disaster for individual humans -- who had to work much harder under much more difficult circumstances than we had as hunter gatherers.

For example, we didn't domesticate wheat, Harari says, wheat domesticated us. Wheat went from an obscure grass in the Middle East to perhaps the most ubiquitous plant on Earth. The wheat got thirsty so we dug irrigation ditches and hauled buckets of water. The wheat didn't like rocks and stones so we engaged in backbreaking labor to remove them. The wheat didn't like other plants living among it so we engaged in more backbreaking labor to weed them out. We spent so much time tending to it that we had to start living in fixed homes next to our wheat, dramatically changing our entire way of life.
 
There are exactly two shows on TV right now worth watching: The Americans and Westworld.

I am currently reading Chuck Klosterman's But What If We're Wrong? It's an interesting rambling collection of thoughts about the problems with naive realism, which is essentially the position that the world more or less works the way we think it works. I.e., while we still have some details to fill in, we've pretty much figured out what's going on. History suggests this confidence is misplaced, and Klosterman attempts to imagine how the future might look back on us after it discovers that many of the things we take for granted as absolutes are shown to be wrong.
Interesting on the 2 shows you think are good right now. Do you watch Billions? I think it is outstanding, as do most of the people I know who watch it. Not your cup of tea, or haven't given it a shot yet?
 
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So what’s everybody reading or watching? My new favorite tv show is Killing Eve. It’s about a female assassin, on BBC , starring Sandra Oh as the detective trying to catch her. Creepy good. I’m reading Killers of the Flower Moon, about the murders of Native Americans in Oseage County and the beginnings of the FBI. Just saw RBG, and was surprised at how gorgeous she was. Also had no idea she was involved in women’s issues since college and tried 6 cases at Supreme Court, winning 5 of them. What’s everyone else enjoying?
Read an article last night that said Netflix hopes to have 700 original TV series on the platform by the end of the year (including existing ones as well as new shows), along with 80 original new movies. Now, I'm sure that some of those are or will be duds. However, I have been pleasantly surprised by almost all of the ones I have watched. Not to mention the extraordinary variety of shows that are available.

You've probably already seen it, but if not check out Jiro Dreams of Sushi on Netflix--great documentary about a Japanese sushi chef
 
It's very engaging, very well written, and chock full of interesting insights. I'm now in the agricultural revolution, which Harari says was a great boon to our species but pretty much of a disaster for individual humans -- who had to work much harder under much more difficult circumstances than we had as hunter gatherers.

For example, we didn't domesticate wheat, Harari says, wheat domesticated us. Wheat went from an obscure grass in the Middle East to perhaps the most ubiquitous plant on Earth. The wheat got thirsty so we dug irrigation ditches and hauled buckets of water. The wheat didn't like rocks and stones so we engaged in backbreaking labor to remove them. The wheat didn't like other plants living among it so we engaged in more backbreaking labor to weed them out. We spent so much time tending to it that we had to start living in fixed homes next to our wheat, dramatically changing our entire way of life.

Along those lines, you would enjoy The History of the World in Six Glasses.
https://books.google.com/books/abou...0EC&printsec=frontcover&source=kp_read_button
 
There are exactly two shows on TV right now worth watching: The Americans and Westworld.

I am currently reading Chuck Klosterman's But What If We're Wrong? It's an interesting rambling collection of thoughts about the problems with naive realism, which is essentially the position that the world more or less works the way we think it works. I.e., while we still have some details to fill in, we've pretty much figured out what's going on. History suggests this confidence is misplaced, and Klosterman attempts to imagine how the future might look back on us after it discovers that many of the things we take for granted as absolutes are shown to be wrong.

Haven’t seen any of the 2nd season of Weatworld but the 1st season was f*cking awesome. Great story and writing with a great cast
 
So what’s everybody reading or watching? My new favorite tv show is Killing Eve. It’s about a female assassin, on BBC , starring Sandra Oh as the detective trying to catch her. Creepy good. I’m reading Killers of the Flower Moon, about the murders of Native Americans in Oseage County and the beginnings of the FBI. Just saw RBG, and was surprised at how gorgeous she was. Also had no idea she was involved in women’s issues since college and tried 6 cases at Supreme Court, winning 5 of them. What’s everyone else enjoying?
Read an article last night that said Netflix hopes to have 700 original TV series on the platform by the end of the year (including existing ones as well as new shows), along with 80 original new movies. Now, I'm sure that some of those are or will be duds. However, I have been pleasantly surprised by almost all of the ones I have watched. Not to mention the extraordinary variety of shows that are available.

You've probably already seen it, but if not check out Jiro Dreams of Sushi on Netflix--great documentary about a Japanese sushi chef
I haven’t seen it, but will add to my list. I love documentaries. Wild, Wild Country is a really good one on Netflix about the religious cult in the 80’s that took over an Oregon town. I just vaguely remembered the story. Also listening to the book Educated, nonfiction about a woman growing upon an evangelical family with little to no education, who went to college against her parents’ wishes. Reminiscent of Hillbilly Elegy.
 
So what’s everybody reading or watching? My new favorite tv show is Killing Eve. It’s about a female assassin, on BBC , starring Sandra Oh as the detective trying to catch her. Creepy good. I’m reading Killers of the Flower Moon, about the murders of Native Americans in Oseage County and the beginnings of the FBI. Just saw RBG, and was surprised at how gorgeous she was. Also had no idea she was involved in women’s issues since college and tried 6 cases at Supreme Court, winning 5 of them. What’s everyone else enjoying?
I watched Get Out not too long ago. That was a mind blow of a movie and well done. The paranoia and plot twist reminded me a lot of Rosemary's Baby.
 
So what’s everybody reading or watching? My new favorite tv show is Killing Eve. It’s about a female assassin, on BBC , starring Sandra Oh as the detective trying to catch her. Creepy good. I’m reading Killers of the Flower Moon, about the murders of Native Americans in Oseage County and the beginnings of the FBI. Just saw RBG, and was surprised at how gorgeous she was. Also had no idea she was involved in women’s issues since college and tried 6 cases at Supreme Court, winning 5 of them. What’s everyone else enjoying?
I watched Get Out not too long ago. That was a mind blow of a movie and well done. The paranoia and plot twist reminded me a lot of Rosemary's Baby.
Need to see it again. I saw it when it first came out , I knew nothing about it and it was nothing like I expected. Very well done!
 
One example he offers is gravity. Since Newton, we've known that all objects are attracted to each other, but before Newton, we knew that objects fell because it was in their "nature." Since we still haven't quite figure out how gravity works exactly, it's certainly possible the final answer will require us to completely rethink how we understand it. Another is democracy. We know that more democracy is better, but until relatively recently, that wasn't a given. In the ancient world, democracy was often distrusted.

He doesn't argue we will turn out to be wrong on all of these things, but he also argues that it's unlikely we won't turn out to be wrong on at least some of them, at least from the viewpoint of people in the future (who themselves will think they are right, but may not be). So it's not really about predicting which things we could be wrong about, as much as it's about exploring the implications of the possibility.
 
We know that more democracy is better,

Do we? I guess that depends on what you think "democracy" is, but many great thinkers don't or didn't think more was better. Our FF's were among those. We have changed the model they gave us in some important ways, and there is mounting pressure to change it some more, to increase democracy. I don't think the changes are necessarily for the better. The Colorado Constitution and the state finances are a mess because of too much democracy.

Since we still haven't quite figure out how gravity works exactly, it's certainly possible the final answer will require us to completely rethink how we understand it.

Studying UAP's (Some call them UFO's) certainly calls into question how we understand gravity. They move in ways totally inexplicable in terms of science as we understand it. Here is an excellent and interesting read along those lines.
 
Do we? I guess that depends on what you think "democracy" is, but many great thinkers don't or didn't think more was better. Our FF's were among those. We have changed the model they gave us in some important ways, and there is mounting pressure to change it some more, to increase democracy. I don't think the changes are necessarily for the better. The Colorado Constitution and the state finances are a mess because of too much democracy.

the FFs felt only rich white males should be allowed to vote.

i love how conservatives have somehow taken on the idea that The Constitution was carved into stone tablets by the hand of God, carried down Bunker Hill by George Washington with one tablet in each arm.
 
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there are almost no shows watchable for more than 30 seconds at a time..

as such, the latency of current channel changing technology has ruined channel surfing, thus the entire tv experience.
 
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there are almost no shows watchable for more than 30 seconds at a time..

as such, the latency of current channel changing technology has ruined channel surfing, thus the entire tv experience.
You're watching the wrong shows then. Or your tastes are very narrow. There is such an abundance of good programming , it's hard to keep up.
 
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You're watching the wrong shows then. Or your tastes are very narrow. There is such an abundance of good programming , it's hard to keep up.
In addition the latency of channel changing has really improved. In my youth, getting up and walking to the TV was slow, even if I did not have to change the antenna.
 
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Do we? I guess that depends on what you think "democracy" is, but many great thinkers don't or didn't think more was better. Our FF's were among those. We have changed the model they gave us in some important ways, and there is mounting pressure to change it some more, to increase democracy. I don't think the changes are necessarily for the better. The Colorado Constitution and the state finances are a mess because of too much democracy.
There have been many great thinkers who thought no democracy was better than any. Some, like Plato, believed in philosopher kings who would serve as beneficent dictators. But what we have learned is that anyone who is accountable to nobody ultimately becomes a tyrant and a monster. That was the great insight of the FF's. Democracy, at root, is a mechanism that ensures everyone, including the people in power, can be held accountable. If you are saying that the Colorado Constitution and the state finances are a mess because leaders are too accountable then I doubt it. If you mean that there are better mechanisms for holding those leaders accountable then you should know that all democratic mechanisms will produce dysfunction of one sort or another. Fine tuning helps democracy a great deal but won't eliminate the dysfunction. You can get rid of the dysfunction only by eliminating accountability. The choice between tyranny or democratic dysfunction is one that from the perspective of almost everyone (except the tyrants) comes out in favor of dysfunction. If we are fine tuning then we aren't talking about "more or less" democracy. That is like saying that deciding an issue by popular referendum is more democratic than deciding it by the act of an popularly elected representative legislature. One is not more democratic than another. Each has its own dysfunctions.

The great disservice that conservatism has done over the past 50 years is to glorify the market while undermining support for democracy. Too many people particularly among our wealthiest elites simply have no idea of the extent to which they personally benefit from a government that is both accountable and powerful enough to set and enforce the rules of play in the marketplace. They think that the markets upon which they depend are some kind of natural phenomena that will function better with less government interference--the less government the better. They forget, as Hobbes observed, that the state of nature is not one of commerce but of war. The western democracies provide islands of safety for them that allows them to engage in commerce even with tyrants. They see the greater efficiencies possible in China, say, and think that maybe we have too much democracy here. Even, of course, as people from all those non-democratic regimes clamor to keep their assets deposited safely here in the west.

To quote Joni Mitchell: Don't it always seem to go that you don't know what you got till its gone?
 
Currently reading Options as a Strategic Investment (Lawrence G. McMillian). Best Option book I have read. It is more of a text book but really is full of fantastic exploration of strategies.

Recently read Trading Option Greeks (Dan Passarelli). Not my favorite but not the worst. Somewhat basic but a decent intro.
 
There have been many great thinkers who thought no democracy was better than any. Some, like Plato, believed in philosopher kings who would serve as beneficent dictators. But what we have learned is that anyone who is accountable to nobody ultimately becomes a tyrant and a monster. That was the great insight of the FF's. Democracy, at root, is a mechanism that ensures everyone, including the people in power, can be held accountable. If you are saying that the Colorado Constitution and the state finances are a mess because leaders are too accountable then I doubt it. If you mean that there are better mechanisms for holding those leaders accountable then you should know that all democratic mechanisms will produce dysfunction of one sort or another. Fine tuning helps democracy a great deal but won't eliminate the dysfunction. You can get rid of the dysfunction only by eliminating accountability. The choice between tyranny or democratic dysfunction is one that from the perspective of almost everyone (except the tyrants) comes out in favor of dysfunction. If we are fine tuning then we aren't talking about "more or less" democracy. That is like saying that deciding an issue by popular referendum is more democratic than deciding it by the act of an popularly elected representative legislature. One is not more democratic than another. Each has its own dysfunctions.

The great disservice that conservatism has done over the past 50 years is to glorify the market while undermining support for democracy. Too many people particularly among our wealthiest elites simply have no idea of the extent to which they personally benefit from a government that is both accountable and powerful enough to set and enforce the rules of play in the marketplace. They think that the markets upon which they depend are some kind of natural phenomena that will function better with less government interference--the less government the better. They forget, as Hobbes observed, that the state of nature is not one of commerce but of war. The western democracies provide islands of safety for them that allows them to engage in commerce even with tyrants. They see the greater efficiencies possible in China, say, and think that maybe we have too much democracy here. Even, of course, as people from all those non-democratic regimes clamor to keep their assets deposited safely here in the west.

To quote Joni Mitchell: Don't it always seem to go that you don't know what you got till its gone?

I'm not sure what I agree with or disagree with in your well-thought out post. I think in different terms.

First of all, consent of the governed is vital to any enduring system of government. If you want to call that "accountability" I guess that is okay with me. I tend to think of direct participation in governmental policy as more democracy than policy determined by debate and compromise by the people's representatives. Applying these two concepts to real world debates is not easy. Much depends on our views of the purpose of government and how that purpose is to be fulfilled. The EC is a case in point. In my view, removing regional interests from choosing the president impinges on the notion of consent of the governed. The urban rural divide is a real thing, and because of the one man one vote ruling, rural voters have little voice in Colorado's affairs. I obviously value regional diversity in government more than others do.

My comment about the Colorado Constitution stems from a couple of things. First the amendment process is way to easy and we have many amendments voted in by referendum that are more suited for legislative debate and amendments as needed. Secondly Fiscal measures are a particular problem. The voters went overboard with a couple of measures that are very troubling and have hamstrung the legislature's ability to do its primary responsibility--to set spending priorities and adopt a budget.

"The great disservice that conservatism has done over the past 50 years is to glorify the market while undermining support for democracy." I don't know what to make of this point other than it is a gratuitous shot at conservatives tossed into an otherwise nice post. There is nothing inglorious about the market. It definitely has it's place in our system. In some instances it is not understood and legislatively removed from the policy picture. That usually produces a distortion. Tort immunities in general, and immunity for the gun industry is particular, are examples. By legislation we limit the market by putting the governmental thumb on the scale of risk allocation. That screws things up. But that is for another thread.
 
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You're watching the wrong shows then. Or your tastes are very narrow. There is such an abundance of good programming , it's hard to keep up.

you obviously know nothing about channel surfers.

our tastes are quite wide. like a smorgasbord connoisseur.

a little of many things, rather than a lot of one.
 
So what’s everybody reading or watching? My new favorite tv show is Killing Eve. It’s about a female assassin, on BBC , starring Sandra Oh as the detective trying to catch her. Creepy good. I’m reading Killers of the Flower Moon, about the murders of Native Americans in Oseage County and the beginnings of the FBI. Just saw RBG, and was surprised at how gorgeous she was. Also had no idea she was involved in women’s issues since college and tried 6 cases at Supreme Court, winning 5 of them. What’s everyone else enjoying?

I just binge watched on Netflix Manhunt: Unabomber. It is really good. The program focuses on James Fitzgerald, the profiler who devoted everything, at the cost of his family, to finding the Unabomber. As many might recall, the big break in the case came when Kaczynski's brother (actually it was the sister-in-law) discovered that the Unabomber Manifesto published in WaPo might have been written by her brother in law. The interesting part of the show, and the case, was how the science of idiolect* was used to obtain a search warrant for Kaczynski's cabin thus seal the case. The belief of the sister-in-law and brother was not enough for either a search warrant or an arrest warrant. That is where Fitzgerald came in.

The court considered a motion to suppress the fruits of the search warrant, which if granted, would have ended the case and set Kaczynski free. I was anxiously awaiting the legal arguments about idiolect and probable cause only to be met by the disappointment of not showing that. The judge denied the motion in chambers.

One of the takeaways from the show, which Fitzgerald helped produce, and which was said to be 80% faithful to the real events, was how vain and self-centered many of the FBI agents were. Not the rank and file, but the suits. Reno and Freeh come across pretty good, but even with that, they seemed to reinforce the idea that a mistake would be a career ending event.

Fitzgerald is also a consultant for the show "Criminal Minds".

Well worth a look.

*the science of identifying an author from written material.
 
I just binge watched on Netflix Manhunt: Unabomber. It is really good. The program focuses on James Fitzgerald, the profiler who devoted everything, at the cost of his family, to finding the Unabomber. As many might recall, the big break in the case came when Kaczynski's brother (actually it was the sister-in-law) discovered that the Unabomber Manifesto published in WaPo might have been written by her brother in law. The interesting part of the show, and the case, was how the science of idiolect* was used to obtain a search warrant for Kaczynski's cabin thus seal the case. The belief of the sister-in-law and brother was not enough for either a search warrant or an arrest warrant. That is where Fitzgerald came in.

The court considered a motion to suppress the fruits of the search warrant, which if granted, would have ended the case and set Kaczynski free. I was anxiously awaiting the legal arguments about idiolect and probable cause only to be met by the disappointment of not showing that. The judge denied the motion in chambers.

One of the takeaways from the show, which Fitzgerald helped produce, and which was said to be 80% faithful to the real events, was how vain and self-centered many of the FBI agents were. Not the rank and file, but the suits. Reno and Freeh come across pretty good, but even with that, they seemed to reinforce the idea that a mistake would be a career ending event.

Fitzgerald is also a consultant for the show "Criminal Minds".

Well worth a look.

*the science of identifying an author from written material.
Sounds interesting, will have a look.
 
The Americans! Final episode next week. My stoker and I have run through dozens of possible endings. Probably will be different from any of those.

Reading Lawyer Games. An inside baseball account of the 4 trials about the murder in Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. I don’t recommend it unless you are a lawyer wannabe or mostly retired lawyer with time on his hands.
I’m in the third season of The Americans and I really like it. Also like Westeorld.”
 
Well, I just discovered one book I won't be reading.

518U87bmJyL._SX323_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg
 
Just finishing Hillbilly Elegy. Interesting and quick read. Watched the final episode of The Americans (good stuff) so we started Westworld to fill the gap. I highly recommend Chef's Table. Beautifully filmed and scripted. There's also a Chef's Table, French for those who wish to practice on their language skills. Both are great.
 
Currently reading Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind. Highly recommended.

Bump.

New species of 4ft ancient human discovered in Philippines cave
Homo luzonensis makes picture of early human evolution 'even messier, more complicated, and a whole lot more interesting', scientists say
Scientists have discovered a new species of tiny, early human which was living on the islands that are now the Philippines as recently as 50,000 years ago.

A cache of teeth and bones from the hands, feet and femur of the newly described Homo luzonensis were discovered in Callao Cave on Luzon, the largest island in the country.
The small size of the bones suggests this archaic human was less than 4ft tall, the second diminutive species discovered in the region in recent decades.
The discovery undermines a long-held theory on how hominins - the group of ancestral humans of which Homo sapiens is the only member still living – colonised the globe.
 
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yall like Thrones?


Seems like everyone is waiting for GOT and the next marvel movie. Did you see that the Avenger movie tickets were being advertised for thousands of dollars? I thought twenty bucks for a movie and popcorn was a little steep.

I have a habit of searching through Youtube music videos. Any artist, any genre just type in a name. There are so many great talents that exist today and those that have passed preserved and available.

Here's one with Bill Murray and Clapton cameos, a Derek and the Dominos
remake with a guitar prodigy (all grown up) and his wife who can more than hold her own.

 
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