tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-52809622012-02-16T19:54:07.403-05:00This is my précis stream.Jason Kantznoreply@blogger.comBlogger111100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5280962.post-44831935005257827672011-11-08T20:58:00.003-05:002011-11-08T21:01:14.574-05:00

Adam Smith in Part 1, Section 1, Ch 1, Of Sympathy (Theory of Moral Sentiments 1790) argues that sympathy (interest in the fortune of others or fellow-feeling) is a part of human nature unavoidably experienced by all people whether they want to or not. He develops this argument through several examples that induce sympathy of some kind: seeing someone about to get hit, a mob watching a hanging,

Jason Kantznoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5280962.post-48331707025358529772011-10-31T08:42:00.000-04:002011-11-08T20:09:00.351-05:00

Clay Shirky’s article “Power Laws, Weblogs, and Inequality”, presents an explanation for the inequality in traffic to weblogs: distributions in social systems with freedom of choice and diversity of choices follow a power law function that boils down to 1/N. He develops this explanation by showing graphs of blogs ranked by number of inbound links, yahoo groups ranked by number of subscribers,

Jason Kantznoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5280962.post-1068507514705314852011-10-26T21:17:00.002-04:002011-10-27T07:48:39.348-04:00

Tom G. Palmer in his talk “Adventures in International Freedom” at Boston University 26 Oct 2011, argued that the ideas of the liberty movement are global ideas misclassified as western ideas, that the implementation of these ideas is responsible for exponential growth in global per capita wealth over approximately the last 200 years, and that recent ills in the U.S. should be attributed to

Jason Kantznoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5280962.post-44653494383607588482011-10-24T20:22:00.002-04:002011-10-24T20:25:54.791-04:00

Steven Covey’s “Chapter 6: The Balance of Roles” in the “First Things First” argues that viewing roles as part of an interrelated whole and developing that interrelatedness leads to a more meaningful and productive life.  He develops this argument by giving examples of how skills and activities transfer across roles, and by giving examples of how relating roles to one’s big-picture mission and

Jason Kantznoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5280962.post-43202053757594135532011-10-24T20:21:00.000-04:002011-11-08T20:12:56.294-05:00

Eric S. Raymond's Chapter 5. Textuality from "The Art of Unix Programming" 2003, argues that text formats should be favored for file-format and protocol design and that complex binary format or application protocols should only be created for large datasets where bit density and/or instruction economy are crucial. He develops this argument by presenting a summary and analysis of the trade-offs

Jason Kantznoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5280962.post-39832589938900161632011-10-19T19:50:00.002-04:002011-10-19T19:50:34.059-04:00

Ted Neward's blog article "So You Say You Want to Kill XML…" (July 11, 2008) asserts that situations where performance is critical and endpoints are well-known and controlled are suited for binary protocols like protocol buffers and that situations where endpoints are loosely coupled and in need of maximum flexibility and interoperability are suited for XML wrapped in a SOAP or RESTful envelope.

Jason Kantznoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5280962.post-52075966562196196082011-10-19T18:01:00.001-04:002011-10-26T21:45:12.682-04:00

Steve Yegge's blog post "Done, and Gets Things Smart" (June 16, 2008) argues that looking for people who fit his "Done, and Gets Things Smart" description will help overcome the Dunning-Kruger Effect (unskilled people overrate their competence and fail to recognize genuine skill in others), when trying to recognize and hire highly competent people. He develops the notion of "Done, and Gets Things

Jason Kantznoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5280962.post-36682918400863732572011-10-14T16:38:00.000-04:002011-10-29T18:59:04.932-04:00

Dan Pallotta in "Steve Jobs, World’s Greatest Philanthropist" argues that Steve Jobs has contributed much more to humanity by not having started any public foundations with his wealth and instead spending all of his time at what he did best--creating great products. Pallotta develops his argument by listing innovative products Jobs brought to market, describing how each has made a large number

Jason Kantznoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5280962.post-55636096957439761882011-10-14T16:29:00.000-04:002011-10-24T20:29:54.011-04:00

Phillip Keller in the introduction to "A Shepard looks at Psalm 23" 1970, asserts that he has a unique background that helps him interpret and appreciate the psalm. He supports his assertion by pointing out that natural phenomena were used to teach spiritual truths and that his eight years as a sheep rancher gave him insight into the teachings. His purpose in the introduction is to establish

Jason Kantznoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5280962.post-78894284204776899052011-10-14T16:22:00.000-04:002011-10-14T16:22:07.286-04:00

Robert Mackey’s article, “Some Experts Question Iran’s Role in Bungled Plot”, Oct 12, 2011, argues that it is implausible that any high-level official of the Iranian government approved the failed plot to assassinate Mohammad Khazaee, the Saudi Arabian ambassador to the United States. Mackey develops this claim by quoting two scholars and two analysts who find it unlikely that Iran would trust

Jason Kantznoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5280962.post-82042741641701054442011-10-14T16:20:00.002-04:002011-10-24T20:28:55.689-04:00

Dorothy Leigh Sayers’s essay “The Lost Tools of Learning” (1947) argues that the medieval scheme of education can be revived and applied in a modern context to achieve what she sees as education’s true end: to teach people to learn for themselves. She develops her argument by sketching a syllabus of grammar, logic, and rhetoric and giving examples of how these three subjects constitute the

Jason Kantznoreply@blogger.com0