~ Mark

There’s Blake flying up for an offensive rebound, soaring higher, and higher, and then a little bit higher … and we’re sitting there in awe, and we’re gasping for air … and right at the moment of truth, we realize one of the following four things:

A. Blake is about to make the single greatest highlight in the history of professional basketball.
B. Blake is about to give us the highlight of the night.
C. Blake can’t pull this off because the degree of difficulty is too high, but he’s trying anyway.
D. Blake is going to break his neck or land in a such a way that his leg flies off his body and lands in the fifth row.

Those are the four options EVERY time he goes in the air. Watching it unfold reminds me of watching my 3-year-old son, who’s equally fearless (and dangerous).

Bill Simmons on Blake Griffin, who’s probably the most ridiculous player I’ve ever seen.
~ Mark

There’s Blake flying up for an offensive rebound, soaring higher, and higher, and then a little bit higher … and we’re sitting there in awe, and we’re gasping for air … and right at the moment of truth, we realize one of the following four things:

A. Blake is about to make the single greatest highlight in the history of professional basketball.
B. Blake is about to give us the highlight of the night.
C. Blake can’t pull this off because the degree of difficulty is too high, but he’s trying anyway.
D. Blake is going to break his neck or land in a such a way that his leg flies off his body and lands in the fifth row.

Those are the four options EVERY time he goes in the air. Watching it unfold reminds me of watching my 3-year-old son, who’s equally fearless (and dangerous).

Bill Simmons on Blake Griffin, who’s probably the most ridiculous player I’ve ever seen.

Marginal Revolution: Sex and Statistics or Heteroscedasticity is Hot

~ Mark

Alex Tabarrok mulls over the recent OkTrends post on the Mathematics of Beauty.

I think there are certain types of beauty that greatly attract some men but repel others. Analagously, some people will pay hundreds of dollars for an ounce of caviar that other people won’t eat for free. The reason some people love caviar, however, is not that other people dislike it. Instead, it just so happens, that the thing that some people love is the very thing that repels others. We see the same phenomena in art, some people love John Cage, other people would rather listen to nothing at all. ;)

Now if we mix in this kind of beauty–beauty over which there are violent disagreements–with the kind that most people do agree upon (think Haagan-Dazs vanilla ice cream) then I suspect that it will appear that lower rankings increase messages. But what is really going on is that high rankings–conditional on their also being many low rankings–actually signal an extra strong attraction. Someone who tells you that John Cage is their favorite composer is telling you more than someone who says Aaron Copland is their favorite composer.

Marginal Revolution: Sex and Statistics or Heteroscedasticity is Hot

Marginal Revolution: Sex and Statistics or Heteroscedasticity is Hot

~ Mark

Alex Tabarrok mulls over the recent OkTrends post on the Mathematics of Beauty.

I think there are certain types of beauty that greatly attract some men but repel others. Analagously, some people will pay hundreds of dollars for an ounce of caviar that other people won’t eat for free. The reason some people love caviar, however, is not that other people dislike it. Instead, it just so happens, that the thing that some people love is the very thing that repels others. We see the same phenomena in art, some people love John Cage, other people would rather listen to nothing at all. ;)

Now if we mix in this kind of beauty–beauty over which there are violent disagreements–with the kind that most people do agree upon (think Haagan-Dazs vanilla ice cream) then I suspect that it will appear that lower rankings increase messages. But what is really going on is that high rankings–conditional on their also being many low rankings–actually signal an extra strong attraction. Someone who tells you that John Cage is their favorite composer is telling you more than someone who says Aaron Copland is their favorite composer.

Marginal Revolution: Sex and Statistics or Heteroscedasticity is Hot

2010 Review of Books (Aaron Swartz’s Raw Thought)

~ Mark

Good round-up and commentary on his year in reading. New to/of interest to me:

  • Secrets by Daniel Ellsberg
  • A Bee Stung Me So I Killed All The Fish by George Saunders
  • Prince of the Marshes by Rory Stewart
  • Eating the Dinosaur by Chuck Klosterman
  • Becoming Attached by Robert Karen
  • Bonfire of the Vanities by Tom Wolfe
  • The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson
  • The Possessed: Adventures with Russian Books and the People Who Read Them by Elif Batuman

2010 Review of Books (Aaron Swartz’s Raw Thought)

2010 Review of Books (Aaron Swartz’s Raw Thought)

~ Mark

Good round-up and commentary on his year in reading. New to/of interest to me:

  • Secrets by Daniel Ellsberg
  • A Bee Stung Me So I Killed All The Fish by George Saunders
  • Prince of the Marshes by Rory Stewart
  • Eating the Dinosaur by Chuck Klosterman
  • Becoming Attached by Robert Karen
  • Bonfire of the Vanities by Tom Wolfe
  • The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson
  • The Possessed: Adventures with Russian Books and the People Who Read Them by Elif Batuman

2010 Review of Books (Aaron Swartz’s Raw Thought)

~ Mark

I frequently hear music in the very heart of the noise…

George Gershwin on Rhapsody in Blue’s inspiration, the rhythm of the city train. (via adamnorwood)

This reminds me of what I called and still call one of my favorite pieces of music ever, Steve Reich’s City Life, which uses a bunch of samples from New York City street scenes: hawkers, sirens, car and boat horns, screeching tires, subway whooshings. Luckily all five parts are online for your listening pleasure.