StumbleUpon | imall4frogs's comments & reviews

http://imall4frogs.stumbleupon.com/review/37571199/

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 20:38:49 -0800

Hira sent this jewel.
Thank you, friend.

Kucinich: "Almost As Serious As Committing War Crimes Is Covering Up War Crimes"

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 20:10:36 -0800

Too often in modern warfare, victory falls to the combatant
who can most efficiently terrorize or destroy the civilian
population of his enemy.

This dishonorable, lethal trend will recede only when political
leaders exact a political price for such dangerous misuse of military force.

U.S. House Resolution 867 calls for my country to oppose any endorsement
or further consideration of the "Report of the United Nations
Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict".
That report details war crimes. Our House would suppress the report at the peril of humanity.
In the video, Ohio Representative Dennis Kucinich passionately argues against H. R. 867.

http://imall4frogs.stumbleupon.com/review/37423233/

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 06:08:07 -0800

Mali-San sent this offbeat
fairy tale. :-D

Chaiyya Chaiyya

Sun, 01 Nov 2009 11:15:14 -0800

This tune ranks #9 in a global survey. The music is vital, the lyrics impassioned, and the dance sequence eclipses most contemporary efforts. Vikas1Sharma sent this to me--thanks, friend!

http://imall4frogs.stumbleupon.com/review/37310351/

Sun, 01 Nov 2009 02:46:00 -0800

We're still holdin' on..

...and thank you for the send!

Nash equilibrium - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Sun, 01 Nov 2009 02:35:12 -0800

Politics, Traffic, and Taxes--
Nash Equilibrium Iluminates All Three

The chief lab tech and I were talking about politics at lunch last month. Being right-of-center in his political views, the chief was arguing against high taxes. He asked, "If I use my savings to start a business, bear all the risk, and make the payroll every week, then why should my gains be taken from me and distributed to strangers?" I answered, "I understand what you're saying. At the extreme left of the political spectrum our taxes would be at 100 percent, and we would live in a communist nightmare in which 'we' would pretend to work, and 'they' would pretend to pay us." The chief nodded.

I continued, "Now at the far right of the spectrum, our tax rate would be zero. Each of us would keep all our earnings." The chief smiled. "Each of us could finally afford that Cadillac that we've wanted to buy," I said. "Yea!" said the chief. "However," I added, "no one would be able to drive their new car anywhere. If there are no taxes, then there are no roads."

I was hoping to convince the chief that tax rates are a balancing act in which the drives of all individuals must be balanced with the needs of their society.

The points of balance, or equilibrium, within a dynamic exchange are the great discovery of Nobel winner John Nash. Staying with the "car" analogy that I presented to the chief, I can best illustrate Nash Equilibrium with the traffic flow problem presented at the top of this post. (Ignore the numbers; this is simpler than all that.)

Imagine it's quitting time, and everyone in town wants to drive from point A (work) to point D (home). The routes that lead thru points B and C are highways that lead straight to D. Points B and C are connected by a service road.

Because each is self-interested, our drivers all choose the straightest routes thru B or C, and traffic slows under the surge of drivers. No driver chooses the service road connecting points B and C, because that route would only take more time. Traffic has reached equilibrium, because no single driver can change his route without falling behind. But this "point of equilibrium" is less than optimal for traffic flow. If a specific number of "enlightened" drivers would start using the service road, then the traffic jam on the highways would ease, and all drivers would enjoy a travel time that is shorter than if no drivers used the service road!

The importance of Nash Equilibrium to the field of Economics is hard to overstate. His work vanquished the mysticism of Adam Smith's "invisible hand" along with the moralizing "dictatorship of the proletariat" that Marx preached. Instead, Nash offers rational points of balance at which all individuals in a society can enjoy optimal returns. Our culture has yet to absorb Nash's work. How can I tell that we still don't understand John Nash? Simple. Our taxes are still a mess, and the chief won't talk to me about politics anymore.

Everything is OK Montage

Sat, 31 Oct 2009 18:06:27 -0700

In this video, a performance artist barks into a
megaphone. As loudly as possible, the artist
gives voice to what many have come to suspect.

From Ya--great send, friend!

http://imall4frogs.stumbleupon.com/review/37303265/

Sat, 31 Oct 2009 17:33:29 -0700

Hang In There!

--a send from Cheryl--thank you so much, friend!

Amazing Pictures, Pollution in China | ChinaHush

Sat, 31 Oct 2009 10:28:27 -0700

The Living End

These pictures catalog the first stages of the extinction of homo sapiens.
Even in the most optimistic projection, this wholesale environmental degradation must result in a die-back for our species if the trend continues.
All share the same biosphere. This is not just a "Chinese problem".

Am I chirping the song of Chicken Little? Perhaps.

Then again, Chicken Little only has to be right once.

StumbleUpon.com: Personalized Recommendations to Help You Discover the Best of the Web

Mon, 26 Oct 2009 17:16:16 -0700

This is the end.