Advice to people wishing to become smarter: Get in the habit of assuming that everything is more complex than you imagine.

torgo_x forwarded the most clear and forceful explanation of how really bad mortgage ideas work, and why the current situation can't end well. Math is hard, and optimism is easy. I'd guess a lot of the people who do this think of themselves as risk-takers who are going to win. I wish them all luck tripling their incomes in the next five years ( Read more... )

Suppose that: You know what you were born to be.

Consider also that you are a:

1. Heart breaker.

2. Dream maker.

3. Love taker.

Conclusion:

Don't you mess around with me.

L.A. Observed reports on the Institute for Figuring, a new organization about, well, figuring. What they mean by this is the graphical representation of math in all ways: fractal art, paisley, mathematical patterns in natural objects, mosaics, buckyballs, half the stuff on your screensaver. There's fascinating stuff on the site about paper folding ( Read more... )