On global warming and the global financial crisis "The two crises have a lot in common. In both cases we have a systemic problem that can be forestalled only through immediate and very expensive government action, paid for by a public that has to take the diagnosis on faith (since even the domain experts do not understand the problem). The solution has to cross national boundaries, with the most advanced economies paying a disproportionate share of the price. And in the best case, the solution will give a negative result (lack of a depression, absence of catastrophic climate change) where it may be impossible to prove that the adopted policy was better than doing nothing." In short, we are fucked.

Thoughts on the fundamental instability in our financial system "The only solution is to forbid money management as we know it"

On "Quants" - physic PHDs that moved into finance. Scathing criticism of academics and their role in the financial crisis

Rahm Emanuel on the job. West Wing meets real life - again

"Iceland’s de facto bankruptcy—its currency (the krona) is kaput, its debt is 850 percent of G.D.P., its people are hoarding food and cash and blowing up their new Range Rovers for the insurance—resulted from a stunning collective madness. What led a tiny fishing nation, population 300,000, to decide, around 2003, to re-invent itself as a global financial power? In Reykjavík, where men are men, and the women seem to have completely given up on them, the author follows the peculiarly Icelandic logic behind the meltdown." A good take on the collapse of the icelandic economy. Might be funny if it weren't so tragic

It sounds like science fic­tion, but it is fact: On the battlefields of Iraq and Afghan­istan, robots are killing America’s ene­mies and sav­ing Ameri­can lives. But today’s Pack­Bots, Preda­tors, and Ravens are rela­tively prim­itive machines. The coming generation of “war-bots” will be im­mensely more sophisti­cated, and their devel­op­ment raises troubling new questions about how and when we wage ­war.

"Throughout American history, politicians and public officials have exploited public anxieties about crime and disorder for political gain. The difference today is that these political strategies and public anxieties have come together in the perfect storm. They have radically transformed U.S. penal policies, spurring an unprecedented prison boom. Since the 1970s, the U.S. prisoner population has increased by more than fivefold. Today, the United States is the world’s warden, incarcerating a higher proportion of its people than any other country—or about one out of every hundred adults. A staggering seven million people—or one in every thirty-two adults—are either incarcerated, on parole or probation, or under some other form of state supervision. " -- Excellent read on incarceration in the united states