MeTooFull

This was the first moment I realized the difference between starting a startup and being a CEO, instead of being an employee, was primarily a question of having the balls to go for it. Chutzpah, gumption, whatever. They’re all euphemisms for having balls.

Have some balls!

*rugenius

Beautiful birds in awkward positions, photographer Todd Forsgren captures birds traps in mist nets (think spiderweb fences) for research.

#49530

A look back at the tech brainstorm for Minority ReportJun 21 2012

Back in 1999, as he prepared to make a movie called The Minority Report, Steven Spielberg gathered top science and technology types to an “idea summit” where they would share thoughts on what things might look like in 50 years. To mark the ten year anniversary of the movie’s release, Wired asked a dozen of the summit attendees to reflect on the experience. According to one participant: “There was no shortage of megalomania, although there was good reason for it.”

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In a rallying cry for all those who forgo outside investment, the founder then exposed his middle finger to the world’s venture capitalists, saying, “I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again … f*ck the VCs!”

Fantastic!

More views of the Tiananmen Tank ManJUN 06 2012

I’ve seen several versions of the iconic Tank Man photo but here’s a little-known wider view that shows just how many tanks the guy was holding up.

Larger version here. There is also, amazingly, video of the incident:

You’ll note at the end that the man is hustled off by a group of people. See also the Tank Man of Tiananmen (via @polarben)

Read more posts on kottke.org about:

China   photography   Tiananmen Square protests

“This could be the most hated book of the year.”

A reader’s comment:
“So we gave these guys $1Trillion in tax cuts. Where’s the $20Trillion in improvements in the economy?”

I was there 10 years ago before it blew up, can’t believe I didn’t move there.

so true.

In the meantime, companies will have to be largely self-taught, said Nick Halstead, CEO of DataSift, one of the U.K. start-ups actually doing Big Data. When recruiting, he said that the ability to ask questions about the data is the key, not mathematical prowess. “You have to be confident at the math, but one of our top people used to be an architect”.

“You have to be confident at the math, but one of our top people used to be an architect”.

In a previous post I discussed the mechanics of HFT. If you haven’t read it, go read it now. Now I’ll discuss it’s social utility and cost.

I’m a former high frequency trader. And following the tradition of G.H. Hardy, I feel the need to make an apology for my former profession. Not an apology in the sense of a request for forgiveness of wrongs performed, but merely an intellectual justification of a field which is often misunderstood.

In this blog post, I’ll attempt to explain the basics of how high frequency trading works and why traders attempt to improve their latency. In future blog posts, I’ll attempt to justify the social value of HFT (under some circumstances), and describe other circumstances under which it is not very useful. Eventually I’ll even put forward a policy prescription which I believe could cause HFT to focus primarily on socially valuable activities.