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Jayson Vantuyl on
June 2, 2009PostsI recently read two largely unrelated articles. Much like french fries and milkshakes, they go together well even though you might not expect it. If you have a technical bent, read this whole article. It’s about a guy building electronic brains, and it’s fascinating. If you just want the salty-sweet juxtaposition, just read the first question on the third page here. Now read this article on the recent friction between science and politics. What’s interesting is the fact that the observations of the first article cast the second article in a disturbing but understandable light. As thinking creatures in whatRead more →
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Jayson Vantuyl on
October 26, 2008PostsI was just retagging some of my music. I ran across an interesting set of unexpected issues with Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (by the Beatles, duh!). The end was cut off of some of the song names, so I wanted to fix it up. I looked up the album on the Internet and began fixing song names. Immediately, I noticed that the number of tracks in my list didn’t match the number of songs on the record. After some headscratching I realized that the songs were listed by side of the record. After smacking my forehead, I startedRead more →
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Jayson Vantuyl on
October 4, 2008PostsLeave it up to an opinion column in Bloomberg to perfectly articulate what I’ve had brewing in my head. I kept thinking, “How does putting money into the banks fix the problem that these assets are overvalued?” Unless we are buying these securities, and then writing them down to a corrected value, nothing is fixed. It’s quintessentially anti-market. The properties aren’t allowed to go down in value. Ron Paul hit it on the head, it’s price-fixing. As with most of Ron Paul’s theories, I don’t completely agree with his solution (i.e. the Federal Reserve and paper currency is the rootRead more →
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Jayson Vantuyl on
September 28, 2008PostsIs it just me, or does this make anyone else nervous. Read this. Then read this. Deja vu? Is it just me, or is this exactly history repeating itself. The most disturbing confluence is: Cheap Credit Bad Loans Reinvestment in Real Estate Basically, credit gets cheap. Banks compete too much because of the cheap credit. Bad loans are made because of the competition. Given the cheap credit, people reinvest in the real-estate, essentially refinancing themselves so it is never paid off. In that environment, it was just a matter of time until bad loans creeped unacceptably high. Even worse, naive interpretationRead more →
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Jayson Vantuyl on
July 5, 2008PostsBeing fairly unconventional in my youth, I have some exciting stories. One time I spent my birthday money on “Subliminal Tapes”. The theory was that they had hidden recordings that played directly into your subconscious. That sounded like it made sense to me (being about 12), so I purchased a few. Two that I recall were one to improve my bowling game (I was in a kid’s league at the time), and one titled “Do It Now!”. Even at 12, I knew I was a procrastinator. It was a harmless purchase, even if a naive one. At that point IRead more →
