Matthias Kaschube studies that wiring by building models that describe experimentally observed brain activity. Kaschube and his colleagues at the Frankfurt Institute for Advanced Studies, the Max Planck Florida Institute for Neuroscience, the University of Minnesota, and elsewhere have found a host of features that stand in stark contrast to the circuits that engineers build: spontaneous activity and correlation, dynamic context generation, unreliable transmission, and straight-up noise. These seem to be fundamental features of what some call the universe’s most complex object—the brain.
BY MICHAEL SEGAL
JANUARY 17, 2019
http://nautil.us/issue/68/context/why-the-brain-is-so-noisy
1/19/2019
9/13/2018
Bernanke on the causes of the financial crisis
former Federal Reserve Chair Ben Bernanke examines why many forecasters failed to anticipate the severity of the Great Recession and what really drove the economy into such a tailspin.
Bernanke’s research, which is rooted in quantitative analysis of how the 2007-2009 financial crisis affected the economy, argues that the housing bust, while significantly damaging, can’t on its own explain why the Great Recession was so bad. To understand fully the depth and timing of the economic downturn, we should look instead to the subsequent financial panic—including the run on short-term wholesale funding for financial institutions and the subsequent fire sales of credit-related assets—that sharply constrained the supply of credit.
If Bernanke’s findings are correct, then policymakers were right to implement some of the most controversial policies of the financial crisis, including efforts to rescue the big banks and re-start credit markets. By bringing the panic under control relatively quickly, those policies prevented a still deeper and more protracted recession.
9/08/2018
Man begins six-month swim through 'Great Pacific garbage patch'
Ben Lecomte plans to swim from Japan to US to raise awareness of plastic pollution. A French anti-plastic campaigner has begun a six-month journey to swim through the giant floating rubbish mass known as the Great Pacific garbage patch.
Ben Lecomte, who has previously swum across the Atlantic Ocean in 1998, left the shores of Choshi in Japan on Tuesday morning, heading east.
The 50-year-old plans to swim from Japan to San Francisco in 180 days, covering 8,000km. His journey will take him through 1,600km of the garbage patch, in an attempt to raise awareness about plastic pollution. The Great Pacific garbage patch, according to the latest March estimate, is twice the size of France and contains nearly 80,000 tonnes of plastic.
Also known as the Pacific trash vortex, the patch is caused by the North Pacific gyre – a circle of currents that keep plastic, waste and other pollution trapped.
According to scientists, the patch has been growing “exponentially” in recent years. The March estimate found it was 16 times larger than previously expected.
Lecomte and his support team intend to sample the water they swim through every day of the journey, and gauge the level of plastic and microplastic pollution.
The expedition’s first mate, Tyral Dalitz, told the ABC the team wanted to dispel a myth about the garbage patch.
Rather than being made up of large pieces of plastic, most of the pollution is made up of invisible pieces of microplastic that sit in the water like a “plastic smog”, he said.
“In reality the truth is much worse – the ocean is now filled with microplastics ... Rather than calling it an island of trash, it is more like plastic smog throughout the ocean.”
Scientists get ready to begin Great Pacific Garbage Patch cleanup
A team of scientists and engineers will on Saturday begin an ambitious cleanup of plastics in the Pacific Ocean targeting a stretch of water three times the size of France known as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.
A 600m-long floating barrier will be launched off the coast of San Francisco and, powered by currents, waves and wind, will aim to collect five tonnes of plastic debris each month.
The marine apparatus known as System 001 is the brainchild of the Dutch inventor Boyan Slat who founded The Ocean Cleanup at the age of 18 in 2013.
Along with 70 staff he has spent the last five years testing 273 models and six different prototypes as part of the $20m (£15.5m) Netherlands-based project before arriving at the current design – nicknamed “Wilson” in reference to the famous volleyball from the film Castaway.
Nike sales surge 31% in days after Colin Kaepernick ad
The sportswear giant released the first version of its ad on Monday, the Labor Day holiday. It featured the quarterback and the slogan: “Believe in something. Even if it means sacrificing everything. Just do it.”
Kaepernick, 30, has been without a team since opting out of his San Francisco 49ers contract in March 2017. In 2016 he was an originator of protests by NFL players, targeting racial injustice and police brutality, which often involve kneeling during the pre-game playing of the national anthem.
Donald Trump has made the protests a key part of his appeal to his base, arguing that the players are disrespecting the anthem, the US flag and the military.
Trump did not supply evidence for his claim of “anger and boycotts” but opposition to the company’s move was expressed widely and in some instances creatively on social media.
On Friday, the morning after the full version of the Nike ad played during the Philadelphia Eagles v Atlanta Falcons NFL season opener, the president asked: “What was Nike thinking?”
Alibaba’s Jack Ma, China’s Richest Man, to Retire From Company He Co-Founded
HONG KONG — Alibaba’s co-founder and executive chairman, Jack Ma, said he planned to step down from the Chinese e-commerce giant on Monday to pursue philanthropy in education, a changing of the guard for the $420 billion internet company.
www.nytimes.com/2018/09/07/technology/alibaba-jack-ma-retiring.html
www.nytimes.com/2018/09/07/technology/alibaba-jack-ma-retiring.html
Ma, one of China’s best known corporate leaders, will remain on the company’s board of directors and continue to mentor its management, the New York Times said on Friday.
Ma, who founded Alibaba in 1999, stepped down as chief executive in 2013. He currently serves as the company’s international face at top political and business events.
Ma, China’s third richest person with a net worth of $36.6b according to Forbes magazine, was quoted as saying his retirement was not the end of an era, but the beginning of one.
While Ma‘s retirement from a formal role is a milestone, analysts and industry professionals say it is unlikely his involvement will change significantly.
“I don’t think it means that much, frankly. He stepped back from the CEO role about four or five years ago and very specifically made a comment about wanting the younger people to lead the company,” said Kevin Carter, founder of The Emerging Markets Internet exchange-trade fund.
Ma, who turns 54 on Monday, oversees a number of charitable projects in education and environmental fields. He is a cult figure in China’s internet industry and has attracted a big following among entrepreneurs and in pop culture.
Trump threatens to expand trade war to all Chinese imports as US moves ahead with further tariffs
“Now we’ve added another US$200 billion,” Trump said during remarks that were initially off the record but which he later told reporters they could publish. “And I hate to say that, but behind that, there’s another US$267 billion ready to go on short notice if I want. That totally changes the equation.”
https://www.scmp.com/author/owen-churchill
https://www.scmp.com/author/owen-churchill
8/26/2018
‘Papillon’ Review: Isolation and Infamy
Michael Noer creates an ambitious remake of the 1973 film about French convict, memoirist and inveterate flight risk Henri Charrière.
By John Anderson
There’s no escaping 1973’s “Papillon,” even during the most dire moments of director Michael Noer’s ambitious remake, which stars Charlie Hunnam (“Sons of Anarchy”) and Rami Malek (“Mr. Robot) and does its damnedest to separate itself from the original.
NBA Coach Steve Kerr Pays Premium for San Francisco Home
The Golden State Warriors head coach purchased a Presidio Heights house with Golden Gate Bridge views for $7.35 million, about 25% more than the original asking price. Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr and his wife, Margot, purchased a home in San Francisco’s Presidio Heights neighborhood for $7.35 million, according to public records. The house had been on the market with an asking price of $5.799 million.
/www.wsj.com/
$85 Million Private Island in the Bahamas Hits Market
Little Pipe Cay boasts five luxury homes and four private beaches
10,500-Acre Scottish Hunting Estate Sells to English Businessman
A millionaire from northern England has purchased a massive Scottish island estate two-thirds the size of Manhattan—it was most recently asking £1.85 million (US$2.377 million).
The 10,500-acre property known as the Scaliscro Estate is located on the Isle of Lewis, the northernmost island in the the Hebrides archipelago, which juts into the Atlantic Ocean from the Scottish mainland. The expansive land with its rocky green terrain and views over Loch Roag could be a scene plucked out of a fantasy novel, images of the listing show.
Chicago’s Second-Most Expensive Listing Hits Market, Asking Nearly $16M
The mansion has been in the Hoover family, known for their eponymous vacuum company, since 1926. The property, located in Glencoe, a suburb of Chicago, is a 10,000-square-foot mansion located within walking distance of the Chicago Botanic Gardens and the Lakeshore Country Club on the banks of Lake Michigan. At 12.2 acres, the estate is the largest privately owned property in Illinois’s Cook County.
Lake Tahoe Home Where Howard Hughes Lived Until His Death Sells for $17.5M
A lakefront property in Lake Tahoe, Nevada, owned for more than two decades by the notorious businessman, pilot and director Howard Hughes, has sold for $17.5 million after being on and off the market for five years, listing records show.
"Summertide" consists of two buildings, including a 2,518-square-foot five-bedroom main residence and a two-bedroom, 1,343-square-foot cottage, and sits on 500 feet of Lake Tahoe shoreline, with 180-degree panoramic waterfront views, according to the listing.
Los Angeles Property Asks $1 Billion—But Can it Sell?
At $1 billion, the most expensive piece of land ever to be marketed in Los Angeles offers a luxury development opportunity that will need not only deep pockets, but some serious mathematical acrobatics to make it worthwhile, local experts say.
There are conceivable ways a residential developer could buy "The Mountain," a 157-acre summit in the iconic 90210 ZIP Code in Los Angeles county, and build it up into a community of mega-mansions only billionaires could afford, say several developers and local real estate experts. But the current zoning and city records documenting past efforts to build on the land reveal just how hard it will be to get the math right.
‘Scapegoat’: A Word for Unfair Blame, From the Bible to the Beltway
A translator’s 16th-century misinterpretation of scripture fostered a widely used term.
8/25/2018
Why Trump is missing the mark by focusing on goods instead of services
David Dodwell says by zeroing in on the trade imbalance between China and the US, Trump is ignoring the huge potential for US exports in services such as tourism.
For example, look where these services exports come from. Over US$290 billion of services exports (about 40 per cent of total services exports) came from tourism – 76 million foreign tourists visited the US in 2016, underpinning close to 10 million jobs. China is today the source of more international travellers than any other country – more than 150 million last year – and this total is growing at more than 5 million a year. In 2016, just 3 million of these travellers went to the US – but they spent US$33 billion, by far the highest per capita spending of any country worldwide, according to the Germany-based China Outbound Research Institute.
At this rate, attracting an extra 1 million Chinese visitors would lift US tourism exports by US$11 billion a year. Add 10 million over the coming decade – not an unreasonable target – and this amounts to services exports worth an extra US$110 billion a year, adding literally millions of new jobs in the US. By poisoning relations with China, Trump’s trade war is putting much of this potential at risk: imagine how easy it is for China to suddenly make it harder to get US visas.
It is intriguing that Trump is so keenly obsessed with US goods exports to China worth US$130 billion a year, while wholly neglecting the upside potential of tourism and other services worth twice as much.
PUBLISHED : Saturday, 25 August, 2018, 4:01am
UPDATED : Saturday, 25 August, 2018, 6:58am
8/23/2018
Ben Affleck reportedly back in rehab
'Big Bang Theory' will end its 12-season run in 2019
“The Big Bang Theory” will come to an end after its 12-season run in May 2019, CBS announced Wednesday.
The longest-running multi-camera series in television history will wrap with a record-breaking 279 episodes.
“We are forever grateful to our fans for their support of ‘The Big Bang Theory’ during the past twelve seasons,” Lorre Productions, CBS and Warner Bros. said in a joint statement Wednesday.
By ERIN BEN-MOCHE
www.latimes.com
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