Steve Fischer's Random Blog

Author: fish1964

  • And I shall wear the creditors’ loathing with pride

    A genuinely classic line from Yanis Varoufakis, the now former Finance Minister of Greece.

    Soon after the announcement of the referendum results, I was made aware of a certain preference by some Eurogroup participants, and assorted ‘partners’, for my… ‘absence’ from its meetings; an idea that the Prime Minister judged to be potentially helpful to him in reaching an agreement. For this reason I am leaving the Ministry of Finance today.

    I consider it my duty to help Alexis Tsipras exploit, as he sees fit, the capital that the Greek people granted us through yesterday’s referendum.

    And I shall wear the creditors’ loathing with pride.

  • Bubble Chart Wow

    From the Incidental Economist, this is great use of a bubble chart:

    Each circle in that chart is a county in the United States, with bigger circles representing bigger counties. The fitted lines tell us that as the proportion of people receiving mammograms goes up, the rate of people being diagnosed with cancer goes up, pretty dramatically. But the rate of people dying from breast cancer in 10 years is pretty much unaffected.

    The conclusion:

    When analyzed at the county level, the clearest result of mammography screening is the diagnosis of additional small cancers. Furthermore, there is no concomitant decline in the detection of larger cancers, which might explain the absence of any significant difference in the overall rate of death from the disease. Together, these findings suggest widespread overdiagnosis.

  • Unencrypted UK

    David Cameron’s proposed ban on strong encryption is being met with disbelief on the tech side. This Business Insider interview is a pretty good overview:

    BUSINESS INSIDER: What was your immediate reaction to Cameron’s proposals?

    Bruce Schneier: My immediate reaction was disbelief, followed by confusion and despair. When I first read about Cameron’s remarks, I was convinced he had no idea what he was really proposing. The idea is so preposterous that it was hard to imagine it being seriously suggested.

    …

    BI: Is there really no way to keep users’ data secure while providing backdoors to law enforcement?

    BS: Yes, there really is no way.

    Think of it like this. Technically, there is no such thing as a “backdoor to law enforcement.” Backdoor access is a technical requirement, and limiting access to law enforcement is a policy requirement. As an engineer, I cannot design a system that works differently in the presence of a particular badge or a signed piece of paper. I have two options. I can design a secure system that has no backdoor access, meaning neither criminals nor foreign intelligence agencies nor domestic police can get at the data. Or I can design a system that has backdoor access, meaning they all can. Once I have designed this less-secure system with backdoor access, I have to install some sort of policy overlay to try to ensure that only the police can get at the backdoor and only when they are authorized. I can design and build procedures and other measures intended to prevent those bad guys from getting access, but anyone who has followed all of the high-profile hacking over the past few years knows how futile that would be.

  • Grexit

    One of the better summaries of the situation from Bill McBride of Calculated Risk:

    δίλημμα: Dilemma. There is no good choice on Sunday.

    Poor fiscal policies led to the need for a bailout. And the poorly designed bailout program has crushed the Greek economy. Now the creditors want more of the same, expecting a different result;  so voting “Yes” seems like the definition of insanity. But a “No” vote will mean complete chaos.

  • China Plummets

    I’m not really following the Chinese stock market woes, but this line about them relaxing margin trading rules amused me:

    That’s sort of like lighting a tree on fire when it gets dark outside and all your flashlights are dead. It’ll work. For a while. But it’s really not considered best practice.

  • Strengths and Weaknesses

    Via xkcd, I dare anyone to use these answers in a job interview…

  • Interpretive Jiggery-Pokery

    You may not be a Scalia fan (I’m not) but some great lines today:

    The Court’s next bit of interpretive jiggery-pokery involves other parts of the Act that purportedly presuppose the availability of tax credits on both federal and state Exchanges….Pure applesauce.

    Applesauce as a legislative argument, classic.

  • NYC Changes

    An amusing tweet:

    https://twitter.com/kirstensibilia/status/613318679799943168

  • Female Tech Founders

    Rare, but less so in NYC. And even less so in Brooklyn:

    New York City, on the other hand, has produced the largest number of companies with a female founder: 374, or 21% of all startups

    And while we are on the subject of New York City, it’s worth noting that Brooklyn, considered on its own, is the national frontrunner with 28% of startups

    Still not great numbers, but go BK…

  • Fox News Anchors Are Dangerous

    This is not a political/fact type argument. I mean genuinely dangerous in the “throwing a two sided axe directly at a person and hitting them” sort of way.

    I was hit by an axe while performing a drum solo live on National TV…..words I never imagined saying!

    This is Fox News promoting an upcoming lumberjack competition…

    https://www.facebook.com/jeff.prosperie/videos/1674267599461490/