The Polish Maelstrom by Eric Flint

The history in this (second book of a series depicting) an alternative history of Bohemia and Poland in 1637 is really well-researched and very interesting.  The characters and fantasy universe are poorly conceived but the sensibilities and "slice of life" of the place and time are engrossing.  The plot line and story are meh.  But I knew nothing of that place and time so it was fascinating 3/5 stars.

Reality is infrequently what it seems

https://jods.mitpress.mit.edu/pub/tliexqdu

Participatory civics, the rise of conspiracy theories, and the future of our understanding: 

https://jods.mitpress.mit.edu/pub/tliexqdu

Stephenson's latest book, Fall, predicts the future of this phenomenon.

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mfw@wyle.org | 1.425.249.3936

Scotland July 2 - 16

We completed our whirlwind tour of Scotland today, flying from Glasgow through Heathrow to Zürich.  My Laptop died before we left so I have few notes or updates to photos.

itinerary:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1vSA0OmTPgYRm8XThTGrQoPtKPHJA7r_870umpj1hBwE

Photos:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/zmDTTzMoR3LAcFE98

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mfw@wyle.org | 1.425.249.3936

Slide Presentations are harmful

The large majority of business hours in my life is taken up in meetings, and almost all of the meetings are "Death by PowerPoint." A tiny minority of the slide decks are "stand alone" illustrated storybooks that need no presenter and could enable better communication for status updates.

Today I chanced upon this blog entry that illustrates a more-efficient and effective way to communicate status as well as the tangible and measurable benefits that result:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/10L3JIk8_p7Vln_176LXta5xEPOq_SPsoWrv4tR0oaD0

I have seen some grass roots efforts to institute this practice for a few meetings in the past but the idea has never caught on because of decades-long institutional corporate culture and a control-oriented tops-down demand for death-by-PowerPoint spoon feeding of status.

Change is always hard but this practice seems worth the pain.

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mfw@wyle.org | 1.425.249.3936

Who we are and how we got here by David Reich

Very good book with fantastic new science.  5/5 stars.

Long way to a small angry planet by Becky Chambers

The storyline and characters are very good and the space opera tech / politics are interesting. But the gratuitous bestiality and teen angst gossip / romance stuff is puke awful and nearly destroys the book.  3/5 stars.

Bridge across the stars by Portau et al

Some of the stories were good; some were terrible.  Most were just ok.  3/5 stars

AI Ethics

Die Frankfurter allgemeiner Zeitung (FAZ) hat einen interessanten Blick auf unsere gedankenlos Methoden des maschinellen Lernens auf wichtige Bereiche der Strafverfolgung, der Rechtsprechung und der Sozialpolitik anwenden. Mit Sensoren und großen Datenmengen können maschinelle Lernmethoden besser vorhersagen und Menschen effektiver manipulieren. Verordnung wird nicht helfen.

https://youtu.be/npcuik-bdoo

Fall by Neal Stephenson

I bought a signed first edition the night before it was released.  The book is fantastic.  I did not sleep, could not put it down. 5/5 stars.  It is slightly annoying that the author is merging his fiction universes from other books to bring back the progeny and personalities of characters from his other books.  I put up with the Robert A Heinlein (RAH) books when RAH started merging his characters, and I still love the Baroque Cycle, REAMDE, & Cryptonomicon family lines.  I generally do not like fantasy as a genre but the fantasy elements in this book are awesome. 5/5 stars, of course.

The Light Brigade bby Kameron Hurley

Well-crafted, intentionally disjointed, gritty military mystery story, 4/5 stars.