September 28, 2013

Economist Wins Genius Grant For Proving That Most Traders Are Idiots

One of the winners is a CalTech economist most famous for calling traders idiots.

In 2010, Dr. Colin Camerer co-authored, "Using Neural Data to Test A Theory of Investor Behavior: An Application to Realization Utility." It is his most downloaded paper, according to the St. Louis Fed.

Camerer and his co-authors found that the "realization utility" model of investing is way more prevalent than it should be.

"Realization utility" describes the phenomenon of a given trader being more prone to taking "realized gains," or immediate profits, than to allow "paper gains" to linger on their theoretical balance sheet.

http://www.businessinsider.com/colin-camerer-wins-genius-grant-2013-9#ixzz2gCksNDs8

September 28, 2013

99-year-old receives her high school diploma

A 99-year-old Iowa woman who dropped out of a high school more than 80 years ago despite needing only one credit to graduate has finally received her diploma.

Audrey Crabtree, of Cedar Falls, smiled Monday as she received an honorary diploma for her time at Waterloo East High School.

"And I feel so much smarter," Crabtree quipped.

Crabtree, who began her education at a one-room school house in northeast Iowa, left high school in 1932 due to a swimming and diving accident that forced her to miss several school days. She also had to care for her sick grandmother.

http://news.yahoo.com/99-old-iowa-woman-gets-high-school-diploma-162511730.html

September 27, 2013

Guy tries to get copyright lawyer's video taken down - for copyright violation

An Australian record label may have picked a fight with the wrong guy. The label sent a standard takedown notice threatening to sue after YouTube computers spotted its music in a video.

It turns out that video was posted by one of the most famous copyright attorneys in the world, and Lawrence Lessig is suing back.

Lessig, a Harvard Law School professor, has lectured around the world about how copyright law needs to adapt to the Internet age. In his lecture, he shows examples of people who have used the Internet to "share their culture and remix other people's creations."

One of the examples he likes to show is a series of remixes that use the song "Lisztomania" by the French band Phoenix. Someone remixed that song with clips from the iconic '80s movie The Breakfast Club. The remix went viral and inspired other videos in which people pretended to be Breakfast Club actors dancing to the song.

http://www.npr.org/blogs/alltechconsidered/2013/09/27/226834651/record-label-picks-a-fight-over-copyright-with-the-wrong-guy

September 27, 2013

Billy Graham's grandson: Abuse worse in evangelical churches than Catholic Church

The Christian mission field is a “magnet” for sexual abusers, Boz Tchividjian, a Liberty University law professor who investigates abuse said Thursday (Sept. 26) to a room of journalists.

While comparing evangelicals to Catholics on abuse response, ”I think we are worse,” he said at the Religion Newswriters Association conference, saying too many evangelicals had “sacrificed the souls” of young victims.

“Protestants can be very arrogant when pointing to Catholics,” said Tchividjian, a grandson of evangelist Billy Graham and executive director of Godly Response to Abuse in the Christian Environment (GRACE), which has investigated sex abuse allegations.

Earlier this summer, GRACE spearheaded an online petition decrying the “silence” and “inattention” of evangelical leaders to sexual abuse in their churches.

http://www.religionnews.com/2013/09/26/billy-grahams-grandson-evangelicals-worse-catholic-church-sex-abuse/

September 27, 2013

Psychic claims $$ evil, so people should give it to her to be cleansed

A South Florida woman who claimed to have psychic powers has been convicted by a jury of multiple fraud charges in what prosecutors called a long-running $40 million scam.

Jurors in West Palm Beach federal court found 62-year-old Rose Marks guilty of all 14 counts. The Palm Beach Post reports that Marks faces a maximum 20-year prison sentence. Several other family members previously pleaded guilty.

Marks and other family members operated out of storefronts in Fort Lauderdale and New York City. Testimony showed she convinced people that money was the source of evil and that they should give her cash and valuables to be cleansed and returned. Most was not.

http://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/weird/South-Florida-Woman-Claiming-Psychic-Powers-Found-Guilty-of-Fraud-225430202.html

September 27, 2013

Alexander Calder's grandson dismayed as another artist uses sculpture for his own art

After hearing complaints about an ArtPrize entry that put flowers on Alexander Calder’s big red sculpture, the city sought an opinion from the late artist’s foundation.

The response: it’s awful.

In a scathing Sept. 23 reply to a city inquiry earlier that day, Calder’s grandson said ArtPrize entrant David Dodde’s “Fleurs et riviere” “reflects an utter lack of understanding and respect” for his grandfather’s original work.

Foundation President Alexander S. C. Rower also labeled public discussion about the Calder flowers – which the city highlighted as a success of Dodde’s work – a failure that “contributes nothing to humanity’s understanding” of Calder’s “La Grande Vitesse” or the role of public art in general.

http://www.mlive.com/artprize/index.ssf/2013/09/calders_grandson_calls_artprize_flowers_an_abomination.html

The flowers aren't supposed to be here:



UPDATE: Just to follow up on a couple of comments... to someone from outside the Grand Rapids area, it might not be much to look at, but in Grand Rapids, it's a well-known - and defining - landmark. I guess beauty really is in the eye of the beholder.

September 24, 2013

After wedding is cancelled, reception turns into charity dinner for homeless

When Willie and Carol Fowler's only daughter cancelled her wedding 40 days before she was set to walk down the aisle, the parents were faced with a venue, food and entertainment that had all been paid for.

But instead of cancelling everything and losing their deposits, they decided to change the guest list -- to 200 homeless people.

"We went home that evening and my husband woke up the next morning and I was in the process of cancelling out the venue and he said, 'No, what we'll do is donate it to Hosea Feed the Hungry,'" Carol Fowler told ABCNews.com today.

"It was a vision," Fowler said of her husband's idea. "He said he had prayed on it during the night and God had directed him and that's what we were going to do."

http://abcnews.go.com/US/georgia-family-donates-cancelled-weddings-reception-homeless/story?id=20344600

September 19, 2013

U of Michigan athletics paid for 'Go Blue' skywriting over rival stadium

http://www.mlive.com/lansing-news/index.ssf/2013/09/university_of_michigan_athleti.html

University of Michigan athletics paid thousands of dollars for a skywriter to etch "Go Blue" in the skies over East Lansing before Michigan State kicked off against Youngstown State on Saturday.

Suzanne Asbury-Oliver, who runs Oregon Aero SkyDancer skywriting with her husband Steve, told MLive the Wolverines' athletic department hired her business to put Michigan slogans into the air above Ann Arbor then East Lansing on Saturday.

Michigan athletic department spokesperson Dave Ablauf acknowledged his department paid for Saturday's skywriting but said no specific locations were targeted.

"We hired the skywriters to canvas southeast Michigan with slogans and numbers prior to our game last Saturday,"he said in a statement. "There were no locations targeted."

September 19, 2013

A Big Heart Open to God: America Magazine Interviews Pope Francis

I ask Pope Francis point-blank: “Who is Jorge Mario Bergoglio?” He stares at me in silence. I ask him if I may ask him this question. He nods and replies: “I ​​do not know what might be the most fitting description.... I am a sinner. This is the most accurate definition. It is not a figure of speech, a literary genre. I am a sinner.”

The pope continues to reflect and concentrate, as if he did not expect this question, as if he were forced to reflect further. “Yes, perhaps I can say that I am a bit astute, that I can adapt to circumstances, but it is also true that I am a bit naïve. Yes, but the best summary, the one that comes more from the inside and I feel most true is this: I am a sinner whom the Lord has looked upon.” And he repeats: “I ​​am one who is looked upon by the Lord. I always felt my motto, Miserando atque Eligendo [By Having Mercy and by Choosing Him], was very true for me.”

The motto is taken from the Homilies of Bede the Venerable, who writes in his comments on the Gospel story of the calling of Matthew: “Jesus saw a publican, and since he looked at him with feelings of love and chose him, he said to him, ‘Follow me.’” The pope adds: “I think the Latin gerund miserando is impossible to translate in both Italian and Spanish. I like to translate it with another gerund that does not exist: misericordiando [“mercy-ing”].

Pope Francis continues his reflection and says, jumping to another topic: “I do not know Rome well. I know a few things. These include the Basilica of St. Mary Major; I always used to go there. I know St. Mary Major, St. Peter’s...but when I had to come to Rome, I always stayed in [the neighborhood of] Via della Scrofa. From there I often visited the Church of St. Louis of France, and I went there to contemplate the painting of ‘The Calling of St. Matthew,’ by Caravaggio.

http://americamagazine.org/pope-interview

Not sure if any other American media outlet has featured this kind of full-length interview with the new Pope. Haven't had a chance to read much of it, but hopefully will this weekend.

September 18, 2013

University removes wrecking ball landmark after students ride it nude a la Miley Cyrus

A landmark on Grand Valley State University's main campus has been removed, but is Miley Cyrus to blame?

Tuesday morning, a crew removed the giant pendulum sculpture from outside Padnos Hall of Science.

The steel ball, which hangs from a cable, resembles a wrecking ball. For years students had swung on it, but recently several students climbed on the ball naked, mimicking Miley Cyrus' video for "Wrecking Ball."

At least one student posted a vine video of his nude ode to Cyrus.

http://www.freep.com/article/20130917/NEWS06/309170134/GVSU-removes-wrecking-ball-sculpture-after-students-ride-nude-like-Miley-Cyrus