Author: Leon

The power available to us is awesome and terrifying. Are we headed to a future where Anonymous attacks leaders and organizations with biological means rather than via the Internet?

Hacking the President’s DNA

The U.S. government is surreptitiously collecting the DNA of world leaders, and is reportedly protecting that of Barack Obama. Decoded, these genetic blueprints could provide compromising information. In the not-too-distant future, they may provide something more as well—the basis for the creation of personalized bioweapons that could take down a president and leave no trace.

Related articles

• Assassination By Flu?

It seems so simple, but using the scientific method helps you win. Lately it’s been getting my attention that there’s a cultural divide between those people who accept Aristotle’s (or Bacon’s) method of discovery.

Science-Based Medicine » “Moneyball,” the 2012 election, and science- and evidence-based medicine

Moneyball has also entered politics in a big way over the election cycles of 2008, 2010, 2012. In the run-up to the 2012 election, I, like many others, became hooked on FiveThirtyEight, a blog devoted to applying rigorous statistical analysis to the polls. (FiveThirtyEight refers to the number of votes in the Electoral College.) As political junkies (and even many casual observers) know, the man responsible for the blog, Nate Silver, got his start as a “moneyball”-style sabermetrics baseball analyst. In 2002, he developed a model to assess and predict a baseball player’s performance over time, known as PECOTA, which stands for “Players Empirical Comparison and Optimization Test Algorithm.” Silver brought his model to the Baseball Prospectus. Several years later, he was applying his statistical methods to the 2008 election, and the rest is history. Indeed, in this year’s election, Silver correctly called all 50 states.

I guess Amazon has some automatic emails that beg you to review products you purchase, and I may have been missing them until recently because I switched my email address away from a shopping-specific email address. I ordered Leonard Peikoff’s DIM Hypothesis book, which just came out. It was sitting on my nightstand for maybe three days before Amazon sent me an email asking me how I liked it. Really? You think I blazed through it that fast? I haven’t even started it!

Today, they ask me, “Leon, how do you like your ‘Dickies Mens Slim Straight Fit Pant’?” OK, this product I’ve tried. It’s OK. I can’t be bothered to write a review, though. Leave me alone already!

Is there any better indication is that WoW has jumped the shark? Oh, wait, yeah, there is: Kung Fu Pandaria

85th level Orc Rogue wins election

The U.S.’ 2012 election’s saw the first Buddhist elected to the Senate, the first Hindu elected to Congress, and the first Orc Rogue elected to the Maine state Senate. Wait. What!?