Letters Remain

  • Low-Tech Treatments Hold Most Hope for Cognitive Recovery After Brain Damage

    Scientific American looks at some new research being conducted to aid cognitive recovery in victims of severe traumatic brain injuries (TBI).

    It appears that some of the greatest benefits will come from improvements in low-tech quick-response treatments.

    “We’re not bad at getting people to survive [severe TBI], but we’re worse at getting good cognitive recovery.”

    The best hope for improved healing lies neither in new medications, which have been disappointing so far, nor in exotic fixes involving stem cells and neural regeneration, which are at least a decade away.

    The biggest gains in cognitive recovery will likely result from advances in emergency room and intensive care practices such as slowing the brain’s metabolism by cooling the body, removing part of the skull to relieve intracranial pressure and injecting an experimental polymer “glue” to repair damaged brain cells.

    via Mind Hacks

    Lloyd Morgan

  • The World in 2009

    The Economist‘s annual issue collecting predictions for the coming year has been released in the form of The World in 2009. From the introduction, by editor Daniel Franklin:

    Anyone hoping for a period of calm after the turbulence of the past year will be disappointed. For the economy and for business, as well as for politics, 2009 promises to be a year of bracing adjustment to a changed world.

    Lloyd Morgan

  • Executing Your Idea

    Serial entrepreneur Alex Mann implores us to take action, in this series of posts on executing your business idea:

    1. Be An Executioner
    2. Who’s Your Market
    3. Building Your Team
    4. Gaining Momentum
    5. Develop Your Moat

    As Alex reiterates in Gaining Momentum, this advice that originally appeared in the comments section of the introduction (written by friend and millionaire entrepreneur Derek Sivers) is important, if not imperative:

    MAKE it, even if you don’t have the massive programming-skill available, then make a super lo-fi or no-fi version and just get started with a couple friends and volunteers.

    It’s SO much more impressive to hear someone say, “There’s this thing that I’ve started doing that a lot of people seem to like.”

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    Lloyd Morgan

  • Primer on Evolutionary Psychology

    The evolutionary psychology theories of human behaviour are fascinating, as anyone who has read Matt Ridley’s acclaimed The Red Queen can attest. For those that haven’t, however, The Economist has created what may be the best primer on evolutionary psychology I’ve read.

    No one is suggesting Darwinism has all the answers to social questions. Indeed, with some, such as the role of hierarchies, it suggests there is no definitive answer at all—itself an important conclusion. What is extraordinary, though, is how rarely an evolutionary analysis is part of the process of policymaking. To draw an analogy, it is like trying to fix a car without properly understanding how it works: not impossible, but as likely as not to result in a breakdown or a crash. Perhaps, after a century and a half, it is time not just to recognise but also to understand that human beings are evolved creatures. To know thyself is, after all, the beginning of wisdom.

    via Seed

    Lloyd Morgan

  • Articles to Understand the Financial Situation

    It may be a bit late now, but if you’re still looking for good information on the current macroeconomic situation the single-page compilation The Money Meltdown is an excellent resource, even given its slight U.S. slant.

    via Kottke

    (Don’t forget this previous post of excellent links, too.)

    Lloyd Morgan

  • That Most Precious of Metals

    We all know that gold—one of the most precious metals on Earth—is scare. However, the actual dearth of gold is surprising, as Jason Kottke points out:

    The estimated total amount of gold mined by humans would fill a cube that’s only 25 meters [about 82 feet] on a side. Platinum is even more rare… all of the mined platinum in the world would [fit in a cube that is 6.3 meters (about 20 feet)].

    National Geographic (via Seed) looks at the real (human) cost of gold.

    No single element has tantalized and tormented the human imagination more than the shimmering metal known by the chemical symbol Au. For thousands of years the desire to possess gold has driven people to extremes, fueling wars and conquests, girding empires and currencies, leveling mountains and forests. Gold is not vital to human existence; it has, in fact, relatively few practical uses. Yet its chief virtues—its unusual density and malleability along with its imperishable shine—have made it one of the world’s most coveted commodities, a transcendent symbol of beauty, wealth, and immortality. […] Nearly every society through the ages has invested gold with an almost mythological power.

    N.B. In terms of cost, gold is far from the most precious of metals; that honour goes to rhodium.

    Lloyd Morgan

  • Pro Poker as a Startup

    As a former professional poker player, Matt Maroon got a lot of enquiries from people asking him if they should ‘go pro’. Now an entrepreneur, he gets similar enquiries from people asking him whether they should start their own company. He discusses the similarities between pro poker and start-ups in A Little Better Advice.

    My goal was to help them at least realize that going pro means a hell of a lot more than just quitting your job and gambling all the time. And it even means a lot more than just being good at poker, because something like 30% of people are winning players, but only a tiny fraction of them could successfully do it for a living. Success as a professional is more about bankroll management than poker skill, and avoiding going broke is a lot harder to do well than beating a $10/$20 game.

    […]

    They’re not really looking for a yes or no answer. Most of them are just thinking out loud or looking for confirmation of the decision they’ve already made.

    Lloyd Morgan

  • The Benefits of Good Writing

    From chapter 8 of Getting Real, one of the best books I’ve ever read on the subject of application development; the benefits of good writing:

    If you are trying to decide between a few people to fill a position, always hire the better writer. […] That’s because being a good writer is about more than words. Good writers know how to communicate. They make things easy to understand. They can put themselves in someone else’s shoes. They know what to omit. They think clearly. And those are the qualities you need.

    If I remember correctly, Getting Real is full of little pearls of wisdom such as this which means that I must reread it soon.

    The presentation How to Write More Clearly, Think More Clearly, and Learn Complex Material More Easily is also worth your time.

    via Hacker News

    Lloyd Morgan

  • A Look at our Sense of Touch

    Primal, Acute and Easily Duped: Our Sense of Touch is a recent article from Pulitzer Prize-winning Natalie Angier (author of The Canon: The Beautiful Basics of Science) taking a rudimentary look at the sense of touch and some recent research in the field of haptics.

    Scientists have determined that the human finger is so sensitive it can detect a surface bump just one micron high […] 1/25,000th of an inch — the diameter of a bacterial cell.

    Aside from the fascinating accuracy of the sense, the article looks briefly at what is dubbed the ‘rubber hand illusion’ which Mind Hacks looks at in more detail—and I suggest you do too.

    via Seed

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    Lloyd Morgan

  • Search Flickr by Lens, Aperture, Focal Length, More

    Pixel-Peeper lets you search Flickr photos taken with a specific camera or lens (and optionally, a specific ISO, aperture, focal length and/or exposure time).

    An excellent resource for when you want to check the diversity of—and see some sample images from—that new lens you’re considering.

    via FlickBits (a huge list of Flickr applications)

    Lloyd Morgan