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When algorithms fail

Algorithmic fail… So I search for “Sinners Like Me CD” on eBay (Eric Church). Ebay suggests related items: “Just Like Me perfume”, “Dolls Like Me” (apparently a line of multi-ethnic children’s/girls dolls), and “‘Sinner’ T-shirts”. Presumably the algorithm took word pairs out of the original search string and matched them against the most popular...

Thinking about Change

Improving the world: I’ve noticed an interesting challenge. Someone sees an issue… something wrong in the world. Say, rapacious capitalism. They propose a solution, or a framework to a solution. Now it may be well-thought-out. Or it may be foolish. But the response always seems to be, “You proposal seems similar to X, and X didn’t work in the past.” Now if you get that in response to every...

The Economic Data that Explains Voter Attitudes

“Prices rose at their highest clip since 2012 over the past year, the Labor Department reported Thursday. The 2.9 percent inflation for the 12-month period ending in June is a sign of a growing economy, but it’s also a painful development for workers, whose tepid wage gains have failed to keep pace with the rising prices.” Chicago Tribune, last month. So the economy grew by 4.1%, but everything got 2.9%...