Milo and the Calf

Author: seanv2

  • Cairo!

    I am in Cairo wrestling with trying to get my paypal account fixed so I can buy a flickr account and post hundreds of photos of how awesome my balcony is. Example one: .Oh, and Al Italia lost my garment bag which has my only suit in it. They claim it will arrive tomorrow, it…

  • Cabbies and Traffic

    I’m moving a bunch of old posts from a long defunct livejournal over here. This is one from when I was living in Cairo in the summer of 2007. You haven’t seen batshit crazy driving till you’ve ridden in a taxi around a rotary in downtown Cairo. Holy shit. I really wish I had a…

  • On Barry Bonds

    If we are going to accept the Babe Ruth is one of the greatest hitters of all time (even though he didn’t have to face some of the greatest pitchers of his generation) or that Hank Aaron was better than anyone playing the game now (even though pitchers have improved dramatically) then shouldn’t we accept…

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    Random Thoughts On Nicolas Nassim Taleb

    Been thinking a lot about unpredictability, and more specifically Nassim Taleb‘s work on markets and “the black swan”.* Nassim Taleb was a pretty successful hedge fund manager, now he styles himself a philosopher. I haven’t read Taleb’s book yet, but from what I can gather, his theory is basically this: In options trading, the conventional…

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    Review: Baldacci’s The Camel Club

    The Camel Club (Camel Club Series) David Baldacci This is absolute garbage. Possibly the worst book I have ever read. Poorly plotted, poorly written, filled with absurd scenarios and characters I didn’t care about. Total waste of my time and the prime example of why I should give up my rule to finish every book…

  • Review: Fichte’s Vocation of Man

    The Vocation of Man (Hackett Classics) Johann Gottlieb Fichte A standard text in the world of undergraduate classes in European philosophy*, Fichte is a bridge of sorts between Kant and Hegel. If memory serves, we read this book not for its thoughts on the nature of faith, but for its use of the dialectic. My…

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    Review: Poundstone’s Fortune’s Formula

    Fortune’s Formula: The Untold Story of the Scientific Betting System That Beat the Casinos and Wall Street William Poundstone A book about the mathematical aspects of gambling, whether it be on Wall Street, or in the casino, this is a smart, playful book full of an eccentric mix of gangsters, MIT professors and business people…

  • OMA at MOMA

    Went to see the OMA Bejing CCTV exhibit at MOMA yesterday. The exhibit was only one room, but it tried ot do a lot in the small space including tying the CCTV building into the history of utopian architecture and modern Chinese development. Koolhaas is (according to MOMA at least) rethinking the important building and…

  • Review: Vollmann’s Expelled from Eden

    One of the many reviews archived here from livejournal. Expelled from Eden: A William T. Vollmann Reader William T. Vollman I got a soft spot for this gun wielding, prostitute loving, million page book writing nutso-nerdo. I think sometimes if I was smarter, and crazier, and got beat up more in high school, I might…

  • Review: Pear’s Instance of the Fingerpost

    Orginally written in 2007 for a now defunct livejournal account. An Instance of the Fingerpost Iain Pears A literary thriller in the vein of the In the Name of the Rose, but not as good, nor as full of hidden philosophical ideas. Set in the time of the reformation, it’s a mystery inside a mystery.…