A very cool take on the human-powered search engine idea. Mahalo appears to be a wiki which is open for viewing but closed (private) to a select group of trusted people for authoring. The site is in its infancy so it is not extensive but still holds an impressive amount of content. Each result page is nicely organized, which is something you’ll never see on Google. A great idea for people new to the Internet. I am really excited to see if this model can scale. So far there are no ads on the site but I assume that will happen eventually.

Here are two great interviews with Ron Paul on CNN from May 20th and May 27th. He states his views about US foreign policy and the Iraq war. The guy is so well-spoken and sensible, I hope he gets more attention.

This is downright fascinating: If our society was made up of people who could live forever, how would they vote? What would their views be on politics? Tyler Cowen discusses.

I have only recently begun to appreciate the scarcity of time, as crazy as that sounds. Preparation, commitment, etc… it doesn’t matter when time is not important.

A very entertaining sequel with lots of action and fun pirate adventures. 4/5 stars.

I had never heard of Ron Paul before today, but I am starting to like him. He is a Libertarian running on the Republican ticket, and he is a stark contrast from most Republicans. This blog post is not really about Ron Paul, but about how he is being treated by the media. He recently made news by “assigning” a reading list for Rudy Giuliani with the hope that after he educates himself he will understand that US meddling was responsible for the World Trade Center attack. I’m not sure what exactly Rudy thinks caused the attacks, but he does not appear to believe that our involvement in Middle-East affairs had much to do with it. Check out these snide heavily-spun comments from Rudy and his spokesperson:

“I don’t think I’ve ever heard that before, and I’ve heard some pretty absurd explanations for September 11th,” Giuliani said to wild applause.

“It is extraordinary and reckless to claim that the United States invited the attacks on September 11th,” Maria Comella said in an e-mail. “And to further declare Rudy Giuliani needs to be educated on September 11th when millions of people around the world saw him dealing with these terrorist attacks firsthand is just as absurd.”

Neither of these quotes directly addresses Paul’s accusation. They cleverly sidestep the issue using some expert spin techniques. Rudy’s comment is a combination of the “appeal to ridicule” fallacy and an implied “appeal to authority” fallacy. The spokesperson’s initial comment is pure slander, and she then follows it up with a “appeal to authority” and “appeal to common belief” fallacy. She implies that Rudy is an expert on the cause of the attacks because he dealt with the aftermath of the attacks… plus millions of people saw it. Furthermore, Paul never said the US invited the attacks… a question was posed to him using those words and he replied without saying “no”.

Sadly, Libertarians don’t seem to stand much of a chance when it comes to politics because, unlike the American public and the media, they are too concerned about being objective and honest. I hope Ron Paul can get more publicity that puts him in a good light! This Reuters article was clearly written by someone who does not want to see him win. The article begins by calling him “Longshot Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul” and an entire paragraph is devoted to this superfluous sentence: “Paul barely registers in opinion polls of Republicans hoping to win their party’s nomination to contest the November 2008 presidential election.”

If you want to read a Libertarian article about Paul and Giuliani’s debate, I highly recommend it so you can get both perspectives. I’ll end with a Ron Paul quote from that article:

“I believe very sincerely that the CIA is correct when they teach and talk about blowback. When we went into Iran in 1953 and installed the shah, yes, there was blowback. A reaction to that was the taking of our hostages and that persists. And if we ignore that, we ignore that at our own risk. If we think that we can do what we want around the world and not incite hatred, then we have a problem. They don’t come here to attack us because we’re rich and we’re free. They come and they attack us because we’re over there. I mean, what would we think if we were – if other foreign countries were doing that to us?”

[update: here is a YouTube clip of e-mails to CNN from people who agree with me. Very validating ]

Wesley Autrey is the man who jumped in front of a subway train in order to save a young man who had fallen onto the tracks while having a seizure. It was no foolish move, either. He knew what he was doing and had the confidence to put both himself and the man out of harm’s way.

This was not the case tonight when Wesley Autrey appeared on “Deal or No Deal”. He picked case #7 as his case and then said “no deal” every time he was offered a settlement. Lucky for him, the million dollars remained on the board until there were only three choices left! He refused a deal of about $200,000, and then another for $300,000… at this point, the only options were $25, $10,000, and $1M. Put yourself in his shoes: you have a 1/3 chance of $1M, 1/3 chance of $25, and a 1/3 chance of $10,000. What on Earth was he thinking??? Maybe he really did think he was superman. He went home with $25 and a new Jeep. If he wanted to be as heroic as possible, he should have faced reality, taken the money, and donated it all to charity. Instead, he shows that he is human just like the rest of us. I don’t mean to villify the guy, but think of what that money could have bought!

Lesson: face facts, especially when you know your chances. Winning a gamble requires getting lucky, so when you get lucky… quit while you’re ahead! Also, realize that sometimes you have no control over the situation… don’t try to bend the laws of probability.

Accepted.com recently held a B-School photo contest and I decided I’d take some pictures of Yale SOM and enter them. I got a lot of advice about applying to MBA programs from that site, so I figured I would contribute something in return and maybe win an Amazon gift certificate.

I didn’t win a gift certificate, but I won an honorable mention! I took all three photos of Yale SOM that appear on Accepted.com’s Yale SOM page. Watson Hall is not an ugly building but it is certainly not beautiful (from the outside). It looks more like a stealth fighter jet than anything else. The irony is that inside the building it’s really nice!

Here is a quick and excellent article about how to learn from anti-mentors. An excerpt:

So the next time you get frustrated with that sleazy politician down the hall, that slippery vendor, or that manipulative customer, take a deep breath and ask yourself what lesson this person is likely to teach you. Anti-mentors may represent the most important opportunity for learning we’re given in life. The key is being willing to learn from them.

Of course this book will not teach you how to influence people to get them to do whatever you want… that is simply impossible (and shame on you for wanting to do that in the first place)! However, it is a great survey of automatic human behavior. The book’s claims are backed with oodles of references to behavioral psychology experiments, making it highly credible. My only criticism is that the author was more verbose than necessary and I felt compelled to skim sections to avoid redundant passages. I was certain that at the end of the book, he would reveal that his verbosity was actually a ploy designed to influence the reader to skim, but that was not the case.

Like any ‘weapon’ (the author uses that term to classify influence tactics), it is important to know about it even if your only motive is to defend yourself from it. The author places himself firmly on the defense side of this ethical issue, which is reassuring. The more we know about our automatic psychological behaviors, the more power we have to overcome them. 4/5 stars.

This is a self-help book for people who want a long-term plan for successful change, not just a quick-fix. It is amazing that a book with such a far-reaching goal can actually achieve that goal (giving you a framework for living for becoming a more effective person) but I found so much useful material in here, I think it wins on every level. By “effective” the author means that you can get what you want out of life more often. This involves beginning with your self and examining what kind of person you are (his concept of “centers” is the most effective introspection technique I’ve ever come across)… and then follows with a series of extremely practical suggestions about various “habits” of thinking which you should try to introduce into your life in order to get the most out of it. The ultimate goal is “synergy” with other people: working together to create more than you could individually.

This is an extremely powerful book and a surprisingly enjoyable quick read. I recommend it to anyone who is looking for a way to get more out of life. 5/5 stars.

This exciting thriller starring Leonardo DiCaprio portrayed many sides of the controversial issue of conflict diamonds. When a poor country is full of items of such high value, the people tear each other apart in the hopes of being able to afford a way out. Politics, ethics, journalism, racism, love, and aggression are all explored. The director passed up many opportunities to make this movie into a series of Hollywood clichés and I applaud that. 5/5 stars.

Seeing this immediately evokes the “is it fake” meme which is guaranteed to get people arguing about your video all over the Internet. A parallel discussion is almost sure to occur: “how did they do it?” this will also get lots of people talking and asking for opinions. The “stunt” is super-cool because something in you wants to believe that if you tried it, it just might work! It’s a great production and a lot of fun to watch. The characters are both likable in a goofy kind of way. The music and editing are paced perfectly. I think it’s a fantastic video.

Of course, this is an ad for Ray-Ban. The glasses are the object of attention the entire film and are shown over and over again from all angles and distances. Their slogan “Never Hide” is shown written in the dusty window of the car at the end, but the words “Ray Ban” are never on screen. The ad does not tell you to buy the glasses. The characters never comment on the glasses. The glasses are a supporting role and at the same time the star of the show. This is what makes the video such a perfect ad: the product placement is overt because the product is the star, yet covert because they never tell you the name of the product, nobody tells you to buy it, and it’s never shown out of context.

I think people tend to doubt the effectiveness or value of a product when a salesman tries to sell it to you. Nobody trusts salesmen. If a product looks great, costs a lot, and nobody is pushing it, something tells you it must be really good because nobody needs to push it on anyone! This is one of those cases where they are placing the product in a highly attractive context and letting you check it out for yourself without a salesman present. I say give the ad people responsible for this video an award. They totally nailed the YouTube look and feel and they designed a highly contagious viral video around their product. Kudos!

Chock full of characters, but missing that great character development of the first two movies. If you’ve seen the first two movies, see this one. Otherwise, you’re not missing much. 3/5 stars.

Forest Whitaker’s Oscar acceptance speech was so moving, it made me want to see this movie. He is truly an amazing actor and he said that Idi Amin, the Ugandan dictator he portrays, was the most complex role of his career. The movie is historical fiction. It tells the story of a fictional Scottish doctor who through a chance encounter becomes Idi Amin’s personal physician in 1970. It is a great illustration of corruption, conflicts of interest, politics, and power. I love complex characters and Whitaker’s Amin was so many things rolled into one: charming, brutal, immature, angry, lighthearted, popular, and despised. I think this movie was more of a character study than a great story, but the story is interesting and unique. 4/5 stars.

I have committed to Yale! I’ve got an apartment lined up, and I’ve signed up for a loan. It’s very exciting! I don’t even know what else to say here in this post because there is so much to say. I just wanted to post that I’m definitely going.