netorio.us

A couple of weeks ago, talking with Steve Borgatti at the CASOS Summer Institute at Carnegie Mellon, I raised some concerns about how well we are really measuring the phenomena that we describe with our imperfect “tools of measurement”. Steve suggested that my comment revealed a “postmodern” perspective and I will admit to that tendency. [...]

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One of the advantages of having a diverse group of friends is the opportunity to learn about things you might not normally be exposed to. When I was explaining to my friend, Flann Lippincott, who is a graphic designer, about visual representations of social networks, she said “you must know Edward Tufte”. When I admitted [...]

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Taiwan is the world’s 15th largest commodity importer, and yet, finding information about Taiwan’s trade relationships hasn’t been easy. My primary source, the CIA World Factbook, provided very sketchy details. For instance, the 1996 numbers specified the percentage of trade conducted between Taiwan and Japan, Taiwan and the U.S., and Taiwan and the European Union. [...]

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I used to commute 3 hours a day and, in order to feel that my driving time wasn’t being wasted, I subscribed to Audible.com. Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand is a wonderful narrative that spanned more than 50 hours of driving time. I would never have had the time to ‘read’ it otherwise.

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