Archive for December 27th, 2012

Broke: Geithner says so … but, Q4 tax revs are surging … huh?

December 27, 2012

Somebody explain this to me.

Turbo-tax Tim Geithner sent Harry Reid a conveniently timed  letter yesterday, reading in part:

Dear Mr. Leader:

I am writing to inform you that the statutory debt limit will be reached on December 31, 2012, and to notify you that the Treasury Department will shortly begin taking certain extraordinary measures authorized by law to temporarily postpone the date that the United States would otherwise default on its legal obligations.

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OK, the fact that the U.S. is broke and has exhausted its credit line is not new news.

Here  what I don’t understand.

(more…)

Posted in Capital gains - taxes, Debt - Deficit, Taxes | Leave a Comment »

Nums: A world of battling algorithms

December 27, 2012

In a cool 15 minute TED Talk, tech entrepreneur Kevin Slavin tells how algorithms have reached across industries and into every day life.

A couple of lines caught my attention:

  • There are more than 2,000 physicists working on Wall Street developing operational algorithms
  • Massive scale speed trading is dependent on millisecond read & respond rates …
  • So, firms are physically literally locating right next to internet routing hubs to cut transmission times
  • And, of course, there isn’t time for human intervention and control
  • “We may be building whole worlds we don’t really understand, and can’t control.”

Worth listening to this pitch … a very engaging geek who may be onto something big.

click the pic to view video
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Posted in Algorithms - algoritmic applications, Analytical methods, procedures & protocols, Big data | Leave a Comment »