Phrase of the week

February 9, 2014 at 4:36 PMMichele Mottini

MONEY is like muck, not good except it be spread.

Francis Bacon, quoted by The Economist in ‘Spreading the muck’

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Phrase of the week

February 3, 2014 at 5:55 PMMichele Mottini

Jobs is a very abstract term

Governor Jerry Brown, quoted in ‘Bark if you don’t like the deficits’

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State of the Union

January 30, 2014 at 5:19 PMMichele Mottini

I watched Obama’s State of the Union speech the other night. As in previous year it left me with a sort of general bad feeling, and I could not identify the cause (I usually quite like Obama’s speeches).

I think I figured out what’s bothering me: the undertone of these speeches – and in some case not just the undertone – is that the US is different and better than any other country. As a foreigner that can be a bit upsetting.

I just watched the end of the year speech of the Italian president: there are patriotic references, but this ‘our country is best’ stuff is not there at all.

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Phrase of the week

January 26, 2014 at 9:31 AMMichele Mottini

The second incarnation of Mr Brown [as California’s Governor] … has been marked by a relentless pursuit of the possible and a serene neglect of everything else

The Economist in ‘Bark if you don’t like deficits’

Posted in: Opinion

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Phrase of the week

January 19, 2014 at 5:16 PMMichele Mottini

Never try to discourage thinking, for you are sure to succeed.

Bertrand Russell in 'Ten Commandments for Living in a Healthy Democracy'

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Phrase of the week

January 12, 2014 at 4:20 PMMichele Mottini

He added (redundantly) that the president was a “Washington insider”

The Economist in ‘No switch for Mitch’

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Phrase of the week

December 29, 2013 at 9:10 AMMichele Mottini

A well-defined job is a job at risk.

Arnold Kling in ‘PSST: Patterns of Sustainable Specialization and Trade’

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Phrase of the week

December 22, 2013 at 11:23 AMMichele Mottini

This makes it incumbent upon society to spread opportunity to all who can compete—shaking the national cornflake packet, as he perplexingly put it—and helping those who cannot

The Economist, referring to a Boris Johnson speech, in ‘Top of the class’

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Preventing Skynet

December 17, 2013 at 9:38 AMMichele Mottini

Weird things you find following links: MIRI, a research institute devoted to prevent future artificial intelligence to take over the world.

Maybe they are actually right, and I should not define them ‘weird’, but ‘taking over the world’ AI seems a bit farfetched considering were we stand now with software development.

Posted in: Opinion | Programming

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Phrase of the week

December 15, 2013 at 11:16 AMMichele Mottini

In fact, we can think of few more difficult jobs [Civil Liberties & Privacy Officer at the NSA] since the post of Staff Rabbi to the Spanish Inquisition

The Register in ‘The NSA's hiring - and they want a CIVIL LIBERTIES officer’

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