Heteronormative Patriarchy for Men

That's the name of a new blog on the Freethought Blogs network.  From the second post:

It is simplistic nonsense to think of patriarchy... as a system in which men oppress women by choice and for our own interests. Patriarchy often requires men to do horrible things to ourselves, to each other and to women. Patriarchy imposes dominant roles on men whether we want them or not, and punishes us when we fail to fulfil them adequately.  ...It is equally simplistic nonsense to imagine that male suffering (on the battlefield and in homelessness, suicide rates, alienation and loneliness) is a consequence of women’s behaviour, choices or social liberation.

(A similar sentiment to another blog post I recently read, linked to by a friend of mine on Facebook.)

I don't know anything about the author, Ally Fogg, but the guy behind the Freethought Blogs network is Ed Brayton, who I've a tremendous amount of respect for.  I hope this turns out to be a worthwhile blog.  It's name suggests it is at least appropriately self-aware.

(Not) the future of interaction design

This is kinda old, I think, but it's pretty great. A rant by Bret Victor on the Future of Interaction Design.

From the rant:

... There's a reason that our fingertips have some of the densest areas of nerve endings on the body. This is how we experience the world close-up. This is how our tools talk to us. The sense of touch is essential to everything that humans have called "work" for millions of years.

Now, take out your favorite Magical And Revolutionary Technology Device. Use it for a bit.

What did you feel? Did it feel glassy? Did it have no connection whatsoever with the task you were performing? ...

Moving pictures under glass

Go read the rest!

Goods and services

Read this old, unsurprising report in New Scientist. From the article:

Automated trading ...has come to account for more than half of trades in many markets around the globe. ...Because of the finite speed of light, trading speed depends on where you are sitting. ..."The basic insight," says Wissner-Gross, "is that the optimal location lets the trader exploit fluctuations equally on both exchanges." ..."This shows that the technological arms race to extract every penny from high-frequency mechanical arbitrage will soon reach its ultimate limits," says physicist and hedge-fund manager Jean-Philippe Bouchaud

If this is how money and the free markets work now, I'm pretty sure we no longer know what words mean.