Ask the I Ching: Has ‘Europe’ Failed?

by | posted in: Ape Con Myth, External Screenshot | 0

To get another opinion on the question posed in the New York Times Op-Ed, Has ‘Europe’ Failed?, which discusses the ethnic conflicts undermining an already shaky European Union, we turned to the I Ching for comment and found general agreement…

The first hexagram, Possession in Great Measure (from the Wilhelm translation), is one of success and even with the changing lines there is a clear guide to maintaining good fortune.

…there are many difficulties to overcome. It is only by remaining conscious of these difficulties that one can keep inwardly free of possible arrogance and wastefulness, and thus in principle overcome all cause for blame.

…benevolence alone is not sufficient at the time of Possession in Great Measure. For insolence might begin to spread. Insolence must be kept in bounds by dignity, then good fortune is assured.

If ‘Europe’ hasn’t failed yet, the second hexagram, Seduction (or Coming to Meet), marks an “unfavorable and dangerous situation” in which failure is suddenly an option.  While the Daniels’ translation bids the EU to “recognise that primitive forces and desires are driving the situation”, the implication seems to be that if everyone would just be sensible for a moment, everything would be alright.

Might as well cross our fingers too…

[Reading via Psychic Science] [Previously on ACM – Ask the I Ching: Should We Break Up the Big Banks?]

Untitled Conceptual Art Think Tank Poetry

by | posted in: ACM Other, Ape Con Myth | 2

Let’s
try
something
different
today.

Let’s
try
something
different
every
day
and
yet
do
everything
else
the
same.

One
little
thing,
every
day.

We
don’t
have
time
for
more.

If
this
were
more
meaningful…

If
the
words
could
be
found…

If
the
data
could
back
it
up…

If
we
knew
what
to
do
with
it
then…

If
we
had
the
time
for
it
now…

If
we
had
the
time
to
care…

…

It’s
a
lot
of
ifs.

The Underwater Network of Distraction

by | posted in: Maps, Smog | 0

If you were wondering where we are hiding all the cords, the answer is at the bottom of the ocean.

Mapped below, you will find the fiber optic cables that make the internet a world wide web.  Zoom in to find out who is behind every one of them with the 2012 Submarine Cable Map…

…or just gawk at the old school beauty of it all.

“In my day, we ran cables along the ocean floor to get our internet!”

[Maps by TeleGeography; Nicolas Rapp via Flowing Data]

Indian Land Cessions (or Going, Going, …)

by | posted in: Maps, The Cultural Devision | 0

It plays out the same way every time…

To take a closer look, try the set of 67 maps collected in part two of the Eighteenth Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1896-97.

[Animated gif by Somersaultr via Chart Porn]

On Things One Will Not Get Without Asking and Might Not Get Even Then

by | posted in: External Charts, The Economics Devision | 0

15% of all the income earned in the United States is up for the taking.  That is, the top 10% of earners are happy to take it home, but they will give it up if asked properly…

[Chart from Economic Policy Institute via Bill Moyers]

The Internet Needs Freedom Too

by | posted in: External Images, The Future Committee | 0

Ape Con Myth has joined the list of organizations supporting the Declaration of Internet Freedom and encourages you to take a second, read the Declaration below and then click through to take action.

It’d be so easy to mess this up.  Thankfully it is just as easy to not do so.

Act today and save yourself from more of CISPA/TPP/ACTA/SOPA/PIPA/COICA/ETC tomorrow!

You Can Jump Into The Fire

by | posted in: External Charts, The Economics Devision | 0

What is the creeping menace shown in the haunted chart below?  It’s the amount of high frequency trading in the stock market from the beginning of time January 2007 through January 2012…

Each color stands for a different U.S. stock exchange and the x-axis lays out the hours of each trading day, from 9:30am to 4pm EST.  What is it supposed to look like?   There is no correct answer, but the key is to notice that this phenomenon barely shows up in 2007 and initially only involved spikes at the open and the close of each day.  …  And then it just kind of goes nuts.  …  Much as it did last week when Knight Capital Group’s high frequency trading monster program went rogue and couldn’t be shut down for half an hour.

What kind of effect can one company’s trading program have?

A New York Times analysis of New York Stock Exchange volume on Wednesday morning showed that during the first minute of trading there was 12 percent more trading in all stocks than there had been on average during the previous seven days. By the third minute of trading there was 116 percent more trading than the previous week’s average. The difference reached a peak at 9:58 a.m., when the volume was six times greater. After that, trading volume fell off sharply, nearing the recent average at 10:15 a.m.

Now, where is it that we’re supposed to put all of our money for retirement, you know, to keep it safe?

[Chart from Nanex via Felix Salmon]
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