powdermonkey

Powder Moneky

"Powder monkey" — a boy who on a warship carried gun powder from the magazine to the cannon and performed other ordnance duties (which usage dates from 1682).
Via wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brass_monkey

OSS Authorship

Great posting on O'Reilly Radar about authorship of open source software: Open Source Authorship.

"The 80/20 rule is actually only one of a specific type of numerical relationships known generally as power laws. Much has been written about power laws and their applicability to everything from linguistics to hedge funds. Recently folks have been writing a lot about the power law scaling of web logs and of the "long tail" of web businesses. Way back in 1926, a statistician for MetLife named Alfred Lotka, published a paper in which he observed that the productivity of scientific authors also followed an power-law relationship. Put simply "Lotka's Law" says that a few authors do most of the work, dragging along a long tail of less productive authors." http://www.buildandtest.com/gap/dashboard/

WSJ Series: Drug Markets and Unitended Consequences

The WSJ has run a couple of great articles describing the unintended consequences of changing the rules in the drug market. In 1983 Congress passed the Orphan Drug Act to encourage companies to do R/D into rare illnesses that impact small groups of people (from what I can gather <200,000 people).

The carrot is: "For seven years, it gives a company, in effect, the same market protection that a patent does, without requiring the company to go through the lengthy process of getting a patent. (A patent for a scientific discovery is good for 20 years from filing, but typically there are about 10 years remaining on it by the time it results in an approved drug.) Unlike a patent, which is granted for a new discovery, orphan-drug status can be given to a drug that has been on the market in the U.S. for other diseases or used in other countries for years." How Rare Drugs Became a Lifeline for Drug Companies.
Another article describing in detail a patients life: A Biotech Drug Extends Life, But at What Cost?

End result is that Drug companies can charge what ever they like (in one case average of $600k) to recoup their investment, profit and fund new research. The unintended consequence is that now since drug companies can get easier market protection for a drug and huge profits, they are spending more money and time looking for the blockbuster orphan drug that will make them larger profits. they are also attracting venture money. And of course they are finding loopholes to hold onto the monopoly.

Just goes to show, the government needs to be careful in deciding to change the rules in an established marketplace. Blowback can occur. Just like in the vaccine market in a previous post: http://powdermonkey.blogs.com/powdermonkey/2005/11/wsj_editorial_o.html

Risk in Google Maps

I've been wondering when someone was going to start mashing freely available components (GoogleEarth, Del.icio.us, etc.) and hosting to produce a game: Risk/GoogleMaps.

Engineerign & Design

2 interesting article about the interplay between good design, engineering, complexity and simplicity. One from IEEE Computer Journal Complexity in Design and the other in Fast Company Simplicity + Technology = Sweet Success.  Both discuss the engineering discipline of application of technology and how sometimes, technology becomes too much.

From Fast Company: "The old design mantra "Less is more" has never been truer than in the world of technological gadgetry, Lovelady says. As consumers balk at the steep learning curve attached to each software upgrade and "time-saving" appliance, manufacturers and engineers are ceding power to designers who insist on simplicity, elegance, and user friendliness, even if it means sacrificing some technological wizardry."

From Computer: "Have you ever taken a close look at an acoustic grand piano? The complicated mechanism in which the player’s fingers cause hammers to fall on strings, which are damped to varying degrees and at varying times, is exquisitely subtle and quite involved. Perhaps there’s a way to simplify that mechanism without sacrificing the combination of tone and playability that has selectively evolved over hundreds of years. But it seems likely that most of a piano’s complexity is necessary because of how our fingers, feet, and ears work. A skilled performer can coax thunderous waves of sound or delicate susurrations; the mechanics of the keys have the requisite dynamic range. This complexity works."

Strive to avoid creeping complexity, the kind that arises from unintended interactions among multiple unrelated design decisions. Eschew complicated machinery that isn’t clearly and provably necessary to attain one or more of the major project goals. If you aren’t sure you need some logic in your design, keep asking questions until someone either justifies it or agrees to toss it overboard.

Entropy always drags a project in the direction of increasing complexity; things never get simpler on their own. Except for bad wine. On Tuesdays."

French Riots

Seeing all the coverage of the French riots and how the various groups are coordinating their actions (cell phone texting, blogs) shows the power of Smart Mobs , err specifically evil smart mobs.

Ticket Reserve, Futures Market

Pretty cool idea, Ticket Reserve. A futures market for sports tickets. Example say for the Final 4, 2006.

"Final Four Fan Forwards allow you to purchase a face value ticket to the Final Four Games and the National Championship, tied to a particular team. This is NOT a ticket.  It is the right to purchase a ticket at Face Value if your team qualifies for the specified event.

How Does it Work?

If you purchase a FINAL FOUR Fan Forward for your favorite team, Duke, and they make it to the Final Four, then you are going to that game, and the National Championship game. The Fan Forward is a contract that guarantees you a Face Value ticket if your team advances. From the day you buy the Fan Forward until Duke is knocked out of the tournament, you have the ability to trade that Fan Forward in the marketplace. If Duke is eliminated, the contract expires.

Face value is $140 per seat*

* If your team qualifies for the Final Four, you are responsible for paying face value for your tickets."

I think I may need to sell a few teams short this year...

WSJ: Editorial on Flu Vaccines

Not sure how true this editorial is Political Vaccine, but item caught my eye:

"The feds have also done their best to remove any financial incentive -- i.e., profit -- for developing new vaccines. The Vaccines For Children program [] has been especially destructive. The program now buys more than 50% of all private vaccines, and it uses this monopoly clout to drive prices down to commodity levels.

When one pharmaceutical company offered to sell a new pneumococcal vaccine to the government for $58 a dose, the Centers for Disease Control demanded a $10-a-dose discount. Politicians want companies to take all the risk of developing new vaccines, but they don't want the companies to make any money from taking those risks. Then the politicians profess surprise and dismay that there's a vaccine shortage."

If true, very sad, vaccines are needed, they cost money and company want a return on their investment. Otherwise we end up with not enough flu vaccine (see Washington Post article Clinics Delay Flu Shots as Deliveries Lag) among other things.

Google Print

Blistering Editorial  By Pat Schroeder/Bob Barr  in the Washington Times today about Google Print. "  Not only is Google trying to rewrite copyright law, it is also crushing creativity." Google has a problem: right now they are a benevolent dictator in the search world.

Which isn't a bad thing... until some folks start to mind. Google really needs to work on educating the public on these issues, so far no one else has. If Google really wanted to they could lead the way in changing the public view on copyright, DMCA, etc. Unfortunately allot of Internet companies don't engage in the debate as forcefully (or in an organized fashion, ala lobbying organizations in DC). Just as simple as adding one link to the Google search page would help educate the masses.

Open Source and the US Government

Great paper by Justin C. Justin Deiferth on how open source can change the US Governement and Military. Highly, highly recommend: Open Source and These United States.