Saturday Links

Profile of Google: "Its single greatest innovation was the algorithm called PageRank, developed by Page and Brin when they were Stanford graduate students running their research project from a computer in a dorm room. The problem was that most Internet searches produced useless lists of low-quality results. The solution was a simple idea: to harvest the implicit knowledge already embodied in the architecture of the World Wide Web, organically evolving."

"The 20-year TIPS just hit a new low of 1.14%. This is the bond market's way of saying that weak real GDP growth is going to be with us for a very, very long time."

New thoughts about Easter Island and Collapse: "In a 2007 article in Science, Mr. Diamond estimated that hundreds of laborers were needed to move the statues, suggesting that the eastern settlements of the island alone had to have "a population of thousands"—which in turn was proof of the island's destructive overpopulation. By showing that the statues could have been moved by much fewer people, Messrs. Hunt and Lipo have removed one of the main supports of the ecocide theory and the parable about humankind it tells."

More and more market inefficiencies. "Bank of Ireland ADRs Ridiculously Overpriced vs. London Listed Shares." The EMH adherents have a lot to answer for.

Barron's: "Europe's Banks Start Taking Impairments on Greek Bonds."