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October 10, 2008

From Tyson Chandler's Blog Hope More Rich People Think Like Him-Witnessing History in NBA Player Blogs in Fan Voice

thanks to henry abott of truehoop for the pointer.
As prof Brad Delong say if you ask people from high school if its okay to tax rich people more they would be fine by that because back in high school nobody knew who was going to be rich. It seems the people who make money and not inherit it tend to be more thankful and more ready to share.
Cheers to Tyson Chandler!

It was just amazing to hear this man speak. He so much reminds me of my grandfather, the way he’s so soft-spoken, and respectful, and poised, just a man of honor. I told my wife that he reminds me of an educated version of my grandfather. And that’s not a knock on my grandfather. Obviously, he grew up in a time where he didn’t get an education, but it says a lot about the way I feel about Barack, because I respect my grandfather more than any man walking on this Earth. And for me to compare Barack to him says a lot.
It’s funny, because when Obama was giving his speech, he said he was gonna give a tax cut to 95 percent of the people. He says, “If you make under $250,000 a year, raise your hand.” And everybody there raised their hand, except for this one small section of guys. That was our section. And everybody around us was laughing.
But you know what, it’s a bigger cause. And the way I look at it is that I can afford to pay more in taxes. But my parents, my grandparents, my cousins … with what they make, they can’t afford to cut back in their household with what they’re trying to survive with. I can afford to make cuts and still survive. They can’t take that knock.
I think that’s what’s going on now and the reason why the middle class is struggling so much. The upper class, we can take that hit. Obviously, nobody wants to take it, but we still can. And we can afford to live nice lives.
I’ve lived in both situations. And not only that, I’m obviously the only one in my family that can say that I’m a millionaire. I’ve seen my entire family struggle. So, would I rather see my whole family struggle while I get a break, or have me not get a break while the rest of my family gets one? I’ll take my entire family getting a break.
Witnessing History in NBA Player Blogs in Fan Voice.

October 9, 2008

Time For Change!

I am going to do this! Only with Extraordinary Effort
With that forewarning, here’s a bootstrapper’s/marketer’s/entrepreneur’s/fast-rising executive’s effort diet. Go through the list and decide whether or not it’s worth it. Or make up your own diet. Effort is a choice, at least make it on purpose:
1. Delete 120 minutes a day of ‘spare time’ from your life. This can include TV, reading the newspaper, commuting, wasting time in social networks and meetings. Up to you.
2. Spend the 120 minutes doing this instead:
* Exercise for thirty minutes.
* Read relevant non-fiction (trade magazines, journals, business books, blogs, etc.)
* Send three thank you notes.
* Learn new digital techniques (spreadsheet macros, Firefox shortcuts, productivity tools, graphic design, html coding)
* Volunteer.
* Blog for five minutes about something you learned.
* Give a speech once a month about something you don’t currently know a lot about.
3. Spend at least one weekend day doing absolutely nothing but being with people you love.
4. Only spend money, for one year, on things you absolutely need to get by. Save the rest, relentlessly.
If you somehow pulled this off, then six months from now, you would be the fittest, best rested, most intelligent, best funded and motivated person in your office or your field. You would know how to do things other people don’t, you’d have a wider network and you’d be more focused.
It’s entirely possible that this won’t be sufficient, and you will continue to need better luck. But it’s a lot more likely you’ll get lucky, I bet.
Seth’s Blog: Is effort a myth?.

October 8, 2008

Overcoming Bias: Make an Extraordinary Effort

These words hit home. Because I would be lying if i didn’t admit to myself that I was trying very hard at life, but It would also be very true that what i am exerting is no Extraordinary Effort! Must try better than my best! May not or may never succeed, but definitely will die trying.

a ‘strong’ effort usually results in only mediocre results
Overcoming Bias: Make an Extraordinary Effort.

October 8, 2008

–Cato Unbound » Blog Archive » Down with the Four-Year College Degree!

I’ve been thinking about this a lot but from another angle. I work as a programmer I find that a lot of people I encounter in the field are more or less 9-5 ers and mostly lack the skill that you expect someone who values his field highly. This was also prompted by the personal reservations towards most of the testing being done in the field. I am a registered electrical engineer and I have to say that the board exam was a farce. I believe that this is even more true for most of the IT certifications that you could get.
Heres the thing, I hope to never get certified in a ny technology through test. I don’t like certification but I’d like it guild style as the author was advocating a progression from apprentice journeyman, craftsmen then master craftsmen.
I just feel that in the world of technology and probably more so for other field it is extremely hard to design a system where we get to test the abilities of the people in that field given that probably the best of the best have better things to do than to try to weed out the people unfit to practice the profession.

In my ideal system, the college campuses of America will still exist and they will still be filled with students. Some of those students will be staying for four years as before, but many others will be arriving and leaving on schedules that make sense for their own goals. The colleges in my ideal system will have had to adapt their operations to meet new demands, but changes in information technology are coming so fast that major adaptation is inevitable anyway.
The greatest merit of my ideal system is this: Hardly any jobs will still have the BA as a requirement for a fair shot at being hired. Employers will rely more on direct evidence about what the job candidate knows, less on where it was learned or how long it took.
To me, the most important if most intangible benefit of my ideal system is that the demonstration of competency in European history or marketing or would, appropriately, take on similarities to the demonstration of competency in cooking or welding. Our obsession with the BA has created a two-tiered entry to adulthood, anointing some for admission to the club and labeling the rest as second-best.
Here’s the reality: Everyone in every occupation starts as an apprentice. Those who are good enough become journeymen. The best become master craftsmen. This is as true of history professors and business executives as of chefs and welders. Getting rid of the BA and replacing it with evidence of competence–treating post-secondary education as apprenticeships for everyone–is one way to help us to recognize that common bond.
Cato Unbound » Blog Archive » Down with the Four-Year College Degree!.

October 7, 2008

Grasping Reality with Both Hands: The Semi-Daily Journal Economist Brad DeLong

Doesn’t anybody edit what press release they put out. I had to go to the original link to ascertain that the official press release had “currrent” as a mispelling. I remember this line on “the hours”.

Do you think it's possible that bad writing actually attracts a higher incidence of error?

John McCain and Sarah Palin: Dishonest and Dishonorable
They even lie about how many tame economists they have:
JohnMcCain.com – McCain-Palin 2008: 100 ECONOMISTS WARN THAT WITH CURRRENT WEAK FINANCIAL CONDITIONS BARACK OBAMA’S PROPOSALS RUN A HIGH RISK OF THROWING THE US ECONOMY INTO A DEEP RECESSION…
1. They only have 90 names on the list. Not 100. 90. They can’t count.
2. They only have 90 names on the list: that means that they could not find any more–and I assure you that they tried.
3. Shame on them for saying “Barack Obama’s proposals run a high risk of throwing the U.S. economy into a deep recession.” The economic considerations that can be advanced against Obama policies do not include “throwing the U.S. economy into a deep recession.” I cannot imagine what mechanism can possibly be contemplated by which Obama’s plans would reduce aggregate demand by enough to accomplish that result.
Yes, I am talking to you, Michael Bordo, Michael Boskin, Charles Calomiris, Kristin Forbes, Douglas Holtz-Eakin, Glenn Hubbard, Anne Krueger, Allan Meltzer, Kevin Murphy, William Poole, Kenneth Rogoff, Harvey Rosen, Anna Schwartz, George Shultz, John Taylor, and Murray Weidenbaum. You know better. And I know you know better.
No, I’m not talking to you, Kevin Hassett. I know that you don’t know better.
Grasping Reality with Both Hands: The Semi-Daily Journal Economist Brad DeLong.

October 7, 2008

Grasping Reality with Both Hands: The Semi-Daily Journal Economist Brad DeLong

Wish more people call BS on all the Crap that circulates on the media in my country. I was riding the bus about 30 minutes ago and the news reports were on the rising price of pork, the philippines meat of choice. And I was none too happy about how the report was done. Have to call GMA7 on how poor they report biz/econ news.

Washington Post Death Spiral Watch (Robert Samuelson Edition)
No wonder Paul Krugman’s ire was aroused: this is worse than I had expected. Much worse:
Robert J. Samuelson: Bankrupt Economics: What we are witnessing, in the broadest sense, is the bankruptcy of modern economics…. The $152 billion “stimulus” program earlier this year was a classic exercise in “demand management.” It didn’t work well mainly because this crisis originated in frightened financial markets…. Unfortunately, we lack experience with stabilizing financial markets, and the issue has been at the fringes of economics…
Do I point out that Ben Bernanke has spent most of his life analyzing the stabilization of financial markets, and that nobody but a blithering idiot would put him “at the fringes of economics”?
Do I point out that we have a lot of experience with stabilizing financial markets–that we dealt with a credit crunch in 1990-92, with exchange rate crises in 1992, 1994-5, 1997-8, 2001-2, plus others that did not become crises, plus a bubble collapse in 2000-2001?
Do I note that economists are now investigating whether the second quarter stimulus program worked better or worse than expected–which means that it worked about as well as people thought beforehand?
Grasping Reality with Both Hands: The Semi-Daily Journal Economist Brad DeLong.

October 6, 2008

Make-Believe Maverick : Rolling Stone

This is powerful writing. On the real John McCain from Rolling Stone here ht to Doc Searls here.

There’s a distance between the two men that belies their shared experience in North Vietnam — call it an honor gap. Like many American POWs, McCain broke down under torture and offered a “confession” to his North Vietnamese captors. Dramesi, in contrast, attempted two daring escapes. For the second he was brutalized for a month with daily torture sessions that nearly killed him. His partner in the escape, Lt. Col. Ed Atterberry, didn’t survive the mistreatment. But Dramesi never said a disloyal word, and for his heroism was awarded two Air Force Crosses, one of the service’s highest distinctions. McCain would later hail him as “one of the toughest guys I’ve ever met.”
Make-Believe Maverick : Rolling Stone.

October 6, 2008

Eric Musselman's Basketball Notebook: There are times when we have to stand alone

Some people need permission to act! But that is something no one can give you, no one but yourself!
Give yourself permission to dream.
Give yourself permission to act.
Give yourself permission to fail.
Give yourself permission to dream again.
Queen Latifa from NYTimes here ht to eric musselman’s blog:

“I know people who are twice as creative as I am, twice as smart, but they didn’t do anything because they feared going into a room and opening their mouths. My parents told me to truly accomplish things in my life, there would be times I would have to stand alone. It may be scary, but that’s what it requires. So the times I had to stand alone, I got it. I understood where I was coming from, so hopefully, everybody else would get it eventually.”
Posted by Eric Musselman at 8:13 AM
Eric Musselman’s Basketball Notebook: There are times when we have to stand alone.

October 5, 2008

Crowding Out By Life—IEEE Spectrum: Great Thoughts

So True!
Often is the day that doing small things, doing chores, doing minutae, and poof the 8 hours of work is done, then time for self begins, its starts wit reading something, a few articles from hacker news or reddit, cleaning out my inbox, reading my feeds, postingon my blog, and poof 8 hours passes without doing anything significant.
The good thing is that there is never a week where I do not spend at least 4 hours straight on doing something of significance for me. The truth of the matter is that these four hours are the fuel for me, keeps me happy, probably my biggest luxury.
No great thoughts are hard to come by but I believe it starts with the desire to and the will to have the time and concentration necessary for it.

For most of us, even those with the best of intentions about getting earthshaking ideas, the minutiae of life bubble to the top of our consciousnesses, crowding out any incipient great thoughts. When we have no great things to worry about, the small ones rise up and keep us awake at night.
I once heard a story about Einstein that is probably apocryphal, but I like the message it conveys. Supposedly, Einstein was confronted by a student who said that he kept a pencil and paper by his bed in case an idea surfaced while he was sleeping. “Do you do that?” he asked Einstein. “Alas,” Einstein replied, “I seldom get ideas.”
IEEE Spectrum: Great Thoughts.