A Mutual Coincidence of Needs

Nothing is Good Enough

2007-01-01T21:33:00.000-05:00

After finishing a month-long series in "old-school" macroeconomics <insert IS-LM memories here>, a professor in grad school pulled together all of the differential equations and their neat, closed-form solutions on the board and said, "well, that is all good and well, except in real-life you don't know where you started, you don't know where you are, you don't know what previous shocks are still working their way through, and you don't know where you are going."

And, according to The Economist, you may not even know where you want to go either. The 'dismal science?' It is for sure dismal, but perhaps less of a science.

A few weeks ago, I was in the elevator at work and a stranger stepped in with a bag of Chic-fil-a and a milkshake. She looked at me and confessed (I am unsure why she felt a need to explain herself to me), "I didn't know what I felt like eating today." In my head I thought, "that is when you get a salad and Diet Coke, not fried chicken, fries, and strawberry shake." Instead I just smiled at her and said, "it happens."

I have recently seen more and more written on how people may not, in fact, know what they want or even if one thing makes them happier than another. I have always assumed that while this is true, in aggregate people tend to make the best decisions.

Think about how many times you have thought you wanted something and when you got it, you realized you really didn't want it: a date, a degree, a job, a meal, a pair of shoes, a video game? Or when you got something you thought you never wanted: a date, a degree, a job, a meal, a pair of shoes, a video game?

Everything seems to work out for the best in the end (how would you know that you really don't like it unless you try it? Now you can persue what you now think you want.). Nonetheless, I don't think my prior assessment of the happiness (or the unhappiness) something would provide has ever been even remotely correct. If everyone is like me, than in aggregate, people always make the least-optimal decisions.

Heck, I say, "I'm sorry," at least 5 times a day (with varying degrees of sincerity, of course). Surely when I did whatever I am now sorry for I thought it was the best option. Stepping on someone else's foot is not really something I actively persue (unless the man is dashingly handsome and I know he would never look my way independent of intervention), but I must have had a good reason to want to walk in that direction.

It seems the activity of lusting after something is a pretty useless waste of time. What do I want to be when I grow up? What do I want in a mate? A career? A Subway sandwich? Why ask me? I don't know.

As I write this, Brandon sends a link for http://www.restaurantpicker.com for "when you don't really know what you want." Which is funny, because Brandon never knows where he wants to eat. And I never really care. Yes, we are a real dining decision-making treat together.

But why don't I care? Doesn't being an American "where at least you know you're free" mean you get choices? Sometimes there just seems to be too many choices. And sometimes what you think you want isn't one of the choices (if you have ever been shopping for shoes with me you know the agony this causes me).

All of this innovation and options and I find myself unable to eat/speak/breathe with a purpose. Sometimes I am running errands and I forget where I am driving. Either I am suffering from Alzheimer's already or where I was going really wasn't important enough for me to remember.

Have I fallen victim to apathy or is it that, in the end, all of this soul-searching and heart-wrenching on making "the right choices" doesn't matter anyways?

Tainted Love

2006-12-12T23:02:00.001-05:00

Lisa has requested that I add to the world of cyber trash and get to blogging again. Try not to wet yourself, kids, I am gonna do it but it ain't gonna be good... I'm a bit rusty.

My favorite article of the week is actually from Vanity Fair. As it turns out, a gal doesn't need a sense of humor to have a relationship. In fact, the author suggests that most guys don't even notice if a girl is funny, or worse, are intimidated by a sense of humor.

This explains why when I meet a guy at a bar and make fun of him for his highly inappropriate and often offensive "pick-up lines," he has no idea I am half-joking (women also have this compassionate side where we understand it is kinda hard to strike up a conversation with a stranger). The author suggests that if a woman were approached with a joke, and not a remark on her "assets," he might actually succeed in attaining her digits. The author even suggests that men don't want women that can make light of life's little nuances:

Precisely because humor is a sign of intelligence (and many women believe, or were taught by their mothers, that they become threatening to men if they appear too bright), it could be that in some way men do not want women to be funny. They want them as an audience, not as rivals.

People will have relationships with another person so long as the marginal benefit of the relationship is greater than the marginal cost, right? (Sometimes this doesn't seem obvious when we see people in destructive relationships, but often those people have misconstrued perceptions... just watch Springer or Intervention). So if a man wants a woman that isn't witty (and, as the author suggests, smart) then does this mean they don't want male friends that are wittier(smarter) than they are? Does every man perceive the other men in thier lives as dumber than they are? Other than for ego, what would be the benefit of that?

It is at this moment that I understand my favorite tv show, Bridezilla. Part of what I loved about the show was that I didn't "get it." I didn't understand how these women were getting married to actual people of their own free will and none of the groom's friends jumped in and said , "dude, you can't marry this witch." Heck, I am always expecting the wedding to arrive and, alas, there never was a real groom to start with. Now the only show I don't "get" on tv is CNN's Lou Dobbs. Oh, and FitTV.

'Tis the Season

2006-11-06T20:51:00.000-05:00

Pass the Bread

2006-05-31T19:07:00.000-04:00

by Bill Moyers
Text of Baccalaureate Address
Hamilton College, Clinton, NY
May 20, 2006

I will make this brief because I know you have much to do between now and your farewell to Hamilton tomorrow, and that you are eager to get out and enjoy this perfect day in this glorious weather that somehow never gets mentioned in your promotional and recruitment literature.

One of my closest friends and colleagues, David Bate, graduated in 1938, and patriot that he is, headed right for the U.S. Navy where he served throughout World War II. David's father graduated from Hamilton in 1908 and two of his children continued the tradition. I asked David what he learned at Hamilton and he told me Hamilton is where you discover that being smart has nothing to do with being warm and dry...Just kidding! Thank you for inviting Judith and me to share this occasion with you. Fifty years ago both of us turned the same corner you are turning today and left college for the great beyond. Looking back across half a century I wish our speaker at the time had said something really useful--something that would have better prepared us for what lay ahead. I wish he had said: "Don't Go."

So I have been thinking seriously about what I might say to you in this Baccalaureate service. Frankly, I'm not sure anyone from my generation should be saying anything to your generation except, "We're sorry. We're really sorry for the mess you're inheriting. We are sorry for the war in Iraq. For the huge debts you will have to pay for without getting a new social infrastructure in return. We're sorry for the polarized country. The corporate scandals. The corrupt politics. Our imperiled democracy. We're sorry for the sprawl and our addiction to oil and for all those toxins in the environment. Sorry about all this, class of 2006. Good luck cleaning it up."

You're going to have your hands full, frankly. I don't need to tell you of the gloomy scenarios being written for your time. Three books on my desk right now question whether human beings will even survive the 21st century. Just listen to their titles: The Long Emergency: Surviving the Convergence Catastrophe; Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed; The Winds of Change: Weather and the Destruction of Civilizations.

These are just three of the recent books that make the apocalypse prophesied in the Bible...the Revelations of St. John...look like child's play. I won't summarize them for you except to say that they spell out Doomsday scenarios for global catastrophe. There's another recent book called The Revenge of Gaia that could well have been subtitled, "The Earth Strikes Back," because the author, James Lovelock, says human consumption, our obsession with technology, and our habit of "playing God" are stripping bare nature's assets until the Earth's only consolation will be to take us down with her. Before this century is over, he writes, "Billions of us will die and the few breeding pairs of people that survive will be kept in the Arctic where the climate remains tolerable." So there you have it: The future of the race, to be joined in a final and fatal march of the penguins.

Of course that's not the only scenario. You can Google your way to a lot of optimistic possibilities. For one, the digital revolution that will transform how we do business and live our lives, including active intelligent wireless devices that in just a short time could link every aspect of our physical world and even human brains, creating hundreds of thousands of small-scale business opportunities. There are medical breakthroughs that will conquer many ills and extend longevity. Economic changes will lift hundreds of millions of people out of absolute poverty in the next 25 years, dwarfing anything that's come along in the previous 100 years. These are possible scenarios, too. But I'm a journalist, not a prophet. I can't say which of these scenarios will prove true. You won't be bored, that's for sure. I just wish I were going to be around to see what you do with the peril and the promise.

Since I won't be around, I want to take this opportunity to say a thing or two that have nothing to do with my professional work as a journalist. What I have to say today is very personal. Here it is:

If the world confuses you a little, it confuses me a lot. When I graduated fifty years ago I thought I had the answers. But life is where you get your answers questioned, and the odds are that you can look forward to being even more perplexed fifty years from now than you are at this very moment. If your parents level with you, truly speak their hearts, I suspect they would tell you life confuses them, too, and that it rarely turns out the way you thought it would.

I find I am alternatively afraid, cantankerous, bewildered, often hostile, sometimes gracious, and battered by a hundred new sensations every day. I can be filled with a pessimism as gloomy as the depth of the middle ages, yet deep within me I'm possessed of a hope that simply won't quit. A friend on Wall Street said one day that he was optimistic about the market, and I asked him, "Then why do you look so worried?" He replied, "Because I'm not sure my optimism is justified." Neither am I. So I vacillate between the determination to act, to change things, and the desire to retreat into the snuggeries of self, family and friends.

I wonder if any of us in this great, disputatious, over-analyzed, over-televised and under-tenderized country know what the deuce we're talking about, myself included. All my illusions are up for grabs, and I find myself re-assessing many of the assumptions that served me comfortable much of my life.

Earlier this week I heard on the radio a discussion in New York City about the new Disney Broadway production of Tarzan, the jungle hero so popular when I was growing up. I remember as a kid almost dislocating my tonsils trying to recreate his unearthly sound, swinging on a great vine in a graceful arc toward the rescue of his distressed mate, Jane, hollering bloody murder all the time. So what have we learned since? That Buster Crabbe and Johnny Weismuller, who played Tarzan in the movies, never made that noise. It was a recording of three men, one a baritone, one a tenor, and one a hog caller from Arkansas--all yelling to the top of their lungs. This world is hard on believers.

As a young man I was drawn to politics. I took part in two national campaigns, served in the Kennedy and Johnson administrations, and have covered politics ever since. But I understand now what Thomas Jefferson meant back in 1789 when he wrote: "I am not a Federalist because I never submitted the whole system of my opinions to the creed of any party of men, whether in religion, in philosophy, in politics, or anything else. If I could not go to Heaven but with a party, I would not go there at all." Of course we know there'll be no parties in Heaven. No Democrats, no Republicans, no liberals, no conservatives, no libertarians or socialists. Just us Baptists.

The hardest struggle of all is to reconcile life's polar realities. I love books, Beethoven, and chocolate brownies. Yet how do I justify my pleasure in these in a world where millions are illiterate, the music never plays, and children go hungry through the night? How do I live sanely in a world so unsafe for so many?

I don't know what they taught you here at Hamilton about all this, but I trust you are not leaving here without thinking about how you will respond to the dissonance in our culture, the rivalry between beauty and bestiality in the world, and the conflicts in your own soul. All of us have to choose sides on this journey. But the question is not so much who we are going to fight against as it is which side of our own nature will we nurture: The side that can grow weary and even cynical and believe that everything is futile, or the side that for all the vulgarity, brutality, and cruelty, yearns to affirm, connect and signify. Albert Camus got it right: There is beauty in the world as well as humiliation, "And we have to strive, hard as it is, not to be unfaithful...in the presence of one or the other.

That's really what brings me here this afternoon. I did put myself in your place, and asked what I'd want a stranger from another generation to tell me if I had to sit through his speech. Well, I'd want to hear the truth: The truth is, life's a tough act, the world's a hard place, and along the way you will meet a fair share of fools, knaves and clowns--even act the fool yourself from time to time when your guard is down or you've had too much wine. I'd like to be told that I will experience separation, loss and betrayal, that I'll wonder at times where have all the flowers gone.

I would want to be told that while life includes a lot of luck, life is more than luck. It is sacrifice, study, and work; appointments kept, deadlines met, promises honored. I'd like to be told that it's okay to love your country right or wrong, but it's not right to be silent when your country is wrong. And I would like to be encouraged not to give up on the American experience. To remember that the same culture which produced the Ku Klux Klan, Tom DeLay and Abu Ghraib, also brought forth the Peace Corps, Martin Luther King and Hamilton College.

And I would like to be told that there is more to this life than I can see, earn, or learn in my time. That beyond the day-to-day spectacle are cosmic mysteries we don't understand. That in the meantime--and the meantime is where we live--we infinitesimal particles of creation carry on the miracle of loving, laughing and being here now, by giving, sharing and growing now.

Let me tell you one of my favorite stories. I read it a long time ago and it's stayed with me. There was a man named Shalom Aleicheim. He was one of the accursed of the Earth. Every misfortune imaginable befell him. He lost his wife, his children neglected him, his house burned down, his job disappeared--everything he touched turned to dust. Yet through all this Shalom kept returning good for evil everywhere he could until he died. When the angels heard he was arriving at Heaven's gate, they hurried down to greet him. Even the Lord was there, so great was this man's fame for goodness. It was the custom in Heaven that every newcomer was interrogated by the prosecuting angel, to assure that all trespasses on Earth had been atoned. But when Shalom reached those gates, the prosecuting angel arose, and for the first time in the memory of Heaven, said, "There are no charges." Then the angel for the defense arose and rehearsed all the hardships this man had endured and recounted how in all the difficult circumstances of his life he had remained true to himself and returned good for evil.

When the angel was finished, the Lord said, "Not since Job himself have we heard of a life such as this one." And then, turning to Shalom, he said, "Ask, and it shall be given to you."

The old man raised his eyes and said, "Well, if I could start every day with a hot buttered roll..." And at that the Lord and all the angels wept, at the preciousness of what he was asking for, at the beauty of simple things : a buttered roll, a clean bed, a beautiful summer day, someone to love and be loved by. These supply joy and meaning on this earthly journey.

So I brought this with me. It's an ordinary breakfast roll, perhaps one like Shalom asked for. I brought it because it drives home the last thing I want to say to you. Bread is the great re-enforcer of the reality principle. Bread is life. But if you're like me you have a thousand and more times repeated the ordinary experience of eating bread without a thought for the process that brings it to your table. The reality is physical: I need this bread to live. But the reality is also social: I need others to provide the bread. I depend for bread on hundreds of people I don't know and will never meet. If they fail me, I go hungry. If I offer them nothing of value in exchange for their loaf, I betray them. The people who grow the wheat, process and store the grain, and transport it from farm to city; who bake it, package it, and market it--these people and I are bound together in an intricate reciprocal bargain. We exchange value.

This reciprocity sustains us. If you doubt it, look around you. Hamilton College was raised here by people before your time, people you'll never know, who were nonetheless thinking of you before you were born. You have received what they built and bequeathed, and in your time you will give something back. That's the deal. On and on it goes, from generation to generation.

Civilization sustains and supports us. The core of its value is bread. But bread is its great metaphor. All my life I've prayed the Lord's Prayer, and I've never prayed, "Give me this day my daily bread." It is always, "Give us this day our daily bread." Bread and life are shared realities. They do not happen in isolation. Civilization is an unnatural act. We have to make it happen, you and I, together with all the other strangers. And because we and strangers have to agree on the difference between a horse thief and a horse trader, the distinction is ethical. Without it, a society becomes a war against all, and a market for the wolves becomes a slaughter for the lambs. My generation hasn't done the best job at honoring this ethical bargain, and our failure explains the mess we're handing over to you. You may be our last chance to get it right. So good luck, Godspeed, enjoy these last few hours together, and don't forget to pass the bread.

via a link from my friend Susan.

The Confession Gives Absoluton, Not the Priest

2006-05-11T01:53:00.000-04:00

There are great tragedies we hear about every day on the news-- tsunamis, hurricanes, landslides, bombings. We hear the number of people who die and think, "gosh, that is so sad." As a child I am not sure if I really realized what loss of life meant. I saw pets die and, eventually, family members, but I was blessed that those that passed away weren't immediate family members and I was told that the pets crossed over "the rainbrow bridge." There is some consolation in being told they have lived a "full life" and gone on to a better place by those you consider authorities.

When we hear about these tragedies we get numbers. And, somewhow, that becomes the only thing that matters. But it is still distant-- a numerical result that we can compare to other numerical tragedies to decide which was quantitatively "more tragic."

As an adult I have come to realize that life is so precious. As we learn that we are, in fact, vincible, as we learn that life can be taken so quickly and without reason, as we learn that the next step is unknown, life really does seem to be a miracle. The fact that we are alive each day is inexplicably amazing.

It is impossible to pass through this life without the support of others. No matter how many times you thank them or show them what they mean to you, it really can never tell them how you feel. Perhaps the greatest tragedy is that we are only able to express our gratitude in eulogies and praise accomplishments in obituaries. It is the point when we are forced to reflect on the contribution of the individual.

With the large numbers of people that die in these tragedies also die their fears, their sins, their guilt, their regrets. These secrets that are held internally affect everyone around us and make us who we are by motivating our every action, reaction, and inaction. No matter what trait you admire in someone, you will never have it becuase you will never have the secrets that drove them every day.

Saying goodbye to those whos' lives are eclipsing seems rediculous. The words are trite, overused and so multi-contextual to have any effect-- "thank you, "I love you," "you have meant so much to me." And when they are finally gone words are so completely useless-- it seems they are in your thoughts and can read them anyways. So you stand their at the grave crying and unable to chain together words. Are they even "there?"

We make the greatest impact on those that surround us. In massive tragedies, the physical proximity of these people means that they will likely die with us. In my mind, that might be the best way to die. I don't know where you go, but I'd like to think that if you go together then you are able to express what that person and all those that go with you exactly what they meant to you. Maybe even confess the secrets that constrained your life so that in the next place you go to you can accept yourself. Perhaps the most horrible tragedy is the large number of those that die alone.

Pre-Fire Sale

2006-05-06T21:50:00.000-04:00

The lowest course grades I ever recieved in college were in the two most remedial courses offered; I was generously awarded B-minuses in both geology and marketing. This explains why I remember there being "4-P's" to marketing, but I have no idea what they are. I always thought 4 things sell a product: food, sex, kids, and puppies. So to make my blog more marketable, I am including all of the following. Shazaam!

Via Newmark's Door, I found two fabulous links. Firstly, some of you may recognize Playboy's Cyber Girl of the Year, Amy Sue Cooper (what a tacky Southern name, I know, it just makes this even more amazing):

Not only is she pretty, but her fantasy stock portfolio is pulling YTD returns over 50%!! How these Playmates are beating the market, may show the "random walk" hypothesis (that a monkey throwing darts at the stock pages can pick stocks just as well as your average Wall Street trader) must be true. I, frankly, usually agree that all available information has already been incorporated into the stock prices before you can act on it. But I think there is only one explanation for this amazing portfolio and the other Playmates' portfolios: inside info. I mean, look at Ms. Cooper's selections:

Amgen,Inc.
DRIL-QUIP INC
INDEVUS PHARMACEUTICALS, INCORPORATED
MICROSOFT CORPORATION
Pacific Ethanol

How the hell did she pick these? "Dril Quip (DRQ) is a company that manufactures oil-drilling equipment. This company has a chance of doing very well. Especially considering the fact that so many countries are industrializing. Plus it's a drilling company that just sounds exciting." YTD return on DRQ: +72.86%.

The other fun link from Dr. Newmark is about kids: 20 Reasons Not to Have Kids followed by 10 Reasons to Have Kids. Of course, it should come with a little calculator where you place the weighted-utility (utility can be negative for the ones you are adverse to) next to each reason. It could then take the expected value of having a kid and if it is positive you should have kids and negative then you shouldn't.

I think the more optimization and modeling I learn, the more I become indecisive and just want a model to decide things for me. Is this rational? When people ask why I don't have kids I can say, "well, I ran it through the model and it just wasn't optimal," or if I do have kids be able to chant to myself every day: "the marginal benefit is greater than the marginal cost. The marginal benefit is greater than the marginal cost. The marginal benefit is greater than the marginal cost..., " as they Crayola my walls.

I also promised puppies and food, so here's a basket of Dalmations and a fish taco. I've got nothing to say on these topics.

No Reply

2006-04-25T22:50:00.000-04:00

Dionysus

2006-04-20T09:32:00.000-04:00

In honor of Saturday's wine festival and my latest job offer...

(Happy now, Brandon?)

Fighting in a Sack

2006-03-16T21:53:00.000-05:00

I Just Can't Seem to Shake you Loose

2006-03-14T20:27:00.000-05:00

For those that download music and actually pay for it (I hate to admit the only song I have downloaded in years I actually paid for and it was a Kelly Clarkson song) prices may be going up in April for the newer releases:

What has probably happened is that Mr Spitzer and the Department of Justice have been dragged into a massive public row between the music industry and Apple, a computer-maker which has 83% of the market for music downloads through its iPod music players and iTunes download service. The music majors want Apple to stop charging a fixed price of 99 cents per track and $9.99 for an album. They want variable pricing, so that new releases can be priced higher than older stuff (The Economist).

My question is: will older releases be cheaper than a dollar? I sure hope so. Though I doubt it.

Stockings in your Hand, Panties in your Purse

2006-03-12T18:07:00.000-05:00

Via Rafael, we have The Economics Of Prostitution. I love Gary Becker as an economist (I remember reading his paper with Stigler on how much you have to pay a cop to keep him from taking a bribe in senior seminar). I consider him a forerunner of Steven Levitt and his "Freakonomics" work. However, while admitting I haven't read his paper, just this article, I am not sure about how he can consider all of the factors that make up human relationships into hard-line, overriding theories. Is a wife really a low-cost provider? My dad sure buys my mom lots of shiny things...

This begs the question of why married men go to prostitutes (rather than buying from their wives, who presumably will be low-cost providers, considering that they can sell nonreproductive sex without compromising their marriage).

When considering cross-cultural and socio-economic differences in the world, I don't know if these kinds of generalizations are possible. Economists love to make games and then figure out, using pre-determined assumptions, how that economic agent will act. But because human relationships are all necessarily different (I think we all agree people marry for vastly different reasons even though most people take similar vows), I don't think we can even have basic assumptions. Love? Loyalty? Respect? Attraction? And as Dwight Yoakam reminds us, "baby, things change."

Of course, not but two posts ago I was commenting on selective breeding (which btw, Robert has determined that I am both artsy and analytical making me a universal breeder! Putting this on my resume for sure). This might be even another kink in the assumptions on this model (which again, I have no idea what they are). Economists assume the agent is homo economicus, simply rational and looking out for his own best interests, but we all know that rarely do people act this way. Especially in relationships. I can attest to that.

Sometimes Old Men Die with Little Boy Faces

2006-03-10T14:00:00.000-05:00

Since at least 1998, I have had a special interest in crimes against humanity. I remember in high school strongly resolving to be an international war crime prosecuting attorney; I even searched on the old-school AOL directory and found a woman that worked in the Hague and emailed her. I don't remember what came of it. It is so hard to understand what man can do to another man. And then there is so little justice.

Under the principle of national sovereignty, nation states were supposed to have responsibility for enforcing their own criminal justice. But all too often they had shown themselves unwilling or incapable of prosecuting the worst culprits, either because those responsible were still in power, or because they had taken refuge in other countries and were now out of reach. (economist)

I strongly believe all people should be entitled to special, basic rights. More broadly, I believe people should be allowed to do whatever they want so long as they don't harm another or infringe upon another's personal property rights. But so what? This is just what Krystal believes it means to be human-- to respect all other beings because they are in the same struggle as we are.

I believe there is no punishment that is worthy of the horrendous crimes commited in mass genocides and ethnic wars. The courts are slow and their power is limited (even the USA will not participate lest its own soldiers and commanding officers are indicted).

Walking through the carcass of Auschwitz-Birkineau in 2004 made it clear that the crimes commited with such hatred cannot be deterred by fear of punishment. People that are able to support such acts, whether because of religious or other ethnic causes, sincerely believe they are correct.

Over the span of all of humanity it appears that we never evolved out of our warring clan mentality. The fear of those that are different is nearly as raw still as our animalistic sex drive (see MTV for evidence). I think all of us have a fear of that which we don't understand. The sudden nervousness that spread across America towards Muslims in 2001 is an obvious example. I'm not saying everyone is racist, but we are natually suspicious of different customs and beliefs.

But in my mind, I still haven't been able to resolve how people can maim, torture, and brutally kill each other because of this fear. Perhaps I have never been in the situation and will never understand. And while I used to want to understand, I find myself lately hoping that I never will because those that commit the crimes are still human, like you and me.

My only hope is that one day all people will, for one reason or another, have incentives to harness this fear and use it productively. Some argue the resolution to war is globalization-- by monetary incentive, we can get along. Money is just the lubricant that makes the machine of trade possible and when we have trade we must understand our trading partners. Maybe. But the areas most affected by genocide are small contenders in the global market and they face internal frictions.

Many of these frictions are the result of western countries meddling in local affairs decades ago and then leaving irresponsibly once it became out of fashion and unprofitable to keep up the empire. Is it a western responsibility to "fix" these problems? It is argued that the international courts are just the west's way of forcing its own morals and shackles on the third world. Sadly, this system is reactive. It only punishes after the crimes have been committed.

I don't know the solution to obtaining world peace, unfortunately. Love and hate are two things I can't ever seem to reason.

Between Angels and Insects

2006-03-07T11:50:00.000-05:00

In my blog surfing I found this post. The BBC article is linked here. In summary, people that are very scientific/ mathematical have higher rates of autistic children when the have children with other analytical people. I guess it kinda makes sense that children would be reflective of their home influences, but genetically this is interesting. Will ask Mere about this at the gym today and update...

When my sister meets a guy she automatically thinks, "what would our babies be like?" I always laughed at this, but it seems as though we should be selectively breeding. A test-tube baby is looking more and more appealing... what if my parents nixed the nookie and opted for the petri-dish? Will our generation be doing more of this?

With women in high positions in the work-force, the opportunity cost of maternity and rearing should result in the brightest, most capable child possible. If you could create an investment with higher-returns almost guaranteed, would you? Smart and athletic children get scholarships! Retirement could be fabulously funded by a successful child. Think of the returns over a lifetime...

I think like-minded people get along better; therefore, our actual mates might not be the best breeders for us. I don't know if I could decidedly have a child with someone other than my husband for the sake of diversifying genes. Which is funny, because financially, I fully agree with diversifying risk. You can calculate the cost-benefit ratio monetarily, but pschologically, it is hard to account for how the relationship might change when the family is contrived in such a methodical way. Stocks and bonds don't a have synergy-relationship where one gets upset if there is less of it proportionately in a portfolio. Although I bet you could account for this in a model...

Time to Change How the Free Market Bargains

2006-03-05T17:37:00.000-05:00

The last few days have provided my female friends and I ample amounts of "what is he thinking?!" I have decided that some boys might need some things spelled out. These are steadfast rules never to be broken. Seriously.

If attracted to a girl, do not touch her. You can look, but don't touch. Grabbing her behind is not a pick-up line. She will slap you. Not in a good way. Touching a girl says you want in her pants, talking to a girl says you want in her life. We like that. Perceptions are important, yes?
If you say you are going to buy a girl a drink, do it. She isn't going to wait more than 20 minutes. If you don't, you are a liar. You don't follow through on commitments. You are preventing her from getting one from another guy or buying one for herself. You are monopolizing her time. She's not interested.
When talking to a girl, don't talk about yourself. Be a mystery, because, frankly, your job is boring to us. So are the sports you watch and the video games you play. And we've already heard about the new Xbox360 from some jerk last month. Besides, you are probably lying anyways. Make us laugh. Tell jokes and funny stories. Distinguish yourself from the market. Make us think we might enjoy spending further time with you.
Never give a girl your business card. It looks like you are trying to impress us with your big fancy job (read: big fancy bank account). Especially do not give her your business card if it reads "Professional Ghost Hunter." I wanted to date a Ghostbuster in 1992. It's 2006 now. Who am I gonna call? Not the Ghostbusters.
Don't flash $100 bills unless you intend to use them. If you aren't gonna drop it then you are just fronting. You probably deal drugs in the alley in back, but you aren't actually at the top of the drug dealing chain- you are just a footsoldier. Unlike men, girls don't think: "oh my god, he has big bills. he must also have a big penis. do me now!"
Similar to above, don't offer to buy girls anything. Clothes, rollerblades, movie tickets, VCRs, shiny things. We aren't all whores.
Note: $$$ =/= sex
If you score a girl's number, save it. Call her in exactly 2 days. If it is a weekday call her between 7pm and 9pm. If it is a weekend, call her between 2pm and 5pm. These are times when she is probably not busy and thus her time is worth less. She is more likely to talk to a stranger she just met. DO NOT call her on 3am on the night you get her number to make sure she got home safely. You don't know her-- you can't possibly care that much. If you call that night you look too into her. You are probably a stalker creep. She knows she has the advantage and you will lose all bargaining power in said relationship. You will lose.
When you do call her, have something to say. Refer to something you talked about when you met her-- it says you can, when necessary, listen. If you are going to ask her out, have some days, times, and places to go in mind. Calling with no plan says, "I just rolled out of bed and thought I'd see if you would take me out drinking." You are a freeloader and lazy. You probably don't have a job and don't send your mom a card on her birthday.
Said plan should be safe for her. It says you respect her. Suggest you meet her somewhere public- don't pick her up. If you do, know that we will be leaving all of the information we could Google on you with our roommates/ friends in case we disappear. They may use this against you later.
If a girl is not interested in you anymore, do not give her number to all of your friends and have them call her out of spite. Do not call her hundreds of times and hang up. Be a man, trash her digits and score some new ones. Always remember girls are far more evil than they appear. She may take 100 sticky notes, write "Hey, girls: Do me a favor, this guy is a jerk. Please call 123-456-7890 and harass. Late night calls greatly appreciated!" and place them in bathroom stalls for months in various cities. You will likely have a girlfriend by now. She will think you are cheating on her. You will probably have to change your number.

Attack of Opportunity

2006-02-21T19:15:00.000-05:00

Via Brett, we have Gaming Statistics. It's interesting, even a little shocking at first--75% of heads of households play video or computer games. Read it.

"The study is the most in-depth and targeted survey of its kind, gathering data from almost
1,500 nationally representative households that have been identified as owning either or both a video game console or a personal computer used to run entertainment software."

So yes, the sample is biased to start with-- there isn't exactly random sampling. If the sample is only households that game, how do you know how many Americans game? If you sample only parents AND kids that own gaming consoles, how do you know how all parents interact with their kids with games? Nonetheless, my favorite part was the gamers-are-people-too section:

Gamers devote more than triple the amount of time spent playing games each week to exercising or playing sports, volunteering in the community, religious activities, creative endeavors, cultural activities, and reading.

In total, gamers spend 23.4 hours per week on these activities, compared to 6.8 hours per week playing games.

79% of game players of all ages report exercising or playing sports an average of 20 hours a month.

45% of gamers volunteer an average of 5.4 hours per month.

93% of game players report reading books or daily newspapers on a regular basis, while 62% consistently attend cultural events, such as concerts, museums, or the theater.

I am *not* hating on gamers (you guys, especially Brett, know i <3 joo. Heck, I playing video games after work tonight myself), but I thought the pdf was interesting to ponder

And it Was!

2006-02-19T09:33:00.000-05:00

Speed of Silence

2006-02-16T17:18:00.000-05:00

Could we being going back to Kosovo?

The worst-case scenario runs along the following lines: An independent Kosovo prompts democratic leaders in Serbia to resign. In the ensuing "who lost Kosovo" electoral campaign, extreme nationalists with a revanchist political agenda come to power. With Serbia being, as Assistant Secretary of State Nicholas Burns has noted, "the most important country in the Balkans," political and economic reform throughout much of southeastern Europe would suffer if political forces from the 1990s came back to power in Belgrade.

Most people have probably forgotten about the situation in Kosovo. It never really ended. The UN has just been keeping a lid on what was left brewing.

Most utilities are regulated, but not the internet- yet. Should we? Or shouldn't we?
(I am strongly in the 'no' camp. Though I suppose most everything is sanctioned anymore. Even libraries and the media.)

It's Only Love and That is All

2006-02-16T17:09:00.000-05:00

When I Grow Up I'll Turn the Tables

2006-02-12T13:56:00.000-05:00

Who Doesn't Love an Engineer?

2006-02-09T15:16:00.000-05:00

An engineer dies and reports to hell. Pretty soon, the engineer becomes dissatisfied with the level of comfort in hell, and starts designing and building improvements. After a while, they've got air conditioning and flush toilets and escalators, and the engineer is a pretty popular guy. One day God calls Satan up on the telephone and says with a sneer: "So, how's it going down there in hell?"

Satan replies: "Hey things are going great. We've got air conditioning and flush toilets and escalators, and there's no telling what this engineer is going to come up with next."

God replies: "What??? You've got an engineer? That's a mistake - he should never have gotten down there; send him up here."

Satan says: "No way. I like having an engineer on the staff, and I'm keeping him."

God says: "Send him up here or I'll sue."

Satan laughs uproariously and answers: "Yeah, right. And just where are you going to get a lawyer?"

via TWW

Some Folks Say There Are No Bears in Arkansas

2006-02-06T20:26:00.000-05:00

Should have been posted on here LOOONG ago, it's Brandon's awesome list of things he's learned about women.

Additionally, I love this site. Mmmm! Got into this over the holiday and now I can hit a button and see if I am on the right track!

I Won't Forget to Put Roses on Your Grave

2006-02-05T13:19:00.000-05:00

I received an email this morning from my friend Jenn with the above .jpg attached:

Hi all,

With the recent developments in the Muslim world
concerning the dreadfully misleading Danish cartoon
depicting the holy Muhammad as a dangerous terrorist
with nothing as his mind but destruction, I have
created my own collage to share the true message of
Islam with you all. You will find it as an attachment
to this e-mail. Pass it along if you agree.

Despite the guns, bombings, burning of consulates and
the events of 9/11, we should always sympathize with
our Muslim friends.

Jennifer

We've all watched as the events have unfolded, including most recently a consulate in flames. It seems the actions of a few can spark much pain to many. And while most agree that both sides are in the wrong, the issue has become a platform to start speaking about other things no one was willing to say before.

I guess after the next week or so everyone will have said everything they wanted to say. Then maybe we can try to work towards a solution...

My Only Rule is No Rules

2006-01-31T18:45:00.000-05:00

It's finally happening after almost 19 years.

Ladder Theory

2006-01-30T19:10:00.000-05:00

Courtesy of my Ray-Ray of Sunshine, we have why guys and girls can't scientifically be friends. Some highlights...

So for at Least Until Tomorrow, I'll Never Fall in Love Again

2006-01-29T11:31:00.000-05:00

Just read this. The whole thing. It's great. I use lots on inflection in my voice when I say this and there are hand gestures. Big, obnoxious ones. So do it already. Everyone is doing it, don't you wanna fit in?

The social effects of porn. It's audio-visual. Yeah, this blog is pretty much about tickling all of your senses.

If Only that War on Drugs Hadn't been so Effective...

2006-01-25T13:40:00.000-05:00

I Ain't No Holla Back Girl

2006-01-25T13:23:00.000-05:00

We all know that Americans have some of the lowest savings rates in the world, but here is the latest study. The list is mostly other well-developed countries. Does this make us worse than the rest of the world? Depends on if we have good debt (school) or bad debt (Xbox 360's).

Not that I am mildly good at ANY video games, not even TextTwist (so addicting!) or Duck Hunt, but I still love them. Does this make me prone to violence? Well, not according to the kids at the Video Gaming Evolution.

The most important proof?

Just Wait

2006-01-25T13:05:00.000-05:00

Blues Traveler

If ever you are feeling like you're tired
And all your uphill struggles leave you headed downhill
If you realize your wildest dreams can hurt you
And your appetite for pain has drinken it's fill

I ask of you a very simple question
Did you think for one minute that you are alone
And is your suffering a privilege you share only
Or did you think that everybody else feels completely at home

Just wait
Just wait
Just wait
And it will come

If you think I've given up on you you're crazy
And if you think I don't love you well then you're just wrong
In time you just might take to feeling better
Time is the beauty of the road being long

I know that now you feel no consolation
But maybe if I told you and informed you out loud
I say this without fear of hesitation
I can honestly tell you that you make me proud

Just wait
Just wait
Just wait
And it will come
Just wait
Just wait
Just wait
And it will come

If anything I might have just said has helped you
If anything I might have just said helped you just carry on
Your rise uphill may no longer seem a struggle
And your appetite for pain may all but be gone

I hope for you and cannot stop at hoping
Until that smile has once again returned to your face
There's no such thing as a failure who keeps trying
Coasting to the bottom is the only disgrace

Just wait
Just wait
Just wait
And it will come
Just wait
Just wait
Just wait
And it will come
Just wait
Just wait
Just wait
And it will come...

Zubrowka!

2006-01-24T21:31:00.000-05:00

It made the list! Add a little Tabasco and a splash of grenadine... ah, yes. Eastern European drinks.

Dark Matter

2006-01-24T21:20:00.000-05:00

A pretty surprising article on the CA deficit. It says it really isn't there. How do we know if there is a leak in the model?

You can calculate a price for an asset from the earnings it provides. Messrs Hausmann and Sturzenegger elect to value America's net foreign assets at 20 times their annual earnings, which corresponds to a 5% rate of return. Valued at this ratio, America's national “portfolio” of foreign assets and liabilities is really worth $724 billion, not minus $2.5 trillion. What is more, if its foreign assets are as stable as the authors say, it follows that “the country has not been running a deficit.”

I have to admit I feel a bit skeptical. Ok, maybe a lot.

Panaceas 101

2006-01-24T20:45:00.000-05:00

(Via Rafael-- THANKS!!)

I'll Be Watching You

2006-01-22T10:46:00.000-05:00

I love reading other people's blogs. Especially high schoolers that have so much drama because it is like watching Laguna Beach with real people. But big kids make some interesting blogs too.

For those ladies looking for love, it turns out there is another place besides the disc golf course and the video game store. Rich, dumb men are finally within our reach! Alcoholics too!

But this I just love. In honor of Bri finally joining the cult, we have this great post on The Facebook. It isn't just because I love the site myself, but look at the DATA! The GRAPHS! This guy is pretty impressive. I'm in love. This is also what grad school does to you-- you statistically analyze what 19 year-olds use to post drunken, slutty pictures of themselves. Jealous, yes?

Of course, I have to also note my source. These were taken from our own Dr. Newmark's blog.

Mmmmm... more numbers! I just love it!

Geek of the Moment

2006-01-22T10:43:00.000-05:00

Maybe Redemption has Stories to Tell

2006-01-19T22:59:00.000-05:00

Lately I find myself more introspective. The quarter-life crisis? I always pictured it different. I find myself realizing how much my values have evolved-- well, they have always been the same but they are more specific, I suppose.

How do you define your values? Is it defined by what you clear-headedly and bipartisanly think is right when asked? Or is it defined by what you actually do when faced with the stress of a situation?

Growing up the world was a cowboy movie-- there were only Good Guys and Bad Guys. Good Guys were intrinsically good and never did the wrong thing. Bad Guys were evil to the core and they knew it. Add a few eighties movies, and I thought everything in the world ended like Ferris Bueller-- as it should. Karma.

But real-life is gray. Good Guys do bad things, Bad Guys always seem like Good Guys. What happens when you are a Good Guy and you make a bad decision? What if Bad Guys occasionally do wonderfully extraordinary deeds? When you meet someone, how do you know who they are?

In the end, is it a weighted-average (is this geometric or arithmetic? does time matter? what's the base-value? can this be a percentage?) of demerits and gold-stars judged by some omniscient power that matters or is just about how you feel about yourself? Does motivation matter?

Sometimes I am jealous of my friends that have always had a strong religious influence in their lives. They are so sure about how all this works. They are so sure about what to do. WWJD, right? Unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately), I grew up in a strongly spiritual household. This created a Pandora's box of WWYD?-- What Would You Do?

(Anyone reading this probably thinks I have done something awful. Haha. Not so much. Perhaps it is the rainbow of recent people in my life, perhaps it is me trying to find a future that fits me...)

Diamonds Don't Bling in the Dark

2006-01-16T17:45:00.000-05:00

Like last semester, I'm going to blog until I get too busy to say anything other than "ugh, that's due when?!?" So on to some musings...

Not really related to anything (maybe the surge in singleness amongst my friends?) is this great article on how to impress the opposite sex. The article is about having an amazing trekking adventure across a country-- the wee Andorra. My favorite tidbit:

"Skipping over the actual details of the hike, you tell Lisa about the Festa Major celebration in Andorra la Vella. Here, a group of mentally handicapped Andorrans singled you out from the crowd and cheerfully bullied you into joining them in a Catalan dance called the sardana. You choose to reveal Andorra through this story because it’s funny and self-deprecating, and you want to single yourself out to Lisa as a charmed person who is instinctively adored by retards. "

In honor of my recent joining of the "I Less Than Three You" gang and the "I'll Shoot You in the Face" gang, is an article on Lil' Kim. She is protecting her street cred and doing a show on BET all about her crimes and giving shout outs before she goes to jail. The article argues that glorifying street crime isn't a good idea. I guess I won't be flashing my new gang signs quite so often. Boo. I was excited to be so 1337 and gangsta at the same time.

Another semester means I'll be spending the next 15 Friday nights at Club DH Hill (apparently not patrolling the streets with my gangs). With the advent of the Internet, almost any text can be available at the click of a mouse. So why do people still go to libraries? Because sitting at home is just plain lonely (especially because I don't live with my mom like a crack dealer).

"Even in the silent reading rooms of our modern libraries, a kind of quiet collaboration takes place among readers, librarians, and authors. There is a tacit sense of community, and a reassuring solidity in the shared physical space that seems to provide an antidote to the specter of loneliness."

Me, myself, I would like to feel a little more lonely at the library: people with cell phones do not belong in the library. If you are gonna sit in the reserve room and call your mom and complain about how much work you have to do... I might gut you. This also goes for those planning spring break, calling insurance companies, and replaying boring dates. This why I love text messaging. Anything important can be said in 160 characters.

Well, this was a little more grumpy than normal. Sorry I haven't added much introspect to your life. To lighten this up is the kitty dance, stolen (so gangsta style, I know) from Jenn. Dance, dance, dance.

Post Secret

2006-01-15T17:42:00.000-05:00

Walker, Texas Ranger

2005-11-20T12:42:00.000-05:00

I grew up watching The Man with my dad. Here is a great list about him, courtesy of TWW. My fave, #22.

1. Chuck Norris' tears cure cancer. Too bad he has
never cried.

2. Chuck Norris once roundhouse kicked someone so hard
that his foot broke the speed of light, went back in
time, and killed Amelia Earhart while she was flying
over the Pacific Ocean.

3. Chuck Norris does not have AIDS but he gives it to
people anyway.

4. Rather than being birthed like a normal child, Chuck
Norris instead decided to punch his way out of his
mother's womb. Shortly thereafter he grew a beard.

5. When Chuck Norris plays Oregon Trail his family does
not die from cholera or dysentery, but rather
roundhouse kicks to the face. He also requires no
wagon, since he carries the oxen, axels, and buffalo
meat on his back. He always makes it to Oregon before
you.

6. Chuck Norris's girlfriend once asked him how much
wood a woodchuck could chuck if a woodchuck could
chuck wood. He then shouted, "HOW DARE YOU RHYME IN
THE PRESENCE OF CHUCK NORRIS!" and ripped out her
throat. Holding his girlfriend's bloody throat in his
hand he bellowed, "Don't fuck with Chuck!" Two years
and five months later he realized the irony of this
statement and laughed so hard that anyone within a
hundred mile radius of the blast went deaf.

7. Chuck Norris sold his soul to the devil for his
rugged good looks and unparalleled martial arts
ability. Shortly after the transaction was finalized,
Chuck roundhouse kicked the devil in the face and took
his soul back. The devil, who appreciates irony,
couldn't stay mad and admitted he should have seen it
coming. They now play poker every second Wednesday of
the month.

8. Chuck Norris recently had the idea to sell his urine
as a canned beverage. We know this beverage as Red
Bull.

9. Chuck Norris built a time machine and went back in
time to stop the JFK assassination. As Oswald shot,
Chuck met all three bullets with his beard, deflecting
them. JFK's head exploded out of sheer amazement.

10. The original theme song to the Transformers was
actually "Chuck Norris--more than meets the eye, Chuck
Norris--robot in disguise," and starred Chuck Norris
as a Texas Ranger who defended the earth from
drug-dealing Deceptions and could turn into a
pick-up. This was far too much awesome for a single
show, however, so it was divided.

11. To prove it isn't that big of a deal to beat
cancer. Chuck Norris smoked 15 cartons of cigarettes a
day for 2 years and acquired 7 different kinds of
cancer only to rid them from his body by flexing for
30 minutes. Beat that, Lance Armstrong.

12. Chuck Norris was the fourth Wiseman. He brought
baby Jesus the gift of "beard". Jesus wore it proudly
to his dying day. The other Wisemen, jealous of Jesus'
obvious gift favoritism, used their combined influence
to have Chuck omitted from the Bible. Shortly after
all three died of roundhouse kick related deaths.

13. Chuck Norris has yet to get a Jeopardy question
wrong. Jesus has missed two.

14. Chuck Norris does not sleep. He waits.

15.Chuck Norris can make a woman climax by simply
pointing at her and saying "booya".

16. A man once asked Chuck Norris if his real name is
"Charles". Chuck Norris did not respond, he simply
stared at him until he exploded.

17. Chuck Norris once shot a German plane down with his
finger, by yelling, "Bang!"

18. Chuck Norris lives by only one rule: No Fat Chicks.

19. The chief export of Chuck Norris is pain.

20. Chuck Norris once went to a frat party, and
proceeded to roundhouse every popped collar in sight.
He then drank three kegs and shit on their floor, just
because he's Chuck Norris.

21. After much debate, President Truman decided to drop
the atomic bomb on Hiroshima rather than the
alternative of sending Chuck Norris. His reasoning? It
was more "humane".

22. Chuck Norris is currently suing NBC, claiming Law
and Order are trademarked names for his left and right
legs.

23. Chuck Norris found out about Conan O'Brien's lever
that shows clips from "Walker: Texas Ranger" and is
working on a way to make it show clips of Norris
having sex with Conan's wife.

24. If you can see Chuck Norris, he can see you. If you
can't see Chuck Norris you may be only seconds away
from death.

25. Chuck Norris punched a woman in the vagina when she
didn't give him exact change.

26. If you shaved off Chuck Norris' beard, you would
find a tattoo of an identical beard underneath.

27. When Chuck Norris's wife burned the turkey one
Thanksgiving, Chuck said, "Don't worry about it
honey," and went into his backyard. He came back five
minutes later with a live turkey, ate it whole, and
when he threw it up a few seconds later it was fully
cooked and came with cranberry sauce. When his wife
asked him how he had done it, he gave her a roundhouse
kick to the face and said, "Never question Chuck
Norris."

28. Chuck Norris ruins the endings of Harry Potter
books for children who just bought one for the hell of
it. When they start crying Chuck Norris calmly says,
"I'll give you something to cry about," and roundhouse
kicks them in the face.

29. Chuck Norris once pulled a bus full of school
children teetering over the edge of a cliff back onto
the road with his bare hands, saving everybody inside.
Even as they cheered, he screamed, "I'm not your
savior!" and headbutted the bus over the edge, sending
them all to their horrible doom.

30. Chuck Norris doesn't understand why you should
consult your doctor if your erection lasts for more
than 4 hours. His erections have been known to last
for up to 15 days.

Lipstick on a Pig

2005-11-20T12:21:00.000-05:00

Ok, so it's been a while...

For all of you interested in business, here is a fun link of business jargon. Apparently, there is a book about all of this, but for some reason the author published the cliff notes. This should substantially decrease sales, so I don't know what kind of 'business guy' this kid is.

I love reality tv. I'll admit it. I love animals. Therefore, I love this link.

What a Happy Birthday!

2005-10-30T10:13:00.000-05:00

Thanks to everyone who helped make my day, and the few days around it, absolutely wonderful! This year was one of the best years... I didn't: try to eat the cat, get any new piercings, meet any pro-football players, yell at any cops, have a cheese party, etc. I've really matured, clearly. Even Robert says that I have "become an old woman" in grad school. =P

At any rate, after the horrible drama of the last few months, it was so great to know I have a wonderful support group of friends. Thanks again to everyone! Kisses & hugs all around!

AAAANNNDD, I got a new cousin! Yayers!

Little Nothings

2005-10-16T14:46:00.000-04:00

I know I am a really bad person for not posting all month... but it's been crazy! It seems that just when one thing starts to go right everything else falls apart. And it also seems that before anything can get better it has to get REALLY bad first.

On that note, I really don't feel like sharing anything substantial on here, as per usual, you will have to talk to me for the good stories.

A shout out goes to Robert this week for all of his car and bargaining knowledge. According to Mr.Robert-O, *everything* is negotiable, even the price of an oil change and ALL parts you buy for your car. I find this hard to believe. I am asking him to make a list of all of the bargainable things. Then we are going shopping. Will update on this later.

Why Are We Doing This?

2005-09-30T00:09:00.000-04:00

Piled Higher and Deeper by Jorge Cham		www.phdcomics.com

Who's on First?

2005-09-23T20:18:00.000-04:00

Best website ever... and I don't even like major league baseball. I had to blog this so I can read it over and over again.

Child-Abuse Hotline

2005-09-22T15:41:00.000-04:00

I always thought the US would fall into the ocean from the western side, either via plate techtonics or the Californians all killing each other. Yeah, dad is right, I need to move West.

The Time Value of Money

2005-09-18T12:54:00.000-04:00

Amazing how smart we can be in our own fields, but so many of us are horrible when it comes to money. No one likes to talk about it! Anyways, for us 20-somethings, there are some things we should be thinking about.

Things you need to do today:

Get your **free** credit report. Check and make sure it is accurate. Pay the $7 and get your FICO score if you haven't recently. See where you stand and it will tell you what you can do to improve your credit. There are tons of things you might never guess hurt you... like I always just had one credit card. I thought that was "responsible." And then I put stuff on it and always paid it off immediately to help my credit. But don't go over 1/2 of your credit limit, that hurts you! Get another card.

What is this? Your FICO and credit report are what determine at what interest rate you will be charged for things like mortgages and cars in the future. It says how risky it is to lend to you.

Research getting a roth IRA (or more suitable retirement account for your needs). Maybe ask for money to open one for Christmas/Hannukah this year instead of another iPod. Social security will NOT be around for us. Pensions can fizzle overnight (see airline industry). You, and you alone, are responsible for your retirement. If you don't save the money, your kids will pick your retirement home...

Think about this about investing (note the assumptions made here on real interest rates and given the deposit is only one time in some random, safe acocunt, not necessarily an IRA) ...

$7,500 @ 12% for 25 years = $1,000,000 (yes, a million)
$7,500 @ 12% for 12.5 years = $195,000 (no, not a million)

Moral: Time = Money

What is this? A roth IRA is an account you can put money into, but don't have to, each year. It grows, you win. Make sure you understand ALL of the rules, like not being able to withdrawl without penalties before a certain age and how the taxes work (probably in your favor!).

Take an economics class and a personal finance class! Audit them if you have to. Read some Suze Orman books. Whatever you do, educate yourself on the basics of "the time value of money" and how the market works! What is an inflation tax? Are you risk-averse? Who decides on the interest rates and how? What is the FOREX and the CME? The now-later choice? Diversification?

** A serious disclaimer goes on this post. YOU should do lots of research before investing anything!!! **

Invisible Hand

2005-09-15T19:08:00.000-04:00

Would a free market have done better in New Orleans? Maybe. High returns come with high risk, which is exactly what we saw here.

Where's the Beef?

2005-09-15T16:46:00.000-04:00

In honor of the kid with the "Tobacco is a Vegetable" t-shirt on campus, today is Aggie Appreciation Day on my blog. Gosh, I love me some agriculture!

Only the Good Die Young

2005-09-14T23:22:00.000-04:00

It's from TWW, but still fun & marginally credible...

Start with the age 79, then add or subtract the following amount of years depending on your answers to the following questions.

**All questions are based on the U.S. Census

START: 79

Are you a man? Subtract SEVEN years.

Are you black? Subtract SIX years.

Are you right handed? Add ONE year.

Are you left handed? Subtract ONE year.

Are you a college graduate? Add TWO years.

Do you live alone? Subtract THREE years.

Are you married? Add FIVE years.

Do you live with an interactive pet, like a dog? Add TWO years.

Did all of your grandparents live to be 85? Add FIVE years.

Do you smoke? Subtract EIGHT years.

Do you eat a well-balanced diet? Add TWO years.

Do you see a doctor for regular check-ups? Add THREE years.

Are you carrying an extra 10lbs? Subtract THREE years.

Do you exercise regularly (four times/week)? Add THREE years.

Do you handle pressure well? Add four years. Stress overwhelms you? Minus THREE years.

Do you live in prison? Subtract SIXTEEN years.

Are you planning to (or do you live in) Hawaii? Add THREE years.

Are you planning to (or do you live in) Mississippi? Subtract TWO years.

Are you planning to (or do you live in) Canada? Add THREE years.

Me: about 89 years

I'm Chaaaarming!

2005-09-12T21:46:00.000-04:00

I love Strong Bad! I love this email.

"A Chicken's Hardly a Bird, a Woman's Hardly a Person"

2005-09-10T15:58:00.000-04:00

I think most of us deep down know that the grandeur of America is about to eclipse-- those that I hear defend us are usually just scared to admit it, to let nature run its course. But it is ok. America was born out of a people that truly suffered for freedom and worked hard. We, as a country have been slacking (last night I met a chemist. I asked him, "what do you do?" He gave me some long title. Again, I asked, "what do you do?" He replied: "Well, I tell people how much of certain things are in elements and compounds... mostly I just play Solitaire on my computer all day").

Often we make fun of "Old Europe" claiming that their glory days are long gone. Going to places like Vienna and Rome, I can imagine how people feel this way. The monuments and buildings are trophies left along the streets for all to see what once was The Great Empire. But the Europeans don't feel this way. They see themselves still as the blood of the empire. They fought, they had it all, and now they have what they need.

Sure, some are still bitter, but as a whole, they have conquered survival and become, well, gentlemen. Chivalry isn't holding doors open for others, but a transition in temperament where the animal instinct of fighting and procreation has worn thin and an introspective respect for life--whether male, female, or animal-- pervades the soul.

This is the dichotomy of modern Europe. Old Europe has demurred, but New Europe, well, it has such a life, a spark, a spunk out of its concrete shambles. Old Europe has not become less competitive or productive, but has opted to settle for necessity and spend its time leisurely exploring what it means to be people. New Europe, repressed behind the Berlin Wall in an orderly span of gloomy concrete apartments for so long is just tasting life for the first time. I hardly remember 1989, but our counterparts in Berlin sure do.

Suddenly, thesee children, especially girls, were allowed to have dreams. Not just survival, but dreams to be as great as they wanted. Some were motivated, beyond what any American can imagine, to become the generation that would lead the new empire. Some, what we mostly hear about, could not make sense of the lack of direction: "It issues from the 70-year exile of God from the country, a land where only airplanes remained in the heavens."

What does America have to say about all of this? Well, mostly we joke about it and capitalize on the revolution. What else could we do? Unfortunately for us, we are hitting our mid-life crisis. No matter what we do, there seems to be someone younger, smarter, and harder working taking our place (India? China?). Is it time for America to retire from the world stage?

Our generation has found itself mixed in with these people around the world because of globalization. The life I see in them, every time I meet a foreign grad student telling me when they finish their studies they intend to go back home and change the world for their families, is so real. They are so... alive. We, on the other hand, seem so settled, so stuck on the typical track.

What does this all mean? The future is so exciting knowing that something bigger is brewing-- and it may not even involve America at all. Perhaps it is time for us to mature. Stop recklessly pillaging (both physically and with our words) and perhaps feel gratitude for all that we already have. Maybe try to better ourselves in ways that matter. Make ourselves more competitive while drawing on resources across the globe. Are we always proud of the values we pervade and the actions we take? Do we like what we are transforming into internally? America hasn't lost its edge yet, but like an old dog that "becomes a puppy again" when the new pup is brought home, we need to remember what it feels like to taste life. But what do I know about such things? I am only 21.

Walkin' After Midnight

2005-09-08T23:19:00.000-04:00

If you are ever walking home drunk (good for you for not driving!), don't go through the cemetery.

Blast Radius

2005-09-07T23:53:00.000-04:00

Why are the short weeks always the toughest? I got to start it of by spending Monday night in the hospital with all the Katrina victims (no worries, I just was a klutz and messed up my ribs, now I'm better =) ), then I was smacked in the face with schoolwork. I ended up dropping that 701 and 407, which is sad because I spent so much time on 701 that I got behind in all of my other classes.

Now I just have 3 classes like other grad students and it is wonderful, save that I don't really *like* any of my classes. Whatever, just jumping the hoops... just wish it didn't take 17 hours a day in studying and classes, though. Great quote (unfortunately applied to my statistics homework, not just theses) from The Fabulous Meredith's Fabulous Blog:

So there is no A for effort in grad school. If something messes up, there's no partial credit. There's no, well let's look at the rest of your thesis and see how that sounds. It's an all or nothing deal.

Oh, and I got in a fight with RPD and I think I lost. Usually I stick up for the police, but when they won't help you when you need help, well...<> I am going back tomorrow morning.

Bri and my mom head for Ireland next week, then Bri goes to England for study abroad. I'm gonna miss her! Who will I text message all my drama?!?! Sadness ensuing soon. I love my sissy!

Check out Krugman's site. Go to colums, then "A Can't-Do Government:"

Before 9/11 the Federal Emergency Management Agency listed the three most likely catastrophic disasters facing America: a terrorist attack on New York, a major earthquake in San Francisco and a hurricane strike on New Orleans. "The New Orleans hurricane scenario," The Houston Chronicle wrote in December 2001, "may be the deadliest of all." It described a potential catastrophe very much like the one now happening.

Ending this on a better note, Froshy just told me a great story on AIM...

i almost got puked on today in 341
it was horrible
i heard a sound behind me i thought it was like soda spilling on the floor
but he spewed all over himself and some other student
it was all in his beard too
it was so sick
i was just outside of the "blast radius" too
i was so lucky
it was great tho our teacher just stood there for like 1/2 a minute contemplating
and then said "ok i guess class is over now"

Friends in Low Places

2005-09-05T19:20:00.000-04:00

I just thought this was particularly interesting-- the most recent aid pledged to us for Katrina relief. And I thought we had no friends. I'd like to highlight China, Afghanistan, Cuba, Venezuela, France, Russia, and Qatar's generous donation of $100 mill.

Africa

Nigeria has pledged $1 million to hurricane disaster relief, government officials told CNN. "Nigeria will be happy to pledge $1 million to the hurricane disaster fund in the spirit of brotherhood," Finance Minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala said.

Asia

China offered $5 million in aid for victims of Hurricane Katrina. If needed, the Chinese government also is prepared to send rescue workers, including medical experts, officials said.

Japan has offered to provide $200,000 to the American Red Cross, the Japanese Foreign Ministry said. Japan also will provide up to $300,000 in emergency supplies such as tents, blankets and power generators if it receives requests, the ministry said.

India is making a $5 million donation to the American Red Cross, Ronen Sen, Indian ambassador to the United States, said Saturday. In addition, Sen said India was willing to donate essential medicines to the relief effort.

The Singapore armed forces, responding to requests by the Texas Army National Guard, has sent three Chinook helicopters to Fort Polk, Louisiana, to help in relief efforts.

South Korea awaits a U.S. response after pledging aid, a government official said.

Afghanistan pledged $100,000 to help provide aid to the hurricane victims, according to a statement issued by the U.S. Embassy in Kabul.

Sri Lanka will donate $25,000 to the American Red Cross.

Taiwan has pledged more than $3 million to the relief effort.

Americas

Canada has offered to help in any way it can, and its navy is preparing a ship full of emergency disaster relief supplies to be sent when a request comes.

Cuban President Fidel Castro offered to fly 1,100 doctors to Houston, Texas, with 26 tons of medicine to treat disaster victims.

Mexico has offered $1 million and is sending 15 truckloads of water, food and medical supplies via Texas. The Mexican navy has offered to send two ships, two helicopters and 15 amphibious vehicles.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, a vocal critic of the United States, offered to send cheap fuel, humanitarian aid and relief workers to the disaster area.

Australia

Australia is giving $10 million, most of it to the American Red Cross, according to the Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer.

Europe

France has offered mobile help from rescue teams in the French Antilles in the Caribbean, including a civil defense detachment of 35 people, tents, camp beds, generators, motor pumps, water treatment units and emergency kits, two CASA cargo aircraft, a ship (Batral Francis Garnier) and the frigate Ventose with its Panther helicopter, and a hurricane disaster unit. France also has offered assistance from the French mainland, including several aircraft. In addition, the NGO Telecoms Sans Frontieres, which specializes in restoring phone lines and Internet service in disasters, is ready to send a team of experts and equipment. Veolia Environment, which has facilities in Louisiana, has offered to make its local water management resources available.

Germany has offered a range of assistance, including medical and transportation services, water treatment capabilities and aid in searching for victims and supplies. Germany also has said it is ready and willing to "dip into its own emergency oil reserves" to release some 2 million barrels a day for 30 days.

Italy has offered to send aid and evacuation specialists immediately, Italy's civil protection unit said. Authorities have prepared two military transport planes to fly amphibious vessels, pumps, generators, tents and personnel to New Orleans, Louisiana, and other areas. They were awaiting word from U.S. officials, the unit said.

The Netherlands will provide teams for inspecting dikes and for identifying victims if there is a formal request from the United States. It also will send a frigate from Curacao in the Netherlands Antilles to New Orleans shortly to provide emergency assistance, the Dutch government said.

Russia has offered to help with rescue efforts but is awaiting a reply from Washington.

Spain expects to receive a formal request to release gasoline stocks to the United States and is prepared to grant it, an Industry Ministry spokesman said.

Sweden's Rescue Authority said it was on standby to supply water purifying equipment, health care supplies and emergency shelters if needed.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair has said his country stands ready to help the United States in whatever way it can.

Middle East

Qatar has offered the United States $100 million to assist in the humanitarian crisis triggered by Hurricane Katrina.

Saudi Refining, a Houston-based subsidiary of state oil firm Saudi Aramco, will donate $5 million to the American Red Cross to support relief efforts for hurricane victims.

Iran has offered to send humanitarian aid to hurricane victims, Reuters reported. "We are prepared to send our contributions to the people through the Red Crescent," Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi told Reuters.

The Article.

Sweet Dreams are Made of These

2005-09-05T18:49:00.000-04:00

Today was one of those days where I was looking, as Daniel puts it, "particularly homely." Jeans from 35lbs ago, no makeup, a kids' plain t-shirt. I wear this sort of outfit when I don't feel like being social. I want to just blend in, run errands, get home.

And yet, *everyone* decided they needed to talk to me today. From the guy in the grocery store aisle that said "decisions, decisions, eh?" when I was searching for my fave graham crackers to the guy yelling "haaaay" from his car to mine in the parking lot at the lake. Probably 10 strangers said something to me and I said completely nothing back. My preoccupied Coloradoness is so deeply bred into me. Maybe I need to move back to the side of the Mississippi where no one cares what cookies I want to buy.

So just as I decided to stay in 701, I had an hour and a half talk with my mom today and decided that I should just graduate in May and take master's and lower level PhD courses instead of this reaching-for-the-stars-I'm-thinking-of-getting-a-PhD route because after all, when it is all said and done, my resume will say "master's in economics" no matter what I take. No one is going to pay me more because I took a harder class here and there and stayed a little longer. I'll probably change my mind again tomorrow, though.

Most of this arises from me still not knowing what I want to do with my life. I envy those that were born with not only a passion, but a knack for it. All these kids that are like: "I like dogs. I'm gonna be a vet." And then ten years later they just happen to be great in science. Like, how does that work? I love dogs. But I can only dream of passing a chem 101 class. It's a cruel world.

You're Better than Ice Cream

2005-09-03T21:07:00.000-04:00

Special love goes out to Brandon and Meredith for lots of fun last night. Sorry I tried to Cher-tastically "turn back time" by rotating your clock (which then fell on the floor), Brandon!

I'm really excited for the game tomorrow. I'm so glad that we go to a real school with real computer nerds that can make us cool flash animation to support our football team! Do the Hokies have large talons?

You know what is great about blogs? That no matter how little people have to say and how much you don't care, you just can't stop reading them. Oh, and that everyone that writes one sounds like they are 12 years old and attend a North Carolina public school.

You know what is great about my sister? That she got to continue leading the charmed life and on her road trip back to Denver from Minnetonka she almost ran out of gas. She didn't realize that Wyoming only has gas stations every 100 miles in the prairieland, despite us driving up there for fishing as kids. So she calls my dad when she is on empty in BFE and is like, "what do I do?" and my dad is like, "um, keep driving." What was she gonna do? Turn around? Stop and wait for a gas station to magically be built in Wyoming? She made it to a gas station.

I'm feeling particularily brave these days, so I think I am gonna stay in my 701 class. I am learning elvish at an astonishing rate and if you aren't taking risks than you aren't even trying. Unfortunately, I am about a week and a half behind in translating my notes into English, so I am only understanding the first lecture. But I understand lots of it! Yay for my smartness!

For those that asked, the free Hurricanes hockey game and the drag queen beauty pagaent (separate events, not like, drag queens on ice, so pick only one) are on 18 September. Clear your calendar!

Haha, so I actually have like 3 serious topics that I want to write about, but for some reason I feel a need to make an *extra* random and useless post. I think it is stemming from my extreme drama today in the library.

So I had to copy some pages out of some books on course reserve. No big deal. First the books were missing and the librarian was like, "they'll be turned in in 2 hours or less." Really? I had no idea books on the 2 hr reserve shelf would be back in 2 hours, let me just sit in the library on a Saturday afternoon and do the puzzles in the latest copy of Highlights until it comes back. But the books wouldn't have been back. Why? Because someone left them on a table that I happened to walk by and since I makeout with these books daily (they are the elvish dictionaries) I recognized them.

Ok. I had books. But, oh, what happened to WolfCopy? After a 30 minutes in the photocopy room I learned all of the new policies and got a new WolfCopy card. Why is none of the new info posted in the copy room? Why is the copy room attendant gone until 6 September? But then the *only* machine that you can use to put money on the card wouldn't accept my money! Not only do I get scammed into buying a new card, using the ATM to get cash, getting the cash broken into smaller bills, etc, the PMS-arific machine wouldn't accept cash unless you put it in exactly correctly-- it couldn't hit the sides of the slot. I spent another half an hour putting two $5 bills in the machine.

The library is hiring work-studies. If I had work-study money, I'd totally work there.

Bridge Over Troubled Water

2005-09-01T15:54:00.000-04:00

rafael: update your blog, bitch
me: ok
rafael: i need a real person's insight on the gas stuff
me: lol, it is... CHILL OUT EVERYONE! america isn't running out of gas
rafael: some gas stations are out!!!! oh noes!!! now we're still paying less of what the rest of the world pays for gas!!!!!1one
me: nah, they just have to shut off when they sell the day's quota. lol, yeah, i think this is good for us... makes us appreciate natural resources
rafael: that's what i'm thinking. unfortunately, i have the feeling that it might not change a thing

Amazing-- just when I was starting wonder why I wanted to be an economist I am able to get peel away from a mound of theoretical problems (which bore me) and see the market in action. As some of you may know, my interest is in the transition of the former Soviet republics... NOT the American oil drama. Nonetheless, because so many friends are asking, I thought I'd round up some of the facts that matter, not whatever Fox News is telling you.

The real fact that matters to me is the distruction in the South-- both physical and psychological. Most of the people it affected were not rich enough to leave. Further, how can people steal guns and shoot each other for TVs and jewelry when thousands have died in the storm? How could so many people leave their pets locked up in their homes with no chance of escape? (I am sure they didn't forget their iPods) Tragedy brings out the best in some people and the worst in others.

Nonetheless, the Governor says some 90% of our gasoline supply has been cut off by the storm. Gas prices have jumped, if you can find a gas station that will sell it to you (they are shutting off after they sell the daily quota, NOT because they are 'out of gas!'). The problem is that consumers have made their choices on where to live and work based on $2 a gallon. This is the most wonderful thing about all choices-- the availability of information. When people bought their giant houses in suburbia (note the housing bubble) or their new SUV's (employee pricing did amazing things for the auto market this summer) they took for granted that all other things would remain equal. But things change. Some may be interested in these oil market facts.

The Chicago Mercantile Exchange website is making me pay for current data, so here is a futures table of unkonown reliability. For those not in finance, you can buy things in the future for a set price. You then hope the price goes up so you can sell it on the market when the contract comes to date and make a profit. And vice-versa for sellers. I am a firm believer that the market price incorporates all available data. This shows that the market is predicting the price of oil to remain steady, then fall a little bit in a year or so.

The way I see it, we will live through this-- it's just money. Everything might become slightly more expensive as the cost to produce and transport goods becomes more expensive (note this is happening both here and abroad!), but that just means we will have to make more judicious decisions on our purchases. So gas will be $3 a gallon from now on. That just means a few less beers and burgers each week will be in our budgets. Maybe this will keep people that are too cheap to buy car insurance (like the one that hit my car last year) off the roads (ok, it's unlikely).

If there really was a dire shortage I don't think the government would tell us. They know that people would immediately fill their tanks if they thought they wouldn't have gas next week. Everyone just needs to chill out. If you are so worried, stop driving to bars and malls and spend the weekend relaxing at home with your family in your backyard. Walk your dog instead of driving to the gym. Just stop freaking out. If we "run out" of gas then school and work will be cancelled. It will be like Soviet Russia or ice storms in Raleigh. Life will continue.

So I Faked It

2005-08-26T19:25:00.000-04:00

So it has been 8 days of school and I still don't know what classes I am taking. Always the indecisive one. I had the worst experience of my academic life Thursday in 701. It was our first lecture. The prof decided to have a review day on constrained optimization. Yes, a review. I understood only a few words that were said.

It went almost exactly like: "We are going to have a review today on <insert excited elvish here for 1.5 hours>." I didn't see any of the LOTR's; therefore, I don't speak elvish. I faked taking notes. When's the last day to drop? Maybe I should just get a real job. Is Verizon hiring?

I love this. It is great. It's like those doggie wheel chairs. Those are great too. I just wanted to end this on an inspiring note about a cat overcoming adversity.

Easy Come, Easy Go

2005-08-24T17:36:00.000-04:00

This morning there was a giant butterfly in my car. It was pretty even though it was dead. I used my VIC card to scoop it up and tried to set it in the grass, but it blew off and fell into the parking space next to mine. So now there is this beautiful butterfly left to rot in the parking lot. Not that this means much, but it seems a tragedy all the same.

I got a most curious piece of mail today. We have relationships with people, and they with us, for as long as we can benefit from the relationship-- whether it's with our mailman or our soulmate.

But do we owe them companionship after we don't need them anymore? What happens when we no longer benefit from the relationship? What if we are worse off by the relationship? Can we just cut them off? Is better to lead them on?

I've fought with this idea since grade school (always an economist at heart) and have tried every solution possible. I think I have figured it out, and it hurts. It's time to be brave.

In The News

2005-08-22T22:23:00.000-04:00

So a lot of things have happened lately. Like I got a gym membership to a new gym today. I'm single now-- I gotta keep myself looking "pretty." I look at it economically as a investment in my future as a trophy wife. Manolos are definitely next. "Trophy Wife" is a career, so I plan on writing all this off on my taxes as "helping to generate income."

Other big news: Kirsten Dunst is Preggers. (Thank you, Rafael, for introducing me to this fabulous news site-- the only other person in the world that thinks Kirsten looks like a "pebble-toothed troll" does the fine reporting!) This makes my stealing of Jake Gyllenhaal from her harder. It's ok, I was introduced to Mr. Claiborne (see the latest Maxim, page 5 maybe?).

Mom's guide/assistance puppy in training graduated in San Diego yesterday and that means mom had to give her up. She had the dog a year. She already misses her snoring. I asked if this is like when I went to college. She said, "yeah... but worse." She gets a new puppy in September.

An interesting report from the IMF in regards to Iraq:

it will be devilishly hard to get the economy back on track without first stemming the tide of the insurgency, which is devastating efforts at reconstruction.

Really? The war is holding back on economic development? Unreal. Word on the street (aka Brandon's apartment) is that the troops are going to be in Iraq for at least four more years. I'm leaving that at that.

The Obligatory First Post

2005-08-20T14:34:00.000-04:00

Once again, I am starting a blog that I will probably not keep up. Now that I am on my own more than ever before, I thought this might be a way for me to share my thoughts a little and for you to waste some time.

For those of you out of the loop (which is nearly everyone because I have kept terribe correspondance this summer), I have decided to stay in Wolfpack Country for my master's in economics. This has been quite the ordeal, mind you. I was accepted into the applied mathematics program, was qualified to sell cellular phones at a kiosk at the mall, and was interviewing to be a financial planner (I scored beautifully on the personality test, go figure).

And then, maybe a week ago, after 12 hours of summer classes, I decided to do the economics program.

I've never liked making decisions-- anyone who has tried to go out to dinner or a movie with me knows that already. My choice to stay here was merely a means to defer the bigger choice-- what to do next?

So until I figure that out, I am just going to keep intestigating what interests me. On this blog.