Last summer, my brother and I developed grand plans to hike the John Muir Trail out in California. I was tired of doing everything in Michigan - the whole midwest gig was old. Well, it turned out that it was going to be vastly more expensive than we thought and required much more expertise than we thought. A trip for another time, I guess. Anyway, I was blown away by the beauty in Michigan's Porcupine Mountains, our eventual destination. I had taken many trips "up north" in Michigan, but they were always very structured. In other words, anything "cool" we wanted to do was not allowed because of parents, tour guides, scout troop leaders etc.. When it was just my brother, Paul, and I and nobody else, I was simply blown away by everything. Going outdoors didn't seem like a chore anymore when I was up there. So what's the bottom line here? First, you should check out the photos from the trip. Trip Photos Second, as much as we look to far of places for beauty, sometimes it is right in our own backyard. Hmm.. I wonder if it is the same for women?
In other news, what's with this constant paranoia about China? I don't get it. In fact, I'm one of their biggest cheerleaders, but the constraints of time preclude an immediate post. Another day.
Sunday, April 20, 2008
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
10 Things Better than Watching the NFL
In no particular order...
1. Burning in Hell
2. Living in Zimbabwe
3. Having Marcellus Wallace go medieval on me
4. Cutting off three of my fingers
5. Cutting off the rest of them with a rusty pair of scissors
6. Drilling a hole through my chest with maybe a 1/2" drillbit
7. Finding out the Muslims were right all this time
8. Being one of Jack Bauer's victims, specifically that guy whose neck he bit through vampire-style to escape captivity during the first episode of last season
9. Working for Idi Amin
10. Adolph Hitler
This is ridiculous - the NFL, except for the Patriots, is all about egos and individuals glorifying their achievements even though every play is a team effort. ESPN had a 2 hour special today when the NFL schedules for this year were released. The last thing any of us wants to do is listen to Sean Salisbury spout off for another 9 months. Blech.
1. Burning in Hell
2. Living in Zimbabwe
3. Having Marcellus Wallace go medieval on me
4. Cutting off three of my fingers
5. Cutting off the rest of them with a rusty pair of scissors
6. Drilling a hole through my chest with maybe a 1/2" drillbit
7. Finding out the Muslims were right all this time
8. Being one of Jack Bauer's victims, specifically that guy whose neck he bit through vampire-style to escape captivity during the first episode of last season
9. Working for Idi Amin
10. Adolph Hitler
This is ridiculous - the NFL, except for the Patriots, is all about egos and individuals glorifying their achievements even though every play is a team effort. ESPN had a 2 hour special today when the NFL schedules for this year were released. The last thing any of us wants to do is listen to Sean Salisbury spout off for another 9 months. Blech.
Sunday, April 13, 2008
Confessions of an Economic Hitman
I "read" a book during my travels for work called Confessions of an Economic Hitman by John Perkins. I put "read" in quotes because it was an audio book. Anyway, the book was absolutely fascinating. It is the story of a man's life who got caught up in what he infers is an active plan to solidify America's imperialistic interests. His job as an "Economic Hitman" consisted of visiting countries and creating falsified econometric reports. These reports suggested that a developing country's economy would boom if the IMF and World Bank loaned them billions of dollars in order to pay American companies to install oil pipelines, build dams, or do a number of other infrastructure projects. Of course, since these reports were fudged, the countries economies did not boom as projected. So what happened? Well, the American companies got rich. What else happened? Well, these developing countries ended up with an enormous loan debt that they could not pay off leaving them at the mercy of the World Bank and IMF. In essence, they were at the mercy of the United States since we provide most of the funding for these organizations. The US then used its position to force these countries to house US military bases and vote our way at the UN. Pretty crazy stuff - maybe it's true.
The bottom line here is these large companies and international organizations are set up only to benefit the cronies and rich countries that created the systems in the first place. If we really wanted to help these countries and the dire situation that their poor life in, we need to encourage them to open up their markets for free trade and for us to drop our tariffs and trade restrictions so the developing countries can compete. It's not rocket science.
Well, maybe all those Christian missionaries that go down there on mission trips (vacations) to put on a sad face and pretend like they made a difference will get it done. Bah!
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
The Psychology of the Nerd
What is a nerd, exactly? Well, in this post I will attempt to explain it and also attempt to explain why nerds do what they do.
My definition of a nerd results from 20 parts self-reflection, 40 parts high school observation, 30 parts online community observation (mostly digg), and 10 parts just making stuff up. Keep in mind that this includes zero parts independent research or any attempt to read a book or other scholarly work on the subject even though there are many.
Nerds tend to be in the outer rim socially. They don't possess the natural ability to understand what is "cool", that is, what the right thing to say is and when to say it, how to dress, and a number of other things - I think you get the point. However, unbeknownst to those not in nerdland, most nerds actually know that they don't have these traits which is why they tend not to show up to social events and get really nervous when they talk to cute girls. Nerds tend to distrust authority and the status quo. Just look at the presidential candidates everyone in Silicon Valley and on Digg seem to be going gaga over... first it was Ron Paul, and now it is Barack Hussein Ubama. (Now, Barack Hussein Obama isn't necessarily outside of the status quo, but he certainly has all those fools convinced). Both these candidates are seen as "different" and as individuals that will "bring about change." Because of their general disdain for the status quo, nerds recognize bullshit very fast. This probably explains why they hate politicians in general.
Nerds tend to be attracted to fantasy. This can take many forms such as a strong like for video games, subjects such as Star Wars and Star Trek, science fiction novels and a number of other things. Nerds don't have the ability to win by force or social grace, so they are naturally drawn to subjects that neutralize these qualities. It is a way for them to live/dream in a world where technology and other things such as the Force, superweapons, or expert computer skills allow them to be the dominant species.
Nerds can be cool. The one things that nerds don't understand is that all they need to do to be accepted by others is to admit who they are and be ok with it. When I was in grade school, I was embarrassed to be in Boy Scouts. I thought it was the nerdiest thing in the world and didn't want anyone to find out. Once I got to high school and achieved the rank of Eagle, I realized that everyone thought it was cool and that they wished they learned all that I had. Nerds tend to be more intelligent and this often leads to higher paying careers - women don't want to admit it, but a man's ability to provide makes them incredibly attractive. All those ugly male billionaires don't have ugly wives - case in point. Nerds' careers tend to be more interesting as well. Think about it. The cool guy that ends up being a financial adviser or insurance salesman can't really go home and talk to his family or friends about the sweet things he did on the job. A nerd can go home and talk about the code he's laying for Microsoft, and how it will completely change everyone's life in the next 10 years. Honestly, whether you care about computers or technology at all, that's much more interesting than listening to some former homecoming king rant about insurance claims or commodity prices. When the conversation at the bar gets to work, who has the better story to tell?
Nerds enjoy online communities. Nerds frequent online forums and sites like Digg because nobody knows or cares what they looks like or how hot their girlfriends are or any of that stuff. These nerds only care about what you type in. When a nerd heads off to lunch period with messed up hair and wrinkled pants nobody will listen to him no matter how profound of a comment he might contribute. Online communities are a great way to avoid such frustration.
These are just a few thoughts. I'd be interested to know what you all think.
My definition of a nerd results from 20 parts self-reflection, 40 parts high school observation, 30 parts online community observation (mostly digg), and 10 parts just making stuff up. Keep in mind that this includes zero parts independent research or any attempt to read a book or other scholarly work on the subject even though there are many.
Nerds tend to be in the outer rim socially. They don't possess the natural ability to understand what is "cool", that is, what the right thing to say is and when to say it, how to dress, and a number of other things - I think you get the point. However, unbeknownst to those not in nerdland, most nerds actually know that they don't have these traits which is why they tend not to show up to social events and get really nervous when they talk to cute girls. Nerds tend to distrust authority and the status quo. Just look at the presidential candidates everyone in Silicon Valley and on Digg seem to be going gaga over... first it was Ron Paul, and now it is Barack Hussein Ubama. (Now, Barack Hussein Obama isn't necessarily outside of the status quo, but he certainly has all those fools convinced). Both these candidates are seen as "different" and as individuals that will "bring about change." Because of their general disdain for the status quo, nerds recognize bullshit very fast. This probably explains why they hate politicians in general.
Nerds tend to be attracted to fantasy. This can take many forms such as a strong like for video games, subjects such as Star Wars and Star Trek, science fiction novels and a number of other things. Nerds don't have the ability to win by force or social grace, so they are naturally drawn to subjects that neutralize these qualities. It is a way for them to live/dream in a world where technology and other things such as the Force, superweapons, or expert computer skills allow them to be the dominant species.
Nerds can be cool. The one things that nerds don't understand is that all they need to do to be accepted by others is to admit who they are and be ok with it. When I was in grade school, I was embarrassed to be in Boy Scouts. I thought it was the nerdiest thing in the world and didn't want anyone to find out. Once I got to high school and achieved the rank of Eagle, I realized that everyone thought it was cool and that they wished they learned all that I had. Nerds tend to be more intelligent and this often leads to higher paying careers - women don't want to admit it, but a man's ability to provide makes them incredibly attractive. All those ugly male billionaires don't have ugly wives - case in point. Nerds' careers tend to be more interesting as well. Think about it. The cool guy that ends up being a financial adviser or insurance salesman can't really go home and talk to his family or friends about the sweet things he did on the job. A nerd can go home and talk about the code he's laying for Microsoft, and how it will completely change everyone's life in the next 10 years. Honestly, whether you care about computers or technology at all, that's much more interesting than listening to some former homecoming king rant about insurance claims or commodity prices. When the conversation at the bar gets to work, who has the better story to tell?
Nerds enjoy online communities. Nerds frequent online forums and sites like Digg because nobody knows or cares what they looks like or how hot their girlfriends are or any of that stuff. These nerds only care about what you type in. When a nerd heads off to lunch period with messed up hair and wrinkled pants nobody will listen to him no matter how profound of a comment he might contribute. Online communities are a great way to avoid such frustration.
These are just a few thoughts. I'd be interested to know what you all think.
Thursday, April 3, 2008
Hillsdale College is the greatest college in the universe
There are many reasons why this is true. I won't have time to outline ALL of them, but here goes....
I've outlined several google services on this blog, but this one will be the most interesting. Most in the internet world know about google alerts. It's pretty simple. Each day (or week or month - whichever you specify), google searches its index for new appearances of a certain word of phrase that you specify. I know for a fact that many people at Hillsdale College sign up for a google alert for the phrase "Hillsdale College." Each day, they receive an email listing links of all the places on the internet where that text occurs. Some may be news articles about a speaker visiting campus. Others are results of a Hillsdale sporting event. Sometimes, there are random blog posts from alumni, prospective students, or parents.
So what's the point of this post then? Well, I'm running a little experiment here. Since the text "Hillsdale College" is in this post several times, I expect to see a spike in the visits to my blog since this post should be linked in the emails of many Hillsdale College employees - at least the ones who didn't exclude blogs from their alerts. Google analytics will work it's magic to log all the hits and tell me how many came from Hillsdale, MI. Pretty cool. This will give me an idea of how many individuals at the college sign up for this alert. Now, I only get a hit on my blog if someone actually clicks on the link that google sends them in their email. That is why I put in the sensationalist title. Hopefully, it will encourage folks to click the link.
Well, let's see what happens. Hmm.. maybe I'll get a comment or two.
I've outlined several google services on this blog, but this one will be the most interesting. Most in the internet world know about google alerts. It's pretty simple. Each day (or week or month - whichever you specify), google searches its index for new appearances of a certain word of phrase that you specify. I know for a fact that many people at Hillsdale College sign up for a google alert for the phrase "Hillsdale College." Each day, they receive an email listing links of all the places on the internet where that text occurs. Some may be news articles about a speaker visiting campus. Others are results of a Hillsdale sporting event. Sometimes, there are random blog posts from alumni, prospective students, or parents.
So what's the point of this post then? Well, I'm running a little experiment here. Since the text "Hillsdale College" is in this post several times, I expect to see a spike in the visits to my blog since this post should be linked in the emails of many Hillsdale College employees - at least the ones who didn't exclude blogs from their alerts. Google analytics will work it's magic to log all the hits and tell me how many came from Hillsdale, MI. Pretty cool. This will give me an idea of how many individuals at the college sign up for this alert. Now, I only get a hit on my blog if someone actually clicks on the link that google sends them in their email. That is why I put in the sensationalist title. Hopefully, it will encourage folks to click the link.
Well, let's see what happens. Hmm.. maybe I'll get a comment or two.
Friday, March 28, 2008
Mardy Fish kicks Federer in the pants.
It looks like this is the year to dethrone Roger Federer. Roger made it to the semifinals at Indian Wells where he was dumped by 98th ranked Mardy Fish in just over an hour. Admittedly, Fish is much better than what his ranking says, but he's never been able to get anything done against Roger. In fact, no American has cracked King Fed's code since 2003. This match was a complete role reversal. Fish was faster, he controlled points, he played with incredible confidence, and he predicted everything Federer tried. The post-match interview transcript captures the class act that Federer is. He gave all credit to Mardy, saying
Classiness aside, people are beginning to notice that Federer's game looks very predictable these days. Anyone notice that 95% of the second serves to his backhand side up meeting Roger's slice to the same exact spot in the court? During the whole match, Mardy attacked Federer's backhand. In the past, Roger hit winners with his backhand thereby nullifying this strategy. This match with Fish, and also in the Aussie open final against Djokovic, Federer used his backhand defensively in order to set up a forehand winner. Watching this match at 3am was unbelievable since I knew exactly what shot Roger was about to hit on almost every point. Someone on ESPN noticed this and drafted up a very good column about the rise of Djokovic. The author, Joel Drucker, notes that both Federer and Nadal need to adjust their games if they are to retain their superiority.
So now everyone is in Miami at the Sony Ericsson Open. I happened to be in Miami for business during this this week last year and was able to see Venus Williams and Roger play back to back at night. It was incredible. I bring this up because the first round started, and Djokovic just received a stomping.
It seems the chair umpire finally told Djokovic to stop bouncing the ball so much before each serve. This was enough to throw off the best player so far this year. See ya.
Since the power players in tennis seem to be shifting on the men's side, something even more important is taking place on the women's end of things. Maria Sharapova, the celebrated Russian known as much for her good looks as she is her victories may soon be dethroned as the best looking tennis player on tour. Ana Ivanovic may take the cake. Personally, I think she's better looking, but you be the judge. My guess is Ivanovic has a lucrative endorsement career ahead of her.
http://www.anaivanovic.com
http://www.mariasharapova.com
I've had a great record against him, you know, always sort of had sort of controlled matches against him, but today was different. He came out playing very, very well.
Yeah, he played great today. I mean, I can only congratulate him. Fantastic.
Classiness aside, people are beginning to notice that Federer's game looks very predictable these days. Anyone notice that 95% of the second serves to his backhand side up meeting Roger's slice to the same exact spot in the court? During the whole match, Mardy attacked Federer's backhand. In the past, Roger hit winners with his backhand thereby nullifying this strategy. This match with Fish, and also in the Aussie open final against Djokovic, Federer used his backhand defensively in order to set up a forehand winner. Watching this match at 3am was unbelievable since I knew exactly what shot Roger was about to hit on almost every point. Someone on ESPN noticed this and drafted up a very good column about the rise of Djokovic. The author, Joel Drucker, notes that both Federer and Nadal need to adjust their games if they are to retain their superiority.
So now everyone is in Miami at the Sony Ericsson Open. I happened to be in Miami for business during this this week last year and was able to see Venus Williams and Roger play back to back at night. It was incredible. I bring this up because the first round started, and Djokovic just received a stomping.
It seems the chair umpire finally told Djokovic to stop bouncing the ball so much before each serve. This was enough to throw off the best player so far this year. See ya.
Since the power players in tennis seem to be shifting on the men's side, something even more important is taking place on the women's end of things. Maria Sharapova, the celebrated Russian known as much for her good looks as she is her victories may soon be dethroned as the best looking tennis player on tour. Ana Ivanovic may take the cake. Personally, I think she's better looking, but you be the judge. My guess is Ivanovic has a lucrative endorsement career ahead of her.
http://www.anaivanovic.com
http://www.mariasharapova.com
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Jim Rogers
A good friend and a self described "socially irresponsible speculator and robber baron" mentioned I check out Jim Rogers. I asked him where I should put my money these days to which he replied "short all the investment banks and short the dollar." That's a dreary play, but I looked up Jim Rogers on YouTube, and he seems to echo with a little more clarity what Ron Paul always spoke about. He gives the same advice that my friend gave. Jim believes that the Bernanke and the Fed are setting up the United States for serious inflation and expresses serious moral disagreement with using the Fed as a means to bail out investment banks. Let me remind you that our Secretary of the Treasury Henry Paulson is the former CEO of Goldman Sachs, the most successful investment bank in recent years. I wonder if any of this is related..... It's all pretty interesting to me.
In the past, "Mr. Rogers" hit big on Wall Street, then retired at 37, bought an incredible looking Mercedes, and literally drove around the entire globe visiting foreign countries to grasp the culture and investment opportunities. He put it all in a book called "Adventure Capitalist." I found it on Amazon for pennies, so I snatched it up. If it's good, I'll let you know.
Anyway, I posted a couple of his TV appearances below. You can see more clips by searching for Jim Rogers on YouTube. I especially like where he talks about these bailouts enabling investment bankers to buy maseratis while we get screwed with the subsequent inflation.
In the past, "Mr. Rogers" hit big on Wall Street, then retired at 37, bought an incredible looking Mercedes, and literally drove around the entire globe visiting foreign countries to grasp the culture and investment opportunities. He put it all in a book called "Adventure Capitalist." I found it on Amazon for pennies, so I snatched it up. If it's good, I'll let you know.
Anyway, I posted a couple of his TV appearances below. You can see more clips by searching for Jim Rogers on YouTube. I especially like where he talks about these bailouts enabling investment bankers to buy maseratis while we get screwed with the subsequent inflation.
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