21-18-15-12:
45lb Dumbell Swings
Pull Ups
Monday, April 30, 2007
Sunday, April 29, 2007
Steak in Paris
The Best Steak Frites in Paris With Mark Bittman - Travel - New York Times
Makes you wish you were sampling steaks in Paris!
Makes you wish you were sampling steaks in Paris!
Friday, April 27, 2007
Crossfit Workout
50 Box jump, 20 inch box
50 Jumping pull-ups
50 Dumbell swings 45 lb
50 steps Walking Lunge
50 Knees to elbows
50 Push press, 45 lb
50 Situps
50 Wall ball shots, 10 lb ball
50 Burpees
50 Double unders
Time: 35 min
Compare with this one
50 Jumping pull-ups
50 Dumbell swings 45 lb
50 steps Walking Lunge
50 Knees to elbows
50 Push press, 45 lb
50 Situps
50 Wall ball shots, 10 lb ball
50 Burpees
50 Double unders
Time: 35 min
Compare with this one
Einstein on Innovation
China Needs an Einstein. So Do We. - New York Times
Friedman does a good job relating Einstein's insistence that freedom is required for innovation. China lacks some of the openness required for the innovation that is speculated for the 21st century.
This Einstein quote resonates with me:
“Imagination is more important than knowledge”
Friedman does a good job relating Einstein's insistence that freedom is required for innovation. China lacks some of the openness required for the innovation that is speculated for the 21st century.
This Einstein quote resonates with me:
“Imagination is more important than knowledge”
Thursday, April 26, 2007
Book: The Zone
The Zone, by Berry Sears
4/26/07
The Zone is, nutritionally, when your body is at its peak performance. From an athletic stand point, it is where you have the best access to fat stores as a source of energy. The way to get there is simple in concept. Instead of eating a high carbohydrate or high protein diet, eat a balanced diet (with respect to macronutrients) following a 40%-30%-30%, carbohydrate to protein to fat ratio. It is shown throughout the book that this is how the body was designed to eat. Several studies that showed how eating in the Zone boosted college athletes (Stanford Swimmers) to the Olympic class by simply balancing their diets are proof enough for me to buy The Zone.
The challenge of entering the zone is learning how much macronutrient is in different types of food. The following is the program:
Firs, Calculate Lean Body Weight, which is weight minus weight of fat (body weight times % body fat). Percent body fat can be determined by tape, skin fold, or emersion. Lean body weight is the multiplied by a “fitness factor” that ranges from 0.5 to 1, with 0.5 representing limited exercise to 1 being two a days with weight training, etc.
This number should be the grams of protein you eat daily. To simplify things this is broken into blocks, 1 block is 7 grams of protein. Now, say that divides out to 20 blocks for you a day. You should eat 20 blocks of each protein, carbohydrate, and fat (carbs multiply out to 9 grams a block and fat at 1.5 grams a block). To convert all this to real food, you can use a table at the following link.
http://web.rollins.edu/~gvaliante/zoneblocks.htm
Spread those blocks out across the day and you’re in the Zone. I asked my doctor about it, and his response was, “Why would you not eat like this, the body needs it all, and it needs it balanced.”
4/26/07
The Zone is, nutritionally, when your body is at its peak performance. From an athletic stand point, it is where you have the best access to fat stores as a source of energy. The way to get there is simple in concept. Instead of eating a high carbohydrate or high protein diet, eat a balanced diet (with respect to macronutrients) following a 40%-30%-30%, carbohydrate to protein to fat ratio. It is shown throughout the book that this is how the body was designed to eat. Several studies that showed how eating in the Zone boosted college athletes (Stanford Swimmers) to the Olympic class by simply balancing their diets are proof enough for me to buy The Zone.
The challenge of entering the zone is learning how much macronutrient is in different types of food. The following is the program:
Firs, Calculate Lean Body Weight, which is weight minus weight of fat (body weight times % body fat). Percent body fat can be determined by tape, skin fold, or emersion. Lean body weight is the multiplied by a “fitness factor” that ranges from 0.5 to 1, with 0.5 representing limited exercise to 1 being two a days with weight training, etc.
This number should be the grams of protein you eat daily. To simplify things this is broken into blocks, 1 block is 7 grams of protein. Now, say that divides out to 20 blocks for you a day. You should eat 20 blocks of each protein, carbohydrate, and fat (carbs multiply out to 9 grams a block and fat at 1.5 grams a block). To convert all this to real food, you can use a table at the following link.
http://web.rollins.edu/~gvaliante/zoneblocks.htm
Spread those blocks out across the day and you’re in the Zone. I asked my doctor about it, and his response was, “Why would you not eat like this, the body needs it all, and it needs it balanced.”
When to Sell
When To Sell Stock - The Investment U Newsletter
Good commentary on paper asset exit strategies. Easy to buy, hard to know when to sell. This author advocates setting a trailing % stop. Worth consideration and further worth determining exit strategies for paper assets that allow guaranteed purchase of gains.
Good commentary on paper asset exit strategies. Easy to buy, hard to know when to sell. This author advocates setting a trailing % stop. Worth consideration and further worth determining exit strategies for paper assets that allow guaranteed purchase of gains.
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
Crossfit Workout
1 min 40lb Kettlebell swings
1 min 20lb weighted situps
10 min:
12 65lb Hanging Power Cleans
10 Divebomber push up
1 min 40lb Kettlebell swings
1 min 20lb weighted situps
10 min:
12 65lb Hanging Power Cleans
10 Divebomber push up
1 min 40lb Kettlebell swings
1 min 20lb weighted situps
Tuesday, April 24, 2007
Articles and Blogs: Airplanes
Yapta Will Be Awesome For Heavy Travelers
Yapta, Farecast, and TripHub are all "new age" sites for watching and buying plane tickets. They go further than most conventional sites by thinking (and looking) future outside the box and also watching price trends, that is, will this trip cost more or less next week?
Then:
Adventures in Low-Cost Travel - New York Times
A fun read about the ups and down of the many many European low cost carriers.
Yapta, Farecast, and TripHub are all "new age" sites for watching and buying plane tickets. They go further than most conventional sites by thinking (and looking) future outside the box and also watching price trends, that is, will this trip cost more or less next week?
Then:
Adventures in Low-Cost Travel - New York Times
A fun read about the ups and down of the many many European low cost carriers.
Crossfit Workout
3 Sets
45 min jog
2 Sets
45 min jog
2 Sets
Press Set:
5 75lb Shoulder Press
10 75lb Push Press
15 75lb Split Jerks
Monday, April 23, 2007
Travel: Paris Hotels
Cheap and Chic Hotels in Paris - Travel - New York Times
Great overview of some niche little hotels in Paris from the NYT Paris Bureau chief.
Great overview of some niche little hotels in Paris from the NYT Paris Bureau chief.
Crossfit Workout
Run 1200m
21 Hang Squat Cleans
Run 800m
15 Hang Squat Cleans
Run 400m
12 Hang Squat Cleans
Run 200 m
9 Hang Squat Cleans
Run 200m
Time: 26:22
21 Hang Squat Cleans
Run 800m
15 Hang Squat Cleans
Run 400m
12 Hang Squat Cleans
Run 200 m
9 Hang Squat Cleans
Run 200m
Time: 26:22
Sunday, April 22, 2007
Article: Wall to fix Baghdad
This article is an example of looking at a very small situation that really summarizes the very large situation in Iraq. The Government of Iraq and the Coalition are building a wall through a western Baghdad neighborhood called Ameriyah. Ameriyah has a majority Sunni population (of course the minority in the city of Baghdad, who is predominately Shia) and the wall intends to protect the Ameriyhans from attacks against them, hence the checkpoints, etc. Do you think the wall will protect the normal folks from the Sunni fundamentalists? The author of this piece may not have seen one of several pieces in Arab media that report, in Ameriyah, cucumbers and tomatoes cannot be stored in the same bin because it violates Islam or the punishment for smoking is getting a finger cut off. (Sounds a little radic-- er-- fundamentalist to me)
I don't think walls are ever a good thing. It is the stark opposite of a open and free society. General Petraus argues for them and perhaps that is best for Baghdad because the security is as bad as it is. Desperate times call for desperate measures. Indeed, these are desperate times for Iraq.
Saturday, April 21, 2007
Crossfit WOD
Five Times:
Max Reps Bench Press Body Weight (185, 6-6-5-5-4)
Max Reps Pull Ups (13-14-13-13-10)
Max Reps Bench Press Body Weight (185, 6-6-5-5-4)
Max Reps Pull Ups (13-14-13-13-10)
Housekeeping
While I started "blogging" to capture things I was reading and doing I suppose it has evolved a bit as a way to share things I'm interested in with folks. That said, I think it's worth a little house keeping.
First, some green, to support Thomas Friedman's notion that Green (efficiency) is the new color, to which I agree. Next, we'll throw in a "blog" label which should catch my own, un-rooted, commentary, etc. And finally, updates to the "Feeds I Read" as I have become wholly addicted to RSS via Google Reader. I encourage all to check Google Reader out, find a few feeds that entertain you, and I would argue that it is a very green way to collect your online reading material.
A little more on RSS, or "really simple syndication." You can find blogs, news, etc, that have the little orange icon that looks like speaker box, says RSS, XML, or ATOM, click it, and that link is the "feed" of the site. Use Internet Explorer 7 or Google Reader, enter that feed "link" right in, and now your news, or blog, or what-have-you comes to you instead of you going to it. Google Reader does a nice job of creating a chronological job of creating a mountain of text. All very green.
First, some green, to support Thomas Friedman's notion that Green (efficiency) is the new color, to which I agree. Next, we'll throw in a "blog" label which should catch my own, un-rooted, commentary, etc. And finally, updates to the "Feeds I Read" as I have become wholly addicted to RSS via Google Reader. I encourage all to check Google Reader out, find a few feeds that entertain you, and I would argue that it is a very green way to collect your online reading material.
A little more on RSS, or "really simple syndication." You can find blogs, news, etc, that have the little orange icon that looks like speaker box, says RSS, XML, or ATOM, click it, and that link is the "feed" of the site. Use Internet Explorer 7 or Google Reader, enter that feed "link" right in, and now your news, or blog, or what-have-you comes to you instead of you going to it. Google Reader does a nice job of creating a chronological job of creating a mountain of text. All very green.
Article: Furture Army
Defense Tech: The PooBahs Speak
Four military strategists testify to Congress about where the military should be going. Opinions vary from a restructuring and converting the force to peace-fighter, to buying more subs and tanks. Some comments are outlandish to me, like, "gotta prepare for that war with China!" Come on, are you serious? I did like the tidbit that the DoD spends more money on missile defence than it does on the entire coast guard.
What is a shame, to me, is that my guess is that there is quite a strong lobby for network centric warfare, high tech, gee whiz, etc. And don't get me wrong, technology and innovation is good, but I think we have got the super high tech jet fighter and submarine war won. Now we need to innovate for the peacekeeper. And that's the great part, there is just as much money to be made by defence contractors doing just that.
Four military strategists testify to Congress about where the military should be going. Opinions vary from a restructuring and converting the force to peace-fighter, to buying more subs and tanks. Some comments are outlandish to me, like, "gotta prepare for that war with China!" Come on, are you serious? I did like the tidbit that the DoD spends more money on missile defence than it does on the entire coast guard.
What is a shame, to me, is that my guess is that there is quite a strong lobby for network centric warfare, high tech, gee whiz, etc. And don't get me wrong, technology and innovation is good, but I think we have got the super high tech jet fighter and submarine war won. Now we need to innovate for the peacekeeper. And that's the great part, there is just as much money to be made by defence contractors doing just that.
Friday, April 20, 2007
Thursday, April 19, 2007
Article: OPED - Turkey and Kurdistan
David Ignatius - A New Threat In Iraq - washingtonpost.com
Ignatius captures an often overlooked issue in Kurdistan (Northern Iraq). Frankly, when I think of Kurdistan I am generally excited because that is a rather safe and stable area in Iraq. Foreign direct investment is flowing, etc.
However, it is easy to overlook Turkey's deep concern for it's own Kurdish population splintering off and doing it's own thing as well. Essentially, Turkey looks at Iraqi Kurdistan as a safe haven for the "rebels."
A lot to consider here. I'll be interested to see what Thomas Barnett would say about this.
Ignatius captures an often overlooked issue in Kurdistan (Northern Iraq). Frankly, when I think of Kurdistan I am generally excited because that is a rather safe and stable area in Iraq. Foreign direct investment is flowing, etc.
However, it is easy to overlook Turkey's deep concern for it's own Kurdish population splintering off and doing it's own thing as well. Essentially, Turkey looks at Iraqi Kurdistan as a safe haven for the "rebels."
A lot to consider here. I'll be interested to see what Thomas Barnett would say about this.
Letter: No Thanks to Iraq
John J. Sheehan - Why I Declined To Serve - washingtonpost.com
I read this letter to the editor/opinion on April 16th when it published and consider blogging it and then didn't. Ever since it has been on my mind. Retired GEN Sheehan was asked to be the "War Czar" overseeing the situations in Iraq and Afghanistan and he said no thank you. Succinctly, he said exactly this:
He goes on to explain each of these three theories, but I think he does a very good job getting the root of this problem. Further, I think this permeates to the lowest levels of the force in Iraq, and certainly though the Iraqi government. Simply, know one knows exactly what they are supposed to be accomplishing.
I read this letter to the editor/opinion on April 16th when it published and consider blogging it and then didn't. Ever since it has been on my mind. Retired GEN Sheehan was asked to be the "War Czar" overseeing the situations in Iraq and Afghanistan and he said no thank you. Succinctly, he said exactly this:
What I found in discussions with current and former members of this administration is that there is no agreed-upon strategic view of the Iraq problem or the region. In my view, there are essentially three strategies in play simultaneously.
He goes on to explain each of these three theories, but I think he does a very good job getting the root of this problem. Further, I think this permeates to the lowest levels of the force in Iraq, and certainly though the Iraqi government. Simply, know one knows exactly what they are supposed to be accomplishing.
Crossfit Workout
5 times:
3 75lb Snatches, focus on form
100 crunches
20 second Swiss ball planks
Jog 40 min (Aerobic)
3 75lb Snatches, focus on form
100 crunches
20 second Swiss ball planks
Jog 40 min (Aerobic)
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
Tuesday, April 17, 2007
Article: Morningstar Sub-Prime Analysis
Morningstar.com - How Mortgage Troubles Impact U.S. Banks -- Part One
Through, conservative treatment of the sub-prime lending situation, with reading and re-reading. The article goes on to apply the theory to its likely short-term effect on the banking business, which for good companies, should be minimal.
Through, conservative treatment of the sub-prime lending situation, with reading and re-reading. The article goes on to apply the theory to its likely short-term effect on the banking business, which for good companies, should be minimal.
Book: Good To Great
Good to Great, Jim Collins
4/17/07
This book discusses what companies have done to go from good to great companies. Great companies are defined by market performance more than three times the average. The book explores what traits were common to all and allowed them to exceed by such measures. The results are astounding. These are companies with the right leadership, the right people, the right concept, and the discipline to make it all happen.
In reading Good to Great it convinces you to go out and work for a great company. If you have the drive and the discipline, it would be foolish to be on another “bus.” These businesses are the places that you want to work at. A simple hedgehog (focused) concept and a group of focused employees would clearly create an environment of success and reward, both intrinsically and extrinsically.
The book can further be applied to evaluation of investment in stock. Find companies that have a hedgehog concept and read about the leadership. Does it sound like it is a place you would want to work at? The changes are subtle, but the payback soars.
4/17/07
This book discusses what companies have done to go from good to great companies. Great companies are defined by market performance more than three times the average. The book explores what traits were common to all and allowed them to exceed by such measures. The results are astounding. These are companies with the right leadership, the right people, the right concept, and the discipline to make it all happen.
In reading Good to Great it convinces you to go out and work for a great company. If you have the drive and the discipline, it would be foolish to be on another “bus.” These businesses are the places that you want to work at. A simple hedgehog (focused) concept and a group of focused employees would clearly create an environment of success and reward, both intrinsically and extrinsically.
The book can further be applied to evaluation of investment in stock. Find companies that have a hedgehog concept and read about the leadership. Does it sound like it is a place you would want to work at? The changes are subtle, but the payback soars.
Monday, April 16, 2007
Article: Green Power
Thomas L. Friedman - Energy - Green Power - Global Warming - Renewable Energy - The Power of Green - New York Times
From last Sunday's magazine, a brilliant, long, piece by Friedman of who I agree with so much. His idea is simply, make green the new red, white and blue. America should invest, and lead the world forward with a bold, innovative energy policy. Green doesn't mean hippy, liberal, etc., rather, it should appeal to all, great efficiency, better planet. Don't care about blue skies? No problem, but you can't argue with a lower energy bill, etc.
Several great ideas:
How to profit:
From last Sunday's magazine, a brilliant, long, piece by Friedman of who I agree with so much. His idea is simply, make green the new red, white and blue. America should invest, and lead the world forward with a bold, innovative energy policy. Green doesn't mean hippy, liberal, etc., rather, it should appeal to all, great efficiency, better planet. Don't care about blue skies? No problem, but you can't argue with a lower energy bill, etc.
Several great ideas:
- The higher the price of oil, the less oil rich populations get a say in government, because the people don't get taxed, and thereby go unrepresented in such governments.
- There are SO many different possibilities for alternative energy and really, only oil and corn or subsidized defiantly, by the government. If the government could guarantee that wind and nuclear were the future of carbon-dioxide free power production, big money could get behind that.
- What ever is decided, needs to be cheap enough for China and India, because they will have the biggest problems.
- There is no reason why the U.S. shouldn't lead the world in the technology to be more efficient.
How to profit:
- Watch for the government to pick something, take advantage of the incentives either directly, or via investment in a company who does so.
- Watch for inovation in effeciency where there is already incentaive (Wind in Texas, California, etc.)
Article: Redeployment
The Move From Hell - Newsweek The War in Iraq - MSNBC.com
Quick article, but humbling. While talk of extension mutes the need for planning the entire redeployment of U.S. Forces in Iraq it is impressive to see just how deep, logistically, the U.S. is into this thing. From the article: 9 million tons, or enough to line trucks with gear from Miami to San Fransisco.
Quick article, but humbling. While talk of extension mutes the need for planning the entire redeployment of U.S. Forces in Iraq it is impressive to see just how deep, logistically, the U.S. is into this thing. From the article: 9 million tons, or enough to line trucks with gear from Miami to San Fransisco.
Article: Small Hotel Chains
Rest for the Weary, and Wi-Fi Too, All for Less Money - New York Times
This looks at smaller hotel companies selling rooms like airline tickets (cost up front) with no hidden charges and the use of smaller, higher quality rooms. Lots of growth here as these folks tap into value. People like nice things and are willing to sacrifice a window or a large room for feelings of modern sophistication.
Great marketing by one hotel that offers 5 1 pound rooms, a few more at 30 pounds, and the rest at 79 pounds. All good prices for what it buys you but the marketing campaign gets people to the site and the revenue comes in early.
This looks at smaller hotel companies selling rooms like airline tickets (cost up front) with no hidden charges and the use of smaller, higher quality rooms. Lots of growth here as these folks tap into value. People like nice things and are willing to sacrifice a window or a large room for feelings of modern sophistication.
Great marketing by one hotel that offers 5 1 pound rooms, a few more at 30 pounds, and the rest at 79 pounds. All good prices for what it buys you but the marketing campaign gets people to the site and the revenue comes in early.
Book: Buy a Business
How to Buy a Good Business at a Great Price, by Richard Parker
4/16/07
How to Buy a Good Business is a very through treatment of the process of busying a business. The book first sets the stage for what type of people ought to buy a business and what kind of businesses they might be interested in. The book goes on to discuss searching for a business and then evaluating the business. There are Great ideas for evaluating competition, asking questions, and understanding the business within the context of everything else.
Once you have identified a business to buy Parker takes you though a very detailed process of making an offer and negotiating the deal. He goes on to discuss financing options and does so with a wealth of experience of buying and brokering business deals. He then covers the due diligence period and finally closing the deal.
If you want to buy a business this book is a must read and a tool to be used and reviewed as you prepare for each part of a business purchase.
4/16/07
How to Buy a Good Business is a very through treatment of the process of busying a business. The book first sets the stage for what type of people ought to buy a business and what kind of businesses they might be interested in. The book goes on to discuss searching for a business and then evaluating the business. There are Great ideas for evaluating competition, asking questions, and understanding the business within the context of everything else.
Once you have identified a business to buy Parker takes you though a very detailed process of making an offer and negotiating the deal. He goes on to discuss financing options and does so with a wealth of experience of buying and brokering business deals. He then covers the due diligence period and finally closing the deal.
If you want to buy a business this book is a must read and a tool to be used and reviewed as you prepare for each part of a business purchase.
Sunday, April 15, 2007
Blog: Startups
Found+READ
A feed worth a read. It is done by a group that has successfully started a few technology companies and discusses the challenges of small business start up. From hiring employees to managing venture capital money, etc. Sort of the step past watching Project Red Stripe, the blog by a team from The Economist magazine looking for "ideas."
A feed worth a read. It is done by a group that has successfully started a few technology companies and discusses the challenges of small business start up. From hiring employees to managing venture capital money, etc. Sort of the step past watching Project Red Stripe, the blog by a team from The Economist magazine looking for "ideas."
Saturday, April 14, 2007
Friday, April 13, 2007
Thursday, April 12, 2007
Crossfit Workout
Run around the lake, stop at 4 different pull up bars every 6-9 min, at they are spaced, at each of the four bars:
20 Pull Ups (Kipping or Jumping)
30 Push Ups
40 Sit Ups
50 Squats
Total 64 min, anaerobic runs between each, really 5 runs, 4 sessions
20 Pull Ups (Kipping or Jumping)
30 Push Ups
40 Sit Ups
50 Squats
Total 64 min, anaerobic runs between each, really 5 runs, 4 sessions
Rent-A-Programer
From TechCrunch Blog: http://www.odesk.com/
ODesk allows folks to solicit programmers to do snippets of work. Truly a "world is flat" type of service, great for folks with extra time on their hands, college kids, etc. I would have loved this in college, knock out a little programing project for a $100 here and there. Also really lets developing countries get into the game, some Chinese or Indian students are much more likely to take down one of these sorts of projects than an American student, on average, I imagine. but what a way to perfect your programing skills and make some extra cash.
A job I clicked though was offering $100 to integrate some simple code to bring a Malaysian web site online, add some style, etc. Probably a 5-10 hour job done solidly, faster if you have much experience.
ODesk allows folks to solicit programmers to do snippets of work. Truly a "world is flat" type of service, great for folks with extra time on their hands, college kids, etc. I would have loved this in college, knock out a little programing project for a $100 here and there. Also really lets developing countries get into the game, some Chinese or Indian students are much more likely to take down one of these sorts of projects than an American student, on average, I imagine. but what a way to perfect your programing skills and make some extra cash.
A job I clicked though was offering $100 to integrate some simple code to bring a Malaysian web site online, add some style, etc. Probably a 5-10 hour job done solidly, faster if you have much experience.
Article: Technology to Replace Drugs
In Medicine, It’s Man vs. Machine - Wall Street Wired - Times Select - New York Times Blog
More from Kessler, who is saying that technology will reduce the need for drugs by preventative medicine. This makes sense, as preventative medicine becomes cheaper health care providers will mandate that their clients take care of themselves or go uninsured. Car insurance has it figured out, drive well, pay less. Be healthy (and granted some cant be prevented), pay less.
More from Kessler, who is saying that technology will reduce the need for drugs by preventative medicine. This makes sense, as preventative medicine becomes cheaper health care providers will mandate that their clients take care of themselves or go uninsured. Car insurance has it figured out, drive well, pay less. Be healthy (and granted some cant be prevented), pay less.
New technologies are always expensive at first, but engineers figure out how to bring the price down. Once medical imaging technology is cheap enough — I’m not talking overnight, this will be a 20-year transition – spending on early detection for heart disease, stroke and cancer will overtake spending on chronic care. Money is often made in the first five years of these transitions. It’s early, but keep your eyes open.
Wednesday, April 11, 2007
Article: Learning to Wine
To Study Wine, Buy and Drink - New York Times
Good article that suggests having your wine shop pick out a mixed case of wine for you, and learn by enjoying, slowly instead of the fast paced one after another wine tasting. Easier to take some notes, etc at home than in a restaurant, etc.
Also a blog by Eric Asimov at: http://thepour.blogs.nytimes.com/
Good article that suggests having your wine shop pick out a mixed case of wine for you, and learn by enjoying, slowly instead of the fast paced one after another wine tasting. Easier to take some notes, etc at home than in a restaurant, etc.
Also a blog by Eric Asimov at: http://thepour.blogs.nytimes.com/
Tuesday, April 10, 2007
Article: Enjoy Some Violin
Pearls Before Breakfast - washingtonpost.com
Article picked up by the Freakonomics Blog, and as it mentions, one of the best newspaper articles in awhile. Read this, and then read it again one day.
A guy playing a violin at the top of the L'Enfant Plaza Metro Stop in D.C. Do you stop an listen or do you walk on buy to get to your busy job and be busy. It is the nature of American life to get where you are going and perhaps counter culture to stop and appreciate what you hear. I hope that I would have at least given the guy a glance. I'm reminded of sitting at a cafe in Barcelona when a Violinist happened by and I was lucky enough to be in the right place, and perhaps more importantly, in the right mind set to appreciate the music.
Article picked up by the Freakonomics Blog, and as it mentions, one of the best newspaper articles in awhile. Read this, and then read it again one day.
A guy playing a violin at the top of the L'Enfant Plaza Metro Stop in D.C. Do you stop an listen or do you walk on buy to get to your busy job and be busy. It is the nature of American life to get where you are going and perhaps counter culture to stop and appreciate what you hear. I hope that I would have at least given the guy a glance. I'm reminded of sitting at a cafe in Barcelona when a Violinist happened by and I was lucky enough to be in the right place, and perhaps more importantly, in the right mind set to appreciate the music.
What is this life if, full of care,We have no time to stand and stare.
-- from "Leisure," by W.H. Davies
Blog: Google, Viacom, and Video
A Fork in the Road for Google - Wall Street Wired - Times Select - New York Times Blog
Can't get enough of this guy. Andy Kessler is a businessman that left the institutional investment game to co-manage hedge funds. He has written a few books and values the idea of intellectual property and the reality that it can sell for much more than it costs to create.
And on that note, this post is about Viacom's suing of Google over YouTube copyrighted content. Kessler says he enjoys watching such suits because it allows us to see the flaws of these big companies and that both companies are likely to find themselves much revealed.
Also, something I hadn't considered, is that Google, like Viacom, is an advertising company. They wouldn't be in technology if it wasn't for the ads. This will be interesting to watch, as with most emerging intellectual property cases.
In full:
Wall Street Wired: Andy Kessler
New York Times
April 9, 2007, 5:53 pm
A Fork in the Road for Google
Whenever companies sue each other, my ears perk up. Not that I really care who wins, but lawsuits often showcase hidden vulnerabilities. Inevitably, as the fight plays out, the market thinks a lot differently about the long-term prospects of both parties, and money often sloshes away to play elsewhere.
The Internet has been all cute and cuddly throughout its childhood, given a pass for youthful indiscretions like stealing music and video clips. That just ended with Viacom’s copyright infringement suit against Google. By the time this lawsuit and others are finished, Google may have to change its way of doing business. That would be a shock.
Viacom, which owns cable channels like MTV and Comedy Central, recently charged Google with blatant copyright infringement for hosting 160,000 clips of Viacom shows and then having the audacity to allow bored workers and kids at home to be view them 1.5 billion times. Viacom had to sue to protect itself because, well, beneath the surface, Viacom and Google are both in the same business, selling ads. For all Google’s claims to be a technology company, 99 percent of its business is ads — for essentials like megapixel cameras, poker sites and ambulance-chasing asbestos lawyers.
TV attracts huge audiences with Orange County teens and Dr. McDreamies and, once our eyeballs are locked in, advertisers sell us things we’re not even sure we need. Like Budweiser Select, Dove Regenerating Hand Cream Night Care With Shea Butter and ever-less-desirable GM cars. Some $70 billion in TV advertising drives a $7 trillion consumer economy.
But TV is expensive. Shows that cost millions per week to produce may not turn profitable until they are syndicated for late-night reruns or DVD sales. It’s a tired business model ripe for change.
Megabit Internet access changes the rules by making videos available away from the controlled conduits of network TV and cable. This is scary for Viacom, because why would advertisers pay to run commercials on “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart” if folks can watch the show on YouTube? Proponents of YouTube claim Viacom should be happy about getting free publicity for “The Daily Show.” YouTube has a 10-minute limit on video length and claims it’s not copyright infringement, but fair use (a fuzzy loophole in copyright law). This may sound compelling, but it is nothing more than a fig leaf on piracy. Why? Because Viacom owns its programming and should get to pick where and when the shows are shown.
To remain viable, Viacom had to have its clips taken down from YouTube. In fact, all broadcasters must limit the reuse of their expensive material or their business model will implode. They must build and control their own Internet ad networks or risk going the way of trolley cars.
And Google? Internet advertising is growing like a weed. Google makes profits large enough to make Tony Soprano blush simply by scanning all the Internet pages the rest of us put up (which costs them very little), and returning the results with ads. The ads are meant to encourage impluse shopping: see it, want it, buy it, click and ship. So we click on 25-word text ads, and Google becomes a $140 billion valued behemoth. More valuable than Viacom or CBS. Hey, no one said life was fair.
But now suddenly video is cool. Sensing opportunity, the Google geek squad tried to build its own video-delivery service. It was put to shame by an 18-month-old company, YouTube, which Google then bought for $1.65 billion in shares of Google stock. By the way, in the terms of the deal, Google also set aside several hundred million dollars for potential lawsuits. Not enough as it turns out.
The success of YouTube has been nothing short of stunning. More than 100 million videos are watched every day, and probably 100,000 new clips are uploaded. So what if many of them have been highlights of “The Colbert Report” and “The Family Guy,” copyrighted material to which YouTube has no rights.
Suing YouTube as a private company only would have ruined a few venture capitalists’ tee times. Once Google, with pockets as deep as the Mariana Trench, bought YouTube, lawyers from coast to coast started salivating. Viacom is the first of many. I hear talk of giant class-action suits, for billions and billions. Maybe Viacom is thinking too small.
But here is Google’s dilemma. The company’s huge margins are the reason why it is valued at $140 billion on the stock market. If Google suddenly finds itself in a less profitable business because it has to pay for content, instead of just sponging off of SpongeBob, it could see its stock price fall faster than Katie Couric’s ratings.
Don’t get me wrong. The Internet will soon deliver all our video clips — sitcoms, sports, the whole shebang. But whoever creates and controls this content is who will make the big returns from it. Google is tops at search. It’s not yet obvious it will be tops in video. The game of lifting video clips made by others is almost over. If Google wants to stay in the game, it will need to ramp up its spending on video big time.
As consumers, I suspect, we’ll win, because we’ll have better shows delivered in new ways. But when companies start suing each other, investors should be careful. It usually means the game has changed for both sides.
Can't get enough of this guy. Andy Kessler is a businessman that left the institutional investment game to co-manage hedge funds. He has written a few books and values the idea of intellectual property and the reality that it can sell for much more than it costs to create.
And on that note, this post is about Viacom's suing of Google over YouTube copyrighted content. Kessler says he enjoys watching such suits because it allows us to see the flaws of these big companies and that both companies are likely to find themselves much revealed.
Also, something I hadn't considered, is that Google, like Viacom, is an advertising company. They wouldn't be in technology if it wasn't for the ads. This will be interesting to watch, as with most emerging intellectual property cases.
In full:
Wall Street Wired: Andy Kessler
New York Times
April 9, 2007, 5:53 pm
A Fork in the Road for Google
Whenever companies sue each other, my ears perk up. Not that I really care who wins, but lawsuits often showcase hidden vulnerabilities. Inevitably, as the fight plays out, the market thinks a lot differently about the long-term prospects of both parties, and money often sloshes away to play elsewhere.
The Internet has been all cute and cuddly throughout its childhood, given a pass for youthful indiscretions like stealing music and video clips. That just ended with Viacom’s copyright infringement suit against Google. By the time this lawsuit and others are finished, Google may have to change its way of doing business. That would be a shock.
Viacom, which owns cable channels like MTV and Comedy Central, recently charged Google with blatant copyright infringement for hosting 160,000 clips of Viacom shows and then having the audacity to allow bored workers and kids at home to be view them 1.5 billion times. Viacom had to sue to protect itself because, well, beneath the surface, Viacom and Google are both in the same business, selling ads. For all Google’s claims to be a technology company, 99 percent of its business is ads — for essentials like megapixel cameras, poker sites and ambulance-chasing asbestos lawyers.
TV attracts huge audiences with Orange County teens and Dr. McDreamies and, once our eyeballs are locked in, advertisers sell us things we’re not even sure we need. Like Budweiser Select, Dove Regenerating Hand Cream Night Care With Shea Butter and ever-less-desirable GM cars. Some $70 billion in TV advertising drives a $7 trillion consumer economy.
But TV is expensive. Shows that cost millions per week to produce may not turn profitable until they are syndicated for late-night reruns or DVD sales. It’s a tired business model ripe for change.
Megabit Internet access changes the rules by making videos available away from the controlled conduits of network TV and cable. This is scary for Viacom, because why would advertisers pay to run commercials on “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart” if folks can watch the show on YouTube? Proponents of YouTube claim Viacom should be happy about getting free publicity for “The Daily Show.” YouTube has a 10-minute limit on video length and claims it’s not copyright infringement, but fair use (a fuzzy loophole in copyright law). This may sound compelling, but it is nothing more than a fig leaf on piracy. Why? Because Viacom owns its programming and should get to pick where and when the shows are shown.
To remain viable, Viacom had to have its clips taken down from YouTube. In fact, all broadcasters must limit the reuse of their expensive material or their business model will implode. They must build and control their own Internet ad networks or risk going the way of trolley cars.
And Google? Internet advertising is growing like a weed. Google makes profits large enough to make Tony Soprano blush simply by scanning all the Internet pages the rest of us put up (which costs them very little), and returning the results with ads. The ads are meant to encourage impluse shopping: see it, want it, buy it, click and ship. So we click on 25-word text ads, and Google becomes a $140 billion valued behemoth. More valuable than Viacom or CBS. Hey, no one said life was fair.
But now suddenly video is cool. Sensing opportunity, the Google geek squad tried to build its own video-delivery service. It was put to shame by an 18-month-old company, YouTube, which Google then bought for $1.65 billion in shares of Google stock. By the way, in the terms of the deal, Google also set aside several hundred million dollars for potential lawsuits. Not enough as it turns out.
The success of YouTube has been nothing short of stunning. More than 100 million videos are watched every day, and probably 100,000 new clips are uploaded. So what if many of them have been highlights of “The Colbert Report” and “The Family Guy,” copyrighted material to which YouTube has no rights.
Suing YouTube as a private company only would have ruined a few venture capitalists’ tee times. Once Google, with pockets as deep as the Mariana Trench, bought YouTube, lawyers from coast to coast started salivating. Viacom is the first of many. I hear talk of giant class-action suits, for billions and billions. Maybe Viacom is thinking too small.
But here is Google’s dilemma. The company’s huge margins are the reason why it is valued at $140 billion on the stock market. If Google suddenly finds itself in a less profitable business because it has to pay for content, instead of just sponging off of SpongeBob, it could see its stock price fall faster than Katie Couric’s ratings.
Don’t get me wrong. The Internet will soon deliver all our video clips — sitcoms, sports, the whole shebang. But whoever creates and controls this content is who will make the big returns from it. Google is tops at search. It’s not yet obvious it will be tops in video. The game of lifting video clips made by others is almost over. If Google wants to stay in the game, it will need to ramp up its spending on video big time.
As consumers, I suspect, we’ll win, because we’ll have better shows delivered in new ways. But when companies start suing each other, investors should be careful. It usually means the game has changed for both sides.
Monday, April 9, 2007
Crossfit Workout
3 times:
9 95lb Snatch
9 Feet to Hands
9 95lb Clean and Jerk
9 Knees to Elbows
9 95lb Hanging Clean
Jog 20min
9 95lb Snatch
9 Feet to Hands
9 95lb Clean and Jerk
9 Knees to Elbows
9 95lb Hanging Clean
Jog 20min
Article: Legonomics
Why We Banned Legos - Volume 21 No. 2 - Winter 2006 - Rethinking Schools Online
Thanks to Meg for this.
A several month study of school children in an after-care program where the economy of a Legoland is studied, morals and values explored and built, and then re-studied. Legoland starts off capitalistic, those with power get more and exclude others with less experience, etc. The teachers dislike such values, Legos go away, and value building starts. Fascinating to see how children can easily see to the root of issues, children are just good at being naively honest and it makes for quick exploitation of situations.
The children struggle with what power means, etc. In redesigns of the Lego economy the children play a trading type of game. Those with the most power try to make the game more fair, while of course preserving some power. Naturally, the acts of generosity are held in contempt with the "less fortunate" children.
In the end, the learned values taught the children to collaborate and work as a team for a common goal as they build a new Legoland. As I read about the new Legoland I wondered if the whole scheme seemed rather socialist.
What concerns me abut such a lesson is that the children are being taught that it is best to avoid such an "unfair" world and opt for more socialist calibration, and much like Marx argued. It is nice in theory but how applicable is such methodology in today's globalized ultra-capitalistic economy? On the other hand, a great, focused, bit of teaching creativity.
Thanks to Meg for this.
A several month study of school children in an after-care program where the economy of a Legoland is studied, morals and values explored and built, and then re-studied. Legoland starts off capitalistic, those with power get more and exclude others with less experience, etc. The teachers dislike such values, Legos go away, and value building starts. Fascinating to see how children can easily see to the root of issues, children are just good at being naively honest and it makes for quick exploitation of situations.
The children struggle with what power means, etc. In redesigns of the Lego economy the children play a trading type of game. Those with the most power try to make the game more fair, while of course preserving some power. Naturally, the acts of generosity are held in contempt with the "less fortunate" children.
In the end, the learned values taught the children to collaborate and work as a team for a common goal as they build a new Legoland. As I read about the new Legoland I wondered if the whole scheme seemed rather socialist.
What concerns me abut such a lesson is that the children are being taught that it is best to avoid such an "unfair" world and opt for more socialist calibration, and much like Marx argued. It is nice in theory but how applicable is such methodology in today's globalized ultra-capitalistic economy? On the other hand, a great, focused, bit of teaching creativity.
Article: Economic Growth vs. Happiness
Reversal of Fortune - Mother Jones Magazine
By Bill Mckibben
Thanks to Ash for this.
Well worth printing out and reading, the article covers a tremendous spectrum of the global economy's ever accelerating growth and how we continue to innovate to keep that growth on track. Simultaneously, consideration of a happiness index of the society that makes up the economies are considered. It is found that the most significant increases of average social happiness are found as folks transition from dirt poor to around the $10,000 mark. After that, the happiness rate is about the same. In essence, money certainly doesn't bring happiness. Further considered is how relationships and friendships increase one's happiness index, but as a family becomes more wealthy, larger and larger homes naturally separate family members, with a sisters play room in one wing and a brother's in another.
Perhaps the moral is to focus on building your happiness index while harnessing, to some extent, the inertia of the growing economy.
Bill Mckibben has also written a book, Deep Economy which surly provides deeper treatment to all of this. I imagine a cross between David Brooks, Tom Friedman, Malcolm Gladwell, Steven D. Levitt.
By Bill Mckibben
Thanks to Ash for this.
Well worth printing out and reading, the article covers a tremendous spectrum of the global economy's ever accelerating growth and how we continue to innovate to keep that growth on track. Simultaneously, consideration of a happiness index of the society that makes up the economies are considered. It is found that the most significant increases of average social happiness are found as folks transition from dirt poor to around the $10,000 mark. After that, the happiness rate is about the same. In essence, money certainly doesn't bring happiness. Further considered is how relationships and friendships increase one's happiness index, but as a family becomes more wealthy, larger and larger homes naturally separate family members, with a sisters play room in one wing and a brother's in another.
Perhaps the moral is to focus on building your happiness index while harnessing, to some extent, the inertia of the growing economy.
Bill Mckibben has also written a book, Deep Economy which surly provides deeper treatment to all of this. I imagine a cross between David Brooks, Tom Friedman, Malcolm Gladwell, Steven D. Levitt.
Travel: From March 2007 Outside Mag
From the March 2007 Outside Mag Article Trips of the Year
Tofino, BC, Canada (Vancouver Is.)
Surf the rocky bays
The Haute Route, France and Switzerland
Route links Mont Blanc and the Matterhorn, 70mi, dorm style cabins link it, dicey terrain
Tofino, BC, Canada (Vancouver Is.)
Surf the rocky bays
The Haute Route, France and Switzerland
Route links Mont Blanc and the Matterhorn, 70mi, dorm style cabins link it, dicey terrain
Sunday, April 8, 2007
Article: Iraq Right Now
Iraq - Presidential Election of 2008 - Democrats - Republicans - Troop Withdrawl - New York Times
Author Noah Feldman does an excellent job of recaping the current situation in Iraq with respect to political policy and the generaly ambivilance of the American, Iraqi, and Arab polulaitons as to its course. All agree America shouldn't have troops in Iraq, but none think that it is in any ones best interest for them to withdraw. Quite a paradox.
Politicians prepare themselves for the 2008 elections, but as the article mentions, regardless of who is in office, withdrawing from Iraq is much easier advocated at cocktail parties than in practice. Truly take a moment to think down the road of a full troop pull out. The potential for a pan-Arab war destabilizing the region far greater than is so right now is frightening. (And you though $3 a gallon was expensive).
Ultimately, it discusses the two possible strategic changes, shirt to a focused war on Al Qaeda or partition in to ethnic states. It discusses how both pretty much take the same amount of troops we have now and in both cases, the population sufferers quite a bit.
In total, a through article that clearly paints today's Iraqi reality without oversimplifying the political and physical realities of the situation.
Author Noah Feldman does an excellent job of recaping the current situation in Iraq with respect to political policy and the generaly ambivilance of the American, Iraqi, and Arab polulaitons as to its course. All agree America shouldn't have troops in Iraq, but none think that it is in any ones best interest for them to withdraw. Quite a paradox.
Politicians prepare themselves for the 2008 elections, but as the article mentions, regardless of who is in office, withdrawing from Iraq is much easier advocated at cocktail parties than in practice. Truly take a moment to think down the road of a full troop pull out. The potential for a pan-Arab war destabilizing the region far greater than is so right now is frightening. (And you though $3 a gallon was expensive).
Ultimately, it discusses the two possible strategic changes, shirt to a focused war on Al Qaeda or partition in to ethnic states. It discusses how both pretty much take the same amount of troops we have now and in both cases, the population sufferers quite a bit.
In total, a through article that clearly paints today's Iraqi reality without oversimplifying the political and physical realities of the situation.
Saturday, April 7, 2007
Book: Retire Young, Retire Rich
Retire Young, Retire Rich, by Robert Kiyosaki
3/7/07
If “Why We Want You to Be Rich” explains why you ought to be rich, this Rich Dad series book explains what rich is, what the mentality is, and what the value in being rich is. It focuses on things that if you were not rich you wouldn’t even realize. How the rich can be perceived as greedy and really, it can often be the rich that are most generous, providing jobs, houses, etc. The book doesn’t really teach you how to become rich, nor does it intend to, I believe it aims to start you down the road to thinking with leverage and learning about what intelligent investors use to manage money and acquire assets.
From Sharaon: BUY ASSETS, buy assets that generate cash flow—NOW.
3/7/07
If “Why We Want You to Be Rich” explains why you ought to be rich, this Rich Dad series book explains what rich is, what the mentality is, and what the value in being rich is. It focuses on things that if you were not rich you wouldn’t even realize. How the rich can be perceived as greedy and really, it can often be the rich that are most generous, providing jobs, houses, etc. The book doesn’t really teach you how to become rich, nor does it intend to, I believe it aims to start you down the road to thinking with leverage and learning about what intelligent investors use to manage money and acquire assets.
From Sharaon: BUY ASSETS, buy assets that generate cash flow—NOW.
Friday, April 6, 2007
Lift and Jog
Chest:
Bench Press: 3x135, 3x185, 1x205, 3x185, 8x135, 8x55 lb dumbell, 8x135
Dips: 3x10
Flys: 3x6 35 lb
Run:
25 min, aerobic
Bench Press: 3x135, 3x185, 1x205, 3x185, 8x135, 8x55 lb dumbell, 8x135
Dips: 3x10
Flys: 3x6 35 lb
Run:
25 min, aerobic
Article: Fixing a Troubled Army
America's Broken-Down Army - TIME
This Time piece paints a picture of a breaking army, and in some respects, it is accurate, though a bit overblown. It also forgets to mention that a lot of people are wedded to the army either by long enlistment or the dangling carrot of a pension and health care for life after just 20 years of service. As the article progresses it accurately paints the solution; money, and lots off it. Pull some from the Air Force and the Navy, maybe dedicate a bit more of the budget to the problem and all things are fine in the U.S. Army.
While money can fix the problems, the cost is high, and personal. As it paints pictures of the Army tearing families apart (which it can do), it fails to mention, in many cases, that the army made opportunity for the family to begin in the first place, that is, the army offers opportunity and progression to those that would otherwise not had it.
I enjoy seeing pieces like this written because it is important to consider the war's implications on the force. It doesn't bring me grave concern though. I think the "big army" generals assessment that the army is doing fine is a bit of an overestimate, but at the same time, the army will be fine, and has been through much worse.
This Time piece paints a picture of a breaking army, and in some respects, it is accurate, though a bit overblown. It also forgets to mention that a lot of people are wedded to the army either by long enlistment or the dangling carrot of a pension and health care for life after just 20 years of service. As the article progresses it accurately paints the solution; money, and lots off it. Pull some from the Air Force and the Navy, maybe dedicate a bit more of the budget to the problem and all things are fine in the U.S. Army.
While money can fix the problems, the cost is high, and personal. As it paints pictures of the Army tearing families apart (which it can do), it fails to mention, in many cases, that the army made opportunity for the family to begin in the first place, that is, the army offers opportunity and progression to those that would otherwise not had it.
I enjoy seeing pieces like this written because it is important to consider the war's implications on the force. It doesn't bring me grave concern though. I think the "big army" generals assessment that the army is doing fine is a bit of an overestimate, but at the same time, the army will be fine, and has been through much worse.
Thursday, April 5, 2007
Crossfit Workout
21, 15, 9 times:
135 lb Sumo Deadlift
Knees to Elbows
35 lb one arm dumbell snatch
Sit ups
135 lb Sumo Deadlift
Knees to Elbows
35 lb one arm dumbell snatch
Sit ups
Wednesday, April 4, 2007
Crossfit Run
Run 15 min (aerobic)
20 min, max reps:
5 Pull Ups
10 Push Ups
15 Squats
(Did 11 reps)
Run 20 min (aerobic)
20 min, max reps:
5 Pull Ups
10 Push Ups
15 Squats
(Did 11 reps)
Run 20 min (aerobic)
Tuesday, April 3, 2007
Article: The System Fixes Itself
The Battle for a Mortgage - New York Times
With all the news about sub-prime credit products and credit derivatives it is encouraging to see the industry react so quickly. It is getting harder to get a mortgage, credit scores have to be higher, more restrictions, etc. The industry manages its risk and in doing so corrects itself far quicker than any legislation could. Encouraging, even if it will be harder to get a loan.
With all the news about sub-prime credit products and credit derivatives it is encouraging to see the industry react so quickly. It is getting harder to get a mortgage, credit scores have to be higher, more restrictions, etc. The industry manages its risk and in doing so corrects itself far quicker than any legislation could. Encouraging, even if it will be harder to get a loan.
Tech: Name that Tune
Alpha Geek: 10 cool cell phone tricks - Lifehacker
Next time you hear a song on the radio and need to know who it is, dial 866-411-SONG and http://www.411song.com/ will text you the artist and name for $0.99 on your next phone bill. I've been waiting awhile for this service which originated in the UK. Some other good tricks here too.
Next time you hear a song on the radio and need to know who it is, dial 866-411-SONG and http://www.411song.com/ will text you the artist and name for $0.99 on your next phone bill. I've been waiting awhile for this service which originated in the UK. Some other good tricks here too.
Article: OPED: The Army
My Life in the Army - New York Times
This does a fair job of capturing what is great about the army, and while the army will get past the current deployment cycle, the army is going to be sore after such a long workout.
From the New York Times:
April 3, 2007
Guest Columnist
My Life in the Army
By ROBERT WRIGHT
In one sense, I was well positioned to enjoy the summer of love. In 1969, I was living in San Francisco, epicenter of hippiedom, antiwar fervor and utopian hope for perpetual peace.
Circumstances kept me from sharing the spirit. The part of San Francisco I lived in was the Presidio, which was then a military base. I was 12, and my father was an Army officer. I remember my family once driving toward the Presidio’s Lombard Street gate past tens of thousands of protesters who seemed to think my father was part of a very bad outfit.
I was sure they were wrong, and I still am. In fact, the whole, larger stereotype — that the military is a right-wing institution, best viewed with skepticism if not cynicism by the left — is way off. Growing up in, or at least amid, the Army helped make me a liberal — not because I reacted against my environment, but because I absorbed its values. If all of America were more like the Army, it would be a better country.
People think of the Army as hierarchical, but compared with the private sector it’s a bastion of egalitarianism.
Yes, the Army’s “blue-collar workers” — privates, corporals, sergeants — defer to its “white-collar workers,” the officers. That happens in corporations, too. But on an Army base you don’t send the white-collar kids to good public schools and the blue-collar kids to bad public schools.
We all went to school together — either on the base or at a public school near it. My claim to fame is having played basketball at the same high school, on Fort Sam Houston, where Shaquille O’Neal, son of a sergeant, later played. (I encountered O’Neal in a hotel lobby a few years ago, and it turns out he’s less fascinated than I am by our intertwined histories. Puzzling.)
I had friends from the Army’s biggest minority constituencies, blacks and Hispanics. Among soldiers, too, exposure to diversity, along with the practical need to live with it, could be benign. My father grew up in Texas in the 1920s, amid common use of the n-word, and I never heard him use it.
Which brings us to social mobility. My father was the son of a sharecropper, and he dropped out of high school after both of his parents and most of his siblings had died of various diseases. He lacked the polish to impress, say, a Morgan Stanley recruiter, but during World War II, the Army gave him a chance.
That meant better health care than his parents had gotten, thanks to socialized medicine. My “blue collar” friends and I went to the same doctors. The doctors weren’t all great, but I’m still alive, and we avoided one creepy thing about inequality in America today: people like me get arthroscopic surgery lest stray cartilage impede our golf swings, while low-income people, in unseen ways, die for lack of good health care.
My father said Army people were as fine a group as you would ever meet, and the evidence was on his side. They were conscientious and unpretentious. And they can be surprisingly soft. Good commanders have a commitment to their troops that borders on love, a feeling that in the corporate world doesn’t generally emanate from the executive suite downward. (I said love, not lust.)
That’s partly because in the Army, the stakes are so high. Sending people into battle isn’t something a good person does with detachment. Before the Iraq war, when the Army chief of staff, Gen. Eric Shinseki, testified that the postwar occupation would require hundreds of thousands of troops, he was showing not just prudence but devotion. He didn’t want his soldiers needlessly imperiled.
As a reward for his devotion, General Shinseki was disparaged by Donald Rumsfeld and Paul Wolfowitz. Rumsfeld wanted to show how cheap war can be, and now our soldiers are paying the price. I wish some people on the left had a deeper respect for the military, but lately the left isn’t where the most consequential disrespect has come from.
The crowning indignity was Abu Ghraib, an outrage that was initiated by civilians high in the Bush administration and has stained the U.S. military’s hard-earned honor, strengthening stereotypes that I know are wrong.
My father, Col. Raymond J. Wright, retired several years after that summer in San Francisco, having given three decades to an institution he loved. He died in 1987. There are lots of things I wish he had lived to see, but the way the Army’s been treated recently isn’t one of them.
Robert Wright, a senior fellow at the New America Foundation, runs the Web site Bloggingheads.tv. He is a guest columnist this month.
This does a fair job of capturing what is great about the army, and while the army will get past the current deployment cycle, the army is going to be sore after such a long workout.
From the New York Times:
April 3, 2007
Guest Columnist
My Life in the Army
By ROBERT WRIGHT
In one sense, I was well positioned to enjoy the summer of love. In 1969, I was living in San Francisco, epicenter of hippiedom, antiwar fervor and utopian hope for perpetual peace.
Circumstances kept me from sharing the spirit. The part of San Francisco I lived in was the Presidio, which was then a military base. I was 12, and my father was an Army officer. I remember my family once driving toward the Presidio’s Lombard Street gate past tens of thousands of protesters who seemed to think my father was part of a very bad outfit.
I was sure they were wrong, and I still am. In fact, the whole, larger stereotype — that the military is a right-wing institution, best viewed with skepticism if not cynicism by the left — is way off. Growing up in, or at least amid, the Army helped make me a liberal — not because I reacted against my environment, but because I absorbed its values. If all of America were more like the Army, it would be a better country.
People think of the Army as hierarchical, but compared with the private sector it’s a bastion of egalitarianism.
Yes, the Army’s “blue-collar workers” — privates, corporals, sergeants — defer to its “white-collar workers,” the officers. That happens in corporations, too. But on an Army base you don’t send the white-collar kids to good public schools and the blue-collar kids to bad public schools.
We all went to school together — either on the base or at a public school near it. My claim to fame is having played basketball at the same high school, on Fort Sam Houston, where Shaquille O’Neal, son of a sergeant, later played. (I encountered O’Neal in a hotel lobby a few years ago, and it turns out he’s less fascinated than I am by our intertwined histories. Puzzling.)
I had friends from the Army’s biggest minority constituencies, blacks and Hispanics. Among soldiers, too, exposure to diversity, along with the practical need to live with it, could be benign. My father grew up in Texas in the 1920s, amid common use of the n-word, and I never heard him use it.
Which brings us to social mobility. My father was the son of a sharecropper, and he dropped out of high school after both of his parents and most of his siblings had died of various diseases. He lacked the polish to impress, say, a Morgan Stanley recruiter, but during World War II, the Army gave him a chance.
That meant better health care than his parents had gotten, thanks to socialized medicine. My “blue collar” friends and I went to the same doctors. The doctors weren’t all great, but I’m still alive, and we avoided one creepy thing about inequality in America today: people like me get arthroscopic surgery lest stray cartilage impede our golf swings, while low-income people, in unseen ways, die for lack of good health care.
My father said Army people were as fine a group as you would ever meet, and the evidence was on his side. They were conscientious and unpretentious. And they can be surprisingly soft. Good commanders have a commitment to their troops that borders on love, a feeling that in the corporate world doesn’t generally emanate from the executive suite downward. (I said love, not lust.)
That’s partly because in the Army, the stakes are so high. Sending people into battle isn’t something a good person does with detachment. Before the Iraq war, when the Army chief of staff, Gen. Eric Shinseki, testified that the postwar occupation would require hundreds of thousands of troops, he was showing not just prudence but devotion. He didn’t want his soldiers needlessly imperiled.
As a reward for his devotion, General Shinseki was disparaged by Donald Rumsfeld and Paul Wolfowitz. Rumsfeld wanted to show how cheap war can be, and now our soldiers are paying the price. I wish some people on the left had a deeper respect for the military, but lately the left isn’t where the most consequential disrespect has come from.
The crowning indignity was Abu Ghraib, an outrage that was initiated by civilians high in the Bush administration and has stained the U.S. military’s hard-earned honor, strengthening stereotypes that I know are wrong.
My father, Col. Raymond J. Wright, retired several years after that summer in San Francisco, having given three decades to an institution he loved. He died in 1987. There are lots of things I wish he had lived to see, but the way the Army’s been treated recently isn’t one of them.
Robert Wright, a senior fellow at the New America Foundation, runs the Web site Bloggingheads.tv. He is a guest columnist this month.
Crossfit WOD and Run
Crossfit WOD:
1-1-1-1-1-1-1 Clean and Jerk (2x115, 1x135, 4x155)
Run:
Warmup
6x500m hills, anaerobic up, aerobic down.
Cool down
1-1-1-1-1-1-1 Clean and Jerk (2x115, 1x135, 4x155)
Run:
Warmup
6x500m hills, anaerobic up, aerobic down.
Cool down
Article: NYT Op Blog, on the market
Wall Street Wired - Times Select - New York Times Blog: "Back home, everything on Wall Street is beyond complex: Men in funny sports "
Feed at: http://kessler.blogs.nytimes.com/atom.xml
New NYT Blog by Andy Kessler opens by talking about the Prague Stock Market, a bunch of computers matching buyers and sellers. He mentions the three great take aways are:
Feed at: http://kessler.blogs.nytimes.com/atom.xml
New NYT Blog by Andy Kessler opens by talking about the Prague Stock Market, a bunch of computers matching buyers and sellers. He mentions the three great take aways are:
- Profits lead to increased living standards.
- Money sloshes around the globe seeking its highest risk-adjusted returns.
- The stock market allocates precious capital to companies it thinks can maximize profits and starves those that it thinks can’t.
Sunday, April 1, 2007
Crossfit Workout
Eight Times:
100 Jump Rope
10 Plyo-Pushups
20 Hit Tire with Sledgehammer (10 each side)
20 Jump on tire
Time 27 min, anaerobic
Then, 3 rounds of 10 dips
100 Jump Rope
10 Plyo-Pushups
20 Hit Tire with Sledgehammer (10 each side)
20 Jump on tire
Time 27 min, anaerobic
Then, 3 rounds of 10 dips
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)