The Wave

When I watch the stock market rise and fall each day over one bit of economic news or report, I picture a cartoonish group of people staring at each other and then one after another rushes to one side of the seesaw just to do the same and rushes to the other side when the next tidbit of news comes out. All in the hopes that each person thinks he will be the first to get to the other side to take that bit of profit. Meanwhile Warren Buffet stands in the middle to pick up the ones that fall off the edge.

Pedantic!

I hate to use this kind of language, but this research is dumb. They've learned what every elementary school kid already knew and have been trying to game the results for decades maybe centuries. You toss the coin straight up and down without rotating it and there's a good chance the side you had facing up will land facing up! The academics who did this research truly shows what being pedantic is all about.

Isolationism in local communities

Los Gatos used to be a rural town many years ago, but has been growing in population and rising in income. Today we see the lengths parents go to in this small town to isolate their children from young adults who are themselves children of a varying maturity. In this article, you can read about the attitude of parents which in my sensibilities represent paranoia. I guess the point of having the Venue is to provide a place for kids to go out and be entertained, but not be associated with young adults who are older than 18. Kids naturally want to be with older kids. Young adults seek independence and naturally are drawn to older peers because of their experiences. It's futile trying to separate them. It would be wiser to simply instill common sense and values in your kids and thereby inoculating them from bad behavior and poor judgement. Separating the younger kids from the older ones merely create a lower class and that's how many kids will see themselves. The rebels will surely act out in defiance just the same. It seems many parents want society or community at large to take on each parent's given responsibilities; protection, education, and moral upbringing. Proscription is always an easy step to take, but applied against human nature nearly always fails.

How computers do not save you time.

Here's one for you kids out there. When you think of computers you think productivity. You can see it in an entire category of software called 'productivity suite'. Don't be shocked, but computers and their software don't often save you time or make you productive. Case in point, I just received an x-ray image from my doctor to view on my computer. Well, as it turns out it is Windows software that I cannot run on my Mac natively. So I go and launch Parallel, only to have it tell me I should chose between installing XP or Vista. What the f***? The app runs already on the computer for my wife. Before I could pick 'vista', it pops up an update notice. So now it is updating the Parallel after 15 minutes elapsed. Still no image of my X-ray. I end up taking the disc and putting it into my PC instead.

This kind of redirecting happens all the time. You want to do one thing and the computer says, oah aah, no you can't do that you have to install this that and the other thing first. By the time you're done, it would have been easier to not use the computer at all. Say you need a calculator, would you take 10 minutes to boot up your computer, wait for it to acquire the network, launch email, and then launch the calculator. It would have been much faster to open the drawer, pull out your calculator and start punching in numbers; 15 seconds?

Computers are still great at repetitive and redundant tasks. You want to surf the web? No problem, same task over and over again, just keep clicking away until you see something you like. Oh, you want to write volume 4 of your memoirs? No problem, Word will let you write until you drop. You can do both as fast as you can switch your eyes and hands between them. It's called multitasking. Humans have learned to do that too. But if you have something you need a computer to do that you don't already have a routine for, like looking at X-rays your doctor gave you, then forget about it. It will take forever to hunt down the right computer and software. You're better off doing it the old fashion way. Give me the film doc!

Free agent station

We are a nation of free agents, always fighting for our own survival, speaking of our own worth, and finding our own means.

What is your station in life?

http://www.freeagentstation.com/

Moods

On a recent trip back to Boston and western Massachusetts, I took note of the different mood that part of the country invoked. Here are some words I think of when I see these places in my mind.

Boston/Newton/Southborough/Marlborough -> serene, still, tempered, ordered

San Francisco/Napa/Pt. Reyes -> bright, cheerful, unfethered

NYC/Bronx/Queens -> hectic, stimulating, class, guarded

Playground mom and her playground logic

Our 6 month old son was approached by a 1 year old girl today who tried to take his little stuff dog. When our nanny wouldn't let the little girl have it, the playground mom came around with this idiot logic, 'you should teach him to share!'.  In polite society, when you take someone else's property without permission, it's called stealing.  When did your stealing turning into someone else's sharing?  Idiot playground mom! Kids should be spared their parent's stupidity.  I hope the little girl grows up well balanced despite her mom.