Logging
Film: Collateral rewatch
If you only add up Tom Cruise's performances in "minor" roles, his career would be remarkable. Risky Business, Collateral, Tropic Thunder, Magnolia, Knight and Day, Cocktail. Amen.
TV: Fleabag S2
Best writer in TV. By far.
Book: Eat that Frog
Self help shit for a teaching a class. But it's actually really useful stuff.
TV: Chewing Gum and Riverdale Pilot Episodes
Not my cups of tea.
Thursday, May 30, 2019
Game 1
Terrific game. Siakam too much for Draymond. Toronto defense is legit. Got a lot of crazy shots falling their way tonight, but that D won't go away. Love how Toronto can throw a lot of quality two way players out there. Kawhi off night and you still got a chance for production from Lowry, Gasol, Siakam, Green, Van Fleet, Ibaka.
Terrific game. Siakam too much for Draymond. Toronto defense is legit. Got a lot of crazy shots falling their way tonight, but that D won't go away. Love how Toronto can throw a lot of quality two way players out there. Kawhi off night and you still got a chance for production from Lowry, Gasol, Siakam, Green, Van Fleet, Ibaka.
Thursday, May 23, 2019
Yep
State and local policies are the real immigration policies.
If you like immigration, don't complain about Trump, make your hometown an affordable place to live with low minimum wage. Hence, parts of LA.
State and local policies are the real immigration policies.
If you like immigration, don't complain about Trump, make your hometown an affordable place to live with low minimum wage. Hence, parts of LA.
Wednesday, May 22, 2019
True
The rediscovery of great literature.
I still recall many of my English teachers from grade and high school...maybe moreso than any of my other teachers. I remember in high school I had this teacher Mr Feeney, who all the students liked because he was "easy." I remember sometimes in class, he would just give us 30 minutes to read. A part of me thinks back - jeez - wasn't that an easy assignment for him! But think about it. We were sitting there reading Hemingway, Steinbeck, Fitzgerald... Was there a better use of our time?
And the only other thing I remember - not the assignments or the grades or any of that - but goddamn did Mr. Feeney love the books he taught. I can't remember a damn thing he said, but I do remember he loved books and loved writing and loved sharing that with us.
I guess what I'm thinking now is that I somehow had a lot of things wrong. That the "easy" teacher was communicating to me perhaps the most important thing one can get: a love of reading. What were the "harder," more challenging teachers teaching me? Perhaps how to succeed.
Jury's out on what was more important.
The rediscovery of great literature.
I still recall many of my English teachers from grade and high school...maybe moreso than any of my other teachers. I remember in high school I had this teacher Mr Feeney, who all the students liked because he was "easy." I remember sometimes in class, he would just give us 30 minutes to read. A part of me thinks back - jeez - wasn't that an easy assignment for him! But think about it. We were sitting there reading Hemingway, Steinbeck, Fitzgerald... Was there a better use of our time?
And the only other thing I remember - not the assignments or the grades or any of that - but goddamn did Mr. Feeney love the books he taught. I can't remember a damn thing he said, but I do remember he loved books and loved writing and loved sharing that with us.
I guess what I'm thinking now is that I somehow had a lot of things wrong. That the "easy" teacher was communicating to me perhaps the most important thing one can get: a love of reading. What were the "harder," more challenging teachers teaching me? Perhaps how to succeed.
Jury's out on what was more important.
The Absurdity and Evil of Russian Communism
A pointless extermination of world whale populations.
And yet, privileged folks here in the West still sometimes contend, it just wasn't implemented correctly.
A pointless extermination of world whale populations.
And yet, privileged folks here in the West still sometimes contend, it just wasn't implemented correctly.
Saturday, May 18, 2019
Hmmmm...
Tyler Cowen's worst post -- and there are very few -- defends Harvard's decision to get rid of Weinstein's lawyer by making the claim, essentially, by taking on Weinstein, he'd be too busy to do his dorm job.
Maybe the argument, then becomes: they needed a decent reason to get rid of the guy and used the Weinstein case as an excuse. But that tells even a worse story about Harvard. Instead of just being un-American and not believing in the right of a defendant to legal counsel, they are actually just cowards who fear being construed as being in favor of basic American values. Such a sentence can only make sense these days.
Tyler Cowen's worst post -- and there are very few -- defends Harvard's decision to get rid of Weinstein's lawyer by making the claim, essentially, by taking on Weinstein, he'd be too busy to do his dorm job.
Let’s say I hired a TA for my Econ 101 class, and then I learned that TA would be defending Edward Snowden in his or her spare time. Probably I would ask for another TA! And that has nothing to do with my view of Snowden, one way or the other, or whether my students have rational views of Snowden or not (I genuinely do not know if they do).In a healthy world if a TA got another job, he'd talk to the professor and explain he couldn't do both. In the Weinstein lawyer case, Harvard made the point they were dismissing him because of the student concerns.
Maybe the argument, then becomes: they needed a decent reason to get rid of the guy and used the Weinstein case as an excuse. But that tells even a worse story about Harvard. Instead of just being un-American and not believing in the right of a defendant to legal counsel, they are actually just cowards who fear being construed as being in favor of basic American values. Such a sentence can only make sense these days.
Affordable Housing
A long article about the multitude of reasons housing is so costly.
Missing a big factor: people getting married later. The most obvious and dirty little secret is getting married means combining resources means much better odds of being able to afford a house. Demographically, young Americans are staying single longer and thus less able to buy...
A long article about the multitude of reasons housing is so costly.
Missing a big factor: people getting married later. The most obvious and dirty little secret is getting married means combining resources means much better odds of being able to afford a house. Demographically, young Americans are staying single longer and thus less able to buy...
Thursday, May 16, 2019
As I'm In The Middle of a Major Housing Renovation
A good, succinct reminder:
PL: Housing isn’t an investment. A home is an extremely undiversified bet on a single structure in a single neighborhood in a single geographic region. A home is illiquid and indivisible (you can’t slice off a piece of your kitchen to buy milk). Worst of all, a home carries high transaction and carrying costs. Historically home prices have barely kept up with inflation – and only if you continue to pour money into it for upkeep and maintenance, not exactly something you want from an investment. Housing is consumption.
Looking at it this way will allow you to make better housing decisions. Something I painfully had to cut out of the book was research on the happiness derived from housing. The quick summary is you don’t derive much lasting happiness from your home. There is plenty of research, however, that says your commute time is correlated to your happiness. The implication is it makes sense to place a higher value on your home’s location than whether it has a remodeled kitchen or extra closet space.Thinking about housing as consumption only makes academic sense. I actually think my dad put it better to me a long time ago - a house is a place to live.
Student Loans
Strange irony. A bunch of the more progressive Democrats are talking student loan forgiveness, etc. They've identified the problem, but is forgiveness the solution? If student loans are so "problematic," why does the Federal Government subsidize them? I honestly feel as though Democrats can only think about 1, maybe 2 steps ahead if you go by their policy ideas.
If you believe in equal opportunity, labor rights, and even correcting past historical wrongs, my suggestion is to come up with better ideas and better solutions as opposed to ideas that can easily be dismissed as simplistic, virtue signaling, and stupid.
A better idea:
1) Put colleges on the hook for defaults.
2) Peg financial aid that goes to institutions to reasonable rates of tuition increases.
3) Broaden GI bill, and other service oriented programs for scholarships, etc.
4) Track effectiveness of state university systems (which I think probably do a better job than we give them credit for overall)
And for the students/parents:
1) Don't take out loans than can't be easily repaid.
2) Go to cheaper schools
Strange irony. A bunch of the more progressive Democrats are talking student loan forgiveness, etc. They've identified the problem, but is forgiveness the solution? If student loans are so "problematic," why does the Federal Government subsidize them? I honestly feel as though Democrats can only think about 1, maybe 2 steps ahead if you go by their policy ideas.
If you believe in equal opportunity, labor rights, and even correcting past historical wrongs, my suggestion is to come up with better ideas and better solutions as opposed to ideas that can easily be dismissed as simplistic, virtue signaling, and stupid.
A better idea:
1) Put colleges on the hook for defaults.
2) Peg financial aid that goes to institutions to reasonable rates of tuition increases.
3) Broaden GI bill, and other service oriented programs for scholarships, etc.
4) Track effectiveness of state university systems (which I think probably do a better job than we give them credit for overall)
And for the students/parents:
1) Don't take out loans than can't be easily repaid.
2) Go to cheaper schools
Wednesday, May 08, 2019
Friday, May 03, 2019
I'm Convinced
Sullivan thinks Biden can beat Trump.
I'd take it a step further: Biden might be the only Dem who can beat Trump. Here's why:
He’s a union man, and always has been. In what was a brilliant ad-lib, Biden began a speech to the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers by making a joke about the excesses of #MeToo — “I had permission to hug Lonnie,” the union leader, he quipped. Later, as he brought some kids onstage, he joked again, as he put his hands on the shoulders of a boy: “He gave me permission to touch him.” The crowd’s reaction both times was bellows of laughter. Yes, this might be seen as insensitive, or tone-deaf. It is certainly politically incorrect. But what Biden’s joke did is tell the white working class that he has not defected to the woke, white urban elites. This matters.
In a recent poll, 80 percent of Americans say “that political correctness is a problem in this country.” Hostility to new speech codes from elites was one factor that drove support for Trump in 2016. Americans do not want to abolish all differences between men and women, do not support reparations, and view college campuses as strange, alien pockets of madness. Any Democrat in 2020 has to reach that “exhausted majority” who are sick of all that. Biden has already done it.Nobody who's woke is getting elected in this country because woke people are so fucking annoying and they're the only ones who don't realize it.
Populism and Late Bloomers
Interesting piece from Overcoming Bias.
Random question: is bias such a bad thing if you are aware of it?
Interesting piece from Overcoming Bias.
Random question: is bias such a bad thing if you are aware of it?
Wednesday, May 01, 2019
I Wish There Was A Way To Bet This
Predictions:
1) Ong Choy or Chinese Water Spinach will become a more popular vegetable in the future. I don't suppose it will overtake broccoli or anything, but it's quite delicious, easily flavored, easy to cook, crunchy and fun. I suppose it will be seen in fancier/hip type restaurants if it isn't already...
2) Chimichurri will be the next salsa. You sometimes hear salsa is now more popular than ketchup. A somewhat strange comparison given the different uses. Like: would you ever say - ketchup is more popular than guacamole? But anyways, they are condiments, I guess. And made of tomatoes. Regardless, chimichurri is quite similar to salsa and can be applied to many meats -- deliciously. Salmon, chicken, steak, pork...it's high versatile, simple...
Predictions:
1) Ong Choy or Chinese Water Spinach will become a more popular vegetable in the future. I don't suppose it will overtake broccoli or anything, but it's quite delicious, easily flavored, easy to cook, crunchy and fun. I suppose it will be seen in fancier/hip type restaurants if it isn't already...
2) Chimichurri will be the next salsa. You sometimes hear salsa is now more popular than ketchup. A somewhat strange comparison given the different uses. Like: would you ever say - ketchup is more popular than guacamole? But anyways, they are condiments, I guess. And made of tomatoes. Regardless, chimichurri is quite similar to salsa and can be applied to many meats -- deliciously. Salmon, chicken, steak, pork...it's high versatile, simple...
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