100 Thing Challenge

So there was a much discussed article in the NYT this week about the connection between happiness and consumption. The idea was that researchers are finding that experiences contribute more to happiness than material purchases.

The article profiled a couple living in a 400 square foot apartment in Portland, OR. They each own less than 100 personal possessions, having taken the "100 thing challenge" started by a blogger named Dave.

I had a few thoughts on the matter:

1) Jack Reacher has all the hippy minimalists beat. He only owns a toothbrush and an ATM card.

2) If a significant portion (say, 20% or so) of U.S. consumers adopted this attitude, the world economy would slip gradually into a cyclical disaster unlike anything modern economists have ever known. Imagine it - consumers spend less voluntarily, so companies go out of business, so people lose their jobs, and then everyone has to spend less involuntarily. Could be interesting.

3) I'm really intrigued by this challenge. There are few things about alternative cultures that appeal to me, but this may be one. I'm not saying I'm committing, I'm just saying I think I'm going to count my stuff. Is there a market for baseball cards from the early 90's?

God Willin' & The Creek Don't Rise

New album from Ray on August 17th

XOBC

A few new songs and covers from the incomparable Brandi Carlile:

http://itunes.apple.com/album/xobc-ep/id351896151

Letter to Rocky Mountain National Park

My wife and I have spent 3 weekends at Rocky Mountain National Park this summer and have enjoyed beautiful mountain scenery, wildlife, and excellent hiking trails each time we have visited.

On Friday 7/24/2009 we attended an evening program at Moraine Park Campground. The subject was "The Wild Bunch: Squirrels, Chipmunks, and Marmots". The ranger was very entertaining and the subject matter was informative and relevant to our visit - we had a great time trying to classify numerous squirrels and chipmunks the rest of the weekend.

Having enjoyed our previous experience, we attended another evening program on Saturday 8/1/2009 at Moraine Park. I was disappointed to learn that the subject of the talk would not be about the wildlife, the geology, or anything related to RMNP itself. Rather, the ranger gave a very one-sided and opinionated lecture on climate change, complete with power point slides that looked like they came straight out of the movie "An Inconvenient Truth". While I don't doubt the ranger's passion or qualification to speak on the subject of climate change, I question the appropriateness of such a politically charged theme as the subject of the program. I was especially incensed at the ranger's thinly-veiled suggestion that those who question the severity of climate change or the role that humans play in it are simply "sticking [their] heads in the sand", which she communicated with an illustrative photograph. The ranger sought to convince the listeners of the correctness of her views on climate change by citing broad scientific consensus, but not giving any attention to numerous opposing arguments in the scientific community and in fact trying to make any opposition look comical and unreasonable by way of the photograph previously mentioned. I found this tactic offensive.

The ranger asked us to think about the future and consider what kind of world we wanted our children and grandchildren to grow up in - and to consider reducing our carbon footprint by using less energy. When I think about the future, I picture a world in which our children are free to attend public school, watch Hollywood movies, and visit the country's National Parks without constantly being indoctrinated with a liberal worldview.

I write this letter in the hope of encouraging the rangers of RMNP to please keep politics out of the park - and keep the ranger programs focused on the park.

The Value of an MBA degree

Upon returning to school, one of my foremost goals was to learn how to make Powerpoint presentations with "mojo", and Excel spreadsheets that "pop". While I've had some opportunity to practice these undeniably value-add skills, this winter semester I have encountered my first MBA class that focuses more on teaching critical thinking skills than the basic principles of business: MBA 621, Advanced Corporate Finance. The class is entirely based on case studies that are prepared before each meeting. Grades are based solely on class participation and scores on daily quizzes, which are administered at the beginning of class and focus on the case that will be discussed that day. There is no right answer to the quizzes, by the way, what matters is the reasoning behind the answer. So far, my average score is a 6 out of 10.

I love the class, I hate the class. I love it because it teaches how to make decisions given an ambiguous context, using logic and reason, and recognizing the hidden underlying assumptions of analytical tools. Arguably, this is almost as valuable in business as black belt-level spreadsheet skills.

I hate the class because sometimes the Professor's main goal seems to be to help students understand that we are not as smart as we think we are, which can be a frustrating lesson.

Legislating moral conformity...

The issue of homosexual marriage is is far from over. I'm not looking forward to the continued debates and hate crimes against church-goers that will inevitably result...

This editorial from the National Review points out some of the ridiculousness of the tolerance movement.

Thank you, Big Oil

Amidst worsening economic woe and doom, there is one bright spot of hope. Gas prices are now less than $2/gallon. I, for one, would like to thank the benevolent oil executives for their compassion and kindness. Undoubtedly, the stream of letters to the editors of news publications, the scrutiny from the mainstream media, and the congressional hearings from this past summer have caused ExxonMobil, Shell, Chevron, and others to reach deep inside their corrupt corporate souls and turn from their nefarious practice of price gouging. It can't have anything to do with market rates. No way. They were taking advantage of us before, and now they're just being nice.

Thank you, Big Oil.