Monday, June 30, 2014

Daniel Pink Commencement Speech



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Thursday, June 26, 2014

Linkfest

Dwight Would An Idiot Do That: via
Richard Brody on Clint Eastwood's "Jersey Boys"
Lifted: A Cultural History of the Elevator by Andreas Bernard, translated by David Dollenmayer
A carbs diet has been blamed for the alarming explosion of obesity and chronic disease. What does the science show?
Psychology is weird. Child Psychology is even weirder.
Searching for Alpha[Milken Institute Video] blogspot
A portrait of Luis Suarez ESPN
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Wednesday, June 25, 2014

Movies and supposed locations[infographic]


via: ritholtz
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Stuff you didn't know about Warren Buffet[graphic]

graphics

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Searching for Alpha[Milken Institute Video]



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People on average are 'stupid' NOT [xkcd]

 

Via: xkcd

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Sunday, June 22, 2014

What is creative non-fiction ? 

"You will learn to distinguish accurately  between traditional nonfiction , journalism, and creative nonfiction as  the book evolves. 1.6 A Passion for People Wlzat does it take to be a  good creative nonfiction writer? Usually, when people are discussing  essays, articles, or nonfiction books, they use words such as  interesting, accurate, perhaps even fascinating . Passion and intimacy  are not words that are often attached to nonfiction ; they sound too  spontaneous, emotional, and imprecise. But passion is what is required  of a creative nonfiction writer if he or she is to be successful: A  passion for the written word; a passion for the search and discovery of  knowledge; and a passion for involvement observing both directly and  clandestinely in order to understand intimately how things in this world  work."  

via: Paolocirio
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Linkfest

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Saturday, June 21, 2014

Capital in the 21st Century[video]



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Friday, June 20, 2014

What happens when these standard psychological tendencies combine?

“What happens when these standard psychological tendencies combine? What

happens when the situation, or the artful manipulation of man, causes several of these

tendencies to operate on a person toward the same end at the same time?

When you get these lollapalooza effects, you will almost always find four or five of these things

working together.

 

When I was young there was a whodunit hero who always said, “Cherche la femme.” [In

French, "Look for the woman."] What you should search for in life is the combination,

because the combination is likely to do you in. Or, if you’re the inventor of Tupperware

parties, it’s likely to make you enormously rich if you can stand shaving when you do it.

 

One of my favorite cases is the McDonald-Douglas airliner evacuation disaster. The

government requires that airliners pass a bunch of tests, one of them is evacuation: get

everybody out, I think it’s 90 seconds or something like that. It’s some short period of

time. The government has rules, make it very realistic, so on and so on. You can’t select

nothing but 20-year-old athletes to evacuate your airline. So McDonald-Douglas

schedules one of these things in a hangar, and they make the hangar dark and the concrete

floor is 25 feet down, and they’ve got these little rubber chutes, and they’ve got all these

old people, and they ring the bell and they all rush out, and in the morning, when the first

test is done, they create, I don’t know, 20 terrible injuries when people go off to hospitals,

and of course they scheduled another one for the afternoon.

 

By the way they didn’t read[?] the time schedule either, in addition to causing all the

injuries. Well…so what do they do? They do it again in the afternoon. Now they create

20 more injuries and one case of a severed spinal column with permanent, unfixable

paralysis. These are engineers, these are brilliant people, this is thought over through in a

big bureaucracy. Again, it’s a combination of [psychological tendencies]: authorities told

you to do it. He told you to make it realistic. You’ve decided to do it. You’d decided to

do it twice. Incentive-caused bias. If you pass you save a lot of money. You’ve got to

jump this hurdle before you can sell your new airliner. Again, three, four, five of these

things work together and it turns human brains into mush. And maybe you think this

doesn’t happen in picking investments? If so, you’re living in a different world than I am.

 

Finally, the open-outcry auction. Well the open-outcry auction is just made to turn the

brain into mush: you’ve got social proof, the other guy is bidding, you get reciprocation

tendency, you get deprival super-reaction syndrome, the thing is going away… I mean it

just absolutely is designed to manipulate people into idiotic behavior.

 

Finally the institution of the board of directors of the major American company. Well, the

top guy is sitting there, he’s an authority figure. He’s doing asinine things, you look

around the board, nobody else is objecting, social proof, it’s okay? Reciprocation

tendency, he’s raising the directors fees every year, he’s flying you around in the corporate

airplane to look at interesting plants, or whatever in hell they do, and you go and you really

get extreme dysfunction as a corrective decision-making body in the typical American

board of directors. They only act, again the power of incentives, they only act when it gets

so bad it starts making them look foolish, or threatening legal liability to them. That’s

Munger’s rule. I mean there are occasional things that don’t follow Munger’s rule, but by

and large the board of directors is a very ineffective corrector if the top guy is a little nuts,

which, of course, frequently happens.”

 

Via: Munger’s Speech

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Thursday, June 19, 2014

Value of Science[podcast]


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Tuesday, June 17, 2014

FW: The Brazil effect

Feed: Graphic detail
Posted on: Tuesday, June 17, 2014 09:03
Author: P.K. and D.D.M
Subject: The Brazil effect

 

World Cup football isn't normally this exciting

 

THE 2014 World Cup's first draw—a dull, goalless game between Iran and Nigeria—happened on June 16th, bringing to an end a "draw-drought" of 12 games. The match was conspicuous in an otherwise high-scoring tournament, which so far has seen 44 goals, or 3.14 per match. It is proving to be one of the most exciting World Cups of recent times, including shock results such as the Netherlands' 5-1 win over Spain, the reigning champions.

Such excitement bucks the modern trend. Until this year, the tournament had been losing its kick. A draw-less run such as this has not happened in World Cup history since the first competition in 1930, when only 13 teams played just 18 matches, all decisive. Prior to this tournament, more matches have resulted in stalemate, often scoreless, in the last six tournaments than the previous 13 combined. Even the 1994 and 2006 cup finals ended in a draw (the former without a single goal) and had to be decided by penalty shoot-outs.

Why the increase in draws? Perhaps it is because more countries are...Continue reading


View article...

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Monday, June 16, 2014

FW: Inaction on climate change

Feed: The Big Picture
Posted on: Sunday, June 15, 2014 15:00
Author: Barry Ritholtz
Subject: Inaction on climate change

 


Source: World Economic Forum


View article...

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Saturday, June 14, 2014

Jim Carrey Commencement Speech


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Friday, June 13, 2014

Being 'Dad' isn't easy

In my house we have a running joke—my pack of cigarettes moments. Old story, many times told: Dad goes out for a pack of cigarettes (or a gallon of milk, or a walk), never comes back. And sometimes, amid tantrums and tears and exhausting negotiations (the kids', not ours), my wife will see me on the edge and cut the tension by asking: "Pack of cigarettes?" It's funny because we both know that I'm not going anywhere, but I recognize and understand the impulse that drive men out the door, and I suspect a lot of other fathers do, too.

continue reading: esquire
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Charlie Rose: An hour with Lloyd Blankfein


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Michael Bloomberg Harvard #Hilarious



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Weekend Linkfest

Doing verbal battle at the O. Henry Pun-Off World Championships.
Tilson Says Tesla Motors Inc (TSLA) Short 'One of the Biggest Mistakes of My Career'
"The $13 Billion Mystery Angels" http://rdd.me/hilbuka9 via @readability
"Consider the Can" http://rdd.me/c4yrad9i via @readability
"A theory of jerks" http://rdd.me/chjdwdbd via @readability
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Wednesday, June 11, 2014

FW: Michelangelo v Mickey Mouse

Feed: Graphic detail
Posted on: Tuesday, June 10, 2014 10:21
Author: B.R. & L.P.
Subject: Michelangelo v Mickey Mouse

 

The most popular museums in the world

The Louvre is the world's most-visited museum: more than 9m people paid €12 ($16) to squeeze a peek at the Mona Lisa last year. But before the stoic girl gets too vain, it bears noting that 133m tourists visited a Disney theme park in 2013. See the most visited museums and their entry prices here.

View article...

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Tuesday, June 10, 2014

Essay

A mandatory parable is in order. Let’s use the one from David Foster Wallace’s commencement speech: “Two little fish are going down their way and all of a sudden a big fish comes by and asks them – “how’s the water boys. The fish go a little further and look at each other and say – what the hell is water?”

All essays, from liberal arts to admissions and scholarships require a clichéd parable to set the ground for sharing a trite moral lesson that no one genuinely wants to heed to, so I had to indulge as well. However, before I continue on with some other clichéd effects, I want to clarify one thing about how I like to use the word leader!
No, that wasn’t merely a sloppy writing fumble. My use of the exclamation mark is not some way of making a dreary word adorable; it’s there for a specific reason, and there won’t be any other way I’d have it. Let’s elucidate its existence in other forms:

Leader:
The colon, with its two tiny speckled dots provides a bias for action that makes it beautiful and enigmatic at the same time. It’s no trivial matter that I find it interesting. It portrays a tedious continuum, just like that of Da Vinci Mona Lisa, where she constantly stares into the abyss of the onlooker, longing for true meaning, searching something better. My actions are unpredictable. My present life is not a precursor to something that follows. The colon is not for me.

Leader,
The reputable comma, with its ephemeral presence, makes things before and after it lucid and formidable. I don’t see myself as a bridge to something more important. There is no pause in my current or future existence. The comma is not who I am.

Leader?
Am I a leader? Do I have a purpose that makes me a leader? Do I need to be of a certain race, ethnicity, religious background or cult to be a leader? I definitely don’t consider myself to have arisen from the ashes of a question list like a Phoenix. The question mark, even with its magnetic curvaceous appearance, does not characterize me.

Leader.
This is definitely the least likely of things that a leader can be. The period, with its mercenary inclinations usurps my prerogative. It saps me out of my energy. I will never be a stopping point.

Leader!
Now we’re talking. I’m infatuated with the exclamation mark; there is something about it. An aura of enigmatic passion surrounds it, its energy matches mine: the kind that keeps me hammering away at my keyboard at five in the morning to carve out a perfect MBA admissions essay. With the aid of the exclamation mark, I want to help others appreciate that it’s tragic to be absorbed in fantasy that you fall out of touch with reality, but it’s equally tragic to be absorbed by reality and forget what it is to dream!

Now that we have established some ground rules, I have to admit, I’m confounded by the question – am I really a leader? Sorry, I meant to say leader!

I’m a purveyor of puns, lover of laughter. I’m a natural lefty, but use my right hand more than my left. I fall prey to the ice-cream truck when I hear them go by like a five year old, but manage to somehow maintain my rationality while trading stocks. I’m a paradox, an enigmatic collection of all things ideal and frivolous. Reading books like a machine is my hobby, losing philosophical arguments my life-style; memorizing the ABC backwards my goal; constantly seeking knowledge my purpose.
I’m a guru of trivial business news, a master BBQ chef, and a weekly open-mic participant playing the same clichéd popular tunes. Useless knowledge is my true love, losing pun competitions my bane, inciting awkward humorous moments my obsession. I’m not a gold medalist, but a B student. Psychology guides my behavior, biology determines my physical characters, and multi-cultureless drives my interests.
I’m an avant-garde ‘analyste financier’ by day, craft beer aficionado by night. My search for ‘myself’ has left me in a state of stateless-ness. I wiggle my way out of the mud every day, just like a worm does searching for a potential mate.  I’m driven by ambition, fueled by multiple espresso shots. I avoid alliterations always, and dodge clichés like the plague!
That’s who I am, and I’m still not sure if that’s why I’m a leader!

The infamous Marconi was once walking down the halls of MIT, where he heard Hertz tinkering with some audio equipment. Over a casual conversation, Hertz mentioned he had this piece of useless junk lying around, and wondered whether Marconi wanted it. Being the average poor student, Marconi took it from Hertz and converted it into the radio, and somehow managed to find value in something that others found ‘useless’.

“That’s amazing, you are a true spreadsheet whiz, why do we need this again?”- said my clever boss walking by my desk one day. “I come, I see, I model. I’m just chasing the useless, hoping to make it useful someday!” was my response. My boss looked at me with ambivalence and walked away. Somehow I’m convinced that in the workplace, whenever there is something new, be it banal or exciting, I need to pursue it.

My dad and I used to play scrabble together when I was a little boy. “That’s A..W..H..T; daddy that’s a double, it’s WHAT! I win”. I would gloat every time I won against my father. Winning against my mom or my brother was no big feat, but winning against my dad was an incredible accomplishment. My twelve-year-old self considered it worthy of a Nobel peace prize. With the excitement and energy of a thousand burning suns, I would look at him searchingly for signs of defeat, and he would calmly say - “I have taught you well”. He had won, even when he had lost.
It wasn’t that he was a sore loser, but the fact that he was happy to lose that ensures me that I’ll never forget that moment. Parents cherish the experience of seeing their children obtain better education than what they obtained. They hope that someday their progenies defeat them at the game of achievements in life. At the workplace, I always hope that I lose to my team members; in their wins, my success originates. I will keep doing this to be a leader!

“Hi, nice to meet you, I live in Toronto. Where are you from?” I find this statement so simple but potent.  I have managed to use it over and over again, as I have spent countless nights as a volunteer at a Toronto youth hostel.
“I’m from Italy” – replied the girl with soft Vietnamese features. Two years ago, this response would have left me in a state of confusion a dog usually finds itself in while chasing its tail; today it leaves me unperturbed. I’ve forgotten my biases and prejudices. I’m an iconoclast usually engaged in heated debates with others about their dogmas. I have opened my eyes and have accepted the reality that no one can be judged by what they look like. I have accepted that I must unlearn.

To be a leader who fosters creativity and innovation, you don’t need a team of consultants, bankers or strategic planners; you don’t need tactical plans that give you a false sense of satisfaction in a ‘saving the world’ fashion. All you really need is to look around, and realize that you’re one of those little fish and ‘this is water’; unappreciated things are all around – you simply need awareness.
You have to ensure that you find and embrace your own definition of leader, be it with an exclamation mark, comma, period or question mark – one that truly represents you.
You have to recognize that everything that you’ve been through has molded you into who you are now, be it an ice-cream truck chasing amateur or a B student stuck in the state of stateless-ness. Your connection with the world is inescapable. You touch other people’s life merely by existing.
You have to have the tenacity to walk up to your own ‘Hertz’ someday, and ask for his useless stuff and become the catalyst to turn it into something useful.
You have to be a parent in your professional life and be happy for your team members surpassing you. The best leaders comprehend that they are known for the work they get done, not the work they do themselves.
You have to constantly unlearn.


I can’t guarantee that the above-mentioned things will ensure creativity and innovation – but like Mark Twain once said – “history doesn’t repeat itself, but it sure does rhyme.”
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Sunday, June 8, 2014

Weekend Linkfest

So, Where Are My Robot Servants? http://spectrum.ieee.org/robotics/home-robots/so-where-are-my-robot-servants …
Business cards are a ritual that will last http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/e6b8c130-e1c5-11e3-b7c4-00144feabdc0.html?siteedition=intl#axzz33IZWvqqm …
Lunch with the FT: Matthieu Pigasse http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/2/b979fab2-e0d1-11e3-a934-00144feabdc0.html#axzz32aarrdkO …
'West Wing' Uncensored: Aaron Sorkin, Rob Lowe, More Look Back on Early years http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/west-wing-uncensored-aaron-sorkin-703010 …
The Trouble With IBM http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-05-22/ibms-eps-target-unhelpful-amid-cloud-computing-challenges …
A conversation with the only female Harvard Physicist ‘Physics was paradise’ http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2014/05/physics-was-paradise/ …
Life Sentences: The Pleasure of teh Typo http://theamericanreader.com/life-sentences-the-pleasure-of-teh-typo/ …
Tom Steyer: An Inconvenient Billionaire http://www.mensjournal.com/magazine/print-view/tom-steyer-an-inconvenient-billionaire-20140218 …
A Dozen Things I’ve Learned about Great CEOs from “The Outsiders” (Written by William Thorndike) http://25iq.com/2014/05/26/a-dozen-things-ive-learned-about-great-ceos-from-the-outsiders-written-by-william-thorndike/ …
Determined to quit his tired government job, one D.C. office drone saves $25,000 by renting his apartment http://narrative.ly/couch-surfing-capers/secret-life-obsessive-airbnb-host/?Src=longreads …
Life as a LEGO Professional http://priceonomics.com/life-as-a-lego-professional/ … via @priceonomics
Check out "Never like the first time!" on Vimeo http://vimeo.com/70122505 #Vimeo #animateddocumentary
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Thursday, June 5, 2014

FW: The spectacle of sports

 

 

Feed: Graphic detail
Posted on: Thursday, June 05, 2014 10:53
Author: D.D.M., J.M.F, P.K. and K.N.C.
Subject: The spectacle of sports

 

The league table of attendance at sporting events

THE football World Cup that begins next week is the biggest single sporting event measured by television audience (the Olympics, with multiple sports, is bigger). But how do the actual attendance figures compare? It turns out that a sport which Americans call "football" is considerably larger on a per game and per season basis. The victor in terms of overall popularity is North American baseball, wooing 74m Cracker Jack eaters to the stands each year, four times more than American football. Meanwhile, Indian cricket attracts fewer than 2m spectators annually. As football increases its popularity around the world, its two growth markets are China and America (where it is called soccer). But attendance figures in both countries remains paltry, at 4.5m and 6m respectively. That is between a half and a third of the amount that go to professional football games in European countries each year.

 


View article...

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Wednesday, June 4, 2014

Social Proof

In the New York Police Department, they have a simple system. Your pension is based on

your pay in your final year. So when anyone reaches the final year, everybody cooperates

to give him about 1,000 hours of overtime. And he retires - in some cases after a mere 20

years of service - with this large income. Well, of course his fellow employees help him

cheat the system. In substance, that's what's happened. But the one thing I guarantee you

is that nobody has the least sense of shame. They soon get the feeling they're entitled to do

it. Everybody did it before, everybody's doing it now - so they just keep doing it.

 

-Seeking Wisdom

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FB COO Commencement Speech



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Tuesday, June 3, 2014

What is a good business?

"First question is "how long does the management have to think before they decide to raise prices?" You're looking at marvelous business when you look in the mirror and say "mirror, mirror on the wall, how much should I charge for Coke this fall?" [And the mirror replies, "More."] That's a great business. When you say, like we used to in the textile business, when you get down on your knees, call in all the priests, rabbis, and everyone else, [and say] "just another half cent a yard." Then you get up and they say "We won't pay it." It's just night and day. I mean, if you walk into a drugstore, and you say "I'd like a Hershey bar" and the man says "I don't have any Hershey bars, but I've got this unmarked chocolate bar, and it's a nickel cheaper than a Hershey bar" you just go across the street and buy a Hershey bar. That is a good business." 




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Complex Problems

"Complicated problems are ones like sending a rocket to the moon. They can sometimes be broken down into a series of simple problems. But there is no straightforward recipe. Success frequently requires multiple people, often multiple teams, and specialized expertise. Unanticipated difficulties are frequent. Timing and coordination become serious concerns.

Complex problems are ones like raising a child. Once you learn how to send a rocket to the moon, you can repeat the process with other rockets and perfect it. One rocket is like another rocket. But not so with raising a child, the professors point out. Every child is unique. Although raising one child may provide experience, it does not guarantee success with the next child. Expertise is valuable but most certainly not sufficient. Indeed, the next child may require an entirely different approach from the previous one." 

-The Checklist Manifesto
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