The Art of War by Sun-Tzu (January 2016)
I read this book just about a year ago. Since then, it has sat untouched in my apartment, patiently waiting for me to complete the note taking process. I finally got around to it earlier in the week.
The construction of the book is very interesting. Sun Tzu (a figure almost as mysterious to me as General Gao) will make some kind of statement or hypothesis relating to an aspect of war. The text then notes a number of responses, observations, or clarifications from a group of other (equally mysterious) figures who seem to act as either students or advisors, depending on the situation. (1)
For example, Sun Tzu will note that leadership balances five qualities. Then, these advisers will chime in with notes defining the qualities or offering views on the consequences of unbalanced leadership. One such combination leads to a series of comments that I summarize as follows: "Sternness is critical to maintaining organization and encouraging discipline- but too much of it will lead to cruelty."
There were two types of insight that I found most valuable. The first formed a toolkit for assessing conditions. Taking advantage of strengths by finding or creating ideal conditions is a central tenet to this book's philosophy.
Take, for example, a boulder at rest. Its immobility on flat ground renders it useless in attack. However, if rolled down a hill, it suddenly is transformed into an unstoppable force. If your fighting force contains only boulders, seek hills or prepare for defense.
The failure to account accurately for conditions serves to restrict potential. Instead of worrying about one's weaknesses, seek an environment that emphasizes one's strengths. An apparent obstacle is often a simple restriction brought on by the environment or terrain. Instead of relying on persistence, utilize one's fluidity and adaptability. Persistence serves only to burn out while adaptation creates new perspectives and allows clear thinking about potential opportunities. Success is often clumsy yet swift.
The second type of insight established simple rules of thumb to know when things were slipping within a unit. A lapse in focus, repeated failure to carry out duties, or extended conversations among subordinates often signaled a loss of loyalty to leadership. If there is failure to advance on an opportunity or an unusually high incidence of punishments, it is a clear signal of weariness. Organizations where leaders do not share in the gains and losses of the followers are often setting themselves up for a loss of support in the future.
One up: Again, I liked the structure of my edition. The back and forth created by the many voices added layers of understanding to Master Sun's initial proclamations.
One down: I considered this book a very easy one to apply across different domains. However, it is not written with this goal in mind. The reader will need to do some work to apply these lessons to things like optimizing one's commute or organizing one's apartment.
Just saying: This book is, on the surface, about planning. Therefore, I bet many miss what I consider the main lesson- not to plan too much. The reader who absorbs this book will have a wide and varied toolkit for assessing changing conditions and adapting one's approach as necessary. But applying those tools to plan far out into the future puts one at risk of becoming wedded to elaborate plans and failing to notice the subtle signals of shifts in underlying conditions.
Footnotes / imagined complaints
1. Tim C's The Art of Reading Reviews...
Master Tim: It is likely that this book is not the exact replica of the first edition.
Tim: Books are rarely written using multiple voices.
Timmy: A book is always written twice- first by the author, then by the editors.
Tim: In translation, a book is written again.
Master Tim: The author is responsible to tell the story. It is then to the work of The Word to clarify it. So it is described in the Stephen King treatise on the matter, On Writing.
Timbo: An author excavates the story, The Word dusts the fossil.
Tim: The Word is the bridge of the mind to the world.
Timmy: An author may use many combinations to tell the same story.
Master Tim: Drafting means a progression of clarity in the story. But each draft tells the same story.
Tim-san: A skilled student draws the same lesson regardless of the teacher.
Timmy: An unclear story leaves work for the reader.
Timoteo: The publication is the map, the story the terrain.
Tim: So it is that writer transports the reader by The Word. Each draft is a station closer to the terminus.
Master Tim: Each contributor brings The Word with different vocabulary. In this way, one may simplify the complex.
Timoteo: Each reader understands the story from their own perspective.
Tim-san: The story of war is discharged by the general, the story of security is lost in the detail.
Master Tim: To find the best word is not The Word.
Timmy: The Word is the way to tell the story.
Timbo: A word is only as good as its ability to apply to the story.
Sunday, February 26, 2017
Friday, February 24, 2017
the toa game show channel presents: real or fake?
Hi folks,
One of my favorite activities in bookstores is to wander past the nonfiction new release section. I prefer nonfiction, of course, and this activity is useful in finding ideas for what to read next.
But I also get a kick out of just reading the titles. In short, I find most of them a bit ridiculous. A majority seem to predict the imminent cessation of all civilization, usually in a highly dramatic or ironic sort of way. And the puns- oh, the puns- may the pun never set on the nonfiction empire.
So, in that spirit, I've put together a short game. Below are a list of nonfiction titles mixed in with some of my own invented nonsense. Try to guess which ones are real and which ones are mine.
I'll post the answers in the prop admin post for Jan/Feb. (1)
Good luck. See you on Sunday for a review of (possibly) one of these (fake) books.
Tim
------------
1) Honeyball: How Big Data is Changing Your Relationships
2) The Porridge Clause: The True Story Of Goldilocks and Her Flight From Justice
3) Language at the Speed of Sight: How We Read, Why So Many Can't, and What Can Be Done About It
4) The Sphere-A-Mid Scheme: How Big Insurance Passes The Buck To Keep Their House Of Cards Upright
5) Apocalypse Tomorrow: Why So Many Predict the End- And Why It Never Comes
6) The Man with the Poison Gun: A Cold War Spy Story
7) Weapons of Math Destruction: How Big Data Increases Inequality and Threatens Democracy
8) The Baby Doomers- The Generation of Waste and Excess That Failed America- and What We Must Do To Fix It
9) The Great Suppression: Voting Rights, Corporate Cash, and the Conservative Assault on Democracy
10) Paying the Price: College Costs, Financial Aid, and the Betrayal of the American Dream
11) All Geek To Me: The Decade of Comic-Con, Star Wars, and The Rise of Silicon Valley
12) Heroes To Zeroes: Tales of Fleeting Success
13) Furious George: My Forty Years Surviving NBA Divas, Clueless GMs, and Poor Shot Selection
14) The Sneer of the Tiger: How Animals Proved Everything Zoos Knew About Captivity Was Wrong
15) Born To Gun: The Second Amendment and How It Fulfilled Our Manifest Destiny
16) Why Time Flies: A Mostly Scientific Explanation
17) Barking at the Wrong Me: How To Recognize- And Treat- Your Aging Dog's Mental Decline
18) Dressing In Disguise: Salsa, Hummus, and Other Healthy Ways to Garnish Your Salad
19) ci2i: The Abbv Age and How It Is Changing Communication
20 ) Let Lying Dogs Sleep: How To Navigate A Modern World of Deceit, Deception, and Misinformation
Footnotes / imagined complaints
1. I have lazy readers so I will post the answers. But...
Googling these titles yourself will give away the answers very quickly!
One of my favorite activities in bookstores is to wander past the nonfiction new release section. I prefer nonfiction, of course, and this activity is useful in finding ideas for what to read next.
But I also get a kick out of just reading the titles. In short, I find most of them a bit ridiculous. A majority seem to predict the imminent cessation of all civilization, usually in a highly dramatic or ironic sort of way. And the puns- oh, the puns- may the pun never set on the nonfiction empire.
So, in that spirit, I've put together a short game. Below are a list of nonfiction titles mixed in with some of my own invented nonsense. Try to guess which ones are real and which ones are mine.
I'll post the answers in the prop admin post for Jan/Feb. (1)
Good luck. See you on Sunday for a review of (possibly) one of these (fake) books.
Tim
------------
1) Honeyball: How Big Data is Changing Your Relationships
2) The Porridge Clause: The True Story Of Goldilocks and Her Flight From Justice
3) Language at the Speed of Sight: How We Read, Why So Many Can't, and What Can Be Done About It
4) The Sphere-A-Mid Scheme: How Big Insurance Passes The Buck To Keep Their House Of Cards Upright
5) Apocalypse Tomorrow: Why So Many Predict the End- And Why It Never Comes
6) The Man with the Poison Gun: A Cold War Spy Story
7) Weapons of Math Destruction: How Big Data Increases Inequality and Threatens Democracy
8) The Baby Doomers- The Generation of Waste and Excess That Failed America- and What We Must Do To Fix It
9) The Great Suppression: Voting Rights, Corporate Cash, and the Conservative Assault on Democracy
10) Paying the Price: College Costs, Financial Aid, and the Betrayal of the American Dream
11) All Geek To Me: The Decade of Comic-Con, Star Wars, and The Rise of Silicon Valley
12) Heroes To Zeroes: Tales of Fleeting Success
13) Furious George: My Forty Years Surviving NBA Divas, Clueless GMs, and Poor Shot Selection
14) The Sneer of the Tiger: How Animals Proved Everything Zoos Knew About Captivity Was Wrong
15) Born To Gun: The Second Amendment and How It Fulfilled Our Manifest Destiny
16) Why Time Flies: A Mostly Scientific Explanation
17) Barking at the Wrong Me: How To Recognize- And Treat- Your Aging Dog's Mental Decline
18) Dressing In Disguise: Salsa, Hummus, and Other Healthy Ways to Garnish Your Salad
19) ci2i: The Abbv Age and How It Is Changing Communication
20 ) Let Lying Dogs Sleep: How To Navigate A Modern World of Deceit, Deception, and Misinformation
Footnotes / imagined complaints
1. I have lazy readers so I will post the answers. But...
Googling these titles yourself will give away the answers very quickly!
Wednesday, February 22, 2017
boston's sad squirrels
The Public Garden is always littered with silly little animals (and litter). No, these animals I reference are not the virtual hordes of creatures those Pokemon Go enthusiasts spent all August 'catching'.
I'm talking about squirrels, ducks, pigeons, chipmunks, dogs leashed or otherwise. Go ahead, reader, name a city animal and there is a good chance one will spot a representative of the species somewhere in this iconic public space.
But rare it is to see an actual animal. And yet, every so often, a creature with the power to harm another takes its place among the pedestrians, dog-walkers, and camera-wielding tourists that so regularly ring the pond.
One day back in November, I was as amazed as anyone when a bird of prey was spotted swooping about. After closer inspectionand running a couple of basic google ('Google') searches, I'm convinced the raptor in question was a red-tailed hawk.
Seeing the bird was, without a doubt, a noteworthy event. It was one of the more interesting days of the early winter. I spent quite some time that day captivated by this hawk. It seemed to glide from branch to branch. The easy way such a powerful bird flies is in stark contrast to the frenzied flapping of a common pigeon. In fact, the hawk flies without seeming to flap. If it were possible to stroll casually from one treetop to the next, the hawk would surely do so.
It's been a few weeks since that initial surprise. But given all the athletically-limited wildlife that runs amok in the Public Garden (myself included), I suppose it is logical for a bird of prey to swing by every once in a while for an easy lunch. In fact, I'm mystified as to why these birds are not spotted diving in and out of the crowds on a more frequent basis.
Again, though I am no wildlife expert, my guess is that a bird of prey will eventually arrive wherever there is an overabundance of prey. I do not need a doctorate in zoology to know that there is a basic supply and demand mechanism in effect wherever an overabundance of prey exists in a given area.
I first acknowledged this surplus prey population on one spring morning when a squirrel walked right onto my shoulder. This was the first time that anything like this ever happened in my whole life! Up until then, I understood that the official squirrel policy was 'run away first, ask questions later'. But on that day, I realized that with so many squirrels now in the park, some number of them must have grown up learning that humans were a friendly source of food.
I suppose this particular squirrel must have been driven nuts (!) by the totally inconsistent feeding schedule established by generous passers-by. I don't know for sure if anyone fed that human-scaling squirrel, of course, but I can't identify any other reason why it would break almost three decades (editor's note: I feel old) of human-fearing tradition.
I'm hesitant to imply that I see something wrong with feeding the animals in the park (a loosely discouraged activity that I have yet to see punished). I used to feed these animals quite a bit myself when I was a little guy, coming in from the suburbs with a subway token (editor's note: I am old) and a bag of frozen bread crusts. Once thawed, I threw these crusts at the ducks that trailed along behind the Swan Boats. It's fun to feed animals.
But it's sad to see some of the squirrels in the park now. The wide range in the size and mobility of these animals implies significant variance in each squirrel's ability to feed itself. Some, I'm sure, would starve without the crumbs from charitable hands. Others grow so fat that they can barely get out of my way when I cross paths with them during a morning run.
I don't see how either type of squirrel has made it this far into the winter but, again, I hold no advanced degree in zoology. Maybe birds of prey prefer dinner to fall in the middle of the size range?
And looking solely at squirrels obscures the types of problems that some other animals can develop. Ducks or swans that eat too much 'people food' are at risk for developmental deformities.
One thing I am sure about, though, is that my general sadness in seeing these animals is a combination of a few specific sadnesses.
Anytime someone is obviously unable to fully care for itself- that's sad.
Anytime someone starts circling, waiting its turn to take advantage of such a creature- that's sad.
Anytime charity helps the giver more than the receiver- that's sad.
Anytime a bird cannot fly due to a wing deformity- that's sad.
Anytime someone considers suggesting to little kids that feeding hungry animals is a mean thing to do- that's sad.
Anytime someone acts so wildly out of their own nature in search of food- that's sad.
Anytime someone considers the meanderings of Public Garden squirrels as symbols of larger societal problems- that's sad.
Anytime clear problems have no obvious solutions- that's sad.
The day the hawk captivated a small but grateful Public Garden audience was an example of the way things could be. The hawk moved with a grace true to itself and carried out its responsibilities from the top of its food chain in the way it knew best. Unlike its prey, the lack of interference from well-meaning humans allowed it to engage with this role as the powerful raptor that nature originally intended.
Of course, humans that feed animals are acting true to their own nurturing instincts. To suggest that people leave the starving squirrel to die is like suggesting we turn our own backs to the responsibilities atop our own food chain. What is to be done about this contradiction?
The only answer, I think, is in education. To me, education is not always about learning how to do long division or memorizing facts and figures. Education means understanding the role one can play as a higher-thinking participant in a complex environment. It means knowing the time to intervene and the time to let things be. It means knowing that suffering is an indispensable part of life yet recognizing that everything should be done to avoid or alleviate it.
A good education achieves a full understanding of the nuances and balances inherent to any complex situation. It examines the challenge of living within contradictions and equips the student with a toolkit to navigate these situations without leaning on extremist or dichotomous points of view.
I'm not sure how to best apply the concept to the local problem of squirrels. My education here has a long way to go. I am willing to guess, though, that a no-feeding policy will lead to piles of starved squirrel carcasses in the spring. And opening the floodgates on squirrel feeding is likely to invite foxes, coyotes, or snakes into the area. (I'll assume the dog-walkers won't welcome that development.)
I suppose that leaves just a middle ground here. Again, I can't really guess what such a place might look like. Middle grounds are large spaces- it means anything except the two extremes- but one benefit of that is it affords any well-intended idea the time of day.
A way to help park-goers understand that bread will harm most wildlife is probably a decent start. Discouraging people from emboldening wildlife to the point that they lose their natural fear of approaching humans (or at least me) is also critical. Education that reinforces an understanding of how wildlife differs from the domesticated is too important to overemphasize.
The most important lesson, in my mind, will involve helping people balance the contradiction that while for humans suffering is a valuable and perhaps necessary learning tool, it is also the most vital human task to avoid or alleviate suffering whenever possible. Passively accepted or policy-generated suffering isn't a growth opportunity, its sadistic.
So, perhaps the right direction involves better equipping people to feed the animals. It's worth the effort, even if it is a tiny step like adding coin-operated dispensers with squirrel friendly food around the park.
I'm not sure if this step would help someone learn these important lessons from a trip to the park. But every step that might lead there is worth considering, at the very least, because incorporating education whenever possible reinforces the idea that the cycle of learning and application never stops.
I'm talking about squirrels, ducks, pigeons, chipmunks, dogs leashed or otherwise. Go ahead, reader, name a city animal and there is a good chance one will spot a representative of the species somewhere in this iconic public space.
But rare it is to see an actual animal. And yet, every so often, a creature with the power to harm another takes its place among the pedestrians, dog-walkers, and camera-wielding tourists that so regularly ring the pond.
One day back in November, I was as amazed as anyone when a bird of prey was spotted swooping about. After closer inspection
Seeing the bird was, without a doubt, a noteworthy event. It was one of the more interesting days of the early winter. I spent quite some time that day captivated by this hawk. It seemed to glide from branch to branch. The easy way such a powerful bird flies is in stark contrast to the frenzied flapping of a common pigeon. In fact, the hawk flies without seeming to flap. If it were possible to stroll casually from one treetop to the next, the hawk would surely do so.
It's been a few weeks since that initial surprise. But given all the athletically-limited wildlife that runs amok in the Public Garden (myself included), I suppose it is logical for a bird of prey to swing by every once in a while for an easy lunch. In fact, I'm mystified as to why these birds are not spotted diving in and out of the crowds on a more frequent basis.
Again, though I am no wildlife expert, my guess is that a bird of prey will eventually arrive wherever there is an overabundance of prey. I do not need a doctorate in zoology to know that there is a basic supply and demand mechanism in effect wherever an overabundance of prey exists in a given area.
I first acknowledged this surplus prey population on one spring morning when a squirrel walked right onto my shoulder. This was the first time that anything like this ever happened in my whole life! Up until then, I understood that the official squirrel policy was 'run away first, ask questions later'. But on that day, I realized that with so many squirrels now in the park, some number of them must have grown up learning that humans were a friendly source of food.
I suppose this particular squirrel must have been driven nuts (!) by the totally inconsistent feeding schedule established by generous passers-by. I don't know for sure if anyone fed that human-scaling squirrel, of course, but I can't identify any other reason why it would break almost three decades (editor's note: I feel old) of human-fearing tradition.
I'm hesitant to imply that I see something wrong with feeding the animals in the park (a loosely discouraged activity that I have yet to see punished). I used to feed these animals quite a bit myself when I was a little guy, coming in from the suburbs with a subway token (editor's note: I am old) and a bag of frozen bread crusts. Once thawed, I threw these crusts at the ducks that trailed along behind the Swan Boats. It's fun to feed animals.
But it's sad to see some of the squirrels in the park now. The wide range in the size and mobility of these animals implies significant variance in each squirrel's ability to feed itself. Some, I'm sure, would starve without the crumbs from charitable hands. Others grow so fat that they can barely get out of my way when I cross paths with them during a morning run.
I don't see how either type of squirrel has made it this far into the winter but, again, I hold no advanced degree in zoology. Maybe birds of prey prefer dinner to fall in the middle of the size range?
And looking solely at squirrels obscures the types of problems that some other animals can develop. Ducks or swans that eat too much 'people food' are at risk for developmental deformities.
One thing I am sure about, though, is that my general sadness in seeing these animals is a combination of a few specific sadnesses.
Anytime someone is obviously unable to fully care for itself- that's sad.
Anytime someone starts circling, waiting its turn to take advantage of such a creature- that's sad.
Anytime charity helps the giver more than the receiver- that's sad.
Anytime a bird cannot fly due to a wing deformity- that's sad.
Anytime someone considers suggesting to little kids that feeding hungry animals is a mean thing to do- that's sad.
Anytime someone acts so wildly out of their own nature in search of food- that's sad.
Anytime someone considers the meanderings of Public Garden squirrels as symbols of larger societal problems- that's sad.
Anytime clear problems have no obvious solutions- that's sad.
The day the hawk captivated a small but grateful Public Garden audience was an example of the way things could be. The hawk moved with a grace true to itself and carried out its responsibilities from the top of its food chain in the way it knew best. Unlike its prey, the lack of interference from well-meaning humans allowed it to engage with this role as the powerful raptor that nature originally intended.
Of course, humans that feed animals are acting true to their own nurturing instincts. To suggest that people leave the starving squirrel to die is like suggesting we turn our own backs to the responsibilities atop our own food chain. What is to be done about this contradiction?
The only answer, I think, is in education. To me, education is not always about learning how to do long division or memorizing facts and figures. Education means understanding the role one can play as a higher-thinking participant in a complex environment. It means knowing the time to intervene and the time to let things be. It means knowing that suffering is an indispensable part of life yet recognizing that everything should be done to avoid or alleviate it.
A good education achieves a full understanding of the nuances and balances inherent to any complex situation. It examines the challenge of living within contradictions and equips the student with a toolkit to navigate these situations without leaning on extremist or dichotomous points of view.
I'm not sure how to best apply the concept to the local problem of squirrels. My education here has a long way to go. I am willing to guess, though, that a no-feeding policy will lead to piles of starved squirrel carcasses in the spring. And opening the floodgates on squirrel feeding is likely to invite foxes, coyotes, or snakes into the area. (I'll assume the dog-walkers won't welcome that development.)
I suppose that leaves just a middle ground here. Again, I can't really guess what such a place might look like. Middle grounds are large spaces- it means anything except the two extremes- but one benefit of that is it affords any well-intended idea the time of day.
A way to help park-goers understand that bread will harm most wildlife is probably a decent start. Discouraging people from emboldening wildlife to the point that they lose their natural fear of approaching humans (or at least me) is also critical. Education that reinforces an understanding of how wildlife differs from the domesticated is too important to overemphasize.
The most important lesson, in my mind, will involve helping people balance the contradiction that while for humans suffering is a valuable and perhaps necessary learning tool, it is also the most vital human task to avoid or alleviate suffering whenever possible. Passively accepted or policy-generated suffering isn't a growth opportunity, its sadistic.
So, perhaps the right direction involves better equipping people to feed the animals. It's worth the effort, even if it is a tiny step like adding coin-operated dispensers with squirrel friendly food around the park.
I'm not sure if this step would help someone learn these important lessons from a trip to the park. But every step that might lead there is worth considering, at the very least, because incorporating education whenever possible reinforces the idea that the cycle of learning and application never stops.
Sunday, February 19, 2017
2016 books of the year, part 3- fallen leaves
Hi all,
The second of my three favorite books from 2016.
Tim
Fallen Leaves: Last Words on Life, Love, War, and God by Will Durant (November 2016)
This short collection of essays represents Durant finally 'speaking his mind' on the issues, events, and forces he wrote about so impersonally over six highly-decorated decades as a philosopher and historian. This posthumously published collection sees Durant explore many of the big ideas that we ponder throughout our lifetimes. The end result was a book that drove home his idea about what a 'good life' meant to him and undoubtedly will help many readers better understand how they might achieve this ideal for themselves, their communities, and their countries.
Unlike Tiny Beautiful Things or my third and final 'book of 2016' (a novel), Fallen Leaves is the type of book I tend to often read. It presents the distilled wisdom of Durant's near-century of experience in a way that readers can take or leave as they see fit. The writing is calm and thoughtful throughout and, as a reader, I was comfortable in rolling with some of his outdated views in order to fully immerse in the depth of his remaining insights.
I wrote briefly in December about how much I liked his comment regarding the need for a society to plan for peace in the same way it plans for war. The need is greater, in fact, due to a society almost always facing stronger incentives to go to war over remaining at peace. This thoughtful criticism exemplifies much of what I liked about the work- it's focus on the big-picture, a willingness to cut off his own suggestions when he senses that the details are better left to the more qualified, an unshakable conviction that goodness will win out in the end.
There is insight into what Durant considers the natural threats to the stability of a healthy, productive, and peaceful society. He notes the inevitable natural forces that lead to wealth accumulation, acknowledges that the birth rate is always incentivized to outpace the death rate, and concedes that a capitalist state is defined by its struggle to define its relationship with welfare as burdensome or symbiotic. In each case, he describes the effects of various policy levers that a government might use to address these and delivers his prescriptions in a measured and sympathetic prose.
Durant accumulated his knowledge over a lifetime of dedicated study. His experience undoubtedly influences the underlying theme of these essays- that ongoing improvement of education is the one non-negotiable component in maintaining the progress of society. Durant values education above any other institution of civilization. He views the fully educated as those who can control, enjoy, and understand their own lives. A society full of these people is prepared to understand the patterns of sixty centuries of human history and take the preventative measures needed to avoid the pitfalls that doomed so many of our predecessors.
The most powerful idea here, though, in a way does conflict with his views on education. The young, writes Durant, should prioritize love over gold. Love is the eternal human product, one that radiates naturally from us at birth, but it is soon smothered under the never-ending absorption of all the unnatural skills one must learn to thrive- morality, civility, prohibitions, financial caution. To Durant, wisdom in youth is valuing love over gold, even if it comes in conflict with the goals of the educational process that he championed so consistently in his life and in his writing.
I recognize that, in a way, this book arrived at just about the perfect time. In November, it was clear that many would look back on 2016 as the year they were challenged to accept the faults and limitations of their neighbors. Some rose to the occasion and sought ways to relate across differences. Others chose to entrench in their positions and resorted to pettiness or finger-pointing.
In reading books like Fallen Leaves, I'm finding ways to handle society's setbacks a little better. The concepts found here show pathways to acceptance with the imperfections of our states. To expect society to improve faster than the people within it defines utopian thinking, Durant writes.
But such a concession does not mean passively accepting the lethargic pace of change and progress. Rather, it means each person taking initiative to find their own way of influencing others and accelerating progress. It means forcing society to match the pace of the people, not forcing people to slow their pace to society.
The big ideas that push law and policy forward are seductive. Outlaw the cages and the chickens roam free.
But it's the little stuff, day by day, that adds up. Educate eggs consumers and the letter of the cage law becomes irrelevant.
Such a view at the start of 2017 is empowering. It means that, no matter the realities of policy or leadership, society can still change as long as the people are finding ways to influence change. It means accelerating at the grassroots so that society is forced to catch up. That kind of thing doesn't happen if the effort comes once every four years. It has to come every day, in the way we interact with our neighbors or participate in our communities.
The second of my three favorite books from 2016.
Tim
Fallen Leaves: Last Words on Life, Love, War, and God by Will Durant (November 2016)
This short collection of essays represents Durant finally 'speaking his mind' on the issues, events, and forces he wrote about so impersonally over six highly-decorated decades as a philosopher and historian. This posthumously published collection sees Durant explore many of the big ideas that we ponder throughout our lifetimes. The end result was a book that drove home his idea about what a 'good life' meant to him and undoubtedly will help many readers better understand how they might achieve this ideal for themselves, their communities, and their countries.
Unlike Tiny Beautiful Things or my third and final 'book of 2016' (a novel), Fallen Leaves is the type of book I tend to often read. It presents the distilled wisdom of Durant's near-century of experience in a way that readers can take or leave as they see fit. The writing is calm and thoughtful throughout and, as a reader, I was comfortable in rolling with some of his outdated views in order to fully immerse in the depth of his remaining insights.
I wrote briefly in December about how much I liked his comment regarding the need for a society to plan for peace in the same way it plans for war. The need is greater, in fact, due to a society almost always facing stronger incentives to go to war over remaining at peace. This thoughtful criticism exemplifies much of what I liked about the work- it's focus on the big-picture, a willingness to cut off his own suggestions when he senses that the details are better left to the more qualified, an unshakable conviction that goodness will win out in the end.
There is insight into what Durant considers the natural threats to the stability of a healthy, productive, and peaceful society. He notes the inevitable natural forces that lead to wealth accumulation, acknowledges that the birth rate is always incentivized to outpace the death rate, and concedes that a capitalist state is defined by its struggle to define its relationship with welfare as burdensome or symbiotic. In each case, he describes the effects of various policy levers that a government might use to address these and delivers his prescriptions in a measured and sympathetic prose.
Durant accumulated his knowledge over a lifetime of dedicated study. His experience undoubtedly influences the underlying theme of these essays- that ongoing improvement of education is the one non-negotiable component in maintaining the progress of society. Durant values education above any other institution of civilization. He views the fully educated as those who can control, enjoy, and understand their own lives. A society full of these people is prepared to understand the patterns of sixty centuries of human history and take the preventative measures needed to avoid the pitfalls that doomed so many of our predecessors.
The most powerful idea here, though, in a way does conflict with his views on education. The young, writes Durant, should prioritize love over gold. Love is the eternal human product, one that radiates naturally from us at birth, but it is soon smothered under the never-ending absorption of all the unnatural skills one must learn to thrive- morality, civility, prohibitions, financial caution. To Durant, wisdom in youth is valuing love over gold, even if it comes in conflict with the goals of the educational process that he championed so consistently in his life and in his writing.
I recognize that, in a way, this book arrived at just about the perfect time. In November, it was clear that many would look back on 2016 as the year they were challenged to accept the faults and limitations of their neighbors. Some rose to the occasion and sought ways to relate across differences. Others chose to entrench in their positions and resorted to pettiness or finger-pointing.
In reading books like Fallen Leaves, I'm finding ways to handle society's setbacks a little better. The concepts found here show pathways to acceptance with the imperfections of our states. To expect society to improve faster than the people within it defines utopian thinking, Durant writes.
But such a concession does not mean passively accepting the lethargic pace of change and progress. Rather, it means each person taking initiative to find their own way of influencing others and accelerating progress. It means forcing society to match the pace of the people, not forcing people to slow their pace to society.
The big ideas that push law and policy forward are seductive. Outlaw the cages and the chickens roam free.
But it's the little stuff, day by day, that adds up. Educate eggs consumers and the letter of the cage law becomes irrelevant.
Such a view at the start of 2017 is empowering. It means that, no matter the realities of policy or leadership, society can still change as long as the people are finding ways to influence change. It means accelerating at the grassroots so that society is forced to catch up. That kind of thing doesn't happen if the effort comes once every four years. It has to come every day, in the way we interact with our neighbors or participate in our communities.
Friday, February 17, 2017
bitter old man: "i've seen bigger"
The world's biggest moon ever, or something like that (editor's note: the largest moon since 1948), was due to orbit Boston for a few days back in mid-November. Luckily for us unemployed star-gazers, conditions aligned to make the waterfront a perfect viewing spot for moonrise at 4:55 pm on November 14.
I spent a couple of hours exploring East Cambridge (it is capitalized, no?) by bike before making my way over towards the ocean just after four o'clock. The sun was just about 'all set' by then but there remained enough light to confirm clear skies over Logan Airport, the landmark over which the 'supermoon' was due to make its historic appearance. Clear skies were required to see the moon, I guess, even if it was the biggest one in several decades.
And so, anticipating the momentous occasion about to come, I wandered along the harbor and found a place among a good crowd of around fifty to deliberately watch the moonrise for the first time in my life.
There were several false dawns, so to speak, usually involving lights from the airport coming on and off. Eventually, right on schedule, the moon slowly crept over the horizon. Everyone oohed and pointed at what was very obviously the moon, the brightest thing in the sky, so obviously the biggest...disappointment I've ever seen!
I'm very sure, in fact, that I've even seen a bigger moon. It was on July 31, 2015. I wandered out early for a run, far too early, but back then waking up before 5am was just an opportunity to try for eight miles instead of my usual five. So I wandered out to the Charles River and, hanging over the Citgo sign by Fenway Park, was greeted by what I'm sure remains the biggest visible moon in the history of the commonwealth.
There must be some kind of meteorological explanation for this. Perhaps the setting moon is, by default, larger than the rising one? Well, I guess we all learn.
The most interesting realization I had in watching moonrise was how little actual light the moon brought to the sky. The space it occupied among the stars was fully lit, of course, but there was no evidence of light if I looked just to the left or right of it.
The place I watched this moonrise from just happened to be the same location from which I've witnessed many sunrises over the past few years. The contrast between the two events is significant. For one, sunrise, though always marked exactly on a calendar, is always a drawn-out event.
The sky awakens gradually as the sun approaches the horizon. The early light reaches out to greet the dark clouds lingering above and the warming air seems to refresh the paleness of last night's sky. As anticipation for the appearance of the day's protagonist builds, the heavens are set alight with the illuminating hues of orange and red.
The arrival of the sun, the main event, wipes away the grumbling of anyone still ruing their decision to wake at such an early hour. The shimmering brightness brings a sense of great possibility at no better time- the whole day is literally ahead.
Not so with the moon, super or otherwise. The moonrise happens despite the sky's disinterest. Look away for a minute and you might miss it (though 'miss what' remains the open question for me).
Seeing the 'supermoon' come up was nice in an anecdotal way. But I'm not sure I'll be sprinting down to the nearest open space the next time a moon as large comes our way.
I spent a couple of hours exploring East Cambridge (it is capitalized, no?) by bike before making my way over towards the ocean just after four o'clock. The sun was just about 'all set' by then but there remained enough light to confirm clear skies over Logan Airport, the landmark over which the 'supermoon' was due to make its historic appearance. Clear skies were required to see the moon, I guess, even if it was the biggest one in several decades.
And so, anticipating the momentous occasion about to come, I wandered along the harbor and found a place among a good crowd of around fifty to deliberately watch the moonrise for the first time in my life.
There were several false dawns, so to speak, usually involving lights from the airport coming on and off. Eventually, right on schedule, the moon slowly crept over the horizon. Everyone oohed and pointed at what was very obviously the moon, the brightest thing in the sky, so obviously the biggest...disappointment I've ever seen!
I'm very sure, in fact, that I've even seen a bigger moon. It was on July 31, 2015. I wandered out early for a run, far too early, but back then waking up before 5am was just an opportunity to try for eight miles instead of my usual five. So I wandered out to the Charles River and, hanging over the Citgo sign by Fenway Park, was greeted by what I'm sure remains the biggest visible moon in the history of the commonwealth.
There must be some kind of meteorological explanation for this. Perhaps the setting moon is, by default, larger than the rising one? Well, I guess we all learn.
The most interesting realization I had in watching moonrise was how little actual light the moon brought to the sky. The space it occupied among the stars was fully lit, of course, but there was no evidence of light if I looked just to the left or right of it.
The place I watched this moonrise from just happened to be the same location from which I've witnessed many sunrises over the past few years. The contrast between the two events is significant. For one, sunrise, though always marked exactly on a calendar, is always a drawn-out event.
The sky awakens gradually as the sun approaches the horizon. The early light reaches out to greet the dark clouds lingering above and the warming air seems to refresh the paleness of last night's sky. As anticipation for the appearance of the day's protagonist builds, the heavens are set alight with the illuminating hues of orange and red.
The arrival of the sun, the main event, wipes away the grumbling of anyone still ruing their decision to wake at such an early hour. The shimmering brightness brings a sense of great possibility at no better time- the whole day is literally ahead.
Not so with the moon, super or otherwise. The moonrise happens despite the sky's disinterest. Look away for a minute and you might miss it (though 'miss what' remains the open question for me).
Seeing the 'supermoon' come up was nice in an anecdotal way. But I'm not sure I'll be sprinting down to the nearest open space the next time a moon as large comes our way.
Wednesday, February 15, 2017
prop admin- december 2016 reading review, part 3
Hello all,
Here is part three of my look at December's reading- and there is still one more part to go. December turned out to be a big reading month!
I did suggest about two weeks ago that I would limit book posts to Sundays AND that I would limit such posts to one book at a time. The following breaks two commitments with one post. (No matter what anyone thinks about my inability to keep my word, I should be given credit for improving my efficiency.)
I decided, in this case, that the best way to transition into the new format was to apply the concept to 2017 reading projects. I do anticipate some 'cleanup' reviews, as well, for books I do not write about on Sundays. I'm not sure if those will go into posts like this one or if I will take care of them all during 'proper admin'.
But enough of all that. You are here to read about what I read.
So, thanks for stopping by. Enjoy the post. See you all again on Friday.
Tim
*The Quarter-Life Breakthrough: Invent Your Own Path, Find Meaningful Work, and Build a Life That Matters by Adam Poswolsky (12/18)
I received this as a gift from someone who was reminded of me while considering this book. Good thinking!
This book runs with one of my common reading themes- that of challenging assumptions and restoring connections within oneself. Specifically, it addresses the work required to do this in the context of considering one's own career.
Though this work was not written with a rigid A-then-B-then-C flow, it did organize itself around a loose structure. The early portion focused on examining one's natural assumptions about achieving success and finding meaning at work. Many enter the workforce and immediately link success with progression up a career ladder. Others seek meaning by comparing the 'meaningfulness' of various professions against each other in a quest to determine the most meaningful role. Though there is nothing inherently wrong with either approach, the early portion of the book does challenge the reader to define success or measure meaning on one's own terms.
The next section helped the reader establish definitions for success in ways that encourage the full commitment of self. A writer, for example, is someone who writes, not someone who sells books. And for the person who never could answer the question 'what do you want to be when you grow up?', Poslowsky helpfully suggests thinking instead in terms of how one wants to be as a grown up. And for those still unsure of what their passion is, I think the suggestion of serving the people or the organizations that you love is a very good piece of advice.
The final step here is alignment of one's personality, professional goals, and career. A strong indication that one is on the right path involves learning. If one learns each day on the job, that's a strong step. On the other hand, if everything needed for the role is absorbed within months of the start date, perhaps one is in a dead end job. As one develops skills and learns about the industries they are interested in, their ability to lead authentically is cultivated naturally by fusing personal and professional purpose.
The biggest lesson from this read is simply stated. If you are not constantly utilizing the qualities you like most about yourself, it is probably time to consider a change. That is good advice, personal and professional, both for those at the quarter-life mark and for those beyond it.
One up: A lot of the anecdotes I come across in this kind of read utilize 'famous' stories to illustrate some concept (note: shoot me the next time I read about Pixar's bathrooms). The stories shared here focus mainly on people in the author's network. I found this approach refreshing.
One down: Read the title again- invent, find, build- those all suggest action. The reader seeking to sit passively and learn steps one, two, and three, applied exactly to Poswolsky's specifications, will get very little from this book. There are exercises within to help kick-start the thinking process, if needed, but I think the reader who already holds a question or two about life and career will find this book more insightful than someone coming to the idea cold.
Just saying: This book is not to be confused with the self-published The Quarter-Life Breakthrough by the same author. The book I've just reviewed (well, 'reviewed') is an expanded version of the original.
*On Writing by Stephen King (12/23)
This 'memoir on the craft' examines the events, people, and projects that influenced King's development. The result is a detailed yet enjoyable exploration of the skills and attributes that King considers critical for any writer.
Despite never having read any of his bestsellers, I recognized almost immediately why he is considered such an excellent writer. The manner in which he tells his story is clear, consistent, and above all, entertaining.
The work offers advice both detailed and general for any level of writer. I enjoyed his distrust of pronouns and automatic dismissal of adverbs, citing the tendency of these parts of speech to generate confusion and encourage lazy description. I also thought his formula for second drafts- first draft minus 10%- combined with his recommendation to keep people who cannot articulate their thoughts about writing away from your revisions formed a good general guideline for the process of rewriting.
I valued most his insights into how writers can guide their own development. For starters, a writer must read often to gain the broadest possible 'toolkit' of strategies for forming sentences, crafting paragraphs, and developing arguments. Over time, the challenge is to write (and write and write) about what is true to the writer.
The most important thing, King notes, is that readers believe that the writer believes what has been written. Writers who stop and think about big picture too often will find this challenging. Before worrying about what the dream means, get the details of it down first.
One up: King follows his own rules throughout, which I do think is important. He states in one passage that his idea of good description is fresh images and simple vocabulary- in another, he puts this idea into practice by suggesting that telling an alcoholic to control his drinking is like telling someone with diarrhea to get their shit together.
One down: This book is definitely about writing, in general, but keep in mind that Stephen King writes a certain type of fiction. I should also mention that it seems his projects cover many months at a time. Thus, I suspect his recommendations will prove most useful to those who write fiction over a period of months.
Of course, in the same way that a sprinter might learn from a marathon runner, I think any writer can learn from another. But do not go overboard trying to apply everything to your writing.
Just saying: The sharpest idea in this book was that the idea of good writing is perhaps an enemy of good writing (or perhaps one's ability to produce good writing). It ties into a thought I had from The Quarter-Life Breakthrough that perhaps one's search for meaning can become an obstacle to finding it.
Write anything, King suggests, so long as its true. And if you can write in a manner that resembles play as much as work, you are likely on to something good.
This idea may not have been King's original thought. That's OK, because the first note I took down from the book warns the reader- 'Imitation precedes creation'.
*Champions League Dreams by Rafa Benitez (12/27)
*Belichick and Brady by Michael Holley (12/30)
With word counting running high in this post and a couple of drafts for other sports books sitting on my 'to complete' list, I am going to cover these in a future post. Both were enjoyable reads but I do not recommend them to anyone not already a fan of the teams profiled in these works.
*milk and honey by Rupi Kaur (12/31)
Combining poetry, prose, and simple illustrations, milk and honey covers Kaur's journey in four chapters- the hurting, the loving, the breaking, and the healing. As always is the case when I approach poetry, I was unsure what my reaction would be.
The first poem (in addition to solving the 'mystery' of the title) sucked me right in:
A week after reading, I'm still not quite sure what to make of Kaur's collection. It's a short read, around an hour long, but I'm not guaranteeing that I'll read it again. But I think the truth of that first poem will stay with me for a long time.
One up: I was reminded of a favorite idea from Religion For Atheists here- that a strength of religion is its ability to reinforce messages through repetition and imagery in its artwork. Many of the pieces in this collection reinforce the theme of survival leading to strengthening. Over the course of the work, the pieces work together and the momentum of this theme builds.
One down: This book is very personal. That's not a problem for me. But if you come to this collection seeking new themes or often struggle to connect emotionally with a personal work, perhaps your time is better spent taking a short nap.
Just saying: Though I am entirely sure this is not the first book I've read from someone younger than me, I can confirm it is the first time I've realized this to be the case while I was still reading the work. (1)
Footnotes / imagined complaints
1. It's kind of silly that the footnotes is for the last sentence of the post, but, whatever...
I guess, technically, anytime you re-read something you wrote, it is a case of reading something by an author younger than yourself!
Here is part three of my look at December's reading- and there is still one more part to go. December turned out to be a big reading month!
I did suggest about two weeks ago that I would limit book posts to Sundays AND that I would limit such posts to one book at a time. The following breaks two commitments with one post. (No matter what anyone thinks about my inability to keep my word, I should be given credit for improving my efficiency.)
I decided, in this case, that the best way to transition into the new format was to apply the concept to 2017 reading projects. I do anticipate some 'cleanup' reviews, as well, for books I do not write about on Sundays. I'm not sure if those will go into posts like this one or if I will take care of them all during 'proper admin'.
But enough of all that. You are here to read about what I read.
So, thanks for stopping by. Enjoy the post. See you all again on Friday.
Tim
*The Quarter-Life Breakthrough: Invent Your Own Path, Find Meaningful Work, and Build a Life That Matters by Adam Poswolsky (12/18)
I received this as a gift from someone who was reminded of me while considering this book. Good thinking!
This book runs with one of my common reading themes- that of challenging assumptions and restoring connections within oneself. Specifically, it addresses the work required to do this in the context of considering one's own career.
Though this work was not written with a rigid A-then-B-then-C flow, it did organize itself around a loose structure. The early portion focused on examining one's natural assumptions about achieving success and finding meaning at work. Many enter the workforce and immediately link success with progression up a career ladder. Others seek meaning by comparing the 'meaningfulness' of various professions against each other in a quest to determine the most meaningful role. Though there is nothing inherently wrong with either approach, the early portion of the book does challenge the reader to define success or measure meaning on one's own terms.
The next section helped the reader establish definitions for success in ways that encourage the full commitment of self. A writer, for example, is someone who writes, not someone who sells books. And for the person who never could answer the question 'what do you want to be when you grow up?', Poslowsky helpfully suggests thinking instead in terms of how one wants to be as a grown up. And for those still unsure of what their passion is, I think the suggestion of serving the people or the organizations that you love is a very good piece of advice.
The final step here is alignment of one's personality, professional goals, and career. A strong indication that one is on the right path involves learning. If one learns each day on the job, that's a strong step. On the other hand, if everything needed for the role is absorbed within months of the start date, perhaps one is in a dead end job. As one develops skills and learns about the industries they are interested in, their ability to lead authentically is cultivated naturally by fusing personal and professional purpose.
The biggest lesson from this read is simply stated. If you are not constantly utilizing the qualities you like most about yourself, it is probably time to consider a change. That is good advice, personal and professional, both for those at the quarter-life mark and for those beyond it.
One up: A lot of the anecdotes I come across in this kind of read utilize 'famous' stories to illustrate some concept (note: shoot me the next time I read about Pixar's bathrooms). The stories shared here focus mainly on people in the author's network. I found this approach refreshing.
One down: Read the title again- invent, find, build- those all suggest action. The reader seeking to sit passively and learn steps one, two, and three, applied exactly to Poswolsky's specifications, will get very little from this book. There are exercises within to help kick-start the thinking process, if needed, but I think the reader who already holds a question or two about life and career will find this book more insightful than someone coming to the idea cold.
Just saying: This book is not to be confused with the self-published The Quarter-Life Breakthrough by the same author. The book I've just reviewed (well, 'reviewed') is an expanded version of the original.
*On Writing by Stephen King (12/23)
This 'memoir on the craft' examines the events, people, and projects that influenced King's development. The result is a detailed yet enjoyable exploration of the skills and attributes that King considers critical for any writer.
Despite never having read any of his bestsellers, I recognized almost immediately why he is considered such an excellent writer. The manner in which he tells his story is clear, consistent, and above all, entertaining.
The work offers advice both detailed and general for any level of writer. I enjoyed his distrust of pronouns and automatic dismissal of adverbs, citing the tendency of these parts of speech to generate confusion and encourage lazy description. I also thought his formula for second drafts- first draft minus 10%- combined with his recommendation to keep people who cannot articulate their thoughts about writing away from your revisions formed a good general guideline for the process of rewriting.
I valued most his insights into how writers can guide their own development. For starters, a writer must read often to gain the broadest possible 'toolkit' of strategies for forming sentences, crafting paragraphs, and developing arguments. Over time, the challenge is to write (and write and write) about what is true to the writer.
The most important thing, King notes, is that readers believe that the writer believes what has been written. Writers who stop and think about big picture too often will find this challenging. Before worrying about what the dream means, get the details of it down first.
One up: King follows his own rules throughout, which I do think is important. He states in one passage that his idea of good description is fresh images and simple vocabulary- in another, he puts this idea into practice by suggesting that telling an alcoholic to control his drinking is like telling someone with diarrhea to get their shit together.
One down: This book is definitely about writing, in general, but keep in mind that Stephen King writes a certain type of fiction. I should also mention that it seems his projects cover many months at a time. Thus, I suspect his recommendations will prove most useful to those who write fiction over a period of months.
Of course, in the same way that a sprinter might learn from a marathon runner, I think any writer can learn from another. But do not go overboard trying to apply everything to your writing.
Just saying: The sharpest idea in this book was that the idea of good writing is perhaps an enemy of good writing (or perhaps one's ability to produce good writing). It ties into a thought I had from The Quarter-Life Breakthrough that perhaps one's search for meaning can become an obstacle to finding it.
Write anything, King suggests, so long as its true. And if you can write in a manner that resembles play as much as work, you are likely on to something good.
This idea may not have been King's original thought. That's OK, because the first note I took down from the book warns the reader- 'Imitation precedes creation'.
*Champions League Dreams by Rafa Benitez (12/27)
*Belichick and Brady by Michael Holley (12/30)
With word counting running high in this post and a couple of drafts for other sports books sitting on my 'to complete' list, I am going to cover these in a future post. Both were enjoyable reads but I do not recommend them to anyone not already a fan of the teams profiled in these works.
*milk and honey by Rupi Kaur (12/31)
Combining poetry, prose, and simple illustrations, milk and honey covers Kaur's journey in four chapters- the hurting, the loving, the breaking, and the healing. As always is the case when I approach poetry, I was unsure what my reaction would be.
The first poem (in addition to solving the 'mystery' of the title) sucked me right in:
how is it so easy for you
to be kind to people, he asked
milk and honey dripped
from my lips as i answered
cause people have not
been kind to me
A week after reading, I'm still not quite sure what to make of Kaur's collection. It's a short read, around an hour long, but I'm not guaranteeing that I'll read it again. But I think the truth of that first poem will stay with me for a long time.
One up: I was reminded of a favorite idea from Religion For Atheists here- that a strength of religion is its ability to reinforce messages through repetition and imagery in its artwork. Many of the pieces in this collection reinforce the theme of survival leading to strengthening. Over the course of the work, the pieces work together and the momentum of this theme builds.
One down: This book is very personal. That's not a problem for me. But if you come to this collection seeking new themes or often struggle to connect emotionally with a personal work, perhaps your time is better spent taking a short nap.
Just saying: Though I am entirely sure this is not the first book I've read from someone younger than me, I can confirm it is the first time I've realized this to be the case while I was still reading the work. (1)
Footnotes / imagined complaints
1. It's kind of silly that the footnotes is for the last sentence of the post, but, whatever...
I guess, technically, anytime you re-read something you wrote, it is a case of reading something by an author younger than yourself!
Sunday, February 12, 2017
reading review- tenth of december
Tenth of December by George Saunders (February 2017)
My first major 'author project' of 2017 is to read all of George Saunders's published work. Most of his writing is like this collection of short fiction, Tenth of December, but he's also published novellas and the odd essay or two.
I've always meant to return to his work. The timing was right to start now, though, due to his upcoming February 17 appearance in Cambridge. (1)
My oversimplified summary of Tenth of December is that it is a collection of stories about people trying to do their best. Many of his characters make that effort despite the weight of circumstance or influence of personal history that tempts them to do otherwise.
No piece better embodied the idea for me than the title story. What an achievement this story is. I have not looked at the semi-frozen Charles River in the same way since. It's hard to write about work like this because I am afraid that my own comments will fall far short of doing it justice.
For me, the title story clarified the role my own development over the past couple of years played in how I responded to these stories. I first read Tenth of December in June of 2013. I did not get much out of the collection back then beyond the simple pleasure of enjoying his stories. My guess is that the title story made no significant impact on me at the time.
This time around, I found that this is truly a full collection, with stories equally capable of making a reader think, laugh, or cry. As I finished this book, I reflected on my own growth as a reader and as a person during the time that passed between readings.
I've always thought that I responded to the stories I saw myself reflected in. Works like Tenth of December are adding nuance to that simplistic view. I found myself relating to and understanding characters from a book that contained exactly zero people I considered similar to me.
In some way, perhaps reading books like this helps in the lifelong challenge of finding ways to relate across differences with others. The more enriching reading I do, the fuller my toolbox for relating to others becomes.
The book that acts as a mirror, serving only to return my reflection, is almost always the most enjoyable kind of work I read. But too much of it threatens to keep me locked into my current place. It's the proverbial bubble of comfort, familiarity, and fun that slowly becomes the breeding ground of complacency.
The book that forces me to understand what others see when they look into their own mirrors is the kind that I need to continue seeking out. Reading work like this, work like Tenth of December, will help me continue to build the empathy and compassion needed to meet the challenge of continuing to relate across my differences with others.
One up: Saunders is a funny writer. When I started reading one of the stories, I thought to myself, 'wait, is this the story with the chart?'. I flipped ahead and laughed out loud when I confirmed it was. I think its safe to say that a piece of writing is funny when the mere memory of it made me laugh out loud, years after I first read it.
One down: It's hard to imagine a person who would not find this book enriching. Still, I suppose the type of person who does not enjoy being called out on their own BS might find some of the characters or situations described here hit a little too close to home for their own liking.
Just saying: Let's say that the current 'political climate' makes a few of these stories more relevant today than they were a year ago.
Footnotes / imagined complaints
1. Just what does one do at one of these author appearances anyway?
The last time I checked, Saunders is scheduled to field a three hundred word (projected) question from me in addition to reading from his first novel, Lincoln In The Bardo, due for release on February 14, 2017.
My first major 'author project' of 2017 is to read all of George Saunders's published work. Most of his writing is like this collection of short fiction, Tenth of December, but he's also published novellas and the odd essay or two.
I've always meant to return to his work. The timing was right to start now, though, due to his upcoming February 17 appearance in Cambridge. (1)
My oversimplified summary of Tenth of December is that it is a collection of stories about people trying to do their best. Many of his characters make that effort despite the weight of circumstance or influence of personal history that tempts them to do otherwise.
No piece better embodied the idea for me than the title story. What an achievement this story is. I have not looked at the semi-frozen Charles River in the same way since. It's hard to write about work like this because I am afraid that my own comments will fall far short of doing it justice.
For me, the title story clarified the role my own development over the past couple of years played in how I responded to these stories. I first read Tenth of December in June of 2013. I did not get much out of the collection back then beyond the simple pleasure of enjoying his stories. My guess is that the title story made no significant impact on me at the time.
This time around, I found that this is truly a full collection, with stories equally capable of making a reader think, laugh, or cry. As I finished this book, I reflected on my own growth as a reader and as a person during the time that passed between readings.
I've always thought that I responded to the stories I saw myself reflected in. Works like Tenth of December are adding nuance to that simplistic view. I found myself relating to and understanding characters from a book that contained exactly zero people I considered similar to me.
In some way, perhaps reading books like this helps in the lifelong challenge of finding ways to relate across differences with others. The more enriching reading I do, the fuller my toolbox for relating to others becomes.
The book that acts as a mirror, serving only to return my reflection, is almost always the most enjoyable kind of work I read. But too much of it threatens to keep me locked into my current place. It's the proverbial bubble of comfort, familiarity, and fun that slowly becomes the breeding ground of complacency.
The book that forces me to understand what others see when they look into their own mirrors is the kind that I need to continue seeking out. Reading work like this, work like Tenth of December, will help me continue to build the empathy and compassion needed to meet the challenge of continuing to relate across my differences with others.
One up: Saunders is a funny writer. When I started reading one of the stories, I thought to myself, 'wait, is this the story with the chart?'. I flipped ahead and laughed out loud when I confirmed it was. I think its safe to say that a piece of writing is funny when the mere memory of it made me laugh out loud, years after I first read it.
One down: It's hard to imagine a person who would not find this book enriching. Still, I suppose the type of person who does not enjoy being called out on their own BS might find some of the characters or situations described here hit a little too close to home for their own liking.
Just saying: Let's say that the current 'political climate' makes a few of these stories more relevant today than they were a year ago.
Footnotes / imagined complaints
1. Just what does one do at one of these author appearances anyway?
The last time I checked, Saunders is scheduled to field a three hundred word (projected) question from me in addition to reading from his first novel, Lincoln In The Bardo, due for release on February 14, 2017.
Friday, February 10, 2017
talking shits, january 2017
Hi all,
One new thing I started doing this year was collecting quotes from my non-book reading. I do not have a plan beyond that at the moment- no analysis, no connecting, no blog posts. For now, I'm just collecting.
I thought it might be interesting to share about one to two thousand words of these every month. The second Friday of the following month seems about the right time.
So, below is the first sample of these quotes. All of them are from something I read during January.
Unless, of course, it's something I cooked up myself. Those are easy to identify- no capitalization, no punctuation.
For everything else, you can probably find the source of the quote by copying and pasting the example in full into a Google search. Some of these link to interesting articles and some do not.
Thanks for reading. See you again on Sunday.
Tim
******
perhaps the biggest obstacle to finding meaning is the search for it.
---
"There’s a clear distinction between American and European parents...American parents don’t like play experiences where they have to step in and help their kids a lot. They want their kids to be able to play by themselves. We see among European parents, it’s okay to sit on the floor and spend time with the kids."
---
If you have one ass, you cannot sit on two horses.
---
It generally works like this: the venture capitalists (who are mostly white men) don’t really know what they’re doing with any certainty—it’s impossible, after all, to truly predict the next big thing—so they bet a little bit on every company that they can with the hope that one of them hits it big. The entrepreneurs (also mostly white men) often work on a lot of meaningless stuff, like using code to deliver frozen yogurt more expeditiously or apps that let you say “Yo!” (and only “Yo!”) to your friends. The entrepreneurs generally glorify their efforts by saying that their innovation could change the world...The financial rewards speak for themselves. Silicon Valley, which is 50 square miles, has created more wealth than any place in human history. In the end, it isn’t in anyone’s interest to call bullshit.
---
All managers make mistakes—it’s Klopp’s ability to admit and address them that sets him apart. And yet, not once has he publicly criticised any of these players. In fact, he’s openly supported them.
---
But, initially, choose only one thing and do that one thing until it becomes habitual. Maurer suggests thirty days.
It almost seems too simple; so simple that you might think that you are effecting little to no change. But these changes are additive. Imagine if every month for a year you added a healthy habit to your life.
---
If you do something every day, it’s a system. If you’re waiting to achieve it someday in the future, it’s a goal.
Goal-oriented people exist in a state of continuous pre-success failure at best, and permanent failure at worst if things never work out. Systems people succeed every time they apply their systems, in the sense that they did what they intended to do.
---
If you don’t have a system or you don’t have a belief of what you want to become as a team, as a leader, as the head coach, then it becomes very difficult for you to communicate that to the players. Then all of a sudden you become an independent contractor, and you have a bunch of independent contractors working for you.
---
What do the best teams in the world have in common? Generally, it’s a one-club mentality. That the same exercises, the same style drops all the way down.
---
“The toilet is the biggest waste of water in your house,” says Kenneth Messer. “There’s nothing else in your house that will dump nearly two gallons of water in as short a period of time.”
---
...such a philosophy does save 2,565 gallons per year per person...but as a purely financial move, it’s just not worth the $7 to me.
---
Look for opportunities where you can interview people. Every year, there are fewer and fewer people who are able to do this.
---
It must be emphasized that nonviolent resistance is not a method for cowards; it does resist. If one uses this method because he is afraid or merely because he lacks the instruments of violence, he is not truly nonviolent.
---
Our hero Rocky Balboa travels to Moscow to take on Ivan Drago, a Russian who murders his opponents and employs a team of computer experts to help achieve his goals. Really, would it be the worst thing in the world for Rocky to have a good relationship with Drago? They could team up to fight terrorists.
---
On the night of January 24, 1887, flames erupted from the iron foundry in South Boston, spewing smoke over the South Bay. Before firemen could reach the inferno, local resident Tommy MaGuire climbed a ladder to the roof and, as legend has it, “undertook to fight the flames with his fists.” I’d tell you the rest of the story but it would spoil the next Mark Wahlberg movie.
---
i found (a) difference between framing it as "let's improve from 80 to 85 percent" instead of "let's cut the error down from 20 to 15 percent"...
---
Kanji Watanabe is a longtime bureaucrat in a city office who, along with the rest of the office, spends his entire working life doing nothing of significance.
---
I fly like paper, get high like planes
If you catch me at the border I got visas in my name
---
"Paper Planes" lyrics provided for educational purposes and personal use only.
---
Cost-benefit analysis is a way of comforting oneself, of putting oneself in control by pretending that all losses can be made up by sufficient quantities of something else. This stratagem opposes the recognition of love — and, indeed, love itself.
---
In Aristotle’s description of good temper, he encourages us to err in the direction of “making allowances”.
---
This is one of the persistent questions in life — how to separate the copycats and mimics from the real deal.
I’ve been collecting little heuristics over the years.
*The ability to walk you through things step by step, without requiring great leaps.
*They spent a lot of time reading.
*Intelligent people normally get excited when you ask them why or how, whereas mimics normally get frustrated.
*They can argue the other side of an idea better than the people that disagree with them.
*They know how to focus and typically create large chunks of time.
*They’ve failed.
---
Who can best tell the difference between a Coral Snake and its Mimics? It’s a Coral Snake itself. The real thing knows a fake.
---
“The latest executive orders and statements by the president are a direct attack on Boston’s people, Boston’s strength and Boston’s values.”
---
Coomer is part of the majority of America -- specifically 54% -- that has $0 invested in the stock market, as Bankrate found in a survey last year.
---
If you stop and consider the pros and cons, you will find reasons not to pursue it further.
---
If you don’t have time to do it right, when will you have time to do it over?
---
"There's a new movie out about a person with DID. It's a thriller/horror movie," her patient wrote, referring to M. Night Shyamalan's latest movie. "Do I ever scare you?"
---
Trump enters office as the least popular new president since the invention of polling. Yet he insists, and maybe he believes, that he has ridden into Washington on the back of a mass movement the likes of which America has never seen. The activist Left enters this era having managed to lose a national election to Donald Trump. Yet it behaves as though it takes itself to be the obviously rightful voice of both reason and the masses. Both seem persuaded that they would be even more popular if only they were more like what they already are.
---
We have a certain heroic expectation of how medicine works. Heart attacks could be stopped; cancers could be cured. It was like discovering that water could put out fire. We built our health-care system, accordingly, to deploy firefighters. Doctors became saviors.
---
Primary care, it seemed, does a lot of good for people—maybe even more good, in the long run, than I will as a surgeon. But I still wondered how. What, exactly, is the primary-care physician’s skill?
---
“I think the hardest transition...to my practice as a primary-care physician was feeling comfortable with waiting...the biggest struggle is trusting that patients will call if they are getting worse.”
---
They want us to believe that they can recognize problems before they happen, and that, with steady, iterative effort over years, they can reduce, delay, or eliminate them. Yet incrementalists also want us to accept that they will never be able to fully anticipate or prevent all problems. This makes for a hard sell.
---
He heard there was a blizzard outside but couldn’t see it himself. Then a nurse smuggled him a snowball and allowed him to hold it. This was against hospital regulations, and this was Miller’s point: There are parts of ourselves that the conventional health care system isn’t equipped to heal or nourish, adding to our suffering.
---
In this era of advancing information, it will become evident that, for everyone, life is a preexisting condition waiting to happen. We will all turn out to have a lurking heart condition or a tumor or a depression or some rare disease that needs to be managed.
---
Without the Affordable Care Act’s protections requiring all insurers to provide coverage to people regardless of their health history and at the same price as others their age, he’d be unable to find health insurance. Republican replacement plans threaten to weaken or drop these requirements, and leave no meaningful solution for people like him. And data indicate that twenty-seven per cent of adults under sixty-five are like him, with past health conditions that make them uninsurable without the protections.
One new thing I started doing this year was collecting quotes from my non-book reading. I do not have a plan beyond that at the moment- no analysis, no connecting, no blog posts. For now, I'm just collecting.
I thought it might be interesting to share about one to two thousand words of these every month. The second Friday of the following month seems about the right time.
So, below is the first sample of these quotes. All of them are from something I read during January.
Unless, of course, it's something I cooked up myself. Those are easy to identify- no capitalization, no punctuation.
For everything else, you can probably find the source of the quote by copying and pasting the example in full into a Google search. Some of these link to interesting articles and some do not.
Thanks for reading. See you again on Sunday.
Tim
******
perhaps the biggest obstacle to finding meaning is the search for it.
---
"There’s a clear distinction between American and European parents...American parents don’t like play experiences where they have to step in and help their kids a lot. They want their kids to be able to play by themselves. We see among European parents, it’s okay to sit on the floor and spend time with the kids."
---
If you have one ass, you cannot sit on two horses.
---
It generally works like this: the venture capitalists (who are mostly white men) don’t really know what they’re doing with any certainty—it’s impossible, after all, to truly predict the next big thing—so they bet a little bit on every company that they can with the hope that one of them hits it big. The entrepreneurs (also mostly white men) often work on a lot of meaningless stuff, like using code to deliver frozen yogurt more expeditiously or apps that let you say “Yo!” (and only “Yo!”) to your friends. The entrepreneurs generally glorify their efforts by saying that their innovation could change the world...The financial rewards speak for themselves. Silicon Valley, which is 50 square miles, has created more wealth than any place in human history. In the end, it isn’t in anyone’s interest to call bullshit.
---
All managers make mistakes—it’s Klopp’s ability to admit and address them that sets him apart. And yet, not once has he publicly criticised any of these players. In fact, he’s openly supported them.
---
But, initially, choose only one thing and do that one thing until it becomes habitual. Maurer suggests thirty days.
It almost seems too simple; so simple that you might think that you are effecting little to no change. But these changes are additive. Imagine if every month for a year you added a healthy habit to your life.
---
If you do something every day, it’s a system. If you’re waiting to achieve it someday in the future, it’s a goal.
Goal-oriented people exist in a state of continuous pre-success failure at best, and permanent failure at worst if things never work out. Systems people succeed every time they apply their systems, in the sense that they did what they intended to do.
---
If you don’t have a system or you don’t have a belief of what you want to become as a team, as a leader, as the head coach, then it becomes very difficult for you to communicate that to the players. Then all of a sudden you become an independent contractor, and you have a bunch of independent contractors working for you.
---
What do the best teams in the world have in common? Generally, it’s a one-club mentality. That the same exercises, the same style drops all the way down.
---
“The toilet is the biggest waste of water in your house,” says Kenneth Messer. “There’s nothing else in your house that will dump nearly two gallons of water in as short a period of time.”
---
...such a philosophy does save 2,565 gallons per year per person...but as a purely financial move, it’s just not worth the $7 to me.
---
Look for opportunities where you can interview people. Every year, there are fewer and fewer people who are able to do this.
---
It must be emphasized that nonviolent resistance is not a method for cowards; it does resist. If one uses this method because he is afraid or merely because he lacks the instruments of violence, he is not truly nonviolent.
---
Our hero Rocky Balboa travels to Moscow to take on Ivan Drago, a Russian who murders his opponents and employs a team of computer experts to help achieve his goals. Really, would it be the worst thing in the world for Rocky to have a good relationship with Drago? They could team up to fight terrorists.
---
On the night of January 24, 1887, flames erupted from the iron foundry in South Boston, spewing smoke over the South Bay. Before firemen could reach the inferno, local resident Tommy MaGuire climbed a ladder to the roof and, as legend has it, “undertook to fight the flames with his fists.” I’d tell you the rest of the story but it would spoil the next Mark Wahlberg movie.
---
i found (a) difference between framing it as "let's improve from 80 to 85 percent" instead of "let's cut the error down from 20 to 15 percent"...
---
Kanji Watanabe is a longtime bureaucrat in a city office who, along with the rest of the office, spends his entire working life doing nothing of significance.
---
I fly like paper, get high like planes
If you catch me at the border I got visas in my name
---
"Paper Planes" lyrics provided for educational purposes and personal use only.
---
Cost-benefit analysis is a way of comforting oneself, of putting oneself in control by pretending that all losses can be made up by sufficient quantities of something else. This stratagem opposes the recognition of love — and, indeed, love itself.
---
In Aristotle’s description of good temper, he encourages us to err in the direction of “making allowances”.
---
This is one of the persistent questions in life — how to separate the copycats and mimics from the real deal.
I’ve been collecting little heuristics over the years.
*The ability to walk you through things step by step, without requiring great leaps.
*They spent a lot of time reading.
*Intelligent people normally get excited when you ask them why or how, whereas mimics normally get frustrated.
*They can argue the other side of an idea better than the people that disagree with them.
*They know how to focus and typically create large chunks of time.
*They’ve failed.
---
Who can best tell the difference between a Coral Snake and its Mimics? It’s a Coral Snake itself. The real thing knows a fake.
---
“The latest executive orders and statements by the president are a direct attack on Boston’s people, Boston’s strength and Boston’s values.”
---
Coomer is part of the majority of America -- specifically 54% -- that has $0 invested in the stock market, as Bankrate found in a survey last year.
---
If you stop and consider the pros and cons, you will find reasons not to pursue it further.
---
If you don’t have time to do it right, when will you have time to do it over?
---
"There's a new movie out about a person with DID. It's a thriller/horror movie," her patient wrote, referring to M. Night Shyamalan's latest movie. "Do I ever scare you?"
---
Trump enters office as the least popular new president since the invention of polling. Yet he insists, and maybe he believes, that he has ridden into Washington on the back of a mass movement the likes of which America has never seen. The activist Left enters this era having managed to lose a national election to Donald Trump. Yet it behaves as though it takes itself to be the obviously rightful voice of both reason and the masses. Both seem persuaded that they would be even more popular if only they were more like what they already are.
---
We have a certain heroic expectation of how medicine works. Heart attacks could be stopped; cancers could be cured. It was like discovering that water could put out fire. We built our health-care system, accordingly, to deploy firefighters. Doctors became saviors.
---
Primary care, it seemed, does a lot of good for people—maybe even more good, in the long run, than I will as a surgeon. But I still wondered how. What, exactly, is the primary-care physician’s skill?
---
“I think the hardest transition...to my practice as a primary-care physician was feeling comfortable with waiting...the biggest struggle is trusting that patients will call if they are getting worse.”
---
They want us to believe that they can recognize problems before they happen, and that, with steady, iterative effort over years, they can reduce, delay, or eliminate them. Yet incrementalists also want us to accept that they will never be able to fully anticipate or prevent all problems. This makes for a hard sell.
---
He heard there was a blizzard outside but couldn’t see it himself. Then a nurse smuggled him a snowball and allowed him to hold it. This was against hospital regulations, and this was Miller’s point: There are parts of ourselves that the conventional health care system isn’t equipped to heal or nourish, adding to our suffering.
---
In this era of advancing information, it will become evident that, for everyone, life is a preexisting condition waiting to happen. We will all turn out to have a lurking heart condition or a tumor or a depression or some rare disease that needs to be managed.
---
Without the Affordable Care Act’s protections requiring all insurers to provide coverage to people regardless of their health history and at the same price as others their age, he’d be unable to find health insurance. Republican replacement plans threaten to weaken or drop these requirements, and leave no meaningful solution for people like him. And data indicate that twenty-seven per cent of adults under sixty-five are like him, with past health conditions that make them uninsurable without the protections.
Wednesday, February 8, 2017
but what's the wind chill?
A fascinating January EconTalk podcast focused on the topic of how income related to compensation. In this hour long show, host Russ Roberts spoke with economist and author Mark Warshawsky about how focusing solely on income distorts the way we understand progress and equality in today's labor climate.
One main idea from the show was how income is merely one component among many that make up a total compensation package for an employee. Often, analysts treat income as if it is a perfect proxy measure for the full compensation package. From here, economists make conclusions about important considerations such as wage equality or quality of life improvements.
The most interesting portion of the discussion involved health care costs. The 'employer provided' health insurance model obscures the disproportionate impact of rising costs on lower wage earners. Consider the following example.
Two workers in a hypothetical firm are each due a raise of 10%. One worker earns $45k annually with a $5k health insurance benefits package. The other earns $95k annually with the same $5k insurance package.
In this simple model, each worker's compensation is calculated the same way- income + health benefits. So in this case, the first worker earns $50k in compensation and the second earns $100k. Now, suppose each is due a 10% raise. The total compensation due rises to $55k and $110k, respectively.
Next, 'assume' health care costs rise (ha ha, hypothetically speaking, of course). The increase is $5k per employee. The first worker will earn a 'raise', so to speak, but it will be entirely absorbed in the health care benefit- $45k income, $10k in health care.
The second worker will see the same health care cost absorb a portion of the compensation increase but still recognize an income increase, as well, since the proportions work out differently for the higher wage worker- $100k income, $10k in health care.
A measurement system that calculate well-being by looking at income alone will note the following- the low wage earner saw no change to income while the high wage earner saw an increase of a little over 5%. They conclude that inequality has just increased by a significant margin.
I have a a couple of reactions to this conclusion. One is that such misleading conclusions are avoided with better transparency in the ways employees are compensated. The potentially positive story of an economy that is progressing to allow 10% merit raises is instead lost to sensational headlines about stagnant gains for the hard-working middle class while the rich continue to get richer.
And yet, despite the potential positive benefits, firms seem...er...unwilling to do this. So I'm not keeping my fingers crossed on that one. (1)
Another reaction will appeal to those in favor of a one-payer health insurance system (universal health insurance for all tax payers) or those in favor of an open market for private insurance. Through this method, firms will be free to hand out raises to employees by merit alone. The employee would then be free to blame tax rates or market forces when large portions of those raises are sucked away by rising health care costs.
How would such a thing work out in the above model? Well, for starters, we would remove health care costs from the initial compensation package. So, the first worker would earn $50k before the raise and the second would earn $100k. All of this would be recognized as income, not as income + health benefits.
Next, we apply the 10% raise. So, in the next wage cycle, the first worker would earn $55k and the second would earn $110k. In percentage terms, this maintains income 'inequality'.
Of course, simple models oversimplify the real world. In the universal health care example, we would have to consider the taxes that pay for the coverage. So, in the second example above, the income I simply copy over from the first would be reduced by the likely higher income tax rates that would accompany such a policy.
However, with a universal health care system, the impact of rising costs is shared in proportion to income. Given the way marginal tax rates are calculated in a graduated income tax system, higher wage earners bear a greater portion of the increase than lower wage earners. So, it is possible that, were I tomake up calculate the tax rates and costs changes more rigorously in the above example, the effect of an increase in health care costs above would actually reduce income inequality.
That conclusion is not necessarily a statement that universal health care reduces income inequality and protects lower wage earners. But it does seem a decent rule of thumb for policy to consider proportional payment methods to fund insurance programs which cover events that are larger beyond individual control (in this case, major medical bills).
In the example that utilizes an open market for private insurance, the result is more likely to mirror the original example. Each potential subscriber would pay the same as anyone else and changes in the nominal cost would be borne as a larger share of income for lower wage earners. However, income inequality would not increase in the example since, once more, the initial idea of a raise would apply in full to both employees' incomes.
The more important thing from my non-policy oriented point of view is how this example highlights dangers in settling for oversimplified measures. Knowing that it's a seventy-five degree day implies good weather for a beach trip.
But stop there and you might regret it. What about the wind chill? What if it's raining? Do we know the air quality or if its cloudy out? All of these factors count when it comes to planning a day out.
I think it works in a similar way when making conclusions about big policy considerations. So much more goes into the answer than merely comparing values on paychecks. But the way we do it now is more or less along those lines and its flawed due to how many important factors such a primitive calculation method ignores.
I would like to see that change just because I believe its hard to fix problems that are not fully understood. So, anything that brings better clarity to a situation or problem gets my full approval, whether it be policy or just a good podcast episode.
Thanks for reading. See you again on Friday.
Tim
Footnotes / imagine complaints
Please follow this link if interested in the show.
1. An idea that came up on the show...
There is the question of how people will react to a firm that announces it is giving raises through the mechanism of better health insurance, a product that usually goes unused (since unused health insurance benefits do not 'carry over' as savings or as future benefits).
One main idea from the show was how income is merely one component among many that make up a total compensation package for an employee. Often, analysts treat income as if it is a perfect proxy measure for the full compensation package. From here, economists make conclusions about important considerations such as wage equality or quality of life improvements.
The most interesting portion of the discussion involved health care costs. The 'employer provided' health insurance model obscures the disproportionate impact of rising costs on lower wage earners. Consider the following example.
Two workers in a hypothetical firm are each due a raise of 10%. One worker earns $45k annually with a $5k health insurance benefits package. The other earns $95k annually with the same $5k insurance package.
In this simple model, each worker's compensation is calculated the same way- income + health benefits. So in this case, the first worker earns $50k in compensation and the second earns $100k. Now, suppose each is due a 10% raise. The total compensation due rises to $55k and $110k, respectively.
Next, 'assume' health care costs rise (ha ha, hypothetically speaking, of course). The increase is $5k per employee. The first worker will earn a 'raise', so to speak, but it will be entirely absorbed in the health care benefit- $45k income, $10k in health care.
The second worker will see the same health care cost absorb a portion of the compensation increase but still recognize an income increase, as well, since the proportions work out differently for the higher wage worker- $100k income, $10k in health care.
A measurement system that calculate well-being by looking at income alone will note the following- the low wage earner saw no change to income while the high wage earner saw an increase of a little over 5%. They conclude that inequality has just increased by a significant margin.
I have a a couple of reactions to this conclusion. One is that such misleading conclusions are avoided with better transparency in the ways employees are compensated. The potentially positive story of an economy that is progressing to allow 10% merit raises is instead lost to sensational headlines about stagnant gains for the hard-working middle class while the rich continue to get richer.
And yet, despite the potential positive benefits, firms seem...er...unwilling to do this. So I'm not keeping my fingers crossed on that one. (1)
Another reaction will appeal to those in favor of a one-payer health insurance system (universal health insurance for all tax payers) or those in favor of an open market for private insurance. Through this method, firms will be free to hand out raises to employees by merit alone. The employee would then be free to blame tax rates or market forces when large portions of those raises are sucked away by rising health care costs.
How would such a thing work out in the above model? Well, for starters, we would remove health care costs from the initial compensation package. So, the first worker would earn $50k before the raise and the second would earn $100k. All of this would be recognized as income, not as income + health benefits.
Next, we apply the 10% raise. So, in the next wage cycle, the first worker would earn $55k and the second would earn $110k. In percentage terms, this maintains income 'inequality'.
Of course, simple models oversimplify the real world. In the universal health care example, we would have to consider the taxes that pay for the coverage. So, in the second example above, the income I simply copy over from the first would be reduced by the likely higher income tax rates that would accompany such a policy.
However, with a universal health care system, the impact of rising costs is shared in proportion to income. Given the way marginal tax rates are calculated in a graduated income tax system, higher wage earners bear a greater portion of the increase than lower wage earners. So, it is possible that, were I to
That conclusion is not necessarily a statement that universal health care reduces income inequality and protects lower wage earners. But it does seem a decent rule of thumb for policy to consider proportional payment methods to fund insurance programs which cover events that are larger beyond individual control (in this case, major medical bills).
In the example that utilizes an open market for private insurance, the result is more likely to mirror the original example. Each potential subscriber would pay the same as anyone else and changes in the nominal cost would be borne as a larger share of income for lower wage earners. However, income inequality would not increase in the example since, once more, the initial idea of a raise would apply in full to both employees' incomes.
The more important thing from my non-policy oriented point of view is how this example highlights dangers in settling for oversimplified measures. Knowing that it's a seventy-five degree day implies good weather for a beach trip.
But stop there and you might regret it. What about the wind chill? What if it's raining? Do we know the air quality or if its cloudy out? All of these factors count when it comes to planning a day out.
I think it works in a similar way when making conclusions about big policy considerations. So much more goes into the answer than merely comparing values on paychecks. But the way we do it now is more or less along those lines and its flawed due to how many important factors such a primitive calculation method ignores.
I would like to see that change just because I believe its hard to fix problems that are not fully understood. So, anything that brings better clarity to a situation or problem gets my full approval, whether it be policy or just a good podcast episode.
Thanks for reading. See you again on Friday.
Tim
Footnotes / imagine complaints
Please follow this link if interested in the show.
1. An idea that came up on the show...
There is the question of how people will react to a firm that announces it is giving raises through the mechanism of better health insurance, a product that usually goes unused (since unused health insurance benefits do not 'carry over' as savings or as future benefits).
Sunday, February 5, 2017
2016 books of the year, part 2- tiny beautiful things
Hi,
Welcome to part two of my 2016 books of the year post. If you missed part one, please check back to my post on January 16 using this link.
Three books stood out from my reading list in 2016. I'm not going to bother ranking them, determining a book of the year, or even suggesting that these three books were 'superior' to the others. And definitely no chance of a bracket. This list was not really designed that way.
I just felt the positives each brought to my reading year were important enough to mention in their own posts. So, this will be the first of three posts to highlight these books and round off my recap of my 2016 reading.
Thank you for reading.
Tim
----------------------------
Tiny Beautiful Things by Cheryl Strayed (June 2016)
"because i knew last year how powerful the writing was and how true the advice was. but i wasn't ready. like how someone healing from a leg injury can't exercise properly even though exercise is good for you or how someone recovering from food poisoning can't eat all their veggies yet. so a day, or a week, or a month goes by, and you lose a job and you end up knee deep in the same muck again. the only thing you know about healing is you got up and out, once, and that you know this will pass, too. i dig out book recommendations and i see an old email and this book is on the list- from years ago!- and i realize i already ignored the idea once and i'm about to do it again. so i picked up all of her books and here we are..."
Dear Tim,
It's always nice when you write- even if you failed to formulate a coherent question at any point in your email. Failing is OK.
And its great that you continue to utilize the basic rules of grammar and capitalization only when you see fit. Based on this evidence, you 'see fit' at a frequency one might call 'close to never'.
But life is too short to keep backspacing for the shift key, you know? Your email, your rules. Never change.
But even without the formal punctuation, I can see the question in your little i's. I know what's on your mind.
You've reached back out to this book you read a year ago- when you worried every morning about possibly losing your mother to cancer, spent the day trying to understand how to get help progressing your career, and fell asleep sick to your stomach about your inability to speak up and express the difficult things you were thinking or feeling.
And you're wondering why you should read it again now- when you haven't spoken Japanese in almost a year, you've been out of a job for months, and you have so little to say that sometimes you go an entire day without speaking more than ten syllables.
Plus, I bet your feet hurt, a lot, all the time, which is a problem because I know your only reliable coping mechanism is to run to Davis Square and back. Don't worry about how I know these things, trust me, I just do.
But even if you aren't hurt (yet), I can see that you have some kind of injury on the mind. Just because you aren't one of those losers who talks about ‘easy ten-milers’ doesn't mean you don't think it when you go for your third such run in a week.
So, give me a break. You need a break. What better idea than a couple of decent books?
I'm pretty sure the book you are talking about is Tiny Beautiful Things by Cheryl Strayed. I know this author's written two other books, Wild and Torch, and it sounds like you might be considering giving those a try, too.
Well, I have some breaking news for you- you're gonna read those books. I suppose you can skip the rest of my reply now because it won't make a bit of difference.
Surprised, right? But when's the last time you checked out a book that you didn't read? If you should trust anything right now, trust your library card. It's never let you down before.
But if you do want my input, here it is. Start with Torch. It definitely isn't your kind of book. It's a novel. That's why it will surprise you how much you get out of it.
I think part of that is due to your having read Tiny Beautiful Things a year ago. You'll recognize the autobiographical parts of the novel and you'll marvel at the strength of true writing.
You'll understand what Strayed means when she writes about the power of merely acknowledging. The power of simply letting someone else know that you see what they do is unsettling. And you'll think back to your own best self and wonder what you need to do to bring him back. If you need a hint, I’d volunteer, but I know you prefer to figure it out for yourself.
Reading Torch will remind you of so many ideas from Tiny Beautiful Things that it will immediately become the next book in your queue, no ifs, ands, or rambling emails about it.
As soon as you start Steve Almond's introduction, the memories of reading this book will come flooding back. It's not a book, actually, and that's the first thing you'll remember, its a collection of articles published under the 'Dear Sugar' advice column that Strayed (anonymously) wrote for the online magazine The Rumpus.
So, in that sense, its not really a 'traditional' book, but that's OK, because most 'traditional' books merely pass the time, waiting patiently with you until you pick up the right book, the book that you really need to read, the book that's like the wise friend sitting for you at the airport, patient all the while through the layovers, delays, and circling of your journey.
Tim, it's this one. You read it in June 2015. So, in that sense, its not really a 2016 book. But you'll think back on it like it was.
In a lot of ways, you didn't read it at all in 2015. It was filled with insight and wisdom and you became familiar with it all, came to nodding terms with the ideas you recognized, but you weren't ready emotionally to do anything with it. Your tank was on 'E'. You did your best, of course, but it just wasn't the right time.
And that's OK. As Jane Kenyon once recommended, it's important to read good books just so you have good sentences in your ears. Many of the ideas in this book became those sentences in the latter half of 2015- that compassion first requires giving it all you got, that to suffer is to do God's work because you allow others to exhibit their goodness, that withholding makes the people around you question their perception of reality, that great things have birthdays unknown to you in the present, that destiny deals the cards and you just play your hand.
This time, you will properly read this collection of once-published pseudo-advice columns. You'll gain so much from each sentence. Throughout this fragmented memoir, you'll see how Strayed uses the letters addressed to her as prompts to share her stories and empathize with the letter-writer. There is advice here but its not an advice book. It will help you but its not a self-help book.
Rather, you’ll see that Strayed looks at the facts each writer gives her and tries to find a new angle to view it from. Perspective is often shaped by experience and Strayed holds little back in detailing how her personal history is influencing her nuanced point of view. But the view is always held steady by the support of a few basic truths- be kind, be magnanimous, be ready to suffer.
You are getting older now and perhaps that's why this approach will finally start making some sense. You don't get new privileges like you used to every December 28 but all that's overrated anyway. You don't drive and its expensive to drink.
What you get now as you grow older is there only if you take it. It is the chance to use your experience and your wisdom to make the best decisions in the present.
That's all that happens in this book, really, in each column. Her book is not about giving a hungry man a fish or even teaching that man to fish. It's more like leading the hungry to the water and saying "well, if you get hungry enough, you can ask someone for a fish, you can learn to fish, or you can find some other way to eat. You can even stay hungry. But I wouldn't recommend that. I know what it's like to be hungry, and I'm sorry because it's difficult. Here's something I did, once, when I was hungry."
Without ruining the book, I’ll tell you that sometimes she ate and sometimes she didn’t. That kind of approach doesn't lend itself to neat little proverbs. But it made for one heck of a book.
Do you remember this example of that approach? It comes right away, in those opening pages. If you start reading Tiny Beautiful Things but remain uncommitted about finishing, promise that you will at least read to this part. If you remain unconvinced after this column, you can return the book (though again, I know you won’t).
The letter writer’s opening sentences are very straightforward:
Incremental improvement sometimes involves just holding steady. But if you can hold onto your minimal progress, you know you are somewhere above rock bottom. That's not much but sometimes, it'll do. Soon enough, you'll see some light and you'll realize that you were never really down so far at all.
You'll look back to what you learned from the past year and you'll recognize that you absorbed an awful lot. Perhaps, you learned more in that year than you did in any other year of your life. It will motivate you to try, to really try, to write something meaningful about it.
Your ears will continue to seek out those good sentences. But the ones that stick will be different. You'll know that real change comes from doing things differently than you did in the past. You'll work on reading your moral codes, practice expressing your emotions, and try to live in the ways truest to them. You'll recognize that people have lives, not careers. You’ll concede that there is no need to get over losses. You'll come to believe that the best way to find love is to be your best self, as often as possible.
And what about Wild? Wild isn't your kind of book, either, though perhaps not as far off the path as Torch. But if you read two of her books, might as well finish what you start, right? I say go for the gold.
Wild is not quite a travel memoir but I know your reacting to the idea of this book like it is. That's OK. You know that even when you travel halfway around the globe, you still have to bring yourself with you. You don't read to escape, you read to dig in and occupy and look closely around in those places within you, not around you, that need your eyes. Some people just do this on the Pacific Coast Trail and, lucky you, one of them wrote about it.
Even if you get nothing out of Wild, you really need to read the part about hiking boots. When your only coping mechanism is to walk from one end of the Pacific Coast Trail to the other, you realize pretty quickly that if your feet hurt, a lot, all the time, the only thing to blame is your boots that are a size too small.
So read the book, Tim, even if you only pay attention to that part. It'll be worth it. You'll get to make some silly puns about soles and sole-searching and I know you like that kind of thing. Making silly puns reminds you of speaking Japanese.
Once you get everyone around you to roll their eyes, go buy some new sneakers. Listen to your feet. Splurge a little. You won't need the money next year more than you need your runs into Davis Square, I can guarantee that.
Yours,
Tim
Welcome to part two of my 2016 books of the year post. If you missed part one, please check back to my post on January 16 using this link.
Three books stood out from my reading list in 2016. I'm not going to bother ranking them, determining a book of the year, or even suggesting that these three books were 'superior' to the others. And definitely no chance of a bracket. This list was not really designed that way.
I just felt the positives each brought to my reading year were important enough to mention in their own posts. So, this will be the first of three posts to highlight these books and round off my recap of my 2016 reading.
Thank you for reading.
Tim
----------------------------
Tiny Beautiful Things by Cheryl Strayed (June 2016)
"because i knew last year how powerful the writing was and how true the advice was. but i wasn't ready. like how someone healing from a leg injury can't exercise properly even though exercise is good for you or how someone recovering from food poisoning can't eat all their veggies yet. so a day, or a week, or a month goes by, and you lose a job and you end up knee deep in the same muck again. the only thing you know about healing is you got up and out, once, and that you know this will pass, too. i dig out book recommendations and i see an old email and this book is on the list- from years ago!- and i realize i already ignored the idea once and i'm about to do it again. so i picked up all of her books and here we are..."
Dear Tim,
It's always nice when you write- even if you failed to formulate a coherent question at any point in your email. Failing is OK.
And its great that you continue to utilize the basic rules of grammar and capitalization only when you see fit. Based on this evidence, you 'see fit' at a frequency one might call 'close to never'.
But life is too short to keep backspacing for the shift key, you know? Your email, your rules. Never change.
But even without the formal punctuation, I can see the question in your little i's. I know what's on your mind.
You've reached back out to this book you read a year ago- when you worried every morning about possibly losing your mother to cancer, spent the day trying to understand how to get help progressing your career, and fell asleep sick to your stomach about your inability to speak up and express the difficult things you were thinking or feeling.
And you're wondering why you should read it again now- when you haven't spoken Japanese in almost a year, you've been out of a job for months, and you have so little to say that sometimes you go an entire day without speaking more than ten syllables.
Plus, I bet your feet hurt, a lot, all the time, which is a problem because I know your only reliable coping mechanism is to run to Davis Square and back. Don't worry about how I know these things, trust me, I just do.
But even if you aren't hurt (yet), I can see that you have some kind of injury on the mind. Just because you aren't one of those losers who talks about ‘easy ten-milers’ doesn't mean you don't think it when you go for your third such run in a week.
So, give me a break. You need a break. What better idea than a couple of decent books?
I'm pretty sure the book you are talking about is Tiny Beautiful Things by Cheryl Strayed. I know this author's written two other books, Wild and Torch, and it sounds like you might be considering giving those a try, too.
Well, I have some breaking news for you- you're gonna read those books. I suppose you can skip the rest of my reply now because it won't make a bit of difference.
Surprised, right? But when's the last time you checked out a book that you didn't read? If you should trust anything right now, trust your library card. It's never let you down before.
But if you do want my input, here it is. Start with Torch. It definitely isn't your kind of book. It's a novel. That's why it will surprise you how much you get out of it.
I think part of that is due to your having read Tiny Beautiful Things a year ago. You'll recognize the autobiographical parts of the novel and you'll marvel at the strength of true writing.
You'll understand what Strayed means when she writes about the power of merely acknowledging. The power of simply letting someone else know that you see what they do is unsettling. And you'll think back to your own best self and wonder what you need to do to bring him back. If you need a hint, I’d volunteer, but I know you prefer to figure it out for yourself.
Reading Torch will remind you of so many ideas from Tiny Beautiful Things that it will immediately become the next book in your queue, no ifs, ands, or rambling emails about it.
As soon as you start Steve Almond's introduction, the memories of reading this book will come flooding back. It's not a book, actually, and that's the first thing you'll remember, its a collection of articles published under the 'Dear Sugar' advice column that Strayed (anonymously) wrote for the online magazine The Rumpus.
So, in that sense, its not really a 'traditional' book, but that's OK, because most 'traditional' books merely pass the time, waiting patiently with you until you pick up the right book, the book that you really need to read, the book that's like the wise friend sitting for you at the airport, patient all the while through the layovers, delays, and circling of your journey.
Tim, it's this one. You read it in June 2015. So, in that sense, its not really a 2016 book. But you'll think back on it like it was.
In a lot of ways, you didn't read it at all in 2015. It was filled with insight and wisdom and you became familiar with it all, came to nodding terms with the ideas you recognized, but you weren't ready emotionally to do anything with it. Your tank was on 'E'. You did your best, of course, but it just wasn't the right time.
And that's OK. As Jane Kenyon once recommended, it's important to read good books just so you have good sentences in your ears. Many of the ideas in this book became those sentences in the latter half of 2015- that compassion first requires giving it all you got, that to suffer is to do God's work because you allow others to exhibit their goodness, that withholding makes the people around you question their perception of reality, that great things have birthdays unknown to you in the present, that destiny deals the cards and you just play your hand.
This time, you will properly read this collection of once-published pseudo-advice columns. You'll gain so much from each sentence. Throughout this fragmented memoir, you'll see how Strayed uses the letters addressed to her as prompts to share her stories and empathize with the letter-writer. There is advice here but its not an advice book. It will help you but its not a self-help book.
Rather, you’ll see that Strayed looks at the facts each writer gives her and tries to find a new angle to view it from. Perspective is often shaped by experience and Strayed holds little back in detailing how her personal history is influencing her nuanced point of view. But the view is always held steady by the support of a few basic truths- be kind, be magnanimous, be ready to suffer.
You are getting older now and perhaps that's why this approach will finally start making some sense. You don't get new privileges like you used to every December 28 but all that's overrated anyway. You don't drive and its expensive to drink.
What you get now as you grow older is there only if you take it. It is the chance to use your experience and your wisdom to make the best decisions in the present.
That's all that happens in this book, really, in each column. Her book is not about giving a hungry man a fish or even teaching that man to fish. It's more like leading the hungry to the water and saying "well, if you get hungry enough, you can ask someone for a fish, you can learn to fish, or you can find some other way to eat. You can even stay hungry. But I wouldn't recommend that. I know what it's like to be hungry, and I'm sorry because it's difficult. Here's something I did, once, when I was hungry."
Without ruining the book, I’ll tell you that sometimes she ate and sometimes she didn’t. That kind of approach doesn't lend itself to neat little proverbs. But it made for one heck of a book.
Do you remember this example of that approach? It comes right away, in those opening pages. If you start reading Tiny Beautiful Things but remain uncommitted about finishing, promise that you will at least read to this part. If you remain unconvinced after this column, you can return the book (though again, I know you won’t).
The letter writer’s opening sentences are very straightforward:
Dear Sugar,The heartbreaking response ends with what I consider a summary of Strayed's general approach to her responses:
WTF? WTF? WTF?
Ask better questions, sweet pea. The fuck is your life. Answer it.So, again, if you get that far and you want to stop, go ahead. I don't think you will. This book is too full of insight about the nature of life's most difficult moments. No one is ever fully ready emotionally to do anything with this kind of wisdom at any time, I suspect, but the time is at least ripe for you to try again.
Incremental improvement sometimes involves just holding steady. But if you can hold onto your minimal progress, you know you are somewhere above rock bottom. That's not much but sometimes, it'll do. Soon enough, you'll see some light and you'll realize that you were never really down so far at all.
You'll look back to what you learned from the past year and you'll recognize that you absorbed an awful lot. Perhaps, you learned more in that year than you did in any other year of your life. It will motivate you to try, to really try, to write something meaningful about it.
Your ears will continue to seek out those good sentences. But the ones that stick will be different. You'll know that real change comes from doing things differently than you did in the past. You'll work on reading your moral codes, practice expressing your emotions, and try to live in the ways truest to them. You'll recognize that people have lives, not careers. You’ll concede that there is no need to get over losses. You'll come to believe that the best way to find love is to be your best self, as often as possible.
And what about Wild? Wild isn't your kind of book, either, though perhaps not as far off the path as Torch. But if you read two of her books, might as well finish what you start, right? I say go for the gold.
Wild is not quite a travel memoir but I know your reacting to the idea of this book like it is. That's OK. You know that even when you travel halfway around the globe, you still have to bring yourself with you. You don't read to escape, you read to dig in and occupy and look closely around in those places within you, not around you, that need your eyes. Some people just do this on the Pacific Coast Trail and, lucky you, one of them wrote about it.
Even if you get nothing out of Wild, you really need to read the part about hiking boots. When your only coping mechanism is to walk from one end of the Pacific Coast Trail to the other, you realize pretty quickly that if your feet hurt, a lot, all the time, the only thing to blame is your boots that are a size too small.
So read the book, Tim, even if you only pay attention to that part. It'll be worth it. You'll get to make some silly puns about soles and sole-searching and I know you like that kind of thing. Making silly puns reminds you of speaking Japanese.
Once you get everyone around you to roll their eyes, go buy some new sneakers. Listen to your feet. Splurge a little. You won't need the money next year more than you need your runs into Davis Square, I can guarantee that.
Yours,
Tim
Friday, February 3, 2017
wild times on the 't'
Well, from my boring perspective, anyway. Hubway shuts most of its network down in the winter and I exercise a strict bike riding cutoff of about thirty-five degrees. These two facts mean I spend a lot more time on buses and subways during our winter months.
A few strange little incidents marked my return to full-time riding on the T. Can't figure out what to make of these so I'll just list them:
1) For the first time ever, I rode a Green Line 'express' train. I've done this before on the Red Line but never on the ancient trolley system. I'm still a little stunned that this actually happened.
Despite its 'express' status, the train remained subject to basic traffic law such as red lights. So, it did not move all that fast. But we did skip about six stops, all of them at BU. Why does BU get six stops? It doesn't matter. Anytime we can skip BU, I'm all for it.
2) Over two consecutive weeks, I ran into the same former colleague while riding the Red Line into South Boston. Running into someone on the train once in a lifetime is crazy enough- to do so twice, at separate times of the day on different days of the week, is mind-boggling. Surely, I enter 2017 with my karma stores depleted.
3) One night, I spotted a ten dollar bill lying under a seat on the Green Line. To give you non-Bostonians some perspective, that's about a beer and a half at the bar down the street or enough money to cover approximately twenty-seven minutes of rent. My lucky day!
As I started to walk over to pick it up, a man sat in the seat, unknowingly placed his foot directly on top of the bill, and fell asleep. Well, let's say he 'fell' asleep.
It was the kind of sleep that you see all the time on the subway- chin to chest, headphones in, eyes pressed too tightly shut to actually be asleep. In short, it was the kind of 'sleeping' you do when you don't want to talk to a soul.
I spent the next three stops thinking of different ways to handle the situation. I finally decided to just wait and hope he got off the train before me. He didn't, so I left the train, equally wealthy as to when I boarded it, a new lightness in my wallet nevertheless.
4) While eating dinner with a former colleague, I was reminded that he had once seen all three of the escalators at Porter Square broken down at the same time. Everyone apparently walked up (or down) all two thousand eight hundred and twenty-six steps (another approximation).
I cannot state how much I would have paid to witness this- at least the ten dollars that guy's foot slept ('slept') on. I still can't believe that guy slept on my money!
A few strange little incidents marked my return to full-time riding on the T. Can't figure out what to make of these so I'll just list them:
1) For the first time ever, I rode a Green Line 'express' train. I've done this before on the Red Line but never on the ancient trolley system. I'm still a little stunned that this actually happened.
Despite its 'express' status, the train remained subject to basic traffic law such as red lights. So, it did not move all that fast. But we did skip about six stops, all of them at BU. Why does BU get six stops? It doesn't matter. Anytime we can skip BU, I'm all for it.
2) Over two consecutive weeks, I ran into the same former colleague while riding the Red Line into South Boston. Running into someone on the train once in a lifetime is crazy enough- to do so twice, at separate times of the day on different days of the week, is mind-boggling. Surely, I enter 2017 with my karma stores depleted.
3) One night, I spotted a ten dollar bill lying under a seat on the Green Line. To give you non-Bostonians some perspective, that's about a beer and a half at the bar down the street or enough money to cover approximately twenty-seven minutes of rent. My lucky day!
As I started to walk over to pick it up, a man sat in the seat, unknowingly placed his foot directly on top of the bill, and fell asleep. Well, let's say he 'fell' asleep.
It was the kind of sleep that you see all the time on the subway- chin to chest, headphones in, eyes pressed too tightly shut to actually be asleep. In short, it was the kind of 'sleeping' you do when you don't want to talk to a soul.
I spent the next three stops thinking of different ways to handle the situation. I finally decided to just wait and hope he got off the train before me. He didn't, so I left the train, equally wealthy as to when I boarded it, a new lightness in my wallet nevertheless.
4) While eating dinner with a former colleague, I was reminded that he had once seen all three of the escalators at Porter Square broken down at the same time. Everyone apparently walked up (or down) all two thousand eight hundred and twenty-six steps (another approximation).
I cannot state how much I would have paid to witness this- at least the ten dollars that guy's foot slept ('slept') on. I still can't believe that guy slept on my money!
Wednesday, February 1, 2017
prop admin- early winter 2016
Hi all,
Welcome to 'proper admin', my bi-monthly cleanup of everything I can't quite work into its own post.
Blog Admin- Early Winter 2016
I'm going to try something a little different (effective tomorrow) with the posting schedule.
First, I am going to return to a twice-weekly posting schedule. Posts will now go up on Wednesday and Sunday mornings.
The Wednesday post will be business as usual. These blogs will go up sometime between 11am and noon (EST). Longtime readers will recognize the chaotic blend of reflection, analysis, and nonsense.
The Sunday morning post will exclusively cover books. Most posts will focus on just one recently completed book at a time. It's possible that these posts will eventually replace the monthly reading reviews entirely but I'm not quite sure about that yet. Look for these between 5am and 6am (again, EST).
A new feature will be an occasional third post on Fridays. The Friday posts will be much shorter than the Wednesday blogs. Like with the Wednesday posts, I'll set these to go up between 11am and noon (still EST- its the only time zone I know).
I'll use the Friday space for part twos of longer posts, leftovers, and short ideas that I used to put into this 'proper admin' post. My bet is that doing more traditional 'blog' type posts will be a positive one for both reader and writer. The most recent post, the 'leftovers' about Tim Harford's book Messy, is a good example of the type of thing you will see on Fridays.
And of course, if that damn 'Business Bro' comes back- sabbatical my foot, anyone seen him around?- maybe we'll get six hundred words of work-related nonsense on Thursdays, as well. On those weeks, I will probably just post a link to the post on Fridays.
Finally, as True On Average approaches the end of year one, I've decided to end the 'holiday posts'. It was fun while it lasted. I will instead take breaks here and there as needed. No sense scheduling those- I'll just let you know when to bug off for a couple of weeks.
So, until another pointless announcement in two months time, expect a post on Wednesdays, maybe something short on Fridays, and a 'book review' on Sundays.
The word from the peanut gallery...
Commentary on Early Winter 2016 blog posts (True On Average)
*11/4- Prop Admin- Fall 2016
The switch to the bimonthly format here was very positive. I like doing these posts but once a month was far too frequent.
*11/9- Moneyball was my favorite book, once
*11/14- Life Changing Books- Moneyball
A Moneyball double dip! Just to be clear, I'm not ready to abandon all forms of 'data analysis'- half the jobs I apply to have that exact phrase in the description. I'm just wary of allowing my reliance on such methods to skew too far toward an extreme.
*11/18- Prop Admin- October 2016 Reading Review
Since publishing this post, Murakami's Hard Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World has drifted into my thoughts time and again. As sunsets grow paler and the daylight hours decrease, I am reminded of the mood created in his depiction of 'the shadow world'.
How it is that his fictional place exists so clearly in me remains beyond my understanding. But each time I wander beneath overhanging bare branches, squint into increasingly lower sunshine angles, and bundle up against gusts of biting wind on cold winter afternoons in downtown Boston, the world that Murakami so grimly described seems to come to life.
*11/24- I’m Thankful for Haymarket
*11/25- The Haymarket Shopping Guide
Don't worry, reader, I found my tomatoes. I always find tomatoes.
*11/30- I read the Animorphs so you don’t have to
I sure hope everyone took my advice to not read these books. Life is short (though so are these books).
It seems likely that I'll read the 'new' Harry Potter book at some point in 2017. I would hazard a guess here and say that I'll do a similar thing to this post before I read that book.
*12/5- November 2016 Reading Review
The approach I took to finding my love language is entirely my own. I could just as easily have taken and shared the results of the test or used one of the approaches created by Chapman. I decided to try it my way. It was more fun.
*12/9- The Real Reason for A Full Blog
At the risk of infuriating (or perhaps disappointing) you, dear reader, I admit that I did not watch this video in 2016. I just did not have time (too busy writing 'proper admin', I suppose).
*12/14- Leftovers: No Matter What…(Where Does Art Come From?)
I am unsure today if this song proved a turning point for T.I. I stopped following his career soon after I saw this show, mostly because my interest in his musical genre disappeared. My suspicion based on a look at some of his popular work since 'No Matter What' is that he tweaked rather than overhauled his style.
I did note a couple of months ago, however, that he was taking a greater role in advocating for causes he felt strongly about. He did this publicly through speaking appearances and by explaining the feelings underlying some of the images in his music videos. He did this privately by meeting with past icons who used their celebrity to make a positive, lasting impact on their communities.
His comments in response to one of his recent videos highlight a spirit reminiscent of what I felt 'No Matter What' was all about:
I'm very curious about what drove Akutagawa to write a story like 'Hell Screen'. One difference between the modern rap and Japan's short stories of the early 1900s (out of, let's say, several differences) is the extent to which artists/authors will directly criticize one another within their work. Thus, I can only read into things and compare the notes of various scholars who study this topic much more rigorously than I.
Still, despite the lack of direct implication, it seems the consensus is that Akutagawa did have an opinion or two regarding the lifestyles and commitment of his contemporaries.
*12/19- Tales of Two Cities, Vol 1: Aug ‘15 - Nov ‘15
Despite starting the writing just ten days before I posted it, the idea of writing about cycling is one I have worked on for most of the last six months. It started a week or so after I wrote a post about how little actual recollection I had of what is now the past eighteen months.
On that day, I went into my Hubway account to investigate what I thought was a bogus charge (it wasn't, because I'm an idiot and can't count to thirty minutes). I found to my surprise that the dates, times, and locations of my Hubway trips created a skeleton around which I could flesh out some very specific memories of the time period. I did not know quite what to do with it on that day but kept the concept in mind for later use.
The combination of several sources eventually pointed to an approach for the post. I would say the end result, a series of mostly out-of-focus snapshots, incorporates personal data (Dear Data) and retrospective diary (Turn) to describe the up and down process of personal growth.
The post ran too long so I cut it off where I thought best. I'm not one hundred percent sure if, when, or how I'll return with the next part. I'm not quite sure yet if what I have remaining fits into what this post became.
*12/25- New Year’s Resolutions, Part 1
*1/1- New Year’s Resolutions, Part 2
I have not forgotten about fleshing out the details of two resolutions from the 1/1 post.
Any podcast recommendations?
In December, I read Tim Harford's new release, Messy. He appeared on one of my favorite podcasts, EconTalk, to discuss this book. I enjoyed the entire appearance.
Here is a link to the hour-long episode.
If you are not a podcast type, here is a link to a story referenced in the episode. It talks about how sloppy statistical inference leads to widespread belief in untrue but interesting ideas. In this article, Harford traces the path of this phenomena and talks about how such things continue to hold the public's attention even after they have been disproved.
Not another bracket, please, no!
Got a couple of more ideas for new words over the past couple of months.
1. A word for a tree that becomes taller once all its leaves have fallen off.
2. A word for sitting or lying down, getting fully comfortable, then remembering you need to do or get something which forces you to stand back up.
3. A word for emptying the final remnants of a container of food onto your plate, usually a dip, sauce, or topping (salsa, grated cheese, etc) because leaving such a small amount for next time will make no impact on the meal it supplements.
God for atheists?
Russell Wilson, quarterback of the Seattle Seahawks, led his team to a 31-24 victory over my New England Patriots in early November. After the game, he was interviewed on the field by NBC.
Regarding young teammate C.J. Procise, who surprised viewers with his standout performance, Wilson remarked that he was a good kid who 'puts God first'.
Despite my complete lack of religious belief, I really liked that expression. To me, it seemed to summarize a common theme among them all. Starting from a place like that is a good step forward in trying to find new ways to relate across one's differences with another.
I ate food this month
The coming and going of Thanksgiving reminds me of just how little regard I have for turkey. It is amusing to see how others are quick to agree if I state my feelings on the matter. It seems we eat it once a year out of obligation rather than interest.
Now, eggs are an entirely different matter. I love eggs and eat them year-round. I recently started buying eggs at CVS. Who knew that eggs there were the cheapest in Beacon Hill? Not me, until now. Once recently passed legislation comes into effect, these eggs may triple in price.
Oh no, here comes Moya...
"Moya, have a whiskey with me, Moya, order it with the barkeep, he's at the other end now but he'll be back, you'll order it like an adult too, won't you, Moya, won't you just say 'I'll have this or that, then, please,' just as any adult would, none of this nonsense where you point and grunt or say 'I'll have a whisss-keeee' or that you'll just have two parts gin and two parts tonic, none of that Moya, we are adults here, we say what we want, I thought so myself, that I was an adult just earlier today, just at lunch, when I went out to eat with Mis- oh, it doesn't matter who, Moya, they're all the same, these people, they tell you about a great new place for lunch, popular, they say it's so popular that we'll have to stand in line for hours to eat, they say, and we go, and we stand in a line out the door and around the corner, all awaiting something spectacular at the other end, a veritable culinary delight, surely, and we wait there, among a crowd of hungry fools, Moya, fools, we get to the end of the line with these fools, and its a counter, like in a cafeteria for children, children in school, and you are allowed to order two vegetables and a protein, a 'protein', I should emphasize, and only yes or no for this protein, this 'protein', to relieve me of the burden of using my brain to order the actual food I want, like I'm not capable of asking for chicken or tofu or even nothing, I have to talk about what 'protein' I'm getting, and its a yes or a no only, I get it or I don't, like I'm a nutrition label, talking about protein, 'protein', my lunch companion spent five minutes discussing his protein, as if it were oxygen, what becomes of the man who fails to ingest protein, in this cafeteria, this school lunch cafeteria full of overdressed adults, where cooks are preparing some special 'protein' that isn't merely a dry cube of chicken or some plastic week-old tofu, like this protein, this 'protein', its pro-teen, Moya, pro-teen, because the older kids might like it, they can take a photo of it, its for school lunches this place, and the line is out the door, of these adults, these adults who buy lunch like children, they can't even order a meal, they have to come into these places to point and grunt at a pepper because they can't name it, they can't name what they want rolled into a ball with their protein, Moya, a ball of protein and two vegetables, so that we can eat it with our hands like children, Moya, like children, who cannot be trusted with proper silverware, these adults that are just like little children, we mustn't allow them a fork to wave around, no wonder these lunch places are so popular, Moya, Peter Pan himself should be serving the meals here..."
Did you leave the apartment at all?
I reached a one year anniversary for Hubway in early October, marking the special occasion by renewing my annual membership. Somehow, the price remained $85 a year. I've spent more money in one sitting at late-night Chinese food (a perfect thing to ride a Hubway to, by the way).
I mentioned in this post that the impact of Hubway on me was 'beyond measure'. Not fully true, in a way- Hubway tracks all kinds of numbers.
As of December 9, the day I started writing this post, I have used Hubway for 411 hours, 38 minutes, and 28 seconds. That's almost half of a month out of the sixteen during which I've been a member. I'm not sure if that is more or less than I expected!
Other stats...
*495 total days of Hubway membership
*3069 miles traveled (estimate based on time on the bike multiplied by a speed estimate of 7.456 miles per hour)
*1449 total trips
*$22.50 'overdue' fines (each trip that exceeds 30 minutes = $1.50)
The most interesting note above is the mileage. It implies that, were I to attempt a cross-country bike ride, I am currently equipped to do so in half a month on the pseudo-cinder block with wheels that is the standard issue Hubway bike. Throw in some adjustments for sleeping, eating, and bathroom breaks (I could do at least two of the three on the bike, though) and a month is probably a realistic estimate.
Maybe I'll update you, reader, on these numbers every year. The annual Hubway user report, maybe? Who knows...
Anything else?
I posted over the holidays those resolutions that I've completed or currently have ongoing. Sounds like almost the full picture, right?
Right, almost. Success, as we all know, is built on a foundation of failure. Here are some of my resounding flops from a half-decade of New Year's resolutions:
*Stop watching TV (~2011)
This one holds up until you consider televised sport. At that point, it becomes a sand castle versus high tide.
Guess which one this resolution is!
*Learn to cook one new thing each week (multiple times, most recently February 2016)
Because what else is there to do when you lose your job, right?
I did OK for a short while. I learned how to make banana bread (which was a positive) and almost suffocated myself while eating homemade okonomiyaki (which was not a positive).
I'm facing up to reality now. My cooking style is fast, loose, and high volume. This approach does not work well with things like 'recipes', given their reliance on strict measurements.
*Stretch after running (multiple times, most recently November 2016)
This is probably the classic type of resolution that people mess up. They vow to do something that they should do, not recognizing that the reason they do not do it already is built into the structure of their lifestyle.
In Small Is Beautiful, author Ernst Schumacher writes that development requires education, organization, and discipline. He uses development in the context of macroeconomic policy but here I apply it to my resolution.
My problem is not education- I know about stretching. It's not discipline- my willpower is fine.
The problem is organization. I do not stretch because I often shower and go right out again after running. It is hard to stretch within this framework. In order to get this right, I'll need to adjust my running schedule.
*Prepare better for umbrella products (last night, when it rained)
'Umbrella products' are things that never seem all that urgent to acquire until you suddenly need them. Then, not having it is a huge problem. Umbrellas, obviously, fall into this category. Other examples (none of which apply to me, of course) include hand soap, toilet paper, and monthly train passes.
This type of resolution is perhaps best left unmade. A big issue I see with it is the possibility of going too far the other way- I might end up with ten umbrellas! The safest approach is perhaps to stop worrying about getting wet.
On the other hand, though, such a comment is easy to make when one is dry.
Oh well. Wish me luck.
Thanks for reading these past couple of months. See you again on Friday.
Tim
Welcome to 'proper admin', my bi-monthly cleanup of everything I can't quite work into its own post.
Blog Admin- Early Winter 2016
I'm going to try something a little different (effective tomorrow) with the posting schedule.
First, I am going to return to a twice-weekly posting schedule. Posts will now go up on Wednesday and Sunday mornings.
The Wednesday post will be business as usual. These blogs will go up sometime between 11am and noon (EST). Longtime readers will recognize the chaotic blend of reflection, analysis, and nonsense.
The Sunday morning post will exclusively cover books. Most posts will focus on just one recently completed book at a time. It's possible that these posts will eventually replace the monthly reading reviews entirely but I'm not quite sure about that yet. Look for these between 5am and 6am (again, EST).
A new feature will be an occasional third post on Fridays. The Friday posts will be much shorter than the Wednesday blogs. Like with the Wednesday posts, I'll set these to go up between 11am and noon (still EST- its the only time zone I know).
I'll use the Friday space for part twos of longer posts, leftovers, and short ideas that I used to put into this 'proper admin' post. My bet is that doing more traditional 'blog' type posts will be a positive one for both reader and writer. The most recent post, the 'leftovers' about Tim Harford's book Messy, is a good example of the type of thing you will see on Fridays.
And of course, if that damn 'Business Bro' comes back- sabbatical my foot, anyone seen him around?- maybe we'll get six hundred words of work-related nonsense on Thursdays, as well. On those weeks, I will probably just post a link to the post on Fridays.
Finally, as True On Average approaches the end of year one, I've decided to end the 'holiday posts'. It was fun while it lasted. I will instead take breaks here and there as needed. No sense scheduling those- I'll just let you know when to bug off for a couple of weeks.
So, until another pointless announcement in two months time, expect a post on Wednesdays, maybe something short on Fridays, and a 'book review' on Sundays.
The word from the peanut gallery...
"Getting better eh?"
-anonymous, in highlighting a particularly well-written (if I may say) passage from a December post.It's about time I got better, no?
"...which I look forward to reading."
-anonymous, in responding to an idea I had for a future post (that would surely get me fired from this blog, were such a feat possible).The unrestrained enthusiasm is always appreciated!
Commentary on Early Winter 2016 blog posts (True On Average)
*11/4- Prop Admin- Fall 2016
The switch to the bimonthly format here was very positive. I like doing these posts but once a month was far too frequent.
*11/9- Moneyball was my favorite book, once
*11/14- Life Changing Books- Moneyball
A Moneyball double dip! Just to be clear, I'm not ready to abandon all forms of 'data analysis'- half the jobs I apply to have that exact phrase in the description. I'm just wary of allowing my reliance on such methods to skew too far toward an extreme.
*11/18- Prop Admin- October 2016 Reading Review
Since publishing this post, Murakami's Hard Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World has drifted into my thoughts time and again. As sunsets grow paler and the daylight hours decrease, I am reminded of the mood created in his depiction of 'the shadow world'.
How it is that his fictional place exists so clearly in me remains beyond my understanding. But each time I wander beneath overhanging bare branches, squint into increasingly lower sunshine angles, and bundle up against gusts of biting wind on cold winter afternoons in downtown Boston, the world that Murakami so grimly described seems to come to life.
*11/24- I’m Thankful for Haymarket
*11/25- The Haymarket Shopping Guide
Don't worry, reader, I found my tomatoes. I always find tomatoes.
*11/30- I read the Animorphs so you don’t have to
I sure hope everyone took my advice to not read these books. Life is short (though so are these books).
It seems likely that I'll read the 'new' Harry Potter book at some point in 2017. I would hazard a guess here and say that I'll do a similar thing to this post before I read that book.
*12/5- November 2016 Reading Review
The approach I took to finding my love language is entirely my own. I could just as easily have taken and shared the results of the test or used one of the approaches created by Chapman. I decided to try it my way. It was more fun.
*12/9- The Real Reason for A Full Blog
At the risk of infuriating (or perhaps disappointing) you, dear reader, I admit that I did not watch this video in 2016. I just did not have time (too busy writing 'proper admin', I suppose).
*12/14- Leftovers: No Matter What…(Where Does Art Come From?)
I am unsure today if this song proved a turning point for T.I. I stopped following his career soon after I saw this show, mostly because my interest in his musical genre disappeared. My suspicion based on a look at some of his popular work since 'No Matter What' is that he tweaked rather than overhauled his style.
I did note a couple of months ago, however, that he was taking a greater role in advocating for causes he felt strongly about. He did this publicly through speaking appearances and by explaining the feelings underlying some of the images in his music videos. He did this privately by meeting with past icons who used their celebrity to make a positive, lasting impact on their communities.
His comments in response to one of his recent videos highlight a spirit reminiscent of what I felt 'No Matter What' was all about:
"I felt it, so as an artist we are compelled to do what we feel. We are kind of bound by an unwritten oath that when we feel something we must let it out, and this is the result."In January, T.I. took another step in this direction by releasing an open letter to President Obama in the New York Times. Is he on the verge of becoming rap's Bono? This blogger can only hope!
I'm very curious about what drove Akutagawa to write a story like 'Hell Screen'. One difference between the modern rap and Japan's short stories of the early 1900s (out of, let's say, several differences) is the extent to which artists/authors will directly criticize one another within their work. Thus, I can only read into things and compare the notes of various scholars who study this topic much more rigorously than I.
Still, despite the lack of direct implication, it seems the consensus is that Akutagawa did have an opinion or two regarding the lifestyles and commitment of his contemporaries.
*12/19- Tales of Two Cities, Vol 1: Aug ‘15 - Nov ‘15
Despite starting the writing just ten days before I posted it, the idea of writing about cycling is one I have worked on for most of the last six months. It started a week or so after I wrote a post about how little actual recollection I had of what is now the past eighteen months.
On that day, I went into my Hubway account to investigate what I thought was a bogus charge (it wasn't, because I'm an idiot and can't count to thirty minutes). I found to my surprise that the dates, times, and locations of my Hubway trips created a skeleton around which I could flesh out some very specific memories of the time period. I did not know quite what to do with it on that day but kept the concept in mind for later use.
The combination of several sources eventually pointed to an approach for the post. I would say the end result, a series of mostly out-of-focus snapshots, incorporates personal data (Dear Data) and retrospective diary (Turn) to describe the up and down process of personal growth.
The post ran too long so I cut it off where I thought best. I'm not one hundred percent sure if, when, or how I'll return with the next part. I'm not quite sure yet if what I have remaining fits into what this post became.
*12/25- New Year’s Resolutions, Part 1
*1/1- New Year’s Resolutions, Part 2
I have not forgotten about fleshing out the details of two resolutions from the 1/1 post.
Any podcast recommendations?
In December, I read Tim Harford's new release, Messy. He appeared on one of my favorite podcasts, EconTalk, to discuss this book. I enjoyed the entire appearance.
Here is a link to the hour-long episode.
If you are not a podcast type, here is a link to a story referenced in the episode. It talks about how sloppy statistical inference leads to widespread belief in untrue but interesting ideas. In this article, Harford traces the path of this phenomena and talks about how such things continue to hold the public's attention even after they have been disproved.
Not another bracket, please, no!
Got a couple of more ideas for new words over the past couple of months.
1. A word for a tree that becomes taller once all its leaves have fallen off.
2. A word for sitting or lying down, getting fully comfortable, then remembering you need to do or get something which forces you to stand back up.
3. A word for emptying the final remnants of a container of food onto your plate, usually a dip, sauce, or topping (salsa, grated cheese, etc) because leaving such a small amount for next time will make no impact on the meal it supplements.
God for atheists?
Russell Wilson, quarterback of the Seattle Seahawks, led his team to a 31-24 victory over my New England Patriots in early November. After the game, he was interviewed on the field by NBC.
Regarding young teammate C.J. Procise, who surprised viewers with his standout performance, Wilson remarked that he was a good kid who 'puts God first'.
Despite my complete lack of religious belief, I really liked that expression. To me, it seemed to summarize a common theme among them all. Starting from a place like that is a good step forward in trying to find new ways to relate across one's differences with another.
I ate food this month
The coming and going of Thanksgiving reminds me of just how little regard I have for turkey. It is amusing to see how others are quick to agree if I state my feelings on the matter. It seems we eat it once a year out of obligation rather than interest.
Now, eggs are an entirely different matter. I love eggs and eat them year-round. I recently started buying eggs at CVS. Who knew that eggs there were the cheapest in Beacon Hill? Not me, until now. Once recently passed legislation comes into effect, these eggs may triple in price.
Oh no, here comes Moya...
"Moya, have a whiskey with me, Moya, order it with the barkeep, he's at the other end now but he'll be back, you'll order it like an adult too, won't you, Moya, won't you just say 'I'll have this or that, then, please,' just as any adult would, none of this nonsense where you point and grunt or say 'I'll have a whisss-keeee' or that you'll just have two parts gin and two parts tonic, none of that Moya, we are adults here, we say what we want, I thought so myself, that I was an adult just earlier today, just at lunch, when I went out to eat with Mis- oh, it doesn't matter who, Moya, they're all the same, these people, they tell you about a great new place for lunch, popular, they say it's so popular that we'll have to stand in line for hours to eat, they say, and we go, and we stand in a line out the door and around the corner, all awaiting something spectacular at the other end, a veritable culinary delight, surely, and we wait there, among a crowd of hungry fools, Moya, fools, we get to the end of the line with these fools, and its a counter, like in a cafeteria for children, children in school, and you are allowed to order two vegetables and a protein, a 'protein', I should emphasize, and only yes or no for this protein, this 'protein', to relieve me of the burden of using my brain to order the actual food I want, like I'm not capable of asking for chicken or tofu or even nothing, I have to talk about what 'protein' I'm getting, and its a yes or a no only, I get it or I don't, like I'm a nutrition label, talking about protein, 'protein', my lunch companion spent five minutes discussing his protein, as if it were oxygen, what becomes of the man who fails to ingest protein, in this cafeteria, this school lunch cafeteria full of overdressed adults, where cooks are preparing some special 'protein' that isn't merely a dry cube of chicken or some plastic week-old tofu, like this protein, this 'protein', its pro-teen, Moya, pro-teen, because the older kids might like it, they can take a photo of it, its for school lunches this place, and the line is out the door, of these adults, these adults who buy lunch like children, they can't even order a meal, they have to come into these places to point and grunt at a pepper because they can't name it, they can't name what they want rolled into a ball with their protein, Moya, a ball of protein and two vegetables, so that we can eat it with our hands like children, Moya, like children, who cannot be trusted with proper silverware, these adults that are just like little children, we mustn't allow them a fork to wave around, no wonder these lunch places are so popular, Moya, Peter Pan himself should be serving the meals here..."
Did you leave the apartment at all?
I reached a one year anniversary for Hubway in early October, marking the special occasion by renewing my annual membership. Somehow, the price remained $85 a year. I've spent more money in one sitting at late-night Chinese food (a perfect thing to ride a Hubway to, by the way).
I mentioned in this post that the impact of Hubway on me was 'beyond measure'. Not fully true, in a way- Hubway tracks all kinds of numbers.
As of December 9, the day I started writing this post, I have used Hubway for 411 hours, 38 minutes, and 28 seconds. That's almost half of a month out of the sixteen during which I've been a member. I'm not sure if that is more or less than I expected!
Other stats...
*495 total days of Hubway membership
*3069 miles traveled (estimate based on time on the bike multiplied by a speed estimate of 7.456 miles per hour)
*1449 total trips
*$22.50 'overdue' fines (each trip that exceeds 30 minutes = $1.50)
The most interesting note above is the mileage. It implies that, were I to attempt a cross-country bike ride, I am currently equipped to do so in half a month on the pseudo-cinder block with wheels that is the standard issue Hubway bike. Throw in some adjustments for sleeping, eating, and bathroom breaks (I could do at least two of the three on the bike, though) and a month is probably a realistic estimate.
Maybe I'll update you, reader, on these numbers every year. The annual Hubway user report, maybe? Who knows...
Anything else?
I posted over the holidays those resolutions that I've completed or currently have ongoing. Sounds like almost the full picture, right?
Right, almost. Success, as we all know, is built on a foundation of failure. Here are some of my resounding flops from a half-decade of New Year's resolutions:
*Stop watching TV (~2011)
This one holds up until you consider televised sport. At that point, it becomes a sand castle versus high tide.
Guess which one this resolution is!
*Learn to cook one new thing each week (multiple times, most recently February 2016)
Because what else is there to do when you lose your job, right?
I did OK for a short while. I learned how to make banana bread (which was a positive) and almost suffocated myself while eating homemade okonomiyaki (which was not a positive).
I'm facing up to reality now. My cooking style is fast, loose, and high volume. This approach does not work well with things like 'recipes', given their reliance on strict measurements.
*Stretch after running (multiple times, most recently November 2016)
This is probably the classic type of resolution that people mess up. They vow to do something that they should do, not recognizing that the reason they do not do it already is built into the structure of their lifestyle.
In Small Is Beautiful, author Ernst Schumacher writes that development requires education, organization, and discipline. He uses development in the context of macroeconomic policy but here I apply it to my resolution.
My problem is not education- I know about stretching. It's not discipline- my willpower is fine.
The problem is organization. I do not stretch because I often shower and go right out again after running. It is hard to stretch within this framework. In order to get this right, I'll need to adjust my running schedule.
*Prepare better for umbrella products (last night, when it rained)
'Umbrella products' are things that never seem all that urgent to acquire until you suddenly need them. Then, not having it is a huge problem. Umbrellas, obviously, fall into this category. Other examples (none of which apply to me, of course) include hand soap, toilet paper, and monthly train passes.
This type of resolution is perhaps best left unmade. A big issue I see with it is the possibility of going too far the other way- I might end up with ten umbrellas! The safest approach is perhaps to stop worrying about getting wet.
On the other hand, though, such a comment is easy to make when one is dry.
Oh well. Wish me luck.
Thanks for reading these past couple of months. See you again on Friday.
Tim
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