Posts

Showing posts from January, 2009

New David Leonhardt Article on Facing Our Economic Challenges

At the New York Times, an early article from next Sunday's Magazine: The Big Fix . Absolutely worth a read. From the concluding paragraphs: The norms of the last two decades or so — consume before invest; worry about the short term, not the long term — have been more than just a reflection of the economy. They have also affected the economy. Chief executives have fought for paychecks that their predecessors would have considered obscenely large. Technocrats inside Washington’s regulatory agencies, after listening to their bosses talk endlessly about the dangers of overregulation, made quite sure that they weren’t regulating too much. Financial engineering became a more appealing career track than actual engineering or science. In one of the small gems in their book, Goldin and Katz write that towns and cities with a large elderly population once devoted a higher-than-average share of their taxes to schools. Apparently, age made them see the benefits of education. In recent decades,

I Dare You.....

...to listen to this song three times and tell me you are not totally hooked. Thanks, Sarah, for letting me know about the song! Amazon.com Widgets

A Very Tasty Day

Image
Had the chance with the ladies out of town for the weekend (visiting Cousin Laura in North Carolina) to head down to the Lower East Side on a culinary excursion. For some time now I have wanted to try the restaurant Porchetta , whose specialty is a roast pork sandwich - beautifully roasted natural pork on a tasty, crusty bun. Based on the recommendation in this New York Magazine r eview of the restaurant , I also had the crispy potatoes with baked ends (crusty stuff from the outside of the pork roast). All I can say is YOWZA! The food rocked and I suggest anyone who is a fan of sandwiches and/or pork head down to give the restaurant a try. The only downside worth mentioning is that the place is TINY - as in there is barely room for 6 stools and a narrow countertop. While I was at the restaurant I had the chance to check out Sara Jenkins' cookbook Olives and Oranges: Recipes and Flavor Secrets from Italy, Spain, Cyprus, and Beyond which looks tasty and has great customer reviews. T

Here's A Cool Blog To Follow....

The White House Blog

Way Cool - My Polar Heart Rate Monitor

Image
Since I'm still on the bench for running given my groin injury, I've been focused lately on spin classes. I've rearranged my weight training day so I can attend spin class three days a week - on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday. Today's class was the first I attended with a heart rate monitor, and the results were terrific. The five zones pictured above correspond to ranges of % of maximum heart rate. Zone 5 is 90-100%, Zone 4 is 80-89%, Zone 3 is 70-79%, Zone 2 is 60-69%, and Zone 1 is 50-59%. Knowing my heart rate zone during class helps motivate me to push into higher zones and also keeps me from kidding myself about how hard I'm working. Today's class was really tough, and though I never got into Zone 5, I did spend a fair amount of time in Zone 4 (more than 20 minutes). If you are committed to doing great cardio workouts, I suggest you consider a heart rate monitor. I have the Polar RS200 Heart Rate Monitor Watch (Black)

Inspiration

Image
From the New York Times: Fitness Isn't An Overnight Sensation . Terrific article on the benefits of exercise and the commitment required to make a difference. Here's one great story from the article: Then there’s Charles Reilly, a federal prosecutor in Manhattan and a marathon runner who took a 10-year hiatus from the sport when he joined his local school board. He just did not have time to exercise, he said. Along with exercising less, he ate more. Soon he ballooned from 159 pounds to 282. “It came on gradually, but it came on,” Mr. Reilly said of the weight. On April 18, 2005, he had his last school board meeting — he’d decided not to run for any more terms. Eight days later, he went out for a run. “After half a mile, I had to stop and walk,” Mr. Reilly said. But he kept trying. A month later, he could run three miles without stopping. After three or four months, he says, he could run for five miles. By the end of 2006, he ran 10 miles. In the meantime, he also changed his di

Breaking Through: Science of Sport: Mind vs Matter

Great entry at Science of Sport with a look back at the mental challenge of breaking through the 4-minute mile barrier: Mind vs Matter . Love this quote: we can each improve within ourselves by reframing our expectations, by challenging our beliefs, by identifying our own mental barriers and then breaking them down

Do You Wish You Were Here?

Image

Vanity Fair - The Devil at 37,000 Feet

Image
The crash today of the US Airways flight into the Hudson River reminded me of an article I read a few weeks ago in Vanity Fair - The Devil at 37,000 Feet , by William Langewiesche. It's the account of a terrible aviation tragedy in Brazil that is fascinating for its exploration of human/technology interface issues and workgroup dynamics (in this case two pilots who were flying a small business jet), among other things. A fascinating read. Related articles by Zemanta Tightly-Coupled Systems, Airlines and Error

Earth, observed - The Big Picture - Boston.com

Kinda scary....I wonder what it looks like from the ground. Earth, observed - The Big Picture - Boston.com

WARNING: Playlist May Contain Music-like Substance....

Image

Why Does U.S. Health Care Cost So Much? (Part I) - Economix Blog - NYTimes.com

Image
There's an excellent series of short articles on health care in the US on the New York Times web site - definitely worth a read. I think it's important to become familiar with the issues given that health care improvement is one of the stated goals of the new President. Links to the series are below. If you have any recommendations of other good writing on health care, let me know in the comments. Speaking of comments - be sure to check out the comments in each of these blog posts. Why Does U.S. Health Care Cost So Much? (Part I) - Economix Blog - NYTimes.com Why Does U.S. Health Care Cost So Much? (Part II: Indefensible Administrative Costs) Why Does U.S. Health Care Cost So Much? (Part III: An Aging Population Isn’t the Reason) Why Does U.S. Health Care Cost So Much? (Part IV: A Primer on Medicare) U.S. Health Care Costs, Part V: Can Americans Afford Medicare? U.S. Health Care Costs Part VI: At What Price Physician Autonomy? U.S. Health Care Costs Part VII: Reining in Doctors

Right On, Fred

I found this fascinating quote today: If I think about all the issues we've had on wall street over the past year (see Michael Lewis and Daniel Einhorn's two part column for a great description of them), I think most of these issues have been caused by investors playing with other people's money without enough of their own net worth at stake. Financial leverage is a good example of playing with other people's money. You put up a tiny amount of your own money and you borrow the rest. If things don't go your way, you write off the little you put up and the lender takes the bath. That's been going on in the financial markets and the housing markets for the better part of ten years and we are now seeing the cost of that approach. A VC , Jan 2009 You should read the whole post.

To Lead, Create a Shared Vision (from Harvard Business Review)

Image
The short article To Lead, Create a Shared Vision really resonated for me. Some key excerpts: "Being forward-looking—envisioning exciting possibilities and enlisting others in a shared view of the future—is the attribute that most distinguishes leaders from nonleaders" "Leaders on the front line must anticipate merely what comes after current projects wrap up. People at the next level of leadership should be looking several years into the future. And those in the C-suite must focus on a horizon some 10 years distant. ... So how do new leaders develop this forward-looking capacity? First, of course, they must resolve to carve out time from urgent but endless operational matters. But even more important, as leaders spend more time looking ahead, they must not put too much stock in their own prescience" "Yes, leaders must ask, “What’s new? What’s next? What’s better?”—but they can’t present answers that are only theirs. Constituents want visions of the future tha

Photography Links

Image
Photography meets surfing: Vincent Laforet's blog . You know from previous posts ( If You Have 10 Minutes..... and Photography.... ) that I am a big fan of Laforet. The blog has recently covered a project to film a surfer - Jamie O'Brien - in Hawaii. The posts are a combination of some great video as well as behind-the-scenes details on Laforet's approach to the project. Links to more links: 10 Hot Photography Tips and Tutorials from 2008 and 21 Settings, Techniques and Rules All New Camera Owners Should Know . From Digital Photography School .

New York City Real Estate - Two Views

Image
From the New York Times Economix column: New York, New York: America’s Resilient City From the Wall Street Journal: New York, Boston Prices Expected to Fall Further The Times piece seems more optimistic while the WSJ piece seems more realistic.....though one could argue that the differences have only to do with time horizon. Related articles by Zemanta NYC Not As Screwed: "Wall Street is just about to...