We need the Marcus Aurelius of finance as Treasury Secretary. The man who doesn't care about reputation and what he'll be doing in 4 or 8 years when he must leave office.

Youtube vs. college

There are math instructors on Youtube now that are better, more intuitive teachers than my professors in college.

I feel like a robot controlled by my biology when I read about the ways women's brains are different from men's, and how that indicates that it's because men were out being hunter-gatherers, and how women act this way because it'll help them raise kids, blah blah. I don't want to hear that love is just a chemical meant to bring together a couple long enough to raise a kid together, or that sex is just our genes tricking us with immense pleasure into passing them on. Love, eating, sex - each of these things are worthwhile in themselves.

I need to read less speculative science because it doesn't make me happy, and most of it can only come to a limited, useless conclusion anyway.

Prediction

Gold will not reach $2000 by the end of this year because people just watched the oil bubble pop and now know to fear when a price rises rapidly for some unknown reason. If gold does go that high, I'll consider selling it short somehow and trying to make some cash off the mass delusion.

Even with the economic shitstorm there is still a large pool of money that is not reaching the hands of the people that would best put it to use to make the future a neater place, and being wasted through stock buybacks and buying gold solely because you think a greater fool will want some in the future.

iTunes makes a critical usability error by not always giving an immediate response when you click somewhere. The UI works mostly nicely but it needs to tell you that it did recognize that you did indeed try to do something, and that it is working on it, immediately. Don't wait half a second or 2 seconds, it makes the UI feel mushy.

To settle a bet,

tonight I googled for "Hindu god of constipation" but was unable to find one. If this Hindu god does exist, I will be exactly 10000 Rupiah richer, so help a brother out!

Seek out that particular mental attribute which makes you feel most deeply and vitally alive, along with which comes the inner voice which says, 'This is the real me,' and when you have found that attitude, follow it.

--William James

Hat tip to Tyler Cowen.

When I see a long blog post with lots of words, I immediately get a sinking feeling...the author has not been respectful of my time and I start skipping chunks of sentences.

But a short post means the author was trying to be a craftsman, and what is left should be a little gem.