snikolha.us

"For me, a double-dip is another recession before we’ve healed from this recession … The..."

Tue, 27 Jul 2010 14:32:10 -0400

““For me, a double-dip is another recession before we’ve healed from this recession … The probability of that kind of double-dip is more than 50 percent””

- Robert Shiller, professor of economics at Yale University

Sorry this wasn’t a picture of a happy puppy.

"73% of iPhone users are very satisfied with AT&T’s service."

Mon, 26 Jul 2010 09:18:34 -0400

“73% of iPhone users are very satisfied with AT&T’s service.”

- Most iPhone users love AT&T (via hiten)

Cognitive dissonance anyone?

"I also believe that conventional monetary policy is tapped out, and unconventional monetary policy..."

Thu, 22 Jul 2010 09:50:00 -0400

“

I also believe that conventional monetary policy is tapped out, and unconventional monetary policy is of doubtful efficacy. So I am in favor of doing something else on the banking/finance side. My favorite idea right now is that of nationalizing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac completely and unleashing them to buy up every single mortgage in the country at market rates. Their ability to borrow at the Treasury rate means that they should be able to make money by doing this. When they own mortgages they can renegotiate and refinance them all with the public interest in mind. And as they squeeze banks out of the mortgage business the fact that banks are looking for yield should push other financial asset prices up—and make it possible for those businesses that should be expanding to get financing right now on terms that make expansion profitable.

So at the moment my preliminary judgment of the Obama fiscal boost is that it is a good first bid, but that the administration ought to be doing a lot more.

”

- J Bradford Delong, Department of Economics, U.C. Berkeley, writing back in January of 2009. The Fed might as well have read this excerpt as their recent official testimony to congress. It seemed to me Bernanke said, “Anyone got any ideas? I’m open to brainstorming here!”

Benny’s testimony: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mVqBOBxJ1lM

shotzombies: Photo: A Tom Waits Portrait Made from Coffee and...

Wed, 21 Jul 2010 12:15:05 -0400

shotzombies:

Photo: A Tom Waits Portrait Made from Coffee and Cigarettes

lonelysandwich: This is my Flipboard. That’s what I’m calling...

Wed, 21 Jul 2010 12:15:00 -0400

lonelysandwich:

This is my Flipboard.

That’s what I’m calling this little video I made to demonstrate the elegance and ingenuity of a new iPad app called Flipboard. I think you’ll agree, it looks nice. I also think you’ll find, once you download the app, that it feels amazing.

Here’s the effect it’s had on me in my couple of months using it in beta: I tend not to follow too many people on Twitter for the content they share, and in a typical Twitter client, I tend to gloss over links and images. Flipboard gives me such a nice way to read this stuff, I use it as an auxiliary client, just for the linked content. Turns out there’s some interesting stuff hidden behind all those ugly short URLs and yfrogs.

Big thanks to the talented and illustrious Peter Atencio for his work behind the lens, and to my handsome and kindhearted nephew Wes who knows how to swing.

Continuing a trend - Flipboard is in an extraordinary category of apps that feel as though they are worth the price of the iPad all by themselves.

"I would like to beg of you, dear friend, as well as I can, to have patience with everything that..."

Wed, 21 Jul 2010 08:10:52 -0400

“I would like to beg of you, dear friend, as well as I can, to have patience with everything that remains unsolved in your heart. Try to love the questions themselves, like locked rooms and like books written in a foreign language. Do not now look for the answers. They cannot now be given to you because you could not live them. It is a question of experiencing everything. At present you need to live the questions. Perhaps you will gradually, without even noticing it, find yourself experiencing the answer, some distant day.”

- Rainer Maria Rilke, Letters to a Young Poet. (via dihard) (via rahmin)

Read this speech - Solitude and Leadership

Wed, 07 Jul 2010 08:44:07 -0400

I found so many truths in William Deresiewicz’s Solitude and Leadership.

I’ve chosen this particular excerpt because it goes really well with another recent quote I shared with the caveat that this passage is much much more powerful amid the rest of the text with the context and exquisite organization that the full piece provides:

Introspection means talking to yourself, and one of the best ways of talking to yourself is by talking to another person. One other person you can trust, one other person to whom you can unfold your soul. One other person you feel safe enough with to allow you to acknowledge things—to acknowledge things to yourself—that you otherwise can’t. Doubts you aren’t supposed to have, questions you aren’t supposed to ask. Feelings or opinions that would get you laughed at by the group or reprimanded by the authorities.

It’s summer.

Tue, 06 Jul 2010 21:01:45 -0400

It’s summer.

In the fall Tara will matriculate with some of the best and...

Tue, 06 Jul 2010 10:32:00 -0400

In the fall Tara will matriculate with some of the best and brightest researching cognitive neuroscience as a Bruin. Her accomplishments continually amaze me.

UCLA’s PhD program is ranked identically with Harvard, University of Michigan and Yale.

The kicker? Our weather wins.

"We might say of friendships that they are a matter not of diversion or of return but of meaning...."

Mon, 05 Jul 2010 20:51:14 -0400

“We might say of friendships that they are a matter not of diversion or of return but of meaning. They render us vulnerable, and in doing so they add dimensions of significance to our lives that can only arise from being, in each case, friends with this or that particular individual, a party to this or that particular life.”

- http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/07/04/friendship-in-an-age-of-economics/

Learning To Love 'Being Wrong'

Tue, 22 Jun 2010 09:45:00 -0400

There are so many good quotes from this little NPR interview and I suspect her book, Being Wrong. One that sticks with me as someone trying to run a business, is statement about the field of science having a culture of celebrating and rewarding learning rather than being right.

There is no long term value in being right; there is a lot in learning. I want my business to reward long term value.

CONAN: Yeah, no, I understand that. And indeed, she writes a lot about the scientific method, which you’re talking about there, Ryan. And indeed, when you find something’s wrong, it’s almost celebration. You’ve proved something wrong, and now you can get on to a better truth.

RYAN: Right.

CONAN: And go ahead, Kathryn.

Ms. SCHULZ: Right. This is one of the distinctive things about science that, in theory - it’s not always in practice - scientists are actually setting out to disprove hypotheses, whereas most of the rest of us just kind of latch onto an idea and look for everything that supports it.

And, you know, the caller mentioned that perhaps this is a sign of superior intellect. And I’m not sure if I would exactly agree with that, but I think the important thing we can learn from scientists is that this way of thinking about hypotheses and evidence is something we can all learn.

Scientists are good at this because they’ve been trained to do this, because they work in a culture where it is expected and permissible to be wrong.

CONAN: And rewarded.

Ms. SCHULZ: And rewarded, exactly.

I’m looking forward to reading Being Wrong.

We have some (thousands of) new companions at the Bauman...

Sun, 20 Jun 2010 11:43:57 -0400

We have some (thousands of) new companions at the Bauman homestead.

WANT: http://joeyroth.com/ceramic-speakers/

Mon, 14 Jun 2010 12:48:52 -0400

WANT: http://joeyroth.com/ceramic-speakers/

stevenf: Justin Beaver: My first on-iPad drawing. Enjoy...

Sat, 05 Jun 2010 13:11:37 -0400

stevenf:

Justin Beaver:
My first on-iPad drawing. Enjoy it.

Too good not to reblog…

If I even casually watch my data usage, I’ll be able to...

Wed, 02 Jun 2010 12:57:26 -0400

If I even casually watch my data usage, I’ll be able to stay under 200 megabytes (i’ve never even thought about managing consumption) thus lowering my bill by $15 a month with the advent of tiered data plans for the iPhone.

Not bad AT&T. I’m a little surprised it took you this long…

French Broad River, MILES: 105, LOCATION: Ashville, NC. Check...

Fri, 28 May 2010 17:22:48 -0400

French Broad River, MILES: 105, LOCATION: Ashville, NC.

Check out the rest of the rides here: http://www.rapha.cc/map

Hat tip: Nathan Spindel

For those that have known me for a very very long time...

Thu, 27 May 2010 08:56:03 -0400

For those that have known me for a very very long time you’ll know that this is nothing new.

Thanks to Em (FOLLOW HER), I have some excellent, freshly...

Wed, 26 May 2010 11:27:01 -0400

Thanks to Em (FOLLOW HER), I have some excellent, freshly roasted beans… but ALSO

A COMPLETELY NEW BREWING METHOD to experiment with.

I have done anything and everything that I can with my french press. I’ve been biding my time till the fall or even later to expand to other methods. Now, thanks to her thoughtfulness I can get OCD about drip coffee now as well :)

Thrilled.

Beautiful Virginia Scenery #5 Beautiful, simple, old bridges.

Tue, 25 May 2010 00:00:00 -0400

Beautiful Virginia Scenery #5

Beautiful, simple, old bridges.

Lost finale, theatre style.

Sun, 23 May 2010 22:50:57 -0400

Lost finale, theatre style.