Release the Hounds

Truth is Out There

Many times when my family talks about current events or politics I play a sarcastic devil’s advocate without really seriously engaging in the discussion.  My brother-in-law asked me the other day why I do not get more involved in the discussions, especially the ones revolving around economics and financial topics given my background. 

The comment prompted me to really think about why I don’t join the debate.  I think there is a few factors, but I find one that answers the question best: I commonly find that my alliance to a certain side of the issue is never as strong as those going toe to toe.  Similarly, my opinion or conviction is rarely as extreme.  I have noticed, people find ways to simplify and strongly argue for the side of the issue that falls nicely into their previously held ideologies (party lines).  For example, the question of whether to spend or impose strict austerity measures to emerge us from the recession is politically polarizing.  I feel that there are so many factors at play that it is difficult to choose one and only one side.  I just finished reading “Crisis Economics” by Nouriel Roubini, the NYU professor that predicted the financial meltdown.  In his book, he argues that both answers are correct; we need to continue to spend in the short term and increase austerity in the long term. 

I just listened to an interesting “Freakonmics” podcast called “the truth is out there isn’t it” and it talked a lot about what I have witnessed in our discussions.  The psychologists stated that most people do not rely on hard data to come to a decision, but look to their community’s/culture’s ideologies instead.  They called this “cultural cognition”. 

The other psychology term they referred to is “confirmation bias”.  This is when we selectively look for information and evidence that already supports are pre-conceived notions.  I had already been well aware of this concept prior to listening to the podcast and I am very convinced we are all impacted by this.  I am committing this right now: the podcast agreed with my notion that people choose sides based on political affiliations rather than data.  Despite it all, being the devil’s advocate is just too fun.    

Fat Trap

I am listening right now to an on point podcast called “keeping off the fat”.  Tom is interviewing Tara Parker-Pope, a health writer, who recently wrote “the fat trap” in the NY Times.  The article is interesting, albeit very sobering.  The overall opinion of Parker-Pope is that weight loss it much more difficult for those who have gained weight.  In other words, as we gain weight we hit a high water mark and your body does all it can to revert back to that mark.  I have always considered myself active and fit but 5 years ago I started my career in a financial company.  Working over 55 hours a week in a sedimentary career has taken it’s toll on my physique and health.  I think this is a broader problem in America.  According to the interview something like over 80% of careers in America are sedentary. 

Another topic that was raised during the podcast is the idea of “turning on a fat gene” of offspring during gestation and pregnancy.  The hypothesis here is that if the mother is overweight during pregnancy, the probability of “activating” the fat gene which would ultimately lead to the child’s obesity is increased. 

Overall, I felt like the purpose of the podcast was to solicit sympathy and understanding for those with obesity and not how to confront the problem.  We started a “Biggest Loser” contest at work and the first thing I will do is purge everything I heard on the podcast.  Listening to the podcast definitely took the wind out of my sails and killed any optimism I have at getting back to my ideal weight.  

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/01/magazine/tara-parker-pope-fat-trap.html?pagewanted=all

The Value is Usually Greater Than the Cost

The other day I worked at my dad’s shop – he owns a wood product manufacturing business.  I grew up working for my dad off and on.  However, ever since graduating from college and starting my career in the financial industry I have not worked with him much.  I had asked my dad if I could use his paint spraying booths to paint some furniture for our baby’s room.  Before, we started I took a bit of a different approach than normal.  Because my dad is so good at what he does, it is hard for him to not take over.  People always assume my brother and I are as handy as my father.  What they don’t know is that when you have a father that can do anything – he built a maple professional pool table that beats any other table I have ever seen – you really never make or fix anything completely by yourself.  DIY was non-existent for us.   He was so coordinated and skilled that it was hard to not ask for his help and the great man that he is, he would never not help.  Those with fathers’ who did not have these skills knew that they had to attempt the objective themselves.  Mistakes were inevitable but they had no help to avail themselves.  My father is a great man and all he has done for us has been from the best intentions, however, this has taught me an important lesson in life: The value of a mistake is usually greater than the cost.

Model Clunkers

I got a kick out of this.  I came across these model clunker cars on uncrate.com:

Good Ol’ Boys by Tomer Hanuka

This cover jumped out at me while I was browsing magazines at Barnes & Noble.  Tomer Hanuka is one of my favorite artist/illustrators.

49th Parallel

I really enjoyed this movie.  This is one of those movies that even as you are 15 minutes into the movie you debate turning off.  I am so glad I stuck with it.  This is about a small nazi party that enters Canada.  Apparently the movie was “anti-isolationist propaganda” for the US.  This movie is very different in that instead of following the protagonists or the “good guys”, it follows the nazi party as they encounter several profound and colorful characters: The lively French Canadian hunter, the hutterite leader, the native American author and finally the AWOL US soldier. 

One of my favorite scenes is when, upon suspecting the German hutterite community is sympathetic to the Nazi cause”, the Nazi leader stands and orates, in a style not unlike Hitler’s, the perceived wonders of the Nazi movement.  Once the tirade is finished, the camera pans to the hutterite leader and as he sits in silence, the suspense of his rebuttal is hard to bear.  His words are beautiful and in such a logical and calm way, he delivers a verbal KO.  The end of his comments are memorable: “no, we are not your brothers”.

The film also makes allusions to Neitche’s Uberman.  The Nazi’s are narrowly focused on the strength and will of the individual.  In the shower, the leader looks at the choice of hot and cold water and just before pulling the lever to release the hot water, declares, “no, I will choose the cold water”.  When the Nazi party unveils their true identity to the author in the woods, the contrast of physical and mental strength become center stage.  The Nazi leader is disgusted with the author’s physical fragility and obsession with intellectual and cultural enlightenment.  Upon hearing the author respond to an insult, the Nazi leader says, when I call you a coward, you do not strike me.  Instead you simply talk about it.  The endings of the encounters with the author and the soldier conveys the sense of justice we all like to see – the soldier cocks his military cap and rolls up his sleeves itching to give the Nazi leader, “jerry” the beat down of his life.           

China and Capitalism

I have been thinking a lot lately about the ugly side of capitalism.  I often think of the growing income disparity (not as a result of occupy) and the plight of the working poor.  However, I just came across a podcast that reminded me of the alternative to free enterprise.  The last Planet Money podcast was about the origin of the economic growth in China.  Apparently, it all started from a collective farm in a small Chinese village.  In 1978, immediately after the death of Mao Tsung, the farm’s harvest was divided up and distributed evenly amongst the many farmers and their families.  Because no farmer had an incentive to work any harder than the other, the harvest of this particular farm was never bountiful enough to feed all the farmers.  The farmers had to go to other villages to beg – the farmer interviewed in the podcast described how humiliating and “dishonorable” this was.  Because of this plight, the farmers decided to covertly meet and discuss options for a better life.  Once the farmer’s had gathered, all were reticent as they knew the consequences of their actions could be death.  However, one farmer, Yen Jinchao, did that which is so often a requisite for any great revolution: he spoke up.  This opened the door for the discussion and once they were finished they agreed that each family would own a piece of the farm and the food that it yielded.  Yen Jinchao described how he felt the first day after the meeting.  He felt so different and optimistic.  They started working before the sun came up.  The year the change was implemented, the harvest of the farm was greater than the sum of the last five years.  Capitalism is not perfect but until a better economic system comes along, it’s the best we got.   

“The Best Office Ever Imagined by Man”

The other day I came across a post on slot cars on “A Continuous Lean”.  The post included pictures of a slot car table in an office.  The funniest part of the post was that the owner’s wife had no clue of the track’s existence or cost.  I couldn’t believe how awesome this track was.  The owner had put together a miniature world complete with trees, shrubs, fan stands, cockpits, etc.  I was especially interested because when I was younger my dad dusted off his old box of slot cars and showed my brother and I the ropes.  I haven’t seen any slot cars since that time. 

This was a timely post because I am expecting a baby boy in February.  My obsessive nature has kicked in and now all I can think of is putting together a track for me and my boy – this is only one of the activities I cannot wait to do with my boy.  I started looking online and reading about the different types (they now make digital tracks where the cars can switch lanes).  I was surprised to learn that the miniature world complete with handmade props and scenery I saw on ACL was not rare for slot car fans.  I came across picture after picture of immensely detailed worlds of slot car racing.  The detail was staggering: mini headlights and taillights that lighted up, a heli pad in the center of the track with a mini fully functioning RC helicopter, an entire Italian village in the hills, multilevel tracks with intricate tortuous turns. 

I was all the more excited to learn that now days many of the nicer tracks are routed out of wood and I think it is something I could make.  The pictures I came across have made me even more excited to start building my own.  Now I need to convince my wife.  The first picture is the image from ACL.  Many of the other pictures come from slotmods.com.  This website has beautiful images and videos in the portfolio section.   

Warrior

I just finished watching the warrior and I really enjoyed it.  If you have not seen this I know what you’re saying: how good could a movie about MMA be?  I really did not have high expectations for this movie.  I thought that it would be an awful plot and bad dialogue with a few really cool fight scenes to pander to the MMA crowd.  I was wrong – however, I am sure many who have seen it and feel it was just how I described it.  The movie superbly builds up to a spectacular climax. 

One reason I could be partial to this movie is that I love movies about brothers.  Adaptation, American History X and Royal Tenenbaums are amongst my favorite.  These are not the conventional brother stories and I doubt anyone else thinks of these as such – these are amongst my favorite movies for many other reasons as well.  I thought the acting was great because I didn’t want to snicker at the end when the teacher brother was saying “I love you” as he was choking the hell out of his brother.      

 

Biggest Loser

I am listening right now to an on point podcast called “keeping off the fat”.  Tom is interviewing Tara Parker-Pope, a health writer, who recently wrote “the fat trap” in the NY Times.  The article is interesting, albeit very sobering.  The overall opinion of Parker-Pope is that weight loss it much more difficult for those who have gained weight.  In other words, as we gain weight we hit a high water mark and your body does all it can to revert back to that mark.  I have always considered myself active and fit but 5 years ago I started my career in a financial company.  Working over 55 hours a week in a sedimentary career has taken it’s toll on my physique and health.  I think this is a broader problem in America.  According to the interview something like over 80% of careers in America are sedentary. 

Another topic that was raised during the podcast is the idea of “turning on a fat gene” of offspring during gestation and pregnancy.  The hypothesis here is that if the mother is overweight during pregnancy, the probability of “activating” the fat gene which would ultimately lead to the child’s obesity is increased. 

Overall, I felt like the purpose of the podcast was to solicit sympathy and understanding for those with obesity and not how to confront the problem.  We started a “Biggest Loser” contest at work and the first thing I will do is purge everything I heard on the podcast.  Listening to the podcast definitely took the wind out of my sails and killed any optimism I have at getting back to my ideal weight.  

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/01/magazine/tara-parker-pope-fat-trap.html?pagewanted=all