'Nuff said

Lessons learned

What I learned from the "best throws" post is that, based off the number of comments, *I* am more interesting for other people to talk about than anything that I actually find interesting and post about.

We went to a dinner party last night (thanks Tim & Sarah!), and Joanne & I won the party. Not saying much in that the other invitees have young children. But I digress. Something that came up in conversation was pack-rattedness--something I've linked to in the sidebar. So it was a battle to see who had the worse case. I don't think there was a clear winner, but I think I had the most "why the hell do you have that?!" award. I, up until today, had kept every issue of The Shadow (high school newspaper). All four years and 33 issues. But the shame of my "victory" got me to spend the day clearing out our storage room. And it went well--the stuff that's in the room (as opposed to a closet) is more stuff to get rid off, though I'm not inclined to give it away (Joanne's wedding dress, my various "collectibles", and so on). Other big step was conceding that I don't need to keep the packaging boxes of various items we've purchased (the plasma, DVD player, lamp, etc.)...

Other downsizing--I've returned to listing some DVDs and CDs at half.com or Amazon, and I've made *3* sales to institutions---Black Orpheus to a ritzy resort in New Jersey, seasons 1-4 of the West Wing to the New York Public Library, and an out-of-print edition of Notorious: Criterion Collection to... ASU's Film Studies department. Odd.

If you were/are interested in the Planet Earth documentary series, Amazon resellers have pushed the price under $30. (normally sells for over $50).

Switching topics, I came across an old article from NYT about the myth of low fat is good health, centered heavily around the Atkins diet. The same author, Gary Taubes, has a book coming out next month entitled Good Calories, Bad Calories, which expands greatly on the article. One excerpt from the article:

The gist of the glycemic-index idea is that the longer it takes the carbohydrates to be digested, the lesser the impact on blood sugar and insulin and the healthier the food. Those foods with the highest rating on the glycemic index are some simple sugars, starches and anything made from flour. Green vegetables, beans and whole grains cause a much slower rise in blood sugar because they have fiber, a nondigestible carbohydrate, which slows down digestion and lowers the glycemic index. Protein and fat serve the same purpose, which implies that eating fat can be beneficial, a notion that is still unacceptable. And the glycemic-index concept implies that a primary cause of Syndrome X, heart disease, Type 2 diabetes and obesity is the long-term damage caused by the repeated surges of insulin that come from eating starches and refined carbohydrates. This suggests a kind of unified field theory for these chronic diseases, but not one that coexists easily with the low-fat doctrine.

And I never did return to finish off that Big Brother in China post. Maybe some day...

Dedicated to Pete

So Buckley (and others) will occasionally say "Good throw, Keith", which I tend to downplay. I find many of my throws that are good enough for practice or league, or what have you, wouldn't be quite good enough when the quality of competition increases. And what is a good throw anyway? Your job with the disc is to hit your receiver. They catch it, mission accomplished. So to rebut Pete's thought that I think I've never made a good throw, here are my best throws:

Actually, not yet. Joanne points out that this is likely to bring out a fair amount of heckling because I can remember that many throws. Remember, though, you are judging me on what I am demonstrating I remember. I could easily be misremembering or making things up. You have no way of knowing. Nor by demonstrating what I do remember does that reflect what I don't remember. Which is considerable.

So on to the show (not in any specific order).

Favorite throw: GRUB '06. We're up 14-8ish. I have the disc on the long goaline. Gabe Fuzat, former Phx player, is my marker trapping me backhand. He's very sideways. He'll give me any backhand I want, but no forehand. We're in a horizontal. Stalling 1...2... Jack is straight away, which gives him a bad angle on the deep cut he knows I want. 3... 4... Guy is the second one in. 5... 6... I see an in cut coming that's open. I see Guy nod. He knows what I want. 7... the throw goes up. It hangs for a bit, so the defender is able to make up ground. They go up for it. It gets popped in the air, but falls to Guy as he's falling on his back. Guy thrusts the disc in the air. In the endzone. For the game winner.

Most important throw: After moving into the house in 2003, I took June off, but came out for a hat at the end of the month. I was severely jacked up (3 or 4 dews that day), so I had hydration concerns. But I digress. In the first game of the day, Seth Jaffee makes a cut to the break side. I hit him with a backhand. He actually had to lunge for it, but it was about waist high. Before my June break, my backhand break was inconsistent--sometimes it would stay low, sometimes shoot high. But now it was locked in--extension, low fast release, good float, very catchable. My peak as a player was starting (it ended July 2005, btw).

Most infamous throw: Another hat tournament (2003 #2 I think, but I'm not sure). In finals, we were playing the team Joanne was on in finals. We rolled them earlier, but the tables had turned in finals, and they had a considerable lead. I kicked it up a notch and played a key role in getting us back in the game. I get a pass around mid field on the right side, turn and see no continuation. I yell "where's my deep cut " (this is the flick force btw). Jimmy tells the story that I used an expletive between "my" and "deep" (hence the infamy). I don't recall. Raul (tucson) gives me what I request. I put the forehand up. Hits him in stride. A good forehand for most people isn't a big deal, but as Sam noted in this period about my backhand "is that all you got?". Oh yeah, Raul dropped it. I don't think we challenged again.

Clutchiest Pull: It was just a scrimmage up in Flag summer of 05. We were playing Arson in a tight game. Lots of point trading. They get game point. We battle back to tie. I have the disc for the ensuing pull. The thin air helps--it gets to the endzone and drifts to the (my) left sideline. They elect to let it land, thinking it might go OB. It lands within 5 feet of the back cone. I don't recall if they completed one pass within in the endzone, but we cover the pull well. On either the first or second pass, they throw a high pass to Grobe with Stoli defending. He's not able to pull it in and we get the disc on the goalline for the game winner. Just a scrimmage maybe, but this was the first time ever a team I was on beat a Tucson A team in any form.

Best hard throw: Not hard in terms of tight space or pin point accuracy, but the speed of the throw itself. Actually this category has three. It's all the same throw--an OI backhand that I throw as hard as I can diagonally across the field. Generally this throw goes from the right side (trap flick sideline) to the other side for a score. It happens when i get the disc on the line, the marker overcommits to stop the forehand continue up the line, leaving me space to get the big backhand for yardage. But not always.

1. The first was Vegas 03, the worst run tournament ever. A Tucson-Phoenix game with some intermixing to make it interesting--Phil, Darrel and Gretchen are with Tucson. We have Emma (after she moved up). Tight game throughout. I get the disc on the flick side as described. Larry cuts for the flick, but is defended. He makes the S cut back around. I put it up and hit him in the front left corner for the score. This throw was hard because it was a longer throw than usual (30+ yards from the endzone, rather than a more common 20 yards) and the field orientation was a little wacky. We went on to win.
2. The second was another scrimmage against Tucson last summer. This was different in that I got the disc and was being trapped backhand. Skunk was on the far side not much further downfield than me when I put it up (hard OI backhand, coming down fast). He kicks into gear and catches it in stride in the middle of the endzone. More than the in-stride thing, what made this throw memorable was Skunk's exclamation/shock that I saw him cutting ("how did he even see me?"). I had a similar throw to Evan against Sack Lunch at '05 Regionals, with more wind. It should be considered the superior throw, but Skunk's reaction puts his ahead.
3. When I was formulating this post concept, I know I had three, but I can't think of it now. I'm pretty sure it's not the Evan throw, but I'm at a loss at the moment.

Best Spousal Throw: Unfortunately, the best throw involving Joanne came with her as a defender. This past spring league, in the WLR, I got the disc on the left side around midfield. Amber was cutting deep near the opposite sideline with Joanne on her. Taking advantage of a weak mark, I put up a crossfield IO backhand, that actually passes them left-to-right before drifting back in front of Amber for the score. Kevin calls timeout. We continue our run a bit more, but don't pull out the game. I did use this game as proof to Joanne throughout the season, though, that her team wasn't that good if they couldn't beat us much more severely.

Best Break Mark: This is tough. Repeatedly breaking Jeff Hale in Fall '04 playoffs, and his frustration at this occurrence, was good, as was getting the throws off against Barrio in '03 Sectionals even though they knew/were told by Emma that's all I wanted to throw (which is all that open. Tim remarked during the game "you don't expect me to get open to the open side do you?" [defender was pre knee injury Baldyga] it was the one time I felt like I might be the person the other team was most concerned about. Not too concerned, mind you. They did beat us rather handily. But there was chatter by them when I got the throws off). But the most memorable one was Potlach '04. Owen from Salt Lake is marking me and I get the break off. It was a rather pedestrian throw and the mark wasn't good (similar to the Spring 07 shirt marker), but what makes it memorable is his call of " ahh sh... broken" well before I got the throw off. I'm not sure my foot had landed on the step across yet.

Most Exciting Pass to throw: Competitive League 04. Phil took Nate with his first pick, when it came back to him for his second (6th overall) he states he needs a thrower, and proceeds to pick me. I point out that he just said he needs a thrower. Anywho, Emma and Matt Baral end up on the team as well, and we're the primary handlers. We play Sam's team during the season without them, so I'm the lone "handler" so the game plan literally ends up being "keith, huck it to nate." so i do that. a lot. and all i have is a backhand, yet, because larry isn't there for sam's team, i ended up being marked a lot by someone who continually bites on forehand fakes and gives me the space to get off the backhand. So the strategy actually works and we're in the game and leading. Towards the end, i get the disc 10 yards or so off the right sideline. Phil is about 15-20 yards from me. All I see is the back of his shirt--he's going deep. I get excited. Throw goes up towards the left side of the endzone. Score. The think I remember most is the flash of giddiness to see Phil busting deep because he knows I have it and he knows I'm going to send it. It was unlike any other moment. Not quite Guy's nod, but just as awesome in a different way.

Best midfield pass: Prior to Sprawl winning NYF II in '06, our best game was a 15-7 loss to Condors at '04 Regionals (better than the Monster win in '05 because in the latter, M played crappy. in the former, we played well). I take pride in having some involvement in 6 of our scores, even if 2 were only me calling the string on the line that worked and produced a score. One of the important throws in that game was a huck I got off to Ryan McDonnell. After a timeout and a couple of throws on the goalline, we got the score. Just as important was a break backhand to Santiago. Rather than the OI, this was an IOish underneath cross field throw (about 10 yards off the left sideline throwing to the right). Santiago proceeds to throw for a score.

Best understanding of the rules throw: Regionals 04 against PBR. THey shank a pull. I call middle and we're about 25 yards from the endzone. I ground check and throw a forehand to the front cone for a score. Don't remember the target, but I assume Stoli or Dixon (ie a fast person). PBR marker is upset and claims it comes back because he didn't check it. I explain there's no D-check for a brick. Just because they're "elite" doesn't mean they know the rules...

Best trash throw: Fall league 05, the one with scoreboards. We're down most of the game to Steve & Cayla's team, but make a comeback and go ahead. For the game winner, I got it just outside of the endzone. Abby flashes across to the front corner. I elect to bust out the push pass. Hits her in the chest. Game over.

Best ugly throw: Hoasis 05. Phoenix vs Phoenix in the B finals. Not sure if it was a game everyone wanted to win, or no one wanted to lose. I put up a floaty, high release-ish fairly swilly throw to nate in the front corner of the left side of the endzone. Alex gets there first for the game winner.

Best incomplete pass: Yes, this is legitimate. I throw a full field flick, it counts, whether caught or not. GRASS 05. Maybe the best tournament ever even if Saturday got mostly rained out. Anyway, little marker pressure in a game on Sunday, Karen Martin going deep, I throw a forehand. It's a little too far and drifts away from her to the right. Doesn't miss by much, and the thin air helped a lot.

Best upwinder: Ultimeet 03. In a game in which we got crushed by Dallas, one highlight was a huck I got off to Jimmy. Chris Gutmann got the disc on a brick, forced flick. He recognizes my defender is overcommitted to the flick side and leads me perfectly for the IO break. I turn and do a check down looking for my deep cutter. I see jimmy busting across right to left and send it, despite the wind. Jimmy was guarded by a guy considerably taller (not saying much, I know), but has separation. It's still out in front of him, but he pulls in with a full on high layout. No gratuitousness at all.

Most dramatic game winner: Potlatch 05. We're playing a Dallas team with a number of guys from the team above. They're up for most of the game, but we rallied. They were up 14-12, but we were able to tie it at 16. After an odd number of turns, I get the disc on the left half of the field behind mid field and on the turn see Jack going deep. the throw goes up. The throw is on the money, but other people are able to get into the play. Not a jump disc/hospital by any means, but Jack goes up and gets it with more than just his defender in the vicinity. This was a big game--it was perhaps the first game in which a team I was on rallied when down at game point to win a game. There was actual heart. It was different. It felt good.

Best fake: NYF 03, Symmsations v Chico. We lost the game unfortunately, largely because of a high number of passes caught out the back of endzone on a short field. Unlucky. But my highlight is a throw I got near the left sideline. Nate's going to the endzone for the continuation score, and I was going to throw it, but the defender closes, my marker lays out to prevent the throw. I throw flick to the middle of the field. We score a pass or two later.

Best league championship winner: I've been on the field for the 3 of the 6 teams I've been on that won league. And of those times, I've thrown the game winner once, so technically this doesn't have a lot of competition. Fall 03 try number 3. After failing to hit Jeff Grobe (early release or slow arm, same difference) and Emma (unexpected traffic), I finally hit Dan Chiang for the winner. Backhand of course. The throw was on target, but looks a slightly sketchy in the video only because Dan started to stumble because of cramps on the last 2 strides, but he battled through and pulled it in.

A Bunch of Hoodoo

Joanne received her birthday "present" the past week--5 days of a non-complaining Keith on an adventure into the Utah wilderness: Cedar Breaks and Bryce Canyon (which we've been told twice is not actually a canyon, but that's neither here nor there).

The trip summary:

• Day 1 (Friday): Drive to Page. Stop by Lake Powell. Enjoy the wonder of cable TV (we've been cableless for over 6 years now) in our hotel room after determining cruises on the Lake were cost prohibitive.
• Day 2 (Saturday): Continue on to the Cedar Breaks area (a mini-Bryce located in between Zion & Bryce). Visit Strawberry Point. Set up camp at Te-Ah near Navajo Lake.
• Day 3 (Sunday): Visit Cedar Breaks. Make short hikes to Spectra Point and Alpine Pond (each ~2 miles). More camping fun.
• Day 4 (Monday): Stop by the last viewpoint at CB and Panguitch Lake on our way to Bryce. Venture to the far end of the park and do the Bristlecone Pine loop. Making our way back, we go to Inspiration Point. Joanne lets me do the rim trail to Bryce Point (1.3 miles) solo as her knee was locking up a bit and she feeling the altitude a bit, so she drives and meets me there. Make another short hike to Mossy Cave, just outside of the Park, before the Tropic-al part of our vacation (the town of Tropic is 7 miles from Bryce). We splurge for the upgrade from the motel room to the excessively pine cabin.
• Day 5 (Tuesday): Queens Garden and Wall Street loop hike. Start the trek home a day early, deciding the virtues of a relaxing day at home (Wednesday) was more appealing than more walking. So we headed back around noon or so and came back via 89A through Fredonia/Jacob Lake (entrance to North Rim).

Top 5 highlights:

• Tom, the yellow bellied marmot, appearing out of nowhere at Spectra Point. We were overlooking what we thought was a sheer cliff, and Tom randomly crawls up over the ledge to sun himself for a while. We we got back to the trailhead, we saw it was a double cliff--he crawled up an area that was maybe 10 feet above a flat area before the big drop off.
• Strawberry Point. I think this would rank a little lower if it wasn't first, as it was a view point that came after a 10 mile, 30-minute dirt road. It was the most expansive view though.
• Doh, a deer, a female deer(s). After breaking down camp, I saw two deer go through the campground, passing a path Joanne was on from the facilities. They were so quiet, Joanne didn't see them.
• The trail from Inspiration Point to Bryce Point. I wish Joanne would have made it--it was interesting to see the transition of the features from one point to the other.
• Wall Street.
• Bonus: the mountain decent on 89A from Jacob Lake. Because of the amount of dirt road travel, I was glad we took the Pilot. This portion made me reassess that position. It did get off to a slow start however, as after non seeing another car going in our direction for 30 miles or so, some d!@#$!t (Joanne approved term) in a camper pulls out in front of me at the turn at Jacob Lake. He waits 6 seconds and I'm not tailing him for way too long going under the speed limit. But after that, it was a beautifully windy road made for the TSX (or any handling+ car). The 20-mile continuous downhill grade coming out of that was also mildly interesting.
  

Other observances:

• Lake Powell is expensive--$80+/per for the dinner cruise; $55 for the same cruise minus dinner. The breakfast cruise was feasible (<$35), but it doesn't leave the bay and would have required us waking up too early on a vacation. In hindsight, we maybe should have pushed on past Page (though Joanne really enjoyed dinner at Stromboli's) to allow for more time in Utah. If we could've tightened things up a bit, maybe we stay the extra day and go to Zion or Escalante, or do another trail at Bryce (part of the Peekaboo Loop). However, I can't say either of us had a strong desire to do more hiking, but I would have preferred less driving.
• We discussed our best vacations, and they all have a nature component: Hawaii, Interlaken part of the Europe trip, our California coast roadtrip. But I am a strong proponent of indoor plumbing and an actual bed--the cot/sleeping bag combo didn't really work for me.
  
• I think I also settled on the fact that I'm a time-share type person--I want a good home-base with some of the comforts of home (ie kitchen) that is a nice enough place to lounge around without the feeling the need to do something, or close enough to something that you can wander our of it and do something you normally can't (ie the beachfront room in Hawaii). A campground doesn't quite fit the bill, but a cabin would (the "cabin" in Tropic, was technically a cabin, but the place was more of a detached hotel room.)
• Joanne says I mostly behaved, but she wants something else for her birthday. So I obviously committed a faux pas somewhere...
  

Otis, My Man!

The Journal has a piece today, The Death of Diversity, that references a recent study by Harvard Professor Robert Putnam that calls into question the actual value of diverse communities. Putnam first gained notice for this topic with his book Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community.

The study, Diversity and Community in the Twenty-first Century, finds that:

Inhabitants of diverse communities tend to withdraw from collective life, to distrust their neighbors, regardless of the color of their skin, to withdraw even from close friends, to expect the worst from their community and its leaders, to volunteer less, give less to charity and work on community projects less often, to register to vote less, to agitate for social reform more, but have less faith that they can actually make a difference, and to huddle unhappily in front of the television.

What of LA, New York, the Bay area, and all those cities striving to creative diverse communities attractive to what Richard Florida calls the the "Creative Class"? Florida has gained acclaim in the economic development realm (my general career field) for the notion (and book) that knowledge workers are attracted to diverse, open minded communities and that will drive economic progress.

So Putnam runs counter to the efficacy of that strategy. While there may be some truth to Florida's thesis, how much of it is like the road trip in Animal House in which the Deltas (and their dates for the night) come across Otis Day & the Knights. Sure, you can pop into another community, but do they want you there? And isn't the difference with LA & NY that each ethnicity has their own little enclave? When everything is mixed together, are people more likely to retreat?

We're not all that involved in our neighborhood--we say occasional hellos to the residents of the homes immediately adjacent to ours, but I've never spoken to anyone else on the cul de sac. And that wasn't the case when I was growing up--I (and my parents) knew a fair amount of people on our block. But part of that might have been demographics--my brother & I were young and other families were near by. Not having kids yet makes me wonder if that's the key feature that draws neighborhoods together.

Oink Oink

The Honest Leadership and Open Government Act was passed rather decisively by both the House (411-8) and the Senate (82-14), but the Wall Street Journal hopes to see Bush veto because:

The bill includes a sham earmark reform provision that falls well short of what Democrats campaigned for last year, and short of what each house passed earlier this year before the watered-down version came out of nowhere last month.

Reason provides more context for the earmark problem:

"Consider what happened last month when Rep. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) challenged a $100,000 appropriation for a prison museum near Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. The earmark's sponsor, Rep. Nancy Boyda (D-Kan.), defended the honor of Leavenworth County, bragging that "we probably have more prisons...than any other county in the United States."

The House approved Boyda's earmark by a vote of 317 to 112. Later she told The New York Times, "Democracy is a contact sport, and I'm not going to be shy about asking for money for my community."

So $100K, technically is small change in the budget, but the 6,000+ earmarks add over $30 billion to the budget. The West Wing had an episode in which Sam got smacked down by an intern who could supply a noble reason for a seeming pork project. But it's not about a noble cause--it's a form of extortion (for votes) and plunder of sorts. The "cause" is just a rationalization of the waste.

FYI, Jeff Flake, John McCain and John Kyl voted no.

Big Brother

China Enacting a High-Tech Plan to Track People:

Starting this month in a port neighborhood and then spreading across Shenzhen, a city of 12.4 million people, residency cards fitted with powerful computer chips programmed by the same company will be issued to most citizens.

Data on the chip will include not just the citizen’s name and address but also work history, educational background, religion, ethnicity, police record, medical insurance status and landlord’s phone number. Even personal reproductive history will be included, for enforcement of China’s controversial “one child” policy. Plans are being studied to add credit histories, subway travel payments and small purchases charged to the card.

That's a little sketchy. Just a bit. I'll add some more comments tonight hopefully.

Self indulgence

My birthday was this past weekend and all my wife got me was two boxes of orange pyms. They were tasty.

More importantly, Joanne has given me the allowance to indulge in some purchase of consumer electronics. For her birthday next month, her big present (which she's already aware of) is an absence of complaining on on upcoming trek to Bryce National Park. She's fairly sure she's getting the better end of the deal.

I still haven't completely decided what to get, but here is the wish list, none of which is really all that necessary:

1. A DVD-R with hard drive and ATSC tuner. Likely the Philips DVDR3575H
or Panasonic DMR-EZ27K (sans hard drive). But this is no go--it's the first gen of recorders with tuners, so it's still a work in progress.

2. Toshiba HD-A2 HD DVD Player. Has been priced as low as $200, but I'm still not inclined to pick my "winner" in the format war between HD-DVD and Blueray.

3. A combo external hard drive and hd-tuner for the computer. I treat this as a combo since the any recording from the tuner would use of disk space. But the additional storage would also allow for higher bit rate music ripping.

4. Rack mount power supply with individual control of outlets. Either a Tripp Lite MT-6+ or a Panamax 4300. This does fulfill a need of sorts. A flaw of our plasma is the amount of electricity it uses while off, so it would be nice to have control of the main power while still using other devices connected. The rack mount also provides a cleaner look to the cabling. And while I question the effect of line conditioning claims, I hold out hope that a good power supply can help with our ground loop problem.

5. A new 19-20" widescreen monitor. My iMac at work is a 17" widescreen which is much better than the home monitor. Of course the difference is more in the resolution and sharpness that the width, to I'm disinclined to go super cheap for a monitor, but I'm not in favor of spending a ridiculous amount either. The Viewsonic is nice, but joanne's not a fan of the speaker bar. Samsungs or NECs would also be under consideration.

6. A new, robust center speaker. Same manufacturer as our current speaker, and it comes in a bamboo finish. Another option is to sell the current speakers and go two channel with no center. This option might even cost less. As Joanne points out, I'm unlikely to be given the chance to get this again, so that makes it a winner. However, while I want to play the part of audiophile, I'm not really--my ears aren't that discerning. Still, it's bamboo! And there's always the 30-day in home trial. i also offered Joanne the possibility of going with speakers with a smaller form factor, the Orbs, but, God bless her, she didn't want to take a step back in audio quality.

So I'm not in a huge rush to make a decision, but it will likely be one of the bottom three, assuming some measure of guilt doesn't kick in that prevents me from making any purchase at all.

Followups

A timely movie trailer

I finally set up a personalized Chronicle Comics page--don't even need a registration. That is convenient! So now I can look at Mark Trail & Mary Worth on the same page. Foob too!

The transition to the 4x6 lifting went well i guess. I haven't been this sore since... a very long time ago. I think it was the weighted walking lunges shortly after squats that did me in. As to JT's follow up about diet--that's not consistent. I'm doing a better job of doing smaller meals and light snacking, and I've reduced the bad, but there's not always enough good (it's been 2-3 weeks since we've been to costco and bought produce in bulk, which as a household of two, requires us to go through it quickly)

Mother Teresa is sitting at $6100.

Re Firefox extensions, the google notebook one looks interesting, though i haven't actually used it yet. Another that I have is "Image zoom" which provides better control over sizes of images on a website.

some of Thursday's finance stuff was a bit esoteric. I'll try and do better, but I figure if the sole standard is giving something to look at other than work, your standards won't be all that high either.

More finance stuff

A column in Financial Advisor Magazine advises money managers to:

Simply stated, the more heavily armed you are with statistical demonstrations of your essential theses, and the more reliant on those “proofs” you are in your interactions with prospects and clients, the less likely I believe you are to forge lasting relationships built on trust. And, failing to found your relationships on trust rather than on “evidence,” the more your practice is built on sand, and the less likely it is to endure and prosper."

So how do you build trust/confidence in making money (or anything) without quantitative proof of what your selling. Actually, I think this shyster's point is that if you show someone the numbers, they will realize they don't really need a manager/advisor. The biggest role they can play (not that all do) is the focus on sticking to a play and helping to reduce panic.

Of course commission compensated agents play some role in the 7% gap referenced in the column by churning clients from "underperforming funds" to the "hot funds", which, curiously, often become the underperformers.

The Four Pillars of Investing has a chapter called "the Broker is not your Buddy". Very apt.

The Carry Rule

The Washington Post has a good piece on the taxation of money managers (equity and hedge funds):

Instead of money, the managers contribute primarily their expertise to the venture. They raise the money, select the buyout targets and work to make the companies profitable. For that, they are typically rewarded with a 2 percent annual management fee and a 20 percent share of profits when the firm's portfolio of companies is sold, an arrangement known as '2 and 20.' The 20 percent profit share is called the carried interest, and private-equity managers treat it as a capital gain.

The debate raging on Capitol Hill revolves around whether managers should continue to claim the payout as a capital gain as the other partners do, or whether they should characterize it instead as compensation for labor."

A capital gain generally has a cost basis. There does not seem to be any cost basis of income at 20% of profits. There is no risk loss in terms of income (ie the fund manager doesn't pay back 20% of losses). This should be rather clear cut, don't you think?

Mr. Fusion

The Christian Science Monitor has a nice summary of recent pieces questioning the "cure all" of ethanol as an energy alternative. So it's heavily subsidized, effects world food prices, isn't more efficient as a fuel source and it may not even be cleaner when taking into a count the full production to use cycle. Wonderful.

Hydrogen has similar obstacles. Yes, it's a lot cleaner than fossil fuels at the end point, but pure hydrogen isn't easy to come by. The cheapest way to make it is electrolysis which requires electricity, which is produced primarily through... fossil fuels.

From a simple market perspective, there is no easy cure-all (obviously). The challenge is to bridge the gap from produceability to profitablility. Alternative energies are still in their "early adopter" stage for the most part, so what is the best way to bridge the gap to make them mature? Subsidize them? Incentivize them? Let the market take care of it?

Squiggle Vision

The Complete Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist DVD set is coming in November!

All 78 episodes on 13 discs. And I will (at some point) drop the necessary coin to get this:

Another sign of the Apocolypse

Mother Teresa digs the long ball

So I guess this is a case of something being collectible because there's only one of something. Dude's already turned down an offer of $20,000

I confess to getting sucked into the collector's mentality--i am a former comic and card collector, and even the dvd collection shows some elements of being a collector rather than a watcher. And I do sometimes "exploit market inefficiencies" by selling various out-of-print titles, the sales of my OOP Disney treasures in the collectible tins being the best example (purchased at $25, sold for $90ish). But at least I'm not buying at that price...

Firefox!

I'm fairly confident that a good chunk of my "audience" is using Firefox and not Explorer, so how 'bout some sharing of useful extensions?

My most (or should be most) used:

• copy url+ --allows copying of text, page title, url in one (right) click
• fireFTP -- ftp client
• tinyurl creator -- convenient access to shortening long urls
• blog this -- direct link to blogger for postings
• flashblock -- makes flash windows clickable rather than automatic, for faster page loading (a little ambivalent on this one)
• mail notifiers -- for whatever mail client you use
  
• foxy tunes -- provides menu for control of itunes from browser
  

And while not an extension per se, I'm also a big fan of adding search engines to the search bar.

Something else you don't care about

Joanne didn't think I'd have the guts to do a post about rechargeable batteries.

HAH!

The above is a value pack of Sanyo Eneloop batteries that will be available at Costco starting September 1 for <$27

You probably have your NiMHs for your camera and other devices already, but in all the reading I've done on batteries, the hybrids are the best, as they combine the best elements of regular batteries (storage) with the advantages of NiMHs (rechargeable and high output). The eneloops (Kodak and Rayovac also make hybrids, but they aren't as well regarded) are able to maintain their charge when not in use. So suddenly rechargeables can be used in remotes, flashlights, etc. that have longer term use patterns. The lower discharge rate also means they keep better in cameras and other high output devices than regular NiMHs, which more than makes up for the slightly lower mAH rating (regular NIMHs can initally store more, but it quickly loses that power, so if you've ever used your camera after a long period of not using it and found your batteries had a short life, that is why).

The higher capacity of NiMHs/hybrids also allow them to be used in place of bigger batteries (hence the C & D adapters). The charger is a "smart" charger that has an algorithm to slow charging once a battery is done if another is not. The LED goes off when all batteries are charged.

If you don't need that many batteries, don't need a charger, or simply can't wait, I recommend Battery Bob as an online source. Free shipping, low prices. Can't beat that. I know. I tried.

Three other related tidbits:

• Fancier charger for power users: Go with La Crosse. Maha is next
• You want regular NiMHs: Maha Powerex are generally considered the best
• Camera reviews: Steve's Digicams is... thorough (or you could just get a Canon)
  

Certain Degrees Now Cost More at Public Universities

From the New York Times:

Should an undergraduate studying business pay more than one studying psychology? Should a journalism degree cost more than one in literature? More and more public universities, confronting rising costs and lagging state support, have decided that the answers may be yes and yes.

Starting this fall, juniors and seniors pursuing an undergraduate major in the business school at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, will pay $500 more each semester than classmates. The University of Nebraska last year began charging engineering students a $40 premium for each hour of class credit.

And Arizona State University this fall will phase in for upperclassmen in the journalism school a $250 per semester charge above the basic $2,411 tuition for in-state students.

What's odd about this is ASU's decision to increase revenue from journalism, not exactly a bastion of high income potential.

The tiering of tuition makes logical sense in some ways--students pay what the market will bear, ie graduate programs in business or law. I believe Cornell has a very stratified tuition structure because of some of its schools are publicly supported and some aren't.

But in another sense, particularly for undergraduate education, should the state be making that big of a market stance? If the theory is that majors with high future higher salaries can charge higher tuitions (which makes ASU's journalism charge baffling), does that become a disincentive to increase enrollment, specifically in engineering/the sciences (and math and technology (STEM))?

There are numerous reports, studies, papers, groups advocating for increased student enrollments in STEM for the sake of maintaining US eminence in innovation and technological competitiveness. Wouldn't charging STEM majors hurt that effort?

Does it change things if that extra revenue flows back into the department(s) to improve faculty quality, laboratory resources, etc?

Curmudgeonly Comments

The Fists of Justice are about to busted out!

I think only Jason might be familiar with Mark Trail, so everyone else may not fully appreciate the awesomeness of what is happening and what is to ensue.

To recap: birds are being released that may cause the closure of an airport so developers can build a new one. Said scoundrels are releasing the birds. Mark and the buxom Samantha Hill have found the bird releaser and are attempting to stop him. Previously, Sam confronted the shotgun toting villain, who then tied her up to a tree. Mark arrived and freed Sam, then the courageous Mark sent Sam to confront STV again, with shotgun in full tote to distract him with her own guns. Didn't work the first time, or the second, but Mark is about to take matters into his own hands.

YES!!!!

Pumping up

I'm currently on my second longest period of a sustained workout routine, with the somewhat conflicting goals of weight loss and building muscle mass. Based on my workout approach, it's actually more or a maintain weight, gain muscle, not that either are all that noticeable. I could probably do a little more on the weight side, but I don't quite have the discipline to go on a solid cutting routine.

General routine is: Back on Mondays, Chest/Shoulders Wednesdays, Legs Fridays, with cardio in between.

Two things I've added to my workouts recently (in addition to finally doing regular squats and deadlifts): the Arnold Press, the best shoulder exercise I've ever done, and, for cardio, gaining an appreciation for proper rowing form and understanding the use of the damper.

Re the Press, it was invented/popularized by Schwarzenegger, hence the name. It's supposed to hit more of the shoulder muscles than other shoulder exercises while using a less weight. I find it easier to maintain proper posture as well (less back arch). I've noticed more good soreness from doing it the past couple of weeks than I had from other should exercises. It also works well as a compound exercise with bicep curls, as the top of the curl is the starting position for the press.

For the rowing, I concede to getting sucked into yanking away as fast as I could and wanting to set the damper as high as possible. But that's not the way rowing efficiently works. The importance is power on the pull and rest on the return. In the two occasions I've done the slower stroke/more power style, I've maintained the same pace (2:07/500m) while going from 32-33 strokes per minute to 22-24. The first time, in fact, i needed to take a break during the middle of the 4000 meters because the power output was gone.

Re the damper, it's not really a resistance setting per se, it's an adjustment to how much the wheel slows down on the return, which affects the amount of force you apply to generate power. The link above does a much better job explaining that I will.

The next thing I'm going to try is a change up in my reps/sets. I generally do 2 or 3 sets of 8-12 reps, but I'm going to try more low rep high set workous (5x5) and see how that goes as I've plateaued on weight a bit.

And maybe sometime day I'll find a routine that actually facilitates better movement on the ultimate field. The elliptical (when I don't row) doesn't seem to cut it. I fear the only thing that actually helps there is more running, which just won't work...