So, we all know inflation is kicking us right now... I'll have to write another post to dig into that, but let's just take that as fact here. Inflation is caused by a basic devaluing of currency. What gives our currency value? The U.S. Government.
So, when the U.S. Government wants to back our currency with mortgage securities, you just have to wonder -- are they paying attention?
via Housing Bill
A study by the Human Performance Laboratory at Ball State University seems to indicate that taking ibuprofen (Advil) or acetaminophen (Tylenol)for regular weight lifters increases muscle mass and strength, when compared to a control group.
Is this to be the new doping scandal in professional sports, or perhaps the upcoming Olympics?
See more about the study at Scientific American.
This is a fresh idea. Larry Lessig is spearheading this movement to change the way our government works. The general idea is to remove the influence of money on legislators, so that they can focus more on representing the people.
See more at change-congress.org
Recession... what does that mean? According to Wikipedia it means:
...a recession is a decline in a country's real gross domestic product (GDP), or negative real economic growth, for two or more successive quarters of a year.
Wikipedia further references the National Bureau of Economic Research's Recession Dating Procedure:
A recession is a significant decline in economic activity spread across the economy, lasting more than a few months, normally visible in real GDP, real income, employment, industrial production, and wholesale-retail sales. A recession begins just after the economy reaches a peak of activity and ends as the economy reaches its trough. Between trough and peak, the economy is in an expansion. Expansion is the normal state of the economy; most recessions are brief and they have been rare in recent decades.
Hmmm... How does an amateur economist measure this? I'm going to pick GDP for starters, because that's easier to find. I like the NBER's definition, though, as it clarifies "real economic growth" into the specifics of income, employment, production, and retail.
The US Bureau of Economic Analysis publishes a bunch of statistics about the GDP, so I'm going to start there. Since the NBER dates the end of the last recession in November of 2001, I'm going to start with the quarterly GDP from Q42001 to present to see how our economy is really doing. I've prepared a chart with the BEA's data that shows the percentage change in US GDP, adjusted for inflation.
Notice how the chart never dips below zero? That means we haven't even had a quarter where the GDP didn't grow, let alone two of them in a row. That doesn't mean that growth isn't low, just not negative. The GDP in the 4th quarter of 2007 only grew 0.6%. Such swings are necessary to a healthy economy, though... look at what happened in 2003 after the GDP growth dipped lower than what we just had (0.2%).
The BEA is full of useful data, but it looks like it takes awhile to compile, so I'm not sure how real-time you can get with it. I'm going to have to start paying attention to where the news get their information... it looks like they'd be reporting on past events if they are taking this data when it is released -- the 4Q2007 results were reported almost a whole quarter after it ended, on March 27th.
This data is adjusted for inflation, and I wonder now how this would look compared to what actions the Fed takes with monetary policy. Perhaps I'll dig into that and tackle that next.
Already a couple of days in, and I'm learning that there is a lot more to learn. I've been focusing on the article of The Great Depression in Wikipedia to kind of give me an overview. This also is a big area that economists have spent a lot of time researching.
The article also tries to educate on the various theories of economics such as Keynesian, Classical, and Neoclassical. These are all academically created theories, but it is interesting to see how they have influenced government policy.
The Great Depression spurred governments to make drastic changes in policy, in particular the US government. The adoption of new policies in the United States seems to have dramatically changed our culture over the past 75 years or so. This is going to be worth exploring further for me, but I'll try to highlight a few points here.
Keynesian economics advocates active fiscal policy, which means the government gets involved in trying to smooth out normal business cycles in the economy. We see this in government deficit spending today during times when the economy is slowing.
Monetary policy also changed dramatically, by moving away from the gold standard in currency. Essentially, we moved to a system where a 'dollar' is measured on it's own and not in relation to gold. This allows the government to control what the value of a dollar is. I have a lot more to read here, but we essentially see this today with the Federal Reserve when they change their interest rates.
Clearly, I have a lot more to read to get a grasp on this stuff. I remember a bit of it from high school history, but just a bit. These are just the basics that I'll have to build on, so I'm not going to be able to jump into big stuff right away. I'm looking at the theories right now, but I think I'd like to tackle the topic of Debt first -- and understand how it's used today, and how that has changed over the years.
I recently just finished this book, The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals
One passage in the book just stood out to me, about Polyface Farms, and how they have created a farm that produces food by allowing the animals to do what they do best, yet they all work in a symphony that creates a better environment for everyone. Food production is not a zero-sum game. I found a video, up on TED, where the author goes through this exact passage.
This pastoral view of the world reminds me of my preferred view of the future, which I derived from a poster I saw in the fourth grade. If I ever find a picture of that poster, I'll put that up here...
Also, the passage above with the chickens reminds me of some friends and their stories of chickens in their garden.
I come back to this question, now and again, when things are tough; when I find that I want to break out of the mold that I'm in, and head in a different direction. Springing from all the latest MacWorld speculation, I re-read an old posting on Daring Fireball about Apple's culture.
[W]hat gets chalked up as devotion to/obsession with Apple is, in fact, devotion to/obsession with great design, and there’s an utter dearth of rival PC or handheld gadget makers that value design as Apple does. The last time I was truly interested in an operating system that wasn’t from Apple was BeOS, and that was over 10 years ago...
[M]any ... companies see Apple’s success this decade as an aberration — that the Apple bubble will soon pop and mediocre jumbles will return to the top of the technology heap. But what if it’s the other way around, and the aberration was Apple’s tepid success in the 1990s?
I sure hope that many more companies follow the Apple path. It's that kind of attention to detail that I want to see out of products, and what I like to put into my work. Being in an environment where others don't value going that extra mile is usually what makes things tough for me. That's when I start asking the question again.
Here's an interesting site. It gives you a survey, and plots your opinion against the other presidential candidates out there.
No wonder I'm having a hard time with this -- I'm nearly exactly in the middle between all the candidates, with no others sharing the same views. Ah... the compromises one must make to live in a republic.
Deep thoughts for today, but this has been bugging me for awhile. Via Richard Florida I found this article from the Financial Times. It provides an apropos warning from the Ottoman Empire.
[T]he upshot of this debt crisis is the sale of assets and revenue streams to foreign creditors. This time, however, creditors are buying bank shares not canal shares. And the resulting shift of power is from west to east.Disturbing, isn't it?
Money is power, and we will become indebted to foreign nations that do not share our ideals. Sooner or later that will lead to a geopolitical shift, if it hasn't already. Just like any financially responsible individual, we should be wary of who we take money from, and for what reasons. I hope we take the advice of another blog posting I read recently.
It is this generation’s task to renew the tree of liberty and keep the American experiment going – to remain true to the ideals that made America and have driven it since 1776.
Perhaps Shakespeare had it right:
Neither a borrower nor a lender be;
For loan oft loses both itself and friend,
And borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry.
This above all: to thine own self be true,
And it must follow, as the night the day,
Thou canst not then be false to any man.
I am glad to understand this, but sad that I feel powerless to prevent it.
I see some rumors out there that I'd like to make a prediction on.
Variety is reporting that Fox and Apple are signing a deal to offer movie rentals on iTunes. Their reported price is $2-$5 per rental for a 24-hour period.
If that is all there is to the deal, then it seems destined to be lackluster. They should be aiming at the $1-per-day DVD rental market, and not the cable on-line rental market -- that's the real competition out there.
Play to win, Apple; play to win.
Isn't it amazing when you listen to a piece of music, and subtly feel what you did in the past when listening to that same piece of music? My brain just amazes me at it's capability to do that. It's like the emotions creep in first, and then your brain nags at you to remember that time in your life.
I just dug out a couple of old pieces of music, thanks to the miracle of iTunes and that I have my entire old CD collection converted to an always on-hand digital music library. I was listening to Christmas music today, and it reminded me of a song in the movie Toys from 1992, "The Closing of the Year". Don't bother looking on iTunes for it, as that soundtrack isn't part of their collection -- the closest they have is this. It's the same song, for the most part, but by totally different singers. I had to check, but it's the same composer, Hans Zimmer. Funny to find a song from a non-so-successful movie on an operatic Christmas album - "A Gala Christmas in Vienna". Ha!
Anyway, I was thinking about this song, didn't quite know why, but after I started listening to it, I remembered what I was when first hearing it. I had lived in Texas for about 6 months at the time -- almost exactly 15 years from today. I spent a lot of time listening to CDs back then. I just love how music can shape or enhance your mood. You have to let it in, but it's such a great release. BTW, the song "Happy Worker" from Tori Amos is also on that CD is quite good as well.
I'm very impressed by how this video was made. The whole video was done in a single continuous shot. Pay close attention to the beginning and ending, and you'll see how cool that is. It's all over the place now, thanks to Apple using it in the iPod Nano TV spot.
The Video
The Making of the Video
Now this is an Amp I'd like to plug into...
And, of course, a crash course in how to build one here.
I just got done watching the commentary track of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Kahn, and I was just reminded of how similar the creative process is. Whether you're creating a movie, music, book, or software, nearly all creative endeavors go through the same processes. They also run into similar difficulties, such as funding, or finding the right support.
It's also a terribly exhilarating experience.
For those who are keeping track on our website, I've been regularly posting our progress on the kitchen via photos. We still have some finishing touches left, but the final product isn't hard to see from here. We made it this far on Friday, and spent the weekend enjoying the fruits of our labor.
I have to say -- the $45 in under and over cabinet lighting that Alexis found at Big Lots really makes this room pop. It is also infinitely useful, and provides more light in just the right areas -- even seems to make the counter space feel bigger.
