- The stupidest man alive. ‘Nuff said.
- Now everyone can dunk. Yep, all you have to do is shell out $50-150 an hour, and your personal trainer will plyometric-ise you till you finally feel like a man. FM, SH, I hope you’re paying attention.
- What is 78 * 23? And am I stupider if it takes me longer now to calculate it than when I was 16? Honestly, this is one of the reasons I wanted to do a Masters in Math: I felt that, in some vital areas, I was worse off than I was when I was in high school. Mental math was one of them. Mr. Forbes correctly highlights the fact that the use of calculators for even trivial calculations (such as divvying up the bill for dinner) means we don’t get as much exercise as we used to a few years ago. Beyond that, I don’t think people have as much opportunity to apply mental arithmetic these days. Instead of balancing chequebooks, people are more likely to enter their data into MS Money, Quicken or Excel, in order to get more detailed analysis. And in the world of finance, where calculating conversions and reversals had to be done on-the-move and secretly, computers now handle such ‘trivialities’, freeing traders to work with more exotic products. So, in a way, I guess we’re now training our minds to do a higher level of analysis, examining the output of the basic analysis that computers can do for us. Still, the absence of any satisfaction of comfort in saying that is telling.
- Colin Hay sings ‘Overkill’ on Scrubs. Awesome song, and seriously, who’s going to deny Scrubs is in the discussion for the top 3 greatest sitcoms of all time? BTW, this is my latest diversion (read: curse upon my very existence because I can’t tear myself away): all 5 seasons of Scrubs online. Bleenks also has most other TV shows you can think of online — how long before they get sued back to their parents’ garage? Anyhow, until then, enjoy.
- Our friendly neighbourhood Bloomberg analyst, Andy Mukherjee, tells us Pakistan’s economy is doing OK. This seems to be the consensus view among external analysts — they’re happy with reforms so far, they like the fact that the banking sector and the stock market are doing well, and they’re worried about overheating, which in this context basically means inflation is out of control and the basic infrastructural growth that might justify that just isn’t there. I don’t want to be a blind naysayer, given the lack of transparency in determining and publishing figures and indicators, I can’t tell if Mr. Mukherjee’s analysis offers real reasons for optimism. The sources he quotes that are actually part of the market in Pakistan (the dude from BMI Capital) are obviously delighted to see the stock market performing so strongly, but as with the real estate boom a couple of years ago, who’s to say it isn’t all speculative? If I were an economist, I would make it my service-to-the-nation to investigate (to the extent possible) the government’s numbers and publish my findings.
- Damien Rice deserves your attention. Lovely music — listen to the clips of ‘The Blower’s Daughter (that song from the ‘Closer’ soundtrack), ‘Delicate’ and ‘I Remember’. (And no, I don’t see the comparisons with Leonard Cohen at all — totally different brand of music. Plus, Cohen sang ‘Bird on a Wire’, for chrissakes!)
- Madeleine Peyroux has a new album! Great, mellow music.
- Rod Stewart has a rendition of Gershwin’s “S’Wonderful”. I can’t stand the guy’s waxy voice, but that’s just well done. I discovered this, BTW, on AccuRadio which has a pretty decent Jazz Vocals (?) channel that I now do homework to.
- Katharine McPhee has the best rendition of ‘Somewhere Over the Rainbow’ I’ve heard yet. That website’s great — they’ve linked to the YouTube clip and have an MP3 you can download too! (Sadly, from what I’ve seen, Ms. McPhee has upped the vocal calisthenics on the single version of the song…which distracts from the song itself.)
And finally, what does it mean that I was so invested in the Democrats winning this election? Lots of things, I know, and I’m not sure I want to put all of them into words.
there is NO COMPARISON between Leonard Cohen, who is intelligent, gifted and always delightful and any singer, let alone Damien Rice. Cohen is someone you listen to to broaden your horizons…
I can’t stand Rod Stewart either.
I don’t know what way there is to ‘check’ govt numbers… the main thing is precisely that you have to do the data collection right, which is a large enough task that only a govt agency can do it. Which means, you need to be on the inside, or have inside contacts who are willing to help, to get a window into it all. What is of concern is whether they have enough computing power, audited accounting, standard definitions for what they include in their measures…think about it – do we have reliable census data? does the census bureau (if it exists) collect data on industry? etc, etc… admittedly, you need money to do all these things (in terms of employing enough people to do it) but the cost should be relatively small compared to dumb projects completed with clockwork regularity like transplanting rows of miserable palm trees to islamabad and then removing them again after 6 months.
Dude, please. The Cohen comparisons are on the Amazon page. I find Cohen intensely boring, deliberately monotonous and not a particularly talented vocalist at all. I’m willing to suffer some of that, but all of it — no thanks. Having said that, it’s perfectly possible I’m wrong about Cohen and simply need to listen to him more carefully. Thing is, songwriters are free to express their creativity and don’t have to pander to my aesthetic shortcomings, but serving up microwaved vegetarian pasta (nutritious, wholesome and completely inedible) when I’m looking for lasagna is just not going to engage me, plain and simple. (That last sentence brought to you by the same folks who inspired Rumsfeld’s “there are known unknowns and unknown knowns” speech…)
FWIW, DR has a jazz radio channel too! I don’t know if I mentioned this in my posts about Copenhagen, but the mix of music I heard playing (a surprising amount of 80’s stuff mixed in with more contemporary stuff) was one of the highlights of the trip.
Last.fm also lets you create radio stations based on artists you like. Pretty cool.
I want to know more about this dunking thing. Have you tried it? Does it work? So not being able to do 78*23 has led you to a master in financial mathematics. What happens if you can’t do it after your masters ? A PhD ? It’s like buying a Ferari because you need something to get from work to the office. I mean ofcourse you can do it, but it’s overkill. Seems the whole world wanted the Democrats to win. They should seriously let the Iraqis & Afghanis vote in the next election.
Yeah, dude, I’ve been doing 360s for a month now…
No. Then again I haven’t been to a gym in 3 months. I played basketball for the first time since August just now and I was pretty good, blocking shots left and right. I’m going to see about joining a gym tomorrow…
And thanks for picking up what I was talking about with the 78*23 thing and making smart-ass comments anyway…
Damien Rice is a legend (his being Irish probably helps too)… have you checked his new stuff….usual depressed vibe..but still gorgeous!
Hi Yin(yogi) — no, haven’t quite gotten to his new stuff yet…I’m still playing “The Blower’s Daughter”, “I Remember”, “Volcano” and “Delicate” again and again :)