Vet says the cat is anemic and probably has either kidney failure, cancer or a virus. We'll get the results of the blood test in a day or two. Till then, she's on an apatite increaser, antibiotics and I'm syringe feeding her a special cat food.

 

 

Animal Spirits

I also finished animal spirits today.  It's a good complement to the rational optimist.  Not that the rational optimist is wrong, but that it doesn't cover the failings and limits of capitalism.  Yes people choose rationally, but they only choose rationally about things they think about.  Many choices in our life are not thought through.

Animal spirits then covers the gap between rational thought and emotional experience and how it affects the economy.  It argues that we must be wary of snake oil and market conditions that allow for runaway economy not a healthy growing economy.  Snake oil can be very attractive in many circumstances you may not realize you've bought snake oil until years of gone by.  Take the housing bubble for example.  It was years before that correction happened.  Too many people had had no incentive to think rationally about what they were doing.  They were paid to sell house after house, issue mortgage after mortgage, and pass the risk on to someone else.

 

It's too bad that animal spirits isn't as fun of a read as the rational optimist.  The rational optimist has a certain exuberance to it.

 

 

The Rational Optimist by Matt Ridley

This book is almost panglosian in its optimism. The book argues well that thanks to trade, fair capitalism really, that life on earth is getting better and better.

 

The book raises some good points-- the future is not a projection of the past. Innovation is accelerating and has been for centuries. That many problems of the past, acid rain, dwindling oil and other resources, limited food production, many diseases, were tackled head on by powering through them, not by cowering, and backing off, thus preventing them from happening. Let people do what they want. They have to decide what's best for them, not me.

 

Restricting trade causes more problems than it solves. The people involved in the restricted trade have less time, and money to engage on other problems. This causes other man made problems, rather than allowing people to engage on actual problems.

 

The optimism turns me off a little bit. I'm reminded of the investment advice "The market be wrong longer than you can stay solvent." For the world then, in general, in aggregate, in the long run, things are getting better. But my life is not a general aggregate long run. It's specific to me. Things can go wrong. I must be ready for it.

 

But don't panic. Deal with the problems.

 

why can I play a simple mindless game for hours, but when I have to fill out a form, I keep putting the task off for weeks. Is a catchy tune and achievements all that we need to unleash the next wave of human productivity?  

Night of the iguana.

 

 

The actual night of the iguana was very interesting.  The days before the night of the iguana were so so. Many great films are like this. The last 3rd is awesome, the first two thirds are prep and background.

 

The film is about people who repress them selves, and how this slowly drives them crazy.

 

I was surprised by how progressive the film is.  Lesbianism, chasing underage women and men, bondage, fetishism are all eluded to in the film.  I think that the allusions are more effective than actual demonstrations.  With an allusion when a hint finally clues you in, you're mind races back and combs over the movie for hints you missed. With an actual display of lesbianism, the surprise wouldn't be so deep.

 

 

 

 

Resolve and Fortitude

By Joachim Kempin.

 

This is the story of VP of Microsoft's OEM division at the time of the DOJ trial. It's an interesting look into what happened.

 

It's hard to say how the DOJ trial could have been avoided. Given the circumstances, I'm sure the same decisions would have been made over again. Microsoft didn't plan on becoming a monopoly. it happened through an accumulation of smart decisions, competitive responses and a competitive attitude that exists even today.

 

I kind of like Kempin's occasional thoughts on management. He observes how the 'freedom' pendulum swings. One year, management is empowering employees to take initiative and to lead them selves. The next year management realizes this results in dozens of different standards and directions, and that management must do more to unify and guide the employees.

 

Perhaps the lesson is that empowered employees are not an excuse to economize on management. 

 

Grey Gardens

I watched this movie feeling a little ill. If my life got hard, if I gave up, then this would be my fate.

 

Big and little Eddie Bouvier, a 75 year old mother and her 56 year old daughter live in a decaying mansion on the ocean. Years ago they were on their way up. The mother was a successful singer. The daughter a model. The, the mother rejected her daughters suitors, and the daughter moved home to take care of the mother. Twenty years later, it's like they are stuck. Still bickering about men, and their near fame. The mansion and surrounding Grey Gardens are falling apart, overwhelmed by trees, raccoons and cats.