Friday, January 30, 2009

The End Of Solitude

A former Yale professor discusses our decrease in solitude and ability to enjoy it.....another interesting impact of the always on ever more connected existence brought on by cell phones and the Internet...Thanks to John Paluska for the forward. Enjoy! Beckmania.....

The End Of Solitude

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Happiness and Our Day To Day Decision Making

This is a fun talk about how humans make (or are bad at making) day to day decisions using the equation of expected value = probably of the event * value of the event....it provides evidence that the long standing assumption by economists of humans being utility maximizing rational entities is inadequate. It's not surprise that most recent economics awards have rewarded those exploring behavioral economics - or how people actually behave, not how they should behave. The Q&A period is also interesting and slightly different - there is a quote worth pondering in there - "Our reaction to terrorism has been OUTSIZED'. It makes more sense to deal with poverty than terrorism....it's a bit long, but good fun. Enjoy! Beckmania....

Ayn Rand Mike Wallace Interview 1959 part 1

This is a fascinating interview of Ayn Rand by Mike Wallace. I think there is both tons to admire and tons to disagree with in Objectivism (Rand's philosophy - too much to go into here), but it certainly gets the brain cells churning and is relevant to our present situation, especially given how many Rand fans have influenced the US over the past few decades....Enjoy! Beckmania

PS: Note that Wallace is actually SMOKING during the interview - my how times have changed.

PPS: Note also that there are many other videos on YouTube (like parts 2 and 3 of the interview) that are worth watching if you are interested....

Monday, January 5, 2009

The Cuban Revolution At 50

An interesting article in the Economist that provides a brief summary of Cuba's history from the overthrow of Batista's government to the present day state of affairs. It will be interesting to see where Cuba ends up in the next 5-10 years, especially if Venezuela's financial assistance diminishes along with the lower price of oil....Enjoy - Zigmania.

The Cuban Revolution at 50