Friday, April 20, 2012

Two posts from 2008

Looking today at what is being read, I noticed that two posts from 2008 are on the list. These are the post dealing with leverage and the post whose subject is about doers versus speculators. Let's take these posts one at a time.

  • Leverage and truth, II -- The leverage post was mentioned in the 2011 recap, to boot. From four years ago, this post has the all-time highest reader count. Why? That is a good question. You know that the subject matter is still relevant today. What culprits (or idiots) were identified for their error-ful ways of those times? None that I can see. One bank CEO is being sued by his stock-holders since he wants a big bonus while they've received pennies in dividends. What say you about these egos (yeah, Jamie, you're one)? The blog started in 2007. We sort of got off message for awhile, one might claim. But, the content laid down over that time frame still leads to the same place. The thing to do now is to try to make the message cohesive and to bring forth something bordering on action items. You know what, folks? That the chimera has risen is really not anything to brag about. Its basis is still as weak. How to get the notion of near-zero further addressed? One issue, for me. But, as well, we've overlaid ourselves and our lives with this cloud (yeah, proper use) abetted, in a large part, by computation and its cloud (the intersection of these two uses is apropos to this discussion). Abstraction? It seems to go with ability and intelligence. One aspect of smarts may be better processing, but we're back to another old topic: difficulty versus complication (even older, from 2007). One truth has been that those with the ability to do so have screwed over the others. Oppression is an operative word. We're not talking ideal here. Rather, just trying to live up to the American dream is one thing to consider. And, fat cats, you are not it. 
  • Doers and speculators -- From four years ago, but six months after the prior post. You see, those who do deal a little with abstraction go awry, almost by necessity. It's only a tool after all. Those who screw others (and, frankly, if you're not pulling our weight, you're exploiting the work of others -- for some reason, we see that people, out of the good of their hearts, do things for others -- how many of you know jerks who seem to mainly take and not give? ah, too many to count) are in the speculative realm. You know what? We do not have to bow to those who model (give me a break, brains) and profit thereby. Nor, is it right that we nod to their superior minds (on the other hand, we all need to look at the lack of morals and why mind cannot see its failings in this area). Yes, that's a categorical put down of what is supposedly our best feature. But, upon what foundation rests any inkling of support for a type of framework where 0.001% benefit and the rest have to kiss the arses of the few.  

You might say that this is a Friday night reflection about things that expand and then go boom. Actually, such cycles are natural. There are so many ways that we've conquered natural processes, many times to our benefit. Why do we allow abstract'd views, like those behind business darwinism and its computational buddy, to have the credence? And, folks, what is being termed 'darwinistic' here is that thing we're supposed to all bow to, the market philosophy. Does that have to be?

By the way, Ben, you're still error-ful.

Remarks:

03/25/2013 -- The Atlantic had an article about King Abdullah II. Now, he is an example of a doer, from several angles. What I liked when I read it was that while being educated in Massachusetts, he bussed tables. What that means for those who don't know is clean up dirty dishes and such. When I, as a young man, was in the US Army, we had still had KP duty which included such types of things. Another task that ought to be tried once by everyone: cleaning the grease pit.

05/29/2012 -- Jamie's bank in the news, again.

Modified: 03/25/2013