Hand over the loot...

I'm pretty fiscally conservative, but as long as we are thinking we're going to hand out $700B, I have an idea. There are 100M households in the US. Why don't we just give everyone $7,000. I have a feeling that would put the economy back on track - it would certainly save a few mortgages.

I know, I know, it isn't a handout...

Nudge

Dear NPR Pledge Drive Manager,

Please find enclosed my donation to your pledge this year and a complimentary copy of Nudge, by Dick Thaler. I thought you would like to read it and realize that you couldn't come up with a worse strategy for securing pledges than to constantly reinforce that most listeners don't pledge. As you'll read in the book, it is far more productive for people to believe they are one of the few that doesn't contribute, than one of the many. Just thought you'd like to know - once people's memories fade maybe you can start collecting your donations more quickly so we can be done with this nonsense within the first day or two in the future.

Best regards,
John

Dear Reader,

If you listen to NPR, donate. If you listen to NPR and donate, please do so on the first day of the pledge. These pledge drives should be like a day long. Everyone that's going to pledge eventually does - get it over with.

Best regards,
John

P.S. We gave our donation today, like a week into this. Hi kettle, I'm pot.

Down with Joe

I've always admired Joe Torre, even as he presided over the Evil Empire. No offense, Joe, but I'm not rooting for you, Manny and the feel-good story of the season. I hope you sprain an ankle and wish Manny only the worst of health over the next two weeks. Go Cubs.

Sound advice a century and a half hence

I'm currently reading Arrington's biography of Brigham Young. It's taken me a long time to get through it, even though it isn't horribly long or heavy. Some chapters are much more enjoyable than others, but overall a good read and recommended. Here's a line I read today that I thought was nice:

"Let every father and mother make their homes so interesting that their children will never want to leave it. Make your homes pleasant with foliage and beautiful gardens, with the fragrance of flowers and fruit blossoms. Teach your children to remember God, and that from Him proceeds every good thing."

Sage advice. I think our home's pretty interesting, with six energetic kiddos. In fact, I'm sometimes concerned, as I look around at other adults with adult children still living at home, that my children may indeed never want to leave it. Perhaps we need to be a bit less interesting...

Kia Kaha

Very cool to see Highland Rugby on the big screen and all it represents. What a cool program to be familiar with, and all the men that have been affected by it, directly and indirectly. I hope the movie makes people ask themselves why. Go see Forever Strong if it's playing near you. Good work, coach.

About to snap

I drive a beater - it has 150K miles on it and a radio that barely works. The CD player no longer works. The tape player no longer works (so no iPod). It will no longer change stations. So I'm stuck with one station all the time - NPR.

Usually this means I drive in silence or with my iPod on the weekends because my local NPR station carpet bombs our market with Prairie Home Companion each weekend. Other than Car Talk, every weekend is a Lake Woebegone marathon. Non-stop fingers on the chalkboard. I can live with it - I don't drive all that much on the weekends.

However, I have a pretty good commute and this week my lack of radio has almost driven me to drink. First, it's that time of year (or month or week - seems constant) when NPR is using 98% of their airtime to ask for contributions. Ugh. Another drive. I hate this.

More importantly, the economy is on the brink of collapse. For most this means anxiety about their jobs, their homes, their families and their livelihood. For me, it means I rarely squeeze in a commute without having to hear an interview with Barney Frank (shown above), Chairman of the Financial Services Committee. He's a pleasant enough looking guy, but has the worst voice on Earth. Does he have teeth? A tongue? Is he perpetually slightly drunk? I can't take it.

I want Congress to give Bernanke his $750B just so I don't have to hear from Congressman Frank again on Monday morning. I'm willing to write my check today for the Wall Street cronies if that's what it takes. I'm willing to pull out of Iraq and send the troops to Massachusetts to unseat Frank's wicked regime. Just please, please, stop interviewing this drunken fool!

I gotta go charge my iPod...

In case you don't trust me, here's your moment of zen - just make sure you don't have sharp objects or firearms close by.

Geekfest

I'm pretty sure there's a geek or two that read my blog unless google analytics is more buggy than I suspect. May I suggest you get your plane tickets now to fly to Dallas for the largest boardgame conference of the year Nov 20-23? You have a free place to stay and can stay an extra week and I'll even cook you a turkey. Only concern I have right now, other than being up to my eyeballs in work and unable to attend is the fact that it's our sell weekend, which means I will have work/social commitments. Otherwise, I'm looking forward to letting my hair down and having non-stop geek action for a weekend.

Katie, can I take the kids for a whole weekend soon so you can crop till you drop so I don't feel so guilty asking for time away to geek? :)

Katie asks herself this all the time

Captionless

Careful Mr.

You laugh at the old pics of me in a mullet. That bushy -do is likely to engender the same snickers here in a decade or two. I look forward to listening to my grandkids poke their fun.

Congrats Boo

She landed her first backflip yesterday. Now she lands it every time. So cool. Wish I could do it.

Also congrats to Lu who can finally get a pigtail in her hair. It doesn't last long though.

Black Helicopters have landed

A few months ago, I noted that a friend of mine was doing some cool reporting on naked short selling.

As it turns out, two things happened.
1) None of you read the articles I mentioned. Not one of you. Of course, there are only three of you, but you should still know better.
2) He was right. Regulators have now frozen short selling altogether (uh, overkill) because they've realized that naked short selling has massively contributed to the destabilized financial sector. (Note to regulators: short selling creates liquidity, naked short selling creates pandemonium. You might want to look into the difference.)

Now that you're paying attention, remember you heard it here first, second or fiftieth: the next generation of Michael Milkens will be going to jail within the next year or two and this time it will be because of naked short selling. Actually, I know it is illegal but don't know if it is a felony. Given the damage to the economy, it should probably be capital punishable. Every crisis has its hangings - glad I'm not one of the hedge fund managers that pulled down $20M/year over the last couple of years - the proletariat are going to drag you through the streets on the way back to the Bastille.

Did I just say I'm glad I didn't get $20M bonuses. Must be late on a Friday...

Kindle

So I've never considered buying one for myself, but I was generously given a Kindle this week. Far more cool than I expected it to be - I'm practically giddy. Time will tell how fiddly it is, but I'm already well into my first book on it and I expect it to now be my scriptures when away from home, including church. My kids are especially wowed. If they weren't already bookworms I might invest in their own to get them interested in reading. Thanks Brian.

Magic Number down to 4

Now's the time for Cubs fans to start inflating our heart chambers so we have that loud popping sound in a few weeks.

Mankiw scraping - charity

Interesting on multiple layers.

* Biden's an idiot?
* Cold-hearted conservatives are generous?
* Bleeding heart liberals are not?
* I'm generous?

Four things I did not know when I woke this morning.

Today's paradox

3 out of 4 economists are Democrats. Still trying to come to grips with this. I'll repost if I figure it out. Someone educate me. My econ education would lead me to believe that economists would be libertarian or lean in that direction. Is it that Republicans say they'll tax less, but actually tax more? Or is it because economists tend to be educated and live on the coasts, which favors Democrats? This is the strongest "endorsement" Obama's had for a while for my vote. Not that this swings it heavily in his direction since the fact that he'll tax the bajeebers out of me still weighs awfully heavily in the other direction.

Mankiw scraping

Two items I couldn't pass up. Very interesting. Sorry to plagiarize another blog, but I suppose it isn't plagiarizing if you source it?

I.
Top Recipients of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac Campaign Contributions, 1989-2008

1. Dodd, Christopher J, D-CT
2. Kerry, John, D-MA
3. Obama, Barack, D-IL
4. Clinton, Hillary, D-NY

N.B.: Senator Dodd is Chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs.

II.
It is widely assumed that health care, like most aspects of American life, shamefully shortchanges the poor. This is less true than it seems. Economist Gary Burtless of the Brookings Institution recently discovered this astonishing data: on average, annual health spending per person -- from all private and government sources -- is equal for the poorest and the richest Americans. In 2003, it was $4,477 for the poorest fifth and $4,451 for the richest. Probably in no other area, notes Burtless, is spending so equal -- not in housing, clothes, transportation or anything. Why? One reason: government already insures more than a quarter of the population, including many poor.

How's that for a daily dose of economic enlightenment?

What Athens looks like on business

In Defense of Rote Memorization

As a kid in school, I was not a fan or any good at memorization. I remember struggling to learn my 20 lines of Shakespeare, the various rules for hydration and oxidation in organic chemistry, the dates of the Civil War, etc. No fun and I questioned the value.

A few years ago, prompted by my patriarchal blessing, I decided to give memorization another shot. In the ensuing four years or so, I've memorized quite a bit of stuff. I laid it all out this morning to take an inventory (to see what the girls had lost when they got into it earlier this week). Each morning I recite a handful of these to make sure I don't forget that which I've spent time memorizing. These are the contents of my "memory box". At this point, I've gone through the Book of Mormon, part of the Doctrine & Covenants (both of which I purchased study guides for that were written in the 70s by a friend's mom)and am currently creating my own New Testament study guide. The contents of my box are:

A snippet from each chapter heading in the Book of Mormon
A snippet from each section heading for the first 28 sections of the D&C
Four long summaries (Articles of Faith, For the Strength of Youth, Duties of the Aaronic Priesthood, Definitions & Contents of the D&C)
53 Book of Mormon scriptures
22 D&C scriptures
1 scripture from the PoGP
3 scriptures from the Bible
1 miscellaneous quote
Still lots left to do.

This post is not meant to be a pat on the back, but an idea for something I have found tremendously useful. This memorization creates a framework on which every lesson, talk or discussion I listen to now hangs. It is now more meaningful to me when someone starts reading a verse about free agency from 2 Nephi 2 to know that this is the chapter right before Lehi dies when he shares his last works with his son Jacob (right before his words to Joseph), who was born in 1 Nephi 18 right before they sailed to the promised land and that this same Jacob would later denounce unchastity, share the allegory of the olive tree, relate the story of Sherem and then give the plates to his son Enos, who would in turn testify of the character of his father Jacob as he received his own conversion. If you're in a rut in your personal or family study, give a bit of memorization a try. I've been in a bit of a rut from reciting so much - this morning's inventory has got me re-energized to get back to it.

I'm also glad I figured out which two cards were missing...