News Round-up
I came across (or had pointed out to me) several articles in the news that I found interesting in the past few days, and I meant to post on them individually but I've fallen a bit behind. So we'll do them all at once!
This story struck a little close to home, considering that I am the proud owner of an iPhone. Some of my favorite quotes:
"75% admitted falling asleep with the iPhone in bed with them"
"25 percent found the phone "dangerously alluring"
"41 percent said losing their iPhone would be 'a tragedy.'"
...and then my favorite part:
"3 percent of the students said they don't let anyone touch their iPhone; another 3 percent have named their iPhone; 9 percent have patted their iPhone and 8 percent admitted that they have at some time thought 'My iPod is jealous of my iPhone.'"
I laughed out loud when I read that last bit.
This one was a little scary, but sadly not out of character for Apple. Now, anyone who knows me, knows that I love Apple's products. But one of the unfortunate facts about them is that although they do an amazing job integrating things and presenting a polished user interface, they are absolute control freaks. That's how they create such a seamless experience for users, but it has its downsides--like calling jailbreaking "illegal". That's why I cheer on rivals like Google's Android, even though I don't use it, because someone needs to challenge Apple with a more open model so that hopefully one day they will loosen up a bit.
I am a quant. I love it, and I'm proud of it. And, incidentally, I don't blame quants for the most recent recession. . . as usual, greed was really what was at the root of it. Scott Patterson made the following statement in a derogatory light, but I take it as a compliment: "All of Wall Street is being run by quants, in my opinion." Yeah!
Minister of Exports
I don't have a specific article on this, but President Obama came out a couple weeks ago saying that he was creating a cabinet level position over American exports, with the goal of doubling them over some time period. This, to me, seems incredibly wrong-headed. The market will figure out what we should be exporting! We don't need help from the government to do it; in fact, almost certainly what he has in mind is providing government subsidies to make our export competitive. Basically, taxpayers will be subsidizing foreign purchases of our goods. NO THANK YOU. My earnest hope is that our next president will get rid of this position, or perhaps refocus it on paving the way for more free trade agreements rather than promoting inefficiency in the worldwide markets.
Apparently, cab drivers in New York are either crooked or ham-handed, because many times they are charging their riders the wrong fare rate for getting us around this great city. From now on I'm going to make sure that I'm getting charged Fare code #1 and not #4! Incidentally I find it amazing (and awesome) that the commission can keep track by GPS of the routes each and every driver took to get their passengers to where they're going.
The Wall Street Journal has a promotion going to let parents buy a subscription for their collegiate kids at a discounted rate, touting the fact that "students who read The Journal are 76% more likely to have a GPA of 3.5 or higher", as well as being more likely to start a full-time job after graduation and earn a high income.
The major problem I see with this is that old saying, "correlation does not imply causation". Personally, I find it FAR more likely that sharp, motivated students who do well in school are much more likely to subscribe to the Wall Street Journal rather than the other way around.
This slideshow was fascinating to me, mostly because I've wondered for a long time WHAT the national debt is, exactly, and who we owe it to. Now I know! Interestingly, most of it is held by the Fed, and despite the fact that we have such a huge debt investors continue to lend to us at a low rate. I don't think we can borrow forever though, and Social Security / Medicare / Obamacare seem to hang like a dark cloud over future generations...
A co-worker pointed out David Brooks to me, he does pieces for the New York Times every so often, and I found this one on communalism very interesting. Is there a way to enjoy the benefits of globalization and still maintain the advantages of having a tightly knit community of people who know and care about one another? I hope so.
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