My friend Max Poletto recommended the book The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan. Ming has been listening to it on CD. I have it on reserve from the library and will read it soon too.
On a related note, Ming noticed that the AAA magazine had an article about the Stone Barns Center For Food & Agriculture, which is not far from New York City.
More bad arguments against net neutrality
Yet another specious argument against net neutrality: Dueling Fools Bear Rebuttal: Net Neutrality [Fool.com: Commentary] June 30, 2006. Alyce Lomax seems to think that the telecoms do not have a monopoly on internet access, whereas in reality I don't see any real competition.
On a slight (but related) tangent, prices are far higher in the US than in other countries, and the bandwidth in the US is not as good. Where I live there is effectively one provider of Internet service, Time-Warner Cable. I assume that they must deal with the telecoms to access the backbone.
On a slight (but related) tangent, prices are far higher in the US than in other countries, and the bandwidth in the US is not as good. Where I live there is effectively one provider of Internet service, Time-Warner Cable. I assume that they must deal with the telecoms to access the backbone.
More arguments about net neutrality
More bogus arguments about net neutrality, this time from a Motley Fool column: Dueling Fools Bear: Net Neutrality [Fool.com: Commentary] June 30, 2006. I don't understand why such commentators ignore the fact that consumers are already paying for their bandwidth. If the telecoms want to recoup future investments in infrastructure, they should charge the consumers, who should make decisions about whether they want to consume bandwidth.
Net neutrality
Here is one of the worst arguments against net neutrality that I have read. This author seems to think that telecoms should have the right to charge both end users of services and content providers. Apparently a telecom should have the "right" to "compete" with Microsoft by allowing it to use market control in the delivery business to gain a competitive edge in the content delivery business. Such a bogus argument is incredible.
More Action Philosophers!
Comic Book Resources - CBR News - The Comic Wire
A fun-to-read interview with the authors of Action Philosophers!
A fun-to-read interview with the authors of Action Philosophers!
Superman Returns
Will Superman Fly? - The Hollywood buzz on Bryan Singer's blockbuster. By Kim Masters
We saw the movie last night at Kips Bay Theater, and it was quite entertaining. It felt a bit long-winded and drawn out at times. If it were a standalone movie I would have been more annoyed at the length, but since it is clearly a setup for sequels they needed to "reset" Superman's history.
Kate Bosworth was much better than Margot Kidder. Brandon Routh looks like a clone of Christopher Reeve! Kevin Spacey did a good job of echoing Gene Hackman's half-humorous interpretation of Lex Luthor, but he also did convey a greater sense of evil. I kept expecting Kal Penn to ask for some weed, though.
We saw the movie last night at Kips Bay Theater, and it was quite entertaining. It felt a bit long-winded and drawn out at times. If it were a standalone movie I would have been more annoyed at the length, but since it is clearly a setup for sequels they needed to "reset" Superman's history.
Kate Bosworth was much better than Margot Kidder. Brandon Routh looks like a clone of Christopher Reeve! Kevin Spacey did a good job of echoing Gene Hackman's half-humorous interpretation of Lex Luthor, but he also did convey a greater sense of evil. I kept expecting Kal Penn to ask for some weed, though.
Real estate data
Zillow.com - Your Edge in Real Estate
Here's an interesting site. See how pricey Manhattan real estate is!
Here's an interesting site. See how pricey Manhattan real estate is!
Protect your credit reports from the government
GovTrack: H.R. 3997: Financial Data Protection Act of 2006
This bill is a horrible misnomer. It is not going to help consumers as much as Congress claims it will. US PIRG has a good analysis.
This bill is a horrible misnomer. It is not going to help consumers as much as Congress claims it will. US PIRG has a good analysis.
Rain rain rain
History : Weather Underground
We've had 7.67 inches of rain in June 2006. The average is 3.7 inches, so we're doing well (if "well" means soggy...).
We've had 7.67 inches of rain in June 2006. The average is 3.7 inches, so we're doing well (if "well" means soggy...).
More Philosophy
Amazon.com: Books Search Results: Tsai Chih Chung
Some more excellent comics on philosophy/history (Chinese philosophy, to be more specific) have been written by Tsai Chih Chung and translated by Brian Bruya.
Some more excellent comics on philosophy/history (Chinese philosophy, to be more specific) have been written by Tsai Chih Chung and translated by Brian Bruya.
Action Philosophers!
Action Philosophers! is one of the best recent intellectual comic books I've seen recently. It's definitely worth a read for those of us who feel embarrassed walking into/out of a comic book store because we're about 25 years older than the target demographic.
Portuguese Tapas in NYC
We had dinner with Pauline at Tintol
155 West 46th Street, New York, NY 10036
The restaurant is between 6th and 7th. Excellent Portuguese food!
As an aside, I formatted this post like this to try and force Google's AutoLink feature on the Google Toolbar to recognize the address. Interestingly enough, when I used "46 Street", AutoLink would not recognize the address.
155 West 46th Street, New York, NY 10036
The restaurant is between 6th and 7th. Excellent Portuguese food!
As an aside, I formatted this post like this to try and force Google's AutoLink feature on the Google Toolbar to recognize the address. Interestingly enough, when I used "46 Street", AutoLink would not recognize the address.
Picasa Web Albums
I tried Picasa Web Albums for the first time. My album is publicly viewable. It's a pretty good organizer, although I'm not sure if I prefer blogging my photos or putting them all in an album. I guess they are complementary ways of organizing your photographic life.
Financial advice
One of the best books I've read about individual investment strategies recently is David Swensen's Unconventional Success: A Fundamental Approach to Personal Investment. Swensen runs Yale's money, and he has an outstanding performance record. There are several points of interest:
- He explains why the mutual fund industry is generally not a great place to invest, because of the many costs involved: trading costs, management costs, and tax costs.
- He implies that diversification away from common stocks might be a good thing. Many advisors suggest a 60-70% allocation to stocks, but Swensen gives a "sample" allocation as having around 50% stocks, broken into 30% US, 15% developed foreign markets, and 5% emerging foreign markets.
- He states that diversification towards real estate (REITs) and bonds is a good thing. His sample allocation has 20% in real state, 15% in Treasuries, and 15% in TIPS.
- He states that municipal bonds and corporate bonds are not useful assets for diversification.
The Morgan Library
My cousin Pauline came to visit, and Ming and I went with her to the Morgan Library and Museum last night. It is free on Friday nights, and since we only live 5 minutes away, we plan on going again! We saw some outstanding exhibits. Ming really liked the Mesopotamian seals; we wondered if my cousin Jack (who did his PhD on that era) had gotten a chance to see them.
I was amazed at some of the drawings they had, as well as some of the musical manuscripts that they had on display. Unfortunately, we weren't allowed to see the performance hall. Here is an article and picture of the Morgan Library and Museum's hall from the NY Times.
Pauline has her own blog, so I'm sure she will have interesting things to say about her visit.
Jack has a blog too, so maybe I can search his blog about what he has seen in NYC.
I was amazed at some of the drawings they had, as well as some of the musical manuscripts that they had on display. Unfortunately, we weren't allowed to see the performance hall. Here is an article and picture of the Morgan Library and Museum's hall from the NY Times.
Pauline has her own blog, so I'm sure she will have interesting things to say about her visit.
Jack has a blog too, so maybe I can search his blog about what he has seen in NYC.
Broadway shows
Our friends John and Becky Carter came to visit from Salt Lake City. We saw two shows with them, Avenue Q and The Producers. Outstanding stuff: I had almost forgotten how much fun musicals on Broadway could be!
(Re)-starting a blog
I decided to restart my blogging, to see if it would be a useful thing to do.
I also decided to clean up my web pages (which are still at the University of Utah) and start over with Google Page Creator.
http://wilson.hsieh.googlepages.com
The earlier posts in this blog contain photos from a trip that Ming and I took in February 2005. The photos are from Beijing, China and Hong Kong.
I also decided to clean up my web pages (which are still at the University of Utah) and start over with Google Page Creator.
http://wilson.hsieh.googlepages.com
The earlier posts in this blog contain photos from a trip that Ming and I took in February 2005. The photos are from Beijing, China and Hong Kong.
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