I've started a few of these now, and have trouble keeping even one blog up-to-date. But I had to set up something to counter the "cheaper pizza" that we see creeping into the everyday lives of academics these days.
One of my colleagues refers to teaching as "selling pizza." As in, "we're all just selling pizza, here."
I can't disagree with this person more, but since that's the model they want to work under, I figured that we should try to work within it. After all, this person might be right. Or they might have some influence over the process.
My pizza is very expensive. And it will continue to be.
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
Thursday, June 3, 2010
New rules to help stop market meltdowns
From a story on FT.com today, it appears that new SEC rules are coming out next week to set floors on equity prices. This is an attempt to avoid the kind of firesale that we saw on May 6, and it's an echo of the limits that have been in place since 1987 to deal with daily changes in the S&P500, known as "circuit breakers." Although such a thing is common in futures markets, shutting markets down after max price changes is pretty new for equities, and not very well understood. Only time will tell if these limits are going to to harmful or worthwhile.
More here
More here
Thursday, May 27, 2010
A bit about Apple
As Apple has recently passed Microsoft as the highest-market-cap technology firm, AOLNews posted this about the comparisons that can be made.
Most of you probably know by now that I'm an Apple-phile. It was not always thus...
Back in the Win 3.10 days I hated the closed system that Apple represented. I was in the industry, and I wanted to be able to see a command line; we NEEDED to be able to open the box and throw in some cards or a new video subsystem. Nevermind that tweaking our AUTOEXEC.BAT and CONFIG.SYS files was a daily chore. Anyone else remember QEMM386? Wow, those were the days.
Well, along came Win95, and everything was broken for a few years there. A friend gave me a PowerBook 100 (yes, a 100) and a box full of apps. The rest is history. I bought my first new Mac when the toilet seat iBook premiered in 1999, and then a Strawberry iMac, a Pismo, an iceBook and now I'm working [in Windows XP] on a MacBook.
When Office gets back to being compatible between Windows and OS X, I'll go back to OS X as my desktop, but that's not Apple's fault now, is it?
I've had my share of disputes with Apple over the years, but as the last blog post mentioned, it's obvious that they have their heads on straight over in Cupertino. In particular, it seems that Apple has managed, over the last 30 years, to keep focused on WHY they are in business and not just HOW to stay in business or WHAT to make.
Another Apple reference to keep an eye on, from the old old days: Guy Kawasaki. Genius. Anything he touches turns to gold. And I think he never looks any older; maybe he has a pact with Satan for that.
His stuff from the early days of Apple is nothing short of brilliant. He "invented" the evangelist in modern marketing -- making sure that everyone ELSE knows "why" you're doing what you're doing. He was talking about guerrilla marketing before Faith Popcorn. Hundreds of years from now folks are going to know his name.
God Almighty, why can't everyone else "get it" the way Apple does? Is it that hard to understand? Can't anyone else put their culture into action this way? Does it take a Steve Jobs to get this kind of thing done? Are there other companies out there hiring and feeding people like Jef Raskin and Guy Kawasaki? Man, the difference is striking.
*Jef Raskin, for those of you who may not have heard of him before, invented the information appliance. He described the "computer for the rest of us" almost completely. But I don't think he anticipated the effect that Solitaire and MySpace would have on productivity -- seems that he was thinking computers would make people MORE productive.
Most of you probably know by now that I'm an Apple-phile. It was not always thus...
Back in the Win 3.10 days I hated the closed system that Apple represented. I was in the industry, and I wanted to be able to see a command line; we NEEDED to be able to open the box and throw in some cards or a new video subsystem. Nevermind that tweaking our AUTOEXEC.BAT and CONFIG.SYS files was a daily chore. Anyone else remember QEMM386? Wow, those were the days.
Well, along came Win95, and everything was broken for a few years there. A friend gave me a PowerBook 100 (yes, a 100) and a box full of apps. The rest is history. I bought my first new Mac when the toilet seat iBook premiered in 1999, and then a Strawberry iMac, a Pismo, an iceBook and now I'm working [in Windows XP] on a MacBook.
When Office gets back to being compatible between Windows and OS X, I'll go back to OS X as my desktop, but that's not Apple's fault now, is it?
I've had my share of disputes with Apple over the years, but as the last blog post mentioned, it's obvious that they have their heads on straight over in Cupertino. In particular, it seems that Apple has managed, over the last 30 years, to keep focused on WHY they are in business and not just HOW to stay in business or WHAT to make.
Another Apple reference to keep an eye on, from the old old days: Guy Kawasaki. Genius. Anything he touches turns to gold. And I think he never looks any older; maybe he has a pact with Satan for that.
His stuff from the early days of Apple is nothing short of brilliant. He "invented" the evangelist in modern marketing -- making sure that everyone ELSE knows "why" you're doing what you're doing. He was talking about guerrilla marketing before Faith Popcorn. Hundreds of years from now folks are going to know his name.
God Almighty, why can't everyone else "get it" the way Apple does? Is it that hard to understand? Can't anyone else put their culture into action this way? Does it take a Steve Jobs to get this kind of thing done? Are there other companies out there hiring and feeding people like Jef Raskin and Guy Kawasaki? Man, the difference is striking.
*Jef Raskin, for those of you who may not have heard of him before, invented the information appliance. He described the "computer for the rest of us" almost completely. But I don't think he anticipated the effect that Solitaire and MySpace would have on productivity -- seems that he was thinking computers would make people MORE productive.
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
What is your mission?
Boy, I'm so glad that other folks share their brains with us sometimes.
As many of you know, I've been spending a lot of time pitching and helping with mission statements for a few of my students. I think it's a worthy bit of introspection, especially when changing careers or starting a family, etc. It really helps to be grounded BEFORE things happen that demand your attention.
This guy explains why Apple gets us to buy almost anything they decide to sell. It's all about tribal values. It's about mission orientation.
Apple operates on by starting with "Why?" WHY do we bother to make a product? WHY would anyone want this product?
Other folks start with the "What" and "HOW." WHAT do we do? [We make widgets.] HOW do we do it? [What is the actual transformation process, capital, etc.]
People are only sold from the WHY perspective. In other words, we don't buy Apple to get a computer, we buy Apple because we know their focus is on what the computer is for. It's a shared vision of ease of use and fault-tolerance and ... mission focus. We want to USE a computer, not just buy one with all of the bells and whistles.
The analogues are obvious:
WHY do we have an undergrad curriculum?
WHY do we have a grad curriculum?
WHY would anyone want to put themselves through the paces to get a degree?
Some of us can answer these questions. I hear "WHY do I bother?" from other faculty and administrators nearly every day -- all of these people KNOW why they bother, it's a rhetorical question for most of us.
Whatever you do everyday, individually, I challenge you to 1) watch the video, and 2) ask yourself WHY you do what you do. The answer is really really important to know in advance of life's unexpected challenges.
Write down something about all of the different roles you play in your life, and WHY you do them. That's a start.
And if you've never read Cameron Crowe's mission statement piece from Jerry Maguire, you should. It's not the first time I've posted it, and I'm sure it won't be the last.
To do the mission, you have to know the mission.
Apple knows their mission.
EDIT: Charlie sends in a reference to this TED video from Bobby McFerrin. Don't worry, be happy.
As many of you know, I've been spending a lot of time pitching and helping with mission statements for a few of my students. I think it's a worthy bit of introspection, especially when changing careers or starting a family, etc. It really helps to be grounded BEFORE things happen that demand your attention.
This guy explains why Apple gets us to buy almost anything they decide to sell. It's all about tribal values. It's about mission orientation.
Apple operates on by starting with "Why?" WHY do we bother to make a product? WHY would anyone want this product?
Other folks start with the "What" and "HOW." WHAT do we do? [We make widgets.] HOW do we do it? [What is the actual transformation process, capital, etc.]
People are only sold from the WHY perspective. In other words, we don't buy Apple to get a computer, we buy Apple because we know their focus is on what the computer is for. It's a shared vision of ease of use and fault-tolerance and ... mission focus. We want to USE a computer, not just buy one with all of the bells and whistles.
The analogues are obvious:
WHY do we have an undergrad curriculum?
WHY do we have a grad curriculum?
WHY would anyone want to put themselves through the paces to get a degree?
Some of us can answer these questions. I hear "WHY do I bother?" from other faculty and administrators nearly every day -- all of these people KNOW why they bother, it's a rhetorical question for most of us.
Whatever you do everyday, individually, I challenge you to 1) watch the video, and 2) ask yourself WHY you do what you do. The answer is really really important to know in advance of life's unexpected challenges.
Write down something about all of the different roles you play in your life, and WHY you do them. That's a start.
And if you've never read Cameron Crowe's mission statement piece from Jerry Maguire, you should. It's not the first time I've posted it, and I'm sure it won't be the last.
To do the mission, you have to know the mission.
Apple knows their mission.
EDIT: Charlie sends in a reference to this TED video from Bobby McFerrin. Don't worry, be happy.
Saturday, May 8, 2010
ObamaCare, Round One
I hate to personalize things here, but I know some of your guys read this for insight and ideas and I have to call 'em as I see 'em.
Yesterday, we had the last in a series of meetings about my son's progress in cognitive behavioral therapy. As you know, he's been doing this for a few months now, and we're seeing tremendous progress very quickly. As some of you know, it's almost $50k per year without insurance.
We found out yesterday at the meeting that he's doing very well, and making tremendous progress. It's very stressful on everyone in the family, and very costly, but it's paying off at this point, and he's starting to accelerate in his progress as well. In other words, we're seeing breakthroughs at each interim evaluation over the past couple of months.
Last night, though, we found out that our insurance program is proposing changes that will more than double our out-of-pocket for therapy during the year. Basically, they are considering a doubling of the stop-loss limit and a halving of the out-of-network copay. I'm not sure where the extra $4K per year will come from if it goes through.
Is this change random? Heck no. It's in response to a need to get ready for 2014. Changes were coming, for sure, but now with a mandate to cover more folks by 2014, this kind of thing is going to touch everyone.
The only way to give less to more people is to take more from the few. Can't work any other way.
Those of you who are thinking you're immune to this crap in Washington, think again.
Sooner or later, the bell will toll for thee.
In the immortal words of Edward Rooney, High School Principal Extraordinaire: "Pucker up, Buttercup."
Yesterday, we had the last in a series of meetings about my son's progress in cognitive behavioral therapy. As you know, he's been doing this for a few months now, and we're seeing tremendous progress very quickly. As some of you know, it's almost $50k per year without insurance.
We found out yesterday at the meeting that he's doing very well, and making tremendous progress. It's very stressful on everyone in the family, and very costly, but it's paying off at this point, and he's starting to accelerate in his progress as well. In other words, we're seeing breakthroughs at each interim evaluation over the past couple of months.
Last night, though, we found out that our insurance program is proposing changes that will more than double our out-of-pocket for therapy during the year. Basically, they are considering a doubling of the stop-loss limit and a halving of the out-of-network copay. I'm not sure where the extra $4K per year will come from if it goes through.
Is this change random? Heck no. It's in response to a need to get ready for 2014. Changes were coming, for sure, but now with a mandate to cover more folks by 2014, this kind of thing is going to touch everyone.
The only way to give less to more people is to take more from the few. Can't work any other way.
Those of you who are thinking you're immune to this crap in Washington, think again.
Sooner or later, the bell will toll for thee.
In the immortal words of Edward Rooney, High School Principal Extraordinaire: "Pucker up, Buttercup."
Sunday, May 2, 2010
Credit Default Swaps didn't doom Greece, Anthony Sanders says
At Congressional hearings on Thursday, Dr. Anthony Sanders pointed out that the CDS market actually served to warn us of the depth of the crisis with respect to Greece. More about this here.
For those of you not familiar with Dr. Sanders, he's a leading expert on mortgage-backed securities and collateralized products such as CMOs. He's also a contributor to Fabozzi's Handbook of Fixed Income Securities. He probably knows what he's talking about!
Finally, Dr. Sanders' home page is here.
For those of you not familiar with Dr. Sanders, he's a leading expert on mortgage-backed securities and collateralized products such as CMOs. He's also a contributor to Fabozzi's Handbook of Fixed Income Securities. He probably knows what he's talking about!
Finally, Dr. Sanders' home page is here.
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Here comes the scary stuff. Virtual doctor visits.
Ahead of the passage of ObamaCare, we heard all kinds of claims about "cost savings" if we federalized healthcare for everyone. Here's the dirty little secret: federal healthcare cost savings depends on technology such as this. Doctors can wirelessly monitor a patient's blood sugar and administer insulin remotely.
This is the kind of thing being evaluated by the new "Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation".
What happens when that technology fails and someone dies? Does the federal government get sued? Of course not -- you can't sue the federal government.
They're also looking at pill tracking technology, to communicate whether you've taken your pills or not. What if you don't take your pills? What then?
All of this promoted by the same people who complain that profiling airline passengers is too intrusive. How about wearing a medical device that's controlled by remote? How intrusive is that?
For folks who don't want government in our bedrooms, or in our reproductive organs, it's really strange to see them wanting government in our medicine cabinets.
It's inevitable that government healthcare will lead to more of this type of thing. We can't have joint responsibility for costs without some loss of individual responsibility and rights. Just can't happen.
This is the kind of thing being evaluated by the new "Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation".
What happens when that technology fails and someone dies? Does the federal government get sued? Of course not -- you can't sue the federal government.
They're also looking at pill tracking technology, to communicate whether you've taken your pills or not. What if you don't take your pills? What then?
All of this promoted by the same people who complain that profiling airline passengers is too intrusive. How about wearing a medical device that's controlled by remote? How intrusive is that?
For folks who don't want government in our bedrooms, or in our reproductive organs, it's really strange to see them wanting government in our medicine cabinets.
It's inevitable that government healthcare will lead to more of this type of thing. We can't have joint responsibility for costs without some loss of individual responsibility and rights. Just can't happen.
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