My Mind

Quotation of the Day:

Democracy is a process by which the people are free to choose the man who will get the blame.
- Laurence J. Peter

Links of the Day:

• Finishing Fooled by Randomness by Nassim Nicholas Taleb.
• The first chapter of Freakonomics.
• Should You Invest in ‘The Poor Man’s Hedge Fund’?
• Introducing “New Math”
• Government is Always the Scapegoat
• The Wail of the 1%
• Do Smart Parents Raise Smart Children? The Intergenerational Transmission of Cognitive Abilities
• Why do poor nations continue to be enthralled with capitalism?
• Uncle Sam does NOT believe in photoshop
• Fed study puts ideal interest rate at -5%
• Justice Dept. Opens Antitrust Inquiry Into Google Books Deal
• The Veil is Lifted From Wolfram Alpha
• Blogs and the Economics of Reciprocal Attention
• Are bloggers attention-seekers?
• Many ‘No-Pay’ CEOs Actually Were Richly Compensated, Study Finds
• Bus-Riders of the World Unite!
• Seriously Pathetic

Quotation of the Day:

“My major hobby is teasing people who take themselves and the quality of their knowledge too seriously and those who don’t have the guts to sometimes say: ‘I don’t know….”
- Nassim Nocholas Taleb

Links of the Day:

• Chapter 4 – 9 of Fooled by Randomness by Nassim Nicholas Taleb (Really a scary book)
• Buru Diskon Gede, Ribuan Orang Antre di SenCy Sejak 07.00 WIB – detik.com (Menengah atas koq antri, aneh…)
• Don’t Be Like Selma Hayek! – Technologizer (Poor Salma and her guessable thing…)
• Whatever Happened to the Top 15 Web Properties of April, 1999? -Technologizer (“There are nothing unique and barrier entry,” said Tim Harford)
• Yahoo Winds Down GeoCities. (Waitaminnit, GeoCities Still Exists?) – Technologizer (Another unsuccessful merger in internet industry…)
• S&P: Majority of Active Fund Managers Underperform Benchmarks Across All Categories Over Past Five Years (The illusion of ‘beating the market’…)
• Just 53% Say Capitalism Better Than Socialism (Americans know what is capitalism?)
• If I Change My Name to Millionaire, Will I Win the Lottery? – Freakonomics (What is in a name, then?) Read Winner, Loser, and Marijuana Pepsi – Freakonomics too.
• Long Term Capital Management a look back from an Insider – Finance Professor Blog (LTCM from Rosenfeld’s view..) Watch Midas Formula too.

Quotation of the Day:

If a man is offered a fact which goes against his instincts, he will scrutinize it closely, and unless the evidence is overwhelming, he will refuse to believe it. If, on the other hand, he is offered something which affords a reason for acting in accordance to his instincts, he will accept it even on the slightest evidence. The origin of myths is explained in this way.
- Bertrand Russell

Links of the Day:

• Freddie Mac exec found dead – SBS (Another victim of the GFC)
• Analyst: Optus’ Internet filter participation shocking and disappointing – Computer World (Another telco join the Great Internet Proof-fence of Australia. Shockingly, this time a big one)
• Japan to Immigrants: Thanks, But You Can Go Home Now – Time ( A unique way to solve unemployment problem)
• British researcher says Facebook a brain drain – Physorg.com (Be careful with your brain on facebook)
• How economics lost sight of real world – FT (Is economics really a science?)
• Nassim Nicholas Taleb on Wikipedia (Controversial, yet, thoughtful person)
• First three chapter of Fooled by Randomness by Nassim Nicholas Taleb (Great book… So great that I am afraid I can’t understand it)