Vacation Stress Level

From Piled Higher and Deeper

Public Relations - Propaganda's Teenage Cousin

Interesting Google tech talk.

"People's perception of sizes of risks are based on emotional and not national factors"
"Managing the outrage is more important than managing the hazard"
"Marketing is a battle of perception, not products. Truth has no bearing on the issue"

What we have seen in the last decade, or even the last few weeks, is that we are still quite susceptibility to propaganda techniques. While people may think and claim to be rational and logical, they are inherently biased and tend do gravitate towards opinion sources that line up with their own. There is also the herd effect or the tipping point type behavior that still is stronger than ever. Framing tactics are still used frequently and effectively both by politicians as well as corporations.

Question authority and your own instincts, ask for facts, separate the message from the messenger - and encourage everyone else to do so. One day, we will, as a species overcome the shortcomings of our fish brain.

I Learned Everything About History From Cartoons

Somewhat less, lets say ... polished, than the Cartoon History of the Universe but equally enjoyable - World War One: Simple Version and World War Two: Simple Version.

Charlie Wilson's Movie

Re-watching Charlie Wilson's War on HBO. A movie that truly gets better each time you watch it, and its chock full of good quotes and WTF moments. Just in the last 15 minutes:
* Gen Zia gets introduced in his fete as "Zia didnt kill Bhutto"
* A bellydancing baptist girl entertaining an Egyptian minister
* Gust Avrakotos to Joanne Herring: "I dont see god within miles of this conflict, but if you sleep with me I may change my mind mighty quick" and
*"As long as the press sees sex and drugs behind the left hand, you can park a battle carrier behind the right hand and no one's gonna f***ing notice. "
* Israeli arms dealers shipping tanks to the Pakistani government
* A US Senator lecturing the afghans on how America is always on God's side and they respond with Allahu Akbar.
* Kovraktos to Wilson: "Youre not really stupid, just in congress"
Truth, as always, is stranger than fiction, and if a good storyteller presents it, a whole lot funnier as well. Related: Wag the Dog

Motivational Rewards - DONT WORK (well most times)

When it comes to complex cognition oriented tasks, rewards actually hinder progress rather than facilitate it. In the kinds of challenges we deal with in a knowledge based economy, pay for performance is precisely the wrong way to structure compensation. A better model to understand performance : Autonomy, Mastery, Purpose. Align your organization to these goals and values, and you are more likely to succeed. Case in point: Britannica vs Wikipedia (ie unpaid unmanaged yet self motivated hordes create a product that makes obsolete a product created by experts over many decades).

Warring Economists

The eighty years of peace and the great moderation is over, and the battleaxes are out - Paul Krugman reports that hostilities are breaking out among the Freshwater and Saltwater economists. Good overview of evolution of economic thinking over the past century, and how finance and economics play off of each other. Some choice quotes:

"...because a two-quart bottle of ketchup costs twice as much as a one-quart bottle, finance theorists declare that the price of ketchup must be right."

“the market can stay irrational longer than you can stay solvent.”

"Larry Summers once began a paper on finance by declaring: “THERE ARE IDIOTS. Look around.”"