New Years Resolutions (so far)

I'm always looking for more New Year's resolutions so suggestions are always welcome.

So far my resolutions are:

1. Check Google Finance and Facebook no more than once a week.
2. Each week make a concentrated effort to follow one of zenhabits 52 tips for Happiness and Productivity

http://zenhabits.net/handbook-for-life-52-tips-for-happiness-and-productivity/

New reading for the new year

I discovered a great blog this morning called Brain Pickings. Only a few posts in but I've already learned a lot from it about knowledge, creativity and work. One anecdote from a post on Combinatorial Creativity:

Picasso is sitting in the park, sketching. A woman walks by, recognizes him, runs up to him and pleads with him to draw her portrait. He’s in a good mood, so he agrees and starts sketching. A few minutes later, he hands her the portrait. The lady is ecstatic, she gushes about how wonderfully it captures the very essence of her character, what beautiful, beautiful work it is, and asks how much she owes him. “$5,000, madam,” says Picasso. The lady is taken aback, outraged, and asks how that’s even possible given it only took him 5 minutes. Picasso looks up and, without missing a beat, says: “No, madam, it took me my whole life.”

I have never thought about work and value in that way before. You're not paying $5,000 for 5 minutes of Picasso's work, rather you're paying $5,000 for the cumulative wisdom of his lifetime.

A comet so bright it can be seen in daylight

In December 2013 a comet will pass near Earth, astronomers are saying it has the potential to be the brightest in hundreds of years - brighter than a full moon!

http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-57561294-1/2013-could-be-the-best-year-for-comet-spotting-in-generations/

The Dairy Cliff

Is this the atlantic or the onion? Apparently we haven't had a permanent farm bill since 1949.

http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2012/12/thanks-to-congresss-incompetence-milk-prices-are-about-to-double/266692/

Today I learned patent infringement is more serious crime than laundering terrorist money

A patent lawsuit wipes out over a year of profits at a tech company. HSBC launders terrorist money and losses 2 weeks of profits. No way has this infringement done more harm to people and to the incentives for companies to "play fair." Ridiculous (this class is ridiculous)

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2012/12/jury-slams-marvell-with-mammoth-1-17-billion-patent-verdict/

Update: Maybe I could patent a money laundering scheme and sue HSBC for infringing on that patent.

Quite the year for Chicago politics

I did not fully appreciate how eventful of a year this has been Chicago

http://www.nbcchicago.com/blogs/ward-room/Top-10-Stories-of-2012-184958741.html

1. Given the extreme lack of credibility / common sense in the Republican party right now I was glad to see Obama reelected. Plus he's probably further to the right than most would care to admit.

2. The teachers strike really put Chicago front and center in the national debate on pensions and public sector employees. Many people forget that despite a relatively light tax burden at the national level people in high-tax locales such as Chicago, New York and California face overall tax burdens comparable to many European countries. In these cities the non-federal taxes often exceed federal taxes.

3. I was pretty shocked when Jesse Jackson was reelected but I am glad he choose to resign. If he is truly not fit for work then it would be a huge disservice to his constituency to stay in Congress.

4. The pension crisis is one of the biggest reasons I'm hesitant to buy a condo, even if they double property taxes there's still a hole in the state and local pensions. Now the scary part I did a quick back of the envelope calculation suggests that if they double property taxes Chicago home prices will drop by ~20%. Admittedly it wouldn't be an instant drop but rather an "under-performing inflation" type of stagnation. In any case I'd rather not have my money tied up in a Chicago condo right now.

5. Its so strange how for me Chicago feels like a very safe city, but for thousands and thousands of others its not. The murder stats suggest that being in a Chicago gang is more dangerous than being a US soldier in Afghanistan. Crazy. And the worst part is I don't see any solutions, sometimes all we can do is try to make the best of a bad situation.

6. I'm pretty shocked Walsh got as many votes as he did. Demographics alone will end the Republican party as it currently stands. The question is can we last long enough?

7. With their new majority it'll be interesting to see what the Illinois Democrats come up with as solutions to the state's problems. And also what impact those solutions will have on my desire to stay in Chicago.

8. I remember the huge show of police force during the NATO summit, dozens of police officers lining the bridges over the river, it was a very vivid reminder of the tradeoff between safety and freedom.

9. Kirk is one of the few Republicans in Congress who I respect, being from Illinois he is (or at least has to be) liberal on many issues. I voted for him hoping the GOP would move in his direction rather than in the direction of the Tea Party. Perhaps if he and other like-minded (i.e. reasonable) members of the GOP left they could win the support of many independents and centrist Democrats who have left the GOP because of its craziness. I was very sad to hear about his stroke but after a long recovery he appears ready to return to Congress.

10. Blagojevich, good riddance.

Failure #1

Yesterday I got an early start on my year of failure. My garbage disposal has been broken for nearly 2 months and has resisted all my half-assed repair attempts. It was time for a whole-assed attempt. I bust out my working gloves, my screwdrivers and my wrenches - I am determined not to let some 2 horsepower motor get the better of me. I unscrew the pipes, clear the clog and get the disposal running again. Its time to reassemble. First pipe, no problem. Second pipe, won't fit. I push a little harder. Crack, the second pipe breaks, it was too corroded to handle the pressure. There I am sitting on my kitchen floor, staring at the broken shards of pipe. What a cruel twist of fate, I've fixed the disposal but I cannot use it because the drain pipe is broken.