Little talk:

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Brain Injury of a System Architect

My dad died, November 27, 2021. It's pretty shattering. But we are grateful that he made it to 80 years, 8 months. The two qualities of his that I admire most are his fighting spirit, and his mental strength. I don't know where my dad's ability to compartmentalize came from. No one else in my family has it, or had it. But it seems to me a somewhat rare and valuable gift.

On the last night my dad was alive, the last thing my mother said to him was a Tamil phrase which means, roughly, "I am going. I will come back." It seems to me at once an everyday, matter of fact phrase, and at the same time a statement of deep theological hope: I am going. I will come back.

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notes on technical reading

zeroth pass: skimming, scanning, surveying

first pass: reading

second pass: working through examples (if any)

third pass: working through review questions (if any)

fourth pass: working through exercises (if any)

last pass: reflection, review, synopsis, summary, notes, highlights, commentary.

two books on the top of the pile, one for first-pass reading, one for nth-pass working.

current books on the top of my pile: 1) Introducing Python (working) 2) Javascript: The Definitive Guide (reading)

tentative opinion on the right speed for first-pass reading:

absolute max: 2 chapters in 1 day

absolute min: 1 chapter in 8 days 

comfortable min: 1 chapter in 4 days

comfortable max: 1 chapter in 1 day

golden mean: between one-third and two-thirds of a chapter a day

On days when I try to get through as much reading as possible, this seems to be the pattern:

1. Start reading in the middle of a chapter, and finish that chapter.

2. Start another chapter, and with some difficulty, finish it.

3. Start a third chapter.

4. At some point during the third chapter, my brain will reliably turn to mush.

Hence, the opinion: absolute max: 2 chapters in 1 day.

My opinions on the right speed for first-pass reading are related to my opinions on the right amount of cardio to do on the treadmill or elliptical.

treadmill:

absolute max: 16 km in 1 day 

absolute min: 1 km in 1 day

comfortable min: 2-3 km in 1 day 

comfortable max: 8-10 km in 1 day

golden mean: 4-6 km in 1 day

elliptical:

absolute min: 12 minutes in 1 day

comfortable min: 24 to 36 minutes in 1 day

comfortable max: 96 to 120 minutes in 1 day

absolute max: 192 minutes in 1 day

golden mean: 48 to 72 minutes in 1 day

It is not news to me that I have often attempted to read too much, the mental equivalent of the alka-seltzer ad. It is perhaps news to me that I have often attempted to read too quickly. In hindsight, it seems obvious that trying to read a difficult chapter in one hour will be hellish; trying to read it in one day will be unpleasant; but if you have the patience to give yourself two or four or eight days, the reading will be at the very least not hellish, and perhaps even positively pleasant.

One of my dad's favorite movie lines is from Patton, written, if you believe the lamestream media, by Francis Ford Coppola and Edmund H. North: "I don't like to pay for the same real estate twice."

By trying to read too quickly, and not being willing to throttle my technical reading rate to a much more deliberate speed, I have perhaps wound up paying for the same real estate, not just twice, but dozens of times.

Oh well. Let's hope the view from the heights makes it all worth it.

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Big talk:

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James Sinegal: The Camel (in the eye of the needle)

So how did James Sinegal do it? How did he manage to stay so normal, despite being so rich?

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The eye popping inflation numbers seem to have dented policymakers confidence, which seems to me unfortunate, and unwarranted.

The plan was to run the economy hot, until 2019 levels of employment and output had been recovered. If the vaccines had ended the pandemic, it might have been the right policy. But the vaccines did not end the pandemic. So at some point over the past two years, it has become clear that some of the covid-induced changes to the economy have become permanent, and 2019 is never coming back. This is a bitter pill to swallow, and one of the side-effects of that pill is that increased demand resulted in higher prices, instead of more output. A non-ideal income. But the policy to attempt to recover 2019 levels of employment and output was the right one, in my opinion.

Throttling demand might be a legitimate response to that inflation. But supply-side interventions also seem to me legitimate. And moral-suasion also seems to me legitimate. If John F Kennedy could call out corporate greed, why can't Elizabeth Warren?

It is appropriate for progressives to ask policymakers not to fire the disinflation gun until they have seen the whites of inflation's eyes. If the policymakers respond that at this point, we are not only seeing the whites of inflation's eyes, but are at this very moment tasting an inflation knuckle sandwich, that seems reasonable to me.

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Like the husband who should not apologize until he knows what he is apologizing for, it seems to me the Biden administration should not cancel student loan debt until they know why they are doing it. (hint: it's not because people with student loan debt are greedy and unreasonable)

One policy that might make sense is to shift from a debt-based system to an equity-based system (For example, offer $30,000 of student loan debt relief for every 1% of future earnings). But it needs to be done in a way that minimizes hassle, and in a way that accepts that some of the money is not going to be repaid, which Obama-era policies did not do.

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Next post: June 22, 2022