I’ve had some pretty solid conversations in the past few weeks.  I’ve spent time with John Kelm, chatted with Kurt (both of them), and even had a few run-ins with my neighbors.  What’s interesting to me is how much of a “novelty” the idea of getting to know your neighbors has become.  I lived in a complex last year, and made a point of getting to know my next-door neighbor, Blake Spindler: sometimes we’d sit around and talk about our ridiculous landlord, and there was one time I even tried to fix his TV after an electrical event occurred.  It’s struck me recently how few people have the time or inclination to get to know the people around them.  

When I was at Microsoft for interviews, my HR contact Raquel Garcia talked about a hobby of hers: “building communities”.  I think I’m going to put some time and money into doing some of this “community building” down here in Urbana.  Now, if I could just find some time between interviews, holidays, and travel…

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The recent article in Veritas entitled “Satan’s Suburbs” does a great job of identifying some of the problems the US faces as a result of its post-WWII zoning practices, among them a highly energy-intensive lifestyle, and an overall reduction in community strength, with fewer people out walking the streets.  However, the article neglects one thing I feel is supremely important to understanding how we live: mobility.  People are moving more than ever before, to places farther away, with higher frequency than at any point in history. Such mobility creates a lot of social problems, including reduced investment in communities, less incentive to participate in community events, etc.  Even with stratospheric oil prices, I don’t see the US population becoming any less mobile soon; people follow economic opportunity, and the opportunities of big cities are just too much for highly-educated people to justify giving up (especially after investing so heavily in their education).

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Such catastrophes force deep rethinking of assumptions.  I just finished Alan Greenspan’s “Age of Turbulence” (could there be a better title?), a deeply contemplative book which explores many of the philosophical, legal, and moral underpinnings of the American way of life.  Central to the book was the idea of “resilience”, that is, the durability of America’s market capitalism.  Looking back, it’s incredible that things haven’t been worse: the past ten years have seen one (maybe two) catastrophic hurricanes, terrorists flying planes into the WTC and Pentagon, and now a global financial crisis, the effects of which include the dissolution of Bear Stearns, Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch, Countrywide Financial, IndyMac, Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac, and countless regional banks.  Will it end?

Yet, John McCain was correct today when he said that the fundamentals are basically strong.  (This isn’t an endorsement of his candidacy, just a remark on a statement he made.)  Inflation remains contained, and jobless claims are up only slightly.  Surprisingly, the “crisis” remains relatively financial in nature, with few knock-on effects (save home foreclosures) in the real economy.  I find this encouraging.

Updates from RAID to follow…

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I’m trying to select a research topic for a Master’s thesis.  I came across this site, which promises to help “pick A Worthy Topic in 10 Seconds” - it’s not far off the mark.

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This is pathetic; watching CNBC everyday, you’d think there was some kind of financial armageddon going on. Real interest rates are negative. The Case-Shiller index is down over 15% YTD.  ”Wire houses” (investment banks that do nothing other than move money around) are suffering as the “de-levering” is forcing them back into sane amounts of leverage (below 30:1), which is taking massive amounts of cash out of the markets.  The VIX stands at 22.94.

For investors with long time horizons, this might turn out to be a once-per-decade to buy assets very cheaply.  I’m not too sure what’s going to happen, but I know that it’s high time I start using other peoples’ money to make money.

In short, I really want to get into debt.

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Looking back, it’s incredible how much power publishers wield in this model.  A media producer, by his choice of what to cover and how, inevitably introduces some bias into the way the news is reported.  It’s tempting to think that producers would only pick “high-quality” stories, but the whole process of selecting what gets covered is highly opaque and frankly, quite easily abused.  I imagine that many deals have gone down over the years in smoke-filled rooms where producers were induced, by means ethical and otherwise, to conform their media agendas to those of outside parties. 

The Internet, as a mass media outlet, is the most absolutely democratic communication tool in the history of humanity.  The entire idea of manipulating the media agenda, say, in order to manufacture a cover-up, seems completely passe in an era where users are in complete control of their experience, and a record of everything that’s ever been printed (try archive.org) exists. 

The new availability of information is forcing organizations to be a lot more honest.  Forward-thinking organizations have realized the need to go beyond ”no comment” toward explanations and apologies.

The recent buzz around the NYPD’s assault of a Critical Mass biker (video) demonstrates the Internet’s power to keep organizations honest.  Whereas in the past, the NYPD might have been able to keep coverage of what happened under the radar, one person, who was opportunistically recording the bicyclists, caught the assault on video.  That video has since been uploaded to YouTube, where it has received over 250,000 views in the two days since it was uploaded.  I saw the video on Reddit yesterday, before the story was picked up by the print media and used as the headline of several of today’s NYC dailies.  The officer has since lost his badge; I hope a trial for assault and battery swiftly follows.

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On Saturday, I attended Resistor’s “Art of the Game”, a hybrid art/electronics exposition in their loft space.  The cover seemed high ($20), but let me tell you, it was worth every penny.  I saw tons of interesting exhibits including a huge (wall-sized) ”Game of Life” simulation, a jumbo-size LED clock, an automated arm-wresting system, and Dave Clausen’s amazing LED Cylinder.  The spirit of Resistor fuses the creative intensity of the fashion industry (where Diana works) with the free-spirited tinkering of hacker culture.  Resistor is doing NYC a huge service by providing an outpost for hackers/Makers; I hope they continue to have the financial resources to hold down their space, which gets quite pricey, being in DUMBO.

I want to start something like this in Champaign-Urbana.  Rent is dirt cheap and this space would work well.  If another 3-4 people are interested, I’d be willing to put up some cash and rent a space.  Any takers?

Tomorrow night, I’m heading to Ignite NYC.  I’ll post details after the event.  If my business cards come by then, I’ll be extraordinarily pleased.

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On the way home, I helped a lady with a door on the subway.  She saw my shirt and remarked how my effort to help her through the door was great “community teamwork”.

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The attitude described above is pretty sorry.  When I look forward to free time, it’s in anticipation of doing specific, enjoyable activities.  Last weekend, I spent time with my old roommate Dan, and visited the Museum of Modern Art.  The weekend before that, I spent a lot of time outdoors with Stephanie.  The idea of being happy simply for the sake of not having to work, at least to me, seems like a pretty strong indication that a person is wasting their life doing a job that isn’t right for them.

“Get busy living, or get busy dying.” - Andy Dufresne, The Shawshank Redemption

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UPDATE (7/29): Countrywide has won the Consumerist “Worst Company in America” award.

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