March Books

Full 2014 list here. A lot of my old friends this month. Perhaps Christmas presents to myself after reading others' suggestions. No complaints mind you, and even some unexpected disappointments. I was really looking forward to the Easterly book and would not recommend it to others.



The Second Machine Age: Work, Progress, and Prosperity in a Time of Brilliant Technologies

Brynjolfsson, Erik

Note: Did not enjoy this as much as their first book. Maybe a little too optimistic. I've been reading about driverless cars for so long now that I am increasingly starting to believe that I will never own one.

The Tyranny of Experts: Economists, Dictators, and the Forgotten Rights of the Poor

Easterly, William

Note: Disappointing. A little too anecdotal and shrill, even for this cynic. And it never addresses the question of whether children in despotic regimes should be vaccinated. The author is right about problems with a central planning approach to development, but the solutions are not as obvious and straightforward as he suggests.

Songbook

Hornby, Nick

Note: Delightful collection of short essays about songs that somehow manage to get inside you and stay there forever. Original takes on everyone from Springsteen to Nelly Furtado; and the takedown of classical music is particularly enjoyable.

The Up Side of Down: Why Failing Well Is the Key to Success

McArdle, Megan

Note: Not a lot new here if you follow her blog, which I have done for over a decade. She's a great writer with lots of insights, but many of the arguments are buttressed by personal anecdotes, which are interesting and heartfelt but border on specious.

Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life

Lamott, Anne *

Note: Clear and concise advice on how to write fiction and why it is so wonderful and miserable.

Nuts

Basil is back in the market, and I decided to make some pesto for dinner tonight. In the past, I've used little snack-size bags of hazelnuts or almonds, but, as my Serbian gets better, I'm more willing to talk to local characters, of which there are many, in the green market.

I'd noticed a few stalls with bins or stacked pyramids of what look like walnuts, so I looked up the word online. Orah, plural Oraci. That's easy. But just to be sure, I looked up "nuts." Same. What gives?

So this morning, around 8, the market was a flurry of activity--positive energy and the buzz of hard work everywhere. I went up to an older man who I am sure had a glass of rakija for breakfast (and I mean this in a good way) and asked him "Koleko coshta" pointing at the walnuts. "500 denars a kilo" ($5) he told me. "Give me like this," I told him, making a basket with my hands. That turned out to be 250 denars worth, plenty for tonight's dinner, with some left over.

"Kako se zove?" I asked him, as I handed him the bills. "Orah," he told me. So I had that right.

I asked my colleague about it this afternoon. It turns out that the word for nuts and walnuts is one and the same. Different varieties have come into the market over the years, but once upon a time, I guess there was only one kind of nut available locally.

California Girls

As Worldwide and the Gs get ready for Spring Break in California, my thoughts turn to the Golden State. Since I can't be there, I figured a mixtape was the next best thing. But the state is large; it contains multitudes, ranging from Burt Bacharach, to hair bands, gangstas and those laid-back cats from the 70s.

No Beach Boys though. That's too cliche. Put the top down

California Girls
America: Ventura Highway
Dionne Warwick: Do You Know the Way to San Jose
Katy Perry featuring Snoop Dogg: California Gurls
Jurassic 5: World of Entertainment
Randy Newman: I Love L.A.
Guns and Roses: Welcome to the Jungle
Ry Cooder: Down in Hollywood
Jill Sobule: San Francisco
Lloyd Cole: Late Night Early Town
LL Cool J: Goin' Back to Cali
NWA: Straight Outta Compton
Ronnie Hudson and the Street People: West Coast Pop Lock
Weezer: Beverly Hills
Joe Walsh: Life's Been Good
Grateful Dead: Ripple

It's About Time

I am tired of kiwis, oranges and bananas. Finally, strawberries were in the market today. They are from Greece, and a little expensive ($2/lb), but I couldn't resist.

Aha

This has been sitting on my kitchen counter for two months, and its purpose did not occur to me until yesterday. Now I have toast whenever I want it.

If that's not its intended purpose, it works great nonetheless. However, a  Google Images search for "stovetop toaster" suggests that I'm right.

It's Not the Economy, Stupid.

Startling graphic from the Times showing wages as a percentage of GDP in the U.S. over the last 60 years. It would seem that the benefits of economic growth are not going into workers' pockets.



And they are going to pay the robots even less.

10K

The BG has always been time sensitive. She got a watch in second grade, and never forgot to put it on before school every morning. I have not-so-fond memories of the following exchange, which happenend almost every evening in 2009-10:

BG: "When's dinner?"
BigD: "6:00."
BG: "So, 37 minutes?"
BigD "Yes."
...
BG: "Ready?"
BigD "5 minutes." 
BG "So 6:05?"

That's a lot of pressure, especially when the menu needs to include options friendly to both vegetarians and discriminating diners.

At some point, the $ 10 Timex stopped working or disappeared, and the BG moved on to the Iphone. Over the holidays, she confessed that she had been coveting a watch again, and was disappointed that there was not one in her stocking.

As luck would have it, I had been having similar thoughts. I had been thinking about starting to wear a watch again - I had grown tired of having to fish my phone out of my pocket to check the time, and I like being able, in meetings, to glance at my wrist to see how much time we have spent up to the moment.

Fitbit had just come out with a fitness tracker (it has now been recalled due to allergic reactions in some users, but we do not seem to be affected) that included a display--you did not have to sync it with your phone or PC to see data--and the display  included  the current time. Revolutionary, I know. Anyway, it seemed like just the thing, with the added bonus of a little father/daughter sharing/bonding activity: we could go shopping together, and track our activity levels from afar.

The bands were hot items over the holidays, and the retailers carrying them had all sold out. I  checked Amazon each day, and was able to find, after a few mornings, first the smaller version, and then one for me. They arrived the same day. We set them up and started tracking.

The most interesting thing the unit tracks is the number of steps per day, setting a default goal of 10,000 steps. When you hit the target, the wristband vibrates to let you know, a warm embrace that provides far more pleasure than one would expect from A 10 second tingle. soon I learned that my Saturday walk to and from the Y, sandwiched around 30 minutes of cardio, would allow me to hit 10,000 on the walk home, and that my weekday ritual--drop  BG  at bus, walk dog, drive OG to school, work out, spend day at home working and doing chores, dog walk after dinner - would result in a day that consisted of 11 to 12,000 steps. Perfect.

I forgot my charger when I returned to the bathroom, and it is just this week that I got to set up my wristband on Serbian time (GMT +1). I chose my new apartment for two main reasons, beyond it being nice: one, it has a small gym, and two, it is a longer walk (about 10 minutes) to the office. I figured that there would be no problem putting up numbers.

I have been pretty good about working out every morning in 2014, but yesterday--my first full day back home after a week covering for Worldwide (Papua New Guinea this time)--I could not bring myself to get out of bed in a timely fashion, and I decided to skip it. I checked the data as I left, and when I stepped off the last stair in front of our 5th floor office, learned that it was a measly 1,400 steps from my apartment, less, even than the dog walk . Actually I made ​​the walk twice yesterday morning (I forgot my phone), and after work, I stopped off at the supermarket, which is about ten minutes walk from the office in the opposite direction from my apartment. Even with the extra commute and the supermarket detour, I only logged 9,500 steps yesterday. No hug for you, slacker.

I was back in the gym this morning. I knew my 20 minutes on the treadmill was not going to provide the 7,000 steps necessary to make up the deficit, but I harbored hope that it would at least get me to the point, where a supermarket detour or a lunchtime errand might get me to the "promised land. But it's just over 2,000 steps, meaning there's still a huge gap between my goal and reality. I may have to change my leadership style to the awful" management by wandering around." If I take a lap around the office once an hour just to make sure everybody's beavering away, I might be able to hit my target. Did I mention how much I enjoy the tingling satisfaction of hitting my target?