Archive for May, 2008
The best advice I heard so far
May 27th, 2008 Uncategorized
I always urge new people not to worry about getting credit or taking credit for great work, she says. If they’re making bold moves, and developing good relationships, they will get more opportunities to grow and succeed. Don’t waste energy on worrying about whether everything you do gets noticed. It does.
Off to see the wizard
May 23rd, 2008 atschool
RMC 2008 Keynote speaker: Professor R. Engle !
I am a bit bummed that I have to pay for it though…
Trying to Graduate 16
May 21st, 2008 atschool
The last of the series. The 5 emotions of thesis writing that I thought would be part of my thesis experience didn’t happen. I was worried, severely irritable (I once made noises like an angry bear at my parents when they asked if I had eaten) in pain and tired all the time. It would be hysterically funny if I weren’t worried, in pain and tired.
Now to work out an economic incentive plan to loose weight so my dress will fit!
It’s a few weeks to my birthday and I’m not moaning. I’m actually happy.
Weird.
I have a masters degree….in Finance!
May 21st, 2008 atschool
Happiness is when I beat all the other clever ones who are suppose to ace the thesis without a sweat on the brow. It is also a secret relief that I didn’t do worse than my younger brother C in his bachelor’s thesis. “C also had a high distinction,” said my mom, next to me in the car on the way home. “Of course I can’t do worse than him!” It escaped from me in my giddy happiness with C on the phone. Oddly, I didn’t think I was trying to top him – not at that time of writing anyway. C said nothing – I suppose, mentally filing the outburst under ‘mildly interesting’.
I think my mother’s remark bothered me more than I thought. I said to my aunt over the msn today, “So that we are clear whom in my family is cleverest, fairest and wisest of them all: while C got a HD for his bachelor’s thesis, your niece not only got HD but beat all the clever lads in class to get the highest grade….and ya, this is for a master’s thesis. And I’m also more beautiful.”
I’m not insecure, just that I’m the clever one and he’s the rich one – it’s not right that I am usurped by this upstart.
I’m not insecure.
Banking on House
May 18th, 2008 screen
I enjoy watching House for the medical mysteries. Lately, however, I’ve been thinking more than once that I’m glad House is a fictional character in a fictional hospital. His rule-breaking and Cuddy’s eagerness in looking the other way is not unlike Kerviel’s (Soc Gen rogue trader) complaint that his bosses looked the other way when the profits were rolling in. In the context of a hospital, it means that the unit is actually taking on more risk than reported and the trade off is that the hospital gains more reputation/grants when the gambles paid off and the hospital is much more worse off when the bets are bad. Therefore, in terms of protection such as insurance and legal personnel, Cuddy should be increasing the premiums. However, that she does not seem to be doing so – there is only one legal counsel and she doesn’t complain about the bills. This means she is quite a gambler and under her, the hospital is likely to have the MTI style resource allocation: gambling everything on research cases that is likely to draw attention and more funding.
Fetters never worn
May 17th, 2008 atschool
This WSJ article on art utters something true about achievement – not just in art: the ability to withstand tedium and boredom. And I suspect, that upon released from tedium and boredom, the burst of rebellion that ensues pushes work to a higher level of achievement.
Undergraduate programs in art aspire to the status of professional programs that award MFA degrees, and there is often a sense that they too should encourage the making of sophisticated and challenging art, and as soon as possible. Yale, like most good programs, requires its students to achieve a certain facility in drawing, although nowhere near what it demanded in the 1930s, when aspiring artists spent roughly six hours a day in the studio painting and life drawing, and an additional three on Saturday.
Given the choice of this arduous training or the chance to proceed immediately to the making of art free of all traditional constraints, one can understand why all but a few students would take the latter. But it is not a choice that an undergraduate should be given.
Asset Bubbles
May 17th, 2008 elsewhere
How and Why Do Bubbles Form?
Bubbles vs Non-Bubbles
I disagree that “big innovations lead to big differences of opinion between bullish and bearish investors” because bubbles spring up in all asset types not only stocks, for instance, property. My idea of a bubble is the one that comes in Greenspan flavour: irrational exuberance.
My theory is that the barriers to trading cause bubbles to happen even though market timing is a deterrent to burst any bubble. I think there are price bubbles in assets led by irrational exuberance about the market/industry upon chancing on some positive news about the market/industry. Then, this positive feeling is picked up by other investors/watchers who can’t figure out what’s going on but will buy to make a quick buck. Finally, aunties in the market who have even lesser than a clue enters the market. When no one else wants to push the prices higher, it crashes.
Does the same thing happen in bearish situations? Let’s say there is some bad news or general worries about a market/industry. The next step would be to short the market, eg, an actual short of the stocks or indices or via a put option. So the institutionals short the market using available exchange listed products or OTC. Other smaller investors who can’t figure out what’s going on can follow the big players to short the market but they can only short using exchange listed products. Finally, the aunties come in – rather, they don’t. They don’t have access to borrow shares and some exchanges forbid shorting. So, aunties sit out at the sidelines, moaning about the market. Eventually the bears reach the bottom where the market/industry becomes undervalued and somebody picks up a bargain.
Considering this, I wonder if bear runs are then, much closer tied to the fundamental changes than bull runs since the exuberance is not taken up by a great deal of the population.
How To Become A Genius
May 7th, 2008 atwork
You must clarify your goals, gain knowledge through spaced repetition, preserve health, work steadily, minimize stress, refuse interruption, and never resist sleep when tired. This should lead to radically improved intelligence and creativity. The only cost: turning your back on every convention of social life.
Trying to Graduate 15
May 5th, 2008 atschool
I am one paragraph away from ‘THE END’ but I’m leaving it for a while because I need some perspective on it.
