tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-168269622024-03-13T06:00:02.609-07:00Common Sense, Uncommon WisdomMatthew A. Hetlandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01066858738566393298noreply@blogger.comBlogger308125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16826962.post-77282883080905840492008-05-07T15:59:00.001-07:002008-05-07T16:04:59.170-07:00ApologiesI offer my sincerest apologies for not posting as regularly lately as I have been able to previously. However, for your wait, I am releasing a paper which I have been writing for recent college courses geared towards a degree in finance.<br /><br />The paper describes the seven fundamental tools that can be used to determine movement in a stock--one which makes money. I am using it as a proof of concept for a program that makes investing accessible by any investor, extremely, and very foolproof.<br /><br />The paper is in Adobe's Acrobat formatter. The free <a href="http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html">Adobe Reader</a> or <a href="http://www.google.com/search?q=pdf+reader&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a">compatible software</a> is required to read the software.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.matthewhetland.com/library/Seven_Tools_For_Making_Money_In_The_Stock_Markets.pdf">Download the paper here</a>!<div class="blogger-post-footer">Vist my blog at www.matthewhetland.com/blog or just come take a look at my homepage at www.MatthewHetland.com!</div>Matthew A. Hetlandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01066858738566393298noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16826962.post-65275136724733911462008-05-03T12:17:00.001-07:002008-05-03T12:18:20.911-07:00Please Take My SurveyAs part of a required paper I must write for my forthcoming degree in Finance, I am needing to have a survey completed.<br /><br />Please take a few moments to fill out my survey.<br /><br /><a href="http://FreeOnlineSurveys.com/rendersurvey.asp?sid=cpy7o5o312z60pt434228"><br /><br />Please take my online survey here!<br /><br /></a><div class="blogger-post-footer">Vist my blog at www.matthewhetland.com/blog or just come take a look at my homepage at www.MatthewHetland.com!</div>Matthew A. Hetlandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01066858738566393298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16826962.post-91972425025800074722008-05-02T09:43:00.000-07:002008-05-02T09:45:45.600-07:00Nature or Nurture?<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp1.blogger.com/_wbZ8koIvudg/SBtE9MCooUI/AAAAAAAAASI/w1tJ9YhAC0E/s1600-h/5-2-2008+Personality.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 221px; height: 147px;" src="http://bp1.blogger.com/_wbZ8koIvudg/SBtE9MCooUI/AAAAAAAAASI/w1tJ9YhAC0E/s320/5-2-2008+Personality.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5195822413096984898" border="0" /></a> <p class="MsoNormal">The age-old question:<span style=""> </span>What affects a person’s behavior more:<span style=""> </span>Nature—a person’s genes and other physically intrinsic characteristics; or Nurture—the environment with which a person interacts?<span style=""> </span>While the general population loves to put a “this or that” perspective on things of this sort, I have long believed that it is, in fact, a combination of the two.<span style=""> </span>Science has now vindicated that position.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://www.staff.ncl.ac.uk/daniel.nettle/">Daniel Nettle</a>, Reader in Psychology in the Centre for Behaviour and Evolution, Newcastle University, offers some research presented in <a href="http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/the_tls/article3757737.ece">the London Times</a>:</p> <p class="MsoNormal">“<b style=""><i style=""><span style="color: rgb(31, 73, 125);">Today, personality researchers almost uniformly agree that the things that make you the way you are consist of a combination of your genes, your peers and the idiosyncratic, chance experiences that befall you in childhood and adulthood. Your parents influence your relationship with them – loving or contentious, conflicted or close – but not your “personality”, that package of traits we label extroverted or shy, bitter or friendly, hostile or warm, gloomy or optimistic. Your genes, not your parents, are the reason you think that parachuting out of planes is fun, or, conversely, that you feel sick to the stomach at the mere idea of doing such a crazy thing voluntarily. You can’t do much about your personality, though you can tweak it a bit with cognitive therapy.</span></i></b>”</p><div class="blogger-post-footer">Vist my blog at www.matthewhetland.com/blog or just come take a look at my homepage at www.MatthewHetland.com!</div>Matthew A. Hetlandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01066858738566393298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16826962.post-7078135670209010132008-05-01T20:42:00.001-07:002008-05-01T20:44:59.215-07:00The Lipstick Economy<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/01/fashion/01SKIN.html?_r=1&oref=slogin&pagewanted=all">Interesting story</a> determining the measure of how well or how poorly the economy is doing, courtesy the reporters from the New York Times.<br /><br /><blockquote>Not only is the lipstick theory plausible, “it’s perfectly consistent with all kinds of economic theory,” said Richard DeKaser, the chief economist with National City Corporation, a financial holding company and bank in Cleveland.</blockquote><div class="blogger-post-footer">Vist my blog at www.matthewhetland.com/blog or just come take a look at my homepage at www.MatthewHetland.com!</div>Matthew A. Hetlandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01066858738566393298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16826962.post-86473412493928266122008-04-26T22:17:00.000-07:002008-04-27T00:22:38.385-07:00Emotions, On the Face of ItWhen I was in high school my biology teacher said, very early on in the class, that the human face can give away what a person is feeling--no matter how well we can control our body language, our face can show our emotional state at any one time.<br /><br />Well, recent research from Canada proves my former Biology teacher correct.<br /><br /><a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080424/lf_nm_life/lying_face_dc;_ylt=AisZAacmnDnJSEWkMUkpo0UDW7oF">From the Reuters article</a>:<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;"></span><blockquote><span style="font-style: italic;">Researchers at </span><span style="font-style: italic;" class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1209050950_0">Dalhousie University</span><span style="font-style: italic;">'s </span><span style="font-style: italic;" class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1209050950_1">Forensic Psychology Lab</span><span style="font-style: italic;"> in </span><span style="font-style: italic;" class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1209050950_2">Halifax</span><span style="font-style: italic;"> conducted the first detailed study on the secrets revealed when people put on a false face or inhibit various emotions, and found their faces told the truth.</span></blockquote><span style="font-style: italic;"></span><div class="blogger-post-footer">Vist my blog at www.matthewhetland.com/blog or just come take a look at my homepage at www.MatthewHetland.com!</div>Matthew A. Hetlandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01066858738566393298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16826962.post-7817762119508134922008-04-26T21:05:00.000-07:002008-04-27T00:11:45.887-07:00Maximizing Utility and the Brain: Cash or Status?<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp3.blogger.com/_wbZ8koIvudg/SBQmdcCooTI/AAAAAAAAASA/u8TvqQIbRXs/s1600-h/4-27-2008+fast+red+car.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp3.blogger.com/_wbZ8koIvudg/SBQmdcCooTI/AAAAAAAAASA/u8TvqQIbRXs/s320/4-27-2008+fast+red+car.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5193818557450330418" border="0" /></a><a href="http://www.sciam.com">Scientific American</a> has an article regarding a study of the brain that indicates the brain places a high value on money, but a higher value on social status. <a href="http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=for-the-brain-status-is-better">From the article</a>:<br /><blockquote><br />"Our study shows that both behaviorally and in the brain, people place an importance on social status," says Caroline Zink, a postdoctoral fellow in neuroscience at the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) in Bethesda, Md., and co-author of one of studies. "It's hugely influential even [when we're not] in direct competition with someone else."</blockquote><div class="blogger-post-footer">Vist my blog at www.matthewhetland.com/blog or just come take a look at my homepage at www.MatthewHetland.com!</div>Matthew A. Hetlandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01066858738566393298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16826962.post-27970743102847925102008-04-20T12:22:00.000-07:002008-04-20T12:26:12.031-07:00The Power of the Banana<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp2.blogger.com/_wbZ8koIvudg/SAuYt_Y25qI/AAAAAAAAARw/7XhPMJnWio8/s1600-h/4-20-2008+Banana.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp2.blogger.com/_wbZ8koIvudg/SAuYt_Y25qI/AAAAAAAAARw/7XhPMJnWio8/s320/4-20-2008+Banana.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5191410911351858850" border="0" /></a><br /><a href="http://www.salon.com/books/feature/2008/04/19/bananas/">Excellent article</a> over at Salon.com regarding the power of the banana.<div class="blogger-post-footer">Vist my blog at www.matthewhetland.com/blog or just come take a look at my homepage at www.MatthewHetland.com!</div>Matthew A. Hetlandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01066858738566393298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16826962.post-73961205577258674782008-04-20T10:19:00.000-07:002008-04-20T10:23:59.690-07:00Economics and the Common Man<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp1.blogger.com/_wbZ8koIvudg/SAt8BvY25pI/AAAAAAAAARo/oyGANNZ_Ols/s1600-h/4-20-2008+Economics+Money.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp1.blogger.com/_wbZ8koIvudg/SAt8BvY25pI/AAAAAAAAARo/oyGANNZ_Ols/s320/4-20-2008+Economics+Money.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5191379364817069714" border="0" /></a> <p class="MsoNormal">Have you ever seen those polls where John Q. Public is asked about questions of a general economic nature?<span style=""> </span>How many of them have, at the very least, a basic understanding of economics?</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Yeah, me too;<span style=""> </span>I think such an exercise is akin to asking a medical doctor about auto repair, an auto repair technician about quantum physics, or a particle physicist about literature:<span style=""> </span>It makes about as much sense as, well, insert a colorful metaphor here.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Before Warren Buffet was interviewed that one Monday morning on CNBC and said that we practically have a recession, though we may not be in one technically, many people can only say as much when they’re asked about the “R-word.”<span style=""> </span>In addition, I’ve noticed that the public tends to insert more emotion into their economic analysis than such things warrant.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Let me say this first: <span style=""> </span>There is room for emotion in economics.<span style=""> </span>When, however, a person’s opinion regarding the nation’s current economic state is based more on emotion than well-founded rational thought.<span style=""> </span>Henceforth, my point:<span style=""> </span>John Q. and Jane Public don’t know enough of a darned thing about economics to offer their opinion; at least not enough for it to be meaningful.<span style=""> </span>In the spirit of that I’m going to point out a couple of economic concepts that might help to alleviate the problem.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Gross Domestic Product, otherwise GDP, once taught as Gross National Product, or GNP, is the number that sums all of the products and services rendered in the United States (or any country, for that matter).<span style=""> </span>Right now GDP is around $13 Trillion or so, give or take a few hundred billion dollars.<span style=""> </span>GDP is calculated as a combination of many things:</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"><b style="">GDP = consumption + gross investment + government spending + (exports − imports)<o:p></o:p></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal">While there are several nuances associated with each variable, there are a few things to point out.</p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol;"><span style="">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]-->Consumption is the largest driver of the economy; essentially that is all of the dollars that you and I spend.</p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol;"><span style="">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]-->Investment is nearly as powerful as consumption</p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol;"><span style="">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]-->Government spending is relatively valued at one quarter the effect of investment spending.</p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">This illustrates exactly the reason why it would be great for government to curtail spending, lower taxes, and help the marketplace—government spending doesn’t do nearly enough for the economy, lowering taxes allows for individuals to have the option to save or consume more (marginal propensity to save or marginal propensity to consume, respectively) –driving consumption and, perhaps, helping investments.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">This makes sense to me, but I consider myself a fiscal conservative.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">There will be the contingent out there that says that paying taxes is good because it funds essential services that the government must supply to people, and there’s the whole debate about which rights one has in regards to healthcare and such—that is not within the scope of this article—but if government were forced to act like business in their daily management then we would be able to get a lot more value from our investment in government than not.<span style=""> </span>Put another way, we allow government to spend too much and, I think everyone can agree, that we get too little from it.<span style=""> </span>Wasteful government spending becomes something four times as bad when you have this understanding.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">So, in an ideal world there is a happy medium between extreme government spending and extreme tax breaks for everyone.<span style=""> </span>We don’t live in an ideal world, however, and economics works in cycles.<span style=""> </span>The best thing to remember is the economy <i style="">will go up</i> most of the time, but <i style="">will go down</i> every now and again.<span style=""> </span>Panic is not something that needs to happen when it goes down.<span style=""> </span>Markets correct, stocks fluctuate, and indexes do the same.<span style=""> </span>It’s nothing to worry about.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Why do I say this?<span style=""> </span>I say this largely because of my believe that our most recent economic downturn in 2008 has been worse than it needed to be because people tend to overreact to what they feel are negative changing market conditions.<span style=""> </span>If they understood the underlying dynamics of the market and the philosophy that “this, too, shall pass,” it wouldn’t have been as bad as it was.<span style=""> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal">My tone about “was?”<span style=""> </span>There are multiple indicators that are pointing towards the worst of the current downturn being over, and us being on our way back up.<span style=""> </span>The recent rallies in the stock market, the change in CPI and labor numbers all point towards an increasing economy.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">So, in light of whatever the market is doing, irrationality rarely does the market good in the long run.<span style=""> </span>In fact, if it did well with it then we wouldn’t have had the downturn in the market which we have had.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p><div class="blogger-post-footer">Vist my blog at www.matthewhetland.com/blog or just come take a look at my homepage at www.MatthewHetland.com!</div>Matthew A. Hetlandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01066858738566393298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16826962.post-64658214865725206402008-04-19T01:58:00.000-07:002008-04-19T02:05:26.588-07:00All That Lies Between<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp0.blogger.com/_wbZ8koIvudg/SAm1n_Y25oI/AAAAAAAAARg/S-7Nn0JpSZA/s1600-h/4-19-2008+Cat.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 266px; height: 177px;" src="http://bp0.blogger.com/_wbZ8koIvudg/SAm1n_Y25oI/AAAAAAAAARg/S-7Nn0JpSZA/s320/4-19-2008+Cat.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5190879744156427906" border="0" /></a> <p class="MsoNormal">Once upon a time there was a man named Schrodinger and he had a cat.<span style=""> </span>In his own words:</p> <p class="MsoNormal">“<b style=""><i style=""><span style="color: rgb(31, 73, 125);">One can even set up quite ridiculous cases. A cat is penned up in a steel chamber, along with the following device (which must be secured against direct interference by the cat): in a Geiger counter there is a tiny bit of radioactive substance, so small, that perhaps in the course of the hour one of the atoms decays, but also, with equal probability, perhaps none; if it happens, the counter tube discharges and through a relay releases a hammer which shatters a small flask of hydrocyanic acid. If one has left this entire system to itself for an hour, one would say that the cat still lives if meanwhile no atom has decayed. The psi-function of the entire system would express this by having in it the living and dead cat (pardon the expression) mixed or smeared out in equal parts.<o:p></o:p></span></i></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b style=""><i style=""><span style="color: rgb(31, 73, 125);">It is typical of these cases that an indeterminacy originally restricted to the atomic domain becomes transformed into macroscopic indeterminacy, which can then be resolved by direct observation. That prevents us from so naively accepting as valid a "blurred model" for representing reality. In itself it would not embody anything unclear or contradictory. There is a difference between a shaky or out-of-focus photograph and a snapshot of clouds and fog banks.</span></i></b>”</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Meant to be a thought experiment about quantum physics: <span style=""> </span>“<b style=""><i style=""><span style="color: rgb(31, 73, 125);">When does a quantum system stop existing as a mixture of states and become one or the other? (More technically, when does the actual quantum state stop being a linear combination of states, each of which resemble different classical states, and instead begin to have a unique classical description?)</span></i></b>”</p> <p class="MsoNormal">A question that can be derived from this and/or the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle is one of observation:<span style=""> </span>What happens to a situation once it is observed.<span style=""> </span>The short answer is that the mere act of observing something changes everything.<span style=""> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12pt;">When I first started using computers in a serious sense, my school’s library had a 2400 baud modem which could connect to various bulletin board services, BBSs, which one could use for pen pal-style rudimentary communication.<span style=""> </span>In the early 90s this is one of the things which I found myself doing.<span style=""> </span>Though I did not know it, I was networking in my early teen years.<span style=""> </span>I began a lengthy correspondence with a Lutheran pastor from somewhere in Michigan or Wisconsin, I believe (the actual location escapes me), through which we began discussing quantum physics.<span style=""> </span>He posed the ageless rhetorical question to me:<span style=""> </span>If a tree falls in a forest, does it make a sound?<span style=""> </span>I always like bringing this question up as an introduction to the general strangeness of quantum physics.<span style=""> </span>The answer is that if there is no one to perceive—<i style="">observe—</i>the tree, then it is not there:<span style=""> </span>It does not exist.<span style=""> </span>If no one is there to observe the forest, it does not exist.<span style=""> </span>Therefore, if there is no one able to perceive the action of the tree falling, it does not fall because it does not exist.</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12pt;">It took me some time to reconcile this notion, but eventually came to terms with it.<span style=""> </span>Over time I came to find the universal truth in this notion that anything and everything changes with observation.<span style=""> </span>In our classical world which we can see, feel, taste, touch, and hear on a daily basis we can express the question of “have we observed that?” as a binary function—yes or no, or “1” or “0,” the fundamental essence of a “bit,” or binary digit.<span style=""> </span>Does my cat exist?<span style=""> </span>Yes! (“1”).<span style=""> </span>Is the moon out tonight? No! (“0”).<span style=""> </span>What about <i style="">if you can’t answer these questions</i>?<span style=""> </span>Herein lies what makes quantum physics so creepy to many.<span style=""> </span>The notion of Schrodinger’s Cat dictates that while something hasn’t been observed it can exist in a state of “superposition,” that is a position that is not necessarily natural and exists outside of a “0” or a “1,” or yes or no.<span style=""> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12pt;">If you don’t know about something then it exists in an odd place…one that is not easily definable; as a side-note, however, this is how the concept of quantum supercomputing works, in a sense:<span style=""> </span>This sort of theoretical, almost-real device stores bits of ones and zeros in superpositions instead of in absolute states.<span style=""> </span>Because of this it can calculate much faster because it is not constrained by the classic laws posed by Newton in the mechanical world, and computes things much faster than Intel or AMD could muster with their fastest processors.</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12pt;">How can we make this apply to our everyday lives?<span style=""> </span>Have you ever feared something that was “just around the corner,” or otherwise out there in a place in your world that might be slightly unknown enough to you as to cause you to feel things that might be irrational?<span style=""> </span>Fear of something, someone, or some other type of emotion of an event happening which has a low probability or likelihood of actually happening once it is observed?<span style=""> </span>The superposition concept that I discussed earlier wherein any number of all possible states exist, but it isn’t necessarily true or false, is where irrational thought and feeling resides—in a place that even likes to confuse the brightest minds of the 20<sup>TH</sup> Century deriving the basis for modern science.</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12pt;">Don’t let your fear, depression, anxiety, or other unproductive thoughts or feelings get the best of you.<span style=""> </span>In the end you will find that your emotions or irrational thoughts are skewing the actual values of the situation which you are otherwise making more out of than you should:<span style=""> </span>There is no need to kill the cat unnecessarily!</p><div class="blogger-post-footer">Vist my blog at www.matthewhetland.com/blog or just come take a look at my homepage at www.MatthewHetland.com!</div>Matthew A. Hetlandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01066858738566393298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16826962.post-56010050791406206422008-04-17T16:38:00.000-07:002008-04-17T16:40:51.591-07:00Hallmark<div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp3.blogger.com/_wbZ8koIvudg/SAffrNTytwI/AAAAAAAAARY/Afw-D9miDrE/s1600-h/2100.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp3.blogger.com/_wbZ8koIvudg/SAffrNTytwI/AAAAAAAAARY/Afw-D9miDrE/s400/2100.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5190363028967831298" border="0" /></a>Approximately 210 visits per month! Yay!<br /></div><div class="blogger-post-footer">Vist my blog at www.matthewhetland.com/blog or just come take a look at my homepage at www.MatthewHetland.com!</div>Matthew A. Hetlandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01066858738566393298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16826962.post-18762550712668784322008-04-14T17:24:00.000-07:002008-04-15T17:25:38.626-07:00Monkey Mondays: Mars Monkey!<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp2.blogger.com/_wbZ8koIvudg/SAVHUdTytuI/AAAAAAAAARI/3uxvtWMs1P4/s1600-h/4-15-2008+Space+Monkey.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp2.blogger.com/_wbZ8koIvudg/SAVHUdTytuI/AAAAAAAAARI/3uxvtWMs1P4/s400/4-15-2008+Space+Monkey.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5189632562404964066" border="0" /></a>Russia testing monkeys to send them to Mars!<br /><br /><a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7341211.stm">Read all about it here!</a><div class="blogger-post-footer">Vist my blog at www.matthewhetland.com/blog or just come take a look at my homepage at www.MatthewHetland.com!</div>Matthew A. Hetlandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01066858738566393298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16826962.post-49573364535032725602008-04-12T00:45:00.001-07:002008-04-12T00:50:37.494-07:00The Surreality of the Real<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp2.blogger.com/_wbZ8koIvudg/SABpa_hhz5I/AAAAAAAAARA/cO_dYcAJCAE/s1600-h/P5040101.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 408px; height: 304px;" src="http://bp2.blogger.com/_wbZ8koIvudg/SABpa_hhz5I/AAAAAAAAARA/cO_dYcAJCAE/s400/P5040101.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5188262683180388242" border="0" /></a><br /><p class="MsoNormal">“<b style=""><i style=""><span style="color: rgb(31, 73, 125);">We spotted the ocean at the head of the trail,<br />Where are we goin’, so far away?<br />Someone told me that this is the place,<br />Where everything’s better, where everything’s safe.”</span></i></b><br />—Toad the Wet Sprocket, “Walk on the Ocean”<br /><!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br /><!--[endif]--></p> <p class="MsoNormal">We all find ourselves doing it:<span style=""> </span>Our mind sets a stage for a place and we paint a mental picture about what we think a place that we have not yet been is going to look, feel, and smell like.<span style=""> </span>The color of the ground, the heat emanating from the sun, the taste of the wind, and the feel of the culture all fill in a “paint by the numbers” portrait in your head.<span style=""> </span>What is it like, though, when you finally see that which you’ve been imagining for all those years?</p> <p class="MsoNormal">I did much of my substantive growing up on a farm just a mile south of the North Dakota-South Dakota border around the small communities of southwest North Dakota.<span style=""> </span>There, the hills tend to gently roll with the occasional butte or larger hill; vegetation greens in the warmer months and browns in the colder ones.<span style=""> </span>With the exception of a handful of state highway traversing through the county seats, smaller paved “farm to market” roads and less significant graveled stretches weave across the region along section lines and there can generally be the classic upper-Midwest town (a bar, a church, and a gas station) every 13 miles along the routes that mirror the railroads.<span style=""> </span>Much like the character of Luke Skywalker in the original Star Wars movie knew that there was something else out in the galaxy for him, I left the farmstead to spread my wings and see the world.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Though the last decade has taken me halfway around the world and back—I have seen the Atlantic Ocean from Amsterdam, and the Pacific Ocean from Washington State—I have never been to California or the southwestern United States.<span style=""> </span>So, recently, I decided to take that step.<span style=""> </span>Taking the better part of a week vacation from work, a trail was made towards the border with Mexico where I waved back at the “waving cacti,” saw the Border Patrol, well, patrolling, the beaches of San Diego, and the lights of Las Vegas.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">While your mind paints pictures of places where you have not yet been, I have found that rarely the mind’s eye can ready you for the experience of being someplace new.<span style=""> </span>Living in the high desert of Colorado, it tends to be very dry here:<span style=""> </span>That was contrasted with the humid wind blowing in off the Pacific.<span style=""> </span>I grew up in small towns where the lights let out a gentle glow in the winter sky; contrasted with the constant stream of headlights on a Friday night traveling into Las Vegas—and the daytime-at-night conditions of that city.<span style=""> </span>The rolling hills of green contrasted with the rolling hills of sand of southeast California, between Yuma, Arizona, and Calexico, California, was absolutely something else.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">What is the most surprising of all, though, is what I surmised about the people along the route of the trip.<span style=""> </span>Sure, a person speculates that different geographies have varying cultures to an extent, but what a person might not realize is that, regardless of culture, everyone is simply trying to make their way in this world.<span style=""> </span>While culture might dictate myriad ways of going about that, we can forget that our fellow person is merely trying to make it through this day onto the next.<span style=""> </span>Some have small goals, some have larger schemes, and everyone has an agenda—and sometimes that agenda is just to make it to the next day, alive and breathing.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">This inalienable truth is coupled with what I refer to as the “Tapestry of the World.”<span style=""> </span>Having been as many places as I have, and having seen as many things as I have, I’ve come to realize that every single place on the planet is unique in its own right, while still retaining a relationship with everyplace else.<span style=""> </span>For instance, I can be driving in some part of Colorado and it will remind me of the flat back roads traversing somewhere between Grand Forks and Minot, ND.<span style=""> </span>Every now and again when I’m driving along I capture a glimpse of something which offers me déjà vu.<span style=""> </span>The farthest place from it can remind you of home, and someplace near to your home can seem very alien at times.<span style=""> </span>This is one of the beauties of the world in which we live.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">I’ve mentioned times before that key traits of leaders are that they understand that diversity leads to productivity, better solutions, and such and that a heightened level of awareness can make or break a leader.<span style=""> </span>With this being said, I highly recommend that if you develop the wanderlust that I tend to have every year once the weather gets warmer that you go out and explore your world—be it just a few miles away or a few hundred miles away—there is almost always someplace which we’ve not been within reaching distance.<span style=""> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal">If you need to ask why you should go over that hill on the horizon, you can answer to yourself “because it is there.”<span style=""> </span>Traveling, especially in this case, works very well as a metaphor for life—because where the surreal meets the real, our world becomes that much more.</p><div class="blogger-post-footer">Vist my blog at www.matthewhetland.com/blog or just come take a look at my homepage at www.MatthewHetland.com!</div>Matthew A. Hetlandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01066858738566393298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16826962.post-5821851196664603692008-04-10T23:44:00.000-07:002008-04-10T23:48:52.230-07:00Friday Funny: Fight ClubEvery now and then something that really strikes me as profoundly humorous strikes me:<br /><br /><a href="http://www.woai.com/news/local/story.aspx?content_id=9f29213a-e3b2-4bac-8e70-1907bb7375ec">"Fight Club" Busted at Local High School</a><br /><br />What is so funny about it? "The first rule of fight club is that you don't talk about Fight Club."<br /><br />And the second rule?<br /><br />"The second rule of Fight Club is that you <span style="font-style: italic;">don't talk about Fight Club</span>!"<br /><br />Evidently, they talked. Kids, these days...<div class="blogger-post-footer">Vist my blog at www.matthewhetland.com/blog or just come take a look at my homepage at www.MatthewHetland.com!</div>Matthew A. Hetlandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01066858738566393298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16826962.post-92195694140886652162008-04-10T21:38:00.000-07:002008-04-10T21:48:17.417-07:00World Fastest Processor<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp0.blogger.com/_wbZ8koIvudg/R_7sG_hhz4I/AAAAAAAAAQ4/djdUztqTgzE/s1600-h/4-10-2008+Power6+Die.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 351px; height: 511px;" src="http://bp0.blogger.com/_wbZ8koIvudg/R_7sG_hhz4I/AAAAAAAAAQ4/djdUztqTgzE/s320/4-10-2008+Power6+Die.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5187843425652821890" border="0" /></a>Science keeps chugging along. When I was in high school I recall one of my teachers saying that the progression of science isn't an arithmetic progression; instead, it is a geometric progression. In other words, it isn't linear in the 1 to 2 to 3 to 4 fashion, instead it is 1 squared (1^2) to 2 squared (2^2) to 3 squared (3^2), so on and so forth.<br /><br />And now, one of my favorite research operations in the world has developed the fastest processor in the world. Watch for the part in the block quote to see just how fast this thing is:<br /><br /><i><blockquote>"The <a href="http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/04/09/BUBI10258F.DTL">5-billion-instructions-per second Power6 processor</a> from IBM would beat such rivals as the 3.73 gigahertz Pentium Extreme and the 2.4 gigahertz UltraSparc T2 from Sun. 'It's hard to make the average person understand just how fast this is,' said IBM Chief Technology Officer Bernard Meyerson, offering an example meant to explain his company's baby that still leaves the listener awed with the speediness of the two laggards. <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">'Hold your index finger out in front of your face,' </span>Meyerson said in a telephone interview from IBM headquarters in New York. <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">'In less time than it would take a beam of light to travel from your knuckle to your fingertip, the new IBM chip would complete one task and start looking for the next, he said.'</span>"</blockquote><br /><br /><br /></i><a href="http://http://www.research.ibm.com/journal/rd/516/le.html">Original IBM text here</a>.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/04/09/BUBI10258F.DTL">News article here.</a><div class="blogger-post-footer">Vist my blog at www.matthewhetland.com/blog or just come take a look at my homepage at www.MatthewHetland.com!</div>Matthew A. Hetlandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01066858738566393298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16826962.post-70297995201497196792008-04-07T20:22:00.001-07:002008-04-07T20:30:42.196-07:00There is Nothing Worse in Life than Being Ordinary<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp2.blogger.com/_wbZ8koIvudg/R_rms8FvHpI/AAAAAAAAAQw/KGUzeDLik2c/s1600-h/4-7-2008+Satellite.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 222px; height: 167px;" src="http://bp2.blogger.com/_wbZ8koIvudg/R_rms8FvHpI/AAAAAAAAAQw/KGUzeDLik2c/s320/4-7-2008+Satellite.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5186711580589366930" border="0" /></a> <p class="MsoNormal">I watched, again, an interesting piece of cinematic work, “American Beauty.”<span style=""> </span>Kevin Spacey plays a man telling the tale of him and his family near the end of his life.<span style=""> </span>A tapestry of events weaves itself together to a conclusion which brings about revelations in the lives of everyone involved.<span style=""> </span>During the arc which Mena Suvari’s character makes from point A to point B, she says that “there is nothing worse in life than being ordinary.”<span style=""> </span>I got to thinking about this.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">There is a bumper sticker out there that reads that “well-behaved women often make history;” the intent of which is such that the people—in this case, those of the female variety—who stand out are the ones that people remember, that are written about in the history books.<span style=""> </span>It means that you want to, whether you are a man or a woman, should want to make history and leave your mark upon the earth in a way that sets yourself apart from others.<span style=""> </span>As it is oft-said, if you take the road everyone else takes, you end up where everyone else does—instead, if you take the road less traveled you will supposedly do much better.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Let us look at this through the eyes of an economist:<span style=""> </span>The “total cost of ownership” perspective.<span style=""> </span>For everything there is a cost to be paid.<span style=""> </span>The questions resulting from this notion bring a person to ponder what the cost to be paid is, what are the set of results to be had, and so on and so forth.<span style=""> </span>Think of it this way:<span style=""> </span>What is the cost of expending some capital—be that physically, mentally, emotionally, or financially—in the current time and let the fruits of this investment compound over the years…or pay the cost of not even trying and regretting that decision down the road.<span style=""> </span>A wise judge once mentioned, as I paraphrase it: “The cost of utilizing discipline on a daily basis far outweighs the cost of not doing so.”<span style=""> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal">While ordinary is fine with some people, this blog is not of the ordinary.<span style=""> </span>Throughout history several a notable figure have confronted a place in their life in which they needed to choose to be ordinary or to strive towards greatness.<span style=""> </span>You have the choice to do so, and you will never know quite what it is like until you are there.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">In closing a thought by one of the most famous writers of all time, William Shakespeare; his perspective:<span style=""> </span>“<span class="body"><b style=""><i style=""><span style="color: rgb(31, 73, 125);">Be not afraid of greatness: some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them.</span></i></b>”</span></p><div class="blogger-post-footer">Vist my blog at www.matthewhetland.com/blog or just come take a look at my homepage at www.MatthewHetland.com!</div>Matthew A. Hetlandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01066858738566393298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16826962.post-32012821890660694782008-04-07T17:37:00.001-07:002008-04-07T17:38:40.036-07:00A Tribute to Charlton HestonA man who was larger than life has, unfortunately, passed.<br /><br />As a tribute to him, a video depicting his position on climate change.<br /><br /><br /><a style="left: 0px ! important; top: 0px ! important;" title="Click here to block this object with Adblock Plus" class="abp-objtab-035024400408244016 visible ontop" href="http://www.youtube.com/v/ozO4YB98mCY&hl=en"></a><object height="355" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/ozO4YB98mCY&hl=en"><param name="wmode" value="transparent"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/ozO4YB98mCY&hl=en" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" height="355" width="425"></embed></object><div class="blogger-post-footer">Vist my blog at www.matthewhetland.com/blog or just come take a look at my homepage at www.MatthewHetland.com!</div>Matthew A. Hetlandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01066858738566393298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16826962.post-62657003188887956702008-03-28T00:15:00.001-07:002008-03-28T00:17:18.288-07:00Life Economics<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp0.blogger.com/_wbZ8koIvudg/R-ybV8FvHoI/AAAAAAAAAQo/Mjtek-Bxyxo/s1600-h/3-28-2008+Soda+Can.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp0.blogger.com/_wbZ8koIvudg/R-ybV8FvHoI/AAAAAAAAAQo/Mjtek-Bxyxo/s320/3-28-2008+Soda+Can.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5182688072406343298" border="0" /></a> <p class="MsoNormal">Home economics is a dying discipline.<span style=""> </span>When I went through school the classroom existed, but not the corresponding class.<span style=""> </span>Much like civics it is being relegated to a niche of society in such a manner that it is being forgotten…at a price.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">For years I have lived by the philosophy that I manage my life like I manage a business.<span style=""> </span>On the surface it may seem cold, perhaps even callous—but that isn’t necessarily the case at all.<span style=""> </span>In fact, improved efficiency and effectiveness makes for a better life.<span style=""> </span>A few examples:</p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style=""><span style="">1.<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]-->The Budget.<span style=""> </span>Face it—you stand to get rich if you suddenly run into a large sum of money, but the chances of that happening aren’t such that you should count on it.<span style=""> </span>Instead, the world of finance stresses the time value of money and leveraging your current assets.<span style=""> </span>Your income is the best wealth-building tool which you have and by reducing your debt obligations you effectively increase the power of your income to produce wealth.<span style=""> </span>You do this most efficiently by producing a budget and watching and managing every dollar that flows through your household.<span style=""> </span>By taking this approach you can “make every dollar scream.”<span style=""> </span>What to do after you get to the point where your debt is paid off and you have extra money lying around?<span style=""> </span>Invest!</p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style=""><span style="">2.<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]-->Buy Like a Business.<span style=""> </span>Once upon a time we’re all financially struggling people—whether that be as a poor college student or in a period of personal financial contraction—but we’re not in that position forever.<span style=""> </span>It is rarely a static condition, however, and we progress onto better financial times.<span style=""> </span>At this point in time we can move from buying-to-survive towards purchasing-to-thrive.<span style=""> </span>We learn to buy in bulk—and start to think like an accountant.<span style=""> </span>Price items on a per-unit basis, for instance.<span style=""> </span>When I worked in a grocery store, once upon a time, I noticed that the tags that accompanied stock on the shelves would always have a “price per ounce” or related entry on the tag.<span style=""> </span>By making some observations a person notices where the “sweet spot” is for purchase of a particular item:<span style=""> </span>To buy the smaller box of cereal or the larger, “value-sized?”<span style=""> </span>The larger the package—think bulk— usually the better value per unit.<span style=""> </span>Take this concept one step further and develop a product mix of products that are economical and meet your personal utility or that of your family.<span style=""> </span>For instance—I purchased the specific Rubbermaid containers meant for cereal and have no problems with purchasing the “bag cereals” which are often very close to the recipe of the corresponding name brand “box cereals.”<span style=""> </span>On the other hand, I am very picky about the hot dogs which I purchase.<span style=""> </span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">Another step in which to take this notion relies upon you realizing that sometimes you pay more in up-front costs to save money across the lifespan of a particular item; a concept which accountants like to refer to as “total cost of ownership.”<span style=""> </span>A good example is the typical inkjet printer:<span style=""> </span>Cheap and comes with some ink; it may or may not come with a USB cable, and certainly comes with a notorious “power brick.”<span style=""> </span>Sure, you may spend $30 on the machine, but you will likely end up purchasing a lot of ink cartridges—just black and color, if you’re lucky—over the course of your time with the printer.<span style=""> </span>On top of this these ink cartridges are fickle in such a way that the printheads can easily become non-working if they aren’t treated right or used correctly.<span style=""> </span>Although they can have great resolution—past 1200x1200 dots per inch—they do so by spitting small ink blobs onto the paper; this makes for a very dirty process.<span style=""> </span>By contrast—if you can do without resolutions higher than 1200x1200 dpi then a laser (or LED) printer is for you.<span style=""> </span>They are much cleaner, have longer lives, and are generally more efficient.<span style=""> </span>Of course, there are makes and models that are better or worse than others, but a little research or stop by your local printer service shop will give you a leg up.</p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">One project which I’m planning is to replace my cans-of-soda drinking ways with a fountain soda machine.<span style=""> </span>Although the initial costs are high (several hundred dollars for the initial setup), the cost of consumables—the soda syrup itself—can be less than half the cost of a serving of its canned alternative.</p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">While this is merely the tip of the iceberg, it is a starting point for to get you to thinking about how you, too, could make your life better!</p><div class="blogger-post-footer">Vist my blog at www.matthewhetland.com/blog or just come take a look at my homepage at www.MatthewHetland.com!</div>Matthew A. Hetlandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01066858738566393298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16826962.post-88624006478105812492008-03-26T19:53:00.000-07:002008-03-26T19:57:47.847-07:00Two Weeks is Too Long<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp2.blogger.com/_wbZ8koIvudg/R-sNBsFvHnI/AAAAAAAAAQg/DNDUGDaijmw/s1600-h/3-26-2008+Rubiks+Cube.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 171px; height: 128px;" src="http://bp2.blogger.com/_wbZ8koIvudg/R-sNBsFvHnI/AAAAAAAAAQg/DNDUGDaijmw/s320/3-26-2008+Rubiks+Cube.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5182250118886137458" border="0" /></a><br />Too weeks is too long for a new post. More this weekend, but in the meantime proof that a different perspective can increase your effectiveness or efficiency by...a single move.<br /><br />Taken from <a href="http://slashdot.org/">Slashdot.org</a>:<br /><br /><i><blockquote>"A scrambled Rubik's cube can be solved in just 25 moves, regardless of the starting configuration. Tomas Rosicki, a Stanford-trained mathematician, has proven the new limit (down from 26 which was proved last year) <a href="http://arxivblog.com/?p=332"> using a neat piece of computer science</a>. Rather than study individual moves, he's used the symmetry of the cube to study its transformations in sets. This allows him to separate the "cube space" into 2 billion sets each containing 20 billion elements. He then shows that a large number of these sets are essentially equivalent to other sets and so can be ignored. Even then, to crunch through the remaining sets, he needed a workstation with 8GB of memory and around 1500 hours of time on a Q6600 CPU running at 1.6GHz. Next up, 24 moves."</blockquote></i><div class="blogger-post-footer">Vist my blog at www.matthewhetland.com/blog or just come take a look at my homepage at www.MatthewHetland.com!</div>Matthew A. Hetlandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01066858738566393298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16826962.post-17470690381048611062008-03-17T16:18:00.000-07:002008-03-17T16:21:55.166-07:00Zen and the Art of Server Maintenance<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp0.blogger.com/_wbZ8koIvudg/R9782o3uxcI/AAAAAAAAAQY/C2cDYxkJccw/s1600-h/3-17-2008+Power+Switch.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 237px; height: 191px;" src="http://bp0.blogger.com/_wbZ8koIvudg/R9782o3uxcI/AAAAAAAAAQY/C2cDYxkJccw/s320/3-17-2008+Power+Switch.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5178854637136954818" border="0" /></a>There was no regular blog post for this weekend, largely because I spent much time re-vamping my home network to include a special version of Windows Server 2003 quickly becoming adopted by the market as Windows Home Server.<span style=""> </span>It’s a great thing, and as an early adopter once I got through paying the premium in the form of a learning curve with adding a degree of magnitude to the sophistication of my home network it had been 13 hours between Friday evening and through the first cartoon on Saturday morning.<span style=""> </span>The rest of the time was spent configuring, tweaking, organizing the hardware, and the like.<span style=""> </span>If what they say about adversity building character, then I can add some. <p class="MsoNormal">The situation reminded me of something that a gentleman that came into the printer-computer-office equipment repair shop I work at 40 hours a week said:<span style=""> </span>“Troubleshooting is the epitome of understanding a discipline.”<span style=""> </span>I’m not the best when it comes to printers and computers, sure, but I guess I’m better than 97 percent of the general public—I can take apart most any Hewlett-Packard printer, certainly, usually fumble my way through most other printer (certainly, with a service manual at my disposal), can make many a piece of computer hardware bow to my whim, and do quite a number with a multitude of a piece of software.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Information Technology—computers and the sort—just happens to be how I earn the bulk of my living right now.<span style=""> </span>I don’t consider it my best skill set, or much more than a hobby.<span style=""> </span>Still, I am challenged with it on a daily basis, some days better than others, and it helps to keep my mechanical and troubleshooting skills sharpened.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=""> </span></p><div class="blogger-post-footer">Vist my blog at www.matthewhetland.com/blog or just come take a look at my homepage at www.MatthewHetland.com!</div>Matthew A. Hetlandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01066858738566393298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16826962.post-24233975936253175662008-03-08T22:23:00.000-08:002008-03-08T22:28:54.240-08:00Discussion: Economics of Technology Early Adoption<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp2.blogger.com/_wbZ8koIvudg/R9OCy43uxbI/AAAAAAAAAQQ/8w8sNl4jpE8/s1600-h/3-8-2008+DVD.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 266px; height: 200px;" src="http://bp2.blogger.com/_wbZ8koIvudg/R9OCy43uxbI/AAAAAAAAAQQ/8w8sNl4jpE8/s320/3-8-2008+DVD.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5175624207550039474" border="0" /></a>An <a href="http://hardware.slashdot.org/hardware/08/03/08/1650259.shtml">interesting discussion</a> over at Slashdot regarding the premium that people pay for being early adopters of technology. The discussion is done through the filter of the HD-DVD format which was recently declared dead; the casualty of the infamous "next generation format wars" between HD-DVD and Blu-Ray.<div class="blogger-post-footer">Vist my blog at www.matthewhetland.com/blog or just come take a look at my homepage at www.MatthewHetland.com!</div>Matthew A. Hetlandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01066858738566393298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16826962.post-41726182950190241162008-03-08T17:34:00.001-08:002008-03-08T17:38:36.304-08:00They Ought to Call Me Hercules<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp3.blogger.com/_wbZ8koIvudg/R9M-8I3uxZI/AAAAAAAAAQA/BlPmv2dQDyQ/s1600-h/3-8-2008+Blue+Pill.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 236px; height: 177px;" src="http://bp3.blogger.com/_wbZ8koIvudg/R9M-8I3uxZI/AAAAAAAAAQA/BlPmv2dQDyQ/s320/3-8-2008+Blue+Pill.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5175549599673140626" border="0" /></a> <p class="MsoNormal">Over a cold slice of coconut cream pie and warm conversation recently a good friend of mine paraphrased an old adage that, probably, most of us have heard:<span style=""> </span>“That which does not kill us makes us stronger.”<span style=""> </span>Originally a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friedrich_Nietzsche">Nietzsche</a> quote it has been adapted to fit a plethora of situations from the warrior to the clerk that works in the local convenience store 40 hours each week:<span style=""> </span>It has become a modern-day ethos of the person just trying to make it through, longing for something better as a sum result of their experiences.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">The more strengthening experiences which they have to make it through, the better that it will make them:<span style=""> </span>Someday these situations will make them Hercules-like.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">So it stands to reason:<span style=""> </span>Why do bad things happen to good people, vice versa, and other permutations of either in between.<span style=""> </span>The short answer:<span style=""> </span>Free will.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">The longer answer:<span style=""> </span>Start with a leaf that falls from far atop a high tree.<span style=""> </span>Physics can tell us the individual forces affecting it—wind resistance, gravity, acceleration due to gravity, various factors of aerodynamics, and wind velocity and direction.<span style=""> </span>It cannot, however, tell us where the leaf is going to land.<span style=""> </span>Just as the physicist which can describe what is happening to the leaf has only a finite perspective of the universe ahead of him or her, each of us lack anything more than the finite perspective we allow ourselves.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">A good way to reach this understanding is to first understand what the physicist does about the falling leaf:<span style=""> </span>Understand the specific ways we are interacting with the world around us and how the world is interacting with us on a daily basis.<span style=""> </span>Learn the general principles which guide you forward and figure out how you can make each better.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">When we worked together at one of the major wireless companies in resolutions the same friend that I mention above taught me that problems a person has with the outside world usually originate from inside that person.<span style=""> </span>In other words, if you are having problems with your spouse it is best if you look inside yourself before placing blame with them.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Even though animals have what resembles free will, the human sense of free will, combined with our problem solving skills and how the greater mix of those traits which make us human all falls into line making us, as humans, special.<span style=""> </span>As humans we can choose.<span style=""> </span>We are not programmed for any specific behavior, lest that which we have or allowed ourselves with which to be programmed.<span style=""> </span>We are driven on a daily basis because we find specific utility in them.<span style=""> </span>This utility manifests itself as pain, pleasure, morality, or one of many other things.<span style=""> </span>Because we have the choice in deciding the value which our behaviors have, it is meaningful.<span style=""> </span>On the other hand, if we were simply programmed to do something, lacking the choice to do it, the meaning that it would otherwise have is lost.<span style=""> </span>You have the choice to do good things; you have the choice to do evil things—whichever path you <i style="">choose</i> then has all the more significance to you…and, through you, it has increased significance to the world around you.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp3.blogger.com/_wbZ8koIvudg/R9M_OI3uxaI/AAAAAAAAAQI/x45PgGytNWI/s1600-h/3-8-2008+Red+Pill.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 222px; height: 166px;" src="http://bp3.blogger.com/_wbZ8koIvudg/R9M_OI3uxaI/AAAAAAAAAQI/x45PgGytNWI/s320/3-8-2008+Red+Pill.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5175549908910785954" border="0" /></a>As every child learns, however, each choice has consequences—either positive or negative.<span style=""> </span>Let’s go back to the leaf for a moment:<span style=""> </span>Even though it doesn’t have free will, it has a path from the top of the tree to the ground below it, through the space between the two.<span style=""> </span>Every location through which it passes, each moment which it passes through that location, there are consequences.<span style=""> </span>Since leaves are responsible for photosynthesis on the tree, the loss of a leaf in the community of leaves removes from the productivity of the tree for survival; the path of the leaf towards the ground might otherwise impede others in its path; where it lands on the ground might do the same, worse, or better.<span style=""> </span>Just as physics teaches us the relationship between us and the energy which flows around us, it also teaches us the concept of the “<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_line">world line</a>” such that each particle—or, each person—has a path that it makes through the world.<span style=""> </span>These paths interact with the paths of those in our immediate vicinity and as a component of the greater whole.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">People tend to have only a finite perspective of the world around them, but without higher education or life experience tend to lack a strategic perspective; not only inasmuch as how their actions comprise the consequences of the greater whole, but also how they have or may become consequential casualties of the greater whole instead.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">The reconciliation between our immediate lives and the grand quality of the greater community of humankind may seem mind-boggling, but you just need to remember that, from an economic perspective, you only need to participate to the capacity which you are able:<span style=""> </span>Good deeds done on a daily basis will not only have spillover effects on the world around you, what are otherwise known as the “ripple effect,” and help to add value to the greater community.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">In closing I’d like to end with a story that comes from a great movie from the mid-1990s:<span style=""> </span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/search?ie=UTF8&keywords=Phenomenon&tag=matthewhecom-20&index=blended&linkCode=ur2&camp=1789&creative=9325">Phenomenon</a>.<span style=""> </span>In the movie the character played by <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/search?ie=UTF8&keywords=John%20Travolta&tag=matthewhecom-20&index=blended&linkCode=ur2&camp=1789&creative=9325">John Travolta</a> tells a story of a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aspen">grove of trees</a> in Colorado which were originally thought to be just a bunch of trees; in reality they were found to share a common root system which helped the grove thrive.<span style=""> </span>As the modern-day human civilization we share a common root system, tempered by our freedom of choice:<span style=""> </span>As parts of the entire grove of individuals, our actions have consequence to the greater community, just as the greater community affects us as individuals.<span style=""> </span>If we want to make things right with the greater whole we start from within and make ourselves a more valuable part of the whole.</p><div class="blogger-post-footer">Vist my blog at www.matthewhetland.com/blog or just come take a look at my homepage at www.MatthewHetland.com!</div>Matthew A. Hetlandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01066858738566393298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16826962.post-73760249067400846632008-03-02T14:39:00.000-08:002008-03-03T16:43:17.173-08:00Monkey Mondays: Monkeys and Economics<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp0.blogger.com/_wbZ8koIvudg/R8stIo5lbeI/AAAAAAAAAP4/T83Ckjpsi2A/s1600-h/3-3-2008+Monkey.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 254px; height: 169px;" src="http://bp0.blogger.com/_wbZ8koIvudg/R8stIo5lbeI/AAAAAAAAAP4/T83Ckjpsi2A/s320/3-3-2008+Monkey.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5173278223406296546" border="0" /></a><blockquote>Scientists examine the circumstances under which chimpanzees, our closest relatives, will exchange one inherently valuable commodity (an apple slice) for another (a grape), which is what early humans must have somehow learned to do. The researchers found that chimpanzees often did not spontaneously barter food items, but needed to be trained to engage in commodity barter.</blockquote><br /><a href="http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/01/080130092136.htm"> Why Don't Chimpanzees Like To Barter Food?</a><div class="blogger-post-footer">Vist my blog at www.matthewhetland.com/blog or just come take a look at my homepage at www.MatthewHetland.com!</div>Matthew A. Hetlandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01066858738566393298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16826962.post-46952858474008948712008-03-02T12:23:00.000-08:002008-03-02T12:32:18.359-08:00Perspective of the Giants: Warren Buffett<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp0.blogger.com/_wbZ8koIvudg/R8sNfo5lbdI/AAAAAAAAAPw/oueAlUAL6AM/s1600-h/3-2-2008+wb3.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 232px; height: 160px;" src="http://bp0.blogger.com/_wbZ8koIvudg/R8sNfo5lbdI/AAAAAAAAAPw/oueAlUAL6AM/s320/3-2-2008+wb3.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5173243434171198930" border="0" /></a>The name of the blog is <a href="http://undergroundvalue.blogspot.com/2008/02/notes-from-buffett-meeting-2152008_23.html">Underground Value</a>; and they have a great quote from second-richest-man <a href="http://matthew-hetland.blogspot.com/search?q=Warren+Buffett">Warren Buffett</a> as part of an interview with him.<br /><br /><blockquote>The difference between potential and output comes from human qualities. You can make a list of the qualities you admire and those you despise. To turn the tables, think if this is the way I react to the qualities on the list, which is the way the world will react to me. You can learn to turn on those qualities you want and turn off those qualities you wish to avoid. The chains of habit are too light to be felt until they are too heavy to be broken. You can’t change at 60; the time to look at that list is now.</blockquote><div class="blogger-post-footer">Vist my blog at www.matthewhetland.com/blog or just come take a look at my homepage at www.MatthewHetland.com!</div>Matthew A. Hetlandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01066858738566393298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16826962.post-39490753812087391822008-02-29T22:11:00.000-08:002008-02-29T22:15:38.529-08:00The Power of the Down Market<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp0.blogger.com/_wbZ8koIvudg/R8j0XY5lbaI/AAAAAAAAAPY/ptLDR23xba0/s1600-h/2-29-2008+Stocks.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp0.blogger.com/_wbZ8koIvudg/R8j0XY5lbaI/AAAAAAAAAPY/ptLDR23xba0/s320/2-29-2008+Stocks.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5172652854693162402" border="0" /></a> <p class="MsoNormal">Adam Smith, often dubbed the father of economics, is best known for his magnum opus, <i style="">The Wealth of Nations</i>.<span style=""> </span>What is lesser-known about his writings, though, is what he wrote about prior to <i style="">Wealth</i>; <i style="">The Theory of Moral Sentiments</i>.<span style=""> </span>Between these two works it can be argued that Smith was trying to describe the morality of humankind by superimposing economic theories onto it.<span style=""> </span>Since 1776 social science has come a long way in understanding much of the behaviors of individuals:<span style=""> </span>And we have finally come to the point in human history where we can recognize that markets, such as the stock market, and human behavior have many parallels—and form a symbiotic relationship with one another.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Take, for instance, the current behavior of the stock markets.<span style=""> </span>Right now, as I look at the Dow Jones Industrial Average, I see that it is down 315 points; Standard & Poor’s 500 Index is down 37 points itself.<span style=""> </span>When many people look at the numbers which we have been seeing in the stock markets lately they fear a word that is often brought up in the evening news, “recession.”<span style=""> </span>Words like “inflation,” “stagflation,” and such are used.<span style=""> </span>Perhaps some people would either categorize the behavior of the markets as overly complex, perhaps even irrational. </p> <p class="MsoNormal">Just as people require corrections, controls in their behavior, to move forward and progress, the stock market requires the same.<span style=""> </span>Just as risk is necessary to be in any system in which there is reward, so must there be correction.<span style=""> </span>These corrections are a reflection of human nature inasmuch as people exhibit both rational and irrational components in behaviors.<span style=""> </span>In <a href="http://www.forbes.com/forbes/2008/0310/025.html">his column</a> in <a href="http://www.forbes.com/forbes/">Forbes magazine</a>, <a href="http://search.forbes.com/search/colArchiveSearch?aname=Paul+Johnson&author=paul+and+johnson&boxes=commentary">Paul Johnson</a> writes an excellent column depicting the mechanics behind what is happening in the stock market right now and an impetus that helped to cause it.<span style=""> </span>Pointedly:</p> <p class="MsoNormal">“<b style=""><i style=""><span style="color: rgb(31, 73, 125);">All the same, markets are determined by moral strengths and weaknesses, and it is useful to identify what those are at each major episode.<span style=""> </span>The state of the present market is the consequence of undue patience combined with excessive greed.</span></i></b>”</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=""> </span>He continues to weave the intricate tapestry of morality, impatience, greed, and how they all tie into one another and become progress.<span style=""> </span>The theme of rational components to seemingly irrational things, and how the up and down sides of each turn into our tomorrow, better than our today.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Mr. Johnson has some very brilliant insights.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">No matter what we do, we exist as components of a much larger system:<span style=""> </span>As people, we form communities; as workers at firm or a shop we put together a product, provide a service, or otherwise add value to something.<span style=""> </span>Because we are part of something, and everything changes, we will eventually need to cope with change.<span style=""> </span>Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu once wrote about life that it “<b style=""><i style=""><span style="color: rgb(31, 73, 125);">is a series of natural and spontaneous changes. Don’t resist them - that only creates sorrow. Let reality be reality. Let things flow naturally forward in whatever way they like.</span></i></b>”</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Management theory dictates that we survey those things around us and formulate plans to manage them and control systems to put situations back where they need to be should they fall outside of the tolerances which we set for them—this is something business students are usually taught in their first semester of school.<span style=""> </span>However, anyone who has had management experience understands that no good plan survives combat intact and that no amount of control systems will hedge against change happening.<span style=""> </span>There is nothing that can stop the ebb and flow of life of causing the unexpected to happen.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">We learn to accept change.<span style=""> </span>Better yet, we learn to balance the ebbs and move with the flows of what life throws at us.<span style=""> </span>In a market that is “up” we live the good life and become richer in as many ways possible; in “down” markets we learn also how to accept it and learn ways to become richer.<span style=""> </span>Necessity is the impetus for innovation, and difficult times offer us the opportunity to shine.<span style=""> </span>In other words, accepting change is good, but learning how to use it to propel you forward is best.<span style=""> </span></p><div class="blogger-post-footer">Vist my blog at www.matthewhetland.com/blog or just come take a look at my homepage at www.MatthewHetland.com!</div>Matthew A. Hetlandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01066858738566393298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16826962.post-73229959800301442402008-02-22T13:50:00.000-08:002008-02-22T13:54:48.320-08:00Nothing Risked…<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp1.blogger.com/_wbZ8koIvudg/R79EcpcybMI/AAAAAAAAAPQ/PlMrn8MQ0WM/s1600-h/2-22-2008+Dice.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 229px; height: 152px;" src="http://bp1.blogger.com/_wbZ8koIvudg/R79EcpcybMI/AAAAAAAAAPQ/PlMrn8MQ0WM/s320/2-22-2008+Dice.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5169926156198243522" border="0" /></a> <p class="MsoNormal">I recently had a brief conversation about risk with a client and friend of mine that leads the Information Technology Department for a nearby Ritz Carlton.<span style=""> </span>One of the sum results of that conversation was that there are two kinds of risk:<span style=""> </span>The stupid kind and the smart kind.<span style=""> </span>There are countless individuals in the world who behave in such a way that they don’t factor risk much into their actions and behaviors.<span style=""> </span>There are, however, those who calculate risks into their activities and understand the dynamics of this powerful thing.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Drive somewhere in the town or city in which you live.<span style=""> </span>I will bet that the larger the municipality in which you live, the worse the drivers are:<span style=""> </span>It appears that they use minimal, if any judgment.<span style=""> </span>Maybe they have a cell phone to their ears; maybe they are exhibiting poor driving skills; maybe it is a combination of factors.<span style=""> </span>At any rate, professional drivers are often taught the art of “defensive driving” which dictates that you, as a driver out on the roadways, must drive with the anticipation that someone is going to use poor judgment and that you must be able to drive in such a way as to be proactive or react accordingly to these drivers whom have increasing amounts of risk factors piling up on them.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">I’ve once heard it said, or read it on a bumper sticker, that life is difficult; more so if you’re stupid.<span style=""> </span>Stupidity has often been equated to ignorance.<span style=""> </span>Think of the driver while you are out and about that is ignorant of the traffic laws, or (worse yet) ignorant of those around him or her.<span style=""> </span>Those who aren’t aware of risk often overlook the power that it has in their lives and the world around them.<span style=""> </span>Perhaps I could even go as far as saying that they are more apt to be “victimized” than the alternative.<span style=""> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal">I’ve often equated risk management and the world of insurance as one that assigns numerical values to behaviors and calls these information sets “risk factors.”<span style=""> </span>For example, take a driver who fails to use their blinker all the time.<span style=""> </span>This driver has a higher probability of getting into a collision with another driver by not notifying those around them as to their intentions on the roadways.<span style=""> </span>If they also fail to use their mirrors properly, the earlier risk factor adds to this new risk factor.<span style=""> </span>Additional factors only add to the mess.<span style=""> </span>While one can easily apply this to any part of life, not just driving, there are ways to minimize your exposure to such risk factors.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">For a few years I lived in the Rapid City, SD area.<span style=""> </span>Just as the schools were heavy into “character counts” campaigns with their students, a local television station ran a series of advertisements much to the same effect geared towards adult audiences.<span style=""> </span>One of these public service messages included a judge discussing the merits of discipline.<span style=""> </span>Essentially the message was that even just a daily investment in self-discipline works wonders for hedging against.<span style=""> </span>If you are self-disciplined enough that you can take a walk or do another sort of moderate exercise you decrease risk factors that would otherwise influence you becoming obese, becoming depressed, getting diabetes, or otherwise becoming physically or mentally unhealthy.<span style=""> </span>Think of the things that you could do less of or do more of on a daily basis that would make your life better, increase your value, or otherwise might make you or those around you better.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">With that being said, there is absolutely no way to mitigate all risk involved with something.<span style=""> </span>Just as the stock market has something called <i style="">systemic risk</i> that is inherent to a particular industry or to the entire market.<span style=""> </span>Whenever there is the potential for gain or reward, there is always risk.<span style=""> </span>In fact, since there is always risk involved any time there is reward or gain possible, it has been argued that gain and reward are possible <i style="">because</i> there is risk involved.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">This is why the best risk is that which is of the calculated variety:<span style=""> </span>This is why the stock markets will always correct itself, will always (eventually) increase in value, and why most of us will realize gains to ourselves or our lifestyles over a long enough timeline and given enough effort.<span style=""> </span>If we are able to learn how to calculate risk in our lives we can then move our lives from being at the unsophisticated level of the haphazard risk-taker into being the sophisticated, calculated risk-taker and, along with it, move our lives along a more successful avenue. </p><div class="blogger-post-footer">Vist my blog at www.matthewhetland.com/blog or just come take a look at my homepage at www.MatthewHetland.com!</div>Matthew A. Hetlandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01066858738566393298noreply@blogger.com0