This was a very interesting book about how the mortgage backed security and credit default swaps. These methods of banking and investing were very interesting and made these huge webs of reliance. Once one part of the web broke all the others were start breaking. The idea behind these monetary devices was that if you create something and make it seem secure, but then let people know that it may not be as secure as it looks at first in the small print, you can sell it for much more than it will eventually be worth and externalize that risk. If the buyers of these items had just been people there wouldn’t have been a banking crisis, it would have just hit all the wealthy individuals that had bought them and all the people who had taken loans they couldn’t possibly pay back. This would have meant that no bailout would have occurred. Somewhere along the line the banks and investment firms thought that these investments were a great idea and that they were missing out on the money. Once that happened the market became larger and the interdependencies started to accrue. Then the monetary devices started to wilt and all hell broke loose. This makes me think that if you can create a monetary device that seems stable on the surface but is really just a front for a lot of unstable things that you can make an insane amount of money.
Steph and I played this board game last night. I have to admit it is a good board game, but like many scripted coop campaign games, including dungeons and dragons in general, I don’t really care for it. I’m much more for free form games like GURPS in the JOW world. We lost one round and then won the second through a great piece of luck where we drew the final tile from the bottom of the deck.
I went to Suppenkuche with Chris H and Francis. Chris is pretty much done with his coursework for the PhD and is going to be hanging around SF a lot more. I will probably go hang out with him and work on PRAINZ some days. He lives in a nice place in the city and it will be fun to hang out with him. This will help him keep on topic as well as helping me to keep on topic. (Suppenkuche Site)
The restaurant was really nice, albeit a little expensive. I got a fabulous mushroom soup and dumpling stuffed roasted chicken with potato pancakes. I got two different beers and the second was really tasty, but I can’t recall what it is.
After Suppenkuche we got ice cream at a close by shop, Smitten Ice Cream. I got the salted caramel and it was delicious. (Smitten Site)
This book had a lot of good points on how to foster leadership, hard work, and efficiency. They talk about how the company makes it every persons job to be in charge of their station, and then makes it important for them to know all the things about the line. It stresses that building leadership and efficient, happy work are an ongoing process. Having the ongoing process where everyone has the authority point out better ways of doing things can make the company great.
This was a great episode, with the capture of Yunkai, the Red Wedding, and John Snows escape back to the Night’s Watch. There were a few changes made to the stories that simplified things again, but I didn’t mind most of them. The inclusion of Jane on the Red Wedding was a little odd though. It will be interesting to see if they make the next episode a lot of wrap up pieces or if they go for some more of the majore plot points.
Brian, Candice, Nima, Caryn, and I played a game of Factory Fun! Nima and Caryn picked up the game really quickly, and did very well. I picked up most of the really good pieces and got lucky a few times so that I could win with all the bonus points. The game was pretty quick and I had a really good time playing it.
I had a great time at the meatball invitational. A lot of people ended up coming as well. Jessica, Caryn, Nima, Simon, Tony, and others showed up for the meatball making. I served up some tofu pasta that some people liked and otherts thought was a little strange. I really liked the meatballs and the marinara sauce that Nick made. I am looking forward to eating a good number of them over the next few months. I had a good bit of wine, some beer, some cider, and some liquor, but it was spaced out over the whole afternoon and evening.
This morning we went to the farmers market and I had my normal samosa. Steph got bolani and egg salad tofu. I got some blueberries and toffee almonds. Once we got back to my place we hung around a bit and then went off to Safeway. I then biked to whole foods and got some of the pasta that Jeff gave me when I visited him in Atlanta. It was delicious. I then stopped by the Milk Pail Market and got some cheese. I think I should do my grocery shopping at the milk pail from now on.
When we got back to Mountain View Nima suggested that we go by the Persian Market that he frequents. It is called Rose International Market, and has a lot of really good, decently priced food. They have a kitchen in the back that will make amazing kabobs. They wrap the kabobs in flatbread and the flatbread soaks up all the juices from the cooked meat. It is tasty, a lot of food, and cheap. We took it back to his place and ate there. He also talked us into trying a carbonated yogurt drink, which was decently tasty. It isn’t good on its own, but when you are eating something fatty I could see it being pretty good. Steph also got a desert from there that Nima says translates to the ‘yellow soft’ stuff. It was really strongly flavored, but pretty good.
It's an Exciting World 