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Moved!

Just another reminder that I've moved onto wordpress!

Please visit the new site at:

http://www.sharadmangalick.com

Thanks!

Moved!

After being on blogger for the past year, I have officially moved over to word press.

Please update your links and RSS feeds.

My URL is still :

http://www.sharadmangalick.com

My Feed is now:

http://sharadmangalick.com/feed/

Thanks!

Moving to Wordpress!

I'm in the process of moving to wordpress, so some of my links, posts, and feeds may not be working completely.

Why am I moving?  Well, I'm moving because I feel restricted by the blogger platform, and wanted to stretch my "blog" wings out a bit.  I wanted a static "About" page, can't do it with blogger.  As I play with photography more, I wanted a more robust Photo section...which I can't do with blogger.

Lastly, my main reason for moving is that the Feedburning service packaged with blogger completely sucks.  When I post, I want it to show up in my RSS feed, but Feedburner delays it at least an hour, sometimes even up to a day after I post!  completely unacceptable, so I'm moving on!

Will post an update once everything migrates over!

What does Citibank, Chase, BofA, [insert generic evil bank here] know about you?

This fascinating article(New York Times Magazine) scratches the surface into how credit card issues are mining your historical transactions and making conclusions on the basis of that data. Since banks employ loads of smart researchers and Ph.Ds, we probably shouldn't be surprised that the data is being used in tihs fashion.

I'm split on this. My "consumer rights" half doesn't like that my interest rates may shoot up because I purchased chrome accessories for my (non-existent) car. Apparently data from a Canadian bank has shown that people that purchase chrome accessories are way more likely to default on their debt. Since I like chrome accessories, should I have to pay for their sins???

On the other hand, as somebody that is fascinated with new uses of data (wow, I really am geeky), I'm fascinated by the fact that we can make reasonably reliable inferences about somebody's personality from their purchasing history.

I'd be interested to learning more about their methods, or even finding some sample data to play with. Either way, expect more of this in the future....

here's the article in the New York Times Magazine. Found via NPR's Planet Money Podcast and Blog.

The Return of Little Mac

This is so completely awesome, that only Maryland State Senator "shee-it" Clay Davis's words can describe it....

"Dance like a fly. Bite like a mosquito."

What I've been reading in 2009

I konw that I promised you guys a full book review for each and every book that I read, but I never got around to it, so I'm doing the next best thing....a quick 2-3 sentece review for the 12 books that I've read this year. if you guys are interested, I can post more detailed reviews...but you need to contact me for that to happen.

1.  The Watchmen by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons  amazon link
The graphic novel (aka, "comic book") that led to the blockbuster movie.  I haven't seen the movie yet, but the book was incredible.  Very detailed, the comic provided enough background on the principle characters for you to care about them.  its almost a darker version of Pixar's "The Incredibles", and shows the downside of superheros that are no longer wanted/needed by society.  Dark, riveting, but I was completely underwhelmed by the finale.  Even given the bad ending, the book was very innovative, so it rates highly, I give it a 8/10.

2.  The Meaning of Night by Michael Cox  amazon link
Written as a faux memoir/confession, the Meaning of Night details out an Victorian age tale of deceit, murder, and retribution in London and its surrounding areas.  It took me at least 4 tries before I really got into the book, and if this book has a fault, its that it starts off way too slow.  The verbose Victorian style writing made it difficult to understand, but the story itself was awesome.  If you like older style books, this is for you.  I can't wait for the follow up, which is supposedly coming up this summer.
7/10

3.  Middlesex by Jeffery Eugenides amazon link
To be completely honest, I read this book in early January, and I don't remember all that much about it.  On the plus side, I blew through it, which is balanced by the fact that also remember blowing through it because I was sick of the book and just wanted to get to the ending.  Tracing the story of a (twisted) family from its Greek/Macedonian roots to suburban Detroit, this book shows how the sins of the father may not be made apparent for multiple generations.  I think Mona's reading this book rgith now, and doesn't have any intention of finishing it.....4/10

4.  The Road by Cormac McCarthy  amazon link
After talking to a few different readers about this book, I've realized that there are so many things that you can take away from this very deep book.  Its a story about the aftermath of some upcoming nuclear apocalype.  Its a tale of survival.  Its the affection of a father for his son.  I could go into more detail, but I think one of my tweets from that timeframe captures my thoughts accurately. 

I just read the vilest thing I've ever read. Yet, I must keep reading.

Torn about the upcoming movie starring Vigo Mortenson, but I highly recommend the book.  9/10

5.  Helter Skelter:  The True Story of the Manson Murders by Vincent Bugliosi amazon link  
The ultimate true crime novel.  Written by head Manson prosector/investigator Vince Bugliosi, Helter Skelter is crazy.  It details out Manson's rise from a wanna-be Beach Boy to fringe lunatic mass murderer.  Completely raw, very detailed......I read this 750 page book in less than a week.  if you have any interest in true-crime novels, get this book....seriously, its that good.  10/10

6.  3 Cups of Tea:  One Man's Mission to Promote Peace...One School at a Time by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin amazon link  
A mainstay at the top of the NYTimes bestseller list, 3 Cups of Tea is an accounting of Greg Mortenson's failed attempt to climb K2, and how it led him to building schools in rural Pakistan to educate girls.  Given the current situation in Pakistan and Afghanistan, this book (and Mortenson) has been in the news lately, so I don't want to recount his story.  As a person, I believe that Greg Mortenson has done amazing things for the Pakistani people, and deserves all the accolades he's received.  However, as a writer, I didn't like the book.  I felt like he skipped over the inflection points of his story, and that he trivalized his intellectual battles with the US Government, Pakistani Government, the Taliban, and Tribal elders in Pakistan.  Because there wasn't a lot of detail about those battles, I felt letdown.  Still, a great story, and worth reading.  5/10

7.   Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell  amazon link
Lots has been written about this book already, so I won't repeat it.  My thoughts on his latest blockbuster is that its an intriguing idea, but not enough research was documented in the story itself.  As with all of Gladwell's books, I feel like he cherry-picks research to support his thesis, and that I inevitably feel letdown by the results.  I liked this book the least of his 3 books, and for that reason, only a 4/10 


8.  Ascent of Money:  A Financial History of the World by Niall Ferguson amazon link
This should actually be called a "Financial History of the Western World", since outside of his discussion on precious metals and mining, this book is completely focused on American and British finance.  Regardless, a very interesting read that traces the evolution of financial products like stocks, bonds, insurance, mortgages, and derivatives.  I felt that Niall could have attempted to discuss the current financial crisis, but chose not to.  Had he included some commentary on the current crisis, I would have ranked it higher.  But, since he chose not to, I give him a 6/10.


9.   The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Steig Larsson amazon link
Financial intrigue.  Murder.  Family Secrets.  This book has it all.  Taking place in Sweeden, this book follows disgraced financial reporter Michael Bloomvist has he investigates an odd request from a Sweedish Titan.  Lots of twists and turns.  The first of a trilogy....I can't wait for the next book to come out.  9/10  


10.  The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga amazon link 
Perhaps I went into this book the wrong way.  I was told that Adiga was an "Indian Chuck Palahniu", so I was exepecting an Indian "Fight Club".  I was completely misinformed, and that let me to not enjoy the book as much as I probably should have.  This story recounts how a villager moved up from peasant to housekeeper, housekeeper to driver, driver to industrialist.  4/10 (only for false advertising by the Borders Clerk that Sold me on the book)


11.   White Man's Burden by William Easterly amazon link
I think its best to evaluate this book in halfs.  The first half deals with the history of imperialism and western aid.  I found this section interesting and fascinating, but almost too detailed (and this is coming from something that loves details).  I felt that this section was 50% too long.  

The second half talks about modern aid through the IMF and World Bank, and proposes solutions to world's problems.  I found this half to be more tangible, and behind the slogans "more searcher, less planners" and "teach a man to fish", I'm interested in his ideas, and how they apply to the real world.  He's an ardent fan of microfinance, and wants to empower local entrepreneurs to solve their local problems, rather than a beaurocrat in New York or Washington.    Overall....fantastic book.....10/10

12.   The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher by Kate Summerscale amazon link 
Similiar to White Tiger, I think I went into this book with the completely wrong mindset.  I thought that as the first modern detective, this book's main character would provide some insight as the methods used by police detectives today.  Clearly this book didn't outline that....but still, it was an interesting read.  I felt this book suffered from too much jumping around, and didn't do a good job of connecting ideas to each other (similiar to this blog!).  2/10

well, there you have it....12 books read this year.  Some classics, some dogs.  Shoot me a note if you want me to go into more detail about any of these books, and I'll try to write something up.

Chase is tricky.....

I just received my monthly statement from my Chase Freedom card, and I was pretty confused by it.  Not because I'm an idiot (which I am), but because Chase is starting to pull some intriguing shenanigans.

So my balance was way too high, but that's because it included my trip to Africa.  But my minimum payment was $0.00.   That's right, I didn't have to pay, free money for me, right??

Wanting to confirm that I truly didn't owe anything, I called Chase and navigated throught their fun phone systems.  After 3 reroutes, I finally found the right person to talk to.

So here's the deal:

Chase understands that cash may be tight, and that I might have other bills that I need to pay.  So with their infinite patience and understanding, they are giving me the option to skip this payment without any penalty.  No penaly, no late fees, nothing. 

Of course, they also neglect to say that finance charges are still in effect, to the tune of 13.24% (as of my current statement). 

So be careful, while Chase seems like its being a semi-decent company, they are trying to trick you into not paying your bill.  They are waiving the $30 late fee, in return for accrusing 13.24% of your balance as an interest and finance charge.

Pretty sneaky..pretty sneaky......tisk tisk chase, we expect more from you!

David vs. Goliath

Malcolm Gladwell's take on the underdog syndrome....

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/05/11/090511fa_fact_gladwell

538's Nate Silver Interviewed by the Economist

I'm a huge fan of FiveThirtyEight.com, and while I don't always agree with Nate's conclusion, I respect his analysis and the process that he takes to reach the conclusions.

Although I'm not a statistician, and I received a very mediocre grade in my undergrad stats classes, I find his method interesting, and its actually convinced me to buy a stats book to learn more (of course, I haven't opened the book yet...but buying is the first step). 

He's in this week's Economist (another favorite of mine), and you can catch the interview online...check it out:

http://www.economist.com/blogs/democracyinamerica/2009/05/seven_questions_for_nate_silve.cfm

How many people need to be behind Obama?

 

Since these people are Tim Geittner, and a bunch of bankers, Chrysler employees, and Fiat leaders....shouldn't they be actually working?  I mean, their company is in bankruptcy, this isn't a time to be celebrating or hanging out in press conferences........

Engagement Party Pics

From the last weekend.....lots of drinking and karaoke (note - you do not want to hear me sing...so glad that these are pictures and not videos). 

thanks for everybody that came.......

I weep for humanity

so, I'm a procrastinator...and I'm waiting until April 10 to finish and file my taxes.......and I'm workign on the my taxes in Turbo Tax, when I come across this crazy gem.

honestly...on a tax forum, you ask about Michael Jackson??  what's wrong with you people? i'm looking at you "V-State"

Monkey Martial Arts

So awesome that it had to be reposted...

found via Brave New Traveler

Wolverines fans get on board for MSU...reluctantly

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/ncaatourney09/columns/story?columnist=schlabach_mark&id=4044768


Having just returned from Ann Arbor this past weekend, it was incredibly weird seeing MSU fans come out of the woodwork.  I was at Scorekeepers (Skeeps - in Michigan terms), having some free beers, and watching the MSU/UConn game. 
 
Every UConn bucket, boos...
Every UConn foul, cheers....
Every time Tom Izzo is on screen, cheers....

The bar was a sea of green and white.....and I didn't like it.

So while I took a lot of crap for my U-U-U Conn cheers, I look forward to seeing the Carolina Tar Heels win yet another national title in Mo-Town.....

Go Heels!

Trouble Understanding the Recession?

Join the club....

I work for a consulting firm, I invest my money in the stock market, and I like to think that I kinda know what's happening on Wall Street, but the reality is....I don't know jack squat!

In an attempt to protect my dwindling investable assets and actually do something useful with my google-search skills (can i put this on my resume?  "able to search the google better than 95% of the general population"), I embarked on a journey to learn more.

I trolled through the Wall Street Journal, but found the information either too basic (i.e. Obama is going to tax us, we are f'd) or too technical (i.e. "LIBOR is down 0.000045%", but not really explaining why I care about the London Interbank Offered Rate).  The Economist was decent, but still not really what I was looking for.  And articles in Forbes and Fortune proved fruitless as well.

After almost giving up hope, I chanced upon a site that I now consider my holy grail for understanding the financial crisis.

http://baselinescenario.com/


Written by a combo of MIT Sloan Prof, London School of Economics Prof, and former McKinsey consultant, the Baseline Scenario gets really technical, but also does a great job of explaining the logic behind the numbers.


I'm slowly going through their "Financial Crisis for Beginners" series of posts, and its been very educational.

check it out if you've got the time and interest....and are sick of checking wikipedia for arcane definitions.....

Where have I been eating the past 4.5 years?

For the past few months, I've been having some issues with my corporate expenses getting paid on time. Yes, I was submitting my receipts in a timely fashion, but there seemed to be some lag getting reimbursed.

After spending way too much time on the phone with American Express and my Expense Department, I finally ordered a reconciliation report.  Basically, I wanted a log of each time I swiped my green corporate Amex card.

2 weeks later, I recieved an excel workbook in my email......I'm happy to report that the issue was resolved, and my Amex bills will now be paid in a timely fashion.  But, with all this wonderful data in hand, I decided to test my pivot table chops, and figure out exactly where I've been eating Monday - Thursday for the past 4.5 years.

While I had a good idea of where I've been eating, I was still a bit shocked by the results.  I can safely say that I am officially not a health conscious person anymore...and in fact.....I'm a bit amazed that I'm not at least 150 lbs heavier than I currently am.  Anyways, here's what I found:

Restaurant - # of Times Charged

• Starbucks - 163
• McDonalds - 69
• Papa Johns - 53
• Burger King - 32
• Subway - 22
• Arby's - 20
• Au Bon Pain (really, I eat here???) - 19
• Caribou Coffee - 19
• Panera Bread - 17
• PF Chang's - 14
• Taco Bell -13
• Chili's - 8
• Applebees - 7
• Wendy's - 7
• Jimmy Johns - 5
• Boston Market - 5

 I also ordered room service a ridiculous amount of times (at least 50..likely more, because some of them are likely rolled into Hotel expenses).  Also, I've had "HMS-HOST" (generic category that covers just about every airport) at least 78 times (again, likely more because I got bored with I was classifying each expense).

And last but not least....1 white castle expense.  literally 1 time going to white castle, and its damage was enough to make me never go back.

edit - I just realized that these numbers are a bit skewed.  they only represent the times that I put the expense on my card.  I know for a fact that I've been to Taco Bell more than 13 times in the last 5 years, but somebody else on my team probably grabbed some of those expenses.

Academy Awards Post Party

Earlier yesterday [link], I posted about the predictive markets on intrade, and how the "market" thought the Oscars would fall. 

Now that the winners have been announced, we can see how close the markets were:

Spot On:

• Cinematography - Slumdog
• Animated Feature - Wall E
• Director - Danny Boyle (Slumdog)
• Supporting Actress - Penelope Cruz (Vicky Christina Barcelona)
• Supporting Actor - Heath Ledger (The Dark Knight)
• Actress - Kate Winslet (The Reader)
• Best Picture - Slumdog

Off:

• Actor - picked Mickey Rourke (The Wrestler) by a wide margin to win.  In reality, Sean Penn won his 2nd Oscar instead

So, to recap, the intrade markets are fun to pay attention to, and are actually pretty acurate.  

The Academy Awards Prediction Markets

Its no secret that I'm a huge fan of the prediction markets on intrade.com.  Intrade is basically a boolean predication market, where you "invest" on the likelihood of a something either happening or not happening.

So if you were a political junkie, you could on a daily basis track what the "market" thought about Obama or McCain's chances last  year.

But with the Oscars less than 30 minutes away, and since I've been bad and haven't seen any of the favorites besides Slumdog and Milk, I'm going to rely on the "market".

Usually each choice is binary...but since this is multi-choice, I'm not sure why the percents don't add up to 100%.  either way, just use them as a rough proxy, i suppose.

Here's the current predictions:

Best Cinematography:

• Winner:  Slumdog Millionaire - 73% chance to win
• Benjamin Button - 28%
• Reader - 17%
• Dark Knight - 11%
• Changeling - Not being traded anymore

Best Animated Feature Film:

• Winner - Wall-E - 97% chance to win
• Kung Fu Panda - 5%
• Bolt - Not being traded anymore

Best Director:

• Winner - Danny Boyle (slumdog) - 95% chance to win
• Gus Van Sant (milk) - 5.9%
• David Fincher (benjamin button) - 5%
• Ron Howard (Frost/Nixon) - 5%
• Stephen Daldry (Reader) - 1%

 Best Supporting Actress:

• Winner - Penelope Cruz (Vicky Cristina Barcelona) - 60.4% chance to win
• Taraji P. Henson (Benjamin Button) -  20.9%
  
• Viola Davis (Doubt) - 18.7%
• Amy Adams (Doubt) - 14%
• Marisa Tomei (The Wrestler) - 5.7%

 Best Supporting Actor:

• Winner - Heath Ledger (The Dark Knight) - 98.5% chance to win 
• Josh Brolin (Milk) - 5%
• Michael Shannon (Revolutionary Road) - 4.9%
• Philip Seymour Hoffman (Doubt) - 4.3%
• Robert Downey Jr (Tropic Thunder) - 2.9%

Best Actress:

• Winner - Kate Winslet (The Reader) - 85% chance to win
• Meryl Streep (Doubt)- 15%
• Anne Hathaway (Rachel Getting Married) - 5.5%
• Melissa Leo (Frozen River) - 2.0%
  
• Angelina Jolie (Changeling) - 1.9%

Best Actor:

• Winner - Mickey Rourke (The Wrestler) - 66.2% chance to win 
• Sean Penn (Milk) - 33.7%
• Frank Langella (Frost/Nixon) - 4.9%
• Brad Pitt (Benjamin Button) - 1.4%
• Richard Jenkins (The Visitor) - 1.4%

 Best Picture:

• Winner - Slumdog Millionaire - 90.3% chance to win
• The Curious Case of Benjamin Button - 8%
• Milk - 4%
• The Reader - 3%
  
• Frost/Nixon - 1.4%
  

Book Review - "The White Tiger" by Arvind Adiga

The White Tiger

While being labeled as from the same vein as Chuck Palaniuk (see Fight Club, Choke, and his other masterpieces), I just didn't find this book to be that compelling.

Well, I should back up.....

The White Tiger is written as a stream-of-consciousness open letter from Balram Halwai to the Premeire of China.  In his rambling letter written over the course of 7 nights, Balram relates how he rose up from being a member of the servant class to ultimately becoming a sucessful entrepreneur.  Balram interweaves his story with his observations on Indian society, Chinese society, and the wider world. 

So, sounds like a great story, right?  where does it go wrong?  well, Balram spends a ridiculous amount of time setting up the finale, but when you reach the end, you are left incredibly underwhelmed.  I wanted to stop reading the book many times, but I kept going with the promise of a payoff.  I reached the end, and wow, I was disappointed.  No grand payoff, no great revelation, nothing.  I reached the end and felt cheated...and that's the worst feeling after dedicated a large chunk of time to a book.

My advice to you, the reader, is that unless you are very interested in reading a unique perspective of India, skip this book.  Rather than reading something in the same vein as Chuck Palanik, just read some Chuck Palanik.  everybody already knows the story from fight club, so skip that.....and start with Invisible Monsters.  It won't let you down

Check out my other book reviews here