Greetings from the University of New Hampshire! Last Friday was our annual American College of Healthcare Executives (ACHE) of Northern New England (NNE) annual meeting. As usual, the Chapter allowed me to bring students with me, free of charge, to participate in the event. I had thirteen fine young Wildcats come with me, and we had a great time. At the end of the meeting, we had about 20 execs stay on for an hour so the students could do a speed networking event where each student got paired up with one or two execs for 7 minutes and had a chance to give their elevator speech and get some mentorship.
It’s been just a crazy fall running or participating in three conferences, writing a book chapter, and teaching four classes, but I’m over the hump. The last part of the semester that usually feels like a sprint through landmines is going to feel like a cakewalk this year.
As usual, willing good for all of you, and see you Sunday for a new podcast!
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Read
What: Ryan Holiday, The Obstacle is the Way
Why: I’d been meaning to read this book for years and finally got around to it. It’s an easy read - Holiday writes lucidly and flowingly, making this introduction to Stoic philosophy a pleasure to breeze through. Micro summary: everyone has challenges - it is often the challenges that shape and redirect us onto the path we are meant to follow. Worth a few hours of your time. I will likely write more on the book later in a Sunday post.
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What: Zach Weinersmith, Bea Wolf
Why: This book is brilliant! OK - it’s actually sort of a graphic novel, or at least an illustrated kid’s book. But it is brilliant! The author adopts the tone and phrasing of Beowulf, but tells a story of pre-pubescent kids who are mighty warriors and have a tree house and their treasure is candy and bubblegum. There is lots of underwear snapping and gum popping, but all told in old English style. It is a tour de force. Kids 12 and under will love it, and adults will be able to appreciate the style, especially if you have read Beowulf. So much fun!
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What: The New Criterion, The burden of the humanities
https://newcriterion.com/issues/2023/11/the-burden-of-the-humanities
Why: What the hell are the humanities? Not a home for otherwise unemployable critical theorists. But then what? From the essay:
So I return to the definitional problem: what the hell are the humanities? I think the answer can be stated very simply.
The distinctive task of the humanities, unlike the natural sciences and social sciences, is to grasp human things in human terms, without converting or reducing or translating them into something else—as into physical laws, mechanical systems, biological drives, psychological disorders, social structures, and so on. The humanities attempt to understand the human condition from the inside, as it were, treating the human person as subject as well as object, the agent as well as the acted upon.
I love the humanities. Sometimes I wish I could just live there, again. This essay spoke so loudly to me that I bought a subscription to the journal.
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What: The FRED Blog, The Ukraine war’s effects on US commodity prices
https://fredblog.stlouisfed.org/2023/10/the-ukraine-wars-effects-on-us-commodity-prices/
Why: This is basically a picture. Go ahead and click on it - you will get the message right away. There is the pre-murderous invasion, and the post-murderous invasion divided by a clear line. And then you can see the emergence of price variation.
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Watch
What: Nas Daily, They Deliver Without Google Maps (4 min)
Why: So I liked this video because the lens of economics I am most comfortable with is the institutional lens - the idea that rules and organizations emerge from patterns of behavior. We call it the “emergent order” to contrast it with Socialist central planning. To see entrepreneurs seizing on opportunities to serve is such a joyous thing.
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Listen
What: The Ezra Klein Show, Israel is giving Hamas what it wants. (16 min)
Why: I don’t normally listen to Ezra Klein because he’s way too far over on the Progressive side of politics for my taste, but I heard reference to this thoughtful reflection he recorded in the week after Hamas’s murderous rampage, and decided to give it a listen. It is a well-balanced and thoughtful response. Not to Hamas (they should be destroyed - I agree), but to the situation. I’m not fond of his politics, but in this pod I agree with him, even in the grayness.