Where are the Christmas markets?

The month of December throughout Germany is rife with festive Weihnachstmarkts (Christmas markets). Each town adds their own flare - tree-lighting ceremonies, local food, Christmas cookies and (of course) glühwein - that it is worth traveling throughout the country to witness the one-upmanship. Just look at some pictures makes one grow nostalgic.


My wife & I are in the States for the remainder of the holiday and we've gotten our fill of shopping in over the last few days. But as we travel from mall-to-mall, we find ourselves asking, "Where are the Christmas markets? Where has this wonderful tradition gone in the States?" My wife lives in a relatively small town of comparable size to Wiesbaden (300k) and while there are comparable markets at other times of the year, still no market in "Historic Downtown".

If this is a result of the PC holiday season, then I don't like it. Nothing promotes community like socializing over a shared libation - be it a beer, wine, or glühwein. The Germans lead by example with their fest for every occasion!! This is one thing I'll truly miss about living in Germany - walking from our apartment to a fest. Upon our return, I hope to move to a town that isn't afraid to celebrate this tradition.
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Saving money...and the unpopularity of thrifty-ness

Found a really good article that details the decline of American saving and suggests the Perfect Storm: cars, television, credit cards & shopping carts.

Living in Europe, I can attest to the fact that the presence of shopping carts and cars for everyday shopping is much more prevalent in the States. Sadly, I fear this American trend is spreading with more megastores that require personal transportation and large carts to lug purchases. Read more...

US boasts low self-employment rate

This article shows 2007 self-employment rates for various countries. And the US places...20th. So much for the "American Dream"... Who would you guess is #1 (I bet you're wrong)?

So what do the other countries have in common? Or is there something unique about their entrepreneurial citizenry? The article speculates national health care may, in fact, encourage entrepreneurialism. Perhaps a leap-to-conclusion, but an interesting topic to discuss. Segue...


I argue the biggest push for healthcare reform should be to keep US companies competitive globally. When other countries have their governments kicking in for most healthcare costs, how can US companies keep their services-/goods-pricing competitive? Either they cut profits (not likely) or cut benefits. So what can the US government do to discourage the latter? Some options:

• Tort reform - to lower medical liability insurance prices, which are currently passed on to the patient (by hiking up rates which insurance companies must absorb and pass on to policy holders)


• Health insurance reform - limit ability of insurance companies to probe into personal history records (heredity illnesses)


• National health coverage - have government help foot the bill. But will this really lower prices?


• Incentivize healthy behavior - exercise and the like that will ultimately reduce the burden to (and costs of) health care


• Tax imports more heavily - aside from violating many free trade agreements, I think this is the easiest but laziest way out of the predicament. It defrays the cost to other countries who would then be less likely to do business with us. In a global economy, this is not good business...

Less the last option, I think comprehensive health care reform must (at least) consider these options and perhaps employ some healthy combination of them all.

Am I way off?
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Principles of a sound golf swing

Here's an article I recommend to anyone looking for the principles to a fundamentally sound golf swing. In particular, just read the forward (page 6) by Hal Sutton's coach, Floyd Horgen.


And a quote from Hal that I wholly agree with: "Most golfers are trying to hit the ball with the clubhead. The
world’s best players swing the whole club and allow the ball to get in the way of the clubhead."
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Is PowerPoint leading to poor decision-making?

This article on the Pentagon's (over-)use of PowerPoint makes that argument.


While the author acknowledges some good use cases for ppt (info briefings, kick-off lectures, ...), he has experienced ppt's creep into areas where they do not meet the need. Even worse, their use leads to hasty decision-making that has little (to no) traceability.
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Do you hate meetings?

Paul Graham's latest thesis regarding the "Maker's vs. Manager's" schedules sparked a debate with my colleagues, and apparently with some at the Freakonomics blog.

Your thoughts? Read more...

ASONAM'09 Concluding Remarks

The quality of the conference attendees and talks were a pleasant surprise, particularly considering it was a first-year conference. It was one of the few academic conferences I've attended since entering the professional world where I felt the presenters and discussions were in line with reality (vice overly theoretical). The committee made excellent work of selecting the choice of keynote speakers.

Some interesting work/findings presented:

1. Technology adoption reinforces face-to-face social activity (Putnam & Kolko, Univ. of Washington)
2. Legal predictions regarding which lawyer will go before which judge, a process that is supposed to be random!! (Bartal et al., Israel)
3. The president's job approval is favorably impacted by a split government -- that is, when Congress is held by the opposition party (Danowski, Univ. of Illinois-Chicago)

This is a conference worth tracking over the next few years -- next year's will be hosted by the University of Southern Denmark. Read more...