twinsoxmedia

Musings on the media industry, life with twins and the Boston Red Sox

[twinsox-blog]

After dinner fun for twins. Lets stand 10 feet apart and chuck a nerf ball at each other.

[twinsox-blog]

Back From Summer Vacation

1) As my generation enters its mid-forties, the hastily made tattoo decisions of the grunge era are becoming more apparent. 

2) If I ever have to go on the lamb, I have a new potential hold out. If I'm not here, than I'm here.

3) I am thrilled to return to a world where we don't interview caddies or discuss the sexual orientation of muppets.

4) My Dad still has a better throwing arm than I do at age 73. Wasn't sure we'd be doing this again at this time last summer. 

5) Yummy. 

[twinsox-blog]

THE OBAMA FACTOR - Americans have never fully appreciated what a radical thing we did — in the eyes of the rest of the world — in electing an African-American with the middle name Hussein as president. I’m convinced that listening to Obama’s 2009 Cairo speech — not the words, but the man — were more than a few young Arabs who were saying to themselves: “Hmmm, let’s see. He’s young. I’m young. He’s dark-skinned. I’m dark-skinned. His middle name is Hussein. My name is Hussein. His grandfather is a Muslim. My grandfather is a Muslim. He is president of the United States. And I’m an unemployed young Arab with no vote and no voice in my future.” I’d put that in my mix of forces fueling these revolts. Thomas Friedman

This Is Just The Start

[twinsox-blog]

Daryll & Daryll meet the Twins

Standing on a frozen lake in Ludlow, VT, my daughters met members of a part of American culture they had never encountered in their relatively sheltered Greenwich life - real, authentic country boys. I may still wear flannel and tell stories about growing up in the woods but I traded in my country boy status when I ordered my first bottle of cabernet.

These guys were the real deal. Wearing Carhartt overalls and non-ironic John Deere baseball hats, they entertained Casey and Saylor with tales of falling through the ice, laughing about what seemed a terrifying thought. They were fishing for trout for the state trout tournament later that day. When one of them pulled a small perch through the ice and calmly dropped it back, my girls' mouths were agape, not sure if they should be scared.

It was something completely foreign only 4 hours away from their house. They don't realize there was a point in my life where that could have been me. 

[twinsox-blog]

See how quickly budget issues turn into culture wars? That’s the road to gridlock. We have to keep in mind that these issues are ultimately about money even though the combatants always like to pretend they’re fighting for morality. It’s possible to split the difference on how much people contribute to their health insurance. Things will turn rotten as we start to see this as a holy war. - David Brooks

Budget Wars or Culture Wars?

[twinsox-blog]

Ready, Fire, Aim - when you assume, you make an assange out of you and me

I think my favorite part about Julian Assange's newfound fame is his depiction on SNL. Hysterical and we need a good villain to mock from time to time. Apart from that, not much to like.

"Oh, but's he's shown the power of the press to throw open the door to hypocrisy around the world," you say.

Really, is that what he's done? 'Cause I don't see a lot of journalism going on here. I see a reckless kid with a dangerous toy.

Imagine you live next to a big deep forest, with thousands of trees blocking your view of what's happening beyond the first layer. One day, you take out your gun, look into the forest and, seeing nothing, fire a couple shots. Probably it's harmless. You scare a few birds, and put a hole in a pine tree, no problem. 

But, you never checked to see if your neighbors' kids were out there playing. Sometimes they are. Are they right now? You don't know.

From the surface, the diplomatic cables seem merely embarrassing. Frankly, they most likely are. But, can an informed person who has the background information connect the dots and do actual harm? Maybe. I don't know and most importantly, neither does Mr. Assange. A journalist would have taken the information and asked questions, found answers and maybe proceeded to publish the information anyway. 

When Wikileaks published this information blindly, it fired a gun into the woods and had no idea what was past the first row of trees.

[twinsox-blog]

MVP - what is valuable?

Every year at this time Keith Law disparages those who think an MVP should come from a contending team. Most of the opinionated on that side come to the table without any logical arguments for their point of view. For that reason they deserve his sarcasm.

I'd like to propose an analytical, economics-based argument for that pov.

Context impacts value in every transaction. A dollar today is not worth a dollar tomorrow, a dollar in the US is not worth a dollar in Italy. Similarly, a player on a losing team, is worth less than a player with the same level of performance on a winning team. Why? Because the only thing that has value for the team is winning. All of the inputs to winning have zero value by definition if the team does not win. 

Example - Suppose Keith and I both enter a used book store to buy a first edition copy of Master & Margarita. We both want it desperately and we want nothing else in the store at all. The store owner is willing to sell the copy to the highest bidder. Keith has a $10 bill, 2 $5 bills and 5 $1 bills. I have a $20 bill and 4 $1 bills. 

What is the single most valuable piece of currency between the two of us? I argue it is the $10 in your pocket. He gets the book, I've got nothing. 

If you can't exchange your currency for goods and services you want they are just green paper. If you can't exchange Hits and Outs for wins, they are equally useless.