Unpopular Confession

I have to close confess that something that will not be popular her in the People's Republic of Massachusetts:

I would like the Patriots the lose the Super Bowl.

I used to root for them, even before I lived in the PRM. Now I have grown tired of their spoiled fans. I'm also tired of Tom Brady's act.

So on Sunday night, I expect them to win, but I will be pleased if they don't.

Now in addition to my long suffering Bears, I quietly pull for KC.

Sent from a TARDIS

The Many Faces of Trump Foreign Policy

I found on Lawyers, Guns and Money Blog some theories about what Trump foreign policy is going to be like.  I think the below is our best hope (honestly “The Buffoon.” is more likely).

“Mirror Universe Teddy Roosevelt.” Trump speaks loudly and carries… a small stick… in his freakishly small hands. He’s all bluster. US foreign policy will largely carry on as normal, under the watchful eye of Defense, State, and second-tier national-security staff. In fact, Trump’s barking might just get a few NATO countries to make token increases in their defense spending, or offer more subsidies for American troops.

It's pretty good and worth a read.  In fact, it's a good blog to read often.

Richard Thaler Book

My morning companion on my dark, cold walks, Barry Ritholtz and his Masters in Business podcast had on an interesting guest (that guest was on a year or more ago, because I am making my way through the backlog of podcasts he put up well before I found it).  That guest was Richard Thaler who is professor of economics at the University of Chicago.  Unlike his peers at the Booth School, Thaler is not an efficient market hypothesis disciple.  He's a behavioral economist (the Yin to their Yang).  He has a book out called Misbehaving.  It gets good reviews on Amazon.  I think I will add it to my long list of "to-read" books.

Traffic on the Way Home

Traffic on the way home tonight was strangely absent.  It's not been like that on a "typical" work day for some time.  I always wonder what causes these traffic anomalies.  As long as it causes the absence of traffic, I am all for it.

Two Minutes More Daylight Per Day Coming Soon

I looked it up yesterday, and on January 23 we get two more minutes of daylight every day.  I like how the rate of getting more daylight speeds up until the equinox and then begins to slow down as we head to the longest day.

Tracks in the Yard

I found these tracks win the yard yesterday.  I figure the one on bottom is a deer, but I don't know what the one on top is.  The deer must have walked around the entire yard last week on a day after it had been warm and the ground had gotten soft.  There is a place in the tracks where either the animal slipped or got startled and took off.  It's more of tear in the ground than a discrete track.

I showed the tracks to the kids, and they tracked the deer all over and into the neighbor's years where it must have stood and paced for a little bit.  We don't usually see deer in our yard unless it has been very cold and snow covered for a long time which would not describe this year.

Lunch Outside

Well, it was sunny and 45 degrees, so I decided to push it a little and have lunch outside.  It was a tad cool, but not too bad.  I have had a sinus infection (or some chronic mild congestion) which the cold did not help at all.  The coming week is supposed to be nice, but not so nice that I will probably try to eat outside.  Nonetheless, it has been pleasant to have a few nice days in January.

I say that with a little trepidation, because the year we had record-setting snowfalls, it didn't get bad until the end of January then it didn't get a whole lot better until late May. All we can do is hope.