Molly Seidel—Tough As Nails Millennial

Posted on by
Reply

If I had a dollar for every time one of my Baby Boomer peers bashed Millenials as lazy and soft I could afford to retire. In Monaco.

Don’t read this profile of Molly Seidel if you want to continue to wallow in uninformed, negative assumptions about an entire generation of young adults.

For me, Seidel’s story stitches together almost everything I’ve learned about mental health and subjective well-being from my Millennial writers over the last two decades. Put differently, her story is about much, much more than professional running.

Seidel, the second American and eighth overall in yesterday’s Chicago Marathon, qualified for the Paris Olympics next summer. More importantly, she had fun and felt great about her performance.

‘There Is No Safe Place To Run To’

Posted on by
Reply

From NPR.

“Palestinian Health Ministry Director-General Dr. Medhat Abbas told NPR on Sunday that there is no safe place to run to in Gaza.

His pregnant daughter, who is a doctor herself, was unable to run on foot after she received warning of an incoming Israeli airstrike on a home near hers. He said she called him panicking, unsure what to do. He advised her to lean crouch by a wall. He said these are the conditions residents in Gaza face, and that the hospitals are not prepared with enough hospital beds nor stocked well enough for war.

‘They say we have not started yet, we have not started yet. What’s the meaning of they will start? We don’t know what will happen if they will start,’ he said, referring to Israel’s response thus far. ‘Are they planning for a big massacre in Gaza? I don’t know. But they are only civilians who will pay for that.'”

Cullen Roche on Michael Lewis and Sam Bankman Fried

Posted on by
Reply

A concise and cogent explanation of why Lewis’s SBF story is so problematic.

“SBF is not an effective altruist. Michael Lewis has been a literary hero of mine for decades. Liars Poker was a book that both excited me about getting into the financial services industry and also made me deeply question the motives of people in the financial services industry. So I was surprised this week to see Lewis doing a book tour and framing Sam Bankman Fried as a good person who just flew too close to the sun. He even went so far as to distance SBF from Bernie Madoff.

I have a take a deep breath here because this one actually makes me mad. SBF is exactly how most Bernie Madoff’s start. The only difference is that SBF got caught quickly. You see, most financial services ponzi schemes start with good intentions. It’s usually someone with dreams of generating huge returns running a fancy strategy that blows up. It often involves commingling client funds with firm funds. And in an effort to climb out of the hole they exploded they oftentimes make things worse. And before you know it this well-meaning person is in a financial hole so deep that they have almost no choice but to try to continue digging in the hope that no one ever asks for the shovel. In the case of SBF people asked for the shovel quickly. In the case of Bernie Madoff it took 20 years for people to ask for enough shovels to realize that he was digging with his hands.

I’m a little disheartened by the Lewis commentary because he’s trying to diminish the severity of what happened here by claiming that SBF ran a good business on one side and got into hot water in an unrelated hedge fund. Okay, but this is precisely what Madoff did. Madoff Securities was one of the largest and most innovative market makers on Wall Street for many decades. They ran a large and legitimately great business. They were also commingling client funds and running the fraud in accounts on the side. This is almost exactly what SBF was allegedly doing.

This kills me because the lack of compliance is so egregious that it’s inexcusable. I don’t care that Sam or Bernie seemed like good guys. They were negligent about compliance and commingling of funds. According to Lewis, SBF treated everything like a game inside his unregulated casino. But this is exactly why casinos (and financial firms) need to be regulated. SBF isn’t just a guy who flew too close to the sun. He’s as prone to irrationality as the rest of us and that’s why sensible regulations need to exist. There’s no excuse for this sort of thing to be happening in an age where third party firewalls are the easiest first line of defense in finance.”

File this under “Michael Lewis. . .it’s more difficult to stay on top, than to get there.”

Related.

Claremont McKenna Rakes It In

Posted on by
Reply

The private liberal arts college in Los Angeles wanted to raise $800 million over their recently completed eight year fundraising campaign, but overshot their target and raised $1 billion. The Los Angeles Times story goes on to say “nearly 1.1 billion”. What’s an extra $80-$90 million when you’re talking billions. Just round down to lessen the chances of Congressional oversight.

How did they do it?

“More than 12,000 donors contributed to the campaign, representing about two-thirds of the college alumni. The median gift was $220, with 90% of all donations less than $5,000. But 89 supporters contributed more than $1 million. . . .”

There does not appear to be any plan to increase enrollment. So the haul equates to approximately $770,000 for every one of their 1,300 students.

There are two certain ripple effects. . . pun intended. Michelle Chamberlain, Claremont McKenna’s Vice President of Advancement and Student Opportunities, will receive several job offers and will see significant salary increases if she opts to stay. And the new aquatic center is going to be lit.

Unbridled Joy

Posted on by
2

I’m usually proud to be an American, but my identity isn’t tied too closely to my U.S. citizenship. Simply put, I don’t put as much emphasis on political boundaries as most people.

Which is why watching the preeminent event in the preeminent sport always leaves me befuddled, wondering whom to root for.

This year I was pulling for the homeboys because after Friday morning’s ass whupping, they were serious underdoggies. Often though, I pull for the Euros because they want it SO much more. Their collective identity is so damn compelling that I just get caught up in it. The U.S. side talks the “team” talk, but never walk it anything like the Euros. For proof, track down the vids shot from inside the Euros’ team bus after yesterday’s victory. THAT’s how you celebrate.

The event’s intensity has me thinking about attending the next Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black in New York in 24 months. Even more so, I want to attend the 2027 edition in Limerick, Ireland. Who wants to join me? My plan is to hide my passport, have a few beers, dress up like one of the Euro fans, and get RIGHT in the middle of it. The only problem is I will probably be outed once I speak or sing.

Oh yes, there’s lots of singing. And yes, you’re right, that probably means no one will volunteer to join me.