Duh! of the day

Welcome to a new feature I am calling "Duh!" of the day.

Obama collected a total of $130,000 from AIG in 2008,
while McCain accepted a total of $59,499.

Quote from ABC News

Pointer from my book boyfriend Tyler Cowen

Impressed?

Several years ago I read Snobbery: The American Version by Joseph Epstein where he described a scenario of a man stuck in traffic. The man spied a "My son attends UCLA" bumper sticker and thought "what a schmuck" because his own car bumper sticker proudly declared "My son attends Harvard".

Snobbery has many levels.

My book boyfriend Tyler Cowen, author of Discover Your Inner Economist, writes about "signaling" as a kind of personal advertising. He says the cost or difficulty is the whole point of signaling and it is the reason why signaling sends an effective message. If flowers were free, or everyone knew the right kind to send, most women would not be very thrilled to get them. And if everyone could work their way through Harvard Business School with ease, the degree wouldn't mean so much.

But here is my favorite part of the passage:
In elite British boarding schools it is considered desirable to receive either top marks or very bad marks. The stupid people are thought to be clustered in the middle. They tried to do well and failed. They couldn't figure out that it would have looked better not to try in the first place.

Not trying that hard and now proud of it,
I am,
SkitzoLeezra

Must be nice

Never knew how to respond to folks that said, "must be nice" when you mentioned an upcoming vacation or such. Not a fan of braggarts myself so careful not to be one, thus, the "must be nice" thing takes me by surprise. Awkward in the beginning, now I just answer, "Yes, it is."
I am truly happy when my friends receive good news or cool rewards and I don't consider myself to be a jealous person but if I truly am envious, I own up to it. "I covet your brand new Super 2000 embroidery machine with 976 stitch options" but never would I say "must be nice".
And you shouldn't either. It makes you seem small.
Nor should you talk about the price of items. It is crass. LocalRichBitch stopped by her/my hair salon to show the gay hairstylist her chosen wallpaper for her new McMansion. Nevermind that she interrupted him doing MY hair. The paper was garish by my standards but he told her it was nice. Loudly she exclaimed, "Nice? Of course, it is nice. It should be nice at $400 a roll."
Oh my gosh, I almost fell out of chair. That behavior is so gross and reveals so much about her. Not good things.
Cut to my Book Boyfriend Tyler Cowen. He writes about "signals"in his book "Discover Your Inner Economist: Use Incentives to Fall in Love, Survive Your Next Meeting, and Motivate Your Dentist". We signal every time we incur a cost to send a message about ourselves to the outside world. Signaling is a kind of personal advertising. An example of counter-signaling is when the very rich dress like bums.
My Book Boyfriend goes on to say that reporting good news can make a person look bad. If we look anxious to reveal good news, our listeners assume that we don't often have good news. Tyler asks if Bill Gates goes home at night to tell his wife he earned a lot of money that day? Did Michael Jordan need to tell his friends every time he scored 30 points in a game? Sooner or later the good news will come out and even better if it is carried by a third party.

Hope all your news is good and your enemies hear it from someone else.

Tyler Cowen, my book boyfriend

My book boyfriend linked to me! ~~swoon~~
Because he is more technologically astute than I, he already knew I was blogging about him!! AND he linked to me on his blog. WOoHOo!

Out of consideration, I sent him notice that I was linking to his academic web page.

Hi ya Tyler Cowen!
Loved reading your book and have mentioned it in my blog a few times; even referred to ya as my "book boyfriend". Don't worry!! I have a radio boyfriend, TV boyfriend, etc. Anywho, here's the link to blog entries about you, should you like to peruse.
Keep on keepin' on, I tell ya!
SkitzoLeezra

THEN I got this little love note from the illustrious Mr. Tyler Cowen:

Your blog is excellent and in fact just a few days ago I linked to your series of posts on me...so many others have seen it too. Keep up the blogging, I enjoy reading! Tyler

I am the happiest girl in the whole USA!

My book boyfriend says

Tyler Cowen, author of "Discover Your Inner Economist" and my book boyfriend of late, wrote that in the art world, there is a price hierarchy for animals. Paintings of purebred dogs cost more than a mongrel. Spaniels more than collies, etc. Here's the funny part: when it comes to game birds, the more expensive it is to shoot the bird, the more it adds to the value. Thus, a grouse is worth more than a mallard. Well, I gotta tell ya, for me, a plain old monkey is okay but give me an oil painting of a monkey in period clothing and maybe some head wear? Well, I am all over that.

Words of wisdom from my book boyfriend

Tyler Cowen quotes economist Robert Hall,

"If you haven't ever missed a plane,

you spend too much time

waiting around in airports."

My book boyfriend says

Tyler Cowen, my new (imaginary) boyfriend and author of Discover Your Inner Economist: Use Incentives to Fall in Love, Survive Your Next Meeting, and Motivate Your Dentist gets it. He understands that most women want diamonds and other stuff that guys think to be stoopid. He writes "the best gifts are often those that we, as gift givers, do not ourselves value very much."

EVERYone should consider and remember it when Christmas, birthdays and anniversaries roll around. Sure, it is more fun to purchase a gift that you, yourself, would love to have but the more considerate gift is the one that you couldn't give a rat's ass about.

Tiffany key chain, Slatkin candle, sterling silver mint julep cup- WooHoo!
Rod and reel, gun case - fine, whatever.

My new boyfriend

My friend Lynn and I refer to guys as our new boyfriends, usually with a specific sub-heading, as in my TV boyfriend, my RADIO boyfriend, my MOVIE boyfriend, etc. I have a new BOOK boyfriend. He is married but no matter. His name is Tyler Cowen and he is the author of "Discover Your Inner Economist: Use Incentives to Fall in Love, Survive Your Next Meeting, and Motivate Your Dentist"
He plays a version of my Sears Wish book game, selecting art for yourself and asking why. Tyler claims, when visiting a museum or art gallery, "that dealing with the scarcity of our attention is more important" than being so sophisticated that we think the Sears Wish book game to be crass or materialistic.
PLUS, my new book boyfriend wrote that putting the toilet seat down is a symbolic recognition of his honey's value. Awww, who couldn't love a romantic guy like that?