The book focuses on the title month, April 1865, tracing the remarkable events that ultimately – but not inevitably – concluded the Civil War. From Lee’s surrender to Lincoln’s assassination, from Johnston’s insubordination to Booth’s capture; Winik faithfully reconstructs the tension and uncertainty that surrounded those upon whom the fate of the nation rested.

Diego Maradona has promised to run naked through the center of Buenos Aires if Argentina wins the World Cup.

The Argentina coach made the promise during a radio show. The unpredictable Maradona was speaking a day after Argentina defeated Canada 5-0 Monday in its final warm-up match before the World Cup.

via 2010 World Cup: Diego Maradona will run naked through Buenos Aries if Argentina wins World Cup – ESPN Soccernet.

Despite the gravity of the book, it fit the bill for a quick easy read. Being juvenile fiction helped, too. I’ve got the second book, Catching Fire, on the shelf, and the final book, Mockingjay, is due out this August.

The basic premise: The world is getting better… it just won’t feel like it. Globalization is speeding up the rate of change in nearly every aspect of life. Fortunately, these changes are making life better for most people around the world. Unfortunately, the stress that constant change creates is making it hard to recognize that fact.

Per his usual style, Easterbrook writes well and with a fair dose of wit. He is too liberal to be liked by Republicans; he would support universal health care. Likewise, he is too libertarian to be liked by Democrats; I think he would argue most subsidy programs are a waste. This elusiveness is one of the qualities that draws me to him.

Read the book, and when the NFL restarts read the column.

NB – In Sonic Boom, Easterbrook makes the case that team sports, football in particular, make positive contributions to future academic and professional success. He cites things like cooperation, communication, and preparation as qualities encouraged by participating in sports.

All good points that I don’t disagree with, but following his line of reasoning it occurs to me that the pending Sonic Boom may just sow the seeds of football’s demise and soccer’s rise in America. The world is becoming decentralized. Global institutions are largely uncommanded. The rate of change is ever accelerating. In such an environment the ability to improvise and adapt is at least as important as the ability to execute – if not more so.

This describes soccer more than football. Football is a centralized game in which a team of coaches plan extensively and then equip their players to execute the plan to exacting requirements. During the game each play is chosen by the coach and dictated from the sideline. Any mid-game adjustments are devised by the coaching staff and implemented top-down.

Soccer, on the other hand, is essentially an improvisational game. True, coaches scout the competition, devise a game plan, run practices, and set the starting line-up. But once the game starts, there is very little a coach can do to influence the outcome. At the highest levels a coach can substitute only three of the eleven starting players, several of whom are unlikely to speak the same language. (This year, Liverpool FC were coached by a Spaniard and regularly played individuals from 14 nations and three continents.) To be successful, the players must coordinate and organize themselves. They must adapt to a rapidly changing game situation and determine the best route to success without the benefit of huddles and timeouts – all while their opponent is attempting to do the exact same thing! This sounds a lot like the Sonic Boom to me.

Planet Money Question of the Day: Would you invest your retirement savings in a fund managed by Goldman Sachs?

The short-answer: Not a chance.

A few more extended thoughts.

The mention some new “target-date funds that would provide guaranteed income in retirement.” I wonder if this is just an awkward phrasing for Goldman Sachs-branded target-date funds that are just like the others already out there (i.e. funds whose risk portfolio and asset mix changes automatically over time), or if these are some sort of new, annuity-type product with genuine future-income guarantees.

Goldman Sachs is also promoting funds that invest asset classes that the average 401(k) participant has no business dabbling in. The professionals might know enough about them; you and I don’t, so it’s best to just stay away. They might sound trendy and sophisticated, but if no other lesson is taken from recent Market Mischief, let us take this one:

Finally, they may draw book-keeping and marketing distinctions between their “market maker” function and their asset management business, but I don’t. Values matter; corporate culture is pervasive; and the ability of people  and institutions to compartmentalize is grossly overrated. A somewhat crass analogy, if I may: Would you marry a drug dealer? I hear he’ll take real good care of you when he’s not peddling crack on the playground.

For the record, I wouldn’t put my money with Fidelity, either, and so far I haven’t heard their name mentioned in any of the recent shenanigans. As I say above: Whether we win or lose, they win. That’s how they designed the system.

via Would You Trust Goldman Sachs With Your 401(k)? – Planet Money Blog : NPR.

“There’s a reason elite schools speak of training leaders, not thinkers—holders of power, not its critics.”

via Marginal Revolution: Sentences to ponder.

DJIA Graph - Afternoon, 6 May 2010

See that big dip, right there about 2:45? Know what caused it? Do you have any idea what suddenly discovered bit of information caused those companies to become 5% less valuable… for nearly 10 whole minutes!

Yeah, me neither. And I bet you won’t find anyone else who can give a reasonable answer. Should I decide to take up gambling, I think I’ll stick to dogs or ponies; both are cuter than stock certificates.

[UPDATE]

Leading theories at the moment include anxiety over Greece, a computer glitch, and someone entering a P&G trade with his or her toes. A ten-minute panic attack? A sudden and previously unrevealed glitch in an otherwise normal day? Nah… Door #3 seems most likely to me.

Regardless, a 1000 point drop for no substantive reason ought to scare the hell out of a lot of us. Baby-boomer Robert Reich seems wisely worried:

Regardless of why it happened, it’s further evidence that the nation’s and the world’s capital markets have become a vast out-of-control casino in which fortunes can be made or lost in an instant — which would be fine except for the fact that most of us have put our life savings there. Pension funds, mutual funds, school endowments — the value of all of this depends on a mechanism that can lose a trillion dollars in minutes without anyone having a clear idea why. So much of the market now depends on computer programs and mathematical models that no one fully understands, so much trading is in the hands of a few people whose fat thumbs or momentary carelessness might sink the economy, so much of global wealth now depends on who can move their money quickest at the slightest provocation — that we are toying with financial disaster every day. The luck or foolishness of a few traders, and inside knowledge and information that some possess and others don’t, combined with ultra high-speed computers, put us all at the whim of a system whose risk is way out of proportion to any public benefits. (Robert Reich – The (Almost) Crash of Wall Street)

Self-regulating markets… I don’t think so. An empty coffee can is looking better and better to me.

More info: Planet Money – Maybe It Wasn’t Just Greece

Here is the ultimate irony of the divided life: live behind a wall long enough, and the true self you tried to hide from the world disappears from your own view!

via Bob Carlton @ The Corner.

Life begins in the second mile
Will we dare to step across the line
If it is where He leads us

via Songs from the Office – Episode #12 – Life Begins « Ben Chilcote.