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Writing/Film Dear Aspiring Writers: The Worst Advice You'll Ever Read A Literary Look at I-State Lines Spirited Away: Decay and Renewal An American Poem (Robinson Jeffers) Taoist Chinese Poems The Nelson Touch "It's all about oil, isn't it?" Kurosawa's High and Low A Bountiful Mutiny Trois Colours: Red The Thin Man: Thoroughly Modern Movies Iranian Films: The Mirror A Real Pirate Movie: Captain Blood 2005-06 archives 2007 archives Recommended Books American Identity American Identity Literary Contest Winners, 2006 (fiction and essays) Hapas: The New America Can You Tell What I am? Part I Self-Reliance Your Tattoo in 50 Years The American House and Frank Lloyd Wright Cultural Commentaries On Hatred and Anti-Americanism French-Bashing Germany: We All Have Problems, But... Kroika! Chronicles This Blog Sells Out Doom and Gloom Sells The Kroika Mascot-"Auspicious Pet" Wal-Mart and Kroika Kroika and Starsbuck Take a Hit Kroika Ad 1 Kroika Ad 2 Kroika Ad 3 Kroika Ad 4 Kroika Makes Bid for Oreo (April 1) Unfolding Crises: Asia China: An Interim Report Shanghai Postcard 2004 Corruption and Avian Flu: China's Dynamic Duo Exporting the Real Estate Bubble to China Is the Bloom Off the China Rose? China Irony: Steel, Marx & Capital Curing The U.S. and China's Dysfunctional Relationship China and U.S. Inflation Trade with China: Making Out Like a Bandit Will the Housing Bust Take Down China? 2005-06 archives 2007 archives Battle for the Soul of America Katrina, Vietnam, Iraq: National Purpose, National Sacrifice Is This a Nation at War? A Nation in Denial That Price Isn't Cheap, It's Subsidized The Most Hated Company in America American Dream or American Nightmare? Obesity and Debt Immigration Ironies U.S. Healthcare: Working Toward a Real Solution A Drug Industry Running Amok Where There Is Ruin 2005-06 archives 2007 archives Financial Meltdown Watch What This Country Needs Is a... Good Recession Are We Entering the Next Age of Turmoil? Why Inflation Appears Low Doubling Down on 5-Card No-See-Um A Rickety Global House of Cards Unprecedented Risk 2 Could One Rogue Trader Bring Down the Market? Worried about Inflation? Stop Measuring It Huge Deficits and Huge Profits: Coincidence? > Three Snapshots of the U.S. Economy Comparing Nasdaq to Depression-Era Dow Derivatives: Wall Street Fiddles, Rome Smolders Financial Chickens Coming Home to Roost Is the Stock Market on the Same Planet as the Economy? The Housing-Recession-Oil-Healthcare Connection Could We Have Deflation and Inflation At the Same Time? Bankruptcy U.S.A.: Medicare, Greed and Collapse A Whiff of Apocalypse Where There Is Ruin II: Social Security 2005-06 archives 2007 archives Planetary Meltdown Watch The Immensity of Global Warming Housing Bubble Watch Charting Unaffordability A Monster of a Housing Bubble Hidden Costs of the Housing Bubble Housing Bubble? What Bubble? Housing Bubble II Housing Bubble III: Pop! Housing Market Demographics Housing: Catching the Falling Knife Five Stages of the Housing Bubble Derailing the Property Tax Gravy Train Bubbling Property Taxes Have You Checked Your Property Taxes Recently? Housing Bubble: Where's the Bottom? Housing Bubble: Bottom II The Coming Foreclosure Nightmare 1 How Many Foreclosures Will Hit the Market? Housing Wealth Effect Shifts Into Reverse Housing Bubble Bust Will Take Down the Global Economy The New Road to Serfdom: A Negative-Equity Mortgage The Housing-Savings-Recession Connection After the Bubble: How Low Will It Go? After the Bubble: Rents and Housing Values Why Post-Bubble Rents Matter After the Bubble: How Low Will We Go, Part II Housing: 10% Decline May Trigger Financial Ruin How to Buy a $450K Home for $750K The Growing Financial Risks of the Housing Bubble Construction Defects: The Flood to Come? Construction Defects Part II Who Gets Hammered in the 2007 Housing Bust Real Estate Bust: The Exhaustion of Debt What Happens When Housing Employment Plummets? One More Hole in the Housing Bubble: Insurance Welcome to Fantasyland: Housing's "Soft Landing" Why Is the Median House Price Still Rising? Why Median Prices Appear to be Rising? The Root Cause of the Housing Bubble Housing Dominoes Fall Twilight for Exurbia? Phase Transitions, Symmetry and Post-Bubble Declines Housing's Stairstep Descent 2005-06 archives 2007 archives Oil/Energy Crises Whither Oil? How much Is a Gallon of Gas Worth? The End of Cheap Oil The C.I.A., Oil and the Wisdom of Crowds The Flutter of a Butterfly's Wings? A One-Two Punch to a Glass Jaw Running Out Of Oil vs. Running Out of Cheap Oil 2005-06 archives 2007 archives Outside the Box How to Make a Favicon Asian Emoticons In Memoriam: Winky Cosmos The Wheeled Vagabonds Light-As-Air Pancake Recipe In a Humorous Vein If Only Writers Had Uniforms Opening the Kimono Happiness for Sale: Jank Coffee Ten Guaranteed Predictions for 2010 Why My Book Is Better Than the DaVinci Code My Brand Management Stinks Design Follies The New Jank Coffee Shop Jank Coffee, Upscale Tropic Style One-Word Titles Complacency Nostalgia Lifespans Praxis Keys to Affordable Housing U.S. Conservation & China Steve Toma, Me & Skil 77s: 30 years of Labor Real Science in the Bolivian Forest Deforestation and Sustainable Forestry The Solar Economy (book) 2005-06 archives 2007 archives Health, Wealth & Demographics Beauty of the Augmented (Korean) Kind Demographics and War The Healthiest Cold Cereal: Surprise! 900 Miles to the Gallon Are Our Cities Making Us Fat? Is Obesity an Inflammatory Response? Demographics & National Bankruptcy The Decline of Europe: A Demographic Done Deal? Are the Risks of Obesity Overstated? Healthcare: Unaffordable Everywhere Medication Nation The New Disease We Just Know You've Got Can You Can Tell Which Pill Is Fake? Bankruptcy U.S.A.: Medicare, Greed and Collapse The 10 Secrets to Permanent Weight Loss 2005-06 archives 2007 archives Landscapes Selling the Landscape The Downside of Density Building Heights and Arboral Roots Terroir: France & California L.A.: It's About Cheap Oil The Last Redwood Waimea Canyon, Yosemite, Camping & Pancakes Nourishment The French Village Bakery Ideas What Is Happiness? Our Education System: a Factory Metaphor? Understanding Globalization: Braudel Can You Create Creativity? Do Average People Know More Than Their Leaders? Iraqi Guangxi Splogs, Blogs and "News" "There is no alternative to being yourself" Is There a Cycle to War? Leisure, Time and Valentines Is the Web a Giant Copy Machine? Science Matters Anti-Missile Defense: Boost Phase Vulnerability History The Strolling Bones: Rock of Ages Bad Karma: Election Fraud 1960 Hiroshima: First Use All the Tea in China, All the Ginseng in America Friday Quiz Pet Obesity Human Diseases Wine and Alzheimers Biggest Consumers of Chocolate 2005-06 archives 2007 archives Essential Books The Misbehavior of Markets 
Boiling Point (Global Warming) 
Our Stolen Future: How We Are Threatening Our Fertility, Intelligence and Survival 
How We Know What Isn't So 
Fewer: How the New Demography of Depopulation Will Shape Our Future 
The Coming Generational Storm: What You Need to Know about America's Economic Future 
The Third Chimpanzee: The Evolution and Future of the Human Animal 
The Future of Life 
Beyond Oil: The View from Hubbert's Peak 
The Party's Over: Oil, War and the Fate of Industrial Societies 
Twilight in the Desert: The Coming Saudi Oil Shock and the World Economy 
The Solar Economy: Renewable Energy for a Sustainable Global Future 
The Dollar Crisis: Causes, Consequences, Cures 
Running On Empty: How The Democratic and Republican Parties Are Bankrupting Our Future and What Americans Can Do About It 
Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy Revised and Updated  .
The Fourth Turning 
Recommended Books More book reviews Archives: weblog November 2007 weblog October 2007 weblog September 2007 weblog August 2007 weblog July 2007 weblog June 2007 weblog May 2007 weblog April 2007 weblog March 2007 weblog February 2007 weblog January 2007 weblog December 2006 weblog November 2006 weblog October 2006 weblog September 2006 weblog August 2006 weblog July 2006 weblog June 2006 weblog May 2006 weblog April 2006 weblog March 2006 weblog February 2006 weblog January 2006 weblog December 2005 weblog November 2005 weblog October 2005 weblog September 2005 weblog August 2005 weblog July 2005 weblog June 2005 weblog May 2005 What's New, 2/03 - 5/05 
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Thank You, Contributors! December 31, 2007 / January 1, 2008 To my great astonishment, 215 of you have donated money to this site since I began accepting contributions last March. Only two of you are old friends; 30 of you chose to honor the site with multiple donations. 45 of you generously donated $50 or more. The $6,000 contributed by you, readers, has made a huge difference in this poor dumb writer's daily existence. This number far exceeded my modest expectations, as I reckoned a few dozen brave souls might respond and then the number of contributors would quickly drop to zero. Instead, you have continued to step up and donate throughout the year. This has been unexpected, humbling, and supremely encouraging. The site takes a lot of time, and I get hundreds of emails from readers which I try to answer in a timely fashion. (Illness and family business put me behind; please accept my apologies.) Thank you, readers, for your support. Thanks to you, it has been an amazing year here at oftwominds.com. The "two minds" are yours and mine; together they create this site. A number of things differentiate this site from the millions of other blogs and sites on the World Wide Web. Together, they have attracted an extremely thoughtful, experienced and erudite audience of contributors and readers which has grown from 14,000 unique visitors a month in January 2007 to 40-50,000 per month by year end. 1. The site has a diversity of voices and readers. According to the site logs, visitors from 101 nations have visited; perhaps more importantly, many essayists live elsewhere than the U.S.: John Kinsella (France), UKC and Mega (England) and Vera K. (Canada) to name a few. Within the U.S., comments come from Maine to Arizona to Texas to Florida and everywhere in between. Many of us have learned from the comments and charts provided by Harun I. 2. Readers provide key content: topics, critiques and commentaries. If a reader takes issue with some statement I've made, his or her comment is welcomed in Readers Journal. Many topics covered here are suggested by readers. 3. The focus is on writing, ideas, data and diversity of opinion. Good solid writing isn't a preserve of professional journalists; the quality of the writing posted here in Readers Journal is equal to or better than that found on any site. Read any essay by Michael Goodfellow or Protagoras or a dozen other contributors and you will be impressed. I know I am. Your humble editor (me) has been a professional free-lance writer for major newspapers and other publications for 20 years. I strive to share the diversity of opinions and experience offered by you, the readers and contributors, and to write as sharply and entertainingly as I can about the wide range of topics you suggest. Any reader who writes cogently on a topic is encouraged to share his/her work. Attacks, blind ideology, swearing and views unsupported by experience and/or data don't make it on the site. My guiding philosophy is simple: we all benefit from editing, and few of us have time to plow through 188 daily comments per blog (for example), most of which are repetitive or lacking in substance/value. I strive to be respectful of opposing views and I try to edit with a light hand, working from the notion that you'd rather read a few well-written comments and critiques in a few minutes than scan dozens of anonymous threads. Though poetry is largely ignored/has zero influence in American culture, I am proud to provide a forum for poetry, from Haiku by UKC or Jed H. to creative, thoughtful works long and short by Protagoras and Verona U. 4. You are spared the clutter and mindlessness of advertising. Given that the site has attracted almost 900,000 visits this year, I suppose it could generate some decent ad revenue, but I prefer the honesty of asking for donations to the constant barrage of marketing of products and services I mostly detest--and you probably do, too. 5. This is an experiment in what I call Open Source Journalism. Open source software is freely available for anyone who is not using it commercially. In this sense, the blogosphere and indeed the Web is "open source" except for those sites which charge subscriptions for "premium content." In other words, this site is free to you, and all data is sourced according to journalistic standards. Every commentator's email is known to me, though you are free to choose a name here for your comments which protects your own identity. There are no anonymous comments. Put another way: financial contributors to this site are supporting a free, responsible form of journalism and commentary which is supported not by faceless corporate advertisers but by actual individuals like yourself. Once you contribute money, topics or comments, you join/support this outpost of Open Source Journalism. What I love about this model is its complete democracy. Anyone is free to launch a blog, but attracting readers requires providing some content compelling enough for readers to invest precious time reading the content. I also think what separates oftwominds.com from other sites is the dynamic of readers being commentators. Other sites have "the usual suspects" (other journalists and academics) as commentators, but here anyone can be a featured commentator if they take a few moments to compose their thoughts/analysis cogently. I am unimpressed by credentials, as no doubt you are, too; what impresses me is a thoughtful presentation which draws upon either data or experience unique to the commentator. (I think of contributor Nurse Dorothy, who brings a frontline point of view to healthcare topics.) 6. This site is not a link-farm; the content and many of the charts are original (and copyrighted). Take, for instance, this chart I made a few months ago. It tells a very different story than the one hyped by the financial and mainstream press, i.e. "the credit crisis is limited to subprime mortgages." Not so fast--take a look at the data first. (You won't find this chart anywhere else, though the data is readily available.) 
7. The site seeks to surprise you with topics and ideas beyond the mainstream media and blogosphere. I'm as interested as the next bloke in finance, the stock market and the housing bubble, but every topic gets tiresome day after day. Hence, this site also covers films, literature, urban planning, nutrition, politics, history, energy, and a host of occasionally zany topics whose purpose is to enliven your day with the unexpected. 8. It's free--and it's all "premium content;" for better or for worse, it's my best work and the best of readers' work. Here is my craven pitch: {/end craven pitch} NOTE: contributions are humbly acknowledged in the order received. Thank you, Andrew J. ($20), for your generous support of this humble site. I am greatly honored by your readership. All contributors are listed below in acknowledgement of my gratitude. If you donate money now, you can read the site guilt-free for the rest of the year-- such a deal! Your readership is greatly appreciated with or without a donation. HUGE GIANT BIG FAT DISCLAIMER: Nothing on this site should be construed as investment advice or guidance. It is not intended as investment advice or guidance, nor is it offered as such. It is solely the opinion of the writer, who is NOT an investment counselor/professional. All the content of this website is solely an expression of his personal interests and is posted as free-of-charge opinion and commentary. If you seek investment advice, consult a registered, qualified investment counselor (As with any other professional service, confirm their track record and referrals). Thank You, Contributors! (December 31, 2007) The Stock Market: Poised on an Edge? (December 29, 2007) What "Lies" Ahead (Part II) (December 28, 2007) What Lies Ahead (December 27, 2007) Who Decides What Is Art? (December 26, 2007) The Christmas Letter I'd Like To See (December 25, 2007) Holiday Viewing and Readers Journal (December 20, 2007) Paging Mr. Scrooge (December 19, 2007) Bailout: Could Government Actually Be Part of the Solution? (December 18, 2007) Stock Market Santa Claus: Rally or Lump of Coal? (December 17, 2007) Reader Commentaries and Christmas Gift 'Hail Mary' (December 15, 2007) The Politics of Atomization (December 14, 2007) Feedback Loops of Doom III: Retail, Downtowns and Cash-Strapped Cities (December 13, 2007) Financial Worry, Health, and the Reverse Wealth Effect As Housing Pops (December 12, 2007) Feedback Loops of Doom: Healthcare, Taxes and Municipal Bankruptcy (December 11, 2007) The Unintended Consequences of the Housing Bubble Bursting (December 10, 2007) Muddling Through Malaise (December 7, 2007) Exhaustion, Jobs and Housing (December 6, 2007) Trends and Countertrends (December 5, 2007) Depression in America (December 4, 2007) The Economist Cover Dollar Indicator (December 3, 2007) When an Old Friend Takes Her Own Life (December 1, 2007) To view November entries, go to weblog November 2007. 
(insert brilliant marketing line here which instantly causes erudite readers to) Your readership is greatly appreciated with or without a donation. Heroes and Heroines of New Media Financial contributors who have made multiple donations to this modest site or a donation of $50 or more. If such a generous madness strikes you, I offer you a small token of my appreciation: a signed copy of my novel I-State Lines. Thank you for your ongoing support and encouragement.
Our Financial Contributors Thank you all for your gracious and generous support of this modest site.
I would be honored if you link any essay to your website, print a copy for your own use or add my RSS or Atom feed. And of course I appreciate your recommendations of this weblog and your comments: csmith@oftwominds.com. ![[Valid RSS]](valid-rss.png "Validate my RSS feed"){kind=small}
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wEssay noun, combination of 'web' and 'essay,' denoting a short online essay which exploits the hyperlinks, interfaces and interactive capabilities of the World Wide Web; coined by Charles Hugh Smith on May 1, 2005, in Berkeley California. Aphorisms I like: "Economic history is a never-ending series of episodes based on falsehoods and lies, not truths. It represents the path to big money. The object is to recognize the trend whose premise is false, ride that trend, and step off before it is discredited." (George Soros) "The way of the Tao is reversal." (Lao Tzu) "Chance favours the prepared mind.” (Louis Pasteur) "It is neither necessary to hope to undertake, nor to succeed to persevere." (French proverb) "You must have a willingness to do something when everyone else is petrified. You must learn the lesson of following logic over emotion." (Warren Buffett) "Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm." (Winston Churchill) "May a fair road always be open to you." (CHS, April 2, 2006) All content and images copyright © 2006 - 2007 Charles Hugh Smith, All rights reserved in all media, unless otherwise credited or noted.
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current issue Dec.'07
This Month's commentaries:
12/10/07 This Month's Journal Essays Elegy on the Death of Steve Jobs (poem, Protagoras, 12/15/07) Inflation and Deflation -- A Reader's Perspective (Gary G, 12/10/07) In Praise of Awk (Protagoras, 12/10/07) Suburbia, Jobs and Housing (Lloyd L., 12/10/07) Two Poems: Guilt and Hurt (Verona U., 12/10/07) RS archives: November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 November Essays/Poems Tryst Tropique (Verona U., 11/20/07) Electro Convulsive Therapy (Protagoras, 11/20/07) Death of a Countryman (Protagoras, 11/10/07) The Pattern of Financial Meltdown (Protagoras, 11/06/07) In Memory of Charles Prince, In Memory of Ken Lay (Protagoras, 11/06/07) R.D. Laing Part I (Protagoras, 11/01/07) October Essays Why can't they stop computer viruses? (Michael Goodfellow, 10/23/07) World War I: Recommended Books (Lloyd L., 10/23/07) NASA and the Warmest Year (Michael Goodfellow, 10/14/07) Another First For England (Protagoras, 10/14/07) Wherever you are (poem) (Protagoras, 10/14/07) Remembering the Mahatma Crucial Taunt Bring Me the Flesh of a Purple Habanero (poem) Protagoras Icons of my youth: Ezra Pound Protagoras It's not (just) a credit crunch Michael Goodfellow 40 Days In The Desert: Denial & Ephemeral Finance in Post-American Century John Grey Beyond Insurgency An End to Our War in Iraq Fabius Maximus (external link) September Essays Icons of my youth: Thomas Hardy Protagoras Icons of my youth: Sailing to Byzantium Protagoras In Praise of the Standing Lug Protagoras August Essays The Economic Significance of Unlimited Derivative Works in the Software Business by Protagoras In praise of the Santoku knife by Protagoras A Transcontinental Journey John Joss Kissing Frogs: The Greatest Risk (An author on writing) John Joss Peak Oil and Soil by Eric Andrews The Great Unraveling by Chuck D. The TQM Diet (satire) by Protagoras July Essays Loyalty, Impeachment and 'Supporting the President' by Harun I. Icons of my youth: Frank Leavis by Protagoras Equal Killing Rights (satire) by Protagoras June Essays Global Warming: Our Story So Far Michael Goodfellow The Hockey Stick Breaks by Protagoras Love in the Time of Syphilis by Protagoras May Essays What to do about Health Care? Michael Goodfellow Memo to the next UK Prime Minister by Protagoras Political Elites & Some Predictions Michael Goodfellow The Fort Dix Terror Plot by Harun I. The French Presidential Elections by John Kinsella Wal-Mart, disequilibria, and global economic dislocation by Harun I. The Recent UK Elections by Protagoras The Evolution of Social Behaviour by Protagoras Is Everybody Happy? Michael Goodfellow Memories of Lana'i by Bill Murath
Why I gratefully accept donations and why you might want to donate:
Worth Visiting: ilind.net Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis Marin Real Estate Bubble West Coast of Canada- Housing/R.E. blog Westside Bubble (L.A.) New York City Housing Bubble Mortgage Lender Implode-o-Meter (Aaron Krowne) California Housing Forecast Dr. Housing Bubble (SoCal) View from Silicon Valley Credit Flow Investor Prudent Speculation Market Ticker Rick's Picks Gold Eagle Econotech Great Depression 2006 Satellite Sky Free-the-Memes Policy/Ideas L.A. Visions Darrell Clarke transpo, planning Fabius Maximus geopolitics, modern war Authors/Artists John Francis Kinsella author/painter Sumpinein (blog) "Letter from Basque Country" Financial Armageddon Michael Panzner The Rhythm of War Terence Parker Bill Murath (chimes & art) James Howard Kunstler Don England Animals to Zombies (Dwight Rounds) The Year the Music Died, 1964-1972 
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Our retail policy: Nothing is for sale except books/films I recommend and my own novel I-State Lines (via links to Amazon.com and The Kaleidoscope: Our Focus Is You independent bookstore) Free alternative: find them at your local library. Though I earn a small commission on Amazon.com books and gift certificates and gold (BullionVault) purchased via links on my site, I receive no fees for any links, advertising or materials on my site. |
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