“Proclaiming the Good News to All"
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Mr. Spock, Don Draper and the Undoing Project – Lessons for Investment Managers and Asset Allocators
August 2017 Mr. Spock, Don Draper and The Undoing Project – Lessons for Investment Managers and Asset Allocators TINA BYLES WILLIAMS CIO & CEO but are susceptible to certain biases. They then spent 30 plus years researching these biases through both thoughtfulness and experimentation which ultimately led to the development of a new field called Behavioral Economics. Lewis chronicles their journey brilliantly by detailing the duo’s work, relationship and thinking. One interesting aspect of the story is that economists did not wel- Michael Lewis’s latest book, The Undoing Project, tells the story come the new school of thought with open arms. Rather, they of Daniel Khanneman and Amos Tversky, two Israeli psycholo- defended their rationality assumptions so that the foundation of gists who studied how people make decisions and in the pro- their models would not be undone. However, Khanneman and cess changed the way many economists think. As good deci- Tversky were persistent in their quest, designing experiments sion making is at the core of good investment management, we to test their theories. Their experiments were built around un- thought it useful to spend some time on the topic, and hopefully derstanding why people made specific decisions. They gave in the process, shed some light on how good investment man- people problems to solve or choices to make and found that agers make decisions. people more often did not make the optimal or rational choice. What Khaneman and Tversky’s work showed was that humans’ First some background. Prior to Khanneman and Tversky the decision making process was fallible. -
Eternal and Loving God, I Pray That the Words of My Mouth, and the Meditations of All Our Hearts, Will Be Acceptable to You, O Lord, Our Rock and Our Redeemer
Please pray with me… Eternal and loving God, I pray that the words of my mouth, and the meditations of all our hearts, will be acceptable to you, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen. So-Called Gods, a sermon in response to Mark 1:21-28, 1 Corinthians 8:1-13, and Deuteronomy 18:15-20, by Scot McCachren at the First Presbyterian Church of East Hampton, January 31, 2021. What is happiness? It depends on whom you ask. For Don Draper, happiness is something that can sell anything. Draper is the main character of the TV drama called “Mad Men,” which took place throughout the decade of the 60’s. He’s a cynical advertising executive with a knack for boiling anything down to its marketable essence – and subtly manipulating the buying public to respond as he desires. He dismisses real, wholesome, intrinsic human values. And that shows in his definition of “happiness:” “You know what happiness is? Happiness is the smell of a new car. It’s freedom from fear. It’s a billboard on the side of the road that screams reassurance that whatever you are doing is okay. You are okay.” +++ Draper is so good at what he does because he instantly recognizes our idols – or, as Paul calls them, our SO-CALLED GODS – Draper recognizes them and then uses them to his advantage. +++ What about love? Well, first of all, he knows that when we think about love, we aren’t really thinking about the agape love we see in our Holy Scriptures. -
Preaching Scripture Faithfully 47
Preaching Scripture Faithfully 47 Preaching Scripture Faithfully BY CHRISTINE T. MC SPADDEN How can we preach and hear Scripture faithfully in today’s post-imperial-Christian, relativistic, poly-vocal milieu? Despite the challenges, we can appropriate the sacred texts in a refreshed way that allows the power of God’s Word to transfigure, convert, and create. s an art director on Madison Avenue, my job involved presenting to clients and selling them on products, concepts, and ideas. Much like ADon Draper of Mad Men fame, I was charged with crafting a cohesive message and then communicating that message in a creative and compelling way that could be heard in the vernacular of my audience, in order to convert perspectives and ignite desires. Hundreds of pitches honed my skills. Hours of public speaking steeled my nerves. But the first time I climbed the stairs of a pulpit to preach a sermon, my knees buckled, my heart raced, my hands perspired, and my confidence flagged. Up to this point, my presentations espoused the advantages of whitening agents and moisturizing compounds, credit card acceptance and softness assurance. Never had the stakes been so high as when I mounted those steps to proclaim Christ crucified and risen, who was, and is, and will be forever. More absorbent diapers or age-defying micro beads had nothing on the power of the living God to heal, reconcile, enliven, and transform. Given the privilege to preach, entrusted to proclaim the Word of God, I found myself awestruck by the task. Twenty years later, I find myself no less daunted by this vocational prerogative. -
Untitled [Jacqueline Castledine on the Racial Imaginary Of
Kate A. Baldwin. The Racial Imaginary of the Cold War Kitchen: From Sokol'niki Park to Chicago's South Side. Hanover: Dartmouth College Press, 2016. xviii + 236 pp. $45.00, paper, ISBN 978-1-61168-863-4. Reviewed by Jacqueline Castledine Published on H-Diplo (August, 2016) Commissioned by Seth Offenbach (Bronx Community College, The City University of New York) The fairly recent marriage of US diplomatic Schwartz nonetheless raised a significant ques‐ and cultural history has been a rocky one. Al‐ tion on the minds of many. “What if the cultural though they claim different antecedents, both turn is really a huge detour,” he asked, “and not took current form in nineteenth-century Europe one of those nice detours through beautiful and are intently focused on issues of power, most scenery and picturesque small towns, but one of notably who has it and how it is used. On the sur‐ those nasty detours that takes you miles out of face these similarities suggest the solid foundation your way?”[1] Kate Baldwin’s The Racial Imagi‐ for a happy union, yet a significant divide be‐ nary of the Cold War Kitchen: From Sokol’niki tween the two felds was created in the latter Park to Chicago’s South Side may help to relieve decades of the twentieth century when a number the fears of those who continue to question of cultural historians embraced postmodern theo‐ whether cultural studies enriches diplomatic his‐ ry, and in particular its suggestion that there is no tory or pulls it off course. such thing as universal truth.