I really hope this isn't the first in a long line of "kids today!" posts.
Things are changing for Net-a-Porter.
Here is a likely better profile/interview of Thomas Sowell than what you read.
Notwithstanding the data provided here, I'd still like to play Monopoly with my kids, if only to enjoy the moment described by Louis CK in the embedded video. (Also, I've never heard of those other board games.)
I want to make these two recipes when I get back.
How far down is "paying associates more" on the list of things to do with extra money?
Responses:
1. Not sure I can endorse the heavy rosé emphasis, but there's plenty to like about a culinary trip to France.
2. Have you watched The League? It's one of my favorite shows, but 1) it's about fantasy football, 2) it's a touch vulgar, and 3) it's probably not for you. (That said, I got the same three shows.)
3. That's a great idea. I think smartphones can make us safer (even if they usually just make us dumber).
4. On the first post, the bit at the end (being constantly worried that something mysterious will come and take all my money) is something I occasionally freak out about. Having the emergency fund helps, but it's still a lingering feeling that's hard to turn completely off. The Cracked article (not to mention her sisters) reminds me of my siblings and mom and dad's family. I think we were evicted at least 4 times when I was a kid, and my dad definitely had issues paying the power bill, but likely because at least in part of my personality, I always looked at them and said (sometimes aloud, sometimes just to myself), "You're doing it wrong." I probably over-manage my budget because of this. On the second post, WE ARE NOT LIVING LIKE THAT. My student loan debt is firmly under control. We are not poor. We can have two cars (or live in a place where we can walk to eat dinner).
5. The stuff about domestication is the most interesting part to me. It randomly came up in the remake of Cosmos.
6. Not sure what to do with this information...
7. One of us! One of us!
8. I'm procrastinating from doing my DTEs by reading an article about procrastination. Part of the reason that I'm procrastinating is that I feel guilty and anxious about doing my time entries. I'm anxious because I didn't do a good job of recording them for the last week, and I feel guilty because that means my entries won't be as precise. But the other reason for both is that I took (in my view) way too long to do the work, sometimes procrastinating in the middle of the work, so my time entries are vague and also involve large, possibly indefensible chunks of time. I procrastinated on the initial work because it's hard to focus on it for long enough to get it done. Oh, what a mess...
R2R:
1. In a nutshell, it changes the rules of society from punishing objective offense, which requires people to have common ground with respect to the fundamental rules and norms of society and to try to have a dialogue about how we should communicate with each other, to punishing subjective offense, which allows people to make it up as they go and allows people to decline to learn from each other or work with each other. It's why these requests for "dialogue" are anything but.
2. Investors won't lend to students who they think will screw them on the payment. Obviously the future is hard to predict, but so it is with unsecured debt of all kinds (e.g. why not buy a whole bunch of flights on your credit card and, when they come to collect your property, you don't have any?). Also, that strategy is kinda like shooting yourself in the foot. If you truly want to pursue a life of no income, then good luck getting a loan at the outset, but presumably, you want to maximize your income, and you still get to keep the vast majority of what you earn. The vast majority of students just want to go to college and seek gainful employment so they can have families and enjoy their lives. All this said, I do agree that these loans would probably work best with in-state tuition payments, where the amounts are not going to be insane. I suspect this is how investors would prefer them (unless you promise to do something lucrative). Also, if the school itself invests, there is your incentive to reduce costs in order to maximize your return.
4. The 4% number is meant to suggest that it is not the case that Asia necessarily looks like Asian-Americans with respect to education. I suspect that, as the article suggests, highly educated Chinese people can (and often do) more easily immigrate to the United States for better opportunities, etc., and their kids have a similar level of educational attainment to their parents. If the vast majority (or even a simple majority) of Chinese students in China were smart enough to enroll at TJ and do well, then we would have scrapped our system for theirs years ago. Instead, I think there is selection bias that perhaps has created a (positive?) stereotype for all Asians in America. With, of course, the rest of the caveats in the article. I don't know what people will take away from the article, but the takeaway should be that Asian-Americans do well because of factors that are independent of their Asian heritage.
5. Have you been to Bodo's?
R2R2R:
2. I'm a little different from the described INTJ in that I don't just spew logic or information (I make specific arguments, though maybe it's because I've been to law school, my knowledge isn't narrow (I've always liked the expression "jack of all trades, master of none," except modified to be a master of one or two), I don't attack the person (I always attack the argument unless there is strong reason to believe it is pretextual, in which case I just disengage), and more generally, I'm a little more social then these descriptions suggest. For you, I think the differences are a little more pronounced
5. Unless the law changes, your best option will almost always be what your employer provides, if only because they provide it to you as an non-taxable benefit. I pay $0 in premiums per year, and any plan on an exchange or elsewhere will be significantly more than that, plus co-pays, co-insurance, etc.
R2R2R2R:
1. I suspect that any "mom" committee would be flawed from conception. I mean, the Cris Carter comments happened during the Rookie Symposium, which was created in part to help new NFL players adjust to being professional.
5. Law schools can and do have skin in the game, but it's important that such skin not create moral hazard for students. The primary losers in the student loan system as currently structured are students because they are stuck with the loans, but if law schools are involuntarily on the hook for the loans, then student might have more of a moral hazard to take out too much in loans and take non-profit jobs. If law schools didn't have a guaranteed source of income from federal loans, then their skin in the game would be their reputations and ability to attract quality students, knowing that said students would have to persuade lenders to lend them money to go to their school.
B
Monday, September 7, 2015
Thursday, September 3, 2015
Big Bear In Europe
Next party: French-themed!
I took this quiz and they said
I should watch The League, Portlandia and Comedy Bang Bang.
Universities can probably save a
lot of money by not installing
any more of those blue safety lights.
I'm only going to post these two
more posts from legallyobligated. (the blog actually isn't very long). this one
about how money doesn't fix
poverty, which might resonate with you and this one
because it's about how they stuck together to pay off her debt, kinda what I
envision us doing. =P but we'll do it in a more glamoous way of course.
Fixed/growth mindsets keep
following me! I saw this quote on themeetcute: “If I accept the other person as something fixed, already
diagnosed and classified, already shaped by his past, then I am doing my part
to confirm this limited hypothesis. If I accept him as a process of becoming,
then I am doing what I can to confirm or make real his potentialities.” —Carl R. Rogers (via fyp-psychology)
Late addition: on procrastinating
Late addition: on procrastinating
Responses
1. OMG I can't believe you posted
this. I kept banging my head on my desk reading it! It's taken me 3 days!
I think my main problem with
trigger warnings -besides those listed is this: "A trigger warning, they
wrote, “serves as a guarantee that students will not experience unexpected
discomfort and implies that if they do, a contract has been broken.” I
read an article - maybe you sent it - where a person was "triggered"
by the name, Steve - the name of her attacker. Of course, no one could know
that. And if you've had a traumatic experience, reading about a terrifying
experience may trigger the memories but so many things could. Particular
smells, sounds, tastes, experiences. The real problem with trigger warnings is
that they 1) they trigger you needlessly on the syllabus before you even get to
be triggered and 2) it mistakenly guarantees you peace of mind. But I did
appreciate the idea that shielding people from their fears is a bad idea. It's
like the peanut allergy crisis all over again.
2.I don't understand how this is
good for the investor. For instance, Purdue is $40k/year out of state. If an
investor gives a promising student $160k and gets 15% back over the next 10
years, and the kid makes $100k/year, that's only $150k at the end. And those
are the highest terms proposed and a salary that is clearly above the norm.
Furthermore, if the guy wants to take a year off, it seems like he can without
consequence. Or take a low-paying job. Won't colleges have to slash their
prices for this to be viable?
3. Yes. =P Well, you are in any
case.
4. I'm not so confident in this
article. They say that the Chinese don't value education as highly as we think
they do and they cite that only 4 percent of China’s population has a college
degree but only a small proportion can get into Chinese colleges or afford to
send their kids abroad. China is also trying to beef up their technical and
vocational schools for their future workforce needs - something that their
parents are rallying against because it seems to shunt their kids towards a
lower tier. Also, China places great emphasis on education. You can't really
get a great job without being highly educated - or at least it's much more
difficult than America. (I think 1-2 of China's 10 richest people doesn't have
a college or high school degree. I guess Mark Zuckerberg and Bill Gates also
don't but that's a little different).
In any case, I think people will
take from this article that Chinese people aren't actually that smart - which
might be good news - but I think the better take-away is that children, nay
people, do better if they're expected to do better. It'd be great if every
child could be treated with the belief in their ability that Asian students
are.
5. Scrambled egg breakfast
sandwich? Sacrilege!
6. Very interesting. And it's true what
they say about cars. More people drive in these public-transit friendly cities
than people realize.
R2R
2. In what ways?
4. WAY off. =P They're probably around the
same age though.
5. Takes one to know one. Also, I kinda
want to know what health insurance I should get. I pay seemingly endless bills
but haven't tried other options. I really have no idea what a better option
would be.
6. Haha true. Or any picture of Ross next
to the poo emoji. Poo is happy even when Ross is sad.
R2R2R
1. If you're going to be such a policeman
about what the NFL does, you'd think there'd be an oversight "mom"
committee to make sure the players don't get into trouble. Actually, the more I
think about it, this doesn't seem like a terrible idea. I mean they're in their
early 20's playing a brutal sport for millions of dollars and far from friends
and family. They should have someone full-time to help them adjust and manage
the image of the NFL and make sure they don't get into too much trouble. This
would be a great Disney movie. =D
2. True, the only people who would benefit
from that regime are people who insist on eating their own cultures' foods and
nothing else. I guess they can't have dinner parties then and they'd have to
eat by themselves at a family-style meal...
3. Maybe. But wouldn't that just give too
much publicity to #blacklivesmatter?
5. Law schools don't have to have all their
skin in the game but shouldn't everyone have some skin in the game? Students,
law schools, the ABA and lending institutions?
R2R2R2R2
3. Yeah, I definitely couldn't relate to
kids who didn't know their multiplication tables. =P
I guess our school did this too - we would
have advanced classes for each of the subjects. I don't even remember how we
remembered which class we were going to but somehow we did. And on top of that,
we had an extra gifted and talented program for when we got bored getting ahead
in our advanced reading classes. We were also very lame.
Friday, August 28, 2015
Use Your Brain
The current trigger warning/microaggression climate is bad for our mental health.
Here is more on student loans. Mitch Daniels has a possible solution.
Are we working too hard?
Is the Asian-American stereotype of being really smart actually helpful? The fact of this article is that the reason why it seems as if so many Asians are successful students is because their parents were, and a disproportionately high number of Asian-Americans who immigrate here have advanced degrees. This is definitely one of those times when always looking in terms of race (which divide us) rather than other, more obvious factors (which unite us) backfires.
Here is an ode to the egg sandwich for breakfast.
Who uses Uber in New York? The answer is more complicated than one might think.
Responses:
1. That's a nice story, and I appreciate the sentiment from the Dalai Lama (the version I've heard is that, if you are sad and want from others, give to them and you'll be happier).
2. Eh, they're a little off in some big ways.
3. Damn. That's pretty clever, though.
4. She's apparently a Disney creation. I briefly got her confused with Malala. That was way off...
5. It's an interesting idea - it seems to improve the information asymmetry problem. That said... NERDS!
6. Funny, but there's a huge missed opportunity. Clearly they should have put a smiling picture of Ross next to the smiling poo emoji.
R2R:
1. There are claims that someone at the event immediately talked to Carter and told him his comments were inappropriate, but those claims lack much punch given that the video was up for so long. The going theory to explain this and many of the NFL's other screw-ups is that there isn't a unified way of dealing with stuff. Whoever told Carter he was out of line apparently had no idea that the NFL has a website where they post stuff. The main reason I object to institutions like the NFL (or universities or anyone else's workplace) implementing criminal justice-like apparatuses to punish people for bad acts is that they are so bad at it that the results are arbitrary and meaningless, in part because their organizations are geared towards something else (e.g. football or research/education).
2. To be sure, there are a lot of picky eaters out there who just want to eat hamburgers with ketchup and nothing else all day. I'd like to see a Venn diagram of this problem.
3. Can we start an organization called Activists Don't Matter?
5. In my view, underwriting would mean that law schools would not be able to count on gullible students with fat loan checks to take in every year and do nothing for. If a school (e.g. Cooley, my favorite example) turned out crap lawyers and had terrible employment statistics, lenders would balk and lending money to kids who wanted to attend there, so Cooley would have to turn things around or else lose out on its biggest source of revenue. That would give them tremendous incentive to do things that would help students get jobs. I think requiring law schools to have "skin in the game" (i.e. having to pay back some or all of unemployed graduates' loans) creates a moral hazard risk for the graduates. If they decide to get lazy, for example, or they decide to take a flyer on law school because it might be interesting but then after graduating decide that it's Wachtell or no job, or some other narrow requirements, then the law school is still on the hook for the graduates' idiocy. Students need to have full incentive to do well in school and pay back their loans, and blaming the law schools after the fact with a "skin in the game" policy is letting them off the hook.
Also, even if the shrinking pool of lawyers caused law schools to continue to raise tuition, the shrinking pool of lawyers might also cause law firms to raise their salaries, which would be an equally valid solution to crippling loan debt.
R2R2R2R:
3. It doesn't have to be hard. In elementary school, we had a lot of times where we had to work quietly at our desk, but I would finish early and be bored out of my mind. You could have a system where the teacher held class sessions that the whole class might participate in (e.g. learning about a discrete topic in preparation for a field trip that was grade level-independent), but have math instruction on a computer with a virtual teacher. We effectively had that in elementary school starting in third grade anyway because we would rotate classes for certain subjects. But while the other kids were struggling with addition, brighter students could move on with multiplication or whatever. Maybe it would be difficult to talk to your classmates about every subject, but with each passing year and each new class you could shuffle the students or else form small learning groups for different subjects. I don't know how much of this is necessary because home schooled kids often turn out amazing. But I can think of a lot of things you can do to allow kids who want to learn more to learn more. And I certainly don't think that retarding some kids' thirst for education for social reasons is a worthwhile tradeoff. I was a social pariah in elementary school, and I wasn't exactly Mr. Popularity in middle school or high school, and I'm so happy I 1) didn't turn out like my classmates and 2) don't keep up with most of them because I'm not missing much.
Btw, you would have found out those kids were dumb one way or another...
B
Here is more on student loans. Mitch Daniels has a possible solution.
Are we working too hard?
Is the Asian-American stereotype of being really smart actually helpful? The fact of this article is that the reason why it seems as if so many Asians are successful students is because their parents were, and a disproportionately high number of Asian-Americans who immigrate here have advanced degrees. This is definitely one of those times when always looking in terms of race (which divide us) rather than other, more obvious factors (which unite us) backfires.
Here is an ode to the egg sandwich for breakfast.
Who uses Uber in New York? The answer is more complicated than one might think.
Responses:
1. That's a nice story, and I appreciate the sentiment from the Dalai Lama (the version I've heard is that, if you are sad and want from others, give to them and you'll be happier).
2. Eh, they're a little off in some big ways.
3. Damn. That's pretty clever, though.
4. She's apparently a Disney creation. I briefly got her confused with Malala. That was way off...
5. It's an interesting idea - it seems to improve the information asymmetry problem. That said... NERDS!
6. Funny, but there's a huge missed opportunity. Clearly they should have put a smiling picture of Ross next to the smiling poo emoji.
R2R:
1. There are claims that someone at the event immediately talked to Carter and told him his comments were inappropriate, but those claims lack much punch given that the video was up for so long. The going theory to explain this and many of the NFL's other screw-ups is that there isn't a unified way of dealing with stuff. Whoever told Carter he was out of line apparently had no idea that the NFL has a website where they post stuff. The main reason I object to institutions like the NFL (or universities or anyone else's workplace) implementing criminal justice-like apparatuses to punish people for bad acts is that they are so bad at it that the results are arbitrary and meaningless, in part because their organizations are geared towards something else (e.g. football or research/education).
2. To be sure, there are a lot of picky eaters out there who just want to eat hamburgers with ketchup and nothing else all day. I'd like to see a Venn diagram of this problem.
3. Can we start an organization called Activists Don't Matter?
5. In my view, underwriting would mean that law schools would not be able to count on gullible students with fat loan checks to take in every year and do nothing for. If a school (e.g. Cooley, my favorite example) turned out crap lawyers and had terrible employment statistics, lenders would balk and lending money to kids who wanted to attend there, so Cooley would have to turn things around or else lose out on its biggest source of revenue. That would give them tremendous incentive to do things that would help students get jobs. I think requiring law schools to have "skin in the game" (i.e. having to pay back some or all of unemployed graduates' loans) creates a moral hazard risk for the graduates. If they decide to get lazy, for example, or they decide to take a flyer on law school because it might be interesting but then after graduating decide that it's Wachtell or no job, or some other narrow requirements, then the law school is still on the hook for the graduates' idiocy. Students need to have full incentive to do well in school and pay back their loans, and blaming the law schools after the fact with a "skin in the game" policy is letting them off the hook.
Also, even if the shrinking pool of lawyers caused law schools to continue to raise tuition, the shrinking pool of lawyers might also cause law firms to raise their salaries, which would be an equally valid solution to crippling loan debt.
R2R2R2R:
3. It doesn't have to be hard. In elementary school, we had a lot of times where we had to work quietly at our desk, but I would finish early and be bored out of my mind. You could have a system where the teacher held class sessions that the whole class might participate in (e.g. learning about a discrete topic in preparation for a field trip that was grade level-independent), but have math instruction on a computer with a virtual teacher. We effectively had that in elementary school starting in third grade anyway because we would rotate classes for certain subjects. But while the other kids were struggling with addition, brighter students could move on with multiplication or whatever. Maybe it would be difficult to talk to your classmates about every subject, but with each passing year and each new class you could shuffle the students or else form small learning groups for different subjects. I don't know how much of this is necessary because home schooled kids often turn out amazing. But I can think of a lot of things you can do to allow kids who want to learn more to learn more. And I certainly don't think that retarding some kids' thirst for education for social reasons is a worthwhile tradeoff. I was a social pariah in elementary school, and I wasn't exactly Mr. Popularity in middle school or high school, and I'm so happy I 1) didn't turn out like my classmates and 2) don't keep up with most of them because I'm not missing much.
Btw, you would have found out those kids were dumb one way or another...
B
Forlorn bunny
I thought this was a pretty great post from legallyobligated. it's a bit morbid.
what do you think of this list? I mean, it's not exactly our personality types but it's close.
I don't believe this story can be real.
I keep hearing about this girl -still have no idea who she is but she seems alright.
people actually trying to improve obamacare. or at least how you use it. I wish there was a way to check out insurance premiums right now, in preparation for enrollment but for whatever reason, you better block out time during the enrollment period to figure out what works for you. otherwise, I guess you pick blindly.
a guide to emoji
Responses
1. The NFL is so weird. It's like, let's make a big deal about Deflategate but a guy says to have a "fall guy" to the entire rookie class at an NFL-sanctioned event and everyone thinks it's ok? It's like there isn't a single guy with morals on the whole staff and they just think, "I wish I had some way of knowing whether something would make us look bad. Well, I guess I'll just post this on the website and hope for the best!" And then the outrage and they're all "Oh! So that's something that's bad? Can you walk me through what was bad? Was it posting it on the website or was it telling the rookies that they should blame others for their crimes?"
2. But seriously, who are these people who don't eat other cultures' foods? And are they just people who like eating their own culture's foods?
3. It's unfortunate that people are turning on a movement called "Black Lives Matter" because black lives do matter. Of course, activists suck.
4. I heard about this girl but she doesn't save enough money for this to be worth it to me.
5. Umm the law schools can do a lot. If 2/3 just closed their doors, that would solve a lot of problems. =P But I guess your point is they won't do that so what else can we do and underwriting does seem to be the answer. I think activists would say thought that you're just encouraging poor people to go to riskier private loans rather than federal ones to pay for their ridiculous law degrees. Then again, private lenders are unlikely to give them enough money to pay the costs so I guess problem solved. (Also it's really about getting the ABA to do stuff, not law schools).
Also, if law schools had to make sure their lawyers would pay back their loans, I think they could make changes for the better. They might offer business classes or hire more careers services staff.
R2R2R
3. Well if there's a fine line between disaster and disaster, I'm pretty sure the public school system will be firmly encamped in the middle of disaster. However, I think it's hard to divorce social and educational aspects of school. We had a GT program at our elementary school and though we theoretically could play with the other kids during recess, I kinda thought they were dumb. =P
7. Yeah, what are patrons doing these days? funding art in museums? they should fund some minority ballerinas and coxswains!
R2R2R2R2
6. South Park is clever but it's unfortunately too vulgar for me. Just tell me the good parts!
R2R2R2R2R2R2R
3. I'm leaning towards unlocked phones in December then.
what do you think of this list? I mean, it's not exactly our personality types but it's close.
I don't believe this story can be real.
I keep hearing about this girl -still have no idea who she is but she seems alright.
people actually trying to improve obamacare. or at least how you use it. I wish there was a way to check out insurance premiums right now, in preparation for enrollment but for whatever reason, you better block out time during the enrollment period to figure out what works for you. otherwise, I guess you pick blindly.
a guide to emoji
Responses
1. The NFL is so weird. It's like, let's make a big deal about Deflategate but a guy says to have a "fall guy" to the entire rookie class at an NFL-sanctioned event and everyone thinks it's ok? It's like there isn't a single guy with morals on the whole staff and they just think, "I wish I had some way of knowing whether something would make us look bad. Well, I guess I'll just post this on the website and hope for the best!" And then the outrage and they're all "Oh! So that's something that's bad? Can you walk me through what was bad? Was it posting it on the website or was it telling the rookies that they should blame others for their crimes?"
2. But seriously, who are these people who don't eat other cultures' foods? And are they just people who like eating their own culture's foods?
3. It's unfortunate that people are turning on a movement called "Black Lives Matter" because black lives do matter. Of course, activists suck.
4. I heard about this girl but she doesn't save enough money for this to be worth it to me.
5. Umm the law schools can do a lot. If 2/3 just closed their doors, that would solve a lot of problems. =P But I guess your point is they won't do that so what else can we do and underwriting does seem to be the answer. I think activists would say thought that you're just encouraging poor people to go to riskier private loans rather than federal ones to pay for their ridiculous law degrees. Then again, private lenders are unlikely to give them enough money to pay the costs so I guess problem solved. (Also it's really about getting the ABA to do stuff, not law schools).
Also, if law schools had to make sure their lawyers would pay back their loans, I think they could make changes for the better. They might offer business classes or hire more careers services staff.
R2R2R
3. Well if there's a fine line between disaster and disaster, I'm pretty sure the public school system will be firmly encamped in the middle of disaster. However, I think it's hard to divorce social and educational aspects of school. We had a GT program at our elementary school and though we theoretically could play with the other kids during recess, I kinda thought they were dumb. =P
7. Yeah, what are patrons doing these days? funding art in museums? they should fund some minority ballerinas and coxswains!
R2R2R2R2
6. South Park is clever but it's unfortunately too vulgar for me. Just tell me the good parts!
R2R2R2R2R2R2R
3. I'm leaning towards unlocked phones in December then.
Wednesday, August 26, 2015
Oops
At an NFL-sanctioned rookie symposium, former player Cris Carter advised that rookies take certain steps to avoid criminal prosecution. The NFL has since condemned the comments, except they were apparently posted on the NFL website for a while.
I appreciated this take on cultural appropriation.
More people are turning on Black Lives Matter.
I've thought about hopping on an Amtrak or European train for like a week and just exploring some new part of the country/world. This person takes riding the rails to a new level.
The New York Times is once again speaking up about law school debt (this time in an op-ed). My main issue with this piece is that I'm not sure law schools are in the best position to do anything about the problem, so why charge them with doing so? If you're a law school, your primary goal is educating students to the point of getting a law degree (it's not even necessarily educating them enough to pass the bar exam, as the prevalence of bar prep courses might show). But unlike maybe medical school (or dentistry school or even auto mechanic school), law school isn't vocational school. I continue to think that the answer is underwriting. Show up to the bank with your acceptance letter, any offers of scholarship, your credit history (which should play a minor role), and something resembling a career plan, and they get to decide whether throwing money at you (and that school) is a good investment. I don't think the federal government should be subsidizing lawyers, and just so it doesn't seem as if I'm closing the door behind us, I am confident that such a system would have provided student loans at the same or better terms to us.
I'm still trying to figure out how to feel about the Ashley Madison breach. While there are obviously privacy considerations and breach of contract claims, there are also stories like this, which make me sad for the family but happy that they get to get out of a bad situation and move towards a better one. Also, karma.
Responses:
1. It seems like an even-handed analysis of the problem, and even if we can quibble about the statistics, I think there are some good solutions and proposals in there.
2. I haven't seen it, but it's interesting. Soon it will be our ice cream maker, though!
3. It's interesting how many people feel the need to justify their compensation. That said, other than some of the grad students, they seem to be paid relatively well on the whole. They seem to be happy with "enough" rather than maximizing their earning potential. And some of them have a more than reasonable amount of faith that their employers will thank them for their modesty later.
4. I agree with everything he said in that article.
5. One of my - our - favorite pastimes!
6. It appears that we are getting a mandoline sooner rather than later.
7. I'll be sure to take some pictures if/when I go to the Alps!
R2R:
3. There's a fine line between letting kids move at their own pace and locking kids into levels of achievement early on (which is how they do education in a lot of places around the world). It just seems like most of the resources in low-performing schools are aimed at social/behavioral control and education to the lowest common denominator. I'm also not sure that the social aspect of education needs to be connected to the academic one - you can have kids together in school so they learn how to act in social settings, but individualize the academic side. The internet and online learning might play a role in reducing cost as well.
5. It's half station wagon, half SUV, and all awesome!
7. I would like to compare success rates and expected annual income, but perhaps it's another pursuit (like Ph.D.) that would be best with a patron.
R2R2R:
2. I definitely remember people in our class banking on loan forgiveness and not even going for OGI or other non-qualifying jobs. It wasn't all easy - many of them couldn't find jobs because everyone was looking to the public and non-profit sectors in light of the layoffs in biglaw. In any case, the people in the article you cited said they only chose to go because they were counting on loan forgiveness.
R2R2R2R:
6. That was supposed to be a "wouldn't," not a would. (It has been corrected.) I was specifically thinking of a South Park episode, though, where Kyle's dad buys a Prius and they move to San Francisco, where people are so into themselves for driving hybrids that they create smug, which (like smog) threatens the environment.
R2R2R2R2R2R:
3. I'm not entirely sure how Verizon will do it, but let's just look at the timeline. Between now and when my old upgrade (your new upgrade) kicks in, your phone will be "locked" into the current plan, same as mine (for the next almost 2 years or so). We can switch to the new plan (at slightly reduced cost), but if we do then we have to pay $20/month extra per phone that is still locked (which, as you recall, will still be less than what we are currently paying). When we get to December 2015, if we still have our old plan, then the upgrade will kick in and you can upgrade, I think under the same terms as before ($200 for the iPhone, 2-year commitment). But if we have the new plan, then $20/month will drop off our phone bill, and you will only be able to buy an unlocked phone at the unsubsidized price ($649). That said, Verizon will offer an installment plan of $20/month (in addition to the $200 initial fee) even on the new plan, so you don't have to pay up front if you don't want to. But if you choose the installment plan, you can't upgrade or leave the plan until the phone is paid off. If we keep upgrading our phones every 2 years or so, it works out. I don't really know what the math looks like if we buy phones more often, but if we buy phones less often, then the new plan I think works better because we won't be paying the inflated phone service bill that subsidizes phone purchases, but instead a smaller bill that covers service only.
B
I appreciated this take on cultural appropriation.
More people are turning on Black Lives Matter.
I've thought about hopping on an Amtrak or European train for like a week and just exploring some new part of the country/world. This person takes riding the rails to a new level.
The New York Times is once again speaking up about law school debt (this time in an op-ed). My main issue with this piece is that I'm not sure law schools are in the best position to do anything about the problem, so why charge them with doing so? If you're a law school, your primary goal is educating students to the point of getting a law degree (it's not even necessarily educating them enough to pass the bar exam, as the prevalence of bar prep courses might show). But unlike maybe medical school (or dentistry school or even auto mechanic school), law school isn't vocational school. I continue to think that the answer is underwriting. Show up to the bank with your acceptance letter, any offers of scholarship, your credit history (which should play a minor role), and something resembling a career plan, and they get to decide whether throwing money at you (and that school) is a good investment. I don't think the federal government should be subsidizing lawyers, and just so it doesn't seem as if I'm closing the door behind us, I am confident that such a system would have provided student loans at the same or better terms to us.
I'm still trying to figure out how to feel about the Ashley Madison breach. While there are obviously privacy considerations and breach of contract claims, there are also stories like this, which make me sad for the family but happy that they get to get out of a bad situation and move towards a better one. Also, karma.
Responses:
1. It seems like an even-handed analysis of the problem, and even if we can quibble about the statistics, I think there are some good solutions and proposals in there.
2. I haven't seen it, but it's interesting. Soon it will be our ice cream maker, though!
3. It's interesting how many people feel the need to justify their compensation. That said, other than some of the grad students, they seem to be paid relatively well on the whole. They seem to be happy with "enough" rather than maximizing their earning potential. And some of them have a more than reasonable amount of faith that their employers will thank them for their modesty later.
4. I agree with everything he said in that article.
5. One of my - our - favorite pastimes!
6. It appears that we are getting a mandoline sooner rather than later.
7. I'll be sure to take some pictures if/when I go to the Alps!
R2R:
3. There's a fine line between letting kids move at their own pace and locking kids into levels of achievement early on (which is how they do education in a lot of places around the world). It just seems like most of the resources in low-performing schools are aimed at social/behavioral control and education to the lowest common denominator. I'm also not sure that the social aspect of education needs to be connected to the academic one - you can have kids together in school so they learn how to act in social settings, but individualize the academic side. The internet and online learning might play a role in reducing cost as well.
5. It's half station wagon, half SUV, and all awesome!
7. I would like to compare success rates and expected annual income, but perhaps it's another pursuit (like Ph.D.) that would be best with a patron.
R2R2R:
2. I definitely remember people in our class banking on loan forgiveness and not even going for OGI or other non-qualifying jobs. It wasn't all easy - many of them couldn't find jobs because everyone was looking to the public and non-profit sectors in light of the layoffs in biglaw. In any case, the people in the article you cited said they only chose to go because they were counting on loan forgiveness.
R2R2R2R:
6. That was supposed to be a "wouldn't," not a would. (It has been corrected.) I was specifically thinking of a South Park episode, though, where Kyle's dad buys a Prius and they move to San Francisco, where people are so into themselves for driving hybrids that they create smug, which (like smog) threatens the environment.
R2R2R2R2R2R:
3. I'm not entirely sure how Verizon will do it, but let's just look at the timeline. Between now and when my old upgrade (your new upgrade) kicks in, your phone will be "locked" into the current plan, same as mine (for the next almost 2 years or so). We can switch to the new plan (at slightly reduced cost), but if we do then we have to pay $20/month extra per phone that is still locked (which, as you recall, will still be less than what we are currently paying). When we get to December 2015, if we still have our old plan, then the upgrade will kick in and you can upgrade, I think under the same terms as before ($200 for the iPhone, 2-year commitment). But if we have the new plan, then $20/month will drop off our phone bill, and you will only be able to buy an unlocked phone at the unsubsidized price ($649). That said, Verizon will offer an installment plan of $20/month (in addition to the $200 initial fee) even on the new plan, so you don't have to pay up front if you don't want to. But if you choose the installment plan, you can't upgrade or leave the plan until the phone is paid off. If we keep upgrading our phones every 2 years or so, it works out. I don't really know what the math looks like if we buy phones more often, but if we buy phones less often, then the new plan I think works better because we won't be paying the inflated phone service bill that subsidizes phone purchases, but instead a smaller bill that covers service only.
B
Tuesday, August 25, 2015
The way forward
I thought this article, while not tackling the many wrong statistics associated with college rape, points to strategies that colleges can move towards to prevent rape.
I've seen so many no-ice cream machine recipes, I can't remember if we've already looked at this one. i mean, you have an ice cream machine but i still don't!
I found this report on what STEM millenials really make quite fascinating.
How are you feeling about this Ben?
awww - not captured, his tiny friendly bunny rolling next to him!
for the mandoline
before you leave, appreciate that which is Germany
Responses
1. What a bad deal for the city. Boo Scott Walker!
2. Seriously. It's also surprising that they never thought of this. I mean, it seems slightly improbable that someone would be a millionaire in public housing but is exactly the point that people would eventually earn enough to get out. It seems the procedures for that occurrence are ...do nothing. In which case, what do the people of HUD do all day besides shut people out of affordable housing?
3. I think it's an interesting idea to put children in tracks from early on so the higher kids don't get left behind but I think there's been a lot of research stating that tracks really hurt kids. I can believe it - kids don't want to feel stupid. Also, kids aren't always uniformly good at all subjects. Even so, this race to help out the bottom seems to be hurting everyone. They talked about this in the mindset book - everyone can learn, don't fall to the prejudice of low expectations, but don't set high expectations without having some plan to help the kids achieve them.
4. Ooh that's super interesting but a super sad ending. Another thing to fail at? No wonder they don't have any desire!
5. Is it a station wagon?
6. I think he made the right decision. It's a difficult one too. Good for him.
7. I mean, I assume training a kid in basically anything to the professional level will cost a lot of money. Maybe less so for track and field and basketball (of course, those are the main sports where minorities are not underrepresented. I can't really explain football though because that seems expensive). This article - like really all articles - equates "persons of color" with "poor people." "This is very expensive so people of color can't do it." But there are middle and upper middle class black families who probably aren't choosing ballet for their daughters. I know my family would never choose ballet because to us, it's kinda weird, not to mention painful. Also, with the exceptions of Misty Copeland and Baryshnikov, there are no famous ballerinas so it doesn't seem lucrative. It seems like you'd be better off in the WNBA.
R2R
2. To be fair, I don't think anyone's taking advantage of the system yet. It still seems a little risky and new to take on more loans than you can manage in hopes of getting forgiveness. I don't think getting public interest jobs is something you can bank on. However, if you do get a public interest job, then I guess you can max out loans in your final year. =P (assuming of course you can stomach public interest for 10 years).
3. Maybe a kickstarter could fund that research? I think minorities and Jewish people would kick in to prove that they are not cheap. =P
6. I think the Mosaic district is in Fairfax? That makes it much less cool. Incidentally, the restaurant they are buying - Gypsy Soul - used to be helmed by RJ Cooper - the same guy as Rogue 24.
R2R2R
3. YAY for triumphant returns!
5. Even if they fix this Guantanamo closing thing, that seems like the first of many new problems.
6. Why would you be smug? Because you're using taxpayer subsidies? Why does that confer smugness?
R2R2R2R2
3. I guess the last question I have is do I need to buy a new unlocked phone or can I still get this phone unlocked on the new plan?
I've seen so many no-ice cream machine recipes, I can't remember if we've already looked at this one. i mean, you have an ice cream machine but i still don't!
I found this report on what STEM millenials really make quite fascinating.
How are you feeling about this Ben?
awww - not captured, his tiny friendly bunny rolling next to him!
for the mandoline
before you leave, appreciate that which is Germany
Responses
1. What a bad deal for the city. Boo Scott Walker!
2. Seriously. It's also surprising that they never thought of this. I mean, it seems slightly improbable that someone would be a millionaire in public housing but is exactly the point that people would eventually earn enough to get out. It seems the procedures for that occurrence are ...do nothing. In which case, what do the people of HUD do all day besides shut people out of affordable housing?
3. I think it's an interesting idea to put children in tracks from early on so the higher kids don't get left behind but I think there's been a lot of research stating that tracks really hurt kids. I can believe it - kids don't want to feel stupid. Also, kids aren't always uniformly good at all subjects. Even so, this race to help out the bottom seems to be hurting everyone. They talked about this in the mindset book - everyone can learn, don't fall to the prejudice of low expectations, but don't set high expectations without having some plan to help the kids achieve them.
4. Ooh that's super interesting but a super sad ending. Another thing to fail at? No wonder they don't have any desire!
5. Is it a station wagon?
6. I think he made the right decision. It's a difficult one too. Good for him.
7. I mean, I assume training a kid in basically anything to the professional level will cost a lot of money. Maybe less so for track and field and basketball (of course, those are the main sports where minorities are not underrepresented. I can't really explain football though because that seems expensive). This article - like really all articles - equates "persons of color" with "poor people." "This is very expensive so people of color can't do it." But there are middle and upper middle class black families who probably aren't choosing ballet for their daughters. I know my family would never choose ballet because to us, it's kinda weird, not to mention painful. Also, with the exceptions of Misty Copeland and Baryshnikov, there are no famous ballerinas so it doesn't seem lucrative. It seems like you'd be better off in the WNBA.
R2R
2. To be fair, I don't think anyone's taking advantage of the system yet. It still seems a little risky and new to take on more loans than you can manage in hopes of getting forgiveness. I don't think getting public interest jobs is something you can bank on. However, if you do get a public interest job, then I guess you can max out loans in your final year. =P (assuming of course you can stomach public interest for 10 years).
3. Maybe a kickstarter could fund that research? I think minorities and Jewish people would kick in to prove that they are not cheap. =P
6. I think the Mosaic district is in Fairfax? That makes it much less cool. Incidentally, the restaurant they are buying - Gypsy Soul - used to be helmed by RJ Cooper - the same guy as Rogue 24.
R2R2R
3. YAY for triumphant returns!
5. Even if they fix this Guantanamo closing thing, that seems like the first of many new problems.
6. Why would you be smug? Because you're using taxpayer subsidies? Why does that confer smugness?
R2R2R2R2
3. I guess the last question I have is do I need to buy a new unlocked phone or can I still get this phone unlocked on the new plan?
Monday, August 24, 2015
Change in the Works
Scott Walker has officially been demoted to my second tier of GOP candidates.
It's hard to believe that HUD ever defended this.
Here's an example of John Rawls at work in the public education system.
Nate Silver's website is bringing data analysis to the bedroom.
I feel a little bad because we had such memories in it and also the name makes me sound unpatriotic, but in my view the Jeep Liberty has been replaced with this.
Chris Borland recently retired from the NFL after just one year of playing, in part because of concerns about brain trauma and injury generally.
It sounds as if the choice is either ballerina or good education. Or poor house, I guess.
Responses:
1. The Black Lives Matter movement is starting to remind me of the Occupy Wall Street movement (never a good sign) in that they want to be heard and relevant more than they want to participate in the political process. As for Shaun King, I don't really care except that these allegations (and facts, in the case of Rachel Dolezal) further undermine the idea that race has to matter in how we organize ourselves as a society.
2. It's funny when liberals say that people in need will never take advantage of the system. There is obviously not a lot of incentive for colleges and grad schools to cut costs (since they aren't the ones who have to worry about getting paid), but I wonder if a good law school that could afford it (maybe even a T-10 school would gain a competitive advantage by cutting tuition by 10%. Would students even notice? Also, look at all the terrible schools these people get loans for...
3. She's right about confirmation bias - most people tip a normal amount. I think you'd have to do a real study (for which you would never get funding) to see what the averages are.
4. I assume that as well, but I don't see the butler...
5. I'm glad we cleared that up.
6. Where is the Mosaic district? In any case, I'm looking forward to trying that bone-in ribeye, as well as the 35-40 other new items...
7. That makes a lot of sense. If you have Starbucks locations everywhere, and people aren't exactly climbing over each other for coffee and pastries at 8 pm, why not use the space for yummy dinner items? That said, I've only been to a Cosi with a bar (the closest comparison) once after 7, and that was at Dulles while waiting for a connection.
R2R:
3. When I have my kitchen back, I will make my triumphant return!
5. That's what I thought too, but it's this symbolic thing now, and rather than making the campaign promise, "I'm going to reform Guantanamo!", which isn't as flashy, I guess, they've decided to close it. But I don't think really anyone put much thought into the convenient solution Gitmo gave to the problem of what to do with foreigners with no presence in the United States who nonetheless were waging war against us.
6. Tesla is more than happy to use government subsidies, renewable energy credits, and whatever else it can get its hands on to help it sell cars. I would consider buying a Tesla because they're cool, but I wouldn't be smug about it...
R2R2R:
3. The second story was the woman who used her lotto winnings to bail her boyfriend out of jail. It was the second story you linked in #2. That said, you get your bail money back as long as the defendant shows up for court, so maybe it turned out okay.
R2R2R2R:
3. The downside is that we can never again use the old plan, so we should make sure that switching makes sense. It also means we have to pay the full cost of the phone upfront, though I think you can maybe $20/month and pay for the phone over time. You can't leave the plan until the phone is paid off if you do this, so it ends up being remarkably similar. Also, I think sticking with the old plan makes more sense if you don't use a lot of data and don't share. I think Verizon is doing this primarily because people want unlocked phones, and to be sure, if I had to pay for my international data I may have done better with an unlocked phone.
B
It's hard to believe that HUD ever defended this.
Here's an example of John Rawls at work in the public education system.
Nate Silver's website is bringing data analysis to the bedroom.
I feel a little bad because we had such memories in it and also the name makes me sound unpatriotic, but in my view the Jeep Liberty has been replaced with this.
Chris Borland recently retired from the NFL after just one year of playing, in part because of concerns about brain trauma and injury generally.
It sounds as if the choice is either ballerina or good education. Or poor house, I guess.
Responses:
1. The Black Lives Matter movement is starting to remind me of the Occupy Wall Street movement (never a good sign) in that they want to be heard and relevant more than they want to participate in the political process. As for Shaun King, I don't really care except that these allegations (and facts, in the case of Rachel Dolezal) further undermine the idea that race has to matter in how we organize ourselves as a society.
2. It's funny when liberals say that people in need will never take advantage of the system. There is obviously not a lot of incentive for colleges and grad schools to cut costs (since they aren't the ones who have to worry about getting paid), but I wonder if a good law school that could afford it (maybe even a T-10 school would gain a competitive advantage by cutting tuition by 10%. Would students even notice? Also, look at all the terrible schools these people get loans for...
3. She's right about confirmation bias - most people tip a normal amount. I think you'd have to do a real study (for which you would never get funding) to see what the averages are.
4. I assume that as well, but I don't see the butler...
5. I'm glad we cleared that up.
6. Where is the Mosaic district? In any case, I'm looking forward to trying that bone-in ribeye, as well as the 35-40 other new items...
7. That makes a lot of sense. If you have Starbucks locations everywhere, and people aren't exactly climbing over each other for coffee and pastries at 8 pm, why not use the space for yummy dinner items? That said, I've only been to a Cosi with a bar (the closest comparison) once after 7, and that was at Dulles while waiting for a connection.
R2R:
3. When I have my kitchen back, I will make my triumphant return!
5. That's what I thought too, but it's this symbolic thing now, and rather than making the campaign promise, "I'm going to reform Guantanamo!", which isn't as flashy, I guess, they've decided to close it. But I don't think really anyone put much thought into the convenient solution Gitmo gave to the problem of what to do with foreigners with no presence in the United States who nonetheless were waging war against us.
6. Tesla is more than happy to use government subsidies, renewable energy credits, and whatever else it can get its hands on to help it sell cars. I would consider buying a Tesla because they're cool, but I wouldn't be smug about it...
R2R2R:
3. The second story was the woman who used her lotto winnings to bail her boyfriend out of jail. It was the second story you linked in #2. That said, you get your bail money back as long as the defendant shows up for court, so maybe it turned out okay.
R2R2R2R:
3. The downside is that we can never again use the old plan, so we should make sure that switching makes sense. It also means we have to pay the full cost of the phone upfront, though I think you can maybe $20/month and pay for the phone over time. You can't leave the plan until the phone is paid off if you do this, so it ends up being remarkably similar. Also, I think sticking with the old plan makes more sense if you don't use a lot of data and don't share. I think Verizon is doing this primarily because people want unlocked phones, and to be sure, if I had to pay for my international data I may have done better with an unlocked phone.
B
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