Fixing The Printing Fiasco

All right, we have some woes in Dubach and Watzek.
Don’t you hate it when someone prints out a huge PDF file they were assigned, only to see them print it twice because it was so slow to begin with? Or have you ever needed to print out an essay and had to wait in line, [...]

There Are Only Trade-offs, or, Why Lewis & Clark’s Campus Looks Derelict

Lately it has gone without saying around campus: the grass is definitely greener on the other side. This summer the school decided, in order to be more “sustainable,” not to water any of the lawns. Instead, the lawns would naturally brown. It’s a nice experiment, but the school should not be so vainglorious as they [...]

Back on the pony

Writing is fun!

Oh history

The history of histories and the reality of reality.

Sure

I’m going here.

Wet robots

Or maybe we aren’t even afforded that. The likelihood that we are “real,” in our sense of the word, is pretty slim.
“Atheists say God doesn’t exist. I say atheists don’t exist.”

Another installment of…

“Blank” on ice! This go round it is peeing. How exciting! Honestly, it is a hoot. In some of the fancier establishments in the VN big blocks of ice are put into urinals, sorry ladies, so that the smell in the bathroom is lessened.
So cool! Especially when you get to make nifty patterns and selectively [...]

Hmm

Normally, when looking at a population density map, it is hard to tell political boundaries. People live in areas and flow over borders. Well, look at SE Asia.
Laos.

Functional geography

Nifty.

Allo?

Another note on cell phones here. Professors gladly answer their phones whilst giving lectures. Ridiculous!

What to say about

Religion. Specifically, Buddhism. Although it may have some cool, visually pleasing elements to it, it is still just like other religions. The ridiculousness of dogmatic practices is astounding. Get this, the only way to travel to important pagodas and religious sites is by river. Not only that, the boat must be powered by a human. [...]

Edumacation

It’s vastly important. Human capital is not the end all be all for growth, but is a huge component in many different ways. Alan Greenspan has noted before that the reason why OECD countries growth rates are around 2 or 3% is because there are strains on human capital. This should not be taken as [...]

No news is good news?

From those blokes over at Free Exchange:
“Consumers demand sensational stories that resonate with their view of the world. Consumer choice is supposed to improve welfare, but should people be able to choose the news they want to hear? As the market grows, it appears that spin and sensationalism will only become more prevalent. But there [...]

Ingenuity

Scott Adams, always a thinker with a hint of humor, asks why we don’t reuse energy more often. It seems to be pretty simple. I’d add in some things with water, though other areas could be delved into as well.
Think of all the toilets in new high-rises, especially in Asia, and how much wasted energy [...]

Uhhuh

This is nothing new, but it is still amazing nonetheless. If you want to understand the world, there is no better way than to take an hour or so and click through this creative collection of maps.

Mo’ money, mo’ problems

Việt Nam, whoa buddy! Stock markets in huge decline, rampant inflation, rising trade deficit, soaring real-estate prices, and more. That is not a good mix. The press, though, looks to be chugging along pretty well in its critique of government policies. Good to know. All sound advice, too, in my opinion. It’s all about short-term [...]

In excess

Dorm-life is almost never pretty, even in America, but here it’s a lot worse. Typically there are eight students to a room that is half the size of most US rooms, though furniture and the like are hard to come by. Also, the lack of availability in general is astounding. The best university can only [...]

Hair of the dog

The bar, Hair of the Dog, in Ha Noi is not all that great, though their 30,000d cocktails are a good draw. Their foosball table, though, is lackluster. That is beside the point, however.
The current mess in financial markets has everyone wondering what could have been done, and what should be done, to prevent such [...]

Love it or hate it

Behavioral economics gets a lot of heat and a lot of praise. For economists it is hard to grapple with the reality that human beings are not as rational as we would like to think. There are many reasons for this, but it is important to keep in mind that we are biologically contrived, meaning [...]

Oh yeah!

I almost forgot that TED, one of the most entertaining, interesting, and hopeful things in existence was held not too long ago. Truly a treasure trove.