N. Gregory Mankiw, a badass Harvard economist who many economics students admire, has written a New York Times article about the new cap-and-trade bill coming to Obama’s desk. It’s a great article and is written in layman’s terms, so the non-economist will be able to follow it easily. Check it out here! For those looking for a quicker breakdown, just continue reading this post.
Mankiw On Cap-and-Trade
Posted in life with tags cap, cap-and-trade, carbon, emission, greg, mankiw, tax, trade on August 9, 2009 by Seth CosterAffirmative Action Perpetuates Racism
Posted in What's Happening? with tags action, affirmative, affirmative action, black, college, enrollment, graduate, race, Racism, scholarship, student, white on August 3, 2009 by Seth CosterYep, I said it. And I am definitely not the first. Affirmative Action is a horrible idea, and I believe it to have the opposite effect than what was intended. It ultimately hurts those it was created to help.
Categorizing People
We categorize everything. It makes life easy, and it definitely saves us time. If you say “mammal,” that tells us a lot about what it is you are talking about. It’s hairy, doesn’t lay eggs, and shoots milk all over the place when it has babies. Similarly, we throw people into categories. It is way too time consuming for me to tell you that Steve believes that harming animals is wrong, and he refuses to eat any kind of meat or dairy products. But if I say that Steve is a vegan, you get the same message in drastically fewer words.
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Hootenanny
Posted in What's Happening? with tags bodyshaping, c++, code, extreme, farrell, game, hootenanny, html, institute, mindforge, technologies, workout on July 30, 2009 by Seth CosterIt’s time to kickstart the old blog again! It seems that when I know people will be reading about things that I do, I have a tendency to do more interesting things. To kick this hootenanny off, I’ll just throw in a breakdown of the stuff I have been up to this summer.
Mindforge Technologies
With very little knowledge of HTML code and no knowledge of anything else, I decided that it would be a good idea to start an online company. This was inspired by my brother coming home from Uganda and wanting to start a business, and also by my lack of interest in being an insurance salesman. Yes, I am very passionate about insurance, but it just wasn’t the right time. So we started up Mindforge Technologies, which you can visit at www.mindforgetech.com. Read more »
LSAT People Watching
Posted in life with tags games, inn, logic, lsat, panera, people, village, watching on June 8, 2009 by Seth CosterI am taking the LSAT today. This is the big test that decides which law schools I can go to, so I have to do well. Taking this into consideration, I made it a point to put off studying for it as long as possible. Finally, as Friday of this past week rolled around, I decided to crack open the prep books with 3 days to go. I can’t study at my house due to distractions, so I migrated over to Village Inn (they have free coffee refills). I munched on my Denver Omelet and began studying. Here is what I learned. Read more »
Get lots of free stuff!
Posted in life on May 7, 2009 by Seth CosterI used to eat chocolate. My use of the word “eat” in this situation would be similar to using the term “fart” to describe a supernova. I ate a lot of chocolate. A normal day would consist of breakfast, followed by a trip to the nearby convenience store. I would buy a king-sized Hershey’s bar, which I would consume in under 3 minutes. That would tide me over until lunch. After lunch, I would make a trip to the nearby convenience store. I would buy a king-sized Hershey’s bar, which I would also consume in under 3 minutes. By the time dinner rolled around, I was so sick of Hershey’s bars that the only way to console myself was to eat another Hershey’s bar. I also approached M&M’s in the same ravenous fashion.
Tell An Epic Tale
Posted in life with tags book, church, convert, tale on May 5, 2009 by Seth CosterIn response to my own call for action 4 posts down, I’ve been working on ideas to keep myself busy for the summer. There are a huge number of things I could do (besides working myself to death). I could learn another chord on my guitar, thus increasing the number of chords I can play by 50%. I could take night classes. I could learn to break dance. Sure, I could do all of those things, but I have a better idea.
I don’t know how many of you who read this blog have had conversion attempts made on you, but let me tell you: it’s hilarious. Read more »
Something Must Be Done.
Posted in life with tags action, atheism, call, dogma, religion on May 5, 2009 by Seth CosterI read all of these stories from Adam’s well-constructed blog posts. They are inspiring, to say the least. He is putting himself in the middle of it all. He is voluntarily living in one of the poorest countries in the world, teaching science and technology to people who barely have a hole to shit in. He is working to make a difference with the tools he has (a brilliantly analytical mind and a resilient personality). And yet I wonder, is it possible to treat the disease, or can we only treat the symptoms? Adam recounted to me a story of a witch doctor that passed through one of the towns near where he was living at the time. A man had gotten sick shortly after. The townspeople concluded that the man was sick because the witch doctor had placed a curse on a huge, ancient tree in the town. They got together and chopped down the tree.
