Top Fives

So given that it's the end of the year, it seems fitting that I should do a few top fives that give an insight into what I will remember/enjoy about this year. We'll start with the obvious and move on to the more interesting.

Top Five Movies (There are many really awesome looking movies that I never got around to seeing, which is why movies like Up and Where the Wild Things Are aren't on this list)
1. The Hurt Locker- best movie about the nature of war and the people involved in it I've seen...well, ever. Band of Brothers is great, but 1) it's not a movie in the same sense of the word, and 2) It gets wrapped up in the sentimentality of the individuals being "brothers" and the righteousness of WWII.
2. Zombieland - My favorite phrase of the year: "It's time to nut up or shut up." I usually hate gory movies, but this was straight up awesome on about six different levels.
3. Up in the Air - Few American movies have enough respect for their audience to not have a neat little ending with clear answers to all of life's most pressing questions. This is one of the few that acknowledges how difficult change can be, both for the person getting fired and the person that gets to keep their job. Sidenote: The film was shot in StL. Big ups!
4. The Hangover - Best Holocaust joke I've heard in quite some time. Nough said.
5. Inglourious Basterds - Every Jew's greatest fantasy revealed in a way that only Tarantino can produce.

Lessons Learned: There are way too many awesome movies that are not on this list because I never got around to going to a movie theater. No. 5 really shouldn't be on this list. I need a Netflix subscription STAT!

Top Five Songs - this list includes songs that may or may not be old, but that I heard for the first time this year.
1. Glee Version-Hate on Me - Jill Scott's original version of this song is good, but Amber from the show is absolutely fantastic.
2. The Sounds - Don't Want to Hurt You - Gotta love those cavemen.
3. Bon Iver - Creature Fear/Skinny Love - Bon Iver is one of those groups that I saw on way too many of my friends' Facebook pages before stumbling across them because of this scene from Chuck. Now I'm hooked and having a hard time not buying their albums.
4. Matt and Kim - Daylight - Damn, that is a catchy song. The video isn't half bad either.
5. Iggy Pop - The Passenger - This song got some extra air play because of Up in the Air, but it was a fricking sweet song to start with. It also describes what it feels like to be 26 pretty accurately.

Lesson Learned: TV Commercials/shows are a great place to find fun random music to listen to.

Top Five TV Shows - below are my favorite scenes from the most recent season.
1. Glee - The scene I wanted to show involved Kurt and his father and is not the one where Kurt comes out. Great scene...that is not online.
2. Chuck- First this one, then this one. This is what diehard fans live for.
3. House - It's hard to find clips, so let's just say I enjoy witty banter.
4. ESPN -Now that's a dunk.
5. 24 - See No. 3.

Lessons Learned: I'm attracted to shows with male anti-heros as the lead. And sports.

Top Five Blog Posts I've Read
1. Rethinking polarizing rhetoric. I find myself fascinated by people who are able to reframe debates beyond what you hear in the news. This post by Tyler Cowen is a great example.
2. Institutions matter, even in dating. These are my favorite kinds of blog posts.
3. It's really hard to explain economic concepts to people who lack the basic tools for examining economic tools. This post by Bryan Caplan was fascinating if only because it was an economists deliberate attempt to give a simple and easy way to explain concepts that I struggle to explain in my head, nonetheless to my family.
4. I just saw this yesterday, but I think it's very interesting. Fun quote:

So that’s the general worry—a populist right animated by ressentiment isn’t going to do a good job of injecting conservative ideas into deliberation in a useful way. This is not, just to be clear, some kind of white-gloved complaint about “tone,” because really, fuck tone. The ascendancy of angry bluster isn’t the problem; it’s a symptom. The problem is what the anger obscures.

5. Although I sometimes disagree with him, I think Kevin Carey shows a pretty deep understanding of markets in education in this post. School choice doesn't guarantee quality, it merely shows the preferences that people have developed over time based on their experiences with the status quo. That's a hard pill to swallow for people who think "choice" is the end-all of education reform.

Honorable Mention: This is one of the funniest videos I've seen in a while. And somehow, it manages to explain the basics of how Google Wave works. Sheer Joy. And here's the idiot's guide to choosing a religion.

Lessons Learned: This is the one list that it was hard to narrow down. A friend of mine was recently blown away by how many blogs I read. I can only say that I find it a far more satisfying way of collecting information and managing my perpetual low-grade ADD than anything else I've been able to think of.

Top Five Mistakes of the Year
1. Trying to fix the lives of friends/family. This is stupid for a variety of reasons. Put simply, you can't fix people, you can only be there for them when they want you to be.
2. Reading blogs too much.
3. Not working out more.
4. Not exploring DC more - bars, restaurants, museums; I want em all!
5. Reading books too little.

Lesson Learned: Shawshank said it best.

Top Five Memorable Experiences
1. Getting two job offers within a 48 hour period - Whodathunkit? I'm qualified for something.
2. Turning down a job offer - I wrote down the exact language I wanted to use before calling. My hands were sweating so bad that I could barely hold onto the phone.
3. Although it seems small, this fall I had the opportunity to lead a small group discussion for my former employer. I forgot how much fun teaching can be, especially when you're in a room full of smart, engaged people. I've lately been having second thoughts about staying in education for the long haul, but that experience not only reinvigorated my interest, but helped me to focus more clearly on what are possible next steps.
4. Per my earlier comments, I'm in a fantasy football league this year. A few weeks back, I was down 42 points to a friend of mine. We each had one player left. I had Drew Brees and he had Jeremy Shockey. New Orleans, who both play for, was playing New England on Monday Night Football. I had decided not to watch the game because I had other things to do and didn't want to be reminded of my impending loss. After a couple of hours, I received an email from my friend exclaiming that he couldn't believe what was happening in the game. I went online and saw that Brees had score 44 points and Shockey had (somehow) scored only one point. I won the match by exactly one point. I was screaming obscenities (in a joyful manner) at my tv for about 5 minutes. I still feel bad for Jstor.
5. Going back to Hawaii for vacation. Which reminds me, congrats to Jake and Courtney on baby Jack!

Lessons Learned: Good times.

And finally,

Top Five Awkward Moments
1. Turning down a job offer that I couldn't believe I was turning down.
2. Explaining to a friend of mine how my compulsiveness when it comes to Fantasy Football is crucial to our affording several habits, including, but not limited to, my penchant for greasy Chinese food.
3. Any of the 50 or so times a year a new liberal acquaintance finds out where I work and has to reconcile that the person whose company they've enjoyed for the past 20 minutes is now "one of them." It's awkward, but I'm glad it happens and wouldn't have it any other way. I've now got my schtick for public situations down pat. Private and more intimate events are a bit trickier, but also offer the opportunity for more interesting conversation. I think my goal is to eventually be like Tyler Cowen.
4. Any time I discuss my love life with family, which appears to be happening with greater frequency. Shit.
5. Being in a permanent state of reflection. This makes it nearly impossible to be in the moment, do impulsive things, and not over analyze situations that I'm in. It also means I can come off like an ass when I talk politics if I don't watch out. I'm doing a better job on that last part, I think.

Lessons Learned: I got nothing. Just keep going.

Platinum Technology Growth

Maybe it's just me, but since I've been on break and done with classes and reading for the time being, I've been increasingly annoyed with cable television. And it's not just the regular holiday season expectations; you know, running 24 hours of a holiday movie on one channel. That's to be expected, perhaps even a welcomed tradition.

Yet since most of the shows I regularly watch (thank goodness for DVR) have taken a hiatus until after the new year, I've found that instead of the usual filler TV shows I enjoy watching when I have time to, I now encounter... very little. Most of our basic cable channels are now running the same handful of non-holiday movies multiple times, multiple days of the week (in the past, this used to be just a channel or two).

Why pay for cable then? It's certainly making the digital converter box more attractive these days, or just waiting for new episodes of your favorite shows to appear online. And these days, a lot of new TVs are coming internet-capable, which can be paired with internet-friendly offerings from Netflix, Amazon, Apple, Hulu, Pandora and even more. I'm sure a number of people have already chosen to just pay for internet access and watch TV in that manner.

Yet again, I'm unsure if this is a newfound intolerance for crappier cable offerings, or just my growing expectation that I have greater control over the content I watch beyond just changing the channel.

Platinum Money Talk

This article was posted a while ago about conversations to have before you get into marriage. In the most basic sense, it's all about communication (big surprise, right?) Relationships tend to live and die by people having a clear idea of what they are getting themselves into and how their interests mesh with their respective partner.

But lately I've been helping a couple of friends from various stripes with finances and I realized that these kinds of conversations are keys for any time we enter into financial relationships with anyone. The difference is that when we get a loan or save money at a bank, there are formal ways to give this information (and the bank requires it, for your and their protection). It's only in the private sphere that we don't have a formal mechanism for finding out this information, mainly because unlike market transactions, there are feelings involved and asking people about money is perceived as impolite.

I'm not saying that it's a bad thing that we don't ask people to fill out a form when we start dating or living together, I just mean that we're constantly looking for data to help us make better decisions. Yet (according to this article and my experiences) in the private sphere we seem to consistently be rationally ignorant when it comes to these kinds of transactions because there is a social cost associated with them that we're unsure how to broach. And while I now know what conversations to have before getting deeply involved monetarily with anyone privately, I'm not exactly looking forward to doing joint tax returns.

Platinum Promos and Programs

So it's getting around that time again to start shopping for holiday gifts. And I have to say, living on a limited budget begets some pretty creative ways to save money. I figured I'd share some of my discoveries with you as leaves turn their colors and thoughts turn to presents.

1) If you have a Bank of America account and you do most of your shopping online, then you're in luck with this tidbit. If you're not familiar already, I introduce the Add It Up program. Unless it's a very obscure website, chances are you'll find the website you want to shop at in their database. You simply pair a credit and/or debit card with the program, click through Bank of America's database to the website you intend to shop at, and go to town. To give you an example, the Add It Up program was advertising 11% cash back for Priceline.com for a limited time, so I purchased my ticket home for Thanksgiving there and will be receiving roughly $20 cash back in the near future.* I hear Discover and CitiBank also offer programs like this as well.

2) Google promo codes when you see the box to enter a promo code on the checkout screen. Usually websites like RetailMeNot.com and the like have some promotional codes for even the most obscure websites. I've saved and additional $5-10 on average from doing this.

3) If Add It Up doesn't have the website you wish to shop from, use your Frequent Flyer Miles for whatever reward program(s) you have. Getting miles like this is the easiest and free way to keep earning miles for travel, or at least to hold onto miles and prevent them from expiring if you're like me and don't fly often enough to actually garner enough frequent flyer miles for a whole round-trip ticket from flying alone.

4) This final one is a more generic tip, and I usually don't have time for it, but if triple coupon-value week at the Teeter gets you excited, then there are blogs out there that have grocery and drugstore coupons for you so that you don't have to invest $14 for a 6-month subscription to the Washington Post in the hope that you'll save more money in the value of coupons than the subscription is worth.

Happy shopping!


*(To make sure the program signature isn't lost while I'm browsing, I usually go through the Add It Up program again after I've added things to my cart, and they're still there after I go through it. This way I haven't had any problems with Bank of America not registering the cash back rewards.)

Elizabeth Lambert

... suddenly a fan of soccer again

Elizabeth Lambert is the hottest college soccer player ever.
Liz if you're reading this, look me up when you're in DC!!
Elizabeth = martial arts + soccer + platinum platinum rock 'n roll

Liz you let those girls know whats up!!!

Platinum Links: Be Careful Who You Mess With Edition

1. Part of me thinks that Michelle Rhee should be more cognizant of the limits of executive authority and respect the rules set down by the legislative branch. But the other part of me completely agrees with Kevin Carey and thinks that ruffling feathers in the education world is probably the greatest indicator that you are doing the right thing. Great blog post.

2. Awhile back, John Mackey, the CEO of Whole Foods, wrote an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal about alternative ideas for health care reform. There was a bit of a response. Anyway, the folks over at Reason produced this video on the whole thing. I'm not sure what's less platinum; the activist calling Mackey racist for not supporting healthcare reform or the other activist assuming he knows more about the healthcare at Whole Foods than he actually does. (HT: D-Rock)



3. Fascinating article about the orthodox Jewish community reporting sexual abuse. Really. Several random thoughts. People tend to think I'm anti-government. I'm not. I like to consider myself more pro-openness. Generally, this means less government, but not always. What's truly interesting about the story is how it demonstrates how cloistered communities develop legal systems. Just because they do not exist as a top down legal authority does not mean they are just and does not mean that they are better than the alternatives. Kudos to the local prosecutors for handling a very difficult situation and encouraging a solution that works within the context of that specific culture.

4. Ummm....can we say, "Net neutrality has tradeoffs."

5. Office gossip is kind of rough. For the record, the article describes the politics of the elementary schools I taught at perfectly. Only I'm not so deft at disrupting it...mostly because for the first year and a quarter of teaching I was participating in it.

So Amazing!

My father needs to find these people and join, immediately. Robert Goulet. Robert. Goulet. The last time I was this proud of St. Louis was when we won the World Series.

Furloughs in Hawaii: Platinum or not-so-platinum?

So Hawaii, like many states, is having a massive budget crisis. In education, states have chosen from a variety of alternatives in order to deal with the deficits. Some have laid off teachers under seniority and some have laid off teachers using other criteria(which may not be super platinum in it's own ways, HT: Courtney). Other states have used across-the-board salary reductions or just cut funding to specific programs.

Hawaii chose something a bit different: they decided to shorten the school year by having seventeen (yes, seventeen) fewer days of school annually through 2011 using furloughs. I haven't heard of another district using this specific approach when it comes to education. Personally, this seems like one of those too-perfect-for words examples of putting the interests of adults ahead of the needs of children. Adults get to keep the same amount of pay(proportionally) and get more days off while children receive less learning time (in a state with one of the shortest school days and years) and parents must scramble to figure out what to do with their kids seventeen days of the year they hadn't planned to. And now there are some lawsuits saying that the new contract is illegal and the Governor is evil blah blah blah.

So that's the background. Here's a few quick hits.

• Multiple friends of mine have posted on facebook pictures from a "teach-in" protest(with celebrities!) at the state capitol and are blaming the governor for the fact they can't be with their kids. This is completely disingenuous. The contract that cut out seventeen days was ratified by teachers by 81% to 19%. That means that the people protesting have already spoken (with their pocketbooks) and said that preserving the status quo (in pay, their responsibilities, class size) is more important than learning time for their students.
• Speaking of going back on their word, let's go back a couple years. In April 2007, Hawaii teachers voted on a contract (good summary article) that would give across the board raises (11%) for teachers, require only one year of teaching before tenure, and required mandatory randomized drug testing. That contract was also ratified by large margins (61%). Almost immediately after the contract vote, the union announced that their interpretation of random drug testing was that if someone was suspected of being under the influence, they could be tested. The governor, and now they are in court, still fighting two years later. Meanwhile, teachers have been receiving the raise that was part of the contract for the entire time (I'm not sure about the one year-tenure thing).
  

So what does all this mean? Personally, it suggests to me that neither the union nor the teachers they represent negotiate in good faith. Once you agree to something, you are legally obligated to follow through on it. It's impressive that no one stands up and says, "Hey buddy! You voted in favor of this! If this is so bad for the kids, why didn't you just take a pay cut or announce layoffs?" I personally think furloughs are a poor policy solution when it comes to education, but as a practical matter, they do solve the budget issue. But what I consider galling (and highly un-platinum) is the completely disingenuous behavior of everyone involved. Welcome to life in Hawaii.

Update: As soon as I posted the previous version of the post, I regretted using the word, "jackass" to describe some people who I believe are being hypocritical. My bad and I apologize. Completely non-platinum and this is me owning it.

A Platinum Nobel Prize Winner

We've all received news by now that President Obama received the Nobel Peace Prize and the general surprise that's followed, but recent announcement of 2009 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences award winners Oliver Williamson and Elinor Ostrom is apparently causing a stir in the economic profession. Williamson won for his work in New Institutional Economics, and Ostrom for her work on the theory and practice of institutional economics. Ostrom is the first woman to win the Nobel Prize in Economics.

According to economist Steven Levitt, author of best-seller Freakonomics,

the economics profession is going to hate the prize going to Ostrom even more than Republicans hated the Peace prize going to Obama. Economists want this to be an economists’ prize (after all, economists are self-interested). This award demonstrates, in a way that no previous prize has, that the prize is moving toward a Nobel in Social Science, not a Nobel in economics.

He says this isn't necessarily a bad thing, but that his colleagues would find it unpopular. I don't know what 'circles' Levitt travels in, but news of Ostrom's receipt of the award has generated quite a positive reaction from the scholars I know. Ostrom isn't mainstream and therefore, according to Levitt, would ruffle the feathers of the economic community because (1) she is not well-known, and (2) apparently isn't enough of an economist for him.

Read Paul Dragos Aligica's article at Reason about her. He and many other scholars, ecstatic about Ostrom's winning the prize, have been very vocal about their reactions. AP quotes Dragos here:

"Until her work, the thinking was, 'let the state intervene,'" said Paul Dragos Aligica, a political scientist at George Mason University. "'If you leave it to individuals to do whatever they want, resources will be depleted.' But she said `hold on' and found that's not the case." Aligica wrote his doctorate under Ostrom's guidance.

Not all the Nobel Prize announcements have been confusing or disheartening.

Platinum Traveling

So I apologize for not posting for quite a while. I honestly just haven't had much to write about. Happily, I am on vacation this weekend and traveled to Chicago to see some friends of mine. KM and CS have a great apartment in Wicker Park (yes, that Wicker Park for all you movie buffs out there) and both seem to be doing great in their new respective lives. Seeing as how I've spent the weekend traveling, I thought I'd remark on a platinum and not-so platinum travel moment I had this weekend.

Platinum Packing
For those of you that know my family, you'll know that they are atrocious at packing. Since I was a child, it's always been a more stuff=better mentality when it comes to packing for any kind of trip, be it for a day or a week. The results of this were cramped cars, lots of time spent packing/unpacking, and my family never really being forced to think about what we wanted to do (and therefore needed to pack) on trips. Not surprisingly, my family is also not good about cleaning out old crap we have in our house. Having seen the houses of my relatives, and most importantly my grandparents, I'm tempted to use Psych 101 to describe this as the "Depression Conception of Packing/Storage." DCOPS means that you want quantity over quality and that you hold onto things you have no reason to because "You never know when they could be useful."

I, at least in my adult life, firmly reject this way of thinking. I pack light and think strategically about what are the most likely things I'll be doing on any given trip. I don't check baggage and I don't eat or drink before or during travel for the most part. These are all things that will slow you down. I can pack for just about any weekend trip (and most other trips) in less the 20 minutes. I keep a bag of toiletries packed for just this purpose (including a ziplock bag for TSA). All in all, I'm able to travel about as efficiently as a business traveler, despite having far less practice.

On the home front, I periodically (about once a month) go through all of my paperwork and throw out/shred anything I don't honestly need. All of my bills and paperwork from banks are sent to me paperless via email. I give away/throw out crap that I don't need or doesn't fit me anymore. Being someone who has the attention span of one of my third grade male students, I know that I like to move around and am not likely to stay in one apartment or city for more than a year or two. Staying lean and mean makes it easy for me to do that. Caveat: I'm not saying that how my parents or relatives live/pack is bad; I'm saying it doesn't work for someone with my lifestyle and desire to control my living space.

Metro Non - Platinum Behavior
Anyone who has used public transportation (or probably any kind of transportation) for any period of time can tell you that there are norms for behavior. Don't stand on the left on the escalator. Let people get off the train/bus before you try to get on. Don't play your music loud enough so other riders can listen to it. There are honestly a million of these and the more you ride public transit, the more you learn some of the more nuanced ones, like realizing that where you should stand on a train can be determined based on how long it is till your stop (stand in the middle the of the train if you've got a long way to go so that you don't get in the way of those getting on and off in the interim). But there are few norms of behavior in these situations that are easier to comprehend and follow than "Don't fight."

On Friday night, I was on the metro heading over to a friend's and saw a fifteen (not kidding) girl fight going on at L'Enfant Plaza. I heard it as I came up the escalator from downstairs. A bunch of black girls were arguing and talking very loudly. Being Friday night and a strategically located Metro station, there were a pretty good number of people on the platform, all watching from the corner of their eyes. The arguing continued to escalate until the girls began throwing punches and a scrum ensued (the fight started right as the train was pulling in). Two things were striking: 1) It didn't look as though anyone was going to look for a train attendant or police officers (who should have been there, given this particular station is known for this sort of thing) and 2) The very fact that people were around seemed to agitate the girls more. As many have said before me, no one wants to be the punk, even if it means getting your ass kicked in the meantime. It, along with the other fights I've seen on a metro (see drunk white guys at 2:30 am later that night) are some of the most depressing things I've witnessed in my adult life. Maybe it's because I'm a sissy, but it's incredibly sad to see people fight out of sheer boredom.

Plaxico Burress, I don't get it.

I get that Plaxico Burress had a gun, and that he shot that gun in public, but he only shot himself... by accident... in the leg. Remind me because I can't seem to understand, why are we punishing him? How is he a danger to society?

I think it's safe to assume that Plexico learned his lesson about firearms but where is the civil threat?

Frankly, if I were the football player responsible for catching a pass that toppled perfect season of the New England Patriots, you're god damn right I'm carrying a gun. Fact I might even carry two. This is a perfect example of an individual aiming to protect himself and the state eroding that right. I'm not a big second amendment kind of guy, but I do take some level of comfort, however crazy the thought, in the fact that American can protect themselves.

Maybe I'm missing something big but from my perspective now the treatment of Plaxico Burress's case is totally not Platinum.

Platinum Links

1. Check your grammar online for free...up to 100 words.

2. This is what I will use from now on to explain computer issues to my parents. Enjoy!

3. It's really odd to be able to find out so easily something I've wondered about for quite a while...how much money my parents (well, one of them) makes.

4. This article just makes me sad. This is, check that, was a really great neighborhood that seems determined to drive away business. There are two things that come to mind when I read something like this:

1. There is no such thing as a free lunch. Everything involves tradeoffs. You can keep your neighborhood looking exactly the way it looked however many years ago you moved in, but that means that there won't be new businesses and many of the old ones will leave eventually.
   
2. "Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard." - H.L. Mencken

5. I find myself thinking about this article in the context of every job I've ever had. Great quote:

And I know this: the first sign that you are outside of your strengths is when you can’t make yourself do the work you need to do.

6. Smartlists...read the one about the defense department. Fascinating stuff.

Sonos: Triple Platinum

After almost three years coming Sonos has finally released their album, and it flippin rocks like the atomic number 78 thrice over.

They bring a mix of electronic feel, to the extent that at times it's like you're listening to Radiohead, while maintaining a Gardin State soundtrack feel. Basically get used to shivers down your spine and a sudden motivation to do something with your life. The greatest thing though, and here's the curve ball... it's all human voices. Tons of effects but all live and beautiful. Truly the next generation of vocal music.

It also helps that the beatboxer in the group is yours truly's older brother. But in all bias aside. These kids but don't take my word for it. Listen to their samples on Amazon.

No internet at my house till the end of the week...

1. For those of you wondering what I want for my birthday.

2. What's striking about this post to me is how similar it is in many ways to my own experiences. I had some good teachers, but I had a large number of awful teachers. My high school, except for one teacher, was a joke. If anyone deserves credit for the successes I've enjoyed, it's my parents. This whole article just seems to reiterate the idea that for the vast majority of students in low-income schools, there is little value add by the school and you can essentially predict their futures based on their home lives. Very depressing indeed.

3. I'm sure that there's some sort of economic idea underlying this quote from a guy who I consider to be the best sportswriter in America. The post, as they all are, is funny throughout.

You're 29. You've been dating the same girl for nearly three years. She is the best catch of her college friends. One of her less fetching friends meets a guy who is wealthier and more successful than you. Inexplicably, he proposes within seven months. It makes no sense. She totally outkicked her coverage with this guy; he doesn't even know about her "Girls Gone Wild" appearance yet. Still, the whole thing plants those "if she's getting married than what's wrong with me?" doubts in your girlfriend. She wants a ring and she wants it now. You can't believe it. You thought you had already worked this out -- you were going to wait to get married until you were financially stable. You take her out to dinner and make the following argument: Look, just because somebody proposed to your crazy friend doesn't mean that (a) she's better than you, or (b) this should affect your situation in any way.

4. This is probably the best museum website I've ever seen. It's amazing how the videos of 9/11 still visibly shake me. In case you don't know, it takes a lot to get a rise out of me.

5. And on the flipside of that equation, my college has a new website (that they designed internally). My friends and I have already had a long discussion about the website, which we think is a slight upgrade from the previous website, but which still lacks polish. I wonder whether a school has ever done a student competition for redesigning a website like this. Groups of students (art, computer science, psychology, etc.) could band together to create something really cool that actually works. Hell, open it up to students/developers all over the place. Innovate!

Platinum Transparency

I know, I know, ...long hiatus... inconsistent... no excuses... apologies abound. Moving on.

From the majority of my posts about non-platinum activities, you would think I wasn't an optimist. Here's a great up and coming technology that many government agencies have come to use since President Obama's call for greater transparency, in particular with regards to the Recovery Act funds. Learn more by clicking on the demo video, or go straight into playing around with the live applications. The three listed are Recovery Act funds, HUD Recovery Data, and TARP data. The point of the software is not only to mash together seemingly incompatible data sources (whether it's RSS feeds, Excel spreadsheets, or what ever else one could imagine), but it also draws from these sources in real time, and displays the information in a concise and clear way. For example, all of the information in the Recovery Act live application tracks every dollar spent of the money given to federal agencies, states, and even bureaus with agencies. As another example, the TARP live application indicates what banks received money, how much, how they're faring, and their track records since receiving the money. Furthermore, you can embed these applications in iGoogle and the like. My buddy Shawn would certainly be able to explain it better than I can, but I do plan on incorporating the software in the way I do data research. I highly recommend downloading it and playing around with it if you work with data.

Platinum Links

1. Facebook, destroyer of lives everywhere...

2. Oy! Google just added another language...guess which one?

3. Do you go to one of America's douchiest colleges?

4. What is it that makes Roger Federer so awesome? It's truly remarkable to see how clearly they can analyze his game.

5. Here's a fascinating first-person account of a reporter going through the process of becoming a gun owner in DC. Best quote:

Because despite the fact that my government trusts me to own a gun, I'm not sure how I feel about having a weapon that can send a piece of metal the size of a thimble hurtling through space with such speed that it could make someone's head explode.

I can honestly say that I have no idea how I feel about this issue, but that I think the author does a great job of reflecting the ambivalence of how an urban middle class white feels about both guns and living in a rapidly gentrifying city like DC.

Inglourious Endowments

So this weekend I saw Inglourious Basterds. The movie was awesome and I enjoyed it thoroughly. The plot semi-revolves around Joseph Goebbels and his takeover of the German film/art industry. A core tenet of fascism is the idea that everything (business, education, art, the individual) must serve the purposes of the state. Part of why people made such a big deal about the "death panels" in the health plan was because this was exactly what happened in Nazi Germany. The state provided health care, but people that were old and required lots of health care were seen as leeches on the state and needed to be eliminated for the good of the state. No joke. This is a big part of what socialism/socialized medicine is seen by many people as standing for. Do I think that this is actually going to happen under Obama's plan? No. I think the consequences would be far worse on the margin, but the effects would be far less obvious to the average person. Anyway, back to the real reason I'm posting.

As someone who is against government funding of things like the arts and non-profits, people ask me "How can you be against helping to promote art/music/etc. to the masses?" My response is that things like this can happen. Basically, the Obama administration wants to use the National Endowment for the Arts and the art community in general as an organ for the political messaging.

Backed by the full weight of President Barack Obama’s call to service and the institutional weight of the NEA, the conference call was billed as an opportunity for those in the art community to inspire service in four key categories, and at the top of the list were “health care” and “energy and environment.”

My favorite quote from the post is this:

Now, if you are for the issues being pursued by the current administration, you may be inclined to think favorably of what I am labeling “overreach.” What a powerful weapon to fight those that are opposed to our ideas, you may think. For those in this camp I ask you this - will you feel the same when the opposition has access to the same machine?

I think this is probably one of the best ways to evaluate any government program. How would you feel if your polar political opposite had control of the resources in question? If you aren't happy with the answer to that question, I'd take a hard look at my support for that program. The reality is, of course, more complicated. The people who make up the bureaucracies in question have their own goals and will do what they need to do to protect those interests. It's natural and there's no way around it. The key is to not conflate the interests of the public with the interests of the bureaucracy or politicians who control it.

Platinum Links: I really hate teacher tenure edition

1. Missouri has what appears to be a really great program for rehabilitating juvenile criminals. Very platinum indeed.

2. An incredibly good, long, article on the American health care system. Probably the only sensible piece of writing I've read about health care (on either side) since the new push began. Highly recommended. (HT: Jstor)

3. An incredibly good, long, article on teacher tenure in New York City. It really is hard not to get angry at the individuals who advocate for a system that pays people over $100,000 a year to sit in a room and not teach and then requires approximately $400,000 in legal wrangling to maybe remove that teacher. For people that don't understand what the phrase "opportunity costs" means, this is a very good example. Every dollar spent on a teacher in a rubber room or paying for the lawyers is a dollar that doesn't pay for all the nice things people like in schools. Obviously, choices have already been made.

4. Tech support cheat sheet. Joyce/Allen - this is what I do every time you ask me a computer question. No joke. (HT: Ellie O.)

Why do you get up in the morning?

My friend Kaylin is in South Korea teaching English as a Second Language. She writes a great blog about her experiences that takes a wonderfully ironic look at her existence as an outsider there. She wrote an interesting post the other day about her experiences in the policy oriented non-profit world vs. being a teacher. Key quote below:

Sometimes I still feel like interacting with children all day is making me less sharp. Yet playing a part in civilizing small barbarians to respect each others property and treat each other kindly is, in a way, a lot more satisfying than fact-checking a chapter for some brilliant scholar's new book.

When I look back at my teaching experiences through my emotional lens, I can't help but feel the same way. There are few people out there who stay apprised of the minutia of education policy and even fewer who actually can stake out a coherent, relevant, set of positions as to what should be done. Contrast that with seeing a student understand what multiplication is or smile when the lightbulb goes off in their head about how to write a concluding sentence for their paragraph. These and many other things were incredibly gratifying. But...

I don't usually use my emotions when I look at things. I try to maintain a healthy skepticism about just about everything I encounter. Sometimes this is helpful. Sometimes I come off like an ass. Here goes my attempt at something in between the two.

People tend to want their work/lives to be meaningful. It's a natural thing to do and is perfectly legitimate. But this does not mean that one job is objectively superior to the other, just that for those individuals it might be more personally satisfying. Similarly, I don't understand the whole profit vs. nonprofit vs. government argument. Each sector has different things it does (hopefully) and I know of people in every sector who are either extremely happy and excited to come into work every day or downright miserable and feel as though they'd contribute more to society if they just stayed in bed when they wake up. In my mind, the key is to figure out what kind of work makes you feel like you are making a positive contribution and not to be dogmatic about which sector you work in to accomplish that work.

I once was at a forum where Michelle Rhee was speaking and someone asked about whether the DC Public Schools should only work with non-profits to provide services in the district. Her response - "First, let's be clear about something. There are a lot of people out there making money off of children." My sentiments exactly. Unless you are volunteering, the only difference in someone's work is the approach and specific outcomes that are desired. The basic idea is still the same; create value for your organization which, in turn, creates value for society. This is my non-romantic version of why I get up in the morning and I'm sticking to it...for now.

You know you do it...

1. Do you pee freely?

2. What if zombies actually attacked? Apparently, we'd fight them the same way we fight other outbreaks. Amazing quote:

“An outbreak of zombies is likely to be disastrous, unless extremely aggressive tactics are employed against the undead...”

3. The world's greatest car commercials. My favorite below...


4. Really good apartment search website (at least the structure is good). It definitely needs more people to use it before it actually becomes truly useful.

Random Tech Stuff I Find interesting

1. So up until now, you could only use Verizon phones inside the DC Metro system. But that's about to change. Read the article, it tells the history behind why Verizon has been the only network allowed. Interesting stuff, especially if you wonder about competition for the provision of public services.

2. Websites where body shops bid for your business. The beauty of sites like this is how it democratizes information. Prior to this and other websites similar to it, the power dynamic between consumers and vendors was skewed in favor of the vendor. The whole relationship just got flipped. Amazing.

3. How to make a good password. I obey these rules maybe half the time. Not a good sign.

4. The future of checkwriting and depositing.

Things that are fun to play with...

1. What's your name anagram? Mine is "alpha nagger."
2. What's your credit IQ? Mine is pretty good.

News Articles I think are interesting...

1. Comparing the post office to other things that have to travel long distances.

2. Proof that facebook can ruin lives.

3. The CEO of Whole Foods on alternative ideas for health care reform. Here's another article about the challenges that come along with single payer. Funny quote: "Yet even the smallest budget moves are proving controversial. Local residents are up in arms over a cost-cutting measure that makes patients pay €1.10 an hour to park at the hospital."

4. The problem with hate crime laws

5. Salutations for the 21st century

6. What to do when you're Bernie Madoff's assistant...

STD testing is highly Platinum

So DCPS is going to start giving free optional anonymous STD testing to everyone in DC high schools. One especially good thing about the program is how it takes pains to make sure that the students are given maximum privacy before, during, and after the testing. Honestly, I think this is probably the best idea I have ever heard in terms of spreading the disease among teens. As much as I want to believe that people will make smart decisions based on education, the education programs don't seem to have a great deal of impact, especially for high school students in low income schools. In light of that, the best thing to do is give students information so that they can know what their status is. It's not perfect, but I genuinely believe that kids are smart and can make better decisions once they are given information, assuming steps are taken to ensure students feel confident about obtaining the information. Kudos to the people who came up with this idea and are implementing it.

Platinum Links: Lot's of cool websites I found

1. This is an awesome website for anyone that owns a car...

2. Website where you can compare bing vs. google. pretty cool.

3. Website for those of us that can't focus due to distractions on the web.

4. An interesting article in the NyTimes about what to do when your significant other wants to get a divorce. Speaking as someone who gets incredibly antsy when relationships reach a certain point and then regrets his decisions, this is probably the best approach I've ever seen for dealing with this problem. Key quote below on how to approach the situation...

Here’s a visual: Child throws a temper tantrum. Tries to hit his mother. But the mother doesn’t hit back, lecture or punish. Instead, she ducks. Then she tries to go about her business as if the tantrum isn’t happening. She doesn’t “reward” the tantrum. She simply doesn’t take the tantrum personally because, after all, it’s not about her.

I honestly thought this was snuck onto WSJ by The Onion

Double the Platinum, Double the links...

1. This article empirically verifies what I pretty much knew; people are naturally social and for the most part, not interested in conflict in any form. This is a positive in many situations, but not all. Fascinating stuff. (HT: LT)

2. Someone smarter than I describing why she doesn't like government-run health care.

3. Chick flicks that men can like. Some I agree with more than others. I definitely enjoyed The Devil Wears Prada, though it's doubtful I will ever watch the Sex in the City Movie. The unstated part of this whole article is that men should tolerate watching these movies on the off chance that it gets your lady friend in the mood. The whole thing makes me think of this....(wait for the 1:50 mark)

4. Congrats to my friend, Courtney. She is going to be working at this school in Chicago. Here's an article about the new school they are opening up near my college.

5. This article is interesting in that it describes the dramatic transition communities go through when they modernize. To be certain, it is not always pretty and it is a process that can radically change in a few years much of what an agrarian society has become accustomed to over centuries. All I could think of while reading it is that an observer probably would have said the same thing about settlers in the United States two and three hundred years ago. I, for one, have a new blog to subscribe to. (HT: LT)

6. This is very odd. It's a charter school being run by a school district. This seems to defy the definition/logic of charter schools. Other than the school being allowed to choose their own employees (sort of), all this seems to prove is how districts recognize that they can't centrally control schools - even when they are still centrally planning the schools that are not centrally controlled. Weird.

7. This list is remarkably good. There are only two movies I'd replace: Goodfellas and Saving Private Ryan. Points to the person who can figure out which two movies I'd replace them with. The first should be very easy.

8. This is an extremely long post about basketball and the link to the Ewing theory is also a pretty decent length. Both are great posts. The main post provides an intellectual analysis of basketball that you just don't see very often. Great stuff. Another example that goes unmentioned is this article about Shane Battier. It fits so perfectly, it's scary. Make sure you give yourself a half hour before clicking on any of these links.

9. This seems remarkably accurate given what I know about New Yorkers. And having heard Rudy speak about a week ago, I completely believe his quote. Thoughts, anyone?

10. Here's an article that takes a pejorative tone against, ironically, one of the only bankers who did not help to get us into the recession. I'm no objectivist, but it's interesting that the article, in describing people that understood the crisis before it began, seems to take a higher than thou tone about laissez faire capitalism, and misses the crucial point that there is a difference between how markets operate and how the individual actors within a market should behave if they want to survive and thrive in the long term.

Don't shoot the moon unless you know you can make it

One of the things I learned during my non-profit management fellowship was the importance of clear expectations in a workplace setting. People need to know what they are empowered to do and where they should draw the line. It prevents confusion, wasted time/resources, and makes a team far more productive. It's surprisingly important and yet many people don't think about it very much.

Today we attempted to get new cable installed in our house. Due to some architectural issues, when the two fellows came in, they couldn't figure out how to approach installing the lines, boxes, etc. They immediately called their boss and we arranged a new appointment. Aside from being disappointed that the cable issue wasn't dealt with, I was pretty impressed. My roommate thought the guys gave up to easily, but I just assumed that that was what they've been trained to do. Neither one appeared to be well educated or in a position to know how to do the complex work needed for the project. They were most likely trained to do exactly what they did. Instead of wasting time and possibly biting off more than they could chew, they assessed the situation, realized it was beyond their skills, and moved on to their next task. I consider that a highly platinum use of labor.

Platinum Links: I've been productive today edition

1. Video on American consumption habits over the past quarter century or so. I'd like to say that I'm pretty meticulous about how I spend my money and absolutely hate debt. Definitely something I learned from my parents.

2. This looks much more like 21st century education in my mind. No clue whether it will work, but it's definitely the kind of innovation I like. Knowing the state of Hawaii, they will adopt this 20 years from now (regardless of evidence from this attempt), roll it out to every school, say that it will cure all ills, overpay for "consultants" to help them put it into place, and still not have air conditioning at most of the schools on the island.

3. Talk about barriers to entry! Interesting to think about, especially considering this video...




4. I'll be honest. I often find myself falling into this mental trap of being angry about bundling. My largest complaints are for things like cell phones, stadium food concessions, and definitely cable. But then I let my rational side calm me down and look for someone like Megan Mcardle to remind me of what I know in the back of my mind. Bundling happens all the time and it's good for me.

5. Advance Directives and google health. Get one if you don't already...

Talent Recruitment Openness Seems Platinum to me

So there was an article in the NYTimes today about colleges abandoning the use of the SAT/ACT in the admissions process. The general tilt of the article was that colleges do this to boost their applicant pool size, which then allows them to move up the rankings when they turn down more applicants. It also describes how some schools do not require the tests for applicants, but do require the tests for merit aid. The article seems to imply that the first activity is gaming the system and the second activity may just be unethical. I know I'm weird, but I had the exact opposite reaction upon reading the story.

Awhile ago, Malcolm Gladwell wrote an article in the New Yorker about how we really don't know what makes good teachers. There are lots of rules, regulations, and schools dedicated to saying what is required in order to be a teacher, but none of these have been found to produce great teachers. Gladwell gives several examples of how other entities (football coaches and investment bankers) go about finding top talent when they are looking for something hard to quantify. Both groups recruit widely, train intensely, and monitor progress methodically. They constantly thin the herd searching for the exact talent they want/need.

My thinking on the college article was that colleges are simply applying the principles that the football and banking groups apply (according to Gladwell). Given the poor predictive nature of the SAT/ACT for college performance, it makes sense for colleges to not treat them as hard and fast rules to be applied across the board at all times. By removing barriers to entry (standardized tests) colleges are widening the scope of people that can apply and getting more diverse streams of talent.

The implication of the article is that this may be some sort of race to the bottom, but maybe it's a race to the top. Maybe, in the long term, this is just one of many gradual steps towards identifying better indicators for the best and brightest students. One can only pray that other parts of the American education system adopt a similar openness.

Random Platinum Quotes

"Coke Zero is Diet Coke for men."
- Karl

"But for the love of God, let’s not forget the love of God."
- Tony Woodlief(more here)

“Universally, principals have been considered a part of management, so unionizing presents some obstacles for them. Many states, as well as classic labor-management law, forbid management groups from joining a union. The result is that in order to be eligible for union membership, many principals are now insisting that they are non-management.

In order to give principals non-management status, the New York State Public Employment Relations Board recently re-defined the principalship. The Board defined the principal as a highly paid clerk who supervises in some vague way, but who has no important function to perform.”

- On the attempts of principals to unionize, in a 1975 National Association of Secondary School Principals Bulletin, authored by B. Frank Brown

Nintendo DS while traveling... Platinum?

I live in DC, and as you might have guessed, we have quite a bit of tourists. Most new comers, myself included, are stunned at how the tourists behave. They frankly tend to get in the way. It's like all of middle America stampedes the city every weekend to clog up the escalators in the metro or stop and sight see while I'm trying to get somewhere. It's flippin annoying. Fortunately the tourists generally come and families and consequentially have not infested the bars as of yet.

If I was to be honest I would have to say though that from time to time visitors to the city crack me up. The extreme tourist has never seen the likes of what we got here. I'm talking about overweight dads with Hawaiian shirts and sun caps, tube socks with sandals, cameras and cargo shorts pulled way high. It's great! Once we even has a bunch of Chinese tourists take pictures with us while we were tossing disk on the mall. (I like to joke that it wasn't till later that day we found out they stole our wallets)

The question on platinum comes up in one such encounter with a traveling family. The entire family was in the metro and as soon as they had a free second every one of them popped out a little Nintendo DS and started gaming. This through me for a loop, maybe I'm a purist at heart and a little wearly of those things stealing my soul or something, but still... when your traveling?! I don't get it. But I will try to refraign from casting platinum judgment on such actions as those I simply fail to understand.

Blogs that you should start reading...

So, I'd say my two favorite bloggers are Megan Mcardle and Penelope Trunk. Both have a way of writing about complex things in a very simple and straightforward way with no bullshit. As a sidenote, I find smart women to be incredibly attractive. Anyway, a week ago when I made a note to myself to blog about both of these posts, I remember having a really coherent set of comments I wanted to make. I'm not sure if I still have them.

Mcardle discusses how she doesn't really see "villains" in the economic meltdown. I've had several conversations about this with my father. I tend to agree with her that there are not many people who really went out and tried to "hurt" other people. There were loads of overconfident bankers/regulators/homebuyers/congressmen/presidents/fed reserve chairmen...the list goes on and on. Mcardle says it best with "Once you have tens of thousands . . . or tens of millions . . . of people in the dock, you don't have villains. You have a system that has gone badly wrong." While it's not as satisfying as blaming a small group of readily identifiable people, most truths in life seem to be messy, complex, and not easily changed.

Trunk, for her part, delves into what I consider to be a much more trivial issue that received far more interest than what Mcardle wrote about - Sarah Palin resigning her position as governor of Alaska. Trunk reasons that Palin is actually employing some very new career management ideas into her own career. The reasons, in order as listed, are:

1. Get out of a job when you're done doing it
2. Ideas matter, not your resume
3. Careers are built on teams and networks
4. No one controls your career except you

I didn't really pay attention to any of the original Palin coverage and this was the only article I recall reading about it. What I found striking about my thoughts after reading the article was this - it actually makes a ton of sense. For example, replace the name Palin with say, Barack Obama. Every single one of the points still makes perfect sense. When Obama ran for President, everyone said that he hadn't been in the Senate long enough to do anything, didn't have a resume worth a damn, had no political backing, and should bow down to Hillary. He obviously didn't listen, had an idea of what would be politically successful, built an impressive team/network, and controlled his image to perfection. Whatever you think about Palin, the post is a very interesting way of looking at a topic that I couldn't find more inane.

Aside from these two articles, I highly recommend Trunk's blog. I don't really know what I think about my career, but her writing is absolutely amazing for its clarity. This post about public disclosure of personal issues is probably the best piece of writing I've read all year. Click on the link to the 9/11 post. It is fantastic as well.

Platinum Links

1. For all my friends and family that enjoy reading, this is awesome.

2. This is a cool post about how we measure the success of movies incorrectly. Basically, we should rank movies using an indexed-for-inflation + number of tickets sold formula/ amount of money spent to produce the movie that is nowhere near as sexy as the simple easy number we see on websites like rottentomatoes.

3. Ironically, the story of the Ak-47 (minus the millions killed using it) sounds like a great story involving national pride, perserverance in the face of difficult odds, and great ingenuity. The picture at the top is particularly creepy.

4. If you fuck with the process that produced the IPhone, you'll piss off about 20 million people.

5. As odd as it may sound, this is really good news. One fallacy always at play in public/charter schools is that it's all about "choice." My new job is quickly teaching me it's not. It's about producing quality schools and how we go about doing it. Tying resources to success/failure is what will (eventually) produce better results. That means shutting down shitty schools, of all kinds.

Platinum Links: I keep forgetting to post edition...

1. Here's a reason why I don't do much on Facebook anymore. When I'm putting something out that anyone can read, it's probably better if I have to at least think (briefly) about possible unintended consequences of my actions.

2. Apparently it was a good idea to switch to verizon for more than just use of my phone in the metro. Not that I actually have a data plan or anything...

3. I read this article and only one thing went through my head. What if public schools or the big three auto companies actually applied this? My guess is that we'd still have a car industry and a bunch more students would be learning in school.

4. Who's going on vacation? Kudos to whoever can figure out what place would be number one on my list of places to go...

5. My sister will certainly appreciate this article about her favorite restaurant. No, this is not a joke.

6. This is good news for my hometown and all the other apparently "boring" cities out there.
Describing how conferences are not being booked in Las Vegas, someone says, "In the quest to demonize travel, we're killing jobs." You mean to say that when gov't officials demagogue against business people, it can have unintended consequences? Well paint me red and shove a crowbar up my nose!

This is platinum to the extent that nobody died...

This is, without doubt, one of the craziest things I've ever seen. Watch till the end, the title will make sense. More on it here...

Claude Lelouch's Rendezvous... from Dat on Vimeo.

Platinum Links: Tools Edition

1. This is a pretty nice review of the different to-do list tools that are available on the web. Having tried out Google Tasks and Remember The Milk, I can say that these reviews are spot on. I love google tasks. It's what reminded me to post today. :)

2. Here's a review of another kind of online tool. One that I hope no one who reads this blog will ever use.

3. . Megan Mcardle does an amazing job of explaining why everyone should be angry that Wal-mart is in favor of the employer health care mandate. Yet no one is even reporting what is so blatantly going on. While Megan talks about the other retailers who will get nailed by this, my mind tends to gravitate towards my father, who as a small businessman would get screwed by this kind of legislation. The way this story has been covered in the news is why I'm not sad at all about the death of newspapers. Long live The Economist.

4. People are looking for talented people in a recession, but not necessarily where you would think.

We are all philanthropists!

So, when it comes to education, a big website that many people use to donate money is Donorschoose. Teachers post grant applications describing essentially anything they want to do with their students, and you can pick which ones you want to donate to. I used it while I was teaching and it was great. But what about the the opposite? What about a website where you can go and say "I want to give away $600 for a technology project in a classroom"? Enter The Generation Project. Aside from being a really interesting way of empowering people to donate, they have a pretty sweet looking website. I highly recommend this for anyone interested in donating to education.

B and B: Prostitution style

Taiwan decriminalized prostitution. Good for them. Two good lines from the article:

"Local religious groups, however, have opposed the move."

Can you spot the bootlegger that comes paired with this baptist? (Hint: it starts with a p and Jay-Z likes to do it.)

"The Collective of Sex Workers and Supporters, a Taipei-based advocacy group, estimates that 600,000 people are involved in sex-related jobs."

Proof that you must organize if you are to get anything done in a democratic republic.

If only all fantasy sports were this good...

via these guys(awesome site)...

Platinum Links: Bully Edition

1. More on the CRA's contribution to the economic collapse. What I find most disconcerting about the whole thing is the way that gov't bullied companies into making really obviously stupid decisions. Oh well. It seems as though the companies were happy to go along with it.

2. So in the example above, businesses kowtowed to what the regulators wanted them to do and lent to people that didn't have the necessary credit history to be lent to. Here is an example of businesses doing the opposite and simply not allowing themselves to be put in that situation, to the detriment of the customers who live in the states. Here's an example of people doing it too. When people say that taxes don't matter, I disagree.

3. Using the bully pulpit to explain why it sucks to be the number 1 pick in the NBA draft this year. Probably one of the most exhaustive pieces of sports reporting I've seen in quite a while.

4. Why the way we develop basketball players in the USA isn't exactly the best.

5. I have friends who work on capitol hill. I wonder if they know about this.

Helping (not requiring) people to volunteer is definitely platinum

For the longest time, I've been thinking about volunteering. As an adult, I now have about 3-5 organizations I make annual contributions to, but that often feels like not enough. I almost decided to become a youth basketball coach with some friends, but the logistics proved nearly impossible given my absolute lack of a car. I then had to rethink what volunteering meant when I heard that it now means being required to do community service (at least according to some people).

I digress. With my new job, new apartment, and hopefully new workout routine, it only makes sense to revisit this topic. But how to do so? It's hard to comprehend just how many opportunities there are out there, especially if you're not sure how you want to volunteer. Enter, Google. They have kicked in to create this website, which after about 2 minutes of testing, I found to be superior to just about every other volunteer website I've ever seen. When will people get it? Do straightforward things really well and you can be the best in your business. Anyway, the website is called allforgood.org and I'm already brainstorming what I'm going to start doing on saturdays besides studying for the gmat.

Let's tear this mutha down!

The NYTimes has an article about public housing (ATL is tearing down all of its projects and moving to a system of housing vouchers for those that qualify) that is chock full of quotes - some platinum, some hilariously odd.

What were they clapping about?” asked Shirley Hightower, a former president of the tenants’ association who picketed the demolition. “Clapping for a demolition? You’ve had generations behind generations behind generations living in this public housing. This is not a time for celebration.

What this quote seems to imply is that it's a good thing that multiple generations of families lived in absolute poverty. I think about this more along the lines of Russ Roberts, who says the best way to understand wealth and poverty is longitudinally (how wealthy we are relative to our parents). In my mind, multiple generations living in the projects is a sign of their failure, not success. It's supposed to be an anti-poverty program, yet the end result is that poor people are staying in poverty. Doesn't sound to me like a program that is working as intended.

Ms. Glover does not blame the social engineers of the 1930s for creating housing projects. Their solution worked during the New Deal, she said, but collapsed as public housing became more racially segregated and attracted drug crime.

As previously mentioned, I would love to see the statistics measuring the success (people leaving projects to live in non-gov't subsidized housing and becoming part of the middle class) of projects pre segregation and drugs. Given the time frame we are talking about, I doubt there was ever a real time that projects weren't pretty segregated. I wouldn't doubt that drugs played a large part in the social collapse that took place. In general, I am highly skeptical of the projects having a truly positive effect on people moving out of poverty at any point in their existence.

The real winners, Ms. Beaty said, are business developers who make fortunes once the projects are torn down and the neighborhoods gentrify. For years, wealthier Atlantans, frustrated by long commutes, have been moving closer to their jobs downtown and, critics say, displacing poorer residents to outlying suburbs.

This is by far the most amusing of the quotes and it reveals an absurd kind of logic. When whites/wealthier people moved to the suburbs it was seen as abandoning poor people in the city. Now that they are moving closer to the city, they are displacing poor people. I don't know what would be an "acceptable" place for wealthy people to live in relation to poor people.

My point is this; neighborhoods change. Property becomes more or less valuable based on any number of factors. Maybe there's a new Metro line being installed. Maybe entrepreneurs open new businesses that attract wealthier people, which raises rents. Maybe there is no way to know. This is how the housing market works. Neighborhoods go through ups and downs. More valuable property becomes more expensive, but that value is subjective and changes over time based on factors that few, if any, people are smart enough to understand. (Sidenote: while this person seems to very much dislike housing developers, who does she think builds the housing that essentially everyone lives in, wealthy and poor? would she like them less if they made less money? Because I may have heard about a few small things going on in the housing market lately.)

For the record, being able to move is a sign of how wealthy and free we are as a country (poor people included). Like I said earlier, it's a demonstration of their failure that multiple generations of families stayed in the same projects. As long as people's land is not being taken from them and they are being treated equitably under the law, there is no sweeping value judgement to be made on the morality of people making decisions about where they'd like to live. But for that statement to be true, people must actually have a choice and not be condemned to segregation in housing projects. I applaud ATL for moving to a decentralized voucher system and hope that my home town does the same.

Mobility in all its forms

1. Two quick hits. This blog post talks about how Ohio's municipal employees can't be required to live in the municipality that they are employed. This usually comes into play with police officers, firemen, and teachers. The post points out something that I'd never thought of before. If we don't require adults to live in the area that they work, why do we require kids to go to schools in their own zip codes? What's good enough for adults probably is good enough for kids...Very interesting way of thinking about how choice is allowed for in society already.

2. Here's an interesting article about the race for governor in New Jersey and how school choice may factor into it. I've met several people who say education reform isn't a democrat or republican issue. I think a lot of it has to do with circumstances, but I generally tend to disagree with the question. I think it's more a question of how you view the role of government providing services to the general population. It's not an ends, but a means question. Process matters, maybe more than the endgame itself at times. For a better idea of what I mean by process, read this short blog post about education vs. health care.

3. So I lied. One more thing. I'm going to try and follow this blog post, but who knows. One thing I do know is that I took my current job because I want to work on my writing. As a side note for anyone that does a decent amount of research, the application offered by Zotero seems to be amazing. Check out the video.

platinum links - haven't blogged in a bit style

sorry team. I started my new job this week and am also in the process of moving. things have been hectic and this is the first time i've had a chance to organize all the stuff I read.

1. Who are the 40 million people that are uninsured?

2. Good guide to the different cell phone carriers.

3. My college has a long history of being poorly managed. It looks as though things are turning around though. First they did this. Then this. Now this. Small steps are still steps.

4. An absolutely fascinating piece of writing about having an abortion. Of the links listed, this is by far the most platinum, based solely on it's brutal honesty.

Platinum News' got Agency

I don't mean "news agency" in terms of "an organization."  

I mean "news agency" in terms of a sweet means of transferring information.  

When this becomes the default Fox News broadcast, mark my word, I will buy drinks for everyone in the closest bar to me at that time.  Done. 

Non Platinum Behavior - Susan G. Komen Style

Alot of people complain about the Metro behavior of visitors to Washington D.C. The complaints are long and obvious. They stand on the left of escalators. They try to get on the metro before people have gotten off. They don't know how to use the farecard stations. The list goes on and on. While it is always frustrating in the moment, I try to keep my cool about things when they happen in addition to offering help when I can. Being an out-of-towner (like 90% of the city), I remember what it was like to learn the rules of the game, and I didn't have to do it with two kids under five years old nagging me. So I try to cut the tourists a break as much as possible.

The people I don't cut a break for are locals who, for whatever reason, don't obey the rules. Most of the time it is people who don't ride the metro very often and are using it for their once every three months trip into the city for some major event. Enter the Susan G. Komen Race for the cure, happening this morning at the same time I was headed to the BoltBus. I get on the Metro at my usual stop and it's packed. No big deal, right? Wrong. A family has decided to place not one, but two large strollers directly in front of the doors. Now for the 95% of the bus that was going to the Race, this is not a problem. But for the 5% of us that needed to get off before then, it was absurd. People were sucking in their guts just to fit between the crevice created by the door and the family's absurdly wide stroller. Trying to justify the situation, the mother stated matter-of-factly, "The wheels (on the stroller) are locked." I think she meant to imply that this was the reason why she couldn't remove the stroller from the metro in between stops so people could get off. This told me two things about her. 1) She has no sense of metro etiquette. 2) She had somehow forgotten how to disengage the lock on the stroller wheels in the time since she got onto the Metro. I left feeling frustrated at the world and the sometimes unplatinum people floating around it, even when they are on their way to do something I support.

All was better when I arrived at the BoltBus and the bus driver, in a wonderful voice that is impossible to convey through writing, said, "Raphael. I like that name." I'm on wifi right now and going to see friends. Life has moved back to equilibrium.

Random Platinum Link - Charter schools creaming from the "bottom?"