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| Friday, May 29, 2009 |
| Trip Update & More Good Reading |
Slate: Big Food Latches onto "Local"
Slate: Do Hispanic & Latino Mean the Same Thing?
Slate: What to Avoid on E-Bay, and What is Still Worth Buying on It
Slate: The Profits of Bankruptcy
Slate: The Quirky Genius of the New Dos Equis Ad Campaign
Slate: What Makes Academic Labs so Dangerous to Work In?
Slate: How Gore Screwed up Cable Regulation
Salon: Ethnic Profiling Doesn't Stop Terrorism
Salon: Author Who Predicted Katrina-New Orleans, Makes His Next Prediction
Salon: Global Warming Kills 300,000 a year
Prometheus: Does Global Warming Really Kill 300,000 a year? A Critique of Kofi Annan's Statistical Methodology
NYT: The Downside of Feedback
CSMonitor: Mining the Ocean Floor
CSMonitor: Ocean Power
CSMonitor: Can a City Shrink its way to Success?
CSMonitor: Why are German Workers Striking Like French Workers?
CSMonitor: Police Tasers - Excessive Force or Necessary Tool?
CSMonitor: Good Ways to Deliver Bad Business News
CSMonitor: Who will Pay for Mounting Federal and Trade Deficits?
CSMonitor: Chevron Fights Massive Lawsuit in Ecuador
CSMonitor: How Dangerous is Texting While Driving?
Mother Jones: Are Starbucks and Whole Foods Union Busters?
Mother Jones: Farmers' Market vs. Farmers Market
TIME: How the NFL's Behemoth Offensive Linemen are Healthier Than You Think
New Republic: Where Hip-Hop is "Going" and Where it Never Was
New Yorker: Is letting Companies Fail Really a Moral Hazard?
Newsweek: Does Announcing Your Goals Help You Succeed?
Newsweek: Why Some Mentally Ill Patients are Rejecting Meds and Making the Case for "Mad Pride"
Newsweek: Can you Copyright a Twitter?
Newsweek: Why we Love Spelling Bees
Us News: Researchers Study Collective Psychology
Us News: Deceptive "Greenwashing", Aims to Trick Eco-Tourists
Us News: The Ecological Risks and Health Effects of Bright Nights
Us News: Obama's Proposed Strict Vehicle Emissions Limits
Us News: Crime & Picasso - The Black Market in Art
The Atlantic: What Makes a Good Food City?
The Atlantic: Caring for Your Introvert
The Atlantic: When Agriculture is Outsourced
The Atlantic: Is Mere Proximity to Fast-Food Bad for Kids?
The Atlantic: Cheerios - Cereal or Cholesterol Drug?
FP: Can Counter-Insurgency Ever be used Again?
The Root: Obama is Not Spock
Double X: When Mothers Hide Behind their Children on Facebook
Double-X: Why Some Recessed Are Sticking it out in Expensive Big Cities
I've decided after this collection of fine reading, that I'll update on my trip to see the family in Delaware on my next post, hopefully tomorrow, with pictures too! |
posted by Flaco @ 9:02 PM  |
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| Tuesday, May 19, 2009 |
| Coldplay = Fun |
Coldplay concert!!! It was awesome. I think a sweet concert like the one last night here in BHam is a case-in-point in the fundamental lesson of risk-reward. No risk, no reward. Sure it was $65 smackeroos, but it was well worth it - not only are you purchasing the live music, but you're sharing a great experience, renting the atmosphere of a wonderful concert performance, and all of the memories that go along with it. PS to anyone reading this, Coldplay's members are some pretty cool guys, they were very mindful to come to all parts of the ampitheater, even with us in the back! And they gave out free CDs at the conclusion of the performance. Great, great, band & time, I highly recommend anyone who gets the chance to see them live to do it STAT.
Today I got my job "officially". 3 cheers for formal employment - okay just one - huzzah! And it's going to be a great one. Tomorrow I have to fly to Delaware, which makes me a little sad because I'd rather not :( and can't wait to come back to the Ham, but in the mean-time I hope all out there are having a great summer. Here are some interesting links for your reading pleasure:
Slate: The Trouble with Commencement Speakers - Don't Invite People Who've Succeeded, Invite People Who've Failed
Slate: How Obama is like Spock FP: Why Bad Times Lead to Good Ideas FP: New Form of Activism - (Facebook) Slacktivism FP: Wasted - America's Prohibition on Thinking Smart in the "Drug War" GetRichSlowly: How To Save Money on Food, Tips over 3 Years
GetRichSlowly: How Much Money Should You Save?
GetRichSlowly: How-To Negotiate Your Salary
GetRichSlowly: Finding Balance between Time & Money
GetRichSlowly: How to Find the Best CD or Money-Market Account
GetRichSlowly: 101 - Bonds & How They Work
GetRichSlowly: How to Save Money on Books
GetRichSlowly: How to Read a Mutual Fund Prospectus
Us News: Money-Saving Tips
NYT: A Consumer's Guide to the New Credit Card Rules
NYT: Why Has Globalization led to Bigger Cities?
NYT: Autopsies - Reassurance for Grief?
CsMonitor: Top 10 Green Living Myths
CsMonitor: Easy, Simple Q & A, - Steps to Getting your 1st Credit Card
CsMonitor: Biden Speaks at Wake Forest (I couldn't help it, this is my alma mater)
CsMonitor: New Orleans Says - What Recession?
CsMonitor: New Orleans' "Katrina Generation" Struggles with Drugs & Depression
CsMonitor: Craiglist - Target of Political Moral Crusaders
Newsweek: Ray Kurzweil (a Futurist) wishes to be a Robot
Newsweek: Transnational Law & the Role of Foreign Judges The Atlantic: How Culpable are the Bankers for this Crisis? (excellent, by Judge Posner) The Atlantic: Kids today are tilting Left, and why Socialism isn't looking so bad anymore Salon: Chomsky on the Unending War on Terror
Salon: What's Wrong with Michelle Obama's Style - A Feminist Perspective
TIME: Why Rookie Lawyers Get Paid $60,000 Paid Vacations
Non-Sequitor/Just for Fun (Awesome Geekery) - New Comic, "PhD" TIME: The Art (& Business) of the James Bond Theme Song
TIME: Review - Eminem's "Relapse" Album
The Atlantic: Eminem, Meet Obama - Where Does Rap go from Here? |
| posted by Flaco @ 2:34 PM |
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| Saturday, May 16, 2009 |
| A Little More About Me |
I am currently a 24 year old, 2nd year at Loyola Univ. of New Orleans College of Law, originally from Texarkana, TX, and love New Orleans. I find that I read far too many excellent things to simply keep to myself, so I like to diffuse them elsewhere for people's enjoyment, whether it be for intellectual curiosity, boosting knowledge, or for whatever individual reason.
Accentuated by these worsening economic times, despite the always high-priority I assign to having a job and especially doing whatever one can to ensure to the very best of one's ability wealth and material happiness, notwithstanding those extremely valuable components of life, I've become more acutely aware of the even higher importance of the most precious things in the big picture, which I've always dubbed "abstract capital" - relationships, liberal behavior, what our bourgeois consumer society calculatingly and somewhat emasculatingly markets as "the small things" in life.
I am ethnically Chilean-American, but I think there is so much beauty in the world I don't predicate very much of my behavior or identity from my ethnicity. If forced I'd generally self-identify as a libertarian. Learning how to grow up in terms of holding one's own socially, and especially developing a basic understanding of personal finance, and learning how to scope out truly worthwhile good deals and hardy knowledge in everyday personal finance, has especially played a key role in my life, more recently.
My interests are very diverse, and summed up I'm just endlessly fascinated by any field that studies human behavior. I like most sports like any guy. I really enjoy post-modern philosophy, but haven't been able to read much in the last year because of law school, and it's probably a good thing, because at a certain point self-discovery has to balance with reasonable limits. I debated in high school and college, and am fascinated by the role language plays in terms of power relations. While I have only a very limited understanding of economics, I enjoy reading quirky economic news and emerging theories. Ditto for anything related to the nature of our universe and anthropology. I put a very high premium on being a good communicator, and am always trying to find ways to be a better one, my most recent hobby has been reading & one day getting certified in NLP, I very much like to read anything relating to human psychology, and I love, most of the time, to exercise.
Behavior governs everything we do, and most of the time I will aspire to ruminate about the value of our everyday lives' abstract capital to heighten our everday consciousness of what's still good in life. When I can't bring myself to, or when there are more out-of-the-ordinary things to talk about, we'll go another direction, and based on your responses, we will go in any direction you all want, this is your vessel, readers. I hope this has been interesting and that you have a better understanding of where I come from!
And now, more interesting articles that you might enjoy!
Newsweek: Financing Through Exercise & Trainers Tell the 5 Worst Gym Machines
Newsweek: You Have Your Job, Now What to do to Keep Sane
Salon: The Virginity Fetish - Why Cultures Obsess over Being a Virgin & Sexual Virginity
Salon: Notre Dame's Stand Against Catholic Fundamentalism
TIME: Why Wal-Mart's First India Store, Isn't a Wal-Mart (interesting expose of how protectionist economic policies pass on unnecessary higher costs and inferior products on to domestic consumers)
TIME: Carrotbombs vs. Boycotts, & a New Form of Progressive Consumer Activism
Us News: Financial Planning Advice for 20-somethings
Us News: Lessons from the Earth's Most Murderous Tribe, & Why Western Expansion Could be a Good Thing
Us News: Involved, Not Volatile or Authoritative, Dads Lower Their Kids' Sex Risks
Us News: Meet India's first Porn Star, a Cartoon (good example of how criminalizing goods or services sought by natural, normal human activity creates some different-strokes-for-different-folks strange black markets)
Us News: Defending Pinochet (I will admit my bias, while I think Pinochet should have retired power in the mid 80s instead of 1988, in the wider scheme of things I'm of the persuasion he net-benefitted Chile with the introduction of neo-liberal "rules of the game", despite this, please feel free to disagree!)
Us News: Chile's Secret Laws
Us News: Is Chile Heading Towards the Right?
ESPN: Commisioner Selig Says Don't Be Afraid of Failure, Dream Big Despite Hard Times
YouTube: Soldier Fights in Pink Boxers (everyone needs a laugh) |
| posted by Flaco @ 6:52 PM |
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| Broken |
Well yesterday I snapped my ankle jumping down from a ladder, so I'm going to have plenty of time to write more!
First, (from) one of my law professors, he told us on the last day of class how VacationstoGo.com is a great, somewhat secret to most, bang for your buck cruise service he recently discovered. Even though the site itself looks deceivingly unimpressive, he is a stellar 5th Circuit Court attorney and one of our best professors, and while I haven't actually used it yet, I definitely put some stock in his recommendations, and I wanted to pass this on for you whom might be looking for a good deal on a cruise in the next few months.
I've always loved ethnic food, and I've wondered since the recession started, how niche restaurants like Chinese food vendors and Mexican places fare comparatively with American restaurants and fast-food chains. Ethnic food occupies sort of a middle-ground between expensive eats and ordering a #5 Super Sized, so how do middle-class of restaurateurs do during a recession?
Apparently not very well, with a notable exception: P.F. Chang's. Independently, I can see why. The experience and menu of P.F. Chang's is incredibly unique, Chinese-bourgeois American fusion, and really hard to come by in other venues, or, in economist terms, a relatively inelastic (uneasily substitutable) service. Since it is also one of my favorite restaurants to go to, I've noticed that they smartly choose to operate in boutique suburban mini-malls on the tony side of towns, which I have to say makes me feel like I'm eating food that is a lot more expensive and upper-class in terms of prices, than I really am! Moreover, P.F.'s seems like it's able to control costs while expanding and has stuck to its model steadfastly despite fewer consumers willing to shell out big ones. I know one thing, when I go to Birmingham for work in the summer, I'm definitely going to P.F. Chang's to get that bourgeois food (and I guess, sustain their growth while I'm at it:).
Here are a few other interesting links for your reading pleasure:
Salon: Don't Worry, Be Happy, Pay Lots of Taxes, Does the Scandinavian Model Work?
Salon: Can We Afford to Eat Ethically?
The Root: Ceasefire on the War on Drugs Declared?
Economist: Manufacturing Defects, Chinese Goods, & Why They Can be Born Bad
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| posted by Flaco @ 8:43 AM |
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| Saturday, May 9, 2009 |
| 2L! |
I haven't been able to write much lately because of school, and since I have 2 more years - oh by the way, I finished yesterday! - plus work to do, in a brief moment of reflection I've decided to diversify the nature of the writing of this blog. In addition to articulating a few current event thoughts and talking points about financial prudence, there will be a more interdisciplinary emphasis here, focusing on how the humanities and social sciences rub shoulders with the real world in a fun, informative, and entertaining way. In times of haste, there will be occasional link dumps for your leisure and enjoyment, sometimes I'll interject with my own ruminations, and please always, feel free to put forward your own thoughts on anything.
Marx's Reaction to Today's Economy
Why It Pays to Ignore Financial News
Money Lessons from the Hobbit
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| posted by Flaco @ 4:28 AM |
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| About Me |
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Name: Flaco
About Me: Just another thinker.
See my complete profile
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Friedrich Nietzsche - "All things are subject to interpretation whichever interpretation prevails at a given time is a function of power and not truth." |
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