Professor: Value Of College Extends Beyond Paycheck

the idea of intellectual growth — "not just learning things to make a living, but also learning things to enable you to do things with your life, to enable you to find interests and pursuits that may in some way or another expand the way we see things."

There are also social benefits, he says: learning to think together, learning to attack problems together, learning how to disagree.

With tuition costs rising and the economy being as bad as it is, I find it very easy to identify with others who question the value of a college education. As the article discusses our current mindset of more college=more money isn't necessarily a faulty ideal but contrary to the historical conception  which saw college of a place for intellectual growth and a moral duty (especially in a democratic society as our own.
I wonder what it will take to change our mindset with college. additionally I see a cycle being perpetuated as people see college as a ticket to a higher paycheck educational institutions respond by raising tuition and other costs.
if a college education is a moral duty as citizens what is the best way to balance the needs of responding to the inherent duty to fulfill that moral obligation while maintaining a fair price?

ok who is it? who is still using IE these days! get yourself a decent browser like chrome or firefox

Voters have up to five times more influence in early primaries

'Voters in states with early primary races such as Iowa and New Hampshire have up to five times the influence of voters in later states in selecting presidential candidates, according to research by Brown University economist Brian Knight. The paper, the first to quantify the effects of early victories in the race for the presidential nomination, is co-authored by Nathan Schiff and published in The Journal of Political Economy."Evidence that early voters have a disproportionate influence over the selection of candidates violates 'one person-one vote' -- a democratic ideal on which our nation is based."'

clearly this is something that needs to be addressed...

re-cap

since I did not write a blog post the other day because I kept myself pretty busy I though I would do a quick re-cap of my day.
plasma center: rode the scooter to the center so I was super cold when I got there and ended up having to wait a few minutes to warm up before I was able to 'donate'. Once I got in I decided to 'donate' with my right arm again, and the needle went it great and was much more comfortable than my left arm. However what sucked was I ended up having to go the the restroom REALLY bad mid 'donation' and ended up having to stop to take a pee break. For some reason I felt like I was being a quiter for not trying to stick it out and finsish up...
hike: afterwards I ran over to Out'n Back to redeem some store credit and picked up a sweet new headlamp and a new water bottle and headed up rock canyon to chill our for a bit. Weather is really great this time of year so it wasn't too hot and the foliage was happy with all this extra moisture we have been having this season.
Provo Bicycle Committee meeting: had to cut my hike short to make it over to the committee meeting in time. We had great meeting and discussed some great new developments for provo including a study conducted by a BYU student who did a connectivity analysis for provo which will help in determining the best location for a new infrastructure such as bicycle lanes. Also we discussed about organizing volunteers for the upcoming Tour of Utah which will be a great opportunity to see some professional riders up close and personal

work out log 1

dumb-bell bench: 4 sets 

30-35-35-20

incline press: 3 sets

65-65-65-bar

upright rows: 2 sets

55-55

bench flys:3 sets

10-10-10

incline flys: 3 sets

10-10-10

decline flys:

15-15-10

feels pretty good to get back in the gym, but it is also discouraging working out with people who are a lot stronger than I am. I will focus I being consistent with going to the gym, form, and nutrition (lots more protein, try to keep it from varied sources ex. not just whey protein but eggs, meat, nuts, and other things)

Hike - Rock Canyon

Gut Bacteria Know Secrets About Your Future

 "Right now, in your mouth, in your gut, on your skin, you are carrying about 10 times more bacteria cells than human cells".

Did you know that on the day of your birth you go from being almost completely clean to covered in bacteria as you made your way oh so long ago down mothers birth canal? And that the bacteria you become infected with can significantly alter your health?

"But they aren't all bad guys. In fact, without them, we wouldn't survive very long. We need them to digest food, to produce vitamins. We use them to fight off the bad bacteria. In spite of what you're reading in the papers this week, they are more helpers than hurters."

Yet scientists once speculated that the variety of microbial communities present on individuals was determined by environmental factors. Yet new research challenges this view and holds that the bacterial make up of humankind is much more homogenous than previously thought, with possibly three types of bacterial suites. 

I did not blog yesterday

Whoa! Such a Cool Adventure!

awesome account of exploring a mothballed fleet.

Thumbs Up for Rock and Roll!

You want him to do you so much that you could do anything

Skeuomorph

A skeuomorph, pronounced /ˈskjuːəmɔɹf/ skew-ə-morf, or skeuomorphism (Greek: skeuos—vessel or tool, morphe—shape)^[1] is a derivative object that retains ornamental design cues to a structure that was necessary in the original.^[2] Skeuomorphs may be deliberately employed to make the new look comfortably old and familiar,^[3] such as copper cladding on zinc pennies or computer printed postage with circular town name and cancellation lines. An alternative definition is "an element of design or structure that serves little or no purpose in the artifact fashioned from the new material but was essential to the object made from the original material"^[4]. This definition is narrower in scope and ties skeumorphs to changes in materials.

Who knew hard drives were so cool!

"it is characteristic of people who live in an advanced technological culture understand little of it and resort quickly to superstition and cultism"

***

"Any technology significantly advanced enough is magic"

"Mors certa, vita incerta"

Laura Veirs - "July Flame"

dream vacation

Life is pretty good

Just chillin and reading a book

One of the reasons I like blogger is the fact that it is a google service. Google to me seems like a very stable company that will be around for the long run. And I like the idea that this blog may well be around for a while. I often wonder what people in 100 years will think of todays internet technology, but nothing is permanent and technology is always changing 

But this makes me think about the idea that permanence plays in our lives. We often want things to stay the way they are and we often fight to keep them that way. Yet despite our best efforts entropy and decay are the ruling masters of our lives.

Sometimes the hardest thing to do is to let go of the  order that we strive so much for and embrace the transient, ever changing 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wabi_sabi

After reading this I realize I sound like a freakin hipster...

Political Orientations Are Correlated with Brain Structure in Young Adults

• Political liberalism and conservatism were correlated with brain structure
• Liberalism was associated with the gray matter volume of anterior cingulate cortex
• Conservatism was associated with increased right amygdala size
• Results offer possible accounts for cognitive styles of liberals and conservatives

amygdala - A primary role in the processing and memory of emotional reactions.

Anterior cingulate cortex - rational cognitive functions, such as reward anticipation, decision-making, empathy and emotion.
 

"the serious and erudite amateur is one of the best internet avatars we can play"
-Marco Roth

fashion trends and social media

what do fashion trends and social media have in common? Too much as they both uphold the ideals of new capitalism—flexibility, globalization, technology-enabled logistical micromanaging, consumer co-creation. Why are these bad? because,

We have more capability to share ourselves, our thoughts and interests and discoveries and memories, than ever before, yet sharing is in danger of becoming nothing more than an alibi that hides how voracious our appetite for novelty has become. It becomes harder for our friends and ourselves to figure out what really matters to us and what stems merely from the need to keep broadcasting the self.
And so we vacillate between anxious self-branding and the self-negating practice of seeking some higher authenticity: we have to watch ourselves become ourselves in order to be ourselves, over and over again.

as noted by the author fashion trends and social media both encapsulate emerging business models of commoditization of the self, or the need to find identity in consuming and promoting our day to day to the world

road trip ideas

many people say Utah is "such a boring place" but if you know where to look Utah has great natural wonders and unbeknownst to me home to some interesting oddities inlcuding

•  Pando, the Trembling Giant: World's oldest and most massive living organism
•  Modern day Egyptians who actually practice mummification
• 5,000 square foot home carved directly into rock  that even sports a petting zoo
• largest deposit of trilobites found in the world

and more via Atlas Obscura

stories and life

 because we grew up surrounded by big dramatic story arcs in books and movies, we think our lives are supposed to be filled with huge ups and downs! So people pretend there is drama where there is none.” -Kurt Vonnegut

we live our lives surrounded by stories of all types. But what happens when we begin to see our lives through the lens of the stories that we have heard?

I want to read this later- The Epidemic of Mental Illness: Why?

cybersecurity

these days we rely upon web services yet more and more the vulnerabilities of the web are coming to light

I think I still like blogger over twitter.
blogger gives me more flexibility in posting options with the  same flexibility that twitter offers

Truer Words...

You know who shares the Tea Party ideal of low taxes, limited government, religious values, unwaivering support for the military and disregard for the poor? Pakistan.

magic with the iPad

have a new computer? one stop for all your program needs

Synergy

Synergy is Free and Open Source Software that lets you easily share your mouse and keyboard between multiple computers, where each computer has its own display. No special hardware is required, all you need is a local area network. Synergy is supported on Windows, Mac OS X and Linux. Redirecting the mouse and keyboard is as simple as moving the mouse off the edge of your screen. Synergy is released under the GNU Public License (GPL)

***
want this with ubuntu + windows 7

Party advertised on Facebook brings over a thousand

the true power of social networking gone awry.

also it shows that when 15,000 people RSVP to an event only 1,400 people will show up

"I am what I am because of who we all are."

A man-made world: Science is recognising humans as a geological force to be reckoned with

Welcome to the Anthropocene: Humans have changed the way the world works. Now they have to change the way they think about it, too

Drive Thru Floating Money