Why does northern New York get called “upstate New York”? I’ve never heard anyone refer to upstate California or upstate Utah…
Archive for May, 2009
What’s Up(state)?
Posted in Question, tagged new york, statism on May 29, 2009 | 5 Comments »
Ignorance Threshold
Posted in School, tagged School, smart vs intelligent, success on May 28, 2009 | 4 Comments »
What makes smart kids? I don’t think it’s intelligence. It’s self-consciousness. I think everyone has an “ignorance threshold”.
Your ignorance threshold is the level of knowledge you need to have on a subject in order not to feel stupid when you’re talking to people about that subject. Some people are perfectly comfortable going on and on [...]
Enduring Luxury
Posted in Family, tagged entitlement, luxury, prosperity, thrift on May 26, 2009 | 1 Comment »
We had a speaker in our class last week who talked about how our sense of entitlement to luxuries is what will destroy this country’s economy. That is also a common theme in General Conference. President Monson, in 2006, taught, “avoid the philosophy that yesterday’s luxuries have become today’s necessities”.
On the other hand, many parents, [...]
What Does Righteousness Look Like?
Posted in Musings on May 25, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Joseph Smith once said, “I love that man better who swears a stream as long as my arm, yet deals justice to his neighbors and mercifully deals his substance to the poor, than the smooth-faced hypocrite.” This raises the question of what indicators do we use to identify righteousness. Clean language, honesty, or something else? [...]
All the People, All the Time
Posted in Politics, tagged democracy, elections, what we think we know versus what we actually know on May 12, 2009 | 2 Comments »
(This is sort of a follow-up to my previous post, where I observed that people judge a doctor based on his smile rather than his skill.)
In the IT department where I work, we use many different software systems. When it’s time to replace one of these systems, all of the programmers come to management recommending [...]
Not Getting Sued
Posted in Work, tagged bedside manner, malpractice, nice guys finish first on May 11, 2009 | 6 Comments »
My non-market business environment class tonight is talking about how companies respond to bad publicity, which can be driven by either the media or by special interest groups.
During the discussion, one of my classmates talked about a friend of his who is a doctor. The doctor had told him that when malpractice suits are filed, [...]
Lydia
Posted in Announcement, tagged baby, daughter, lydia, new on May 9, 2009 | 5 Comments »
This morning, at 7:29 AM, we celebrated the arrival of our new daughter, Lydia. It was a joyous and blessed time (well, at least after the birth. The time leading up to it was…ask any mother who has given birth without any painkillers. Heather was amazing!)
Lydia is a beautiful baby girl. She is 8 lbs. [...]
The Classes High School Should Offer
Posted in Uncategorized on May 6, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
I’m a believer in practical education. When I saw this sign out in front of my workplace, I thought, “These are the kind of skills I wish our education system focused on.” Of course, some people will need to know Shakespeare, and some people will need to know trigonometry — but everyone could make use [...]
