Arbitrary, Abstract Thoughts

My blog is moving

2010-06-10T00:44:00.000-06:00

My blog is moving to WilliamKrohn.com. Please update your bookmarks and feeds.

Fie on’t!

2010-03-25T22:15:00.001-06:00

O that this too too solid flesh would melt,

Thaw, and resolve itself into a dew!

Or that the Everlasting had not fix’d

His canon ’gainst self-slaughter! O God! O God!

How weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable

Seem to me all the uses of this world!

Fie on’t! O fie! ’tis an unweeded garden,

That grows to seed; things rank and gross in nature

Possess it merely. That it should come to this!

Hamlet
Act I, Scene 2

I have of late,—but wherefore I know not,—lost all my mirth, forgone all custom of exercises; and indeed, it goes so heavily with my disposition that this goodly frame, the earth, seems to me a sterile promontory; this most excellent canopy, the air, look you, this brave o’erhanging firmament, this majestical roof fretted with golden fire,—why, it appears no other thing to me than a foul and pestilent congregation of vapours. What a piece of work is man! How noble in reason! how infinite in faculties! in form and moving, how express and admirable! in action how like an angel! in apprehension, how like a god! the beauty of the world! the paragon of animals! And yet, to me, what is this quintessence of dust?

Hamlet
Act II, Scene 2

Some Fantastic Headphones

2010-03-08T17:52:00.001-07:00

The headphones I’ve been using for quite a while have been very cheap earbuds. They’ve been wearing out and I’ve been meaning get some better ones for quite a while. I have been particularly interested in trying out some in ear headphones. A couple weeks ago I buckled down and did some fairly extensive research into what headphones to buy.

The research process for headphones is a little difficult for a number of reasons. First, most people that review or rate headphones can’t compare very many, since they typically own very few. Second, there are an awful lot of headphones in the world, with fairly subtle differences between similar models of the same brand. Third, and probably the biggest problem, is that most of the things that make headphones good or bad are really qualitative and people’s opinions aren’t standardized in any way.

After researching a fair amount, I decided that Sennheiser was probably one of the better brands, and went to some stores to see if any were available without ordering online. I was in luck: F.Y.E. had the CX300-II and CX400 model for sale for $29.99, down from their typical $80 price tag. I ended up buying both models: one for me and one for my mom.

The sound is quality is virtually identical between the two models. The primary differences are that the CX30 0-II has an asymmetric cable and the CX400 has a shorter symmetric cable with an accompanying extension cable and that the CX400 comes with a clip and cable winder. Both of them come with 3 different sizes of rubber things (can’t think of the technical term at the moment), and a nice leather carrying case.

Turns out I prefer the asymmetric cable as it does not get tangled up as easily (though the CX400 still didn’t get tangled up much at all). The bass is quite powerful, and the crispness and clarity of the sound is pretty remarkable. There are songs that I have never been able to understand what they are saying that I can now understand very clearly. I can’t speak for all in ear headphones, but these ones are pretty darn comfortable. I can wear them for hours without any problem, whereas with earbuds my ears get a little sore well before then.

I thought about upgrading to the next model (CX500). It initially looked like I could get them for less than $50 online. After doing some more looking around, however, it looks like there is a serious problem with cheap Sennheiser copycats. Purchasing from an authorized dealer bumps the prices for different models up to where it ought to be ($80 to $130 depending on the model). Buying from anyone else you can get whatever model you want for about $40 to $50 (cause they’re mostly—if not all—fakes). So it looks like the deal at F.Y.E. was pretty phenomenal (F.Y.E. is an authorized retailer). So if you are looking for new headphones, I’d recommend checking these ones out. I’m pretty pleased with them.

Hamlet, Act IV, Scene 4

2010-03-07T12:44:00.009-07:00

This week I memorized my favorite scene from Hamlet, which contains one of my favorites of Hamlet’s soliloquies:

ACT IV, SCENE 4
A plain in Denmark
Enter Fortinbras with his army over the stage.
Fortinbras
Go, captain, from me greet the Danish king;
Tell him that, by his license, Fortinbras
Claims the conveyance of a promised march
Over his kingdom. You know the rendezvous.
If that his majesty would aught with us,
We shall express our duty in his eye;
And let him know so.
Captain
I will do’t, my lord.
Fortinbras
Go Softly on.
Exeunt all but Captain
Enter Hamlet, Rosencratz,
Guildenstern, and others.
Hamlet
Good sir, whose powers are these?
Captain
They are of Norway, sir.
Hamlet
How purposed, sir, I pray you?
Captain
Against some part of Poland.
Hamlet
Who commands them, sir?
Captain
The nephew to old Norway, Fortinbras.
Hamlet
Goes it against the main of Poland, sir,
Or for some frontier?
Captain
Truly to speak, sir, and with no addition,
We go to gain a little patch of ground
That hath in it no profit but the name.
To pay five ducats, five, I would not farm it;
Nor will it yield to Norway or the Pole
A ranker rate, should it be sold in fee.
Hamlet
Why, then, the Polack never will defend it.
Captain
Yet, it is already garrison’d.
Hamlet
Two thousand souls and twenty thousand ducats
Will not debate the question of this straw:
This is th’imposthume of much wealth and peace,
That inward breaks, and shows no cause without
Why the man dies.—I humbly thank you, sir.
Captain
God be wi’ you, sir.
Exit
Rosencratz
Will’t please you go, my lord?
Hamlet
I’ll be with you straight. Go a little before.
Exeunt all but Hamlet
How all occasions do inform against me,
And spur my dull revenge! What is a man,
If his chief good and market of his time
Be but to sleep and feed? a beast, no more.
Sure, he that made us with such large discourse,
Looking before and after, gave us not
That capability and godlike reason
To fust in us unused. Now, whether it be
Bestial oblivion, or some craven scruple
Of thinking too precisely on th’event,—
A though which, quarter’d, hath but one part wisdom
And ever three parts coward,—I do not know
Why yet I live to say ‘This thing’s to do;’
Sith I have cause, and will, and strength, and means
To do’t. Examples, gross as earth, exhort me:
Witness this army, of such mass and charge,
Led by a delicate and tender prince;
Whose spirit, with divine ambition puft,
Makes mouths at the invisible event;
Exposing what is mortal and unsure
To all that fortune, death and danger dare,
Even for an egg-shell. Rightly to be great
Is not to stir without great argument,
But greatly to find quarrel in a straw
When honour’s at the stake. How stand I, then,
That have a father kill’d, a mother stain’d,
Excitements of my reason and my blood,
And let all sleep? while, to my shame, I see
The imminent death of twenty thousand men,
That for a fantasy and trick of fame
Go to their graves like beds; fight for a plot
Whereon the numbers cannot try the cause,
Which is not tomb enough and continent
To hide the slain?—O, from this time forth,
My thoughts be bloody, or be nothing worth!
Exeunt

A Miracle

2010-02-28T23:32:00.001-07:00

Here is a copy of the note that is hanging next to our trash can:

Our behavior in regard to this trash can is absolutely unacceptable. It only will be the result of an almost superhuman act of sheer will if I do not personally violently and torturously murder the next person that puts something next to the trash rather than in the trash.

If something does not fit INSIDE the trash so that the bag can still be easily removed and closed, then YOU need to take the trash out. It’s really not that difficult. It takes 60 seconds. Leaving trash elsewhere is an act of utter disrespect to the rest of us, not to mention unsurpassed indolence (with the possible exception of not replacing a toilet paper roll).

And don’t even think about leaving the trash on the counter or on the table or on the floor or on the refrigerator. The ONLY acceptable places to store trash are COMPLETELY INSIDE the trash can or in the privacy of your own bedroom.

This applies to every piece of trash. That includes milk jugs, cereal boxes, and everything else. Flatten them and put them inside the trash can. NOTHING GOES NEXT TO THE TRASH CAN. NOTHING. Period. No exceptions whatever.

If anyone has a problem with this I’m happy to beat the Hell out of you.

Remarkably, this note’s been there over a week now with no trash appearing extraneously to the trash can. Given the historicity of unbelievably voluminous trash overflow occurring in our kitchen, this is a miracle.

Budgeting and Being Boring

2010-02-28T22:59:00.001-07:00

A friend of mine brought it to my attention recently that there is strong correlation between budgeting and living a boring, sequestered life devoid of entertainment and excitement.

This observation does seem rather well founded. So then the question is: which direction does the causality run? Are we budgeters boring because we budget? Or do we have some other personality trait that causes us to be boring and also to budget?

Hard to tell, which is unfortunate because the answer would probably shed some light on whether it is possible for someone to be a budgeter while not having a boring life and it would certainly lend some insight into how one approaches achieving such a state of being.

Candy Making

2010-02-12T00:10:00.001-07:00

Mastering candy making is turning out to be a little challenging. In all of my baking and cooking experience I cannot remember a time when I had so many utter catastrophes.

There were of course some—that simply comes with cooking. Like my several attempts at grapefruit pie. And then there are the collapsing crusts or the inevitably shrinking meringues. But relative to the amount of experimenting and cooking I do those are fairly rare and often relatively minor.

Not so with candy. Sometimes it turns out fantastically well. And sometimes it doesn’t. And when it doesn’t, it really doesn’t. Occasionally the subpar attempts are at least somewhat edible. Then you have the occasions when you end up with a burnt-chocolate flavored block of sugar in a bowl that requires a hammer and screwdriver to remove. If only I were exaggerating.

A Tragedy May Have Struck

2010-01-29T21:32:00.001-07:00

It’s too early to tell for sure, but my favorite hand soap may have ceased to exist. I’ve mentioned this before: Bath and Body Works moisturizing hand soap has been the best hand soap I had ever used, hands down. It smells great and it has prevented my hands from cracking and bleeding for about 18 months now, which is remarkable given the degree to which my hands historically dry out. And I’ve successfully converted a large handful of people to it.

They just changed their product line.

I just bought the “new and improved” hand soap and used it for the first time. I of course tried my favorite one. But it made my hands smell more perfumy than usual and not as good. I’m not sure if I like it anymore. Maybe it’s just in my head. I’m holding off on passing final judgment for a few days. This might devastate my life. (Not to mention the nuisance it will be to have to return 21 bottles of hand soap. And yes, that is how many I bought.)

Money Doesn’t Buy Happiness

2010-01-21T12:59:00.001-07:00

Whoever said “Money doesn’t buy happiness” was sorely mistaken. They were simply buying the wrong things with it.

Multi-Thread Chatting

2009-12-03T22:57:00.001-07:00

It’s not uncommon for people to chat online with multiple people simultaneously and keep it all straight. Sometimes I really wish you could open up multiple chat windows with the same person so we can talk about different topics simultaneously. I don’t think it’d be any more complicated to keep straight than chatting with multiple people.

I do think two (or more) chat windows with the same person would come in really useful pretty often. But you can’t do it. I tried. Maybe someday Google will realize how limiting it is to only have one conversation with a person at a time.

Amen, Brother

2009-11-11T12:57:00.001-07:00

Oh Very Funny

2009-11-06T23:44:00.000-07:00

I saw this on CNN a little while ago. Today I had to do some hunting to find it again. Probably one of the funniest commercials ever.

I’ve watched this a whole bunch of times; I laugh every time.

Halloween

2009-11-06T23:32:00.001-07:00

For Halloween this year I spent the evening at my Grandma’s 70th birthday party. Unfortunately, pictures often don’t really do things justice.

I mostly did the tattoos myself—they were individual 1 × 1 inch square temporary tattoos, so it took a little while. My mother tailored my shirt (though she had no idea what costume it was for); my friend Shelli did my makeup.

I typically get a little carried away with costumes on Halloween. I’ve had a lot of people who have heard rumors ask me about my previous costumes, so here are a couple more of them. As always, you can click to enlarge.

My Other Half (2006)
My mother helped a lot in constructing this costume. We cut two sets of clothes in half and she stitched them together into one. Notice the tie that’s cut down the middle—including the knot. The zipper on the pants even worked (being half jeans and half slacks). My friend Nick was my tattoo artist.

Ax Murderer (2007)
I did the bloodying myself. The stuff I bought to do it was cheap and really realistic. It was pretty cool, though kinda messy. And yes, the ax is real and so is the hair matted to the blade (it was kindly donated to the cause).

Earwig Clusters (2006)
Finally, I have to mention the dessert I made for a Halloween dessert making contest a couple years ago. Made with real earwigs harvested in my parents’ backyard. I got the recipe from my mother, who’s made them before (though I did modify it a little).

Can’t wait till next year. As has been customary, I’ll probably wait until about two days before Halloween before I have a great idea for a costume.

Microsoft Windows Live Writer

2009-11-05T19:33:00.001-07:00

Several posts ago I mentioned I discovered that Microsoft Word had the ability to publish blog posts. I said I was going to experiment with it and see how it worked. Now I’ve done so and am ready to release my findings.

Using Word to publish posts worked great initially. Finally, I had a good table editor, spell check, and great formatting capability. But very quickly I discovered a serious drawback: images. Word has the ability to publish images to a server. But it is apparently not compatible with the methods that Blogger uses to upload images. There may be a way to do it, but I haven’t been able to find anyone online that knows how. Everyone that has an interest in doing it is referred by other people to using Microsoft’s Windows Live Writer instead. So I tried it out.

Windows Live Writer is a free program by Microsoft specifically designed to edit and upload blog posts. It has a number of pretty cool features compared with Blogger:

It was really easy to setup with Blogger and can handle multiple blogs
It has more powerful formatting and font capability
It has a table editor
The edit mode shows your blog with the formatting it will have on the blog—including the width of the blog post
The preview shows your blog as it will look with your blog’s theme
The spellchecker checks spelling as you type, and gives suggestions in the context menu
It has a word count
It replaces -- with — and uses smart quotes: “ and ”
Undo and redo work right and remembers lots of actions
It handles pictures nicely, particularly justification and margins; you can also edit the picture right from the post
The source code editor is hierarchal
You can install plug-ins for additional functionality
It reminds you if you haven’t put a title or categories
Hyperlinks have more options, like opening links in a new window and automatically linking to previous posts
It has paste special

Some of the enhancements are not quite as cool as Word’s: like the table editor and how it handles pictures (before the failed upload process). Word is far more powerful. But Windows Liver Writer is a lightweight program certainly superior to Blogger.

I really like the way Windows Live Writer displays the post while editing. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had to post, repost, and repost the same blog post to get a picture or something to look right. Now I can see exactly how it is going to look formatting-wise while editing and then go to the preview and see it with the background pictures and theme.

Tables is something I’ve been wanting for a long time. If you recall my post Easter Eggs from Outer Space, the way I formatted that so nicely was with tables. But I had to do it manually in the source code, which took forever.

Uploading is really quick. And it opens it in your browser when it’s done. It can also access your blog and download previous posts to edit and republish. When saving drafts you can save them on your computer or to your blog.

The only thing I find slightly bothersome is that it adds a paragraph tag before every paragraph. That’s fine most of the time, but it also means that there is an extra space between the title and the first paragraph. I just have to remove the paragraph tag from that paragraph when posting. Well worth it for the extra features I’m getting in return. And there might be a way to fix that I haven’t discovered yet.

You can download Windows Live Writer here. It downloads the whole Windows Live suite, so I recommend only installing the stuff you want (in my case that is only Windows Live Writer).

So in sum, I use Windows Live Writer now for blogging. I’ve used it for this post and I think every post since my Microsoft Word post. But when I move away from Blogger I will likely switch to Microsoft Word.

Webforms, Webforms, Webforms

2009-11-05T18:55:00.001-07:00

I think I’ve mentioned that my job is typically not very challenging. A lot of the time it is quite boring, though fortunately I get extra projects every so often that are interesting enough to keep things tolerable. But this week’s extra project has been the worst stuff I’ve had to do there yet.

The company I work for is doing a study on other companies’ response time for webforms: you fill out the webform for a company and then track when and how the responses come from that company. The concept is good, and the technology to track the responses is pretty cool. Here’s the really bad part: all the webforms have to be filled out manually. Thousands of them. And of course I was one of the lucky people that got the assignment to do it. So in the past week I have filled out literally hundreds upon hundreds of webforms. The monotony has been nearly unbearable. My fingers have started getting stiff from being in the same position for so long copying and pasting, and copying and pasting, and copying and pasting data into the forms. Fortunately we only have a few hundred to go, so sometime midday tomorrow I’ll be able to stop (I hope).

It turns out that filling these out is starting to warp me. Today during lunch I needed to fill out a webform for something. I can’t remember now what it was. But I realized then that I have developed a pretty strong abhorrence for filling them out. As soon as I saw the webform I thought, “Nope. Changed my mind. It isn’t worth it. I’m not filling it out.” And I didn’t. I might not be able to fill out another webform for months.

The Smell of Baking Pie

2009-11-03T22:47:00.001-07:00

It’s been some 3 months since I baked a pie. That’s remarkable for such a longstanding addiction to baking pies. And especially considering it is such a strong addictive habit. Today I finally broke down and baked one. I had forgotten just how good a baking pie smells. The smell of a flaky, browning crust combined with a bubbling mixture of berries is a delicately divine aroma.

I had trouble deciding what kind to make. So I made both of my favorites: Quadrupleberry and Banana Berry. Two of the greatest pies of all time. This is the first time that I have split a pie in half and also made a twisted lattice on it. (I’ve split pies in halves, thirds, and quarters before, and I have made a lot of very complex lattice structures—just never on the same pie.) It provided a welcome bit of extra challenge—it’s not a pie for beginners, but certainly a pie worth the effort. It might be worth it just for the smell alone.

My Favorite Carbonated Drink

2009-10-27T19:56:00.001-06:00

First of all, I am not a fan of carbonated drinks. They don’t taste all that great, they don’t typically make me feel very good, they cut down on your body’s oxygen capacity, and they aren’t very good for you.

Growing up my family didn’t drink soda very often. And when we did it was typically Root Beer, Sprite, 7-Up, etc. And since then I’ve never been very interested in branching out and trying other kinds. So it was not until about a year ago that I tried Coke, Pepsi, Dr Pepper, and Mountain Dew for the first time.

I decided I really should try them all so that I could be a normal, cultured person. Well, at least a more normal, cultured person. So I tried Coke at a party. It was as anticlimactic as I expected it would be and I kinda lost interest again. But over the course of the last year I have been more open to trying different kinds of soda, and I have now sampled all of the popular ones multiple times. I have now come to a conclusion of which one is my favorite.

Then last week I was at a fast food place. I usually just get water or lemonade. As I was ordering it occurred to me what a great opportunity it could be since the pop was all self serve. I could finally compare all of them side by side. So I did. And it decidedly confirmed what I had already decided as to my tastes in soda pop.

So I’m sure you are reading this with great anticipation for the official unveiling of my decided preference: Dr Pepper. It is hands down my favorite one.

I find Coke to be very bland. The last time I had Pepsi it was reminiscent of some cleaning agent, though I couldn’t put my finger on which one. Mountain Dew is intriguing—a superior relative of Sprite and 7-Up. But Dr Pepper is the one most worth drinking.

Econ 110 in 3 Minutes

2009-10-27T12:21:00.001-06:00

Whether you need a review of Economics 110 or you have never taken it and want a crash course, here’s a great resource.

Posting from Microsoft Office

2009-10-21T13:34:00.003-06:00

I just found out that Microsoft Office 2007 has the ability to post to blogs. I linked it up with Blogger and this is my first test.

Women's Night Out

2009-10-03T23:40:00.011-06:00

Apparently the Saturday night of General Conference weekend is a pretty good time to go to Bath and Body Works. For some reason they think that lots of women are going to be out shopping together. They had quite a few discounts and specials, calling it Women's Night Out. So I got $35 of merchandise for only $16.

While I'm on the subject, I originally went to buy some of the best hand soap I've come across: Bath and Body Works' Anti-Bacterial Moisturizing Hand Soap. I typically have problems with dry skin—to the point of cracking and bleeding at times. I've been using this hand soap in my kitchen and bathroom for about a year now and I haven't had any such problems since then. Many of the flavors also smell fantastic. My favorite is Black Raspberry Vanilla. I recommend it.

Insurance 101

2009-09-28T22:37:00.000-06:00

I read an article written by several highly respected people in economics and health care published in The Wall Street Journal today on several aspects of the health care reform that I have thought a fair amount about. I quite agree with what they wrote and recommend reading it. I want to expand on some of the things addressed there and talk about insurance principles that are pertinent to the discussion on health care reform.

I realize this is kind of a long post. It has taken me several hours to write it. I think if you read through the whole thing it will be worth your while. First I'll talk about how insurance works (really basically); then I'll talk about policies that are currently being debated and some of their implications. Hopefully that doesn’t make you stop reading now.

How Insurance Works
No matter what kind of insurance you are talking about, you are talking about protection from some kind of risk. Insurance companies want to sell you protection from that risk for some price. The way they do that is by pooling lots of people with risk together and then doing a lot of statistics to calculate how much you have to charge people to cover the costs. I could talk about this generally, but I think it will be easier to follow with a more concrete (though very simplified) example. If you hate numbers, just skim over the details in the next few paragraphs and get the basic idea.

Let's say that there is a company that wants to insure against fire damage for houses. They expect to sell insurance to 10,000 people. Now for simplicity, let’s assume that every house is worth $200,000 so we're talking about $2 trillion dollars in property. The company does a whole lot of research and determines that on average in a given year 5 houses catch on fire: 3 totally burn down and have to be replaced (at a cost of $200,000) and 2 only burn partway and it takes $100,000 to repair them. This means that they expect to pay $800,000 every year. In addition to that, they have to pay the actuary who did all the calculations and the salesman that went around selling. Let's say that adds up to be $200,000. So their yearly expenses are expected to be $1 million. They take this number and divide it by the number of people that buy insurance to get the premium:

So they decide to charge $100 per year to each person they sell insurance to. Then as the year goes on they use all of the insurance premiums to pay for the houses that catch on fire.

Now let’s say they do some more research. They find out that houses with fireplaces catch fire way more often than those without. In fact, of the $800,000 they pay for houses that catch fire, $600,000 of it comes from houses with fireplaces. So they start adding a question on their paperwork and ask people if they have a fireplace. They find out that half of them have fireplaces, so they run some calculations:

Based on those calculations, they start charging those with fireplaces $140 and those without $60 in premiums. Then they still get the same amount of money and are still able to pay for all of the houses that catch fire.

Now you probably wonder why the company bothers to charge two different rates: they do it so that they are competitive. Suppose they didn't but their competition did. Then all those without fireplaces would go get insurance elsewhere because they can get a better rate. That means that most of the people getting insurance from this company are going to have fireplaces, which means they are going to have more houses catch fire, so they are going to have to charge higher premiums. Eventually they will be charging more than the $140 that their competition is charging because they will have fewer clients so they can’t spread the fixed costs out across their pool of clients as well. Then those with fireplaces will go elsewhere as well and the company will go out of business.

There is also another effect of this that is quite positive: people buying houses make better decisions. When they find out that if they buy a house with a fireplace then they have to pay more in insurance they decide whether it is worth the cost. Those that think it is worth it get a fireplace and pay the extra; those that don't think so don't get a fireplace. And everyone is happy. Now if this wasn't the case—if everyone was paying the same amount regardless of whether they have a fireplace—then those without fireplaces would be paying extra: they would be footing the extra insurance bill from everyone else having a fireplace without getting any of the benefits. If they knew this was the case they would start complaining.

Now most of you have probably assumed that the people that buy fire insurance in this example have houses that are not currently on fire. That's pretty reasonable, but let's think about what would happen if that's not the case. Suddenly things are a lot different. The insurance company then wants to start asking the important question "Is your house currently on fire?" when people apply for insurance. If so, the odds that the insurance company has to pay for fire damage is a little higher than if it's not on fire. So they do the same thing they did with fireplaces: they try and separate things out and calculate probabilities. They find out that if a house is currently on fire, then 60% of the time they are going to have to pay to rebuild it ($200,000) and 40% of the time they are going to have to simply repair it ($100,000). So then the insurance company says, "Your house is on fire right now? Sure we'll insure it. But we are going to charge you a premium of $160,000 to do so." That way they don't have to charge those whose house is not on fire a different amount.

Now if the prices of insurance for a house that is already on fire versus one that is not is not separated out then we see the same effect as we did before when we didn't separate out those with fireplaces (though it looks a little different). Suppose the insurance company just groups everyone together regardless of whether their house is on fire and they simply charge a uniform rate of $100 to each person. First of all, the insurance company will get an influx of people wanting to buy insurance when their house is on fire, so they have to raise their rates to compensate and stay in business. Even without raising their rates people will be inclined to simply wait until their house catches fire before they buy insurance. That way they can save money when their house isn’t on fire. But this means the insurance company has less people in the pool who are paying premiums and more people in the pool with houses that are burning down. They won't have enough money to cover the burning houses so they will have to raise their rates again to compensate. Then more whose houses aren't burning will stop paying insurance and the problem worsens until you only have people whose houses are burning left buying insurance. Thus, it’s pretty important that insurance companies are able to ask questions and segment the insurance pools. If they don't then large groups of people will not buy the insurance because the premiums are too costly.

Applying this to Health Insurance
Now let’s talk about what this has to do with health insurance. You are probably already making the connections. Health insurance works precisely the same way as the fire insurance example (taking into account, of course, the gross oversimplifications of the example).

Here is a list of a few of the prominent points being debated, most of which I took directly out of President Obama’s speech to congress a couple weeks ago. There are a lot of other points, some of which I would like to address—possibly in a future post. For now, let’s look at these specific ones:

Make it illegal to deny coverage based on a preexisting condition
Introduce a "community rating" system so that those that are sicker or have preexisting conditions couldn't be charged more for coverage
Make it illegal to drop coverage when you get sick
Remove per year or per lifetime caps on benefits
Place limits on the amount of out-of-pocket expenses that can be charged
Force insurance plans to include checkups at no additional charge
Make it illegal to not have insurance

Now many of these could have very good results. What I want to do here is discuss some of the implications of these in terms of the insurance industry. Once we know what the change in the insurance industry will be from changing these things then we are more able to decide whether it is worth the extra benefit to make these changes.

First, let’s look at what happens when you make it illegal to deny coverage for a preexisting condition. This is very analogous to the fire insurance company having to insure people whose homes were already on fire. The insurance company is going to have to pay for those preexisting conditions, so they are going to have to take in more money from premiums to offset that higher expense. Insurance companies’ first inclination will be to do the same thing we saw in our fire insurance example: they will incorporate as much information about those it has to insure as possible into their probabilities and charge those with preexisting conditions higher rates.

This isn’t a very good outcome for those with preexisting conditions. This means that if you have cancer, the company is going to factor that piece of information in when calculating your premium and it’s not going to be cheap. To keep this from happening then, the insurance companies would be mandated to use a “community rating” system, so those with preexisting conditions couldn’t be charged more than those without. That’s like telling a fire insurance company it can’t charge a higher premium to those whose houses are already on fire. The money to pay for the houses that are already on fire has to come from someplace: it will come from higher premiums charged to the entire pool. Similarly, if those with preexisting conditions start having preexisting conditions covered, and insurance companies can’t legally segment the pools to include that information when charging premiums then they are going to have to start charging higher premiums to the whole pool. This means healthy people are going to be paying for those that have preexisting conditions through their higher premiums.

This same thing happens when talking about those that are sick that are already covered. The “community rating” system would mean that those that are already sick couldn’t be charged more than those that are not sick. This includes those that are older: older people tend to have more health expenses than those that are younger. If the insurance company can’t segment these groups apart then those that are sick, older, and/or have preexisting conditions will all be charged relatively the same amount as a younger, healthier person.

Insurance companies also cut costs by creating loopholes allowing them to drop your coverage or placing limits on the amounts that they pay in a year or over a lifetime. This is really bad for those affected; consequently, it is proposed that this be made illegal. This will make the costs seen by insurance companies go up—they have to pay for these new expenses that they were previously getting out of. Once again, they have to pay for this somehow: insurance premiums will have to go up to compensate. Since they can’t segment the insurance pools the premiums have to go up for everyone in the pool to pay for those that are very sick (those exceeding current limits).

Statistically, this could have a huge impact because of the magnitude of outliers. Suppose an insurance company is insuring 100,000 people and they expect to pay out $75 million dollars each year for those 100,000 people. That works out to be $750 per year per person in premiums. Now suppose that those numbers take into account a limit of $1 million in benefits per person and also suppose that limit is removed. Then there is one person in that 100,000 that needs to have a series of surgeries, transplants, medications, and therapy that totals $10 million—I don’t think this is unreasonable when dealing with healthcare. This makes the payout for the year $85 million which raises the premium to $850—all because of that cap was removed. That’s a big increase because of one person. As the pool size grows then the effect per person is less; but as the pool size grows, the odds that an outlier could cost significantly more than $10 million dollars also grows. The amount that an outlier will require cannot be easily calculated statistically and it doesn’t take very many serious outliers to cause devastating financial problems for an insurance company.

The only points I haven’t hit yet is placing limits on the amount of out-of-pocket expenses you can be charged for health care and forcing insurance companies to provide preventative checkups at no extra cost. From the discussion so far, I think it should be clear that this also increases costs seen by insurance companies (because now they’re paying for things they weren’t) so premiums will also be affected. True, those insured may then be able to get checkups at "no extra cost" but the costs will simply be built into the premiums which will be higher than they would otherwise be because of those extra "free" services.

Now if you are healthy and your premiums start going up because of all of the foregoing then you have more incentive to not get insurance. Why do you need it? The insurance companies have to cover your preexisting conditions when you finally decide to get it. So why pay premiums when you aren’t sick? Thus, healthy people drop out of the insurance pool, which causes medical costs per person to go up in the pool, which causes insurance companies to raise their rates further. Then more people have an incentive to drop out. Eventually, no one has insurance unless they are sick and insurance premiums become astronomical.

The solution to this new problem then is to require everyone to have insurance. Making it illegal to be uninsured would keep all the healthy people in the pool and allows insurance companies to function with non-astronomical rates while still covering preexisting conditions, the elderly, and the very sick. But then you have the situation that we talked about with the fireplaces in houses. If those with fireplaces are grouped with those that don’t have them then those that don’t have a fireplace are paying for the risk incurred by those that do have them. Same thing here: those that are healthy are paying for those that are not through higher premiums.

There would be a loophole to this, though (at least for some). People that don’t want insurance (and who don’t have an employer offering insurance) can pay an additional excise tax and not get insurance. If insurance rates are high enough this would be worthwhile: you could pay the cheaper tax until you get sick. If you do get sick, then you get insurance that legally has to cover your preexisting condition. Again, this would cause insurance rates on the pool to go up because healthier people are choosing to stay out of the pool until they get sick.

One positive thing to note, however, is that if that loophole is not very big so that overall more people have insurance than do currently, then it is possible (and probably likely) that this will bring premiums down from what they otherwise would be. This is because more healthy people would be brought into the pool to further distribute the costs incurred by the sicker people. Though I doubt this effect would be anywhere near significant enough to offset all of the other increases that I have discussed.

A Few Conclusions
When taken together then, these changes mean that a lot of people will be better off: those with preexisting conditions, the elderly, those that are sicker than average, and those that are really, really sick. All of these people are currently facing limitation on what benefits they get and are seeing higher premiums because of their current health. These are really serious problems that need to be addressed.

But these benefits also come at a cost: it means that those that are younger and not sick are worse off. Under this plan they would be subsidizing the health expenses of those that are sick, and the subsidies have the potential of being pretty large. Now that may not be entirely bad—in fact it might be worth it. But those who are deciding need to be aware of the costs that are being incurred because of the benefits that are being received.

Those that are pushing for these changes (like President Obama) are putting a lot of emphasis on the benefits to the elderly and the sick because of these changes. But there is not a lot of emphasis on the costs that are incurred in exchange for these benefits. Under this plan health insurance premiums would go up for the majority of people—particularly those that are the healthiest. This would make wages and income for those people fall significantly.

What we are talking about here is a method of income redistribution. Income will be redistributed from those that are younger and healthier to those that are older and sicker. The redistribution is simply hidden in insurance premiums so that most people are not aware that is what is being proposed. And President Obama and Congress are certainly not trying to let people know that is the case.

I think it is worth quoting here from the article I mentioned when I started:

[Because of these proposed policies] younger, healthier, lower-income earners would be forced to subsidize older, sicker, higher-income earners. And because these subsidies are buried within health-insurance premiums, the massive income redistribution is hidden from public view and not debated.

If Congress goes down this road, health insurance premiums will increase dramatically for the overwhelming majority of people. Even if Congress mandates that everyone have health insurance, many will choose to go without and pay the tax penalty. If you think people are dissatisfied with health care now, wait until they understand that Congress voted to mandate hidden premium increases and lower wages.

If you read this whole thing, hopefully you find it helpful to understanding (at least part of) the economic implications of the debate currently going on. Please comment—I’d like to hear what you think about this topic and also what I have said. Hopefully I’ll tackle another topic again soon.

Now that I finished writing this, I can’t help but wonder: Why am I working as a lowly support engineer at a software company?

Crossed Connections

2009-09-25T23:25:00.003-06:00

I work for a company that provides technology to assist in efficiently managing leads and/or customers. It also integrates with the telephone system to provide some pretty cool telephony tools for both inbound and outbound calling. The integration with the phone system works quite well most of the time, but the other day I heard one of the funniest recorded telephone conversations I've ever heard when two calls got crossed in the system. To make it easier to follow, I'll give names to those involved, though now I haven't any idea what their names actually were or even what company they worked for.

Jim and Suzie both work for Some Company, Inc. Suzie is placing an outbound call to an elderly lady named Mrs. Brown. At the same time an inbound call from Mr. Green comes in and goes to Jim. In the process the lines get crossed. So Jim and Mr. Green are still able to have a regular conversation, but Mrs. Brown is connected to Jim's half of the conversation: Mrs. Brown can hear what Jim is saying but Jim can't hear Mrs. Brown (and Mrs. Brown can't hear Mr. Green). Suzie can hear the whole conversation, but no one can hear her. Both calls were supposed to be recorded, so in actuality the call was recorded from both Mr. Green's perspective and Mrs. Brown's perspective. Here it is from Mrs. Brown's perspective:

Jim: Hi, this is Jim from Some Company, Inc. How can I help you?
Mrs. Brown: [Confused] Um, I don't know. You called me.
Jim: Yes Sir.
Mrs. Brown: [Obviously taken aback] I'm a woman.
[Brief Pause]
Jim: [Uncertainly] Uh huh.
[Pause]
Mrs. Brown: [Hesitantly] Are you a person?
Jim: [Decidedly] Yes sir.
[Brief pause]
Jim: Okay so we won't send you any of our products right now. Can we still send you some materials for you to read?
Mrs. Brown: [Growing slightly exasperated] I don't even now where you are calling from. Who is this?
Jim: Okay, so we'll send that information to you right away. Is there anything else I can help you with?
Mrs. Brown: I don't want ...
Jim: Okay, thank you for your time sir.
[Call Ends]

I also listened to the recording from Mr. Green's perspective; the call made perfect sense from that side. But man, it could not have matched what Mrs. Brown was saying better if it had been planned. From what I heard, the system had a few glitches right in a row. Poor Mrs. Brown got several calls, none of them intended for her.

I'm sure that nobody ever called her to give her an explanation, either. Someone should really send her a copy of both recordings. I really wish I could get a copy of that recording, too.

Blogger Has A New Editor

2009-09-25T22:35:00.004-06:00

I just accidentally stumbled across the fact that Blogger has a new post editor. You have to turn it on though—apparently it's not turned on by default. Go to Settings, then Basic, then Post Editor, and select Updated editor. So far it looks pretty sweet.

Update: Now that I have written a post with this turned on, it turns out that it has a few bugs. Still, I think the new stuff is worth working around the occasional glitches. At least that's what I think so far ...

Update: So now I've actually looked at the post I published with the new editor, and there were several formatting errors (mostly extra line breaks) randomly thrown in. I had to edit the HTML in order to get rid of them. And it looks like it is doing some other screwy things with the HTML code now that I've looked more closely. So maybe use the new editor at your own risk.

My Dream Job

2009-09-25T20:14:00.006-06:00

The Utah Symphony named a new conductor yesterday: Thierry Fischer. From the Utah Symphony website:

Swiss conductor Thierry Fischer is Principal Conductor of the BBC National Orchestra of Wales and also Chief Conductor of the Nagoya Philharmonic. From 2001-2006 he was Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor of the Ulster Orchestra. In 2009 he was named Music Director of the Utah Symphony.

Of all jobs on the planet, I think conducting a symphony would be one of the very coolest. That's my ultimate dream job. Too bad there is virtually no way that could ever happen.

The H1N1 Rap

2009-09-25T18:17:00.006-06:00

Here is the winner for a contest (sponsored by George Mason University Departments of Health and Human Services and Education) for the best public service announcement video for the H1N1 flu virus. It's kinda catchy.

Congratulations to Dr. John Clarke, Medical Director for the Long Island Railroad.

Suspicious Semantics

2009-09-21T14:04:00.008-06:00

President Obama was interviewed by 5 different networks over the weekend. Here is one short segment of one interview that I found interesting. It's a short conversation between George Stephanopoulos and President Obama about new taxation that is in the current health care reform bill. You can also read the text of the conversation from The Wall Street Journal or Fox News.

So President Obama is talking about imposing a tax on those that don't have insurance in order to create an incentive for them to get it. Regardless of whether this is a good idea, the fact is that President Obama apparently doesn't believe that such a tax is actually a tax. Now I'm pretty sure that this is considered a tax just about no matter who you are talking to. In fact, the text of the Baucus Bill itself (page 29) calls this a tax:

Excise Tax. The consequence for not maintaining insurance would be an excise tax. If a taxpayer’s MAGI is between 100-300 percent of FPL, the excise tax for failing to obtain coverage for an individual in a taxpayer unit (either as a taxpayer or an individual claimed as a dependent) is $750 per year. However, the minimum penalty for the taxpayer unit is $1,500. If a taxpayer’s MAGI is above 300 percent of FPL the penalty for failing to obtain coverage for an individual in a taxpayer unit (either as a taxpayer or as an individual claimed as a dependent) is $950 year. However, the maximum penalty amount a family above 300 percent of FPL would pay is $3,800.

But President Obama says it's not a tax. And he was pretty insistent about it. As I recall, President Obama has promised not to raise taxes quite a few times, including during his campaign and specifically in regard to health care reform. Here's what he told congress last week:

First, I will not sign a plan that adds one dime to our deficits – either now or in the future. Period.
...
The plan will not add to our deficit. The middle-class will realize greater security, not higher taxes.

And here is what he said to congress back in February about how his administration was going "to go line by line through the federal budget" to cut "wasteful and ineffective programs:"

If your family earns less than $250,000 a year, you will not see your taxes increased a single dime. I repeat: not one single dime.

But since this "isn't a tax," he can still sign the bill and keep all his promises (at least in his opinion) to not raise taxes by a cent—excuse me, by "one single dime"—in doing so.

So then, what does he really mean then when he says he's not going to allow an increase in taxes? Does he really mean that taxes won't be increased? Or is he going to have to continue redefining a "tax" in order to keep that promise?

Personally, I think this calls into question the validity of promises President Obama's makes. Apparently he can simply redefine commonly held concepts and definitions at his convenience in order to keep those promises. This also makes me wonder: is it often the case that what President Obama thinks he is promising and what most of the people hearing his speeches think he is promising are not, in fact, the same thing? That seems to be the case here.

Withdrawals from Thinking

2009-09-19T20:46:00.005-06:00

It has been quite a while since I've been so intent on an activity that I've dreamed about it at night. For example, when I was in high school there was a while that I was programming during all of my free time; I remember dreaming about C++ at night often. Then I started playing Go with some friends a lot and reading books on Go and I dreamed about Go games. Another time a few years later I was playing racquetball several times a week and was focusing on improving my playing, when I started dreaming regularly about racquetball. In the past half dozen years, however, that has stopped. I've still had dreams about math or other things related to what I'm doing, but it hasn't been nearly as intensely correlated or persistent. They are usually just intermittent, isolated dreams rather than periods of consistently dreaming about the same thing.

Last night I woke up several times (which is rare for me) and each time I had been dreaming about SQL. It reminded me a lot of my dreams like those above. Now I have been using SQL some at work lately. In fact, it has typically been the highlight of my working, as it is a little more challenging and fun that the typical monotony (though being more challenging certainly doesn't mean it is challenging). But I didn't think I was focusing on it or thinking about it that much. We'll see if the dreams keep up.

I expect that what I really need is more challenging hobbies to occupy my mind outside of work (not to mention a job that requires the use of my brain)—I think portions of my brain might be dying from the lack of use. I became really aware of this the other day when I was having a conversation with my roommate about calculus: it felt like my brain came off of standby for a little while. Then it went back.

I think I've become kind of accustomed to thinking about fairly complex mathematical stuff. Like how to write a program in Matlab to approximate the solution to a parabolic partial differential equation describing heat flow in a plate over time using a four dimensional array to store and then analyze all of the approximation data. That was the final project for my numerical methods class my last semester, which incorporated concepts from two semesters of numerical methods. It was pretty darn cool. The above descriptive sentence doesn't do it justice at all.

I don't do much complex math anymore. (Though my current coworkers seem to think so—I'm not really sure what they think mathematics majors do after we learn arithmetic.) Now I'm pretty sure I'm going through withdrawals. Yes, mathematics is addictive. So is a lot of education. In fact, many would say you have to develop a taste for mathematics over time by doing it. But then the intoxicating euphoria of understanding and accomplishment begins to reinforce your exploration of it so you want a little more. And the higher and deeper you get the more it takes to satiate your craving. If you haven't started yet then maybe you shouldn't. (On the other hand, relationships are pretty addictive too, and most people still consider those to be pretty beneficial.) As for me, I think it's already too late.

Don't Text and Drive?

2009-09-19T20:32:00.004-06:00

So according to The Salt Lake Tribune today, there are now 22 states that both ban texting and provide a service to get traffic and road condition information on a mobile device (most often via twitter). Utah is one of those states.

Straws on the Camel's Back

2009-09-15T21:36:00.005-06:00

The following is a list of things that absolutely drive me crazy. If you want to get me to start beating people with a crowbar or smashing people's faces in with a Maglite, these are a great start. This is also a list of things that my current roommates seem completely apathetic about:

Dishes soaking in the sink. They collect standing water and food debris and smell very bad very quickly. I can usually smell it within 24 hours; shortly after that I start smelling it as soon as I walk into the room. They also make the sink totally unusable. I don't really care if people don't wash their dishes—just put them next to the sink.
My utensils, glasses, knives, etc. soaking in the sink. Things rust and things break. Few things are not put at serious risk by soaking in the sink. I can't tell you how many things I have had damaged or ruined by roommates because of this alone.
Unrinsed dishrags left in the sink. They reek. And once they start reeking washing them is a lost cause.
Food regularly spilled on the tablecloth. We can't even go 8 hours.
Not rinsing out the bathroom sink. I don't have a problem with people shaving or spitting in the sink. But leaving the stuff there afterward?
Dirty laundry left in the bathroom. It shouldn't be that difficult. If you forget something for a day, oh well. But leaving it there for a week? You can't possibly not realize that it's yours after that long.
Not replacing the toilet paper roll. I think the new roll would simply stay on the counter if I didn't put it on the dispenser. I can't think of a better act of supreme laziness. It takes 3 seconds. Literally. Then again, I have been practicing for years—maybe if you never do it then it can take upwards of 5 minutes. I wouldn't know.

I don't think that I have that extreme of demands. I'm just asking for a teensy bit of adult responsibility. Maybe that's too much.

A Shift in Political Perspective

2009-09-09T21:32:00.005-06:00

The last couple of weeks I haven't spent as much time following the health care debate as I would like. I did listen to President Obama's speach tonight and then I spent some time doing some research about what I've missed in the last few weeks. There was one particular paragraph on Keith Hennessey's blog that struck me, although it is only tangentially related to the current debate:

I wish millions of Americans read KeithHennessey.com and were patient enough to learn the details to be as well-informed as you, my brilliant and thoughtful readers. But I believe imperfectly-informed involvement is better than complete disengagement. And I have a core confidence that, given time, the American people are on the whole smart enough to figure out the underlying truths and make sound judgments. I am a strong believer in the inherent wisdom of the common man. I am actually pleasantly surprised how relatively well-informed this debate is, compared to so many other policy debates I have seen. I will continue to do my part to contribute to a thoughtful, impassioned, civil debate.

Now this struck me because it blatantly flies in the face of the perspective I have had for most of my life. Historically, I have not been very up on politics. In fact, I have been completely disengaged. I didn't follow major issues and often felt kind of a dislike for people who did because they always seemed to think they knew a lot and never seemed aware of the things they were ignorant of or the complexity of the topics they held such adamant views about. I justified my inactivity based on the perspective that strong political opinion should only be held and voiced by those that had significant understanding of all the topics involved. I was no expert so I didn't feel qualified in expressing (or even forming) any opinion nor did I think that most people could credibly offer an opinion on most subjects.

About a year and a half ago a friend of mine chewed me out for holding that view. Among other things, he cited the fact that I often seemed to hold the opinion that people didn't understand the complexity of the issues they were discussing and that I seemed to indicate that I understood things better than average by pointing out that complexity. Yet I would never get really involved in discussions and would rarely go beyond implying that I understood a topic. It was his opinion that in reality those that didn't understand things all that well but cared and were at least active in political thought and discussion were doing far more good than I was. Furthermore, with my background in economics, he argued, I ought to be able to understand and do more than the average person, yet I did nothing and didn't seem to care.

I thought about that conversation a fair amount and ultimately decided I ought to take time to be more informed and involved. Since then I have gotten more and more into politics and economic issues. I've try to keep up with the news, particularly economic stuff. And I actually really enjoy it quite a bit. Now I am much more opinionated about a lot of issues and will discuss politics much more readily. (I even almost called in to a radio station the other day when they were taking calls.) I haven't blogged much about it, but I really would like to do that more.

So when I read the above paragraph tonight, I realized that my perspective on politics has shifted rather dramatically in the last year: I now actively reject the perspective I have described and that I have held. I think it really is quite important for people to be actively involved in political debate and discussion, even when imperfectly informed (which is the state that we all perpetually find ourselves in).

In light of my new found perspective, if you are currently disengaged from political discussion and involvement like I was, I encourage doing a bit of reading and at least forming opinions on things. Start with whatever topic interests you. For me it started with the economic policy; for others it may be military stuff, health care, the deficit, or any one of hundreds of other topics. I have found it really worthwhile.

The Scientist

2009-08-07T19:17:00.032-06:00

A friend of mine recently took the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) test, which reminded me that I took it a while back and read a fair amount about it then. It is one of the more accurate and insightful personality categorizations I've seen. It assesses 4 different binary personality facets, giving 16 possible personality types. These are designated by 4 letters. I'd really like to learn more about it—especially how it relates to graphology.

There are a number of sites that offer such a test for free. The one I like the best of the ones I've taken is this one. It doesn't take very long and gives detailed results. After you take it, the best site that describes each personality type is this one. I'm quite interested in what other people get. Everyone that reads this should take it (click here to do so). Then you can post your results as a comment. (If you don't want to post it you can email it to me. If you don't know my email address, use this form.)

I've taken several different MBTI tests and I've taken a couple of them at different times and answered all the questions differently (they are, of course, pretty subjective). I almost always get the same result. Even when I take the same test and give different (but still accurate) answers. I have read a fair amount about the personality types and agree with the results it gave for me.

I am an INTJ: Introverted, Intuitive, Thinking, Judging. My results from above test today are:

Introverted (I) 89.66%	Extroverted (E) 10.34%
Intuitive (N) 68.75%	Sensing (S) 31.25%
Thinking (T) 69.44%	Feeling (F) 30.56%
Judging (J) 69.23%	Perceiving (P) 30.77%

When I took the test 6 months ago my results were pretty similar:

Introverted (I) 81.25%	Extroverted (E) 18.75%
Intuitive (N) 58.62%	Sensing (S) 41.38%
Thinking (T) 84.38%	Feeling (F) 15.63%
Judging (J) 67.57%	Perceiving (P) 32.43%

One of the cool things about this test is it actually gives you percentages. In all of my taking the tests and reading about the differences between each pair, it has reinforced the conclusion that I am an INTJ. My Judging/Perceiving characteristic seems to be the most balanced between the two possibilities. So I am also very close to an INTP.

Below is the description of the INTJ from the site I linked above. I know it's long so I bolded the stuff I think is most interesting. That way you can skim it if you want. I think that it is a pretty good reference for my personality. If you want to know more about me, studying this along with the Portrait of an INTP: The Thinker will give you a lot of insight.

The Scientist

Introverted Intuition with Extraverted Thinking

Portrait of an INTJ

As an INTJ, your primary mode of living is focused internally, where you take things in primarily via your intuition. Your secondary mode is external, where you deal with things rationally and logically.

INTJs live in the world of ideas and strategic planning. They value intelligence, knowledge, and competence, and typically have high standards in these regards, which they continuously strive to fulfill. To a somewhat lesser extent, they have similar expectations of others.

With Introverted Intuition dominating their personality, INTJs focus their energy on observing the world, and generating ideas and possibilities. Their mind constantly gathers information and makes associations about it. They are tremendously insightful and usually are very quick to understand new ideas. However, their primary interest is not understanding a concept, but rather applying that concept in a useful way. Unlike the INTP, they do not follow an idea as far as they possibly can, seeking only to understand it fully. INTJs are driven to come to conclusions about ideas. Their need for closure and organization usually requires that they take some action.

INTJ's tremendous value and need for systems and organization, combined with their natural insightfulness, makes them excellent scientists. An INTJ scientist gives a gift to society by putting their ideas into a useful form for others to follow. It is not easy for the INTJ to express their internal images, insights, and abstractions. The internal form of the INTJ's thoughts and concepts is highly individualized, and is not readily translatable into a form that others will understand. However, the INTJ is driven to translate their ideas into a plan or system that is usually readily explainable, rather than to do a direct translation of their thoughts. They usually don't see the value of a direct transaction, and will also have difficulty expressing their ideas, which are non-linear. However, their extreme respect of knowledge and intelligence will motivate them to explain themselves to another person who they feel is deserving of the effort.

INTJs are natural leaders, although they usually choose to remain in the background until they see a real need to take over the lead. When they are in leadership roles, they are quite effective, because they are able to objectively see the reality of a situation, and are adaptable enough to change things which aren't working well. They are the supreme strategists - always scanning available ideas and concepts and weighing them against their current strategy, to plan for every conceivable contingency.

INTJs spend a lot of time inside their own minds, and may have little interest in the other people's thoughts or feelings. Unless their Feeling side is developed, they may have problems giving other people the level of intimacy that is needed. Unless their Sensing side is developed, they may have a tendency to ignore details which are necessary for implementing their ideas.

The INTJ's interest in dealing with the world is to make decisions, express judgments, and put everything that they encounter into an understandable and rational system. Consequently, they are quick to express judgments. Often they have very evolved intuitions, and are convinced that they are right about things. Unless they complement their intuitive understanding with a well-developed ability to express their insights, they may find themselves frequently misunderstood. In these cases, INTJs tend to blame misunderstandings on the limitations of the other party, rather than on their own difficulty in expressing themselves. This tendency may cause the INTJ to dismiss others input too quickly, and to become generally arrogant and elitist.

INTJs are ambitious, self-confident, deliberate, long-range thinkers. Many INTJs end up in engineering or scientific pursuits, although some find enough challenge within the business world in areas which involve organizing and strategic planning. They dislike messiness and inefficiency, and anything that is muddled or unclear. They value clarity and efficiency, and will put enormous amounts of energy and time into consolidating their insights into structured patterns.

Other people may have a difficult time understanding an INTJ. They may see them as aloof and reserved. Indeed, the INTJ is not overly demonstrative of their affections, and is likely to not give as much praise or positive support as others may need or desire. That doesn't mean that he or she doesn't truly have affection or regard for others, they simply do not typically feel the need to express it. Others may falsely perceive the INTJ as being rigid and set in their ways. Nothing could be further from the truth, because the INTJ is committed to always finding the objective best strategy to implement their ideas. The INTJ is usually quite open to hearing an alternative way of doing something.

When under a great deal of stress, the INTJ may become obsessed with mindless repetitive, Sensate activities, such as over-drinking. They may also tend to become absorbed with minutia and details that they would not normally consider important to their overall goal.

INTJs need to remember to express themselves sufficiently, so as to avoid difficulties with people misunderstandings. In the absence of properly developing their communication abilities, they may become abrupt and short with people, and isolationists.

INTJs have a tremendous amount of ability to accomplish great things. They have insight into the Big Picture, and are driven to synthesize their concepts into solid plans of action. Their reasoning skills gives them the means to accomplish that. INTJs are most always highly competent people, and will not have a problem meeting their career or education goals. They have the capability to make great strides in these arenas. On a personal level, the INTJ who practices tolerances and puts effort into effectively communicating their insights to others has everything in his or her power to lead a rich and rewarding life.

INTJ Strengths:

Not threatened by conflict or criticism

Usually self-confident

Take their relationships and commitments seriously

Generally extremely intelligent and capable

Able to leave a relationship which should be ended, although they may dwell on it in their minds for awhile afterwards

Interested in "optimizing" their relationships

Good listeners

INTJ Weaknesses:

Not naturally in tune with others feelings; may be insensitive at times

May tend to respond to conflict with logic and reason, rather than the desired emotional support

Not naturally good at expressing feelings and affections

Tendency to believe that they're always right

Tendency to be unwilling or unable to accept blame

Their constant quest to improve everything may be taxing on relationships

Tend to hold back part of themselves

INTJs generally have the following traits:

Able to absorb extremely complex theoretical and complex material

Driven to create order and structure from theoretical abstractions

Supreme strategists

Future-oriented

See the global, "big picture"

Strong insights and intuitions, which they trust implicitly

Value their own opinions over others

Love difficult theoretical challenges

Bored when dealing with mundane routine

Value knowledge and efficiency

Have no patience with inefficiency and confusion

Have very high standards for performance, which they apply to themselves most strongly

Reserved and detached from others

Calm, collected and analytical

Extremely logical and rational

Original and independent

Natural leaders, but will follow those they can fully support

Creative, ingenious, innovative, and resourceful

Work best alone, and prefer to work alone

Careers for INTJ Personality Types

More so than any other personality type, INTJs are brilliant when it comes to grasping complex theories and applying them to problems to come up with long-term strategies. Since this type of "strategizing" is the central focus and drive of the INTJ, there is a happy match between desire and ability in this type. Accordingly, the INTJ is happiest and most effective in careers which allow this type of processing, and which promote an environment in which the INTJ is given a lot of autonomy over their daily lives.

Possible Career Paths for the INTJ:

Scientists

Engineers

Professors and Teachers

Medical Doctors / Dentists

Corporate Strategists and Organization Builders

Business Administrators / Managers

Military Leaders

Lawyers / Attorneys

Judges

Computer Programmers, Systems Analysts and Computer Specialists

INTJ Relationships

INTJs believe in constant growth in relationships, and strive for independence for themselves and their mates. They are constantly embarking on "fix-up" projects to improve the overall quality of their lives and relationships. They take their commitments seriously, but are open to redefining their vows, if they see something which may prove to be an improvement over the existing understanding. INTJs are not likely to be "touchy-feely" and overly affirming with their mates or children, and may at times be somewhat insensitive to their emotional needs. However, INTJs are in general extremely capable and intelligent individuals who strive to always be their best, and be moving in a positive direction. If they apply these basic goals to their personal relationships, they likely to enjoy happy and healthy interaction with their families and friends.

INTJs As Lovers

INTJs live much of their lives inside their own heads. They constantly scan their environment for new ideas and theories which they can turn into plans and structures. Sometimes, what they see and understand intuitively within themselves is more pure and "perfect" than the reality of a close personal relationship. INTJs may have a problem reconciling their reality with their fantasy.

INTJs are not naturally in tune with their own feelings, or with what other people are feeling. They also have a tendency to believe that they are always right. While their self-confidence and esteem is attractive, their lack of sensitivity to others can be a problem if it causes them to inadvertently hurt their partner's feelings. If this is a problem for an INTJ, they should remember to sometimes let their mate be the one who is right, and to try to be aware of the emotional effect that your words have upon them. In conflict situations, INTJs need to remember to be supportive to their mate's emotional needs, rather than treating the conflict as if it is an interesting idea to analyze.

Sexually, the INTJ enjoys thinking about intimacy, and about ways to perfect it. In positive relationships, their creativity and intensity shine through in this arena. In more negative relationships, they might enjoy thinking about sex more than actually doing it. They're likely to approach intimacy from a theoretical, creative perspective, rather than as an opportunity to express love and affection. Although, the INTJ who has learned the importance of these kinds of expressions to the health of their relationship is likely to be more verbally affectionate.

INTJs are able to leave relationships when they're over, and get on with their lives. They believe that this is the right thing to do. They may have more difficulty accomplishing the task than they like to exhibit to other people.

INTJs are highly intense, intelligent people who bring a lot of depth and insight into most major areas of their life. In terms of relationships, their greatest potential pitfall is the tendency to think about things rather than doing them, and their difficulty reconciling reality with their inner visions. INTJs are likely to be in positive, healthy relationships, because they're likely to leave relationships which aren't working for them (unless other circumstances prohibit that).

Although two well-developed individuals of any type can enjoy a healthy relationship, the INTJ's natural partner is the ENFP, or the ENTP. INTJ's dominant function of Introverted Intuition is best matched with a partner whose personality is dominated by Extraverted Intuition.

INTJs As Friends

INTJs are usually difficult to get to know well, and difficult to get close to. Those who are close to the INTJ will highly value them for their ideas and knowledge. Although INTJs are generally very serious-minded people, they also have been known to enjoy letting loose and having fun, if others pull them into it. They also can be really good at telling jokes, and exhibiting a sarcastic wit with a poker face.

The INTJ is not likely to choose to spend time with people who they feel don't have anything to offer the INTJ. They especially like to spend time with other Intuitive Thinkers, and also usually enjoy the company of Intuitive Feelers. These personality types love to theorize and speculate about ideas, and so can usually relate well to the INTJ, who loves to analyze ideas.

Many INTJs believe that they are always right. In some INTJs, this belief is quite obvious, while in others it is more subtle. Some people may have a difficult time accepting what they see as a "superior attitude" or "snobbery". Not to imply that INTJs are snobbish, just that some people with strong Feeling preferences may perceive them that way. And some individuals simply have no interest in the theoretical pursuits which the INTJ enjoys.

Doesn't that describe me pretty perfectly?

A Faulty Smoke Detector

2009-08-01T19:41:00.005-06:00

Today I tested my smoke detectors to make sure they work; the result was slightly concerning. While my roommate and a bunch of other people were watching Prison Break in the front room, I started cooking some rice on the stove. Then I went back to my room and forgot about it.

After about 10 minutes Colin came back to tell me that my stuff was burning. I said something like, "Oh yeah, I forgot about that. Can you just take it off the burner. I'll be there in a minute." I finished what I was doing and went out to start over on my rice. I found the front door propped open and my front room thickly filled with smoke. A small cluster of people armed with hot pads were in the kitchen watching smoke pouring out of my pan of rice that was still on the burner discussing whether it was safe to take it off.

So this brings a couple of things to mind. A couple of weeks ago something I was baking boiled over in the oven and started smoking. I remember being surprised that my smoke alarm didn't go off 'cause it was certainly smokey enough it should have. I don't think my apartment has ever been smokier than today. Again, the smoke detector didn't go off. Kinda concerning.

The other thing it brings to mind is how nice it is to have a good sense of smell. I have noticed and prevented kitchen problems similar to this quite a few times because I have a pretty sensitive sense of smell. (Although this does have its disadvantages, too; but that's a topic for another post.) I was kind of surprised how far along my rice got before anyone in the front room noticed. Maybe it was just the movie they were watching. I've heard Prison Break is pretty intense. Apparently the room filling with smoke didn't even distract them.

One last observation: if you want to break up your roommate's party at your apartment, I have never seen a better method than putting some rice on to boil for 10 minutes on high. They vacated the place promptly and went somewhere else to watch it. Kinda too bad this time—I was going to start watching it with them when my food got done. But since they left I didn't have anything better to do except blog about it.

Global Warming

2009-07-28T20:30:00.012-06:00

If you haven't seen this video, The Great Global Warming Swindle, you should watch it. It was put out by WAG TV as a response to Al Gore's movie An Inconvenient Truth. It's a little lengthy, but worth the time. Not only does it give convincing scientific data that global warming is a natural phenomenon not caused by man, but it also gives a very motivating explanation as to why there is such hype around it and why that hype can be a very dangerous thing.

I've done a fair amount of reading on the topic and I personally agree with the views in this video: I believe in global warming but I do not believe that it is man made. Comments both for and against are certainly welcome.

Great News

2009-07-28T00:32:00.003-06:00

One of the primary reasons that I haven't posted to my blog during the past while is that my computer quit booting up about a week and a half ago. Initial indications made me suspect that the motherboard had fried. I've had a lot of things going on and have been out of town, so I haven't gotten around to doing anything about it. It hasn't been too bad because I keep a copy of all my critical data on my flash drive (which is, incidentally, the coolest flash drive ever).

Today my computer spontaneously started working again. Further troubleshooting found that the culprit was actually a USB device attached to my computer that had malfunctioned. So the great news is that I can start blogging again (among other things). Now if only I could remember all the things I thought of blogging about during the last 10 days.

The Case for Doing Nothing

2009-07-28T00:20:00.000-06:00

Concerning the economy, I agree with this article quite closely. I think it is worth reading.

The Case for Doing Nothing
by Dr Jeffrey A. Miron

The Making of Apricot Jam

2009-07-14T18:43:00.007-06:00

My parents have a number of fruit trees. Right now one of the apricot trees is in season, so I ended up getting about 50 pounds of apricots last week. A few years ago I tried making apricot pie. It didn't turn out very well, and I didn't really feel like making another attempt right now. (I actually haven't made a pie in almost 2 months—I think that might be a record.)

So yesterday my roommate Nelson and I made jam out of all the apricots. It took us about 6 hours including pitting all the fruit and cleaning up afterwards. I think we made 10 batches, giving us a total of 33 pint jars plus an extra quart of jam in a container and another 2 quarts of freezer jam. Here're the finished jars:
I've never made jam before; it was a fun experience. Everything certainly does get sticky. And I really mean everything: you, the counters, all the utensils, the floor, the hot pads and gloves, the cabinets (even inside of them), and every other exposed surface. I think the top of our microwave was even sticky, and we didn't even use the microwave. Nelson definitely came out the most scarred and damaged, primarily from stirring each batch as it boiled violently at scorching temperatures, spitting hot jam in all directions.

Almost every batch was different. We had 4 recipes that differed from each other significantly and we used different types of pectin and different procedures with each of the recipes. We also made a couple of unusual batches: apricot raspberry jam and strawberry rhubarb jam (which also came from my parents' garden). When we got all done we sampled each of the major kinds to determine which was best.

Every one of the types of jam we sampled was really good. The difference in flavor and texture between them was really quite subtle. Every recipe emphasized the extreme importance of being perfectly precise with the ingredients and procedures, threatening that the jam wouldn't set or the jars wouldn't seal if you deviated. In contrast, the recipes together spanned quite an array of ratios, quantities, and methods. And the resulting jams were all very close to the same and every one of them set. It makes me wonder how important all the precision in jam really is.

We tried both liquid and powdered pectins. There was a difference in the procedure for the two, but the final products were not very different based only on the pectin. The liquid pectin recipes certainly yielded less per package, but they were slightly cheaper, so it might work out to be about the same costwise per jar of jam.

Between the subtly different jams, it was pretty unanimous among my roommates that the best apricot jam was the one with the (by far) least amount of lemon juice, and proportionately somewhat less sugar. It came from a SureJell Pectin package:

Combine the following in a large saucepan:
     5 cups diced apricots
     ¼ cup lemon juice
     1 package SureJell Pectin
Bring to a rolling boil over high heat. Quickly stir in:
     7 cups sugar
Boil for 1 minute. Pour into jars and process.

This gives the following ratio of ingredients (expressed in three ways; unitless because it is simply a ratio):

1 apricots : 0.2 lemon juice : 1.4 sugar
20 apricots : 1 lemon juice : 28 sugar
0.71 apricots : 0.14 lemon juice : 1 sugar

The apricot raspberry jam was by far the best one. We mixed half a recipe of apricot jam and half a recipe of raspberry jam. Haven't tried the strawberry rhubarb jam yet so I can't report on how well that turned out.

We used the "turn the jars up-side-down to seal them" method instead of processing the jars in a canner, which worked really well and was really easy: all we did was fill the hot jars with the boiling jam, put the boiled lids on, and immediately turned the jars up-side-down for 5 minutes. Then we stood them upright and they sealed after a little while of cooling. Every one of our jars sealed—even the ones that were only half full.

Overall, it was quite fun and very worth it. I'm glad Nelson had the idea to do it.

Nerd versus Sports Jock

2009-07-09T21:42:00.008-06:00

While I was at my parents' house today one of my sister Samantha's friends stopped by to pick her up. In the few minutes he was there he said something to me like:

Samantha says you are the biggest nerd in your family but I don't think you look look like a nerd. I think you look more like a sports jock.

I'm not really sure how to take that. Compliment? Insult to my intelligence? Not sure. In any case, apparently I don't look as much like a nerd as a think, at least.

After he left, his comment was a topic of conversation. My mom attributes the difference in my apparent nerdiness directly to my having had LASIK. She thinks I look a lot less nerdy now than I did before. Samantha has the same opinion. One more reason I'm glad to have had LASIK. My sister Robyn insists that it was a compliment.

So I'm certainly glad I don't have the blatant appearance of a nerd anymore, but I do hope I still look kinda smart at least.

My New About Me Page

2009-07-09T15:22:00.004-06:00

I have never been satisfied with Blogger's profile functionality: it is pretty limited in what you can write about yourself and it is in the Blogger theme, which I think looks kind of tacky. So I've been thinking about coming up with a better solution for quite a while and have finally done it.

I created a new About Me page which you can get to from the link under my picture at the right. Blogger doesn't allow you to upload any webpages other than a post, so I designed my own webpage patterned after my blog theme and hosted it on DropBox. I've worked pretty hard to make the theme and links work seamlessly with blogger: you wouldn't even know you left blogger except for the URL.

I've found DropBox to be a really useful tool for this and with other complications when working with Blogger. Blogger does not let you upload a number of things: they don't allow a place to upload a background image, additional webpages, or files (like PDFs) for downloading. I've gotten around all of these with Dropbox. Dropbox installs a client on your computer(s) that syncs a folder in your My Documents folder with their server. You can use it for syncing files between computers, keeping revisional backups of those files, and you can make any of these synchronized files available to the public very easily via a URL. The interface is very easy to use. Right now it is hosting my background picture as well as my new About Me page.

The contact form on that page took me an especially long time to make. It is powered by EmailMe Form. You can design a form on their site to send the data in the form to an email address. It works really well. The biggest problem I found with their forms were that they were not as customizable as I would have liked. If you know a little bit of HTML you can get around this, though. I spent a while customizing what their site generated for me and I think it turned out quite well.

I expect I'll probably update the About Me page every so often. But at this point I think it is pretty good.

My Handwriting

2009-07-06T00:54:00.027-06:00

After some brainstorming, some experimenting, and a whole lot of repetitive writing, picture taking, and photoshopping, I now have a finished product:

And just to be clear: yes, that is my handwriting.

Feel free to comment and let me know what you think of the new look (constructive negative comments are certainly welcome).

Coconut Bread

2009-07-05T14:19:00.008-06:00

I've been asked for this recipe a number of times, so I'm going to post it here. It is certainly among the very best of all the quick breads that I have made. It is very sweet and has a very intense and absolutely delicious coconut flavor. It's the kind of bread you can just eat and eat.

Coconut Bread

Beat in a large bowl:
     4 eggs
Add and blend well:
     1 cup oil
     2 cups sugar
     2 teaspoons coconut flavoring
Separately, sift together:
     3 cups flour
     ½ teaspoon salt
     ½ teaspoon baking soda
     ½ teaspoon baking powder
Beating well after each addition, add sifted dry ingredients to creamed mixture alternately with:
     1 cup buttermilk or soured milk
     1 cup coconut
     (1 cup nuts)
Pour into greased and floured 10” tube pan and bake at 325° F for 1¼ hours or until a toothpick comes out clean.

When the bread is nearly done, boil for 5 minutes:
     1 cup sugar
     ½ cup water
     2 tablespoons butter
Remove from heat and add:
     1 teaspoon coconut flavoring
Pour the hot syrup over the warm bread and let stand 4 hours before removing from pan.

I don't have a bundt pan, so I typically use 5 or 6 small (5¾" x 3") loaf pans and decrease the cooking time accordingly (I haven't timed it—I just use a toothpick). I think there might be just a little too much batter to fit in a large (10") loaf pan, though I haven't tried it.

I also have a PDF version available for download here.

As always with recipes, I'm always looking for the best ones and asking people to be really critical of my baking. So if you know of a comparable or better Coconut Bread recipe I'd like to hear about it. Also, after you use this recipe then let me know what you think.

Enjoy.

Update: I discovered there was a typo in this recipe. I have corrected it now, but if you downloaded the PDF or copied off the above recipe before today (Monday 6 July at 1:00 PM) then you should redownload it. It used to call for 2 tablespoons of coconut flavoring instead of the correct amount of 2 teaspoons.

Burning Money

2009-07-05T13:14:00.002-06:00

I think that the Fourth of July is one of my least favorite holidays. Now I typically do fun things and often spend time with family on the Fourth of July, but I usually do that for most holidays, so when comparing and ranking holidays, activities like that are really irrelevant (because they are the same across all holidays). And yes, I absolutely do like the United States and I am certainly in favor of celebrating our independence. I simply don't like one particular aspect of how people typically celebrate the Fourth of July.

I recognize that most people will disagree with the opinion that I'm about to share and that I will probably hear about it from a number of people that read this. But I'm going to say it anyway: I don't like fireworks. And that is one of the biggest things that sets the Fourth of July apart from other holidays. In fact, I don't like them enough that the Fourth of July is one of my very least favorite holidays primarily because of them. This might seem weird, so let me explain why I don't like them.

From a purely utility-maximizing-consumer perspective, I personally think fireworks are not worth purchasing. They are often very expensive, and as my grandpa pointed out yesterday, buying fireworks is a lot like burning money. I would say that the only difference between burning money and buying fireworks is that when you buy fireworks then the flames are different colors, they smells worse, and they make a lot of accompanying noise.

In addition to that, they are pretty inconvenient and annoying. Take last night, for instance. I arrived home at my apartment pretty late to find that a group of people were lighting fireworks in the entrance to my apartment complex's parking lot. Now when you have an entire parking lot at your disposal with a couple of corners that are totally vacant, why would you pick the entrance to light fireworks? I don't have any idea, but they did. And you couldn't possibly argue that they were trying to stay away from parked cars, because they were close enough to some that I would have been pretty uncomfortable if the cars had been mine. Anyway, more generally speaking, navigating most streets on the Fourth of July can be a complicated task. Everywhere you turn there are fountains of sparks in your way or piles of burned out trash for you to drive over.

So then when I went to go to bed, it turned out that those same people where still lighting fireworks (at about 1:00 AM) in the entrance to the complex, which was coincidentally located right under my bedroom window. So I had to endure stupendously bright flashes of light and eruptions of sound for quite a while before going to sleep. I was a little annoyed.

Now let's move from mere inconvenience to arguments of more substance. Each year there are a huge amount of injuries and damages caused by fireworks. Here's a bit of data taken from The Department of Health and Human Services :

In 2006, eleven people died and an estimated 9,200 were treated in emergency rooms because of fireworks. Hospitalization was required for 5% of these people.
Most firework injuries happen around the Fourth of July. One third of injuries were children under age 15; almost half were under age 20.
Injuries from fireworks include severe burns, hearing damage, contusions, lacerations, and foreign bodies in the eye. Fireworks can cause blindness, third degree burns, and permanent scarring.
There were around 2,200 reported structure or vehicle fires started by fireworks in 2004. These fires resulted in $21 million in direct property damage.

Those are pretty serious side affects, resulting in a huge amount of expense caused by injury or damages, not to mention the drastic impact many of these injuries have on the individual that was injured and their family.

Above all else, though, the reason I dislike fireworks is for the foul stench they cause. Fireworks smell much worse than other kinds of fire. And if you are anywhere in the vicinity of fireworks being shot off, you end up smelling like them yourself. In fact, with the prevalence of fireworks on the Fourth of July, all you really have to do is walk outside in the evening and then I have to take a shower to get rid of the smell.

Closely associated with the horrible stench is the pollution. For days after the Fourth of July you can smell and see the firework smoke. It is often pretty thick and heavy. It's funny that you regularly hear all about how we need to cut back on polluting the environment and cut back on carbon dioxide emissions, yet no one ever talks about the effects of fireworks. Many fireworks contain toxic amounts of heavy metals and chemicals that eventually pollute water systems and can cause serious health risks when inhaled.

I think that shooting off fireworks imposes a significant negative externality on other people. If you don't know what a negative externality is, read this digression on the topic:

In economics, an externality is any affect, either positive or negative, from a transaction or activity that impacts people not directly engaged in that transaction or activity. Pollution is the classic negative example: if a factory pollutes while producing its good then a cost is imposed on those affected by the pollution. These costs are not typically taken into account during production—hence the usual solution to regulate or tax pollution to help account for this cost.

On the other hand, the affect can be quite positive. If a man keeps bees in order to harvest honey, then the surrounding area benefits substantially from the pollination that takes place. This benefit might even outweigh the benefit of the honey itself, but the beekeeper is typically not compensated for the full benefit of the bees to the community. It is often the case that things that generate a negative externality are overproduced and things that generate a positive externality are underproduced—hence the need for taxation/regulation or subsidization in some cases.

Now it does get much more complicated than that. Suppose someone is playing music really loud at their apartment. One neighbor might be really annoyed by the music and would say that he is imposing a negative externality on the complex and demand that it be regulated (by a noise ordinance, for instance). Another neighbor might really enjoy the choice of music and the quality of the sound system and would say that he is imposing a positive externality. So the net effect can be complicated to determine and the need for and method of government intervention in many cases is highly debated.

Now back to fireworks.

Many people would argue that fireworks impose a positive externality. If your neighbor or your city are shooting off fireworks they can't stop you from watching even if you didn't pay. So you get to freeride on them and benefit from their purchase. I personally disagree. I think that fireworks impose a negative externality on those of us that don't care for them and their effects. We have no choice but to endure the inconvenience, the sound, the light, the costs from damages and injuries (through taxation), the stench, and the pollution caused by other people's decisions.

This year it occured to me that a serious recession might (hopefully) significantly impact the purchase of fireworks. I've been really curious the past few days: what does the income elasticity of demand for fireworks look like? Here's a digression on elasticity, if you're not familiar with it:

An Elasticity is a ratio between the percent change of one variable and the percent change of another variable. One common elasticity is the price elasticity of demand for a good, which is the amount that demand for a good changes based on a change in its price. Gasoline is an example of a fairly inelastic good: as the price of gasoline goes up, demand drops pretty slowly, compared to the change in price.

Another common elasticity is the income elasticity of demand. This is a measure of how demand changes for a good based on a change of income of those purchasing the good. In other words, if you suddenly make less money, how much will this affect the quantity you purchase of a particular good? This is what I'm curious about with respect to fireworks.

The question is then, will people significantly cut back on purchasing fireworks because of having less spending money (i.e. demand is very elastic with respect to income) or will they spend roughly the same amount and cut back on other things (i.e demand is very inelastic)?

From what I've read about this so far in the news, it's hard to say. Some people say sales are similar to previous years; others are saying they are down from previously years. But most seem to think that the affect is small if there is any affect at all. I wish that I had some firework demand data so I could estimate the income elasticity of demand for fireworks. Could it really be true, though, that demand for fireworks is that inelastic? I would find that hard to believe (yet somehow not that surprising). Hopefully the news reports will shed some light on the subject in the next few days. And hopefully fireworks are a really elastic good, so the smell and pollution will be a little less over the next few days.

Images courtesy of Scott Jarvie. They (and others) can be found on his blog.

Microsoft Excel for Poets

2009-06-29T18:41:00.013-06:00

A few days ago Dave, Andrew, Janelle and I were discussing books that we would each be inclined and/or qualified to write. In light of my recent adventures with poetry, Andrew observed that I was uniquely poised to write the reference book Microsoft Excel for Poets. I'm sure such a book has not previously been written. I think it could be an invaluable reference for the poetically inclined, so today I commenced writing. Here's what I've got so far:

Introduction

‘Tis the purpose of this unusual book
The magnificence of Excel to teach,
So that things which for thee a long time took
Henceforth a little time instead might take.

The aud’ence for whom this book is intent
Shall be whosoever finds that prose be dull.
For to assuage the pain and dread of learning
The lessons be writ with words so soothing.

Excel is quite a powerful program,
With nuances and features quite a few.
Some time it will take to master it quite;
With patience born thou wilt betimes learn’t all.

I prithee go slow to master each verse:
Rush thee too quick and frustrated thou’lt be.
Each section read, then pause thee short betwixt
Forthwith to practice all that thou hast learnt.

But soft give heed: Excel can be quite fun.
Fain be not lachrymose in study then—
Instead forsooth enjoy the time thus spent.
Good fortune have thee on thy journey hence.

Chapter 1: Navigating Excel

...

Chapter 3: Functions

Fore now we've focused on navigation
To get a feel of moving ‘round Excel.
Then formatting of cells did take our focus—
On these two topics did we perorate.

Thus in former twain chapters did we stay
Alee of complexity but also puissance.
Now don’t be affrighted for we did lay
Foundations upon which to build henceforth.

Now turn we to matters of import amain:
The structure and usage of functions galore.
Of true power and substance we’ll verily speak
For striving herein t’will bring thee great meed.

To commence most simply we’ll learn how to add,
So find thee a cell with nothing therein
And pick thee two numbers thou will to sum—
Then watch with great awe as Excel doth work.

An equals type thee, then one number meet,
A plus put thee in, then t’other number lief.
Press enter and view th’answer forthwith;
Display there it shall, whosoever wilt look.

For sooth ifsoever thy numbers be changed,
Adjust t’will the answer also straightway.
See computers read this language thou spake
So answers it when thou typest it in.

More functions we have henceforth to explore
For only the surface we’ve scratched hereon.
Now pause thee short, to practice here a mite
And then shalt thou try subtracting alike.

...

Still got a ways to go before publishing, but I think it's off to a great start. This could be the start of a whole For Poets series:

Microsoft Word for Poets
Surfing the Internet for Poets
Pie Baking for Poets
Pre-Calculus for Poets
Blogging for Poets
Insurance Risk for Poets
Basic Computer Repair for Poets
Probability Theory for Poets
Introductory Quantum Physics for Poets
Basic Poker Theory for Poets
Database Design for Poets
Monopolistic Price Theory for Poets

If they sell well, I might never have to work again.

Catching Rain

2009-06-29T12:29:00.001-06:00

According to the New York Times today, it's now legal to catch and use rainwater in Colorado on land that you own. But you still need a permit or you risk being fined. Incidentally, that is still not the case in Utah. In Utah collecting rainwater is still illegal.

My First Attempt at Poetry

2009-06-22T15:37:00.010-06:00

I just purchased Hamlet a couple of days ago and am inviting people over to watch it this week. I've seen excerpts from a number of film versions of Hamlet and seen a couple all the way through. From everything I've seen so far, the one I like the best is the Kenneth Branagh version released in 1996. That's the one I bought and that we'll be watching.

When I started making the Facebook event on Saturday to invite people over I decided it'd be really cool to write the description in Shakespearean style. So after hours of looking up words, thinking, and writing on Saturday and Sunday, I have my first attempt at blank verse:

Come, I beseech thee, and sequacious be,
And fain aside thy dreary labors lay.
For an evening hence we shall display
The tragic story of young Hamlet prince.

Methinks the show four hours shall run,
Howbeit pause we and some refreshment take.
I shall some dish of culinary art prepare
And twain shall we partake therein and thr'out.

If it thy desire be, an off'ring shalt thou bring—
For then from thence we haply shall indulge
And betwixt us all a feast we'll make thereby;
Thus on the sweetness of much snackage dine.

Come hither to meet ere seven o'clock,
For straitly we shall start forthwith.
I prithee thus that prompt ye be,
Soas to end afore the witching hour strike.

Therefore straightway set thy mind to attend,
For I palter not, and again implore thee:
Decide anon and set thy mind to come
And repugn thee not then mine entreaty.

I have always considered poetry beyond my personal ability. Perhaps I need to revise my perspective and make more attempts. Ultimately I would like to write a poem about the clouds. But that's probably pretty far down the road. First I've got to make something rhyme.

Special thanks to Andrew, whose poetic attempts have inspired me to make some of my own.

Poker Totals

2009-06-13T13:57:00.016-06:00

Here are the totals for Poker, as of the last time we played. Each total is the net amount gained (or lost), taking into account the payout for each game. The percent return shows the average percent return each player has earned overall. The list is in descending order of wealth.

First Name Balance % Return
William $ 9,347.00 194%
Chad $ 5,906.00 377%
Chris $ 5,247.00 248%
Corrine $ 1,414.00 114%
Bronwyn $ 1,136.00 120%
Kiren $ (289.00) 86%
John $ (326.00) 85%
Nelson $ (760.00) 64%
Kayla $ (830.00) 61%
Dave $ (1,322.00) 63%
Jessica $ (1,336.00) 6%
Mackenzie $ (1,420.00) 0%
Claire $ (2,130.00) 0%
Joey $ (2,130.00) 0%
Brian $ (2,394.00) 58%
Shelli $ (2,737.00) 23%
Kevin $ (3,064.00) 46%
Cassie $ (3,456.00) 3%

If you would like to see how these numbers are calculated, you can download the current Excel spreadsheet here.

Debt Elimination Update

2009-06-08T17:38:00.009-06:00

So I've already updated the Debt Elimination Calculator (and yes, I do realize it has only been a couple hours). The new version is version 2.2.1 and can be downloaded here or from the original post (the links in each point to the same file).

Features added for version 2.2.1:

The spreadsheet now calculates the information (time required to pay off, interest paid, etc.) when paying at the minimum payments only, for comparison purposes. This functionality had been removed in version 2.0.0.
The minimum payment calculators are more robust to inadequate minimum payments.
Some slight formatting modifications have been made.
Added functionality for sending feedback/asking questions via email.

Also, another interesting note on debt elimination. I was just told by a friend that you can make payments in advance. Let me explain. If your minimum payment is $50 and you pay $100, you have made a bigger dent in you balance, but the minimum payment of $50 still comes due next month. Alternatively, you can make two payments of $50: one labeled for this month and one for next month. Then you have still paid $100 dollars and have the same benefits of less interest accruing, but the next payment to come due is in two months instead of one.

When using debt elimination you usually are paying more than the minimum payment. If you use this method each month you have the added advantage of an ever increasing buffer between you and when your next payment is due. There is more bookkeeping required on your end, but you have an extra margin of safety in case something happens. (Though, if you stop paying because you aren't required to then you not only lose the advantage of the buffer, but also lose ground on your debt elimination. So if you're going to do this you have to be very disciplined.)

Special thanks to Dave for this insight.

Budgeting & Debt Elimination

2009-06-08T14:05:00.005-06:00

I taught combined Priesthood and Relief Society a week ago on budgeting and debt elimination. I've had a number of requests for my budget template and debt elimination calculator. So I decided to put all of the materials here.

Here are the two handouts that were used in class. I wrote the first one and it goes over the debt elimination process and the steps for starting a budget. The second one is the pamphlet put out by the Church, One for the Money, talking about family finances.

(Click on the images to download)

Here is the debt elimination calculator I created. It has the capacity for 10 debts. You fill in the blue information for each debt in the order you want to prioritize them, along with the amount you can allot toward paying off your debts each month. It then calculates when you will pay off each, how much interest you will pay on each, and the payments that are required each month.

(Click on the image to download)

And finally, here is my budget template. It is the method that I use for budgeting. I've used it for years. Though it has undergone some fairly substantial revisions throughout the process, the principles have remained the same.

(Click on the image to download)

I hope to post some further explanation about how to use the two spreadsheets. I think that the budget spreadsheet especially needs explanation. It is not difficult once you get the idea, but to take advantage of all its coolness a little explanation is necessary. For now, feel free to let me know if you have questions—I'd be happy to explain it to you.

I will update and modify both of the spreadsheets above over time. In fact, both have been modified since I taught the class a week ago. As I revise them I will update these links, so the most up-to-date versions will always be found here. Also, for further updates click on the Budgeting category at the right to see all of my future posts about the topic (this one is the first).

Update: There seems to be some difficulty with the way that some versions of Internet Explorer behave when trying to download the above files. The files are Excel files (they are not zip files). If your computer tries to download it as a zip file then try the following: right click on the link, click Save Target As ..., and name the file <something>.xlsx somewhere you'll be able to find it. That should bypass the problem. As always, if you have trouble then let me know.

Drag Racing

2009-06-01T13:09:00.015-06:00

I went to a drag race for the first time last Friday. It was surprisingly fun, in large part because of who I was with: Dave, Andrew, and Janelle.

It was in many ways precisely how I expected it to be: loud, smokey, smelly, and monotonous. Even with all of that, though, it was really quite fun. I definitely like the drifting best, especially when they went two at a time. I think it'd be really fun to try it, though I'd want to use someone else's car. And I probably wouldn't want spectators for my first time. I was kind of disappointed that none of the cars ran into the concrete wall, rolled, or smashed into each other. Maybe next time.

I'm not sure how well we blended into the crowd. We probably pored over the program a little bit much trying to figure out the lingo and if anyone heard snatches of our conversation they probably would have found it pretty humorous:

"That's a Camaro, right?"
[Agreement from everyone else.]
Announcer: " ... driving a Corvette."

"I think 'red lighting' means they start before the light turns green. When they do that the red light turns on."

After being there an hour:
"Hey, I figured out why they call it the Maverick Lane and the Jacket Lane. It's because it says 'Maverick' and 'Jack-It' above the lanes."

After being there over an hour and a half:
"Oh, that's their speed showing up on the display."

"I wish someone would run into the concrete wall."
"Ya, that's the only reason I've been watching."

Announcer: "How many Ford fans do we have?"
One of us: "YAAAAA!!"
Announcer: "And how many Chevy fans do we have?"
The same one of us: "YAAAAA!!"

"I had no idea this thing took video!"

Some of these were pretty profound observations for the rest of us at the time. Maybe it was a good thing it was so loud, so we could keep these profound insights to ourselves. I did grow a beard for the occasion so I could blend in better. I think that helped a lot.

I have to admit I did kind of feel like a woose because I had earplugs in during a lot of it. I don't think I saw anyone else with earplugs the whole time, other than me and my friends. It was a whole lot more comfortable wearing them, though. And being able to hear people talking at a normal volume afterward was also a definite perk.

I didn't think to take a camera; fortunately my friends did. Dave's got pictures and videos posted on his blog. I think Andrew and Janelle's will be forthcoming.

Update: Janelle has posted some pictures and videos, too. They turned out really good.

Bold and Italics in Google Chat

2009-06-01T13:00:00.001-06:00

I just learned something really cool about Google Chat: you can make things bold or italic. I've wanted to do that so many times:

This text is *bold* => This text is bold
This text is _in italics_ => This text is in italics
This text is -struck out-. => This text is ~~struck out~~.
This is _italicized *and_ bold* => This is italicized and bold

This is seriously one of the coolest things I've learned all week.

Update: Apparently this same thing works in Facebook, too.

Why I Don't Say I'm an Econ Major

2009-05-06T15:06:00.002-06:00

When people ask me what my major was or what my degree is in I usually say "mathematics." I've been encouraged a number of times, particularly by my dad, to not leave off the "and economics" because I did double major. So let me explain why I typically only claim mathematics.

Microeconomics versus Macroeconomics
Economics is the study of how economies work and how entities within the economy (individuals and firms) interact with one another. Within economics there are two distinct subfields: microeconomics and macroeconomics. Though very related, these two subfields are actually quite different from one another.

Microeconomics studies the behavior of individuals and firms as they interact in the economy. It studies things like how an individual firm allocates its resources most efficiently to achieve a specific objective (most often profit maximization) or how individuals make consumption decisions to maximize utility when they have limited time and money to allocate. It is a very well defined discipline in which economists agree on most things. It is very mathematical and much of it is rigorously defined. It involves a lot of mathematical analysis to make optimal decisions under some definition of "optimal."

Macroeconomics, on the other hand, is the study of the economy as a whole and looks at things like unemployment, inflation, monetary policy and fiscal policy in the economy. In contrast to microeconomics, macroeconomics is not as well understood. Economists do agree on a number of aspects of it because it is extremely complex and very difficult to model an economy accurately. Macroeconomics has come a long way in the last few decades but there are still a lot of things that are not fully understood. This is why in the current economic situation many very prominent economists have very divergent views about what the best course of action is.

I personally really enjoy microeconomics. I really fell in love with it the first few days of Economics 380, when the professor started laying out mathematical axioms about how people make decisions, which we then built on for the balance of the semester. My degree heavily emphasizes microeconomics. In contrast, I do not really care for macroeconomics very much. I don't find it as mathematically rigorous or as interesting. I do appreciate knowing a fair amount about it, particularly in light of the current economic situation, but I am often reluctant to have strong opinions on many policy decisions because I am aware of the extreme complexity of macroeconomic problems and the lack of concrete understanding that macroeconomics has on many important issues. This is not to say that macroeconomists don't deserve any credit. They do understand a lot; there's just also a lot they don't understand fully yet.

In my experience, people have usually heard of both micro- and macroeconomics. When you ask them what the difference is, though, they can't really tell you, other than that one is "small" and the other is "big." And when you ask them to describe economics in general, they always describe macroeconomics. Furthermore, when people talk about economists they are almost always meaning macroeconomists. People don't really know that a microeconomist also exists and they don't really have any idea what a microeconomist would be.

"Mathematics and Economics"
When I say that I majored in "mathematics and economics," people always hear the "economics" part and they immediately start thinking about macroeconomics and the current economic crisis. I don't get the impression that people generally hold macroeconomists in that great of esteem. I don't blame them, since all you typically hear lately is contradicting things from macroeconomists about how to fix the current global economy. So people almost invariably respond to my major by either starting a discussion about the economy or making some remark about me fixing the economy or me getting a job as an economist.

I don't really care for either of these responses. On the one hand, I don't really want to get into a discussion about the economy with everyone that asks me my major. I do enjoy discussing it, but typically only with people that want to intelligently discuss it. I find that just about everyone is very opinionated about what they think is the best way to fix the economy but people often really have no idea what they're talking about and are not open to the possibility that people who have studied the economy extensively might have insights that they don't have. So conversations with such people are pointless at best. On the other hand, I don't really like comments and conversations about me fixing the economy or even about me getting a job as an economist, because I have no desire or intention of doing so. At least not in the sense that most people mean when they say "economist."

So in sum, when I say "economics" or "economist" I usually mean something far different from what the typical person thinks that I mean. And it's usually far too tedious (and pointless) to try and explain what I mean because in reality most of them don't even care. I prefer to simply not have to deal with the issue.

Mathematics versus Economics
Mathematics is inherently superior to economics. Its scope is abstractly all encompassing and it studies structure at a level of abstraction that relieves you of the limitations inherent in specificity. It is a discipline of the mind and of thought and expands your capacity to understand any structure or problem. Because of this, mathematicians are literally "the freest of all thinkers” (Margaret Wertheim).

Economics is simply a special case in mathematics where all the variables have specific names and interpretations. Intellectually it is far less challenging than mathematics. The most difficult aspect of economics is the mathematics it uses, and the mathematics it uses is really quite trivial until you get fairly advanced in economics. I regularly put in far more time and intellectual effort in my math classes and found it far more difficult to get grades comparable to those I achieved relatively easily in my general education or economics classes. I also find that on average you learn far more in a math classes than in any other classes.

Returning to the question of my major, since people don't really understand what I mean when I tell them I studied economics, the only real benefit in stating both is to emphasize the fact that I double majored and now have two bachelor’s degrees. However, when I do say both majors, economics tends to overshadow mathematics so heavily in people's minds that they don't even realize that I said mathematics at all a good portion of the time. It doesn't seem to matter that I intentionally list mathematics first and tend to emphasize it more.

If the person does hear both majors, they hear them as equal accomplishments and interests and I don't perceive them that way. Mathematics is my greater interest and it is superior to economics in many ways. I often feel like I am degrading mathematics by placing it as economics' equal. Therefore, I give mathematics its rightful place as my major and claim economics as a secondary interest when it appropriately doesn't detract from mathematics. In light of all of this, I think the combined statement "mathematics and economics" is less meaningful and less impressive than the simpler statement "mathematics."

Accurate Impressions
When people know very little about you, they have to interpolate a lot of conclusions about you based on the small pieces of information that they have. This leads people to ask questions that give the most power in classifying and stereotyping, such as finding out someone’s major. So people's perception of you can be quite different based on the simply answer "mathematics" versus "mathematics and economics." If I state both then people come away with the impression that I've studied macroeconomics when in reality my primary interest is mathematics and I only have a secondary interest in microeconomics. This is not accurate at all. On the other hand, if I just state "mathematics" then people have a far more accurate picture of what I am interested in and what I have studied. If the conversation persists then I'll mention that I double majored in economics in the context of explaining what that means.

So that is a brief explanation as to why I typically only claim to be a mathematics major.

Graduation Gifts

2009-04-29T19:22:00.028-06:00

As graduation approached it didn't even cross my mind that people typically give graduations gifts and that I would soon be the recipient of such. Then my grandpa called me to talk to me about the gift my grandparents wanted to give me: a Kitchenaid.

So now I can certainly say I got the coolest set of graduation gifts I could have imagined. I now own a 475 watt, 5 quart Kitchenaid; the Kitchenaid grain mill attachment for grinding wheat; a 45 pound bucket of 16% protein hard red wheat; an intriguing game of skill, strategy, and magnetic fields called Jishaku; and I'll soon have the Kitchenaid food slicer attachment. Who could ask for more?

It took me a whole 15 minutes from the time my family left on Thursday (leaving me with my new toys) before I had started making a cheesecake with my new Kitchenaid. I'm really pleased with how well it worked. And the cheesecake turned out quite well, too (it deserves it's own post). I was looking through my baking cookbook last night and have lots of recipes I want to try, particularly now that I have my Kitchenaid.

The model I have is the Kitchenaid Professional HD Series. Special thanks to the many people that discussed Kitchenaid colors with me at great length. It took me days to decide on the color, but I finally settled on silver. Mine is quite a step above the base Artisan model (which is only 4 quarts with a 325 watt motor) and features a 5 quart bowl, 475 watts of power, and a solid steel drive and gear assembly. You should click on the pictures so you can see it better. Isn't it beautiful? And doesn't it look good in it's natural habitat and new home?

The Kitchenaid Grain Mill will be really cool. I technically don't have it yet (since it's still being shipped to my parents'), but should get it soon. I've wanted to delve into making homemade stone ground whole wheat bread before. The problem has always been that you need a wheat grinder in order to really do so and they're typically not too cheap. Once I get it I intend to use it promptly.

My uncle followed the theme quite well by giving me a 45 pound bucket of hard red wheat. What's more, the wheat is 16% protein (pretty high for wheat) and is free of rocks and other debris. So now I'm all set for making real whole wheat bread. At least I will be as soon as my grain mill arrives.

Finally, I also got a game called Jishaku. I've played it several times and it is quite fun. It is an interesting balance of skill and strategy. It reminds me a lot of Jenga, but it uses magnets and is much more fun. I remain undefeated so far.

Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go bake something with my new Kitchenaid.

A Few of My Favorite Books

2009-04-28T13:47:00.007-06:00

A friend just wrote on her blog about how she has recently been reading more, and she asked for recommendations of books readers recommend. I posted a few of my suggestions, and decided to post my thoughts here as well. I really should add more to this list, because it is just a smattering of some of my favorite books; it is by no means complete.

I've been reading a lot of the classics the last few years, especially those that I read during high school. I personally hated most of the books I read for school. I think the fact that I had to read them invariably made it a miserable experience. In reading many of them again recently I have almost always found them to be quite enjoyable.

Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe is one of my all time favorite books. I read it in 9th grade and hated it; I've read it twice in the last few years and loved it. It is medium lengthened and pretty enthralling from start to finish. You come to know and love many of the characters, while coming to understand the horror of slavery. The book is perfectly balanced with social commentary. I think everyone should read it. Be prepared to cry at least a few times.

Dracula by Bram Stoker is a short read and is extremely enjoyable. You won't be able to put it down. It is written in 1st person from the perspective of all of the main characters in turn and is very well done. It is well worth reading just for the fun of it.

I just finished reading My Stroke of Insight by Jill Bolte Taylor. It is a short, but fascinating autobiographical account of a neuroanatomist that experiences a severe stroke. She describes what it was like to experience the total deterioration of her brain's left hemisphere capacities and functions over the course of 4 hours and her subsequent 8 year complete recovery. It sheds a lot of light on the way the brain works and the distinction between the two hemispheres of the brain. (For more information, read this post.)

I really enjoyed Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, but I think that one is a little more difficult to get through than some others. I found it very insightful in understanding obsession to the point of complete self destruction.

The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas is well worth a reread if you're like me and didn't get anything out of the books you read in high school. It is lengthy but not too difficult—be sure to read the unabridged version. The themes and messages in the book are much more powerful than those in any of the movies made about it.

The Screwtape Letters by C S Lewis is a great book. It is pretty short, but is one of the most quoted nonscripture religious books out there. It's not too difficult, entertaining, and quite insightful.

Continuing the religous theme, another book I've read recently that I wholeheartedly recommend is The Broken Heart by Bruce C Hafen. Elder Hafen discusses what it means to have a broken heart and a contrite spirit and how that relates to the Atonement.

Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky is also on my list of favorites. It is a rather dark psychological exploration of the main character committing a serious crime and the subsequent mental punishment he experienced thereafter. I found it frighteningly similar to my own thought patterns and mental tendencies and quite insightful into the human psyche. I think it is a phenomenal book, though I know many people who hated it and found it quite depressing.

Finally, Les Miserables by Victor Hugo is among my favorites. It's very long and a much more difficult book to get through. I don't recommend it early on in your rediscovery of reading, but you should read it later at some point. Hugo goes on a number of long tangents (like 50 to 100 pages each) on what some would say are completely irrelevant topics. When you do read it, it is still worth reading the unabridged version (about 1500 pages) even with the tangents because of the detail, particular in the background and development of each of the characters.

The Complicated Task of Hard Boiling Eggs

2009-04-15T15:15:00.015-06:00

I realize that I'm posting a lot about eggs and cooking, but I can't help but mention this.

As I was perusing my new Joy of Cooking yesterday, I came across the fact that the method for hard boiling eggs that the new version recommends is different from the method that the old version recommended and different from any method I've tried myself. Last night my roommates wanted me to teach them how to hard boil eggs, so I decided to try the new method out.

I think many people consider hard boiling eggs to be a trivial kitchen endeavor requiring no skill or precision. I've thought so myself. However, many people use very different techniques. The hard boiled eggs last night were significantly better tasting than most that I have had in my life. So I think there's more to hard boiling eggs than first meets the eye, and I think that it's worth the extra effort to make them perfectly.

So here's the new recipe from the Joy of Cooking website:

Place in a pot in a single layer:
Unshelled eggs
Cover them by 1 inch with:
Cold water
Put the pan over high heat and bring to a boil. Promptly remove the pot from the heat, cover, and let the eggs stand: 15 minutes for large eggs, 12 minutes for small and medium eggs, 18 minutes for extra-large and jumbo eggs. Eggs that are not room temperature will require an additional 2 minutes. When cooking is complete, run cold water over eggs to stop cooking.

The Joy of Cooking also recommended poking a hole through the end of the eggshell with a pin to prevent the eggs from breaking. I did so and didn't have any break (though I don't usually). The eggs last night were done all the way through and they seemed more moist and had better flavor than normal. I think I'm very accustomed to eating inferior, overcooked hard boiled eggs. When they are not overcooked they are pretty amazingly delectable.

Mobile Blogging

2009-04-15T15:10:00.002-06:00

This post was sent from my cell phone. Technology's pretty cool.

The 75th Anniversary of The Joy of Cooking

2009-04-14T14:50:00.008-06:00

A couple of years ago in early 2006 I discovered one of the best cookbooks ever published: the Joy of Cooking. If I remember correctly, my roommate Nick checked it out from the BYU library and we both fell in love with it. It wasn't long before we both bought copies. When we bought them then, the newest version was the 1997 edition.

About the Joy of Cooking
The Joy of Cooking was originally published in 1931 by Irma Rombauer. Since then it has been revised and reprinted a half dozen times. It has been in continuous print since 1936 with over 18 million copies sold. It is considered a staple in many kitchens, including many commercial kitchens. A more complete history can be found on the Joy of Cooking website.

The Joy of Cooking is unlike many cookbooks. It is encyclopedic in feel and scope. It is over 1,000 pages and has chapters that cover a very wide variety of topics: sauces, soups, seafood, meat, game, breads, cakes, pies and pastries, vegetables, and candy to name only a few. Each chapter is quite thorough in addressing the entire topic. It talks about the history and customs associated with the categories and subcategories, as well as all of the information you need to become well versed in cooking a particular kind of food. Then it has gobs of tried and true recipes for each variation it talks about. If you need to know just about anything about cooking something, the Joy of Cooking is the place to turn.

There are over 4,000 recipes in the book, and the recipes are organized differently than typical. The ingredients are listed in the middle of the recipes. They are in list format and bold so you can very easily see all of the ingredients in a recipe, but it is far more convenient when you are making a recipe to have the quantity and ingredients right where you are in the recipe. Apparently this also makes the recipes more compact so that many more can be included in the same number of pages.

The Newest Edition
I recently discovered by accident that a new 2006 edition of the Joy of Cooking came out shortly after I purchased my copy of the 1997 edition. I also found out that the 1997 edition was one of the least popular editions because it departed from the historic voice and feel of the historic Joy of Cooking. The 1997 edition was much more formal in presentation and tone. The 2006 edition returns to the informal feel of the older editions, adds back in several sections that were removed from the 1997 edition, adds several more sections that have never been previously included, and has over 500 additional recipes (making a total of 4500 recipes).

Needless to say, I ordered a copy. It arrived today.

The new edition is well constructed. It has 1132 pages and uses a slightly more compact font than the 1997 edition. The layout is much the same, but does have a few tweaks that make it a little easier to find things. I've looked up many of the recipes I've used and sections I've read and find it to be as good or better than my old 1997 edition. There are a number of differences in recipes, though, so I expect to use them both regularly.

To give you a feel for the scope that it covers, here's the complete Table of Contents:

A History of the Joy of Cooking
Nutrition
Entertaining
Menus
Beverages
Wine and Beer
Cocktails and Party Drinks
Appetizers and Hors d'Oeuvres
Brunch, Lunch, and Supper Dishes
Stocks and Soups
Salads
Sandwiches, Wraps, and Pizza
Egg Dishes
Fruits
Vegetables
Pasta, Noodles, and Dumplings
Grains
Shellfish
Fish
Poultry and Wildfowl
Meat
Game
Stuffings
Savory Sauces, Salad Dressings, Marinades, and Rubs
Breads and Coffee Cakes
Pancakes, Waffles, Fritters, and Doughnuts
Pies and Pastries
Cakes and Cupcakes
Cookies and Bars
Icings, Toppings, and Glazes
Desserts
Frozen Desserts and Sweet Sauces
Candies and Confections
Keeping and Storing Food
Canning, Salting, Smoking, and Drying
Freezing
Jellies and Preserves
Pickles and Relishes
Know Your Ingredients
Cooking Methods and Techniques
Index

The index alone is 60 pages long; taking that into account gives an average of 26.8 pages and 112.5 recipes per chapter. That's about 4.2 recipes per page overall, though there are usually a couple of pages of introduction at the beginning of each chapter talking about the topic.

How to Get It
I don't own many cookbooks: this newest one brings the total to 4 (and 2 of them are the Joy of Cooking). I love and use them all, but the Joy of Cooking is certainly the most referenced. I got it from Amazon. They currently have it for $23.10 with free shipping (if you spend over $25). It's definitely worth the price; it'd be worth the price even if it cost a lot more. If you don't want to wait for shipping (which I can totally understand—the last week has been excruciating) and you are willing to pay a bit more, I am sure that Barnes and Noble and Borders both have it in stock. The list price for the book is $35.00, but they may have it for less. I absolutely recommend purchasing it.

Easter Eggs from Outer Space

2009-04-11T15:18:00.004-06:00

This year my family decorated Easter Eggs a little differently. We decided to go with an outer space theme. So we divvied up the planets and other astrological bodies and used a combination of egg dye and paint to create the universe. All the pictures are below. Take special note of how nicely this blog post is laid out—it took me hours to do this. Sometimes Blogger is not very easy to work with. You can click on any picture to see it larger (and it's often worth it).

The complete solar system is shown here:

Here are the individual planets in the solar system and the person who created each:

The Sun William Krohn	Mercury Robyn Krohn	Venus Robyn Krohn
The Earth William Krohn	Mars Bill Krohn	The Asteroid Belt Sheri Krohn
Jupiter Bill Krohn	Saturn Robyn Krohn	Uranus Sheri Krohn
Neptune Bill Krohn	Pluto Bill Krohn	Planet X Robyn Krohn

Here's the earth and the moon together:

I think the Earth turned out really well. It took a long time to do:

North America	Western Europe	Asia
Pacific Ocean	North Pole	Antarctica

My mom did the moon:

Full Moon

Quarter Moon

New Moon

And here are the rest of the astrological bodies:

Nebula Robyn Krohn	Spiral Galaxy William Krohn	Big Dipper Robyn Krohn
Black Hole Robyn Krohn	Black Hole Robyn Krohn	Worm Hole Sheri Krohn
Blue Sun Robyn Krohn	Haley's Comet Sheri Krohn	The Northern Lights Bill Krohn

In light of this year's festivities, I now think just dying Easter Eggs is kind of boring. I still have this year's eggs, but they probably won't last much longer. Next year I think we'll blow out the eggs rather than hard boil them so that we can seal them and keep them longer.

Mathematics Sterling Scholar

2009-04-02T11:44:00.012-06:00

My sister Samantha was awarded Sterling Scholar for Mathematics for Granger High School this year. This is one of the very highest awards that can be given by a high school in Utah. Sterling Scholar in mathematics is especially impressive.

For those who are unfamiliar with the Sterling Scholar award, each year one student from each high school in Utah is awarded the Sterling Scholar award for each subject. These students then go on to compete for the state Sterling Scholar award, which is given to one student in each category for the entire state.

Samantha's picture was published in a special insert in the Deseret News in recognition of the award. Here's the insert for the mathematics section. She's in the center of the second row.

This is not the only impressive award in mathematics that she has received this year and she has also received awards in areas other than mathematics. I'm proud to have her as a sister.

Happy Birthday Nelson!

2009-03-30T22:08:00.001-06:00

Today is my roommate Nelson's birthday. I baked this German Chocolate Cake for the occasion.

I've made German Chocolate Cake from scratch a couple of times before. It's worth making it from scratch even though it calls for pretty specialized ingredients (like cake flour and sweetened baking chocolate) and it is a rather complicated cake to make. This time I varied the recipe for the cake slightly and experimented some with the frosting. Overall I was quite pleased with the results.

The frosting calls only for egg yolks, so at the recommendation of The Joy of Cooking (my favorite cookbook) I added the extra egg whites left over from the frosting to the whipped egg whites folded into the cake to make a total of seven egg whites. This did make a noticeable difference in the texture of the cake: it was lighter and fluffier.

I ended up making two batches of the frosting so there would be enough to frost between the layers and on the top and sides. I made the first batch normally; for the second one I toasted the pecans and the coconut before adding them into the frosting. Initially the difference was pretty stark, but after putting it on the cake and letting it cool the difference was only very subtle. I definitely prefer the toasted frosting. I don't think most people tonight could tell the difference between the two.

I also used half-and-half instead of the usual evaporated milk for the frosting. I think the flavor did turn out better. I am pretty sure it would be even better when made from heavy cream. I intend to do that next time.

Finally, for the chocolate drizzled down the sides I used Ghirardelli semisweet baking chocolate combined with a small amount of shortening. I typically simply use melted chocolate chips for things like that. Ghirardelli was markedly better and is definitely worth the extra cost.

Happy Birthday Nelson!

Legalization of Illicit Drugs

2009-03-30T10:00:00.004-06:00

I know that I have mentioned to several people in various conversations the economic perspective that illegal drugs should be legalized. Unfortunately, I have not been versed enough in the details of the subject to give a very motivating argument. Dr Jeffrey Miron, an economist at Harvard University, published an article about the topic last week. It talks about the problems that illegal drugs cause and specifically the problems they have recently caused in Mexico. Here is the article:

Commentary: Legalize drugs to stop violence
by Dr Jeffrey A. Miron

Personally, I have not thought about the issue enough to have a strong opinion either way. However, I do think the arguments for legalization are substantative enough to at least be seriously considered. This is particularly true in light of articles like this one published yesterday in the New York Times about the current problems in Mexico.

I found out about the article from Greg Mankiw's blog, which I enjoy reading. Greg Mankiw is also a professor at Harvard.

A Website Well Worth Checking Out

2009-03-28T23:50:00.019-06:00

When I was looking up information about Dr Benjamin's mathemagics performance (see my blog post), I stumbled across a site on the internet that I think is worth checking out. It is TED.com. TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design. It started in 1984 as a conference to "[bring] together people from those three worlds." During the last 20 years it has grown in size and scope and is now a worldwide conference held annually with very prominent speakers speaking on all kinds of topics. Here're a few excerpts from their website:

The annual conference now brings together the world's most fascinating thinkers and doers, who are challenged to give the talk of their lives (in 18 minutes).

We believe passionately in the power of ideas to change attitudes, lives and ultimately, the world. So we're building here a clearinghouse that offers free knowledge and inspiration from the world's most inspired thinkers, and also a community of curious souls to engage with ideas and each other.

All of the talks that are given in the conferences are around 18 minutes long and are freely available to watch and download from their website. I've watched over a dozen of them in the last few days. I'm sure I'll be watching a lot more of them (there are over 200). All of them have been insightful—some of them have been extremely mind-opening. They've addressed a range of things: world problems, scientific discoveries and topics, and the human psyche. Many have also been quite entertaining. Although almost all of them that I've seen so far could make it on a longer list of my favorites, here are a few of the ones I found most interesting:

My stroke of insight
by Jill Bolte Taylor
Dr Taylor is a neuroanatomist who had a serious stroke. Her description of the event is fascinating and unique because she describes what it was like to experience the deterioration of her brain over the course of four hours from a neuroscience perspective. She gives some pretty profound insights into the separate functions of the right and left hemispheres of the brain. I found it fascinating enough that when I found out she wrote a book about it I drove to Barnes and Noble to buy it. Unfortunately, they didn't have it in stock after all so I'm probably going to have to order it.

How I'm trying to change the world now
by Bill Gates
Bill Gates talks about problems with malaria across the world and with the education system in the United States. I often hear people bash Bill Gates because "all he cares about is monopolizing the software market and making money." From what I know of him he is a very respect-worthy person; I think this is a good look into who Bill Gates actually is and what he is doing for the world with his time and money.

Why play is vital — no matter your age
by Stuart Brown
Dr Brown is a psychiatrist that began studying murderers and felons and found that there was a lack of playing in their lives, he has spent years studying the need for playing in both humans and animals. He expounds on some of his findings.

Classical music with shining eyes
by Benjamin Zander
Benjamin Zander has been the conductor of the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra for over 25 years. It says on the website that he "has two infectious passions: classical music, and helping us all realize our untapped love for it." Here he very successfully convinces the audience that everyone has a passion for classical music.

Lightning calculation and other "Mathemagic"
by Arthur Benjamin
Dr Benjamin is a professor of mathematics. He does some pretty fascinating things with mental mathematical calculations. See my blog post about him coming to BYU.

Asking big questions about the universe
by Stephen Hawking
Stephen Hawking is one of the world's foremost theoretical physicists. I've read some of his books. Here he talks about the origins of the universe, the probability that we are alone in the universe, and the future of mankind.

MatheMagics Show at BYU

2009-03-28T21:17:00.009-06:00

Dr Arthur Benjamin will be coming to BYU to perform this week. He combines magic and mathematics in his performances of "mathemagics." It's supposed to be very enjoyable and entertaining for everyone—not just the mathematically inclined. Tickets are free; here's the flier from the BYU Math Department for the event:
My numerical methods professor, Dr Villamizar, has seen him before and says it's really good. I've looked at Dr Benjamin's website and it looks like it will be pretty cool. Here's a clip of some of the things that he does:

I'll be going and so far I've convinced about a dozen others to go to. If you want to go I can pick up tickets for you. Just let me know.

A Marvel of Modern Technology

2009-03-27T11:25:00.009-06:00

Yesterday I saw a self cleaning oven clean itself for the first time in my life. It was pretty amazing. Having seen it, I don't expect I'll ever own an oven that can't clean itself.

I grew up in what some would consider the dark ages of technology. I'm sure many of you can't even imagine the way that I used to live. I didn't have a self cleaning oven, I didn't have a machine to wash my dishes, to cool the house we used a swamp cooler and fans, we only had 1 TV without cable, and when we got the internet the connection speed was 28.8KB per second. Technology has come a long way since then.

The apartment I live in now is the first one I've lived in that has had either a dishwasher or a self cleaning oven. I've lived there for seven months now. I still regularly think about how nice it is to not have to wash the dishes by hand (though I do miss it sometimes, too). Yesterday was the first time I used the self cleaning feature of the oven. It sure beats doing it by hand.

So for those of you who have never cleaned an oven by hand, let me tell you about how awful it is. In the old days you had to buy a really powerful chemical oven cleaner. You would spray the stuff on all the surfaces of the oven and let it sit for several hours or over night while it ate away all of the crud that was on the surface of the oven. If you were in the same room while the oven cleaner was sprayed it would burn your nasal passages and make you feel nauseous and light headed. If you were the one actually spraying the oven cleaner it'd be powerful enough to almost kill you. After you sprayed the stuff on the oven then you had to breath the fumes for hours. Hopefully you don't have to stay in the same room, prepare food, or have to sleep in the same house during the process.

Then you have to wipe the oven out. By this point the fumes have subsided to only making you slightly ill, but you have to use gloves because if you let the stuff touch you it will eat your flesh off. You have to clean out all of the crud and foamy chemicals from the oven. You either have to use a roll of paper towels or a disposable rag, because anything you use is not going to be coming clean and you want to be able to take it straight out to the trash. You'd better not miss any bits of chemicals, either. You think the stuff is normally bad? Try heating some up in an oven—it's pretty toxic.

After all that the oven is usually pretty amazingly clean. Still, sometimes it doesn't take quite all of junk off and you have to repeat the whole process. And when you get done, the smell of oven cleaner usually permeates the air for days. About the time it dissipates, you bake something again and it returns.

Now with the progress of technology they did invent "fume free" oven cleaner. It's not a very accurate name, but it is at least marginally better than the old fashioned stuff. At least I don't know anyone that's died from using the fume free type. In fact I know of very few people who have been hospitalized from it.

So you can imagine how excited I was to simply set the oven to "Clean" and let it do all of the work. It did take over 4 hours and it did get a little smokey in the apartment. And it certainly got a little hot. I wouldn't want to do it during the summer when you can't open the window to let in cool air, but even then it would be a heck of a lot better than the fumes I'm accustomed too. And the amount of heat that came out of the oven exhaust vent under one of the burners was perfect for roasting marshmallows (and it didn't impart any underlying flavors to the marshmallows).

The results were pretty astonishing. I had spilled a pan-full of steak grease and drippings on the door of the oven a month ago. It's been smoking and burning on ever since then. After the oven got done cleaning itself yesterday, everything that had been cooked onto the surface of the oven had been reduced to a thin film of white ash. It wiped right out.

I really kind of want to go spill something on the bottom of the oven just so I can clean it again. My mother is going to be so envious when she finds out my oven cleans itself.

The Coolest Jump Drive Ever

2009-03-26T14:29:00.042-06:00

A few months ago I bought a new jump drive. I still get utility from its design and size (both its physical size and mental capacity) every time I use it.

When I first came to BYU I bought a jump drive. It was a cutting edge 512 MB drive. I used it for a while, but it didn't last long because most of my computering happened on my computer at my apartment and I didn't have much need to take my files anywhere else. And it was annoying to carry around—it was like 2½ inches long and ¾ inches wide. I didn't want to have something that big in my pocket all the time, and I'm certainly not going to wear it around my neck.

It didn't take long for me to move away from using my jump drive and start using SD cards. I used a Pocket PC regularly at the time, so I could use my SD card on my Pocket PC or with a jump drive sized SD card reader. That worked really well for a while, but again the size of the SD card reader discouraged me from carrying it around everywhere (or anywhere, for that matter).

I eventually solved the problem by setting my computer up so I could remotely access it from anywhere. Then I didn't need to carry a jump drive and could get to any of my files at any time, so long as I had the internet. That was really cool and worked great; I quit using a jump drive or SD cards and just left everything on my computer.

When I moved to my new apartment, my computer situation changed drastically. The internet was incredibly slow, so I preferred working on campus. Also, I don't manage my own network anymore, so I can't setup my computer quite the same way. I can still get to it from anywhere if I need to, but it's not as easy or as fast of a connection. So the necessity of having a jump drive has returned.

In approaching this problem, I knew that I would need to be pretty selective in which jump drive I got. If I found a great price for a jump drive I wouldn't carry around then I'd just be wasting my money to buy it, 'cause I wouldn't use it. It was worth spending some time looking and a little bit extra money to get the one that I wanted and would use. So I started seriously searching for a jump drive I could love, treasure, and prize enough to have as my faithful companion and carry around with me everywhere.

It didn't take long to find The One Jump Drive: the 8GB Sony MicroVault, pictured at the right (pay special attention to the cloud-like aura—that took over an hour). It only took a few days to confirm that there isn't any better jump drive on the market. Now I've had my jump drive for several months. I think I love it more now than I did when I first got it. If you were going to marry or make out with a jump drive, this would be the one. I named mine Jacobi.

I bought Jacobi back in December for about $40 including shipping. Notice the first caution listed on the above website: "If swallowed, promptly see a doctor." This may seem odd at first, but it's there for good reason. The drive itself is smaller than an SD card. It measures 1.25" × 0.56" × 0.19". It is the smallest jump drive I have ever seen. It is small enough that I can carry it in my wallet. And my wallet is pretty compact. Check out how small it is (click to make it bigger):To make Jacobi even cooler, I'm running 256 bit AES encryption on half of it (AES encryption has been authorized for use in encrypting data up to the Top Secret level by the US Government). If I ever lost Jacobi I'd probably cry. But at least all of the data I have stored on it would be irretrievable without the appropriate decryption password. I've set up Jacobi to autorun so when it is plugged into a computer it automatically starts the encryption software and prompts for the password to mount the encrypted volume (named Dedekind).

And the final touch: the icon for Jacobi in My Computer looks just like my jump drive. And it's scalable. The picture actually changes to a different picture with appropriate resolutions depending on the size at which the icon is currently being displayed. Look at the picture to see what I mean (click on it to enlarge).

So my jump drive is about the coolest jump drive I've ever seen. If you haven't met Jacobi in person, ask me about it next time you see me.

My New Tablecloth: An Update

2009-02-13T12:30:00.008-07:00

I've been ranting about my tablecloth to lots of people and have repeatedly run into the fact that I forgot to mention in my blog the brand of my new awesome tablecloth. It is an Origins Microfiber Tablecloth. Mine is Navy, 52 x 70 inches for $14.99 at Bed Bath and Beyond. I'm going to buy the black one next.

My new cloth napkins are also truly amazing in texture and quality. They are Chateau Stripe Napkins. I got 8 at $2.99 each, also from Bed Bath and Beyond. Well worth the price.

Oh, and by the way, I have washed the tablecloth several times now. All the food I spilled on it (most of which was intentional) came right out, and it has not lost its ability to repel water in the slightest.

You should all check them out and buy your own.

My New Tablecloth

2009-02-07T23:10:00.037-07:00

I really like tablecloths. I first bought one a couple of years ago when I was living in the Grange. The table was very large, so I bought a blue tablecloth to fit it. It added a lot to the kitchen there, though I didn't use it as often as I expected because it would always get dirty fast. We didn't have much counter space in that apartment, which made it a lot worse.

A little more than a week ago I got out my tablecloth and put it on the table in my apartment. I had to fold it over because it was so long, but it looked really good. The color complimented everything very nicely and made the kitchen a lot more pleasant to be in. I was really amazed at how well my roommates and I did at keeping it clean. It wasn't until I finally did take it off to wash it that I realized just how much I liked having it. So I decided I needed to buy a new tablecloth that was the right size for my current table.

Today I went to Bed Bath and Beyond with that purpose. They had one particular style of tablecloth that I really liked, and they had it in a couple of perfect colors. The price sealed the deal: it was only $15. This particular brand advertised that it would be stain resistant and resistant to absorbing liquids (because it was made of microfiber polyester). I think most tablecloths advertise that. I'm pretty sure that my last one did. It is true that it has never stained, but I use Clorox Oxy Magic (which deserves an entire blogpost of its own) whenever I wash my clothes, which means I don't get stains on anything--so I'm not sure how much of its stain resistance can really be attributed to the tablecloth itself.

Along with my tablecloth, I also found cloth napkins that were exactly what I've been looking for: bright white with a subtle yet elegant design, and made of a cloth that feels perfect: soft and well made. They were also made of microfiber polyester, so neither they nor my tablecloth would ever need any ironing.

I was pretty excited about my new tablecloth and napkins. When I rang up at the register the very attractive cashier asked me if I'd ever had one of those particular tablecloths before. I said I hadn't but that I was pretty excited to get it. She said that she has several and likes them so much she won't use anything else. How could my purchase get any better?

I washed my tablecloth and napkins promptly after getting home and put the tablecloth on the table. It is a very dark navy blue and looks as sharp in my kitchen as I was hoping.

Several hours later, as I was eating dinner I decided I should probably see just how it behaved when I spilled water on it, so I timidly poured a very small drop of water on the tablecloth. To my absolute amazement and astonishment the water did bead up on the tablecloth and didn't soak in at all. I poured a bit more on and none of it soaked in. I wiped it off with a paper towel and the tablecloth wasn't even wet!

After pouring water on it several times I was so surprised at its amazing behavior I went and got my camera. I took pictures of about a dozen different water spills ranging from a few drops to large bodies of water. Check out these before and after pictures (click on any of the pictures to enlarge them):

Then I started making videos. You really need to check out the video I made below. I've watched it dozens of times and it still amazes me every time. This was filmed after I had poured several full glasses of water on the tablecloth and cleaned it off. After all that the tablecloth was still dry.

So then I had to find out how much it could take. I left a pool of water on it for over 20 minutes--it still didn't soak in at all--it just sat there in a pool. At the end of the 20 minutes it wiped right off and the tablecloth was still dry.

So then I spilled some food on it (chicken curry) and let it sit for a minute. I wiped it off with a wet dishrag. It took a little bit of scrubbing, but not much. When I had cleaned it off the tablecloth finally looked wet for the first time, and it took it a little while to dry. After it had dried, the difference at the spot where I had spilled the curry was so subtle that the only way you can see it is if you stand at just the right angle and know where you are supposed to look, or if you pour water on the spot (it looks different, but still doesn't soak in). No one would notice it. I'm sure that washing it (which I am currently doing) will get rid of the spot.

So now I've come to the same conclusion as the cashier: I don't intend to use any other tablecloths. I have fallen in love with this one. I am so pleased with my new tablecloth that I will be buying another one just like it early next week, only this one will be black.

The Potential of 1 Tablespoon of JetDry

2009-01-29T21:40:00.006-07:00

Today I inadvertently discovered the voluminous potential of JetDry. It turns out that a pretty small amount (about a tablespoon) easily generates enough suds to flood a kitchen.

In the time I've lived in my apartment we haven't (until yesterday) put JetDry in our dishwasher. Thus, water spots and wet dishes have been the norm. The purpose of JetDry is to combat these very effects: about 0.1 fluid ounces of JetDry is used during the rinse cycle to remove hard water deposits and helps the dishes dry cleaner and faster.

My roommates and I have been talking about getting some for months, but it wasn't until yesterday that my roommate Nelson purchased some. Immediately upon his return from the store Colin and I excitedly looked on as he filled the reservoir in the dishwasher. With great anticipation we decided to rerinse the already clean dishes in the dishwasher with our newly JetDry-ed water.

The dishwasher had been running only a small fraction of a minute before JetDry was streaming out of the bottom of the dishwasher onto the floor. We stopped the dishwasher and started looking for the cause. After removing the inside panel of the door and analyzing the purpose and function of various components it became clear that the design of the JetDry reservoir was such that if you overfill it the JetDry leaks prolifically into the inside of the door. It is also very difficult to tell how full the reservoir is without dismantling the door. Thus, we had probably overfilled it by at least a half pint. Closing the dishwasher door allowed all of that JetDry to run down the inside of the door and start leaking everywhere.

I cleaned up the inside of the door and let it dry overnight. It looked like everything was working okay, beyond the obviously poor design of the reservoir, so I put everything back together tonight and resumed the rinse cycle we had started yesterday.

When I came back out to the kitchen fifteen minutes later I discovered that foam and water had been oozing out around the door for most of that time. The lake extended out for a good portion of the kitchen. I stopped and opened the dishwasher to find about six inches of JetDry suds in the bottom of the dishwasher. It took a little bit of sleuthing to discover the problem: it turns out that a small amount of JetDry had gotten into the bottom of the dishwasher when we filled the reservoir initially. It also turns out that a little bit of JetDry goes a really long way (remember it normally only takes 0.1 ounces per cycle). It took a half dozen cycles of filling the dishwasher with water on a rinse cycle and then promptly draining out the water before all of the JetDry was flushed out of the dishwasher.

In the end the dishes in the dishwasher were indeed spot free and dry. Overall, I'm pretty impressed with the difference it has made so far. No more spots. No more wet dishes. I think it's certainly been worth the hassle of filling the dishwasher with a little JetDry.

Christmas: An Economic Inefficiency

2009-01-04T19:02:00.013-07:00

I realize that Christmas is over now, but I've wanted to address this topic so I am going to do it anyway. I have heard a number of economists (both students and professors) cite and discuss the economic inefficiency of Christmas—particularly of gift-giving. I typically think about this each year at Christmas time, and this Christmas has been no exception; however, this time I did some more thorough reading on the subject and have come to some conclusions of my own.

The groundbreaking article on this topic was entitled The Deadweight Loss of Christmas and was published in 1993 by Joel Waldfogel, an economist that was then teaching at Yale University. The article is an easy read, not too long, and quite interesting. I recommend reading it if you are at all interested.

In economics a deadweight loss is an inefficiency in the economy in which goods or services could be reallocated to make people better off. Christmas gift-giving can be thought of in these terms. Suppose that you want to give a gift to someone and have fifty dollars to spend. In most cases, the most optimal outcome (in terms of utility maximization for the recipient) would be for you to give the money to the recipient and let them spend it themselves. Presumably, they know their own preferences best and would be able to best spend the money to maximize their own utility. If you buy the person a gift instead, odds are that they will not value the gift as highly as what they would have spent the money on themselves. Thus, the gift is inefficient and they are not as well off as they could have been had they simply been given the money.

Dr. Waldfogel researched this effect. He asked a number of people to list the gifts they received, the relationship they have with that person, the cost of the gift, and the recipient’s maximum willingness to pay for the item they received, among other things. He was then able to analyze the data to determine the amount of devaluation that occurs when giving gifts. (For example if you receive a gift that was purchased for fifty dollars and you would only pay twenty five for the same thing then the gift lost 50% of its value.)

The data was analyzed in a number of ways. The results that I found most interesting are as follows:

Giver	% Yield	% Cash
Aunt, Uncle	64.4	14.3
Sibling	86.2	5.8
Parents	86.5	9.6
Significant Other	91.7	0.0
Grandparent	62.9	42.3
Friend	98.8	6.1
Overall	83.9	11.5

The first column indicates the percentage of the gift’s value that is retained when given; the second is the percentage of gifts in the category that were cash. Thus, we can see that the most efficient gift is from a friend (98.8% yield), then from a significant other (91.7% yield), and so on. On average across all gifts given, gifts only retain 83.9% of their value when given.

Economists look at this and conclude that the economy would be better off (more efficiently allocated) if everyone simply gave cash or if people did not give any gifts and simply spent the money that they would have spent on gifts on themselves. In either of these cases, gift devaluation would be virtually nonexistent and the economy would be better off. The output of an economy is often measured by GDP which uses the final purchase prices of goods as the value of the economy’s output. This is somewhat misleading if the goods are purchased and then on average immediately lose 16.1% of their value by being given as gifts. In this case, the economy (as well as an average individual in the economy) is not really the amount of the increase in GDP better off. Thus GDP is overestimating the health and output of the economy. The level of GDP could legitimately and optimally be achieved, however, if gift-giving was cash only or simply eliminated. Then GDP would then reflect the actual increase in value of goods outputted by the economy.

This perspective has a large amount of validity; however, I think there is an alternative way of looking at it. Gift-giving does have value—both to the giver and to the receiver—although this value is much more difficult to measure. Even knowing that giving a gift will cause devaluation of the gift, people still want to give gifts. In some ways, this is not much different from a shipping cost. Shipping costs on gifts do not directly benefit the giver or the receiver but are necessary costs incurred in order to give a gift to someone that is not nearby. Similarly, gift devaluation is a “gift-giving cost” that the gift-giver (and receiver) gladly pays in order to give a gift. (Although, this is different in some senses, as shipping costs are part of GDP but the “gift-giving cost” is not.)

I believe that in many cases the gift-giver is maximizing utility by purchasing and giving a gift—if they simply gave money or spent the money on themselves they would not be able to achieve the same level of utility. When I think about what I could have purchased for myself with the money that I spent on Christmas I think it would be very difficult—and maybe impossible—for me to be happier spending my money elsewhere. Similarly, the receiver often gets more utility out of receiving a gift than purchasing the same thing for themselves. Even if they would not have purchased the particular item given as a gift themselves, there is still additional utility gained from receiving a gift—whatever it is—from someone you care about.

So what’s the moral of this? Putting time, effort, and thought into giving a gift does count for something—at least 16.1% of the gift’s value on average. If as either a gift giver or receiver we feel like gift-giving is inefficient and that there is a deadweight loss in the gift, then I think we are missing the point of gift-giving and need to reevaluate our perspective and/or the gifts we are giving.

My Favorite Christmas Tree

2008-12-30T22:32:00.043-07:00

Each year at work a Christmas Tree is dropped off around Thanksgiving time for our office. Each year my coworkers and I are faced with a similar conundrum: we don't have any Christmas ornaments or Christmas lights to decorate the tree. The first year this happened a couple of my coworkers brilliantly solved this problem by using CD's and PCI cards as ornaments and colored network wires as tinsel. The tree that year turned out really well and we have decorated our tree similarly ever since.

This year we've innovated our Christmas Tree decorating. My coworker John proposed the idea of placing mice in the tree and plugging them into a computer so that the lasers on the bottom of each mouse would light up. It didn't take long to collect all of our spare mice together and started decorating.

Pretty soon we were talking about how cool it would be if we could make them blink. A couple of hours of research and experimenting later, I had the prototype program written to cycle through and blink each of the mice. It took a couple of days to swap out and arrange the mice according to hardware ID's and polish the scripts to fine tune the timing. Now the tree looks great: all of the mice blink regularly and independently of each other.

The tree is served by two ultra small form factor Dell Optiplex 620 computers (you can see them in the lower right corner of the video below as it zooms in and out). Each computer has nine mice plugged into it and each is running three batch scripts that cycle through three mice each. We strategically arranged the mice so that the lasers are pointed toward the higher traffic areas: primarily the hallway and doorway; a laser that catches you in the eye really attracts your attention. Since the picture and video here were taken we replaced the star on the tree with a Linksys network switch (though the blinking lights on it are dissapointingly small and unnoticeable).

The latest idea was to place monitors around the base of the tree and have a train going across the monitors around the tree. The best way I could find to have it span multiple monitors was to create an animated gif. I recently finished creating the animation for it in Photoshop; unfortunately, both of the computers I tried using to save it as a gif run out of memory each time I try and save it (they've got 4 GB of RAM). I tried a lot of settings without any success. It is kind of understandable, since the project has over 500 frames each with a resolution of 2560 × 1024.

Some people that see our tree don't realize that the lights are in fact mice. Of those that do, I think that it doesn't occur to most of them that mice don't typically blink like that. There are, however, a select few who appreciate just how cool our Christmas Tree is. If you're on campus, it's worth a trip to the JFSB just to see the tree.

An Historic Event

2008-12-06T22:24:00.005-07:00

Today is a significant day: it marks the inauguration of my first blog. I have for a long time considered obtaining a domain and creating a website of some kind. I've done a fair amount of research into doing so, but had not as yet officially undertaken such an endeavor. This blog is the first appreciable step in that direction.

I have to say that starting a blog is much more complex than I had previously anticipated. I ran into all kinds of complicated decisions: a hostname, a title, a template, various layout options, and so on. It is fairly vital to make all of these decisions correctly. Several people have tried to convince me that these are all very easy; however, I maintain that my perspective is not unfounded: if I am going to be posting to a blog then it needs to adequately represent my personality and its purpose in name, design, and content. From this perspective its a wonder that I've gotten this far.

Thus far I have been very dissatisfied with the templates and flexibility of blogger.com. Therefore, I am officially citing this limitation as a significant factor in determining the present appearance of this site. I do not think that the design of my blog is currently satisfactory, but I finally gave up on trying to customize it. It is likely going to take a lot of time to get it passably perfect and I would like to start blogging sooner than it will take to get it looking right.

Additionally, I am not yet convinced that blogger.com is my first choice of blog hosting services. It is convenient and relatively easy to set up (if you are not to particular) so I am using it for now. I do have a strong inclination to buy my own domain in the near future. This makes the web and blog hosting question much more significant. Thus, more research is certainly requisite prior to departing from blogger.com.

With these disclaimers in place I can commence blogging.

First Name	Balance	% Return
William	$ 9,347.00	194%
Chad	$ 5,906.00	377%
Chris	$ 5,247.00	248%
Corrine	$ 1,414.00	114%
Bronwyn	$ 1,136.00	120%
Kiren	$ (289.00)	86%
John	$ (326.00)	85%
Nelson	$ (760.00)	64%
Kayla	$ (830.00)	61%
Dave	$ (1,322.00)	63%
Jessica	$ (1,336.00)	6%
Mackenzie	$ (1,420.00)	0%
Claire	$ (2,130.00)	0%
Joey	$ (2,130.00)	0%
Brian	$ (2,394.00)	58%
Shelli	$ (2,737.00)	23%
Kevin	$ (3,064.00)	46%
Cassie	$ (3,456.00)	3%