Potato Gun the fire at night

one very cool clip

nintendo wii or the PS3? let the internet nerd decide

oh man guys i found the coolest/ nerdiest thing ever. it's like the "star wars revenge of the sith sit out side the movie theater in a tent" people going at it on the blog. some guy set up a blog comparing internet polls on the new gaming platforms. all the polls, biased and non biased point to the wii in the lead, but the PS3 fans are going nuts. the screen names in themselves are hilarious (M. Kahn, cubeboy 101, etc.) and one guy wrote a two to three page rant about how Nintendo is ssssoooo much better than x-box and ps3 blah blah blah blah blah blah. seriously you need to check it out http://www.nintendowiifanboy.com/2006/11/07/wii-or-ps3-internet-decides/#comments. this link will take you directly to the comment page. Also this site will show the aproximate current sales of all three of the nex generation gaming consoles and sales predictoins. http://www.nexgenwars.com/ so my project is basically done for me ;-)

my hypothesis- wii wiill totally rock. i'm not a big gamer or any thing but this is like the coolest new interactive technology for the mass public, and I'm psyched!!

ka-boom!

So North Korea set off a "nucular bomb.", big deal so did the U.S, but it was 20x larger and people died for real. Oh yeah we also set off hundreds of other tests during the cold war. What is the big idea getting all upset with North Korea. True they are kind of not our friends, but so was Russia, and no one got Nuked, except some cactuses and lizards in area 51.
The bottom line is that even though another, potentially hostile nation has developed a nuclear weapon no one is going to be nuked because if anyone does, the reprocutions from all other nations in retaliation would be far greater than the satisfaction of inflicting harm on, say the U.S. In other words "if you kick sand in my face, I'll run you over with a bus!!". That is why the arms race with Russia never amounted to anything.
My belief is that this is a conflict easily solved by VERBAL diplomacy. War is not an option, and the U.S. of A. needs to get over the fact that they are not the only ones allowed to play with big boy toys. Each nation is an individual power with individual rights and the most the U.S. can do is tell North Korea that we don't like the idea that they have "nucular weapons of mass destruction." and "if you kick sand in my face, I'll run you over with a bus!!". True the beans have been spilled, the can kicked, and the status quo upset, but the four Horsemen of the apocalypse are still in the stalls. It's just a new development that we need to cope with and if it requires a more tactful administration than so be it.
My thoughts are that a government's job is to protect the people, and avoid war, not protect the people's way of life, and go to war over it. If Pyongyang has developed more advanced weapons we must take it as the natural advance of technological international progress, not the end of the U.S. world police force. after all, even France has nuclear arms and everyone knows that they are much more dangerous to our serine, patriotic, American way of life than any other nation, including North Korean has ever been.

The puzzling economics of the world of sports

The law of supply and demand is simple, right? If the demand increases the price increases, and if the supply decreases the price increases. Now what if we add another element to the equation? Value. If society values something more than the price should increase right? The answer is not always.
Lets look at sports and entertainment stars. The people in these industries generally make an enormous amount of money, millions of dollars a year. What value does sports have to our society? Other than being an escape and a social event the answer is nothing. The same goes with movies and television. Other than being a prime spot to take a date, the cinema has no social impact on our well being. So why are shaquille O'Neal and tom cruise being payed to entertain when jobs like working in hospitals and soup kitchens, which are beneficial to our society, are filled by volunteers. The solution is simple. The public demand outweighs the public value. Jobs like teaching and working in a clinic are far less profitable to the individual than being a movie star or a baseball champ, but they are more valued.
one also has to consider the rule of supply in the invisible hand equation. in order to be a baseball of movie star it requires a great amount of talent. The number of people who are able to be doctors or teachers or mail carriers are much larger than the amount of seven foot tall basketball capable individuals. The same goes for good looking people who have personality (actors).
I also think it is interesting that coaches in college are paid more than any other faculty member even though the point of a college is to educate, not play sports. This may have something to do with the fact that the college brings in money and publicity if the sports teams are successful. People would probably want to be spectators at a basketball or football game, not an English lecture, therefore the public demand is higher for successful coaches rather than other teachers, even though the schools value the education of their students more than their sports teams redord. It is also interesting that colleges are not allowed to collaborate in making decisions about financial aid, but when the NCAA decides to doll out equal scholarships it goes unchecked.
The bar for actors and actresses are obviously much lower. Mr. Sanderson makes a good point that people really don't loose sleep when an actor or actress drops out to follow their dream, both when an athlete goes pro before doing the time the press has a hay day. Maybe the public wants smart touchdown scorers, but don't really care about what the romantic man on the screen's GPA is.
economics is a fickle thing, especially when it comes to the law of supply vs. demand, although sometimes the law is value vs. demand.

ford assignment, current events

Lets look at the basics. Ford, one of America's major employers, is in deep financial trouble. the reason can be pinned down to a few short reasons.
1. foreign competition
2. its just not economical to buy a Ford anymore.
Ford has spent way to much time looking at their trucks. A Ford truck was a statis symbol like an SUV. Nowadays with gas prices so high it is impractical to own a truck unless you are actually going to do with a truck what is meant to do with a truck, which is haul stuff around. And c'mon, the only hauling and pulling Ford trucks do are in the comercials. y'know with the cowboy singin' about how he is a "Ford truck man..." and the boat being hauled around to the beach with all the hot girls who............anyway.
The bottom line is Ford made a huge error on what they should spend their forward fire power on. Trucks were a bad idea. Perhaps finding a way too make a more fuel eficient sedan that is more useful to the average joe or jane would have been a better idea. Alas Ford is an American company withAmerican ideas (Big, Strong, Expensive, etc.).
Foriegn companies like Honda and Toyota are picking up the slack. it is more cost eficient to drive a civic or a camry to work. lets face it, you are not going to be caught in a battle field on your way to so you don't need a Hummer (especially a bright yellow one which is even more battle field impractical). no middle class citizen has any practical right to own a gas guzzling SUV or pick up truck unless you actually are going to use it, and half the people who do own of said vehicles really don't. The foreign competition realizes that the American companies are going to take time to get their heads out of the fantasy land that the consumer wants to own a statis symbol for the pure joy of owning a statis symbol. They are going to take advantage of Ford's folly and give the American buyer what the really want. A car that gets them from point a to point b, does not cost to much to buy, and is inexpensive to keep running.
Jobs are also being lost to the foreigners. American factory workers demand high wages, benefits, and a pleasent working environment. all these things cost mony, mony that the workers in, say China are willing to without. American workers are demanding too much so their jobs are being cut and people in foreign countries are getting them. Because of the cheaper labor the outside companies are able to put out less expensiv cars.
all of these factors are contributing to the downfall of the Ford motor company,and unless they get theirrears in gear, there will be trouble for the corporation.

this is a test blog

http://www.homestarrunner.com/
het this is a test to see if I can copy and paste web sites at will don't mind me

>and if you wanna good laugh check out this site its my fave. :)

Assignment one

1. The irony is that this crazy character could even get so far as writing a letter an therefore proving that he is literate. ha ha just kidding. the irony really is that he could not even comprehend the the government would even consider to may him more $$$$$$ to not do work and so to him they are asking for a different way to raise hogs.

2.the government is attempting to reduce the surplus of hogs in the agricultural market.

3. The critics used irony and satire to criticize big government.

4.this conveys the public's value to be employed. The value to be able to do work and be useful to the society.

assignment two

Well lets look at the basics. College is expensive, thats a fact. one could do all sorts of stuff with the money that you spend on college. Then again if you don't go to college you miss out on all sorts of things like wild parties and a great education.
Looking at the positives it would seem like a good choice to go to college. You learn all sorts of great stuff like how to do heart surgery, how to dig up dinosaur bones, how to run a business, how to be more frugal than Ebineezer Scrooge,and how to act when one is uhndehr thee ihnfloonss uv alcoehaul. Also in todays world it would be total suicide not to get a college education. Unless one aspires to have a job with his name on his shirt then you need to do the time. then you can make more money, get a nice car, a nice house, and a hot wife . The benefits of a college education are infinite and it would be ludicrous to not take that opportunity no matter what the level. people who don't get their degrees don't have a lot of options for careers. with a college education one could do what they truly want to do and get paid for it. unless your life goal is to be the Burger flipping grand master champion of the world then you won't have that flexibility.
On the flip side a low cost college, e.g university of Kansas, is upwards of five thousand dollars a year. You are laying out 20,000 smackers in four years. You could buy a nice used SUV and half a tank of gas for it with that kind of money. This is with a low cost college budget. imagine using the money fora school like Colgate university (over 30,000 a year.) 120,000 in four years will buy a decent house in western new York. Now if you look at it practically, 20-120 thousand dollars can start a heck of an entrepreneurship. A DJ sysem or a truck and ladder for tree trimming and window washing business. Say you are a computer whiz and start an on-line business or something. These jobs require jump start money but not a college education. They also require elbow grease and the ability to be your own boss. Four years is also a lot of time to get a head start for a business.
It all depends on what you want to do for your life. College is a big investment, and will pay off in a big way for most people who take it.

hey folks this is my economics blog. Enjoy