Exclusive Offerings

I just finished my term paper for Industrial Organization. I was trying to develop a theoretical model that could explain why some goods are available only online and others are only carried inside a store owned by the same company. I'd like to figure out a way to attach the .pdf here. Anyway, when I started out, I could only get the good to be sold online or only in the store. I couldn't get neither or both at the same time. I had to throw in some consumer heterogeneity and fixed costs of selling a good online or in the store. In the end, I got the result to hinge on what the transaction costs are for each retail outlet (online v. in store) combined with the fixed costs. If you're interested, let me know and I'll email you the .pdf. I normally don't like my own work, but I like this one a lot.

Pick #105

Cold (Metal) - "Happens All the Time" from A Different Kind of Pain

Smaller Class Sizes

Smaller class sizes are not the answer to creating better schools. I've been in classes of 5 students where the teacher had no control and we ran the room. I've also been in classes of 60 where the teacher was in full command and we learned our lessons. All else equal, class size might have an effect on student learning (or performance or any other tangible measure). However, every dollar spent on accommodating smaller class sizes is a waste. That money could be put toward hiring better teachers. How do you get better teachers? You pay them more. Right now, K-12 teachers (at least in Florida) get paid peanuts. You get people who either 1) love teaching, or 2) couldn't get a better job somewhere else so they settle for teaching. To improve schools, you want to eliminate the Type 2 teachers. Keep the Type 1s and pay them more if you can. But, we need to recruit people with skillz who have jobs in other sectors precisely because schools won't compensate them adequately to teach.

In fact, schools may be able to save money by hiring better teachers. If they trim the fat, aka shitty teachers, and replace it with lean meat (the rockin' new hires) then they can increase class sizes. This will raise the student-teacher ratio and schools can use their space more efficiently. No need for new construction or acquisition of new land. Just out with the non-hackers and in with qualified instructors. Their contracts should make pay relient on performance: a weighted average of student evaluations, peer and administrative evaluations, standardized test scores, and workload.

Students who learn better in an intimate setting can go to office hours. F*** smaller class sizes.

Pick #104

James Otto - "Just Got Started Loving You"

heard it on the radio after forgetting to change the CDs in my car for about a month.

Fun Fact #25

Aluminum cans should be recycled.

It takes 95% less energy to recycle aluminum than to create it from raw materials.

Recycling one can saves enough energy to run a TV for three hours or a 100-watt light bulb for four hours.

Recycling 40 cans conserves the same energy as one gallon of gasoline.

Don't throw away your cans!

Ozzy Says Don't Do Drugs

All school children should be forced to watch a video of Ozzy Osbourne trying to have a conversation with someone when they're sitting in the "drugs are bad" class. I mean, they see their friends doing drugs and for the most part nothing bad is happening at the moment. You need them to see what happens to you later in life. The small probability of arrest isn't enough to keep (especially juvie) drug users away from dope. Maybe a before-and-after on Ozzy would make them think twice.

Whale Wars

Animal Planet has a new show airing Fridays @ 9pm called Whale Wars about a conservation group (Sea Shepherd) doing everything it can to stop Japanese fishermen from whaling in an Australian wildlife refuge in the Arctic. The conservationists are more like eco-terrorists, buy you have to sympathize with them. Each person on the conservation ship (the Steve Irwin) is willing to give their life to save the life of a whale.

I recommend watching at least the first episode in this series. You'll want to keep watching whether you're pro- or anti-whaling. If you're a Comcast customer, these episodes are available On Demand.