Ethos, The Weblog
Wednesday, August 31, 2005
The Economics of Competition...in Economics Textbooks
http://www.boston.com/ae/books/articles/2005/08/25/a_textbook_case_of_competition/
Saturday, August 27, 2005
Ratliff on Robin Hood
Former Lt. Governor and sponsor of the original "Robin Hood" school finance plan comments on the old system and future outlook of school funding in Texas. Notably, he says that one fault of the failure of policy is that the state only provides about 37% of the education budget (the rest comes from local taxes and federal support - the latter is about 6-7%). So, the majority of funding now comes from those local taxes and revenue.
Ratliff says that the problem with schools is now more of a money issue rather than reform. A good solution to the revenue problem would be a state income tax, but he realizes that there is NO political viability for such a proposal. Instead, he backs the broad-based business tax.
Monday, August 22, 2005
Civic Colleges
Ask not what your college can do for you, ask what your college can do for society.
In response to the US News college rankings, Washington Monthly released a ranking system that evaluates which colleges are "best for the country."
"Universities should be engines of social mobility; they should produce the academic minds and scientific research that advance knowledge and drive economic growth; and they should inculcate and encourage an ethic of service."
Rather than asking institutions to complete a survey form, as U.S. News does, The Washington Monthly relied on publicly available data. The monthly calculated each college's score for community service, based on the percentage of federal work-study funds used for community-service projects. It also calculated scores for social mobility, which it figured by calculating the graduation rate of low-income students on Pell Grants, and scores for research, which it measured based both on the amount of research spending and the number of doctorates awarded in the hard sciences.
FYI: #1 went to MIT; UT was #23, and A&M was #7
Friday, August 19, 2005
Oh the irony
"D.C. lobbyists to tee off for a GOP cause"
I find this rather funny - lobbyists are arranging a golf tournament where the proceeds will benefit the defendants in the Texans for a Republican Majority (PAC) - i.e. Delay's problem PAC. The organizers are quoted as saying that the tournament "gives lobbyists and others a chance to help DeLay's associates without disclosing it to the public."
I bet that there will be enough press outside the course to photograph the participants, and the names will be on a blog before the event is even over.
Tuesday, August 16, 2005
Vanilla
As you may tell, I have a fetish for The Slate...
One more article - this one an intriguing look at vanilla. Anyone have Thomas Jefferson's recipe for vanilla bean ice cream?
The White Stuff - How vanilla became shorthand for bland. By Amanda Fortini
Sex and the Cinema - In the New Hollywood, it's a liability
A very interesting explanation of how movie ratings (and specifically nudity) have slippery affects on marketing and sales of the film - from Wal-Mart, to commercials, to promotional toys.
Sex and the Cinema - In the New Hollywood, it's a liability.
IKEA Comes to Austin
Yippee! Now we can bask in the economical Scandanavian furniture market...
IKEA building 3rd Texas store in Round Rock
