The Professor's Notes

Far be it for me to attack Obama. Hey, he’s the one Democratic candidate I have liked so far. But I have to go after what is quite honestly either the sloppiest math I have seen, or the most disingenuous campaign rhetoric to cross through this campaign cycle.

I was reading the blog over at “Imperfect Mommy” where I read, and at first accepted without questioning her comment “I read yesterday that suspending the gas tax would save the average American $30 over the course of the summer. $30.” Of course, then I felt rather guilty for not questioning the number. Not because I don’t trust her, but because it just seemed a bit “off.” At first I just figured “well, with almost 5 drivers in the family we are certainly not ‘average’” but then I realized–no one is.

My first thoughts, as a good researcher where: Read the rest of this entry »

For those not practicing the fine art of Ostrich-ing (hiding your head in the sand), you will note that the dollar is performing poorly against most (all?) international currencies at this time. Of course, the media is reporting this as yet another indicator that times are tough.

Alas, all is not as clear when assessing the economy. In fact, a “weak dollar” has some significant benefits–especially for the “average” American.  And, for those readers here for Supply Chain information, the impacts of the dollar are felt throughout. Read the rest of this entry »

It has become common fare for politicians, on both sides of the aisle, to rail against the evil “special interests” that run Washington. Obama has even made it a major component of his advertising that he doesn’t take money from Washington special interests. For instance, the Washington Post reports on one campaign ad for Obama by quoting

The Ad: Narrator: Who has what it takes to really bring change? To finally take on the special interests — not take their money. Who made the right judgment about opposing the war and had the courage and character to speak honestly about it. And who in times of challenge will unite us — not use fear and calculation to divide us.

Special interests are evil. They are to be reviled. They are to be stopped. And politicians certainly shouldn’t take their money. I would suspect if asked, politicians would say they certainly would not welcome endorsements from special interests. But what, exactly, are special interests? Read the rest of this entry »

I have a rather lengthy blog post dealing with books in “new media” simmering on the wordpress burner here.  While that post isn’t quite ready yet, I wanted to quickly toss out another “thought” for discussion.  Yes.  Discussion.  Feel free to comment!

I am a regular listener to most of the TWIT podcasts produced by Leo Laporte.  For a while now they have been sponsored by Audible Books.  The pitch, which is rather formulaic across all of the podcasts, is this.  The podcasters present a “book of the week” that they recommend from Audible.  And, if you go visit audible with their “secret code” your first book is free. That’s right–FREE!

Now, I am curious about several things, which I will list here in classic bullet fashion:

• How long will it take before every listener will have an account? (1st book free only lasts for one book, after all…)
• How many people actually buy the recommended books?  (Anyone? Does the recommendation influence your buying patterns?)
• How often do YOU listen to audio books?
• And how often do you listen to podcasts?  How many do you follow?

So, there ya have it.  Perhaps I will some day add the polling widget, like my brother has over at his blog.  Until then, let’s engage here in the comments!

And, since I have posted an image about a stadium, I figured a quote from Teddy Roosevelt would perhaps be appropriate.  This is oft quoted, and I found the quote at www.elise.com

Teddy Roosevelt – To the Man in the Arena

It is not the critic who counts, nor the man who points how the strong man stumbled or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena; whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly…who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, and spends himself in a worthy cause; who, at best, knows the triumph of high achievement; and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.
Theodore Roosevelt, 1910

Great biographies by Edmund Morris: The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt and Theodore Rex

As we prepare for the Blue-White game, I thought I would share another picture I posted on flickr, the entrance to Gate E at Beaver Stadium. We Are… PENN STATE.

Rarely do I write these short postings but…

It struck me today that “tax day” is perfectly placed for politicians.  Far enough ahead of election day that we forget the pain, and far enough after election day that we aren’t thinking about the pain quite yet.

Coincidence?

As I mentioned previously, I gave a presentation at the 2008 TLT Symposium, discussing Social Networking with “non-traditional students.”  In that presentation, I talked a bit about what exactly is a non-traditional student, and what it means to have “social networking” for them.  I tried to have it be an open discussion.

You can listen to the presentation at the official TLT Symposium 2008 site, or listen to it right here.

Well–you decide.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Apparently, Grand Central (my new “go to” place for freakishly great phone service) was down for a while this past Sunday, April 13th, 2008.  According to news reports the site lost power

Power issue knocks GrandCentral offline — The online phone company which Google bought last year was down for most of this morning, TechCrunch reports. While the company blames a power outage on the service going down, it speaks to a larger issue as more everyday services move online — what happens if one of these services goes down? With traditional phone services, if there was a bad storm, you might lose service and understand why. With a server power issue happening in the middle of nowhere, the service can go down and you don’t even know it — you just don’t get your calls. Find our recent coverage on Grand Central here and here.

Anyway, I still find it quite useful, and for now, will continue to count on Grand Central to be my “main” way of channeling calls.

For those that haven’t heard my pitch about why I like using GrandCentral.com it comes down to these key points:

• One number rings any, or all, my phones.  My Choice.
• One number means I can be reached whenever, and wherever I wish.  Again, my choice.
• If I don’t answer, it has it’s own voicemail system that I can access by phone or web.
• All calls are stored as mp3 files, so I can download, if I wish (I hope you aren’t surprised that recorded calls are, well, recorded.)
• I can actually record an incoming call in progess. (It does notify both parties that recording has started.)

So, despite the weekend’s problem, I remain a fan.  I am just glad it was over the weekend.

I thought, well, let’s have another image. You can find my photo work over at flickr with the user name, SCMProfessor.