Two weeks ago, Theory started at a new school: Kumara.
Old Firehouse School, where Theory was, has been a terrific experience. Theory loves her teachers and the other kids, and we have met some wonderful parents. But Win is itching to go. He is so sad whenever we drop Theory off. He has always been very independent and social, so we are very excited for him to have the stimulus.
But Old Firehouse only has enrollment in the Fall. So Win was going to have to wait almost an entire year before …
Sara Palin makes my skin crawl. So my tendency is to discount anything that comes out of her mouth. This includes her declaration of Pennsylvania being a “nanny state run amok” when the schools tried to limit sweets at classroom parties.
At the heart of the issue is who gets to choose. What is the role of the school, and hence government, in the life of the family. Here my libertarian bent comes out – unless there is an imminent public safety issue at stake (inclusive of my arguments about immunization …
Last week I got into a heated argument with my friend Tom over vaccines. Now, normally Tom is a very logical fellow. But I should have been prepared for the discussion to turn ugly– vaccines being so pregnant with issues about justice, public goods, the role of the individual in society, and the role of government in our lives. He even warned me going in about how he has soured friendship. Hagwash I thought. Any reasonable person could see the logic of my argument. But nooooo.
I am going to recapitulate …
I recently called Maxi-Cosi to get their advice for getting Win into the car seat. Just seemed too tight. While Win has grown a lot in the past 8 weeks, now about 13 lbs, the seat is rated to like 20 lbs. I figured there must be a way to expand the harness beyond what I could see. They gave some advice but ultimately told me that Win could have nothing but a onesie on as the model was relatively tight and the fit for all seats are already meant …
Recently for my day job I have been reading up on behavioral economics as it relates to banking. In my research I stumbled upon, of all things, an article on the autism-vaccine debate.
Behavioral economics concerns itself with the cognitive biases that impact how we make decisions, particularly in ways that diverge from rational choice theory, the foundation of classical economics.
Here is an example:
Suppose I tell you that you can drive 10 minutes down the street and purchase an iPhone for $400. However, if you drive an extra 15 minutes further, …
