Comments for Codex

Comment on Open Letter to RT Rybak by Anthony

Anthony — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 03:34:37 +0000

Micro loans in the singular are neat. But the instant that the loan is paid off or at least paid in earnest and the lender realizes that a good investment is being made at the same time that a positive force is being served in a community… magic. And Nobel Peace Prize winning as well. It should have been Economics, but hey, recognition is certainly something. I’m with you, N~. If this were in my neighborhood, I’d have a whole different investment scheme…

Well played!
-AC

Comment on Open Letter to RT Rybak by admin

admin — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 02:59:57 +0000

Thanks for commenting! I didn’t really think I’d actually get any attention with this, but it’s great to hear you think it might have some potential.

Comment on Open Letter to RT Rybak by Ariah Fine

Ariah Fine — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 18:50:55 +0000

This is a great idea.

Comment on Open Letter to RT Rybak by R.T. Rybak

R.T. Rybak — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 15:46:23 +0000

Sounds like a really interesting idea. I am going to send a link to this to the people in our economic development team and see what they think. I have been a big fan of a variety of micro lending ideas and this fits well. Keep the good ideas coming. R.T.

Comment on Open Letter to RT Rybak by Allen Taylor

Allen Taylor — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 18:31:06 +0000

Nice writing. You are on my RSS reader now so I can read more from you down the road.

Allen Taylor

Comment on Spare Time by wk

wk — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 06:41:56 +0000

Shit! I don’t log in here for years, but I happen to stop by and there it is, a new post. I vote for option D, finding your awesome brother a kick ass job. But no, having some free time isn’t such a bad problem to have. Maybe you should solve the problem of induction. Stupid Hume.

Comment on Writing by christhamrin

christhamrin — Wed, 11 Apr 2007 17:31:57 +0000

we’ll see if any of this makes sense: i like your points 1, 2 and 3 and i agree there ought to be more experiments to address these issues, but i wonder if a stock market is the best model for rural economies. i think it has a tendency to increase concentration of wealth and centralization. already established business people in small towns tend to be very conservative and risk averse because there is less ‘competition’ and information available. it seems to me small towns economies need more diversity and they need to be more interconnected. if this is right then increasing entrepenureship and establishing networks amongst local businesses and among like businesses in different locales might be encouraged. how about local currencies? have you ever heard of E.F. Schumacher?

Comment on Damned brain by Lynn

Lynn — Sun, 04 Mar 2007 02:22:26 +0000

I have to be at least a tiny bit amused that you feel discouraged by a lack of practicality, considering your undergrad majors… Maybe that’s just me.

Comment on Education by Beth

Beth — Sun, 19 Nov 2006 09:42:35 +0000

Nat! I just now got around to reading your blog, sounds like school is treating you well-no big surprise there, but good to hear nonetheless. I am writing b/c I have been sending out mass e-mails and your e-mail address does not seem to work from my UMN account. So, I know Lynn is on the list, but i would like to have the e-mail you use most often… so you can just send me an e-mail that says hey and that would be awesome! Things are good here, just finished my first real week of work, kind of sucked- not sure if you are familiar w/Soviet teaching practices, but they are awful. Good luck on your impending finals and maybe I will talk to you over x-mas!
-Beth

Comment on Cars. by Anthony Stamson

Anthony Stamson — Wed, 23 Aug 2006 16:57:53 +0000

Actually this is an excellent analogy. If you look at modern roadbuilding – you have to get out of the central city to do so, because those road systems were determined when few owned any cars much less multiple cars, and look at the developing suburbs – roads there are very similar to the circulatory system. Major roads like interstates, state highways flow out from the denser core like arteries from the heart, large branches like county roads then intersect and carry the traffic away from the highways and towards communities (think of them as limbs). As you move closer to home you travel from a major arterial (I guess we aren’t the first to discover the similarity) such as the 4 lane county road to the minor arterial (2 lane county road) to the major collector, minor collector and finally residential street. All those little culdesacs so much maligned in the ‘burbs are simply the capilary ends of the traffic system. Malls and commercial senters are like organs requiring more blood flow and bigger arteries to supply it. We even bypass common traffic clogged areas by building roads around them.

The entire problem is that our body requires a fairly constant supply of blood while our traffic counts grow at a staggering amount every year. Hence the need to find a way to get all those red and white (hey we are a diverse community) blood cells to flow more efficiently. Buses, light rail, carpools. I don’t think there is a natural analogy for this. Blood just follows the vein, we don’t have to convince it to get on a little train with 95 other cells and then walk the last few blocks to the lungs. And it doesn’t decide against all reason to live 65 miles from work and commute an hour and a half each way requiring us to build extra arteries all the way out at the end of our finger tips.