Facebook Comedy skit

Aaron, this is hillarious in light of our conversation about Facebook ruining civilization!

National Geographic: Biomimetic's

This is a pretty interesting article about Biomimetics.

Can you think of any biomimetic uses for the kit fox?

Grand Canyon Photo's

Fella's, hit this link up for a view of our Grand Canyone Trip photos.

Evan's response to Economist Article

I just read the Economist article on Social Mobility and found it interesting. I agree that "well-off" youth have many advantages which effectively perpetuate their families socio-economic status. There are obviously barriers to upward social mobility that stem from lack of resources, education, expectations, etc. which keeps disadvantaged youth from climbing the economic ladder.

However, some of the stat's used in the article are difficult to compare over time periods because of the substantial increase of income inequality. It isn't surprising to see fewer people start in bottom income quintile and move to the highest when the gap between the two has increased by two or threefold. When I think of upward mobility I don't necessarily think about the ultra-poor becoming the ultra-rich. I think about the poor having the ability to earn a "middle-class" livelihood. I wonder if the two measures are correlated????

The article was very interesting and I enjoyed reading it.

41st home for 'zers=41st win for season

Blazer's secure 1st .500 season in 5 years! Next? NBA champ's no later than 2011! You heard?



-------------------- This message was sent from my iPhone/ yahoo.com email account. For quickest response please reply to evan@continentalhomemortgage.com. I will receive your message on my phone and in the office. Thanks, Evan T Swanson, CMPS Office: 503.439.9910 xt. 2404 Mobile: 503.314.9959

Meritocracy in the Grand Canyon?

Dr, Evan and I were fortunate to backpack in the Grand Canyon a couple of weeks ago. A spirited discussion of the state of the American Meritocracy spiced up our games of hearts (ask Evan how he did by the way). Here is part of the Economist article that inspired the conversation:

"America has repeatedly succeeded in living up to its best self, and today most Americans believe that their country still does a reasonable job of providing opportunities for everybody, including blacks and women. In Europe, majorities of people in every country except Britain, the Czech Republic and Slovakia believe that forces beyond their personal control determine their success. In America only 32% take such a fatalistic view.

But are they right? A growing body of evidence suggests that the meritocratic ideal is in trouble in America. Income inequality is growing to levels not seen since the Gilded Age, around the 1880s. But social mobility is not increasing at anything like the same pace: would-be Horatio Algers are finding it no easier to climb from rags to riches, while the children of the privileged have a greater chance of staying at the top of the social heap. The United States risks calcifying into a European-style class-based society."

Read the rest of the article: Meritocracy in America, The Economist, Dec 29th 2004

Goon

Here's what Wikipedia has to say about a "Goon".:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goon

Foamy the squirrel

Welcome to the Tea Pad

Welcome to the Tea Pad! My hope is that we can use this medium to remain in touch regarding personal developments (i.e. Aaron proposes to Dana), share thoughts (i.e. Facebook is going to ruin mankind), share music recomendations (i.e. Go check out Jackie Mitoo), and/ or anything else that you'd care to publish.

At this point only myself, Aaron, and Dr. will be authors. As soon as we get folks like Carl, G-Dogg, Dave, or Cape-girl back in the mix we can add them to.

I would encoruage you to post interesting articles and music recomendations or just send a shout out. When you set up your profile you can request that you be emailed everytime a new post is entered (this may be easier then checking in every day).

I hope you find this entertaining!