Category: economics
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Amazon Isn’t a Consumer Electronics Company: It’s WalMart Online
Last night I showed my kids (including Rachel, who has been expressing a lot of interest in science and learning about how to become a scientist) some of the free science podcasts available via iTunes on our AppleTV. AppleTV really makes it easy to subscribe and watch video podcasts… much easier than this can be…
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Lesson Idea: Analyze Political Fundraising Statistics with Comparative Ratios
I live in Oklahoma City. This week I’ve done a little research about the candidates we’ll be voting for in advance of our November elections. Publicly reported and aggregated campaign fund statistics from around the United States are available on the website FollowTheMoney.org. I hope the information and examples I provide in this post will…
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OG&E Smart Hours Program is Saving Our Family Money This Summer
A week ago on Friday, July 20th, the temperature in Oklahoma City was 106 degrees Fahrenheit. While summer temperatures like this inevitably lead to higher utility bills, thanks to our “smart thermostat” (which we received as participants in OG&E’s “Smart Hours” program this past spring) our family is able to manage our electricity consumption better…
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Reflections on Graduation Rituals, Celebrations, College Debts and a Ph.D.
This weekend has been a great blessing. It’s been (and continues to be) a time to celebrate a long academic journey with my family and friends which has resulted in, among other things, the following document and new initials to follow my name in professional academic contexts. In this post, I’d like to share a…
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Teach Your Students to be Digital Artists (and learn from Kevin Honeycutt)
Today was my fourth week teaching a 50 minute “Life Skills” lesson at the “Tiger Club” after school program hosted by our church in Edmond, Oklahoma. This is a free after-school program provided for students attending Central Middle School in Edmond Public Schools. In this post, I’m going to describe the lesson “Be a Digital…
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Misleading Article About Oklahoma Lottery Funds Supplanting Education Funds
Today’s NewsOK article, “Lottery paid $400M to Oklahoma schools” by Megan Rolland is very misleading in addressing the issue of lottery funds “supplanting” rather than “supplementing” state education funds. Megan notes correctly: The lottery law stipulates that the money is not supposed to supplant current education funding but is supposed to be in addition to…
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Why We Cancelled Our Hulu Plus Subscription
Today we cancelled our family trial subscription to Hulu Plus. Last week I shared my excitement at being able to use the free Hulu Plus iPad app and “mirror” from an iPad2 on Apple TV to watch TV programs on our television. In the end, however, the regular ADVERTISING in Hulu Plus (along with the…
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Dave Ramsey on Strengths, Jobs, Entrepreneurship, Lifelong Learning & Persistence
My father led a class for Dave Ramsey‘s “Financial Peace University” this past fall at his church in Manhattan, Kansas. Since I’m exploring some new job as well as consulting possibilities following the completion of my PhD this fall, he shared the Lesson 11 CD with me over the holidays titled “Working In Your Strengths.”…
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Podcast387: TechShoppingCart Episode 11 – Christmas 2011 Apps and Gadgets
The Technology Shopping Cart podcast has been digitally resurrected after a 3 year hiatus of podfading! In this recorded call from December 23, 2011, Alice Barr, Karen Montgomery, and Wesley Fryer discussed a variety of iOS applications and technology gadgets on our wish lists for Christmas 2011. Refer to the podcast shownotes for links to…