Sad. Why wasn’t this little girl holding a book or volleyball instead of an Uzi? Maybe 9 year olds don’t need to go to the shooting range. After all, we are not training terrorists… are we? If the answer is no, then why put guns into the hands of children as terrorists do? Isn’t that committing the same crime we accuse others of?

I am sorry, but as a parent I don’t think a 9 year old needs to handle assault weapons to be well rounded. A 9 year old needs to understand reading, writing, and arithmetic to be well rounded. Heck, throw in some old school home economics and shop class and there is a well rounded 9 year old. Handling a deadly weapon is totally unnecessary for a 9 year old in my opinion.

Devices made to kill people do just that: kill people. Maybe it is time to reexamine gun laws. Maybe it is time to disallow minors at gun ranges. Maybe ordinary (and sometimes crazy) citizens don’t need thousands of rounds of ammo and dozens of assault rifles.

Or maybe we do nothing and wait for the next school shooting to decide to do nothing again. Doing nothing allows those that fund the NRA (gun manufacturers) to make more money and concentrate more wealth into the hands of the few.

Sorry for my sarcastic tone. Let me get back to business and finance related posts.

http://m.nydailynews.com/news/national/limit-u-s-gun-insanity-article-1.1919590

Millions of users = billions in valuation?

So let me get this straight. Our youth already spend too much time playing video games. When they are not playing video games they can watch others play via Twitch. When are these kids going to read a book or actually talk to someone face to face?

http://m.sfgate.com/news/article/Amazon-bets-that-S-F-s-Twitch-will-be-next-ESPN-5714508.php

If Apple manufactured those iPads here in California maybe I could understand them receiving a de facto “no-bid” contract. However, that is currently unrealistic given current supply chain and labor cost issues.

Also, why not move towards open source software and textbooks? Why lock in to a single large for-profit textbook company? Sometimes I wonder if larger textbook publishers operate in a similar fashion as big pharma:

Big pharma – There is no money in a cure so we will string you along by treating symptoms

Big publishers – Make more money by dumbing down and spreading (even overlapping profusely) material over multiple textbooks.

Regarding that second point, my late father once said he believed we all could learn calculus by the 3rd grade. While that may be ambitious I do see his point. Perhaps we and our children are being strung along to sell more books with the same information.

http://www.latimes.com/local/education/la-me-deasy-ipads-20140826-story.html

Man, Mr. Holder is busy these days…

Being a part of CalPERs I am happy to see they shall receive $300 million! If you are a BofA customer be mindful of rising fees, higher rates for loans, and lower rates for deposits. If you are a BofA employee, be mindful of the possibility of job cuts to cover this settlement and/or maintain executive bonuses. Yes, I said it. 🙂

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-bank-of-america-settlement-justice-mortgage-countrywide-20140821-story.html

Get your dictionary and thesauras ready to read this article.  It starts off with words like quixotic and rapacious.  Nevertheless, it is an entertaining read.  Personally, I am glad the merger is off.  ECON 101 suggests that with fewer competitors comes higher prices and poorer quality service.   Let these wireless carriers remain solo and compete.  We will see better value as consumers provided we do our part in supporting the competition.  I.e., there needs to be T-mobile customers as well as Spring, AT&T, and Verizon.  FYI, earlier this year I switched from Verizon to T-Mobile and I am very glad I did.

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2462064,00.asp

So the cheap labor in China is not cheap enough? Who would have thought that the pursuit of ever-increasing profits would lead to going cheaper than China’s cheap labor. As I read this article it seemed almost like modern day slavery. But then again, I never lived in Ethiopia and $40/month may be a “good wage” there.

However, as the race to the bottom for labor costs continues, just where are all these profits winding up? The .0001%?

http://mobile.businessweek.com/articles/2014-07-24/ethiopia-vies-for-chinas-vanishing-factory-jobs?google_editors_picks=true

Again, no one has a monopoly on the truth, including Mr. Krugman. However, I appreciate the steps towards a balanced description of reality. I am not saying the article is balanced and unbiased, but it is less biased than I tend to see.

If any of the followers out there come across articles contrasting the Kansas tax cutting (subsequent budget deficit) and California tax increases (subsequent budget surplus) from the right please let me know in the comment section below.

http://mobile.nytimes.com/2014/07/25/opinion/paul-krugman-california-tax-left-coast-rising.html?referrer=

This article addresses the possibility of differing approaches to teaching college students and primary school students. A quote from the article:

“With the college students I teach, it’s a straightforward transaction. They’re paying me to teach them math, and my job is to cajole or incentivize them into doing the work that’s necessary to learn the subject, whether they feel like it or not.”

With his own young children he “coaches” by framing math questions in a game context. Perhaps that approach has some limited applicability in a college classroom setting.

http://mobile.nytimes.com/2014/07/25/opinion/dont-teach-math-coach-it.html?_r=0&referrer=

A long but interesting read. I do not consider this article the gospel truth. No one has a monopoly on the truth. However, it does contribute to the understanding of reality. Americans score poorly in math partly due to the method of instruction. However, this article does not address work ethic of students or other issues that can and do contribute to poor math performance in the US.

Enjoy!

http://mobile.nytimes.com/2014/07/27/magazine/why-do-americans-stink-at-math.html?_r=0&referrer=

Try this: http://rpubs.com/djmphd/21286