Plant Baby Shower

My air plants are having babies!  sniff* They grow up so fast...

I'm having a party to celebrate.  :)

I made an invite last night.

Social Governance Securities Exchange

My friend and I wrote up a submission to the Industrial Efficiency contest on the Climate CoLab.

http://climatecolab.org/web/guest/plans/-/plans/contestId/16/planId/1300012/tab/DESCRIPTION

We recommended creating a new securities exchange for companies who want to be leaders in corporate social responsibility and investors who are interested in such companies.

Check it out and support our proposal!

I even made a little logo.

Pretty Insides

If our insides were pretty, maybe this is what they would look like.

Climate Change Ethics

A common argument for mitigating climate change is that we have a moral imperative to future generations.  Most of us don't think about this moral argument much beyond this general idea.  It turns out that weighing the welfare of future generations is an unavoidable aspect of any policies that have long term impacts.  As a result, ethical and philosophical considerations are important to policy analysis, cost benefit analysis, and other economic analysis of climate change mitigation.  The article below gives an overview of several books about the issue.

http://www.technologyreview.com/review/513526/climate-change-the-moral-choices/

So far I read most of Climate Matters by John Broome, a philosopher at Oxford.  It is a pretty easy read and relatively short.  It's really good for a concise presentation of the important ethical considerations for climate policy and the pitfalls of economic analysis and cost-benefit analysis for climate change.

http://www.amazon.com/Climate-Matters-Ethics-Warming-ebook/dp/B007HXFGPW

I also read half of Stephen Gardiner's A Perfect Moral Storm.  It is a longer and slightly more academic exposition about ethics and climate change.  It is also very good, though.  Gardiner incorporates more citations of other prominent thinkers and more thoroughly dissects opposing arguments.

http://www.amazon.com/Perfect-Moral-Storm-Ethical-Environmental/dp/0195379446

Book on Corporate Social Responsibility

I just started reading the Market for Virtue, which is a book on corporate social responsbility (CSR) by David Vogel, a prominent professor at the UC Berkeley business school (Haas).

It basically is an overview of CSR and an analysis of its strengths as well as shortcomings.

...an important shortcoming of CSR is its failure to appreciate the critical role of public policy in promoting more responsible corporate behavior

In contrast, it cites examples of several prominent companies who have supported public policies that would apply to all firms so that the large companies wouldn't be at a competitive disadvantage or always be bearing the brunt of activism.

1. Starbucks supporting national health care
2. Wal-Mart backing raising minimum wage
3. Nike supporting internationally binding labor standards

Double Sums

I used this identity today.  It was sooo fun.  Now that I know it I can show they're equivalent, but I was kinda sad I couldn't think of it myself.

Some Random Pictures

Oscar the Homeless Grouch

I went to a party themed "Sesame St. Apocalypse" this weekend.  

I went as Oscar after he has to sell the trashcan after running out of money.  

It's probably because there are separate recycling bins for cans and bottles now so Oscar lost a major source of revenue.  Maybe he should get into the e-waste business.  

Also, wearing tights over slippers is fun and make for the perfect muppet feet!  Your feet get sweaty, though.  

Frank the Frankentable

I made a table out of some scrap wood from a shelf and an ikea table top that has two heights - coffee table and dinner table height.

I used hinges and then window sash locks.

It was really fun!  Window sash locks aren't the most structurally sound, though.  If we changed heights frequently, they might break.  But oh well, they look cool.

 ratcheting screw drivers are awesome!

so are clamps, magnets, and glue!

it LIVES!!!
as a dinner table

as a coffee table

New Hat

Yeah, I'm finally tired of sun in my eyes + baked forehead.  This way I don't have to wear sunglasses, sunscreen or worry about getting a glasses tan.