Project on Corruption

I'm writing my research project proposal for my Statistics class. The paper is on"Measuring Corruption" and deals with what causes corruption and how it is measured. The graphic at left is care of the World Bank - aren't they great?

The minimum length is 2-3 pages, but mine is near 10! Yikes! I guess it really is a good thing, though, because that means I actually have a lot of the work out of the way for when I write the paper.

The only problem - I've got another proposal paper due on Wednesday! For a project that I haven't even picked a topic for yet! AHHHHHHH.......

We're looking forward to spring break here.... Only ... two ... more ... weeks ... ...

What I used to do in physics

I found a report online from the physics lab that I used to work at, at the University of Washington Energetics Lab. It's pretty cool, since it actually has my name on it, as having worked on it! Click on the picture to see the thing.

If you want an explanation of what it actually does, however, you're pretty much out of luck. Even I didn't understand it completely after having worked there for a year. In a nutshell, there are three metal conductors at the end of each of the long green rods, and they measure the voltage inside a stream of plasma that moves across the tips. Because the plasma is several million degrees hot, the rods had to be made out of a special chalky material, and they could only be inserted in the very edge of the plasma stream, since it's "cooler" there -- only a few thousand degress there!

For more check out the report, since it also has a few graphs that I made while I was there.

Photo: Washington Cathedral

This is the Washington Cathedral, two blocks from where we live. I took this last weekend when it was snowing. And it's now snowing again outside, although not quite as hard. 

Slow

Sorry it's been slow here. Life here has been pretty busy, and probably will be for the next couple of weeks.

At least I've decided on a few topics for my upcoming research papers.

For my Chinese Politics class I think I'm going to do something relating to the chances of democracy in China, and it's effects on China's foreign policy with East Asia and the U.S. I still have a bit of refining to do on the focus, but that's the start.

For Statistics I'm probably going to analyze data on what contributes to a country's corruption. The group Transparency International has some quantitative data on corruption by country, and I'll probably try to see how it correlates with a country's GDP, rural/urban ratio, political system presence or absence of political and personal freedoms, etc.

I still need an idea for my US Foreign Policy class.

New Suit

I picked up my new suits today! I got one new grey suit (the Versini one) and a separate blazer that was also on sale.

I also got some new ties. According to the Men's Wearhouse staff, yellow is the new "power tie", so I got one of those, as well as a nice blue and grey one that matches the suit nicely (they both do actually).

Now I just need an interview... 

Watercolors

For Christmas my mom and dad gave me a Watercolor-a-Day calendar, where you get a little preprinted paper and you get to watercolor it in. It's like paint-by-numbers, without the numbers. And they even come with inspirational quotes! Here's one of my better ones...


I do well at the solid color ones, not so well at the impressionist types. I like the impressionist ones, I just can't do them! 

Snow!

We got snow here over the weekend. Here's the view out our back windows:

 

Wacky News

Our Vice President accidentally shot a fellow hunter.

"The covey flushed and the vice president picked out a bird and was following it
and shot. And by god, Harry was in the line of fire and got peppered pretty
good."

This is our new favorite news story here.

Business cards for Aaron!

I've got a business card now. It's so that I can hand it out to potential employers while I grovel for an internship. Why is it so hard to get something that doesn't even pay money? Anyway, here it is:

The Media's Influence

I think the answer to the question of "who has the bulk of the control over the US media?" is that the presidential administration has the most control in framing the news, followed by the other political elites in Washington.

Remember I've only had this class for 4 weeks, but here's my explanation. The media rely on sources for their information, right? And the best sources are the ones who have the most credibility - ie. administration sources, and the president is, of course, the number one source. What he says gets reported and quoted. So he has the most potential influence to shape events and news in ways that benefit him and his administration.

Because it takes journalists a while to develop their network of sources, and because they rely so heavily on these sources, it is argued, that they will be very reticent to report poorly on the administration, becuase then they'd be biting the hand that feeds them.

The time that other political elites can influence the news is when they have dissenting views from administration and they are willing to express those views. Of course, for various reasons they aren't always willing to express those views, from re-election reasons to thinking that they won't receive enough support to warrant sticking out their necks.

There's other reasons, too, but those are the main ones that I can think of right now!

My Classes

I like my classes a lot this quarter!

In my Domestic Sources of US Foreign Policy we are studying the effect of the media and the president on politics and how people make up their minds about who to support or vote for. And guess what? The president doesn't have as much power as we necessarily think he does - most people already have their minds made up about what policies they will support or not, even if they haven't consciously made that decision. And this is partly because people tend to listen more and believe those (people, media, etc.) who already agree with them. This is great stuff!

In my Chinese Politics class we read a great book on Chinese history, heard a guest lecture on Chinese responses to terrorism, and watched a documentary on the Tiananmen incident.

You may already know how I feel about statistics class, but I do like the stuff we are actually learning. I find it quite fascinating. I think I'm also one of the few people who understands the textbook, mostly I think because we had to do so much statistics when I was studying physics (of course, I didn't understand it then!).

And I just graded my first bunch of papers for the US, Japan and China class that I am TA for. Now I just hope that nobody complains about their grades! Grading papers is so stressful! I'll be glad to go back to grading tests.

So I like my classes! Yay!

I'm getting old

I have to get a suit. A business suit. A boring suit. But I'm at least going to try to get a gray suit, and not a navy one. To me, navy seems to be the most old. Gray is at least a little hip, and still boring enough to be professional. Maybe sometime I can get a black suit. My sister loves black suits - she was always trying to get my dad to buy a black Armani suit. I, however, will probably not get an Armani suit, because I am looking for internships, which are largely unpaid.

Here's one I like from the Men's Wearhouse. And here's one from Armani!

Fruit

For Christmas, my mom and dad got me a mail order fruit basket from Florida. Here's the second mailing of them: tangelos and grapefruit, along with a mango and apple that were on sale at Safeway.


My own little still life...

Fish

And the results from last night's salmon on the grill. Hmmmmmmm....

 

House

It's surprising how much bigger our apartment looks when we clean it! Surprising especially in comparison with our apartment from last year, which was tiny. But I think it's good, since last year we were working so hard that we weren't at home as much. This year the extra space is a lot more useful, with our studying.

On the dinner menu tonight:

- Cajun spiced Salmon fillets (they were on sale at Safeway)
- Basil lemon pasta
- Broccoli (which has been in the fridge for a while, also purchased while on sale)

My birthday is only one month away! Yay!

Falling into the Subway

You're in a subway, waiting for that train to come. Suddenly you think, it would be so easy to take just one small step and fall right in front of an oncoming train. Either that, or a little push - accidental or on purpose. I know I have. Well the NYTimes is running an article on just this topic. Quite interesting. It's from a study out of one hospital, finding that:

"We found that the number of subway injuries does correlate with the unemployment rate and the homeless rate in the city," Dr. Guth said.

and that

the highest number of cases occurred in 1992, when unemployment in the city peaked at around 11 percent

It even mentions Hong Kong, where the subway was used often for suicide, although it doesn't mention that Hong Kong has subsequently added doors to the metro platforms to prevent access to the tracks before trains arrive.

Media

We learned in our US Foreign Policy class, where we're studying the media right now, that people who listen to NPR tend to have a greater understanding of alternate interpretations of the news. The scholarly evidence shows that mass media tends to do a poor job of being independent from the government.

So I've started listening to some NPR shows that are available as podacsts, which beats most of the podcast-only shows. I really like WNYC's Leonare Lopate Show which is updated everyday and includes NPR's great mix of views and insight.