Negative Externalities: Smog and the Environment
Though we did not cover the concept of negative externalities and the El Farol Bar Problem, I thought it would be pertinent to discuss this University of California (Berkeley) article which discusses the concept of smog as a negative externality imposed upon the environment. In essence, the price payed at the pump or for energy […]
Indiewalls-A Network of Art Traders
Two years ago, a good friend of mine graduated from Cornell and founded a start-up called Indiewalls. Based online at http://indiewalls.com/, Indiewalls sets to meet the demand of matching artists with venues to display such art, like coffee-shops hotel lobbies and the such. They give these venues a chance to line their walls with professional […]
Fraternity Networking and the Strength of Alumni Connections
In a stressful college environment, connections and support from others are key to success. College life is about overcoming obstacles and solving problems. One thing that many students overlook in their first year at school is that attempting these pursuits on one’s own can be daunting, difficult, and sometimes impossible. The typical college student will […]
The Destruction of Privacy and Limits of Freedom
With the reemergence of open-source and free-to-use browsers and websites like Firefox and Napster, companies have found it too difficult to limit the free exchange of information like movies, songs, and ideas, thus losing money. Also, just having an online presence requires money to pay bills and paychecks. For a while companies solved this by […]
Frowned Upon Search Optimization
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/13/business/13search.html?pagewanted=all This article by David Segal discusses the questionable way that JCPenney was able to make its site pop up extremely high, if not No. 1, in a Google search for tons of different objects in late 2010 to early 2011 (most noticeably through the holiday season). Searches for things like bedding, home decor, area […]
Mobile Apps for Gathering Research Data
In the recent 5 years, the mobile industry has grown tremendously. At the center of that growth was Apple’s App Store for smartphones. What made the App Store so effective and even revolutionary was that it connected consumers to a one-stop place for every (non-jailbreak) app ever created for the iPhone. There was no need […]
Boxing Day Tsunami 2004
On the 26th of December in 2004, Sri Lanka, along with other countries in the region, was devastated by a Tsunami that originated from Indonesia. Due to poor warning systems and inadequate communications infrastructure, most people were taken by surprise by the natural disaster. In Sri Lanka alone, there were 35,000 deaths and nearly half […]
…Dwelt a miner forty-niner…
In 1848 gold was discovered at John Sutter’s California sawmill. Two years later the state’s population had increased by more than 500% It was said that the diggin’ was so easy that gold nuggets were being picked up off the ground. This at first attracted people from places of proximity- Oregon, Hawaii, Mexico, Peru. Soon, […]
nash equilibrium reliable?
http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2009/game-theory.html An assistant professor at the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence department of MIT found a way to apply computational complexity to game theory. Game theory, as we have learned in our lecture, is a branch of mathematics that can be applied to all different situations to describe strategic reasoning. Professor Daskalakis won a prize […]
Direct-Benefit Effect in Herd Behavior
Zebras and other animals that are typically preyed upon often times demonstrate “herd behavior.” Animals demonstrating this behavior stay in very large groups and are often in open spaces, for example zebras on the plains or schools of fish in the sea. By sticking together in a herd, they reduce the chance of being singled […]
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