Today is Amanda’s Birthday!
For those of you who don’t know her, she is a beautiful, wonderful, smart young lady, and she has been a blessing in my life. If you have a chance to get to know her, I suggest you do. You won’t regret it.
In fact, I wish you could all get to know her and find out what a beautiful person, both inside and out, she is.
Here is a photo of her from a few days ago, taken on my phone:
Happy Birthday, Amanda!
Today, the Classical Liberal Organization (a group at Hillsdale I am the president of) organized a speaker panel on the topic: “The Fall of the Berlin Wall: Past, Present, and Future.” The CLO set up this panel to bring to light the reality of communism and how it affected the entire world. For far too many students today who did not live through the Cold War era, communism and its end can become just another set of historical facts. We don’t want this to happen here.
Here are the three speakers we had:
Dr. Bradley Birzer, History:
Dr. Charles Steele, Economics:
Dr. William Morrisey, Political Science:
We had a great turnout. Around 65 people showed up and filled the room we were in, even though today was a busy day at Hillsdale. The talks were excellent, and provoked some thoughtful questions. The event was a success!
If you have time, read this post Dr. Birzer had yesterday at De Regno Christi, entitled “The Priest, the Prophet, and the King.”
My friends Paul, Joe, Forrest, Richard, and Seth (L-R in the top photo) have a band named “The Gentiles,” and they are competing in Hillsdale’s Battle of the Bands next week.
…one of many that took place during the 59 Hillsdale-24 Tiffin game this afternoon.
Dr. Wenzel, an economics professor here at Hillsdale, occasionally gives his students an atypical assignment: Do nothing for 15 minutes. Turn off the cell phone, computer, music, television, etc. Get rid of all distractions, even books. Just sit on the edge of your bed in silence and think for 15 minutes. That’s all.
I tried it this evening, and it is relaxing, calming, and wonderful. Life can get so filled with things to do and deadlines to make that we never stop to actually think. Think and nothing else. After a stressful week, it was nice to reflect for a while.
Though I am, in terms of technology, an unapologetic modern, I still find value in turning some things off for a little while and having uninterrupted thought, free from the distractions of the modern world. If I knew I would not miss something important, I would like to turn my phone off and stop checking my email for a few days. The only problem I have is that technology is so ingrained in my life that if I shut off my phone or email, over 90% of my communication would be cut off. Perhaps this is a good thing, but not something I can do during school. Maybe I will give it a try over Christmas break or the summer.
Has anyone else tried this? How did it go? I am interested…let me know in the comments.
Tonight, Richard Ebeling travelled to Hillsdale to give a thought-provoking and engaging lecture, titled “Why the Berlin Wall Came Down and Socialism Failed: Ludwig von Mises and the Power of Ideas.”
Dr. Ebeling is a prolific author, former president of the Foundation for Economic Education, and professor of economics at many different institutions, including Hillsdale from 1988-2003. In 1996, he and his wife, Anna Ebeling, obtained the lost papers of Ludwig von Mises, which had been kept in a formerly secret KGB archive in Moscow for 50 years. Dr. Ebeling is now on the faculty at Northwood University in Midland, MI.
If you are interested in what Dr. Ebeling had to say tonight, read this article he wrote yesterday.
Have some spare time (unlike me)?
Read these articles. They are very good. I had to read three of them recently for class, and the fourth I came across a little over a week ago.
Menger: On the Origins of Money (PDF)
Hayek: The Use of Knowledge in Society (PDF)
Horwitz: Subjectivism (Google Book)
Buchheit: Applied Philosophy, a.k.a. “Hacking” (HTML)
I apologize for the lack of new photos and decent thoughts this week. I plan to get out and take some photos this weekend, when I won’t have more exams hanging over my head.
The only worthwhile thought I have right now (worthwhile to this blog, that is) is that you should not trust the hype about the 3.5% increase in GDP last quarter. Do some research and see where it actually came from. I will give you a hint: Individuals’ consumption levels stayed roughly the same, investment stayed roughly the same, and net exports roughly stayed the same. What changed? Government spending! Does this mean things are getting better? No. In fact, unemployment went up last quarter.
Beware of Christina Romer going on national news and trying to convince you that things are a lot better since GDP went up 3.5%. “It just ain’t so!”
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Exams finished this week: 2.
Exams left this week: 1.
Days to study left: 2.
Oh, and I decided to fight the ticket I talked about a few days ago. My court date is set for Nov. 24, three weeks from today.
Hillsdale made a limited supply of shirts commemorating the homecoming game where the Chargers Football team beat No. 1 ranked Grand Valley State.
What’s new today: Exam number 1 of 3 for the week is finished! Now I have the Austrian Economics exam on Tuesday, and a Constitution exam on Friday. This week has been busy so far!
Two more Halloween Photos:
My cousin HankD made this zombie/skeleton by hand!
It was excellent to be home, even if for a little while. My wonderful Mom did my laundry (thank you!) and cooked a delicious meal before I had to drive back to Hillsdale this afternoon.
The Spider Holster finally came out today! I’ve been looking forward to this since the spring, but now that it finally came out, I am waiting to buy it. Even the cheapest version (just the holster, nothing else) is more than I want to spend right now. I am excited that it is finally out, though!
