Chuck Grimmett

Blog

Institutions

Economics

Apr 26

Institutions, Institutional Change and Economic Performance by Doug North. Read it; it will likely change the way you think about why some nations manage to become rich and others stay poor, despite the billions of dollars being thrown at them annually.

More France photos will come soon, I promise. I am through 1.5/2 papers, so I still have half a paper and a take-home probability exam to finish in the next day and a half, then finals start immediately. I’m just a little busy…

(One paper is over the above book, so this post is entirely justified!)
Spring Break Part 2 of 4 – Arcachon

Life, Photography

Apr 19

After my short stay in Paris, I took a train a few hours south to Bordeaux, where my friend David lives. After a short nap at David’s apartment, we immediately went to the town of Arcachon, a small but beautiful place on the Atlantic (well, technically on Arcachon Bay, but we could see where the bay opened up to the Atlantic from the beach.) We were originally going to go there two days later, but the forecast was rain for that day, so we went right after arriving from Paris. Below are a few photos. As always, you can click on the photos to make them appear at a larger size.

Arcachon Bay:

The summer village:

Down in the summer village:

Down in the summer village (again):

The breakwater and oceanfront:

Two beautiful houses in the afternoon sun:

Me! (Photo taken by David Wagner)

Next up, Bordeaux! (Check back in a few days!)
Spring Break Part 1 of 4 – Paris

Life, Photography

Apr 18

I am finally getting around to posting some of my spring break photos from France! I won’t write the story of my trip on here… I would much prefer to tell you in person, so call me and ask me to hang out! (Or if you are too far away to do that, call me and we can talk!)

I will post some of my favorite photos from the trip in a series of posts, one for each place I visited. This post, Paris, will start it out. Coming soon will be Arcachon, Bordeaux, and Nice. Keep checking back throughout the week! Keep in mind that these are just my favorites. If you want to see more of my photos, let me know! (I can show you them at the same time I tell you my stories!)

Click on each photo to see it at a larger size.

Luxemburg Gardens:

A typical Parisian street:

The Seine river at night with Notre Dame in the distance:

A closer view in the daytime:

Notre Dame at night:

Carvings above the Notre Dame doors:

Inside Notre Dame

Sacre Coeur:

Sacre Coeur (closer)

Two metros passing each other (long exposure, handheld)

Eiffel Tower at night from Hannah Stone’s window:

Stairway in the Hotel Herse d’Or that David and I stayed at:

Hotel de Ville from across the Seine at night:

Check back soon for more photos!
March Madness

Life

Mar 25

Sorry basketball fans. This blog post is talking about the March madness of Hillsdale and my life. Complete with photos!

First off, the weather has been crazy here. It has gone from the teens to the upper sixties in temperature, and everywhere from snow to rain to sunshine.

Here are a few photos of the campus:
(Click on the photos to view them larger)

March, for me at least, was filled with exams, deadlines, presentations, meetings, photography, and occasional illness. I am happy to report that all turned out for the best.

During the fourth CCA, director Peter Bogdanovich showed up on campus to give an informative and entertaining lecture:

There was a week and a half span where the weather was absolutely gorgeous. The temperature was in the 50s and 60s, and the skies were clear and blue. I did a lot of studying outside those days. There were also a lot of frisbee games and guitars bring played on the quad during those days.

One evening, the classics honorary decided to put on a Virgil Vigil. They read all twelve books of the Aeneid on the quad late into the night:

Also, the Charger Baseball season started!

Last night, instrumental guitarist Trace Bundy did a concert at Hillsdale, which was excellent. I did not take any photos, but I am sure William Clayton will post some soon.

I am leaving a lot of things out, but it is for the best. These things are just a quick glimpse of my past month.

Now, it is finally spring break. I am home in Amherst for the evening, then tomorrow (Friday) I will be on a plane to France to spend spring break traveling around France with my friend David Wagner. I am visiting Paris, Bordeaux, Arcachon, and Nice. I am very excited! I will post about it when I get back.
CCA III

Hillsdale, Photography

Mar 7

A few photos from Hillsdale College’s CCA III: The New Deal, which went from Jan. 31- Feb. 3.

Amity Shlaes:

Bradley C.S. Watson:

Dr. Burt Folsom, giving one of FDR’s famous gestures of dissatisfaction (ironically to FDR’s New Deal policies):
Answer to Logic Quiz

Math, Thoughts

Mar 6

Here is the answer to the logic quiz I posted a week and one day ago.

The original statement took the form “If p, then q” where p: “the red car is broken” and q: “John drives the blue car.”

The only statement in a)-g) which is equivalent to that is statement c, which is the contrapositive of the original statement. The contrapositive takes the form “If not q, then not p.”

Reason: The original statement means exactly what it says: If the red car is broken, then John drives the blue car. Think if this as two circles, a smaller one inside a larger one. The larger outer circle is statement q: John drives the blue car. The smaller inner circle is p: the red car is broken. Whenever you are inside the circle p, then you are automatically inside circle q. There is no way out of this. You can, however, be inside circle q without being inside circle p. (Draw it out if you can’t visualize it.) What we can conclude from this is that if you are not inside circle q, then there is no way you can be inside circle p. Thus, if John is not driving the blue car, the red car is not broken.

There are other reasons why a, b, d, e, f, and g are false. If you can’t figure it out, post your question to the comments and I will be happy to answer it for you.
Logic Quiz

Math, Thoughts

Feb 26

Here is a little logic quiz for you:

Given this statement, which of the following is correct?
List your answer in the comments. (The answer can be any combination of the statements.)

Statement: If the red car is broken, then John drives the blue car.

a) John drives the blue car only if the red car is broken.
b) If the red car is not broken, then John does not drive the blue car.
c) If John does not drive the blue car, then the red car is not broken.
d) If John drives the blue car, then the red car must be broken.
e) The red car is broken only if John drives the blue car.
f) John drives the blue car if and only if the red car is broken.
g) If John drives the red car, the blue car is broken.
Arts for Creative Minds

Hillsdale, Photography

Feb 25

Above: Freshman Samantha Gilman volunteers for “Arts for Creative Minds, a volunteer program where college students work with area youth in arts-related activities.” Read the article. (From the February 11 edition of the Collegian.)
Charger Basketball

Hillsdale, Photography

Feb 22
Professor Fuerst, Composer

Hillsdale, Photography

Feb 20

Professor Matt Fuerst, part of Hillsdale’s excellent music faculty, is a composer who has had his compositions performed on three continents. In the picture above, he explains his composition method to the Hillsdale Collegian. Read the full story.Archived Link
Professor Knecht

Hillsdale, Photography

Feb 18

Click on the photo to view it at a larger size.

I took this photo for today’s Collegian. This is one of Hillsdale’s art professors, Sam Knecht, “painting a large-scale scene of the Founding Fathers signing the American Constitution. The painting is part of the September opening of the Allan P. Kirby, Jr. Center for Constitutional Studies and Citizenship.” Read the article.
Update on My Life

Life

Feb 14

Wow, it has been over a month since I last updated! It was so relaxing to not have to come up with a post every day that I came up with no posts at all. For those of you who used this blog as a window into my life, rest assured after you read this. I have not taken off to the wilderness of Alaska to live in seclusion from the social world. I just took a break from updating this blog. Below is the highlight of what has happened during that time.

The last time I updated (about palindromes) I was in Tennessee for a funeral. My family and I got back home from that trip just fine, and I drove myself to Chicago two days later to visit with/drop some things off to my cousin. Though I only stayed one night and turned around and drove back home the next day, I had a nice visit. I ate some tasty deep dish pizza, got to experience driving a vehicle through the Michigan Ave. traffic, and I ate at Hot Doug’s Sausage Emporium. What an excellent place. A whole restaurant devoted to sausage! I can’t wait to go there again. Anyway, the drive back home from Chicago took much longer than normal, since a huge snowstorm hit the midwest the night before and dumped a lot of snow everywhere. It also did not stop snowing the whole time I was driving home, so once it got dark, the last 150 miles across Ohio with slick roads, 45 mph traffic, and lots of semis made for a lot of fun.

Three days after I got home from that trip, it was time for me to go back to Hillsdale and start a new semester. (Here is my schedule.) My classes are going very well. They are a lot of work, but I enjoy it and would not have it any other way. Besides a lot of classwork, I’ve been tutoring a local home schooled student in geometry, specifically proof writing. I’ve also been taking a fair amount of photos for Hillsdale and the Collegian. I will post a sample of photos sometime over the next week.

Two weeks into the semester, I went to Chicago again for the weekend with some friends to hang out and do some exploring. On the way there, the tread flew off the back right tire. Changing the tire, filling it up, and finding an auto parts store to replace the broken tail light (from the tread) was an adventure in itself. We had fun, though, and we got back to school safely. Sadly, we did not get to eat at Hot Doug’s, though. Next time.

I finalized my spring break plans–I am going to France to visit David Wagner! I figured that this may be the only opportunity I will have to visit a friend in France who I can stay with and who actually speaks French, so I decided to take it. I am flying in to Paris on a Saturday morning, taking a train to Bordeaux on Monday, visiting the Atlantic ocean Wednesday during the day and back to Bordeaux that evening, taking an overnight train to Nice on the Mediterranean Thursday night, back to Paris Saturday, and flying back home Easter Sunday. I will then drive back to Hillsdale on Monday. It will be a busy trip, but I am very excited!

Also, big news for the summer. I was offered an internship at the Foundation for Economic Education! I will be in Atlanta for all of June, then in Estes Park, CO (right outside Rocky Mountain National Park) for most of July, back in Atlanta for a week, then Irvington, NY for a week. I will be taking photos, helping run FEE’s summer seminars, and any other miscellaneous jobs they need me to do. I will have a couple weeks at home after this semester is over before I leave, and a couple weeks before I have to start the fall semester. I am looking forward to a great summer!

I will do my best to post more often. Check back over the next week for a sample of my photos from the last month!
Palindrome Dates

Math, Thoughts

Jan 3

I didn’t have time to post about it yesterday, but yesterday’s date was a palindrome! (For those of you who don’t know, a palindrome is something that reads the same backward as it does forward- Yesterday’s date was 01022010.) It was only the second palindrome date of the 21st century. The first was 10022001 (October 2, 2001), and before that the last palindrome date was August 31, 1380! (Note: I am talking about palindromes of the form MMDDYYYY or YYYYMMDD. Both of these forms, when reversed on the dates listed below, read the same.)

Though palindrome dates are pretty rare, there will be 12 in the 21st century. When there is a new millennia, it turns out there are usually 12 palindrome dates each century–one for each month–for the first two centuries. The exception to this was in the 1300s, which only had 7 and was the third century of that millennium.

Anyway, while I was waiting for my food at a restaurant last night, I took a moment and figured out the 12 palindrome dates of this century. Two have already passed, so 10 remain.
Here are the ones for the 21st century:

10/02/2001
01/02/2010
11/02/2011
02/02/2020
12/02/2021
03/02/2030
04/02/2040
05/02/2050
06/02/2060
07/02/2070
08/02/2080
09/02/2090
Day 365 – Final Post

Project 365

Dec 31

Year two thousand and nine has been an exciting, grace-filled year full of adventures, lessons, and valuable time spent with family and friends. This post draws my modified Project 365 to a close. Posting every day this year has been a challenge and a lesson in discipline, to be sure. Sometimes the posts came after midnight (never after 2 a.m., however), but there was a post for every day and the majority of them came in on time. My friend Emily Fisher did a good job making that happen by scolding me whenever she noticed a late post.

I did my best to make the posts interesting, and I hope you enjoyed them. I know some days were better than others. Those ‘better’ days were usually days I had time to go out and take photos specifically with the intent of posting them or write up some of my thoughts on various subjects. My girlfriend Amanda does a wonderful job writing down the ideas I have when we are together so I don’t forget them, as is too often the case with some ideas I come up with. Many of the things she wrote down for me this year turned into posts in one form or another. Other ‘better’ days were times when I travelled and posted photos/wrote about that day’s adventures. The not-so-good days were usually busy days when I didn’t have a lot of time to put into a post. I apologize for those days.

My immediate and near-future plans:
On this New Year’s eve, my parents and I are driving to Tennessee–a short, unexpected trip for a funeral. We plan on being back Monday, then I am driving by myself to Chicago for a quick visit with my cousin on Wednesday. I will be back Thursday night, then I am headed back to Hillsdale on Sunday, January 10. Somewhere in that time I plan on finishing Walker Percy’s The Moviegoer, a few Platonic dialogues (probably the Meno and Gorgias). As for my blog, I am beginning a redesign. I am not going to continue posting every day, but only when I have something interesting. I will definitely continue to post, though.

Whether you’ve been reading my blog all year or you just started, thank you for reading! Have a safe, wonderful New Year!

Read cagrimmett.com’s Google Analytics report for the 2009 year.
Day 364 – The Fireplace

Life, Project 365

Dec 30

As I stood in front of the fireplace this evening, I realized that I don’t remember a time when my family has not had one. Both of our houses have had one, and so has my grandmother’s house. It is so wonderful to come inside from a cold, snowy, windy day and warm up in front of the fire. It is also a wonderful place to sit in front of and read or think. As soon as the weather turns cool, I yearn for the smell of a wood fire in the air outside and the warmth inside that it provides. It is something I miss greatly in cold Hillsdale, MI.

Back in October, when the weather first turned cold in Hillsdale, I walked out of my dorm, felt the cold air biting at my face, and breathed in deeply through my nostrils. Almost instantly I stopped in my tracks and smiled. The old familiar smell of a wood fire was in the air and it comforted me with thoughts of home.

I am taking advantage of the fire as much as I can over this Christmas break. Soon I will return to Hillsdale and it will be gone when I return later in the spring when the weather is warmer.
Day 363 – New Year’s Resolutions

Life, Thoughts

Dec 29

I did a little thinking on New Year’s resolutions today, and they do not make much sense to me. Why resolve to do something that you think will better your life in some way starting at a future date? Whether what you are doing is trying to break a bad habit (smoking, drinking, overeating, procrastinating, etc.) or doing something positive (reading your Bible and praying more, saving money, becoming more disciplined, getting in shape, etc.), why not start as soon as it occurs to you to make a resolution for the upcoming year? January 1, 2010 is really not much different than December 31, 2009, or even December 10, 2009. If you have a change you want to make in your life, it is best to implement that change immediately. Waiting to make a change does not make much sense to me (with one exception, stated below.) If, for example, you want to lose weight but keep overeating until January 1, what have you accomplished? You have only made it more difficult for yourself. If you’ve waited until January 1, what is one more day? Pretty soon those “one more” days might add up… If you are going to do something, do it now.

The only reason I see to wait until January 1 to start a resolution is if the new calendar year offers some strategic advantage not available beforehand. Examples include a discount on a gym membership, daily Bible reading plans that go in order and start on January 1, or something similar. Keep in mind, however, that there are two sides to resolutions–the overarching ideas and the specific details. Waiting until January 1 because of a discount on a gym membership falls on the details side. If your resolutions are detail-specific, find the idea behind those details and implement other complementary details now that help you stay true to the idea behind the resolution.

A loophole I see to this is if you are a type of person who absolutely needs structured dates to start something and thrives on that. In that case, waiting to start resolutions until January 1 might help you. For everyone else, I suggest you start now. If your resolution is so unimportant that you can wait until January 1, why even start it then? If it will really make a difference, start immediately.
Day 362 – Snowy Hike

Amanda, Project 365

Dec 28

Today, Amanda and I went for an afternoon hike in the snow at Schoepfle Gardens and the woods behind. It was snowing a lot, but we had fun. Here are some photos:
Day 361 – Train Depot

Project 365

Dec 27

It has been quite a while since I have done much of anything with long exposures, so my parents and I went down to the old train depot and took a few shots. I am getting rusty!
Day 360 – Answer To Calendar Question and Misc.

Life, Project 365

Dec 26

This is my answer to the Friday the 13th calendar question my friend David posed to me on Monday:

(I believe it happens when January starts on a Sunday or a Thursday, though I am not 100% on this.)

It happened this year (2009). March and November, with February, March, and November having Friday the 13ths.

January and July in 2012 – January, April, and July have Friday the 13ths.

March and November in 2015 – February, March, and November have Friday the 13ths.

January and October in 2017. Those are the only two months that year that have a Friday the 13th.

The miscellaneous:
I’ve really been enjoying being home, spending time with family and friends, and relaxing. I’ve been able to get things done that I did not have time for during finals, like cleaning off and organizing files on my computer, fixing my external drive and backup situation, and turning in schedules for the spring semester. I plan to write a few letters and come up with a website redesign this week. Also, I have time for reading now! I am rereading The Hobbit so that I can start the LOTR set I got for Christmas. I am very excited!
Day 359 – Merry Christmas

Project 365

Dec 25

A few things to reflect upon today:
“Therefore the Lord Himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call His name Immanuel.” (Isaiah 7:14)

“For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon His shoulder: and His name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.” (Isaiah 9:6)

“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16)
Day 358 – My Little Cousin Evie

Project 365

Dec 24

Tonight we celebrated Christmas with my Mom’s side of the family. Here is a picture I took of my little cousin Evie:
Day 357 – Hummus

Life, Project 365, Recipes

Dec 23

As promised, I made hummus today. (Among other things, that is. I slept in, went out to lunch and shopping with Amanda, visited the Amherst Schools tech guys, ate dinner with my parents, made hummus, then wrapped presents with the help of my Dad.)

My friend Dom came over to make hummus with me, as he as made it many times before. We made two batches of the following recipe:

30 oz. Chickpeas
1/2 cup sesame seeds
Juice of 1/2 lemon
1 red bell pepper, chunked
2 cloves garlic
1 package of pita bread (approx. 6-8 pitas)
A pinch of salt
A drizzle of olive oil
As much hot sauce (I prefer Frank’s) as you want

Preparation:
Get out your blender or food processor of choice. Puree the sesame seeds with the lemon juice and garlic first. When it is sufficiently pureed, add and blend the first 15 oz of chickpeas, salt, and olive oil. Then, add and blend the red bell pepper, the hot sauce, and the remaining chickpeas. If it is all too thick, add a little bit of juice from the chickpeas (provided that they are canned–if not, use a little water) to thin it out.

Next, cut the pita bread into 8ths, lightly brush the pieces with olive oil, sprinkle a touch of salt on the pieces, then put them in the oven for 15 minutes at 350 degrees to toast them.

(The photo above is the hummus and pita chips Dom and I made. In the background is my family’s Christmas tree.)
Day 356 – Biscotti, Stir Fry, and Parfait

Project 365

Dec 22

After a routine checkup at the dentist this morning and a quick lunch with Dad, I went to Amanda’s house and helped her make three batches of cranberry pecan biscotti. I’ll admit, I was not much help besides mixing together dry ingredients, but it was nice to spend part of the afternoon with her, anyway.

After we finished making biscotti, I went home to cook dinner. I told my parents I would make dinner tonight, so I made the spicy chicken stir fry that I made this summer (with a few changes to the ingredients.) My idea for dessert was to have yogurt with blueberries and raspberries, so I went to the store and bought both. As I started cooking, though, Dad had a better idea–make parfait out of it! I didn’t know how to work such a wonder, so I let him do it. It turns out that all you have to do is whip yogurt, heavy whipping cream, sour cream, and sugar together. It was great! After Dad made it, he and I layered tall glasses with the mixture, blueberries, raspberries, and granola. It was a wonderful tasting (and wonderfully easy) dessert!

Tomorrow: Hummus! I am craving hummus, so I am going to figure out how to make it tomorrow. If you have a good recipe for it, please email it to me at cagrimmett@gmail.com – I would greatly appreciate it! All I know as of right now is that I am going to have to get some chickpeas, red bell peppers, and then pitas to bake into chips. Looks like I have some research to do! (Hmm… and that just reminds me that I have done zero present wrapping…. I should get on that, too.)
Day 355 – Calendar Question

Project 365, Thoughts

Dec 21

I visited my friend David Wagner today, and we drove all around the Huron/Sandusky/Port Clinton area this afternoon. David just got home for Christmas from his teaching position on Bordeaux, France. I haven’t seen him since the beginning of September, so it was wonderful to spend all afternoon and evening with him. If everything goes according to plan, I am going to fly to France to visit him (and take photos!) over spring break at the end of March.

Anyway, after reading the Blue Eyes logic puzzle question, he posed a calendar question to me. He is fascinated with the intricacies of calendars, so this is a question he has already solved and he wants to see if I can figure it out. If you figure it out, please don’t post the answer in the comments. I want to figure it out. I just wanted to post it so other people can work on it, too. Here it is:

In our lifetime, every 28 years there is a year with two 31-day months each having a Friday the 13th. Find the next year when all of this will occur and list all months in that year with a Friday the 13th.

Good luck!
Day 354 – Shopping as a Discovery Process

Economics, Project 365

Dec 20

While I was out finishing my Christmas shopping on Saturday, I couldn’t help but think a little bit about economics. I know I am strange, but it is what I am majoring in and what I’ve been studying these past three semesters at Hillsdale, and I am not very successful at turning my mind off (not that I’d ever want to…) More specifically, the work of Israel Kirzner. I read quite a bit of Kirzner in Austrian Economics I with Dr. Steele this past semester, so I thought I’d look at the world immediately around me through the lens of his work. The result? Shopping as a learning and discovery process.

Kirzner’s best work, in my opinion, is in characterizing the role and actions of the entrepreneur in the marketplace, a place which he viewed as in a constant state of disequilibrium. Entrepreneurs, by staying alert, learning, and discovering profit opportunities, tend to systematically move the market closer to equilibrium and erode ignorance that exists.

How does this relate to shopping?

I went shopping on Saturday not knowing what I was going to buy. I didn’t even have an idea. I was sheerly ignorant of all of the potential profit opportunities around me. All I needed was to stay alert to those opportunities the best I could and hope to stumble upon a profit opportunity and take advantage of it. I was, at least in my mind, a Kirznerian shopping entrepreneur, stumbling upon unexploited gains, reap the benefits, and add value to them as Christmas gifts to my loved ones. While shopping, I experienced first-hand the inherent “surprise element” (as Kirzner calls it) in the discovery process. I never knew the specific items I purchased existed, and there was no way I could search for them. I was in a state of sheer ignorance regarding their existence. Yet, due to the awareness of my cousin and me, I noticed the “$20 bills on the sidewalk” and “picked them up.” In the process, I was not only able to clear up a fraction of my ignorance and learn about shopping profit opportunities, but I had a good time engaging in it. If you aren’t all that keen on shopping and you are economically inclined, try thinking about it like this. It made my day a lot more enjoyable. (Okay, I know I am a little odd, but whatever works, you know?)

I am glad the market is in disequilibrium and that individuals do not have perfect knowledge of all possible trade opportunities. It allows for all sorts of interesting things to happen.

I encourage you to read a paper by Kirzner on entrepreneurial discovery and competition. You won’t regret it.