brian schettler

See this previous post about looking for last semester’s online information before it’s taken down. You might find study guides, homeworks, etc. Always worth a shot.

Tags: classwork, online, osu, School, semester

If you’re getting a little tired of classic Christmas music, you might try The Christmas Lounge streaming internet radio station. I found it last year and I really enjoy the modernization of all the songs I grew up with. So far I’d have to say my absolute favorite song is Cathedral Brass - Joy to the World (Mocean Worker Remix) (30 second sample).

Tags: christmas, modern, music, remix

I know I’m late, but here’s some thoughts. I’m generally optimistic about Barack Obama. Two big reasons:

1. He is a much better role model to young minorities than rappers and athletes.
2. He understands technology and I think that’s good. There’s a lot of potential to use technology to improve government and I hope we see progress in this area. Also for policies like net neutrality.

I was generally optimistic until I saw that Obama was bringing on lots of old Clinton people. I am trying to give him the benefit of the doubt. One way I’ve heard it explained is that as someone who is inexperienced, he needs to be surrounded by people who know how to use the system, and hopefully he will ditch them after two years or so. Otherwise this wasn’t so much the “change” that was promised. I definitely think having Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State is a big mistake, because I don’t think she is capable of allegiance to anyone except herself. If a situation arises where it’s either her or Obama, she will put herself first.

Tags: clinton, Government, hillary, obama, politics, president

Well, finals are over so I can return to blogging for a bit. I have some thoughts I’ve been saving up, so expect to see those soon.
And also, the new Wordpress (2.7) is very nice.

Tags: Blog, School

Somehow I thought it was two weeks away, but I just looked at my calendar and realized it’s next week. To get you ready to vote it’s a good idea to look up some sample ballots. Ones for Stillwater are located here, but I think you should be able to find some for your area by searching for “[your county name here] county election board.” It’s a good idea to know all the judges you’re going to confirm and all of those peskily-worded state questions ahead of time, plus it’s considerate.

Tags: ballot, election, election board, prepatation

I’m probably not going to have very much time in the next two weeks for political analysis, with school and work and everything (somebody has to contribute to GDP and pay taxes to pay for the bailout). The way I see it now, I think Obama will when the election. I hope I’m wrong, but here are some of my thoughts:

1. The financial meltdown. I think when the economy goes bad, people will vote with their wallets. They’re more likely to give “the other guy” a shot at running it for the next four years. But, I think McCain’s strong suit is the economy/tax policy and hopefully people realize that.
2. Obama’s campaign appeals to people’s feelings. Hope and Change are the two big buzzwords from Obama’s campaign, but what does that mean in concrete terms? Even all of his campaign material is done in a “happy warm fuzzies” kind of way. I think younger voters are especially swayed by this kind of marketing. It’s what makes them feel good. The facts and policies matter less.
3. The Republican party has moved away from conservative ideals. There’s no such thing as a small, limited government anymore. There are no free market principles. Like the article linked to a few days ago, I think the Republican party needs a wake up call to gather around the core principles, and a humiliating loss is probably the only way to do it.

I hope I’m wrong, but I guess we’ll see in two weeks. I would be okay with an Obama presidency if we had a Republican majority in Congress, but the idea of a Democratic president and a Democratic super-majority scare me (same thing with Republican president and Republican Congress)…the government works best when divided and all that, you know.

Tags: 2008, election, Government, president

Just thought I’d throw out a link to winkflash. Sarah and I got some photos made of the wedding and used them. We were pleased with the results. We first ordered a small batch with and without their “image enhancement” to compare and we both agreed that with image enhancement looked better. Also, I thought the option to add a white border around the edge of the photo was a nice addition.

Tags: online services, photos, print

An Obama win does have it’s bright side. From here:

Which brings me back to why the Republicans need to get throttled: A humiliated, decimated GOP that rejuvenates and rebuilds around the principles of limited government, free markets, and rugged individualism is really the only chance for voters to possibly get a real choice in federal elections down the road.

Those principles are definitely not in the Republican party today and it pains me.

Tags: 2008, election, Government, politics, republican

I’ll try to post some interesting things around the web I’ve found that do a good job of explaining what’s been going on recently.

• This American Life, The Giant Pool of Money. Very interesting, a few months old. Describes why the banks started to make so many loans to people that probably wouldn’t pay them back.
• Financial Crisis Simplified (a whiteboard presentation). How these mortgages got marketed as a great deal, when really they were not.
• The Subprime Primer. A little old too, but pretty funny. (Some bad language)
• Newt Gingrich is against the bailout. This was before the bailout passed, but he has a great point which looks to be true now that the markets have continued to fall: “Well, after we throw away $300 billion on housing this summer, we’re now going to throw away $700 billion on Wall Street. If this fails after a trillion dollars, what’s the next request?”
• Money as Debt. A 45-minute video describing how the basic role of money and what it represents has changed over the past several hundred years.

Tags: bailout, economy, links, markets, money, resources

Article from 1999 in the NY Times (emphasis mine).

Fannie Mae, the nation’s biggest underwriter of home mortgages, has been under increasing pressure from the Clinton Administration to expand mortgage loans among low and moderate income people and felt pressure from stock holders to maintain its phenomenal growth in profits.

It sucks because Fannie Mae was one of the “Good to Great” companies I’m reading about in Good to Great.

Tags: blame, clinton, economy, Government, subprime