I think I have writers block or something, I jumped on here thinking for sure that I had something to say, but then I just started looking around my room at all the stuff that I need to do, letters I need to write back to people, new books that I got for Christmas that I want to start reading, piles of papers and things that need to be organized. It's amazing how even when you're not enrolled in school tons of things just "appear" that take up my time. They're things that I want to do, no doubt, but it's just amazing how there's always something.

Oh! I remembered what I wanted to post!

I found this excerpt when I was glancing through some research on a new area known as "bounded rationality", it's part of the field of human decision process . . . anyway, I thought it was fascinating:

Simon's focus on cognitive capabilities as the sole source of BR is in
accord with the research mode in psychology and economics. On the one hand he
maintains that ''people have reasons for what they do; they have motivations and use
reason (well or badly) to respond to these motivations and reach their goal'' (cf. Simon, 1987, pp. 25-26), and on the other hand he argues that ''reason is
wholly instrumental. It cannot tell us where to go; at best it can tell us how to
get there. It is a gun for hire that can be employed in the service of whatever goals we
have, good or bad'' (1983, pp. 7-8). Indeed, people use reason to respond to these
motivations, but they also use emotions. What sets the stage is our emotional mechanism, while one function of reason is to explore the possible paths to get there.
That is, while ends cannot be determined logically by reason (Hare, 1963;
Popper,1962), once ends are determined, it is the role ofreason to take us there.
''In circumstances succiently known'', Shackle (1972, p. 135) argues, ''reason may tell
what action will lead to what end. But reason will not tell what end ought
to be chosen''.

New color.

Our house is finally online. We got Time Warner Roadrunner internet service installed today. Also, I got a lifetime Duke alumni email account. cee@alumni.duke.edu Some webserver space comes with it as well so I may be moving my website over there in the near future.

I uploaded some pictures today from our holiday party. On Jack's suggestion we made some "hot totties" to keep warm. :)

I'm headed up to Forest, VA tonight to visit Amina, Nooreen, and my Aunt Maggie. Then we're driving up to Marietta on Tuesday for Christmas.

Unfortunately there's no tree at our house this year, as there was last year. And I missed the annual class of '98 holiday gift exchange. But Marietta will probably be as festive as ever.

I'll be back down to Durham Thursday night and am looking for some good New Year's plans. Probably won't be as fun as the "party down in Mountain town" last new year's!

Recommended website . . . looks interesting.

I received what might be the best Christmas present in recent memory yesterday. One of my best students from Duke's TIP program last summer, Sam, went to http://heifer.org/ and gave the gift of a water buffalo in my honor to a village family in need. Some of you may know that in a totally unrelated incident Mike also has water buffalo as a nickname. This was such a heart-warming surprise Sam, thanks so much!

For those of you who haven't finished all of your holiday shopping, here is a list of sites that offer "fair trade" products and support living wages and fair trade.

Global Exchange

Fair Trade Federation

Fair Trade Resource

IFAT

Equal Exchange

Another movie recommendation - Love is the Devil - a biography of Francis Bacon. My favorite quote, "I say it to reporters, but I really mean it - I'm optimistic about nothing."

This is really well done.

Check out this really cool series of photos that someone from work sent me.

Click here for the .pps file.

Pictures from the ice storm and snow around my house and Duke are now online.

I realized last night for the first time that the tree which you can see in the pictures in the backyard which left it's top branches just outside of my window hit the deck on the way down and broke off part of the railing. I'm glad the tree wasn't just a few feet taller, otherwise, as you can see in the picture, I would had branches through the window and needles in my face in a rather quick fashion! Man, between break-ins, shotguns, and random trees nearly falling into my room, life is pretty dangerous these days! ;) hahaha.

Finally got electricity back this morning!

Well, still no electricity at my house, though I think we're getting close. Neighborhoods on both sides have it now. I just hope that no water pipes are broken and that the house heats back up quickly.

The lab just took me out to lunch at an Indian restaurant here in town for my birthday last week.

Still without power and crashing at a friend's place on campus . . .

This is bullshit!!! Suit against Cheney task force dismissed

Still without power and crashing with a friend on campus . . . maybe by Wednesday we'll have power again.

Darwin at work? Carolinians still shivering in ice storm aftermath
Health officials warn of carbon monoxide danger

Storm leaves Carolinas shivering in the dark
'Fran with ice' as damaging as '96 hurricane

Well, Durham got buried under a couple inches of snow and a lot of freezing rain last night. Power is out all over the place. My house finally got too cold as I ran out of firewood that I finally ventured on the roads and onto campus, the only place with power, heat, and warm food. Since then I've just been enjoying the heat and reading. We got today off from work but will probably be back tomorrow, though it may be a day until electricity is back on at home, I'm happy to go to work and stay warm.

Gotta say thanks to Mike for the birthday card from Vietnam. Also I should say hey to Ryan who I'm hoping to see more posts from once he gets back to writing. Eric, what can I say, you're snowed in in Marietta, what could be better? ;)

I'll have pictures from all the snow and the two trees that nearly hit my house in the near future . . .

Well, it's been a good birthday so far and now the snow is coming down! Thanks to everyone who has wished me a happy birthday. Thanks also to Jack, Eric, Ian, Erin, Meera, Dhara, and everyone else who made my trip back to Marietta last week a fun one.

Check out this article. It's very interesting.
A new world order


Jed Emerson's capitalist utopia. Can social value reward investors, companies?
October 29, 2002: 11:44 AM EST