A swift kick to the ass

As you probably know, my life has been completely absorbed with one thing: applications. Anytime someone asks me, "What are you up to?" I reply, "Essays." The person sighs and answers, "Still?" I reluctantly nod. Yes, I've been dragging my feet with these essays for over five months, but I am finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.

Fear not, with some motivation I will be able to finish up these torturous essays. You can expect to see me back to normal starting January 11.

Do we really need another bitch?

The infamous Korean scientist who previously claimed to have cloned a dog is now reporting that he and his team have cloned a female dog. This, of course, leads many to suspect whether this announcement is credible and the bigger issue of how can a person regain credibility after being accused of lying (on top of ethical questions around cloning).

When I first saw the headline, I naturally scoffed at it and questioned the validity, but then I took a moment and thought about how much "truth" capital such a scientist will need to obtain in order to be seen as a credible scientist. This leads me to consider, what does it take to regain trust?

This is literally the funniest shit I've read...

Check it

Obama's announcement

Must Big Brother dictate our diets?

As you may have heard, the city of New York will be introducing a ban on the use of trans-fats at all restaurants.

NEW YORK (AP) -- New York on Tuesday became the first city in the nation to ban artery-clogging artificial trans fats at restaurants, leading the charge to limit consumption of an ingredient linked to heart disease and used in everything from french fries to pizza dough to pancake mix.

In a city where eating out is a major form of activity -- either for fun or out of hectic necessity -- many New Yorkers were all for the ban, saying that health concerns were more important than fears of Big Brother supervising their stomachs.

"I don't care about what might be politically correct and what's not," said Murray Bader, nursing a cup of coffee at Dunkin' Donuts on Tuesday morning. "I want to live longer!"

While this may provide some health benefits to many New Yorkers who are oblivious of what they are eating, this also begs the question, "Do we really need the government telling us what we can and can't eat?"

Perhaps the market can dictate if this makes sense: restaurants could encourage consumers to frequent their establishment by letting customers know they do not use trans fats, does Big Brother need to force all restaurants to do so? What about the mom and pop shops that make smaller margins? Using trans-fat free oils may increase their costs and put them at a greater disadvantage to larger establishments. Besides the economic argument, there is also the argument that it is not the job of the government to dictate what ingredients restauranteurs can and cannot use, assuming these ingredients do not directly harm patrons. We as consumers have a responsibility for our own health; we do, of course, expect that restaurants are not poisoning us. We do also have a choice -- we can choose to visit the restaurants that are health conscious versus the grease barrel down the road.

Americans cannot depend on the government to be told how to be healthy; it should be an individual lifestyle choice and individuals should have to take responsibility of their individual choices. Admittedly, if I have a choice, I'd rather eat at a restaurant serving food without transfats, but I like having the choice. I don't see why the government needs to decide for us.

Corporate Ethics

Find more relations at: http://indexed.blogspot.com/

In 500 words or less...

As I've been working on my b-school essays, I keep wondering, "Why is it so hard to write about yourself?" I've come up with a few theories.

1. Avoid being perceived as arrogant - As I'm writing, I do want to stress the my strengths and acknowledge my shortcomings, but I don't want to come off sounding like I'm a total 'hot shot' nor do I want my accomplishments completely dismissed. I have a hard time striking this balance.
2. Share something interesting - I recently asked a good friend to review one of my early drafts and he truthfully commented, "This whole section is boring." As I write, I need to reflect on accomplishments that really matter and ask myself why they matter and what impact they've had on me or an organization. On the other hand, it's possible that I'm just not that interesting.
   
3. Find relevance - Something I find interesting probably won't appeal to another reader. For instance, I can talk about the CRM systems I've helped build at work, but at the end of the day, who's really interested in that? I've also challenged myself to not dwell in the details and talking about a situation, but trying to focus on why a situation mattered or why I decided to take on a challenge.

Any other thoughts? I can't wait to be done with my essays!