Money makes the world go round?

What would you do if you had earned $1.7 billion last year? Ask James Simons (former math prof that uses math-models to bet on stocks/bonds/etc. and make a killing at it). Top Hedge Fund Managers Earn Over $240 Million (NYTimes)

If I had $1.7 billion, I'd definitely focus on efforts like these: Billionaires Start $60 Million Schools Effort (NYTimes). The timing of this article is quite coincidental; i just had long discussions this past weekend with two fellow Sloan adMITs about the (terrible) state of education in the U.S. Encouraging to see that some of those who have the power to enact change are attempting to do so, and kind of gratifying to see that some of the ideas they're employing are similar to ones I had theorized.

New Planet Could Be Earthlike, Scientists Say (NYTimes) - this brought on memories of poorly done sci-fi movies about humans fleeing Earth or out to discover life elsewhere. Quite a crazy notion though--that we may soon be closer to having proof that life is sustainable on a planet other than our own. Crazy indeed. How many billions or trillions of dollars will it take us to figure this one out...?

the chosen one

I have totally suffered from what this article talks about—How Not to Talk to Your Kids (New York Mag):

“Emphasizing effort gives a child a variable that they can control,” she explains. “They come to see themselves as in control of their success. Emphasizing natural intelligence takes it out of the child’s control, and it provides no good recipe for responding to a failure.”

In follow-up interviews, Dweck discovered that those who think that innate intelligence is the key to success begin to discount the importance of effort. I am smart, the kids’ reasoning goes; I don’t need to put out effort. Expending effort becomes stigmatized—it’s public proof that you can’t cut it on your natural gifts.

I guess the Chinese pile-on-the-criticism/don't-expect-any-compliments approach to education may be getting some new support.