Who to trust?

Tyler Cowen on deciding how to trust sources (or why we trust them).

This got me thinking - the same thing applies when you're trying to get a business going. The parents and students we've signed up so far have all had to do the same thing: trust us. The good thing is that if you're qualified, sincere, hardworking, and continue providing value then the issue of trust generally takes care of itself. So this helps explain why College Knowledge has done well so far and why Tyler Cowen's blog Marginal Revolution continues to thrive.

Freakonomics Student Guide and Other Tidbits

Check out the Freakonomics Student's Guide here - it's definitely worth a look if you liked the book. And if you haven't read Freakonomics (or at least thumbed through it in a Barnes and Noble) then go check the book out first!

And other useful blogs to check out to keep your mind active:

- The few posts on the Small Giants blog.

- The Freakonomics blog.

- The Marginal Revolution blog.

These are just a few of the blogs I read everyday (throughout the day) though the Small Giants blog hasn't been kept up to date. Hope that helps!

What language(s) do you speak?

This is an interesting bit of info, that I found out about via Marginal Revolution, on the languages that the 2008 presidential candidates speak (in short, very few). After perusing the list, it got me thinking - if these "top dogs" in the United States can be so (relatively) successful by basically speaking only 1 language... what does this mean for younger generations?

Namely, I started thinking about my own language capabilities. I am fluent in English (or so I would like to think) and Spanish; I speak very limited French; I'm learning Mandarin (so far I can only count, so progress is slow). I grew up in a family where learning (and learning languages and cultures) was considered very important - what about you? And do you think it's important now? Personally I think learning at least Spanish is important if you're going to live in the United States for most of your life; if you're planning on doing business around the world, it doesn't hurt that over 20% of the world's population speaks Mandarin.

Another thought - maybe so few people in the US learn a second language because English is such a global language. But what if English loses its prominence (hard to fathom, but nothing is unlikely)?