Can’t win for losing

Roulette wheel
EconomicsNovember 12, 2009
Today my professor for honours microeconomics said in passing that he can't believe people go to casinos, because they are just "guaranteeing they will lose." It's a fair, conventional point, but it immediately struck a chord and I've been thinking idly about it ever since. All I can give here is a total outsider's perspective, as I'm a complete novice when it comes to economics, but it seems to me to represent a few things that are wrong with conventional economic analysis. Read more →
 

We don’t talk about love, we only want to get drunk

Manic Street Preachers
MusicSeptember 29, 2009
Fear not, that isn't so much a statement of intent as an allusion to what I'm about to talk about. I'm a bit behind with this one, but I couldn't resist writing about what ended up being an amazing night and one of the highlights of my time in Vancouver so far. Read more →
 

Robots need love too

3895479840_2d3e34efdc_b
PersonalSeptember 6, 2009
Well, I've been at UBC for just under a week now, and what a week it's been. The first few days were very surreal; I'd picked to arrive as early as I could to give me time to get sorted, but that also meant that nothing at all was happening on campus: home students hadn't arrived yet, and neither had many of the international students. It was a baptism of fire but also a good opportunity to get a few basics sorted. Read more →
 

Can you hear the echo in here?

Vancouver
Personal, TravelAugust 31, 2009
Forgive the relative silence, but ironically enough, Vancouver has been the place at which I struggled to get online the most since the beginning of this trip. We must have been staying in the only hotel in the city without wifi. Anyway. Read more →
 

Where have all the people gone?

Calgary
TravelAugust 21, 2009
As it turns out, I've gone and done a very stupid thing and left my laptop's power adaptor at home, so I'm writing my blog on my phone for the time being. Meaning it'll probably be even more sparse than I anticipated and have the word "home" used instead of "good" far too much and of course "of" and "me"...that one's a pain in the arse. And posting to Wordpress on my phone has proved more difficult than you'd think with a 'smart'phone, which is also the excuse I'm giving for why this is so late. Read more →