Oct

25

Great video of Colin Powell Endorsing Obama

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Video not available

It’s refreshing to see a well structured and intelligible interview with a politician during this whole campaign. it’s nice to see that even a republican can see how cheap some of the comments from their party have been. Not to mention that they’ve blatantly lied on so many things about Obama. I mean, to even hint at the fact that Obama may be a terrorist… I mean please! That is just not the way Americans (or anybody) should act. Not with the many ways we have to inform ourselves these days. It sometimes seems like we are watching kids at elementary school… Not that it matters a whole lot, being a Canadian and all, but I would totally endorse Obama as well! Good for Powell to say so on National TV. Go and vote for Obama!

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Apr

09

On the Paradox of Choice

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Today, I went out to Grand & Toys to get some office supplies. While there, I remembered that I could use a new pen, and so I go at the front of the store where they keep their pen display. To my dismay, I see that Grand & Toys offers about 60 different types of pens. One of every type, shape, and color! At first, you (and I) would think that so much choice was great for me. That I would now be liberated by the amount of pens to choose from. That I could finally pick up the best possible pen for myself!

In fact, I was completely paralyzed and ended up leaving without buying any pen.

It’s not the first time I am faced with this sort of situation (happened a while back with paper…), but a week or two ago, I watched the following talk, embedded from www.ted.com, which made me realized exactly what I was feeling. I was confronted with what Barry Schwartz called “the paradox of choice”.

According to psychologist Barry Schwartz, this paralysis is a consequence of too much choice, which he discusses thoroughly in his book Why more is Less. In this talk, Schwartz goes on to explain other problems caused by the wealth of choice in our western society, namely, anticipated regret, opportunity cost, escalation of expectations, and self blame.

In just about 20 minutes, Barry Schwartz goes from explaining what some think is the biggest culprit (I do) for the rising depression and suicide rates in our society to giving away the secret to living a happy life. Well worth the 20:22 minutes! I hope you enjoy it as much as I did:

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Mar

13

The epitome of good design, by Breville

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Yes, we paid a lot of money for our Breville kettle (Well, actually, “Grand-Maman and Grand-Papa” paid a lot for our wedding present!) and, yes, I agree that it is very consumeristic of us to get such a fancy and expensive kettle. But I know good design when I see it, and the folks at Breville have out done themselves! I’m sure you’ll agree with me when you see the close up of what made my day when i opened the box of the kettle (I hadn’t noticed it in the store!).
Good design by Breville

And in case you care to see the whole Kettle, here it is!
Our new kettle by Breville

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Jan

30

Late Night Puzzle #3

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Challenging Mathematical Problems With Elementary Solutions, Vol. 1Two hunters A and B set out to hunt ducks. Each of them hits as often as he misses when shooting at ducks. Hunter A shoots at 50 ducks during the hunt and hunter B shoots at 51. What is the probability that B bags more ducks than A?

I’ve come across a couple of very interesting puzzles in the book I am reading at the moment. I’ll try and share some of my favourite ones with you every now and then. Feel free to take a guess at the answer for this puzzle by commenting to the post. I’ll post my answer in a couple of days/weeks. By the way, you should check out this book, it’s full of fun and challenging mathematical problems.

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Jan

28

Turn off your lights, make a difference

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On March 29th, the organizers of Earth hour 2008 are simply asking you to turn off your lights, appliances, heating, tv, radio, computer, etc for an hour. One simple hour.

68,506 individuals and 2270 businesses registered their participation on the Earth Hour website. [...] According to statistics provided by Energy Australia, the event reduced electricity consumption during the hour by 10.2%, and a poll conducted by AMR Interactive estimates that 57% of Sydney’s population participated.

This year the event seems to have reached even more people. Even Toronto agreed to participate in this incredibly simple, yet powerful idea. Let’s all get together to show that we care and want to make a difference. On March 29th 2008, I know I’ll be turning off my lights. Join us!

Read more on their official website.

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