Quotulatiousness

August 17, 2009

I hope he’s right

Filed under: Cancon, Economics — Tags: , , — Nicholas @ 12:35

Publius has some interesting insights into the evolution of the Canadian economy from highly dependent on regional conditions (that is, largely tied to US markets) to a more independent one:

What the FTA and NAFTA did was to help fundamentally restructure the Canadian economy over the last two decades. While economic nationalists warned of increased dependency on the American juggernaut, the exact opposite has happened. NAFTA in particular allowed Canada to follow the laws of comparative advantage, shifting our economy away from manufacturing toward services. Nations have historically traded with countries nearest to them due to obvious transaction costs. When the wealth of nations is increasingly intellectual (which includes figuring out how to extract natural resources), those transactional costs become nearly irrelevant. A service economy is one less dependent on trading with nearby partners, instead it can reach out to the world. Buoyed by Canada’s traditional strength in natural resources — fur, fish, timber, wheat and now oil — we have become to a surprising extent decoupled from the American economy. Even in bulk products like oil and minerals, our clients are increasingly global. There is a massive glut of cheap shipping — refer to the Baltic Dry Index — to take our natural bounty where ever customers beckon.

We weathered the 2001 American recession easily, and we are weathering this one rather well. Harper knows this. He knows Barack Obama is shackling and regulating the American economy into near term stagnation. In the past this would have proven disastrous for Canada, today it will be an advantage. For decades Britain and the City of London have proven a relative free market haven to international businesses seeking to invest in Europe. There is no reason Canada cannot, and will not, play that same role in North America. In a year or so Canada may very well be leading other OECD countries in economic growth, all while the American giant is stuck in a slow motion recovery. The Prime Minister’s moderately statist approach will seem to many voters as a work of pragmatic genius. Not too much intervention, not too little. Just right. Harper the Helmsman. More image than reality. Such is the game of politics.

Like a zombie, the Favre story just won’t die

Filed under: Football — Tags: , — Nicholas @ 12:31

I’m on record as hoping that Brett Favre stays retired. I’ve been saying it for a long time now, so stories like this just depress me:

Thus, here we go (again). Jay Glazer of the Fox Sports website speculates, predicts, forecasts in his Glaze Across America reports that Brett Favre will be joining the Vikings in the next few weeks, or at least attempt to join the team in that time frame. (That cup of coffee that just got spit out belonged to Sage Rosenfels. Tarvaris Jackson simply rolled his eyes.)

No, this isn’t a joke, although Glazer is basing his information on a feeling he had after having conversations with those involved with the Vikings during his stop in Mankato a few weeks back.

Here’s what Glazer wrote: “Granted, my camp stop occurred before Sage Rosenfels lit up the Colts in the preseason opener to the tune of 10-of-13 passing for 91 yards. And if Rosenfels can continue like this, he could squash this prediction as the preseason continues.

“But until I see it more consistently, I’m absolutely convinced. Why? For starters, because everyone else on the Vikings seems to be convinced of the same thing. I mean damn near everybody! During my two days in Mankato, nearly everyone I talked to within the team talked about Favre joining not as an ‘if’ but rather a ‘when.’

For what I hope is the last time: NO! Stay retired, Brett!

Oh, and no disrespect at all to Sage Rosenfels, but you can’t say he “lit up the Colts”, when he was playing against the second-or-third-string backfield. Neither starting corner was in the game, so you’d expect the Colts to give up more than the usual yardage to the passing game. It would have been much more upsetting if the Vikings hadn’t “lit up” the Colts’ defence under those conditions.

Update, 18 August: Oh, no, no, no, no, no:

Judd just received a text from a very good source with confirmation that Brett Favre will sign with the Vikings today and possibly could practice this afternoon.

Favre is expected to land in the Twin Cities anytime now.

Yahoo.com’s Jason Cole is reporting that Favre will receive a one-year contact worth $12 million. Here is his report.

Reducing the NFL pre-season

Filed under: Football — Tags: , — Nicholas @ 12:12

Mark Craig thinks the NFL preseason is too long (and it’s hard not to agree):

Let’s hope the commish steps up his goal of reducing the number of preseason games soon. VERY soon.

There’s never been another sport that’s so good in the regular season, great in the postseason and so completely awful and unwatchable in the preseason.

It’s bad for business, insulting to fans who have to buy full-price tickets to this garbage as part of season-ticket deals and pretty much useless for judging what’s going to happen next month.

For example, the Lions beat Atlanta 27-26 Saturday night. Way to go Lions. Way to start the Jim Schwartz Era. Restore the Roar, baby!

Oh, wait. The Lions were 4-0 in the preseason last year. That makes their preseason winning streak five and keeps their regular season losing streak at 17.

And that doesn’t cover the risks to starting players, as there always seems to be higher risk of injury during preseason games than regular season ones (this is not something I’ve seen stats on, and may just be a mistaken impression based on news coverage).

There’s much to be said about coaches needing a chance to see what players can do in game situations — there are some who look like superstars in practice but who can’t rise up to average in real games, and others who excel in games, but don’t look like much in practice. Talent is only part of what makes a good football player, and without some opportunity to play against real opposition, you really don’t know which category any given rookie player may be in.

Al Stewart at Hugh’s Room

Filed under: Media — Tags: — Nicholas @ 09:19

This was an unusually musical weekend for me, as I’d heard “The Jailer’s Daughter” on Saturday, and I got to see Al Stewart and Dave Nachmanoff at Hugh’s Room in Toronto yesterday.

It was my first visit to this particular venue, and (as always seems to happen) it took me longer to find it than I’d hoped. I actually passed it twice before noticing it — construction and road closures again figured in the disruption — and found parking a block or so away. The show was scheduled to start at 8:30, so I thought getting there by 6:30 would be more than enough time to get a good seat.

I got the very last table . . . and that only because there’d been a last-minute cancellation. The table was right at the back of the room, so my photography plans were already gang aft agley.

The food was very tasty, the wine list was okay (I ended up with a Chateau des Charmes Gamay Noir), but I’m not as comfortable eating at a tall table: my toes barely touched the ground while sitting on the barstool.

Photography was a bit fraught, as I was too far back from the stage to use my fastest lens or, for that matter, my slowest lens without adding in a 2x teleconverter. In the lighting conditions, using a 80-200mm zoom and the teleconverter, I was surprised any of the shots turned out, frankly (using a flash would only have illuminated a few dozen backs-of-heads, not the stage). I got lots and lots of not-quite-in-focus shots, and lots of nice-composition-ruined-by-camera-shake (hand-held shooting at 1/15s is very much not best practice for photography). By the end of the night, I was so happy to put the camera down . . . even with a light-body SLR, hanging a long lens and extender off the front makes for an awkward and heavy object.

(more…)

QotD: The perils of being a retail customer

Filed under: Humour, Quotations — Tags: , — Nicholas @ 03:38

Of course, it’s entirely possible I was simply bored. Numbingly bored after meetings with financial planners over the preceding two days and being forced to repeatedly use the, impossibly awkward to enunciate, word arithmetic to correct suggestions from across the table that mathematics was in some way directly relevant to my cash flow model questions which arise when considering any investment model strategy. Then again, maybe I just wanted to be recklessly adolescent in that rather staid, middle aged, considered manner one does when one throws their Infinity VISA card at the clerk who a moment ago was convinced you were invisible and who then has to dispel his anxiety over whether or not you are going to hit him up for spare change or a smoke, maybe with an offer to squeegee his cash register monitor or, in exchange for a 10% discount, offer to blow him over there behind the flat panel 1080p display.

Such moments, me the cash — them the goods, remind me why I hate being a consumer. “Hey, Buddy! It’s money. My money. Take it. Take it!” You’d think, by now, Sony would know that the only reasonable outcome to expect from hanging a crisp white shirt and Windsor knot tied tie on a monkey is only slightly better than, well, a perhaps well dressed monkey dressed well. “Buddy! Wake up. Can’t you stop grinding that organ for one second?” But, even dressed up, it’s just a monkey which can’t seem to speak intelligently to confirm information and facts I’ve already fully digested from online product reviews and support documents. “Can’t we skip a beat to do things a little different this time? How about you agree to take your hand off your organ long enough to take my money. That’s it, Buddy. A little closer, now. Sorry?” What’s my monkey up to now? “Of course I don’t want to buy an extended monkey warranty. Do I look totally bananas to you?” I’m more certain than ever before the monkeys were different when I was young. “Hey! Don’t lick my credit card. Stop that.” Stupid monkey. “And I expect you to wash it before handing it back to me.”

Dark Water Muse, “The Stupid Monkey (or ‘Why it sucks to be a consumer’)”, Dark Water Musings, 2009-08-09

eBay now hosting “Sleep with Marilyn Monroe” auction

Filed under: USA — Tags: , — Nicholas @ 00:52

That is, they’re running an auction for the burial plot immediately above the one occupied by the mortal remains of Marilyn Monroe:

When it comes to sleeping with a bona fide Hollywood sex symbol, death need not necessarily be an impediment. Thanks to Los Angeles widow Elsie Poncher, who is auctioning off a burial plot atop that occupied by Marilyn Monroe, it may even count as an advantage.

Poncher’s advertisment on eBay offers prospective corpses the chance to “spend eternity directly above Marilyn Monroe”. Bidding opened last week at $500,000 (£300,000) and has already topped $4.5m, with more than seven days left to run.

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