Hikado

The Washington Post reported that Lyndon Johnson's wife passed away at the age of ninety-four. She was most well know for her ability to develop strong relations with people and this developed into her nickname "Ladybird". Lady Bird was an influential force in Lyndon Johnson's political career. Her family is well know in many southern states for the businesses operated by her family. The Bird family interesting has had the most number of Bird senators ever elected into office generation after generation. Even today there is Bird senator in office.

After speaking to a fellow colleague about Frekonomics, a book he was reading, I finally got around to reading the book myself. At first I was a little skeptical about whether I would actually be able to get through the whole book with out encountering economic jargon in a book that was clearly written for any economic bluffs you may know. I have to admit I was surprised at how easy it was to get through the novel. Levitt did an exceptional job outlining intriguing scenarios that involve the application of economics. The author presents a very unique way of uncovering sources of problems or situations that occur in North America everyday. He presents an interesting case with Paul Feldman, an Economist, who decides to leave the profession and enter into the food industry as the bagel man who sells bagels to employees of large corporations. Feldman would set out a cash basket with a sign with the suggested price in corporate cafeterias everyday.
As an economist, he made sure to keep an up-to-date record of his profit and earnings on a daily basis. His collection rate was at about 95 percent. At first he attributed his underpayment to oversight. However, he started to explore the possibility of fraud when he noticed his attempts to reduce his oversight did not disappear with particular bagel drop offs.
Feldman reached some interesting conclusions about honesty in his business. Based on his experience he found that office employees had a tendency to be more honest than employees higher up in the corporate hierarchy. Feldman suggests bosses and executive members are more likely to cheat more than those employees below them. So in the bagel case, he found that executives more less likely to deposit a cash donation in the cash basket, when they helped themselves to a cream cheese bagel. He hypothesized that executives cheat out of an "over developed sense of entitlement."(Levitt, 51) The author parallels their behaviour with instances on how they also, may have managed to achieve their current executive position by finding ways to advance quickly up the corporate ladder.
I would recommend this book to anyone. He has some very fascinating case studies to share with the reader whether you love Economics or not. This is definitely a great summer read for the beach or, anyone looking for an easy quick read with some fascinating stories and economic case studies for the average person.

Wow! It is hard to believe, but July 1st, 2007 marks the tenth anniversary of Hong Kong's power being transferred back from Britain to China. The pre-hand over sparked a mass exodus of Hong Kongers' into neighbouring international countries such as Canada.
I know that during this period, in Vancouver, there was a large influx of Hong Kong immigrants. Their views, ideas and perspectives molded and shaped the city that we now know it to be as our home. Every time I make a tourist stop to Stanley Park where the beginning of Coal Harbour meets the coast line. I look out into the distance and see how the landscape of Downtown Vancouver's West End and Hong Kong's Harbour landscape closely resemble each other in architecture and landscape. Any visitor from Hong Kong would agree that the image of Coal Harbour and the West End's glass towers looks significantly similar to Hong Kong's Harbour scenery.Vancouver HarbourHong Kong Harbour

Once again the Vancouver Jazz Festival takes over the city for the next two weeks with performances by signature and renowned artists from all over the world. This year I attended a performance at the Commodore Ballroom. Adahm Shaikh & The Collective (Live Tribal Fusion). I hate to admit it but, the performance I witnessed was a huge disappointment for me as a Jazz Festival supporter. An Hour into the start of the event, Adahm Shaikh did not enter into the main stage to show off his world famous musical talent. Instead, the audience was stuck with a DJ that kept mixing songs with an ear blasting deaf tone for everyone to hear. The dance floor housed a measly six people and they were all terrible dancers. After spending little over an hour for the show to actually start , I decided to leave because, the crappy music and painful sight of horrible dancers forced me to make a dash for the exit.
The only enjoyable moment of the concert was the newly renovated interior of the Commodore Ballroom. Overall the seating plan and layout of the dance floor in conjunction with the upstairs balcony and double bars makes it a must see visit for any young adult wanting to experience a terrific night life in the Downtown Vancouver Core.

Two weeks ago, I got an email from SFU about the sudden death of Laurine Harrison, the Ombudsman for Simon Fraser University Students. This came as a complete shock to many of us who worked with Laurine or knew her as an employee of the Student Society.
A memorial service was held at St. Andrew's Wesley Church. The well attended service had a very touching eulogy presented by Robert Clift and Sarah Dench. Looking around the room almost everyone's eyes shed at least one tear as they listened and heard about what a wonderful person Laurine was to each and every person she came into contact with during her career with the Simon Fraser Student Society.
It was evident that she will be greatly missed by students and co-workers.