- A couple recently kidnapped a woman in southern Ontario somewhere and tried to get a ransom. When none was forthcoming, they took her to a strip club and tried to make her lap dance for tips so they could raise some cash. Apparently they hadn't considered the possibility that she might try to get help. They got busted. Are some people really that stupid?
- I will preface this one by saying that I am opposed to the death penalty but this one made me wonder. The State of California yesterday executed a 76 year old man who was found guilty of a number of murders. There did not appear to be any doubt as to his guilt.
1) Opponents said it was cruel and unusually to execute and old and sickly man so he should be spared. Am I to understand that its better to kill a young person in robust health? This seems ridiculous.
2) The man had suffered a heart attack in September and had been nursed back to health. He had requested that he not be resuscitated if he were to suffer another. With no hint of a smile, a representative of the Department of Corrections said that they had to "respect the sanctity of life" and could not stand by and watch him die without resuscitation. They would intervene so that they could kill him later. This. too, seems ridiculous. Look up irony in the dictionary. It may say something about taking heroic measures to save someone's life againstg thier will so you can stick a needle in their arm and kill them later. - Why do people drive in the fast lane if they are going slow and no one is in the slow lane????? I commute an hour each way every day and it boggles my mind how many idiots feel the need to stay in the left lane of a four lane highway when the right one is empty. Inconsiderate? Stupid? Blissfully unaware?? All of the above? One guy was going 5 km below the limit the other day and gave me the finger when I passed him on the right with no other cars within 500 metres. If you do that on the autobahn in Germany they will right you a ticket. They should do the same in North America.
- Someone paid $25,000 US for William Shatner's kidney stone. Need I say more. The end is near.
- Textbook publishers need to figure out that the Internet exists. They publish different international editions of the same textbook and price it highest in North America where they feel they can extract the most money. It seems unreasonable, though, that I can buy a book new online and ship it here (for more than the book costs me) and still be about 25% of the way to a new copy of the book at my University bookstore. And they are complaining that they are selling fewer books in North America.
- why do I know that Leif Garret got arrested? Why is Angelina's pregnancy on the front page of my paper (though not in the economist - shameless plug) right next to suicide bombings in Iraq and news on the Canadian election? See William Shatner's kidney stone above.
Wednesday, January 18, 2006
Off and ranting
Its been a while since I've had the opportunity for a stream of conciousness rant but I'll give it a try. Here are some quick "what were they thinking" thoughts.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
Point 5.
This is simply basic economics of price discrimination - the return to education is higher in NA, hence the higher willingness to pay. They are simply extracting rents.
I am not sure about your refernce to the internet. Are you suggesting they publish online or simply pointing out that because of the internet we can now easily see what they are doing and get around it?
I meant its just more difficult to price discriminate with the ability to search the and market over the internet. undercutting the ability to price discriminate - not saying they shouldn't try but the rents they are trying to extract are too high given the market and they are losing out. Loswer rents might increase total revenue.
Post a Comment