There's a one-man oompah band outside my window

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I didn't think it was possible. I never thought it could happen to me. Then I moved to Switzerland, and ended up living in an apartment that overlooks the Ouchy marina. It's very beautiful, very touristy, and very, very strange sometimes:




I cut off the video just before he said "Thank you!" into the mike. And in case you were wondering what happened next, he's still rocking outside my window.

You don't know from ASEAN

So we've started in a class called International Political Economy, taught by an interesting guy named Jean-Pierre Lehman. He's giving us "literacy" tests on areas of the world at the start of each class, and we're generally failing quite badly. I thought it might be interesting for people if I posted a few of them over the next few days, in case you're curious as to how uninformed you are! To give you a sense, most people in my class get 3-5 of these right, unless they come from the region (or have worked there). I'll try and scratch together the answers in a bit if people want them...

ian

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Globalisation/Regionalisation Literacy Test

Southeast Asia

1. Name the member states of ASEAN. (There are ten, you need to get a minimum of 8 to get a point for this question!)
2. What is Temasek Holdings?
3. Who is Mahathir?
4. Who was Pol Pot?
5. Who defeated who at the battle of Dien Bien Phu?
6. Where is Aceh located?
7. Who is Aung San Suu Kyi?
8. Who is Bhumibol?
9. Where did the People Power Revolution (also known as the EDSA revolution) occur?
10. What is meant by ASEAN + 3?
11. What did Lee Kuan Yew say was the greatest invention of the 20th century?
12. What is Wayang?

Rational pigs

This is an assignment I have to do for Friday. I'm serious. My favorite parts are the Orson Wellsian assumption that pigs can reason like human beings, and the final question about similarities to business situations. Any submissions are welcome, btw!
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Two pigs, one dominant and the other subordinate, are put in a box. There is a lever at one end of the box which, when pressed, dispenses food at the other end. Thus the pig that presses the lever must run to the other end; by the time it gets there, the other pig has eaten most, but not all of the food. The dominant pig is able to prevent the subordinate pig from getting any of the food when both pigs are at the food. Assuming the pigs can reason like rational human beings, which pig will press the lever?

Suppose 6 units of grain are delivered whenever the lever is pushed. If the subordinate pig presses the lever, the dominant pig eats all 6 units; but if the dominant pig pushes the lever, the subordinate pig eats 5 of the 6 units of grain before the dominant pig pushes it away. In the unlikely event that both press simultaneously, suppose they both have to run to another spot equidistant from their starting points. Suppose that the subordinate pig can run faster (after all, the dominant pig is probably fat!), it gets two units of grain before the domant pig arrives. Finally, suppose pressing the lever and running to the grain uses up 0.5 units of food for both pigs.

Show the matrix, and explain who will press the lever.

Are there any business situations that are similar to this?

The job market is changing, or so I've been told

I've been delinquent. I'm sorry. Here is some humour in an attempt to patch things up.



They're giving us a seminar on how to succeed in THIS job market next week.

Why is it so much bigger in Switzerland?

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Yes, the fondue pot aisle at the local department store, that is! I couldn't even really fit it all in the frame, and I felt like a total loser taking this picture so I didn't stick around for a second or third attempt. Instead, I surreptitiously snapped it on my cell phone while pretending to text message or some other dumb thing.

Today I'm totally low-key. Finished exams on Friday, and they all went well enough I think, though I won't actually know the results for a while I guess. Friday was also a beautiful day, so I went out for a patio beer or three afterwards, and there was an IMD-sponsored post-exam dance party at a discotheque (yes, people really love their discotheques around here), which was also quite fun. I got vocal with the bartender for the ridiculousness of CHF16 single-ounce mixed drinks (I kid you not) and I guess he agreed because he started to be a lot more generous afterwards, and although the party raged until 4 at least, I was home exhausted from a serious week of exams by about 2. Saturday was spent almost entirely on the couch, and Sunday has been all about eating and drinking copious amounts of espresso in various coffee shops in town with various people, and now I'm done with blogging too!

Oh, and a special hurrah to Inder and Morwenna, who decided to get engaged yesterday, in case anyone reading this knows them but hasn't heard the news yet!

Oh, hello, I was just reading a book in a big Masterpiece Theatre armchair in a faked-up library, and I thought I'd share some weird advice...

Why is Ian in business school at all? His alter ego, Dr. Ian, New Zealand's leading business author, has the answer to some very fundamental questions:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gaovIt_MEvU

Note: I, Laura, once accidentally sent Dr. Ian my flight information. We had a semi-confusing email exchange.

Ian, fresh from exams, will be back tomorrow.

LB

Will the real Ian please stand up?

A guest blog by Laura, who is filling in for Ian as he writes exams...

Laura's version of Ian:


Adie's (Laura's sister's) version of Ian:
Yes, Adie's Ian has a more normal-sized head (I am still working on body proportions), but I think my hair is much better. Her ears are pretty good, though. Pretty good, indeed. She has also gone for a corporate look, whereas I was inspired by the epic motion picture Grease.

Ian v. John Travolta? I feel a comic strip coming on...

Laura of the Doodle Pad

(To make your own avatar and comic strips, go to bitstrips.com)











(Laura by Adie)

110 minutes to account for

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Until my Accounting exam. I'm spending at least five of these precious minutes on the interweb, blogging my little heart out.

Four topics today:

1. Smacks
This is what a box of Smacks look like. It's almost as though they cut this box cover out of my French textbook from when I was in grade 6. Zip, Zap, Zop, and Zoup may well be on the back of the box, for all we know.

2. Leading People In Organizations

I wrote an exam on that yesterday. It included these pictures:











Yes, I drew that during an exam. What kind of life is this, that I get credit for pictures of concentric circles?????? Then again, who says I'm going to get credit for it?

3. Sailing past my window

People do it. Even if there's very little wind. I have proof:


4. Accounting exam

I'm not ready, but I'll probably never be. I've decided to go have a shower instead of studying anymore. The binder I have for Accounting is four to five inches thick. I don't even know what's in it.