Awake early and looking for something to do

Up early with nothing to do. The labour agency got all its jobs killed by the rain and now I'm waiting for business hours so that I can call companies to ask them if they're still hiring from postings they put up.............. 2 weeks ago >_<

In the meantime... I wanted to do something. Writing seemed as viable an option as anything.

But I didn't want this to become one of those "I'm feeling all emo and down and terrible and want the whole world to know about it" sort of posts. I realized that those kind of things are probably best left to the personal journal in the desk that no one will ever see except you.

But when you take that out, what are you left with. Ranting about useless things like how the ATU Local 113 is stupid? Musing about how no one comments on my blog or notes? Isn't there anything more significant to write about.... and why can't I think of them?

In the end, I suppose we're all just really petty, thinking only of ourselves and our own problems - and momentarily stopping to think about the problems of others when their problems grow to a size where it can't help but be in your face and noticed by everyone around. Then we do our best to pretend that the monster that is their problem doesn't exist and keep moving on with our lives.

When we see two people fighting on the streets, do we just walk by or do we try to do something?
When we see a freezing cold person huddled up against the corner of a building seeking shelter from the biting wind of winter, do we just pretend that it's not there and move on?
When we hear the stories of abuse that go on in homes hidden from the public eye, do we get enraged in word and remain complacent in action?

Who will rise up against apathy and push against the misery that humans create for themselves to make someone else's life just that much happier for that one infinitesimally tiny moment in time? Will we take up the challenge to shine like stars in this dark pit that we call Earth - reflecting the glory of God and his radiant love to those that most need to see, feel, and understand it? For how will the world learn to love if no one shows them love first - after all isn't that how we learned to love in that God showed his love to us - whether directly through a divine experience or indirectly through the love that others shower upon us?

Thankful for our blessings let us share it with those less fortunate.

A rant against the ATU Local 113's membership

I get it. Unions are a good thing. They keep workers from being exploited by greedy owners of corpoations. They keep them from working in terrible conditions that are bad for their health both physically and mentally. It makes it so that the rich can't exploit the poor.

But in the case of ATU Local 113 vs. TTC who is the greedy owner? Who is the one exploiting whom here? Yesterday's midnight strike by the members of ATU Local 113 was a bunch of greedy, selfish people banking on David Miller and Adam Giambronne (sp?) being a bunch of push overs and giving them more than what they asked for. After all, after all that negotiation, the TTC offered the union exactly what they asked for... and then some. What else do they want? How are you, as a negotiator, supposed to negotiate when they turn you down even when you give them what they asked for.

To go back to the question of who is exploiting who, let us consider who is the most affected by a TTC strike. First, let's ask ourselves who uses the TTC the most often. We have students, seniors, people who can't afford cars... others along the same demographic. Basically, the TTC is used as the main form of transportation for a good proportion of the population. So when the TTC decides that it is going to go on strike, they strand these people and prevent them from moving around - after all if you're struggling to pay your tuition or live on a fixed income, how are you going to afford a taxi to move around the city? So here we have a union in fact exploiting the fact that there exists an element of people in the city that cannot move around without them. They are, as the media and many critics have already stated, holding the lowest economic demographic of the city under hostage. For what? So that they can get paid two to three times more than the student that is working hard labour or monotonous office work to earn tuition?

Unions like ATU Local 113 are no longer fighting for basic rights. The members are using it as a means to try and extort more of the taxpayers money into their own pockets. Because in the end, that is what they are getting... Toronto municipal tax revenue. And I for one, refuse to consider this strike action by the ATU Local 113 to be justified. They got a good deal. They turned it down. So they can go screw themselves. I hope that the provincial government forces back to work legislation than declares them an essential service. I then hope the TTC leverages the fact that they can't strike to scale back everything they were going to give them back to their original contract... which doesn't seem that bad to me in the first place. I bust my back for $9 an hour with no worker's compensation, no benefits, nothing. If they're not happy with $28/hour driving a bus or collecting money from people walking in the station... then what the frig.... what... the... frig...

*** On a side note, I am still very curious as how one, as a negotiator would handle this situation. The TTC gave them almost everything they wanted and more. And they still turned down the deal. When you give someone what they want and they slap you in the face - what do you do? How do you negotiate with someone like that? It's been a puzzling thing that I've been thinking about for the past few hours. Yes... I am a nerd :P It also happens to be the sort of thing I want to do as a job too, so there! :P

:(

Jonathan feels sad. No one reads his blog anymore... or if they do they read it and leave without a trace.

It's like... dropping by someone's house and not telling them you're there, looking around and then leaving. Like... what is that? C'mon :P

Granted I don't post very often and my last few posts have been... funny :P Well funny to me anyway :P

Drop by, say hello. I'll have some more interesting stuff to say here this summer. Working construction gives me lots of inspiration for some reason.

Inspiration and sunburn. I really need to start using sunscreen....

A post

The "I should be studying but don't want to so I'm going to write a blog" line is getting tiring. So I'll use it only once more.

I am currently wasting time.

Why? As such, I should be using this time to familiarize myself with the economic theorems of microeconomics as well as their proofs such that I might be able to demonstrate that I have "learned something" via the medium of an examination taking place this upcoming Thursday, 17 April 2008.

Is there any further purpose for my needing to know how to mathematically prove that a Von-Neumann Morgenstein utiltity function exists and has the expected utility property? Seeing as how I have no intention of pursuing graduate studies in theoretical (or practical) economics, nor do I have any desire to become an economist or anything of that nature - the answer to above is no.

I am learning this information for the sole purpose of achieving a minimum mark of 72%, which everyone assures me should be no problem for me (gee.... that sounds awfully familiar....), in order to pass the course in order to receive my Honours Bachelor of Arts in Criminology and Economics.

However, when one considers the interdependence of thought, emotion, and action that exists in the world... one begins to wonder if this REALLY is the sole purpose of spending this time studying for my upcoming exam. If we define this exam in terms of something that I do not want to do but must to achieve a certain objective which I do desire, then it suddenly acquires more general charecteristics. In general, certain actions and steps must be taken to prepare oneself to engage and succeed in certain activities in order to attain certain objectives which in and of themselves are desirable to you. Thus if we define the end objective as z, the activities that must be successfully completed in order to achieve z as y, and the preparations required to acquire y as z, then we have z requiring y requiring x. By the transitive property z then requires x.

In this case, z is my undergraduate degree. Why do I desire z? When I began pursuing z, it was the thing to do, the only thing to do in my mind. There was no complement or substitute or even alternative to z, it simply was. Let q represent the totality of distractions that present themselves to a free individual. Let r represent the mental attitude of the individual (in this case myself.) As r began to shift away from the idea that university was hard and required all my energy to succeed, q increased - that is to say that there exists an inverse correlation in the relationship between r and q. If this correlation behaves normally with no kinks, then we should expect to see q continue to increase as r decreases.

Interestingly however, observation in this particular case does reveal a kink in the correlation. At some point, r reaches a level so low that the individual suddenly begins to question the value of q. But in questioning the value of q, this causes an increase in the value of r, thereby leading to a decrease in the quantity of q... which after a certain point reverses itself once more. This function is almost describable as a sin function of r and q. It cannot, however, be completely described as a sin function because the amplitude of the sin wave does not remain constant, nor does it's frequency.

This is where we must consider the exogenous variables that add value to r irrespective of the quantities of q in the individuals life. By adding value to r, we then see a proportional decrease in q that is not explained by any of the previously mentioned exogenous variables.

This overall analysis, however, becomes irrelevant as time approaches April 17th 2008. The question then remains... will the value of z continue to motivate an increase in r, a decrease in q and a resultant increase in x which makes z all the more likely to occur? Or will a defeatist r arise setting x at a seemingly unattainable level and by the transitive property thereby setting z at an unattainable level, leading to a complete exogenous destruction of inputs into x - which may lead to success, but which is uncertain - and to a certain failure in x - where previously there was uncertain success.

That is the question then. Reduce inputs of effort into x to zero and accept a certain failure, or continue to apply inputs of effort into x for an uncertain success. The property of expected utility would suggest that continued input of effort for an uncertain success, leading to z, is the desired course of action, given that the probability of success in x and the utility gained from such an outcome is greater than the negative utility derived from having spent so much time to achieve only failure.

In fact - there is no question. The disincentive that could arise as a result of time spent on a failed endeavour comes nowhere close to the utility earned from success as a result of time spent on a successful one. If we also consider that the greater the amount of effort inputted into x also has an effect on the probabilty of success, it could be possible to raise the probability of success, let this value be p, so high as to lower (1-p) (the probability of failure) to a number very close to zero.

And of course beseeching from a little help from alternative sources, let G represent this entity, nothing is then impossible. Seeing as how G determines the effectiveness of the inputs on x, the outcome of x, and the resultant outcome on z - it would be much wiser to simply input into x what I have and let the rest of the model be guided by G's Almighty hand, trusting that whatever the end outcome may be there exists some other model of which the individual is yet unaware upon which the end outcome of the endogenous variables of the above outlined model may have an effect.

The above sentence was very awkward.

The above post was tremendously amusing to write.

If the above post is incomprehensible to you, the reader, take solace in the fact that the above post was not necessarily written for you, the reader. Though one might argue the philosophical point that if it was displayed in a public place accessible to all, then it must have been at least the intention of the writer that someone read, comprehend, and identify with the piece of writing in question. However, such an argument fails to consider that if I had desired the piece of writing in question to be comprehensible by all, then it would likely have been written in less complex terms with a greater use of the vernacular. And yet, the inclusion of this very paragraph raises the question of why, then, a remark is being directed to the potential reader of this post - but that argument is again solidly countered by the fact that people become bored and seek to find any means by which to fill that boredom - including reading the incomprehensible blatherings of others.

The above paragraph was also tremendously amusing to write.

Blogs and notes

These are funny things. Some people post it all up, let it all hang out, and let people see certain feeling and inner emotions.. I'm assuming it makes them feel better - a sort of cathartic release of pent up emotion.

Other's are more mysterious. They don't want people to really know what's going on in their minds or for people to really see what's going on - and yet still want to vent their emotions publicly somehow. Often this manifests itself in mysteriously worded posts that mean nothing except to the writer and the select few who know the writer very well in order to identify the source of the comments and the object to which they refer.

Other's blather on like myself. Why do they do it? Because they're pretentious and think that what they have to say is important. Why do I do it? Because I just like writing. Sometimes it's crap. Sometimes it's good. Sometimes its deep, profound and thought provoking. Other times it's just... verbal diarahea.

The above is a case of the latter mixed in with a bit of the cathartic release mentioned before. Spilling over from my innate habit to talk too much, often times I just type whatever comes to my mind in an attempt to organize my thoughts.

Among those various things going on... an upcoming exam on Thursday upon which my undergraduate graduation depends doesn't help my stress levels at all. Wouldn't be too bad if my degree only hung on me passing the exam. I could do that I think. It depends on me getting a B+ on an exam that will require me to work through mathematical proofs and then apply those proofs into economic application to determine contract curves for exchange equilibriums and optimal supply functions for a two-firm model of incomplete information (or the Cournot model.)

Knowing none of those above terms will help me to pass the exam.

This is scary.

This is where I study as hard as I can and let God take care of the rest.

This is where I really need those unforeseen circumstances to turn out in my favour.

Very much so.

And yes the above post was all about me. Maybe the next one will be about you.

But then would you really like that?