The Genius of Money: Blog Post 1 - Chapter 2

Coining a Myth

Titian: Danae and the Shower of Gold

My key takeaway from this chapter is how the two characters, namely Danae and the servant, react as polar opposites in response to a sudden abundance of wealth; Danae transforms it for the good, whilst the servant sweeps greedily to garner all that he can. Following this description, the author describes from personal experience how such reflections reside not only in him, but all of us as well. I agree with this because for the most part because I can see the conflict of such traits in most, if not all, of us. Knowing the struggle of finding a good-paying job to succeed in todays society, the greed and competitiveness in me to make the most money are stronger than ever before. On the other hand, there's also part of me that, given the luxury of an abundance of wealth, would like to give back to people more in need than I am. However, it's also important to note that with such a competitive market in todays economy we often hear the term "survival of the fittest"; as society becomes more and more demanding, we are sometimes forced to ignore the good and instead garner the greed to succeed.

Anything Blog Post 1

Competitive Swimming; the sport I know and love

Swimming is a low impact sport that is widely regarded as relaxing and healthy. But competitive swimming pushes those boundaries a bit, with the aim of breaking personal and game records in attempts to out-swim the opposition in separate stroke categories (namely Freestyle, Butterfly, Backstroke, Breaststroke and Individual Medley). Like most of my friends and family, I never thought much of it apart from its health benefits; how wrong I turned out to be.

Competitive swimming has been a huge part of my life; since a young age and prior to college, I've spent about twenty hours a week in the pool. Although swimming is widely regarded by my peers as a solitary, repetitive and boring sport, and despite it taking a lot from me, (seeing my team more than my brother and my coach more than my parents), I've stuck with it regardless. From celebrating the triumphs to persevering through the failures, my team has played an integral role in my development and love for the sport. My team has been both my partners and my competitors, but through it all we've stuck together as a family.

As like any other sport, swimming has taught me so much more than merely staying fit. To begin with, I've learnt the importance of discipline and diligence in excelling at anything, not just a sport. With a relatively small build, I often lacked the confidence to perform my best, but I now know that what I lack in physical strength, I can compensate with mental resilience. Arguably the greatest aspect of competing in swimming (or any sport) is that I've learnt to respect the uniqueness of everyone in any community; I believe that we all benefit from each others' experiences. Whether it's the life lessons that it has taught me, or the feeling of freedom in the sequestered waters of an early morning pool, swimming has become part of my life that I will cherish and grow from.

Omnivore's Dilemma: Food Post 3

Omnivore's Dilemma: Food Blog 3

Transitioning from the natural corn to processed foods, the second part of chapter 5 in Omnivore's Dilemma describes how "people began processing food to keep nature from taking it back." This stood out to me because I never thought of nature taking food back, but simply took an 'expiration date' as the point after which a food begins to lose its taste and thus appeal or value. Reading Pollan's description made me think twice about how food 'expires'; After a long enough period of time where food is not consumed it decomposes, and in its natural environment is then reabsorbed by the earth as nutrients for soil. It makes sense that nature is, in a way, as if taking the food back and completing the cycle of life without putting anything to waste.

Pollan then goes on to describe how the term "food security" has changed as humans have evolved. Even today, when I think of the term "food security", I immediately picture a system of security or barriers to entry that protect crops from animals or hazards; this was in fact the meaning many years ago. However, today the term has adapted to how we view food in the modern day. As more and more foods are becoming processed and stray further away from the once natural product, what's important today is not necessarily the simple ingredient, but the recipe of combined ingredients. In that sense, the modern definition of "food security" is related to the protection of recipes instead of the actual product. In some bizarre way, "Recipes are not intellectual property; you can't patent a new cereal", therefore making them more valuable in a business sense today than the relatively low-cost ingredients that contribute to a processed food.

Looking back at these two aspects makes me think long and hard once again about the basics of human life. As humans we've evolved so much and adapted to maximise (most of the time at least) our use of resources. Yet despite the wonder of evolution, it makes me question whether 'artificial' is a term used just for foods, or for more aspects of life as well.

Expert Article 1 Final

Travel hacks: The art of flying

Getting more for less out of your air ticket

Have you ever flown long distances sandwiched between, say, a gossipy fellow and that one person who always nestles their head onto your shoulder as they sleep? Yes, it’s quite an experience. What about that feeling when you glance into First or Business class, as those lucky travellers get cozy in their private pods and snooze the flight away, meanwhile wishing you could trade seats with them? Yes, I’ve been there too. There are so many factors affecting the travel experience of one’s’ flight, and many of them aren’t often in your favour. What if you could alter the circumstances to benefit your flight experience? Oh, did I mention that you could do so without paying more? Sounds too good to be true, eh?

Be it for business, school, or leisure, flying is becoming more popular today than ever before. As competition between airlines has become more intense, so too has vying for an “OK” flight experience. Although getting the discount tickets can often lead to a miserable experience, there are actually ways to improve ones’ flight with neither discount tickets, nor paying a premium. Simply knowing the tricks and many hidden benefits can make for a cheaper ticket and a better experience.

The typical flight deals

Most people probably already know about the “holiday deals” and so-called “special fanfares”, but are these prices really cheaper? The answer is simple; yes, these are discounted prices, but only relative to peak-season high prices. That begs the question, are these actually good deals? Again, the answer is simple; no, they are not.

A common trick that travellers use to find a cheap flight deal is to book tickets at specific times of the week. Although timing of this strategy varies by airline, many offer a limited amount of significantly discounted tickets on the first and last Tuesdays of each month between the hours of 8:00AM and 12:00PM.

Want a less competitive option? A lesser-known trick that researchers at cheapair.com have come up with is to book a ticket precisely 7 weeks before your intended flight (Johanson). Although this technique isn’t 100% accurate, the logic behind it makes sense. Imagine a reverse bell-shaped curve. When a flight is initially scheduled, prices start out high but generally decrease towards the 49th day before departure. After this point, prices are again bumped up to exploit a surge in demand from people who begin to finalize their plans.

Less is more; fly further with cheaper tickets

Yes, you read that right. A trick that many frequent travellers use to save large amounts on tickets is to fake their location (Ho). As tickets are regionally priced, flights will be cheaper in a country with lower standards of living (Hoeller). Let me give you an example; A round-trip business class ticket on Cathay Pacific Airways direct from Hong Kong to LAX costs roughly US$7,000. However, if you book and start your journey in Taiwan, you would take a round trip business class flight from Taiwan to Hong Kong in addition to the exact same flight from Hong Kong to Los Angeles for just US$4,500. The only problem is that you would have to fly from Hong Kong to Taiwan in the first place. These tickets cost under US$100 (or can be redeemed with mileage), and the flight is under an hour long; if it’s going to save you 33% of the price and allow you to travel more, why not!?

Sure, I’ll take a ‘freebie’

It doesn’t take a top-tier frequent flyer to receive a complimentary upgrade. A flight cabin typically consists of First, Business, Premium Economy, and Economy Class; did you know that each respective class is then separated further into letter categories? The best shot of receiving an upgrade on an Economy ticket is to book a seat in either the ‘Y’ or ‘B’ category (Hoeller). These are the two primary sections that are eligible for upgrades and passengers in these seats are automatically waitlisted for upgrades in the airlines’ system.

Redemption tickets are often not eligible for the ‘Y’ or ‘B’ category. If you happen to be using mileage and still want that upgrade, the next best option is to simply ask NICELY for upgrades at check-in and again at the gate. This tactic fails more often that not so don’t get your hopes up. But from personal experience it’s worked enough times to keep me trying!

Getting the most of your in-flight experience

If all else fails and an overpriced Economy Class ticket is inevitable, then personalizing your trip is the next best option. Most importantly, pick your seat as soon as seat-specific reservations become available (usually the week leading up to a flight but varying per airline). Whether you are an avid flyer or a first time traveller, a useful tool in helping one decide where to sit is Seatguru.com. Not only does the website give you passenger feedback on their seat and journey, but it also has an intricate seat map (suggesting the good and bad seats) for most airlines and their respective fleet of airplanes.

With that said and done, it’s now time for the in-flight experience. As ridiculous as it sounds, being nice to a flight attendant can go a long way. Being nice is an ambiguous term so I’m going to be more specific; kind gestures that a passenger could carry out to a flight attendant range from tipping, assisting with overhead baggage, voicing their appreciation, and striking up a friendly conversation. By being an enjoyable passenger to serve, it’s not too unusual for a flight attendant to show their appreciation, too; Flight attendants have been known to give free chocolates, and even bring food, beverages, and amenity kits from higher classes!

Many of us have had to endure too many unpleasant journeys. It’s time to change that! Hopefully with these new insights, you too will be able to make the most out of your travel experience – all the while spending less!

Don’t believe me? Try for yourself.

Works Cited

Joanna Chiu. “Travel agents call Cathay Pacific’s cheap fares website a ‘gimmick’”. South China Morning Post, 23^rd April 2015. <http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1220878/travel-agents-call-cathay-pacifics-cheap-fares-website-gimmick>.

Sophie-Claire Hoeller. “29 travel hacks that even frequent fliers don’t know.” Business Insider, 16^th June 2015. <http://www.businessinsider.com/travel-hacks-for-frequent-fliers-2015-6#ixzz3dXFD7Kzg>.

Mark Johanson. “When is the best time to book a flight?” International Business Times, 21^st January 2015 <http://www.ibtimes.com/when-best-time-book-flight-1028160>.

Erica Ho “Map Happy”. “Use a ‘fake’ location to get cheaper plane tickets.” Huffington Post, 16^th December 2014. <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/map-happy/use-a-fake-location-to-ge_b_6315424.html>.

Expert Article 1

Travel hacks: The art of flying

Getting more for less out of your air ticket

Ever flown long distances sandwiched between, say a gossipy fellow and that one person who always nestles their head onto your shoulder as they sleep? Yes, it’s quite an experience. What about that feeling when you glance into First or Business class, as those lucky travellers get cozy in their private pods and snooze the flight away, all the time wishing you could trade seats with them? Yes, I’ve been there too. What if the person sitting next to you got an equally bad seat on the same flight for half the price you paid for your ticket? You’d probably try and find out for next time too, I’d assume. There are so many factors affecting the travel experience of ones’ flight, and many of them aren’t often in your favour. What if you could alter the circumstances to benefit your flight experience? Oh, did I mention that you could do so without paying more? Sounds too good to be true eh?

Be it for business, school, or leisure, flying is becoming more popular today than ever before. As competition between airlines becomes more intense, so too has vying for an “OK” flight experience at the least. Although getting the discount tickets can often lead to a miserable experience, there are actually ways to improve ones’ flight with neither discount tickets, nor paying a higher price. Simply knowing the tricks and many hidden benefits can make for a cheaper ticket and a better experience.

The typical flight deals

Most people probably already know about the “holiday deals” and so-called “special fanfares”, but are these prices really cheaper? The answer is simple; yes these are discounted prices, but only relative to peak-season high prices. That begs the question, are these actually good deals? Again, the answer is simple; no they are not.

A common trick that travellers use to find a cheap flight deal is to book tickets at specific times of the week. Although timing of this strategy varies by airline, many offer a limited amount of significantly discounted tickets on the first and last Tuesdays each month between the hours of 8:00AM and 12:00PM.

Want a less competitive and more precise target? A lesser-known trick that researchers at cheapair.com have come up with is to book a ticket precisely 7 weeks before your intended flight. Although this technique isn’t 100% accurate, the logic behind it makes sense. Imagine a reverse bell-shaped curve. When a flight is initially scheduled, prices start out high but generally decrease towards the 49th day before departure. After this point, prices are again bumped up to exploit a surge in demand from people who begin to finalize their plans.

Less is more; fly further, save more

Yes, you read that right. A trick that many frequent travellers use to save huge amounts on tickets is to fake their location. As tickets are regionally priced, flights will be cheaper in a country with lower standards of living. Let me give you an example; a round-trip business class ticket on Cathay Pacific Airways direct from Hong Kong to LAX costs roughly US$7,000. However, if you book and start your journey in Taiwan, you would take a round trip business class flight from Taiwan to Hong Kong in addition to the exact same flight from Hong Kong to Los Angeles for just US$4,500. The only problem is that you would have to fly from Hong Kong to Taiwan in the first place. These tickets cost under US$100 (or can be redeemed with mileage) and the flight is under an hour long; if it’s going to save you 33% of the price and allow you to travel more, why not!?

Sure, I’ll take a ‘freebie’

It doesn’t take a top-tier frequent flyer to get a complimentary upgrade. A flight cabin typically consists of First, Business, Premium Economy, and Economy Class; did you know that each respective class is then separated further into letter categories? The best shot of receiving an upgrade on an Economy ticket is to book a seat in either the ‘Y’ or ‘B’ category. These are the two primary sections that are eligible for upgrades and passengers in these seats are automatically waitlisted for upgrades in the airlines system.

Redemption tickets are often not eligible for the ‘Y’ or ‘B’ category. If you happen to be using mileage and still want that upgrade, the next best option is to simply ask NICELY for upgrades at check-in and again at the gate. This tactic fails more often that not so don’t get your hopes up, but from personal experience it’s worked enough times to keep me trying!

Getting the most of your in-flight experience

If all else fails and an overpriced Economy Class ticket is inevitable, then personalizing your trip is the next best option. Most importantly, pick your seat as soon as seat-specific reservations become available (usually the week leading up to a flight but varying per airline). Whether you are an avid flyer or a first time traveller, Seatguru.com is a useful tool in helping one decide where to sit. Not only does the website give you passenger feedback on their seat and journey, but it also has an intricate seat map (suggesting the good and bad seats) for most airlines and their respective fleet of airplanes.

With that said and done, it’s now time for the in-flight experience. As ridiculous as it sounds, being nice to a flight attendant can go a long way. Being nice is an ambiguous term so I’m going to be more specific; kind gestures that a passenger could carry out to a flight attendant range from tipping, assisting with overhead baggage, voicing their appreciation, and striking up a friendly conversation. By being an enjoyable passenger to serve, it’s not too unusual for a flight attendant to show their appreciation too; flight attendants have been known to give free chocolates, and even bring food, beverages and amenity kits from higher classes!

Many of us have had to endure too many unpleasant journeys. It’s time to change that! Hopefully with these (new) insights, you too will be able to make the most out of your travel experience, all the while spending less!

Don’t believe me? Try for yourself.

Works Cited

Sophie-Claire Hoeller. “29 travel hacks that even frequent fliers don’t know.” Business Insider, 16^th June 2015. <http://www.businessinsider.com/travel-hacks-for-frequent-fliers-2015-6#ixzz3dXFD7Kzg>.

Mark Johanson. “When is the best time to book a flight?” International Business Times, 21^st January 2015 <http://www.ibtimes.com/when-best-time-book-flight-1028160>.

Erica Ho “Map Happy”. “Use a ‘fake’ location to get cheaper plane tickets.” Huffington Post, 16^th December 2014. <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/map-happy/use-a-fake-location-to-ge_b_6315424.html>.

Omnivore's Dilemma: Food Post 2

Omnivore's Dilemma: Blog 2

After such deep insight into corn in the opening chapter, it's intriguing to see how Pollan expands back from a historical context to bring us into the modern age of corn. What really stood out to me was the significance of corn that many often overlook; I must admit, I never bothered to think about the history of corn either. In the early 20th Century, Naylor's farm produced simply enough corn to "feed his family and twelve other Americans besides". Fast forward to the early 21st century, and it's amazing to even think that Naylor's grandson now feeds "some 129 Americans" with his produce, though much of this is through the industrial food chain. I found this interesting as it's a reminder of how humans have developed so many forms of food from a once household staple.

However, despite the massive increase in production (due to leaps in technology), farmers like Naylor are making less than ever before; despite increases in supply and an ever-growing demand for corn, its value continues to drop which has rendered many farmers broke. I particularly enjoyed the reference of the production of corn in relation to the Laffer Curver as it allowed me to relate a real-life example to content that I had learned in my Economics classes and gave my further insight into the case. Farmers today are forced into producing more, despite decreasing revenue, in order to make ends meet. This reminded me of the struggle to adapt with changing times, and how the effects of modernisation are really taking a toll on such a significant part of our history.

Drawing on from the adaptation to modern times, I particularly enjoyed Pollan's analogy of corn fields "settled as densely as Manhattan for the same purpose: to maximise real estate values". It's interesting to think of the similarities between scarcity of land to live on, and scarcity of land to grow food on. Both are man-made but the only difference is that one has is inhabited, whilst the other is not. I enjoyed this because it managed to tie two different aspects of life together in order to best satisfy the basic Economic concept of satisfying unlimited wants with limited resources. 

After such an in-depth look at corn, I really enjoyed how Pollan then grabs my attention by relating the history of corn to how we as people have adapted along with the production of it. I never thought about the parallels between agriculture and economic ideas; getting further into this book has given me new insight into how all forms of life have adapted along the way.

Omnivore's Dilemma: Food Post 1

Omnivore's Dilemma: Blog 1

When I look at this book, the first thing that strikes me is the title. The introduction to the book ties in nicely with the title in bringing out attention to two main questions; where does our food come from, and what should we eat? The comparison of us, omnivores, to that of specialty eaters like the Koala, draws our attention to the question "what we should eat?". In the introduction it states how "the koala doesn't have to worry about what to eat" but that for omnivores "a vast amount of of brain space is and time must be devoted to to figuring out which of all the many potential dishes nature lays on are safe to eat". When thinking about the specific causes of anxiety when deciding what to eat, these descriptions immediately sparked many ideas as to peoples' anxiety; I often thought that it might simply be deciding between how much to eat and choosing the food that provides the most satisfaction, but I never thought of the evolutionary aspect of deciding between safe and unsafe foods as main cause of our anxiety. 

With thought going into what we should eat, that leaves us with the question "where does our food come from?". In The Omnivore's Dilemma, there are three principal food chains: the industrial, the organic, and the hunter-gatherer. Despite the variations in these three food chains, it is important to note they all have more or less the same purpose of channeling energy up the food chain. While the organic and hunter-gatherer food chains are marvels in their own respective way, it is interesting to focus on the industrial food chain when seeking a reason as to why no-one really seems to dig too deeply into the question of where our food comes from anymore. With leaps in innovation in processing food, it is difficult to trace the exact roots of ingredients that exist in some way or form in the modern days industrial food chain and as a result, some of us are dissuaded from finding the origins of what we're eating. Yet with all the health standards set about today, this got me thinking as to why people are simply resorting to the processed and artificial foods instead of the healthy and organic ones. Although I try to stay health conscious, I admit that I too have given in and often lean towards foods without thinking where it even comes from or what's in it. Prices, tastes and physical appeal are what I can think of as significant reasons, but I hope to learn more as to why I subconsciously pick the industrial food chain over the organic when they can often provide me with the same utility.

What I found the most interesting about the first chapter, was the fact that regardless of which question we ask or answer, the answers are often ecologically connected. I would never have imagined how many of our daily food products contain at least some traces of corn. As I think of more and more foods, and how they all relate back to the simple kernel of corn, I'm amazed at the abundance of corn in even our extremely processed and artificial of foods. In some way it makes sense because growth revolves around the transfer of energy from sun, to earth and life; that makes me wonder, what else can be a root of so many things today?