timbit.talk

The Post:

The Response:

I read your posting with great interest and have thought meaningfully about your dilemma. I offer the following analysis of your predicament. Firstly, I’m not wasting your time, I qualify as a guy who fits your bill; that is I make more than $500K per year. That said here’s how I see it.
Your offer, from the prospective of a guy like me, is plain and simple a crappy business deal. Here’s why. Cutting through all the B.S., what you suggest is a simple trade: you bring your looks to the party and I bring my money. Fine, simple. But here’s the rub, your looks will fade and my money will likely continue into perpetuity…in fact, it is very likely that my income increases but it is an absolute certainty that you won’t be getting any more beautiful!
So, in economic terms you are a depreciating asset and I am an earning asset. Not only are you a depreciating asset, your depreciation accelerates! Let me explain, you’re 25 now and will likely stay pretty hot for the next 5 years, but less so each year. Then the fade begins in earnest. By 35 stick a fork in you!
So in Wall Street terms, we would call you a trading position, not a buy and hold…hence the rub…marriage. It doesn’t make good business sense to “buy you” (which is what you’re asking) so I’d rather lease. In case you think I’m being cruel, I would say the following. If my money were to go away, so would you, so when your beauty fades I need an out. It’s as simple as that. So a deal that makes sense is dating, not marriage.
Separately, I was taught early in my career about efficient markets. So, I wonder why a girl as “articulate, classy and spectacularly beautiful” as you has been unable to find your sugar daddy. I find it hard to believe that if you are as gorgeous as you say you are that the $500K hasn’t found you, if not only for a tryout.
By the way, you could always find a way to make your own money and then we wouldn’t need to have this difficult conversation.
With all that said, I must say you’re going about it the right way. Classic “pump and dump.”
I hope this is helpful, and if you want to enter into some sort of lease, let me know.

By Mike Stimpson

I’ve been trying to find the words to come up with today’s post…type….delete delete…type type….delete.

It’s a day to the year since my Aunt Sophie left us. Not a day goes by that I don’t think of her and fight off a moment of watery eyes and a stuffy nose. I wish I could call her right now to say ‘hi’ and to tell her about how much fun it was to see Aunt Jenny open up and use her first ever digital camera over the weekend. I wish I could send her pictures of our backyard (with our healthy plum, cherry and apple trees) now that we have finally finished it. I wish I could just see her smile and get just one more of her warm hugs so that I know she is doing ok…

I wish I could let her know how much I miss her…

Recently, a popular radio personality read the following letter over the air to the president of South Africa.

“Dear Mr Mbeki

As a citizen of this country who has recently returned from abroad I would like to raise a concern.

I would have written a similar letter in the 1980s at the height of apartheid oppression to the government of that day then but did not have the platform then that I have now.

Almost every time I was introduced as a South African during my travels last week, I was berated for my country’s stance on Zimbabwe, much the same way as during my travels in the 1980s when, as a South African, I was berated for the apartheid legislation of the time. It seems the more things change the more they stay the same.

For the second time in my life as a citizen of this country I was embarrassed to be a South African based on the principles of the ruling party of the day. Then, the apartheid government and now the ANC government.

Shame on you for your lack of leadership. Shame on you for failing the region you serve. Shame on you for failing the country you serve. Shame on you for your action and your lack of action. You have placed your citizens in the same situation the apartheid government, which you are so quick to blame for all the ills of today, did in the 1980s. A position where they are ashamed to stand up and proudly say they are South African.

You should hang your head in shame, the same way we are inclined to do.

Yours sincerely 
Jeremy Mansfield, a citizen.”

Check out:

http://www.jacksonpollock.org/

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In a major milestone for South African Chinese yesterday (June 18th), the High Court ruled that we be reclassified as Black. I’ve been in Canada for so long now that I can’t remember how to think that my ethnicity plays a role in my day-to-day life. And not to downplay the significance of the ruling, but it makes me a cringe a little to think that I would have to officially classify my ethnic status to the government in order to get the jobs I strive for and the good life I want to live with my family.

For the full article, go to http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7461099.stm

I recently received a ’send-this-10-ppl-you-know’ type email the other day, which I actually thought was mildly interesting, but wasn’t sure if any of it was true. So I thought I would throw it out there to see if any of the academics out there had tried this before:

1. Take bananas apart when you get home from the store. If you leave them connected at the stem, they ripen faster.
2. Peppers with 3 bumps on the bottom are sweeter and better for eating; peppers with 4 bumps on the bottom are firmer and better for cooking.
3. Add a tespoon of water when frying ground beef. It will help pull the grease away from the meat while cooking.
4. Add garlic immediatly to a recipe if you want a light taste of garlic, and at the end of the recipe if you want a stronger taste of garlic.
5. Place a dryer sheet in your pocket to keep the mosquitos away.

Chad and I have been mildly addicted to The Hour on CBC over the last little while. I never really liked George Stromboulopoulos as a VJ on Much Music, but he has actually turned out to be a decent interviewer and for some (good) reason has managed to pull in some big names on his show (weeknights 11pm).

This week was definitely no exception. He spent the whole episode chatting to the boys of Coldplay. If you have a chance, check out the episode.

Check out this design by Joel Hesselgren