Tuesday, August 07, 2007
Finding a needle in a haystack. Thats the phrase commonly used to express an extreme difficulty in finding something, like finding a needle in a haystack. But I realised that it is now easier to find a needle in a haystack, than to find a person in the uni. All you need is a magnet. It will no doubt, take some amount of work, but the magnet will make life all the more simpler. Or perhaps, roughly knowing where the needle will be might make it easier as well. Why am I talking about needles and haystacks? Because I spent a few hours yesterday roaming around uni looking for that needle, and I had no magnet. I did however make a few intelligent guesses as to where the needle might be. Sadly, the needle was not found, otherwise there would be a different post today.
On a different note, I was browsing through the ST forums, as usual, and I found a letter complaining that Mac's Ez-link system of payment was causing children to "cheat" their parents of money. First thing, Mac's doesn't and won't care, because this new mode of payment will increase profits for them. Second, economists will agree with Mac's because it increases total surplus. And third, what really is cheating? The moral issue can be debated, that this mode of payment will promote unhealthy thinking, but is that a concern that the financial system should worry about. However, if children are willing to cheat their children of Ez-link money, which as far as I know, can only be used on transportation, and Mac food, how desperate must they be?
Another article complained that a 24hour clinic charged 4 times the normal rate during the night, than in the day. On top of that, A&E cost $10 to $20 cheaper. Again it can be debated, the true price of good health. But to think about it logically, go back 30 years, would we have 24 hour clinics? Would we even have clinics in such convenient locations? One problem I find common in many adults, and the generations around them is that they tend to compare the prices today with the prices of their time. Inflation people, inflation. But they will never understand because MRI's, CT scans, Lumbar Punctures, lab diagnosis are all things of the future, which adults will treat as nonsense. They want quality but they want prices to remain the same.
Dan
2:04 pm
