Economics 101 revisited

What a sanctuary the Literary Festival has been from what I call ‘The
Weather’ here in Ottawa. Nor did today’s closing gigs disappoint.

Economics isn’t everyone’s Saturday lunch fare. Yet Joseph Heath had us
all chuckling into our sandwiches at his plain truth approach to
Economics 101 as we thought we knew it.

This bundle of intellectual energy unravelled some of the myths around
economics and why the Economics 101 teaching model “makes capitalism
seem like not just an acceptable compromise, but the best of all
possible worlds.” What I like about Heath’s way of thinking is that he’s
examined both left and right models, drawing logical strands from each.

For instance, as Heath points out, “left-wing utopian socialism doesn’t
account for black markets.” Or that in a capitalist system which works
on the market system of buying and selling, the war on drugs is somewhat
pointless. Where there are buyers, there will always be sellers. Made
sense to me, anyway.

I can’t wait to read his books ‘The Rebel Sell’ (co-written with Andrew
Potter) and ‘Filthy Lucre’. For sure, if I had a child going to
university I’d make darn sure they were taking all Heath’s courses. At
least I’d know they’d then be equipped to cut through some of facile
economic illiteracy that we get from both the left and right when they
saw it.

Most of Twitter is Twatter

Well, that’s not what James Harkin said exactly (‘Cyburbia:
consciousness, communications and community in the digital age’). But it
pretty well sums up what I’ve heard about Twitter.

Thankfully, some of us don’t rely on the impersonality of the ‘net for
interaction with others. Or for information. Because if we did, we
wouldn’t have heard Harkin’s take on it.

His opening gambit, however, was disquieting: “Some say that with so
much stuff on the Internet, we may not need ideas any more.” A
thoroughly scary thought. Equally worrying is the feeling that we are
being 'chain ganged' into posting, posting, posting. If we don’t, we are
uncool, disconnected, and possibly disenfranchised.

Fortunately, Harkin doesn’t think this way. He sees the ‘net much like
old-time suburbia – where people discretely watched each others’
activities from behind the curtains, never really getting to know each
other at all. The Internet, he believes, is not dissimilar. We’ve just
traded twitching behind curtains for twitching behind a computer screen.

I liked that analogy. In fact, pretty well everything Harkin talked
about resonated. Like how the ‘net is so choc-full of information we
easily get sidetracked. There’s even an acronym for it. If I heard
correctly, it’s ‘wilfing’ (as in What am I Looking For?) We’ve all been
there, right?

And another to describe this fragmented world, where the phrase
‘continuous partial attention’ has become a truism.

It used to be, people left the TV on when company came (tut-tut). Or
flicked through channels, incessantly. Now it’s ‘always-on’ email
bleeping into conversations, or the wretched Blackberry that must be
consulted and cared for when we are attempting to have quality time with
friends and family … or worse, when kids are trying to have a
conversation with their parents. That really eats me up.

Yep! ‘Continual partial attention’ is pretty much what the digital age
has done for us. And I guess if parents are not going to have
conversations with their kids anymore, we’d better get used to it.

A Convert to Poetry

After professing my ignorance of poetry, a festival goer (you know how
these events spur spontaneous conversations) urged me to just try it:
circling two recommendations in the program. Am I ever glad I recognize
good advice when it’s available!

So off I trot to Poetry Cabaret 3 on Wednesday evening.

Two – no, three – things struck me.

First, how fine poetry is when read by the author: when it’s delivered
at the right cadence, and with the passion that spurred its writing.

Second, how poetry can tell a story like no other medium. Sparse – crisp
even – it’s so much easier to retain the visuals than listening to
straight prose.

Third, I should somehow make the time to take in BC Scene’s Poetry Night
this evening. Hope to see you there.

Our Urban Future … is Our Responsibility

Alan Broadbent and Jeb Brugmann have each written monumental books on
how to save our collective urban sanity. But what progress will be made?

I’ve had many dealings with desk jockeys in City Councils the world
over. For the most part, individuals I’ve met are committed to their
jobs. Ottawa included.

But too many City Councils are, as Mr. Broadbent says, stymied by arcane
ideas, and laws to match. I agree. This isn’t the place to list my own
experiences since returning to Ottawa a year ago. In the grand scheme
of things, while petty and annoying, they are relatively minor.

So what’s to be done? Like the private sector, we could ask Council
members to reapply for their jobs. But they do that through periodic
elections. Instead, we need a network of disciplined community
coalitions across the country to map out coherent packages of sensible
programs that will inject some excitement into the debate. And let
events run their course, as they will.

I’d also like to see books like those penned by Messrs Broadbent and
Brugmann get a wider audience. And would be happy to work with anyone
who can finance their redistribution in a format that will increase
readership. Only by true community involvement and respect will we
build Canadian cities that are so brave and exciting we don’t wince
every time property taxes are mentioned.

I am so very humbled

Jason Brown, who famously decoded the opening chord of The Beatles song
‘A Hard Day’s Night’ brought his multimedia show to the Festival Sunday.
And if I were Mr. Harper I’d create a Ministry of Mathematics Teaching
just for Jason. The crypt was full, and the audience predominantly
young. Because Jason knows how to make maths fun … well, for some of us.

I’m embarrassed to say even Jason’s engaging presentation – complete
with pictures and acoustics - sent my mind into that panic Whiteboard
Mode some of us experience when calculating the facts on maths.

Okay, I’ve tried to buck a truly terrible education where my maths,
algebra and geometry scores would together amount to a total of 20 max
per term exam (nobody cared, so nor did I). I’ve passed several personal
and institutional finance exams on my first go. And winged a university
entrance exam for those of us without a piece of paper saying we got
educated, even though half of it was maths based. And in 16 years
reporting on corporate financial titans to tight deadlines never did I
have to post a retraction.

Jason says this sort of thing happens a lot. Probably to the Beatles
too, since they also professed maths illiteracy.

But on Sunday I felt truly humbled. I’d hoped Jason would be able to get
me past the first page of this ‘All the Math You’ll Ever Need’ book for
beginners I bought. Or help me get one right answer on my whizzy
financial calculator. But noooo. Despite Jason’s absolutely brilliant
presentation, that Whiteboard Feeling returned.

Were there others in the audience who just can’t get their brains to
work like a calculator? I noticed all the questions came from men. So is
this a woman thing?