It would be interesting to find out what is the bug that causes the six years difference. Maybe it is just a stupid typo. The character 6 and 0 looks quite similar if you use a very small font.
How to write a good history essay
Pat is taking a course in Canadian history and has to hand in a final essay. She has read all the textbook and all the reference papers, but she still have no clue how to write a good essay. She summarized all points from different historians, but she could not figure out how to meet the essay requirement, assess and contrasts the points from those historians.
I think writing an history essay is just like writing a philosophy paper, probably all undergrad level academic papers come from the same mold. For a history essay, first you give a brief summary of the historical event, what had happened and what is the result. Then you quote different historians to offer different explanations on why it happened and what is the consequences of the result. Usually the easy way out is pick the perspective from the historian you like, cite some minor events to backup his theory, and cite some other minor events to go against other theories. At the end of the essay, you conclude by saying historian A is right, historian B and C are wrong, and that’s it. I know nothing about the Riel Revolution, but after reading just Pat’s summary, I manage to BS an outline for an A grade essay (I think).
The historical event in the essay is about some European and native Indian mix-blood decedents rebel against the Canadian federal government seizing their land and the Hudson Bay Company (HBC) has a monopoly in fur trade. At the end the federal government gave in and respect their properties rights. Historian A uses Marxism theory, the revolution is a typical class struggle. The government and the HBC are capitalist exploiting poor rural farmers and hunters. Historian B claims there are two groups of mix-blood decedents, those mixed with English and those mixed with French. The revolution is just the extension of the England-France war with the French mix-blood rebel against government while the English mix-blood wants to assimilate with the government. Historian C gives a toned down version of Historian A’s view, instead of claiming class different is the problem, he claims cultural different causes the problem. Historian D does not offer any theory, he just record some anecdote of certain English mix-blood family. It really does not matter which theory you choose to defense, I am sure you can find reference in D’s material to support or against any of A,B,C’s view points.
I think besides becoming a philosopher, I also have the potential to become a historian. Writing history essay seems pretty easy, it’s like ordering fast food, combo A + B + C. First pick a historical event, then pick a social theory and link them up by citing minor events. You just need to claim your theory is better than any other theory in explaining why the event happened and twist some facts to make them fit your theory.
Selling old kitchen cabinets
We are remodeling our kitchen, remove the old cabinets and install new ones. The problem is what to do with our old cabinets? Technically speaking, the old cabinets are junks to me. Actually they are worse than junks, because if I would have to spend some money to hire a garbage collector even I want to throw them away. There is a 2nd hand market for old cabinets, I see many listings on Craigslist, the only problem is I have no idea how much my old kitchen worth.
My only reference on pricing are listings on the Craigslist. 2nd hand cabinets are selling from a few hundred bucks to a few thousands. The same set of cabinet has different value to different people. It depends on how well the cabinets fit their kitchen. On one hand, I want to get as much as I can from the old cabinet. one the other hand, I want to get rid of them before my contractor install the new cabinets. If I set the price too low, I didn’t get the most out of it. If I set the price too high, it may not be sold. Since I don’t know the market price for my cabinets, I can’t even name the right price.
My solution to the problem is to listing my cabinets as a close bid auction. I set up a time and let people come to see the cabinets, make measurements and ask questions. They write me their best offer and I simply pick the best offer at the end of the day. To make it fair, I ask them to put their offer in an envelope and I am not going to look at their bid before the end of the auction. By doing this way, I can avoid dealing with the bargain hunters and I don’t have to feel bad being ripped off for selling the cabinet too cheap.
The final price is much better than I had expected. I listed $500 as the base price. I would be happy if I can get a few hundred bucks more. Most of the offerings are around $800, but I got two offerings just over $1000. I figure the highest possible value I could get should be around $1200-1300. Since it is a best offer auction, according to auction theory the expected value of return is a bit less than the true value because the buyers would will not bet the full amount of their true value, I am quite happy for what I got.
Setting up the auction and answering emails and phone calls is time consuming. Not only that I got more money for my old cabinets, it is also a good learning experience observing how the buyers response to my auction.
Secrets of the Economist’s Trade
I think I have the potential to be an economist, I think I am as cheap as them. Next time when my wife complains about me being cheap, I can tell her I am just concern about economy efficient.
Beginning of the ski season
The skiing season is pretty short this year due to the Olympic. The Sea to Sky Highway is closed during the games for normal traffic and hotels in Whistler will be ridiculously expensive. That means I have to use up most of all my ski passes before the Olympic in February.
Today is my second skiing day in season. I feel much better than my skiing first day before Christmas. Last time I sign up for lesson and I am so out of shape that the instructor bump me down from level 6 to level 5. I am getting a bit better today, plus we have really great snow, a very powder day. Skiing on powder snow is very different from skiing on groomed runs. If you don’t go fast enough, your ski will sink. I got trapped twice today in knee deep snow, digging myself out is pretty exhausting. You also have to lean a bit more backward on powder snow, or your ski tip will catch the snow and make you fall.
A few years ago, when I took my instructor class, I was told I lean too much backward. Since then I consciously try to lean more forward. This time, the instructor told me I am leaning too much forward, looks like I over correct my stands. It is important to keep your balance even between your ankle and arch. Leaning backward speed you up and makes you lose control. Leaning forward put too much pressure on the ski tip and make it hard to turn.
When I go to Whistler, I always have the noodle bowl and a cup of coke for lunch. Somehow the portion of the noodle bowl seems getting smaller and smaller every year. The cafeteria server only gives you half a bowl of noodle and fill it up with the empty space soup. That portion is definitely not enough to feed a hungry guy had exercised the whole morning. The portion is so small this year that I finally decided I am not going to get rip off the Whistler. I fix the problem myself and get even with them. I simply ordered two bowls and merge the noodles before checking out at the cashier. Now I get a full bowl of noodle, as shown in the advertisement, instead a pathetic half empty noodle bowl.