The Japan's fallout

Even if the tragedy happened in Japan it is having an effect on the world. The government estimates that they have lost about $100 billion which is relatively a lot but it is still hopefully not enough to wreck as rich country as Japan. Japan is being pushed into recession and because it is the third-biggest economy in the world there is no way that the impact will not be felt all over the world.

Some of the Asian countries are already having a problem with disruptions to electricity supply. Nuclear power, which gives one third of states' electricity, is still totally down. As soon as many Japan's neighbors were relying on this country there is going to be a big problem. Also after this disaster USA, Germany and China started to have second thoughts about building new reactors or extending plants. In these three countries there are debates about nuclear power because it is a very good but also risky way to produce  energy. They are hesitating about safety of these constructions.

After the Tsunami there was a lot of damage caused by fires, explosions even dangerous releases of radiation, which in worst scenario might have an impact on public health of Japan and countries nearby. 

So as we can see we can state that nuclear crises affect lots of countries.

Elasticity of demand

Demand (popyt) - the quantity of a product that consumers are able and willing to purchase at various prices over a period of time.

elasticity of demand - how demand for particular product can be affected by changes in price. Usually when prices go down demand increases and decreases when prices go up. This concerns things such as cars, appliances and other not so necessary products because we can easily substitute or cancel the purchase. 

E.g if we want to buy a car but the price of it has gone up significantly we can replace it by a car from other brand which has a similar standard but a lower price. 

When it is about necessities as food, medicines and basic clothes demand is inelastic because changes in price doesn't affect demand so much because no matter how much does food cost we will still buy it.

Coffee giant

World famous coffee house company Costa Coffee was established in UK 1971. Originally founders were Italian brother now it belongs to international company which has about 442 stores in 28 countries. 

Some economic basis about 'Costa':

First of all shops in which this coffee is sold always look very nice. Decor as big comfortable, stylish sofa and a lot of space, your own table big enough to e.g leave books attracts you to stay in. Of course nothing is free. They charge extra more-less 20p. for every cup of coffee/tea etc. and cake just because you can have a sit and drink/eat already prepared things in nice place. To attract you even more after buying anything there you can have access to the 'free' internet what mostly make you stay longer and very often spend more money. They advertise themselves 'free internet in every shop' but literally to have wi-fi you have to buy something which excludes word free. They also use on posters happy looking man who won competition for the best barista with persuade people to enter shop and try high quality coffee. This  is obviously good trick because most of the people working there have no deeper experience with making coffee so you can't even call them barista not to say a qualified one.

It's also worth to mention loyalty cards. They are one of the best marketing trick. People commonly choose places in which they have or they can have special member card. Even if it doesn't make big differences it subconsciously helps us to think that we are saving money. 

At the end there is also one very customer affecting thing. The Costa foundation which helps people in countries where coffee is growing. They gives money for education, improving places with clean water, sanitation and school meals. 

'The Costa Foundation was set up in 2006 to give something back to coffee growing communities.'

Isn't that good advertisement?

Creep - radiohead

Happiness

'Happiness does not just make you enjoy life more, it actually affects how successful you are in both your personal and professional life.'

Happiness makes people:

• more sociable
• altruistic
• improve ability of solving the conflicts 
• increase how much the like themselves and others 
• have succesful relationships 
• live longer 
• have better health 
• better type of live
• have even a bit higher IQ results 

Some true statements about happiness:

• 'When people can afford the necessities in life, an increase in income does not result in a significantly happier life.'
• '40 per cent of your happiness level is derived from day-to-day behavior, and the way in which you think about yourself and others'

to be continued

Tricky questions - continued

Why do people without a watch look at their wrist when you ask them what time it is?

This is reflex made by our subconscious. We are all used to have watches on our wrist. Even if not we are all taught by our culture, mostly gestures in cinema, to connect time with watch on our wrist.

Why do they use sterilized needles for death by lethal injections? 
I guess in case when person will survive such a injection not to contract some other disease due to unsterilized needle. I also think that only healthy person can be legally executed so it is kind of health and safety guidelines.

Why is a person who plays the piano called pianist, but a person who drives a race car not called racist?
I think that term racist, which means discrimination of people from other race, came first to the spoken language. It was common before invention of the car and car race. So because of the very bad meaning  people create another way to call person who drives race car.

If it's true that we are here to help others, hat are others doing here?
If we are helping someone, this person is supposed to help someone else. This should work as a circulation.

Shouldn't it be called a 'near hit' rather than a 'near miss'?

Tricky questions. 22

Why do fat chance and slim chance mean the same thing?

Slim chance is when there is a minimal chance of winning and achieving your goal. Fat chance is an irony.

If people evolved from apes, why are there still apes?

Evolution does not say that man evolved form ape. It does say that man and ape evolved from a common ancestor. So this question now doesn't have any sense.

Did Adam and Eve have navels (belly-button)? 

According to Christians they couldn't have belly-buttons because they were created by God not born by human. Naval is sign that you were once attached to your mother, that you spent nine months in her uterus. Adam were formed of 'dust form the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life', Eve from Adam's rib so there is no particular reason why should they have navels.

Why doesn't glue stick to the bottle? 

Glue doesn't stick inside the bottle because the chemicals within the glue is triggered by oxygen so when the glue bottle is opened it triggers the chemicals to make it sticky. That's why if a bottle if left out with no cap the glue becomes quite hard. 

What is a free gift? Aren't all gifts free?

If person give you a gift and doesn't want anything in return then it is free. But most of the gifts in shop are conditional. 'Buy one product and have a free gift'. Such a promotion are always related with the purchase of something over a certain value. Using 'free' in headlines makes people believe in saving money and they are more likely to buy products with such a promotion.

If the temperature is zero outside today and it's going to be twice as cold tomorrow how cold will it be?

It depends which scale do you use. 

I

f it is 0 now and twice as cold tomorrow, 0 x 2 = 0. it will be 0 degrees Celsius. But if you use Fahrenheit twice as cold as zero is equal to -31 degrees.

Lateral Thinking

1. The man in the elevator.
A man lives on the tenth floor of a building. Every day he takes the elevator to go down to the ground floor to go to work or to go shopping. When he returns he takes the elevator to the seventh floor and walks up the stairs to reach his apartment on the tenth floor. He hates walking so why does he do it?
Answer:
The man is a dwarf.

2. The man in the bar.
A man walks into a bar and ask the barman for a glass of water. The barman pulls out the gun and point it at the man. The man says 'thank you' and walks out.
Answer:
The man had hiccups. The barman recognized this from his speech and drew the gun in order to give him a shock. It worked and cured the hiccups - so the man no longer needed the water.

3. Death in a field.
A man is lying dead in a field. Next to him there is an unopened package. There is no other creature in the field. How did he die?
Answer:
The man had jumped from the plane but his parachute had failed to open. It is the unopened package.

4. Anthony and Cleopatra.
Anthony and Cleopatra are lying dead on the floor of  villa in Egypt. Nearby is a broken bowl. There is no mark on either bodies and thy were not poisoned. How did they die?
Answer:
Anthony and Cleopatra were goldfish whose bowl was knocked over by clumsy dog.

5. Trouble wit sons.
A woman had two sons who were born on the same hour of the same day of the same year. But they were not twins. Hw could this be so?
Answer:
They were two of the set of triplets or quadruplets.

6. Push that car. 
A man pushed his car. He stopped when he reached a hotel at which point he knew he was bankrupt. Why?
Answer:
He was playing Monopoly.

7. The blind beggar. 
A bling beggar had brother who died. What relation was the blind beggar to the brother who died if we know brother is not the answer.
Answer:
The blind beggar was the sister of her brother who died.

8. Friday.
A man rode into town on Friday. He stayed for three night and then left on Friday. How come?
Answer:
The man's horse was called Friday.

Lesson summary

What is an earthquake?
It's shaking of the ground caused by sudden movement of tectonic plates.

What causes earthquakes?
Quakes are mostly triggered by tectonic plates that slide past each other or collide against each other.

What effects do earthquakes have?
We can easily divided effects of earthquake into three aspects. Social, economic and environmental. First one includes amount of dead people, homelessness, loss of belongings, disease, crime, hunger, disruption in education. Economic effects contains things as lack of money in banks, disruptions in work, loss of workplaces, damage industry, rising taxes, maybe even recession. And environmental as radiation (long-term impact), collapsed buildings, pollution.

How do countries protect themselves from earthquakes?
Japan is country where earthquakes happens most commonly in the world. It's nothing unusual for people and government there so most of the buildings are specially constructed for such an events. They have very big foundations located on ground which are able to withstand quake up to 7 Richter degrees. Buildings are also much more flexible than anywhere else.

What is a tsunami?
Tsunami are large, powerful waves caused by sudden displacement of large quantities of water in the sea or ocean.

What causes tsunamis?
Common causes for the displacement of large quantities of water are: earth quakes, volcanic activity and landslides. 

What effects do tsunamis have?
These giant waves can travel for thousands of miles across the sea and still have enough energy and force to destroy buildings, trees, wildlife and people. When water is withdrawing takes everything with it which caused big loss of belongings. It has also big impact on plants because salt damage crops.

How do countries protect themselves from tsunamis?
Some countries have network of sensors to detect tsunamis and a communications infrastructure to issue timely alarms to permit evacuation of coastal areas.

Why do poor countries suffer more from tsunami?

Firstly poor countries are less prepared for such an events so damages are much bigger. Rich country (MEDC) usually have warning system which helps to rescue people from death and prepared them to protect valuable things. People from poor country are often badly educated and don't know how to protect themselves to survive. Secondly rich countries have more money for rebuilding and recovery. Economy prosper much better so rich country are less likely to have recession. LEDC need much more time to recover because of lack of money and bad economy.

Japanese economy

The impact of the earthquake in Japan on the Japanese economy.

• inflation - less supply, prices rise
• exchange rate - this falls which makes imports more expensive 
• government spending - rise, but were would the money come from
• confidence - would be low ex. overseas firms would not invest in the Japanese economy 
• unemployment - will rise because of the radiation. people will not even leave their houses. 

Economist are speculate that earthquake and tsunami has a big influence on Japanese economy and it's pushing the country into recession. So far hundreds of factories are being closed across the Japan and big companies as Toyota, Sony, Nestle, Nissan are having considerable pecuniary loss which greatly affects the economy. Most of them are also selling the dollars and other foreign currencies to prepare for cost of rebuilding domestic economy. 

About 2 million homes are without electricity and about 1,4 million do not have running water. Government estimate losses after disaster for more-less £62 billion. Bank of Japan tries to prevent too much rising of yen as well as it offers help to small banks to make sure they are not run out of the money because in case of such events people are likely to panic and take all savings out of accounts. 

Macroeconomics - repetition

The government has four macro-economics aims:

1. reduce unemployment 

• cut taxes
• create more schools and hospitals
• reduce the exchange rate 
• reduce prices 
• reduce import

1. encourage growth (GDP)
2. increase export and reduce import
3. reduce inflation

There are two main policies:

1. fiscal - using taxes and government expenditure (using taxes)
2. monetary - using interest rates (government spending)  

"The wild one"

'The wild one' with Marlon Brando - even nowadays some movie characters' styles are inspired by Johnny.

This movie tells the story about a young and wild group of motorcyclists without any inhibitions. It's based on the real story that took place on 4 of July 1947 in a small town called Hollister. The film was directed by László Benedek and first shown 30 of December 1953 in USA. The main character, which is played by Marlon Brando, makes the movie popular. Johnny's style became an icon for people and other film characters.

It starts with a scene where boisterous bikers, led by Johnny Strabler ( Marlon Brando ), invade the small town in California during the motor race. We can already see that they will cause lots of trouble. Lack of work makes this group of boys only drink beer and riot. After the second gang comes to the same place, the level of aggression of both teams rises very rapidly. They start using violence to compete with each other, which quickly begins to annoy the people living in town who respond with the same behavior.

One of the 'Black Rebels' steals the 2nd place trophy and gives it to Johnny, who when later asked, pretends that he won it. Even if this prize doesn't mean anything to him it makes people believe in his leadership. But Johnny still seems to be a bit lost, without any real aim in life. His character is very mysterious because he is trying not to show his true feelings. He doesn't enjoy answering questions but if he eventually does, it's always in a brief way. We find out a lot about him when he finally becomes interested in the police officer's daughter. At the end of the film there is a very important scene where he presents his trophy to this girl to thank her. This kind of behavior shows us change in Johnny, a slow personal opening. 

I really enjoyed this film. And I recommend it for those who are into old-school because it is not for everybody. I wasn't even surprised when I went to the auditorium to see this film and saw few people. Nowadays 'we' prefer more commercial films with good special effects and an easy plot. Nonetheless in my opinion 'The wild one' take us back in time to the  50's, compels us to think, and shows differences in today's world. It's worth spending an hour and a half watching this movie.

Economics explains almost everything

Why is child safety required in cars but not on aeroplanes?

This time it is all about reducing the cost of the journey. To ensure the safety for our child in the car you just have to buy a safety seat. A big cost or not, in the case of an accident it is very useful and very often it even saves children's lives. But while traveling by plane, to have a safety belt for your child you would have to pay an extra $300, more or less (when we consider a journey from London to NY). It is also good to mention that in the case of a plane crash a belt does't help at all but in less serious circumstances it could. So almost nobody wants to pay such an amount of money just to be careful. 

My own made carrot cake with white chocolate topping

My own made carrot cake with white chocolate topping.

Recipe:
4 eggs
1,5 glasses of sugar  (white or brown)
1 glass of oil
2 glasses of flour
1 small spoon of baking powder
1 small spoon of soda
2 small spoons of cinnamon
2 big carrot

How to do it:
1) Start with adding eggs and sugar to each other and mix it
2) Slowly add some oil then flour, baking powder, soda and cinnamon
3) Stir it all together and in the end add thin grated carrot
4) bake it in the oven for 35-45 min, about 180 degrees

Topping:
I recommend to buy white chocolate and melt it in microwave (about 1,5 min) then cover your cake by this mass.

ENJOY YOUR CAKE

Economics explains almost everything

Why do kamikaze pilots wear helmets?

One of the reasons that kamikaze pilots wear helmets is the fact that they are still pilots and it is kind of hallmark. Another is that if they are going to die in the case of turbulence or accident before they reach their target, a helmet can safe their lives. It can also be because they are trying not to show the intention of suicide. By wearing helmets they pretend to be normal pilots.

In my opinion it is also because they hope that they will survive and return safely.

Economics explains almost everything

Why does Victoria's Secret offer multimillion-dollar jewel-studded bras that no one ever buys?

The company probably never expected to sell these bras but producing them and hiring one of the most popular models is a good advertisement. Every time such a bra is shown to customers the media announces it to people which attracts  them to visit the shop which brings a lot of attention and income to the company. If the bra is not sold it is easy to remove the jewels so Victoria's Secret doesn't lose much.  

It also has a big influence on customers because they subconsciously compare the price of the bra that costs  several millions with the things that they want to buy e.g. $450 which then seems like nothing.

Economics explains almost everything

Why are whales in danger of extinction, but not chickens?

If you own something in most cases this means you care about something. The fact is that almost every chicken alive is someone's property has a strong influence on the total amount of chickens. The owners can keep the balance between birds and sold meat because they need to have some of them alive to still receive money from selling them.

Another case concerns whales, which don't belong to anybody. They just swim in international waters and are a profit for everybody who kills and sells them. If one country doesn't do it another one will, so they have less incentive to stop hunting. 

This is a reason why whales have a greater possibility of becoming extinct.

Prices and products

I've decided to compare the prices of products in three well known supermarkets in Oxford. Because of the fact that they are located close by they are all substitutes for each other. My task is to help you choose one in order to pay less and have high quality products.

There are several factors which affect the price:

- company that sells it (the way that shop looks inside, people who are supposed to buy there)

- company that produces the product

- size

First of all I've experimented on the most common products as e.g. milk, yoghurt, cereals, bread, chicken, fruit such as mandarin, vegetables such as tomatos, olives and M&M's.

Price of organic milk in every shop was different. But it's not a surprise because there are all made in different companies. In M&S (Marks and Spencer) you would have to pay £1.03 which is the most but we also know that the standard of M&S is higher than Tesco and the Co-op. In Tesco it's 86p. and in the Co-op 99p. For a product such as natural yoghurt in M&S you have to pay £1.29, in Tesco £1.25 so there isn't a big difference between this two shops but this time the cheapest price has the Co-op, only 99p. For the famous Cornflakes 500g. in M&S you have to spend £1.98. For 250g. in Tesco and Co-op you pay £1.45 and £1.65 which shows how much cheaper it is to buy big sizes products. In M&S buying organic (so high quality) bread costs £1.29. In Co-op a normal one costs £1.24 and in Tesco ONLY 70p. Of course it is obvious that bread for only 70p. is not so healthy and good for us as e.g. this in Co-op which is maybe not the best but still much better.

For the same amount of chicken you have to pay in Tesco £4, in Co-op £4 and in M&S £5.24 which is quite a big difference. But lets move on to fruit and vegetables. 700g. in M&S cost £2.99 when in Co-op the same size is for £1.30 and in Tesco £1.50. For sure most of people won't choose Marks&Spencer to buying fruits. The prices of vegetables are high there too. For 400g. of tomatoes you have to pay £2.19. which is a lot while we compare the price in the Co-op, for 700g. only £1.30. But for people who prefer to buy in M&S the most I should mention that M&M's are only £1.89 which is cheaper than in Tesco and Co-op (£2.10 in both shops).
Finally the price of olives because in all shops this product of the same company was exactly the same.

Economics explains almost everything

Why do women's clothes always button from the left, while men's clothes always button from the right?

This matter seems to be historical.

It is worth mentioning that about 90 per cent of the world's population is right-handed. At the time that buttons first appeared they were located on the right side to make them easier for men to fasten. But still women were being dressed by the servant who would find it easier to fasten them from the left hand side.

Nowadays it would be very risky for manufactures to change the location of the buttons because women are used to having them on left side and a shirt with buttons on the opposite side might be valued less. Some ladies could even feel strange because a perceptive person could accuse them of wearing a men's shirt. That's why since the buttons appeared there have been no changes in their location.

Economics explain almost everything

Why are DVDs sold in much larger packages than CDs, even through the two types of disc are exactly the same size?

It's all about historical origin.

CD cases were made in such a way so that racks on which vinyl discs had been displayed were wide enough to house two rows of CD. So it would be attractive to consumers that there was no need to replace a vinyl shelf for a new CD one.
 The same thing happened concerning DVDs, which appears at the time when VHS format was popular. It was easier to sell a DVD in a sleeve that would fit for the same racks as VHS than in a smaller one.

And it is like that up to today.