Zdarlight

Austerity seems to be the theme for Christmas in London this year. Pressure from both the environmental lobby and, I'm guessing, the bank manager, has definitely dampened the usual exuberant waste of money and electricity that are central London's Christmas decorations. Thankfully this pressure seems to have sparked some creativity, and the decorations this year look a lot better for it. Gone are the over coloured, over powered, and under designed affairs of previous years. Regent Street, as usual, boasts the most elaborate decorations, which are supposedly giant stars - although i'll let you decide what they actually resemble!


Covent Garden has opted for a rather more creative installation. The dazzling chandeliers hanging from the ceiling are interactive and respond to passers-by. The team behind the lights, UVA, have previously worked on light shows for Massive Attack and Basement Jaxx, so they definitely get my support :)


Massive Attack and UVA aside, my vote this year goes to Carnaby Street. With a bit of flair, no extra lighting, and several inflatable snowmen they have managed to create a really captivating effect without the usual cost and electricity implications.


Whilst we are on the subject of Christmas, my New Technology Venture class managed to get in some early festive celebrations this week. We (including the prof!) brought beers into class from Sundowners, the weekly free LBS drinking session.


Digitalism - Zdarlight: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=8ePfIkGqHCQ

Raining Again

Most people have the impression that London is gloomy, very very gloomy. And if the past month is anything to go by, you could be forgiven for believing them. But one of the aims (or rather instructions from my dear blogging partner) of this blog is to give an insight into what it's like living in London, so I’ll let you into a secret. It actually doesn’t rain that much here. In fact, with its average rainfall of 29 inches a year, London has less rain than New York (47”), Chicago (34”), South Hadley (42”), and even Dallas (37”). Sofia has it beat, with 22 inches, but what’s 7 inches between friends :) ?

Another well perpetuated myth is that London and the UK in general are densely populated, over-developed, and covered in tarmac. One reason for this misunderstanding is people’s reticence to venture further than the M25, or if you are a student from LBS, further than Baker Street tube station. In fact only 10% of the UK is urbanized. Yes, 90% of the UK is countryside. In many areas this countryside, starts well before the M25. This isn’t even taking into account the 1700 parks and open spaces in London itself. Indeed. London was recently voted one of the greenest cities in the world, beating San Francisco, New York, and amazingly Barcelona.

In case I still haven’t convinced you, here is a picture of a forest where I like to go mountain biking. It's less than an hour's cycle from central London, and well within the M25…


Post title; Raining Again by Moby (http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=b1CDCOPD7uQ)

Turning Marxian

As someone who would like to believe that I had at least a partial role in the exhilarating protests of ’89 (my part consisting mainly in having been born; well, and looking cute on my dad’s shoulders), I was the last person to think I could ever feel some attraction for Marx’s ideas. In fact I remember being openly, hmmm disrespectful on several occasions when, upon mentioning that I am studying economics, my granddad suggested I should take a look at the Capital.

Now, after spending a large chunk of this semester learning about the history of economic theories with one of the coolest professors I’ve had, I notice a radical shift in my attitudes.

So, since for the past couple of weeks I’ve been pouring most of my words in a paper on the theory of Mr. Marx, I decided to kill two birds with one stone and blog it out.

To Marx now. It is incredible that despite that Marx is one of the best-known economists, his theory remains largely misunderstood and superficially examined. I have read enough articles claiming to address his theory and containing more references to The Communist Manifesto than Capital. And while public misunderstanding is to be expected due to the connotations of Marxism, the bias in academia surprised me.

But, to the point: Why do I think Marx is cool?

• His theory of profits is the nucleus of his theory of capitalism (yes, his theory in fact was about capitalism, not communism) Profit is a question that classical economics never answered and neoclassical has never asked! And since capitalism is all about profit, somebody needs to explain it, right?
• Marx’s theory of profits in a nutshell: profit is generated through the exploitation of workers, i.e. by their unpaid labor.
• From this theory of profit follow other conclusions, which have been historically proved correct:
• conflicts between employers and workers over the length of the work day, salaries, labor intensity, you name it..
• And the most impressive prediction of all, technological progress is inherent to capitalism! The argument basically goes like this: within regulated length of the work day, the only way for capitalists to generate more surplus labor, i.e. increase profits, is to reduce the need for labor. Hence, the need for higher efficiency which comes through technology!

In comparison, all other economic theories don’t explain technology, but take it as constant (obviously not true) or assume it came from outer space (well, they put it as exogenous, same thing..) And this is a pretty grave shortcoming, considering technological change is one of the most significant phenomena which we have been observing.

Pfu, enough theory! My point is, Marxian theory explains a lot more than it is given credit for. And despite its problems, it is certainly a good idea to look more into it instead of discard it as something expired…

P.S. I am trying to convince Daniel to start a Marxian, well heterodox really, club in LBS; he’s pretending to not take my remarks seriously; I think he’s worried they’ll kick him out ;)

Couleurs

Subversive, criminal, creative, artistic, beautiful, expressive, dirty, anti-establishment.... No, I'm not describing Britney's new look. Neither am I describing my collection of boxer shorts. Nor Diana's sense of humour. What I'm referring to is graffiti. In a city like London, which lives in an almost perpetual state of drab grey, this work often brightens up an otherwise uninteresting wall or building. What else could turn a row of recycling bins into an art installation, or a derelict shop into a form of expression?

Recycling bins by Old Street roundabout

Derelict shop, Rivington St, opposite Cargo

p.s. however interested you are in graffiti I suggest, unlike Diana, you do not include it under the additional interests section of your CV / resume :)

As mentioned before I'm using song titles for my blog posts, this refers to Couleurs by M83 http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=wrv0F-WTio4 - Have tickets to see them in December, I can't wait!

Someone Great

I’ve found myself spending a lot of time counting days lately. Last year, with its excruciatingly boring accounting class and painfully pointless ethics class (everyone knows that your average MBA would swap their nan for a few pints and an internship at Goldmans…), daydreaming became my second most popular activity next to drinking free beer at Sundowners. This year I’m doing it even more. Except this year I don’t have an excuse. Despite being taught entrepreneurship by an internet millionaire and innovation by one of the most interesting professors I’ve ever had, I’m still struggling to concentrate. One side effect of always having something to look forward to is that I feel like I am killing time until that moment. Still, its only 18 days Diana ☺

What’s that carrot?

On a more somber note, whilst we are on the subject of counting things I thought it would be worth mentioning Remembrance Sunday, which commemorates soldiers who have died in service. In the UK and Canada, as well as a few other Commonwealth countries, people wear poppies to signify this event. The tradition of wearing poppies originates from battlefields such as the Somme in Northern France, where after the war they grew in their millions in an around the trenches. At the Somme alone, in one day nearly sixty thousand people were injured or killed – which is truly a number that I don’t want to count.

Bam!

According to Daniel, it is our 3-month anniversary today. He has spent quite a bit of time counting days, so I think I'll trust him on this one.

To commemorate this grandiose occasion, we decided to give the blogging thing a try. Largely because I personally have been tempted for a while, but didn't really get myself organized in India.. Then I mentioned it to gospodin Daniel, who gets easily excited about new ventures (He is supposedly coming up with a kids' book for me for Christmas; no escape now that it is made public!) So he set up the blog and I even shrewed him into writing the first post.. I think he is probably composing it now in a kitchen somewhere on the outskirts of London. I guess this would mean that I'm sort of shrewing him on a next level now that I have presumptuously stolen the first post ;) What can I say, I am getting better every day..

Anyways, we don't really have a central theme to our blog (yet), but we are starting off enthusiastic and will see where it takes us.. Please stop by and check on us! :)

Happy Anniversary, Dan!