Grabbed by Goblinses
31/07/2003 09:19 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
izmeinaIzzie is back at the Min of Fin this week. The new Semester began on Monday and Izzie's first lesson was the fascinating and most interesting "Strategic Games 201"
Unlike most subjects this one is an elective and just happens to be a topic that has interested Iz for a very very long time. It all began with the wonderful Hofstadter book "Metamagical Themas" and continued with a fascinating four day intensive educational workshop/ seminar sort of thing in Kuala Lumpur called "Money and You" back in 2000 where the method of teaching consisted almost entirely of playing such games. The Auctions of envelopes containing undisclosed sums of cash were particularly revealing and entertaining.
Little tweeks in the rules and rewards can have the most amazing effect on people's behaviour.
Unfortunately we seem to have Professor Binns as our lecturer. Not only is he incredibly boring but also bears an uncanny resemblance to King George of Texas.
The good news...Two exams and NO group projects. Izzie HATES group projects....Now that is the sort of strategic game that Iz does not like at all.
We do have an essay due in Mid October. Any ingenious ideas on the following would be most welcome
"Find at least two examples of decision-making in business or government that involve strategic analysis. Explain each example and then identify the general class of game involved, the players in the game, their strategies and potential payoffs. Finally, discuss the possible outcomes in your chosen examples and the role of competitive versus cooperative behaviour, information and uncertainty in determining these outcomes."
The 'They cannot possibly be serious' Pentagon Terrorism tidbits exchange sounded like a fascinating place to start. But it so tasteless it cannot possibly be true. I guess it's time to visit http://snopes.com to get the gossip.
Taxation seems not too exciting but our tutor is really really good and knows his stuff. He is out there during the day in the real world doing it. (Must watch to see if how often he sips from that whisky flask) Once again....No group projects. This is just ssssso good.
But the party ended today. The nasty subject of Auditing. As far as Izzie is concerned, auditing is a totally unserious subject. An absolute joke. They can waffle on all they like about independence, ethics and integrity but as long as the auditors are paid by the folks they are checking, they would be more gainfully employed and useful spending their very expensive time, shuffling deckchairs on the Titanic.
Or as Iz loves to say. "Dont' worry. Buy Enron"
Not only do we have the dreaded group project, a pile of extremely expensive text books to acquire, and weekly assignments that must be handed in EVERY week and MUST be typed :( :( but they also inform us that the pass rate is about 82% and recommended study time for this unit is a mere 12 hours per week!!! (No other unit ever gives any written recommendations of time required. Most worrying indeed)
And with a full time job and no computer at home, where is Iz going to find those 12 lousy hours? I can either steal the Time Turner or drastically slash lurking time in Cyberia. We got one sad and pretty pissed off serpent here.
So if Izzie is not seen snooping in Secret Diary Land, you will know that she is slaving over a hot abacus. Dear me. Maybe it's time to get a transfer to the Monty Python School of Accounting. At least those folks know what it's like in the REAL WORLD.
Unlike most subjects this one is an elective and just happens to be a topic that has interested Iz for a very very long time. It all began with the wonderful Hofstadter book "Metamagical Themas" and continued with a fascinating four day intensive educational workshop/ seminar sort of thing in Kuala Lumpur called "Money and You" back in 2000 where the method of teaching consisted almost entirely of playing such games. The Auctions of envelopes containing undisclosed sums of cash were particularly revealing and entertaining.
Little tweeks in the rules and rewards can have the most amazing effect on people's behaviour.
Unfortunately we seem to have Professor Binns as our lecturer. Not only is he incredibly boring but also bears an uncanny resemblance to King George of Texas.
The good news...Two exams and NO group projects. Izzie HATES group projects....Now that is the sort of strategic game that Iz does not like at all.
We do have an essay due in Mid October. Any ingenious ideas on the following would be most welcome
"Find at least two examples of decision-making in business or government that involve strategic analysis. Explain each example and then identify the general class of game involved, the players in the game, their strategies and potential payoffs. Finally, discuss the possible outcomes in your chosen examples and the role of competitive versus cooperative behaviour, information and uncertainty in determining these outcomes."
The 'They cannot possibly be serious' Pentagon Terrorism tidbits exchange sounded like a fascinating place to start. But it so tasteless it cannot possibly be true. I guess it's time to visit http://snopes.com to get the gossip.
Taxation seems not too exciting but our tutor is really really good and knows his stuff. He is out there during the day in the real world doing it. (Must watch to see if how often he sips from that whisky flask) Once again....No group projects. This is just ssssso good.
But the party ended today. The nasty subject of Auditing. As far as Izzie is concerned, auditing is a totally unserious subject. An absolute joke. They can waffle on all they like about independence, ethics and integrity but as long as the auditors are paid by the folks they are checking, they would be more gainfully employed and useful spending their very expensive time, shuffling deckchairs on the Titanic.
Or as Iz loves to say. "Dont' worry. Buy Enron"
Not only do we have the dreaded group project, a pile of extremely expensive text books to acquire, and weekly assignments that must be handed in EVERY week and MUST be typed :( :( but they also inform us that the pass rate is about 82% and recommended study time for this unit is a mere 12 hours per week!!! (No other unit ever gives any written recommendations of time required. Most worrying indeed)
And with a full time job and no computer at home, where is Iz going to find those 12 lousy hours? I can either steal the Time Turner or drastically slash lurking time in Cyberia. We got one sad and pretty pissed off serpent here.
So if Izzie is not seen snooping in Secret Diary Land, you will know that she is slaving over a hot abacus. Dear me. Maybe it's time to get a transfer to the Monty Python School of Accounting. At least those folks know what it's like in the REAL WORLD.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
Wanna bet?
At least it won't get lost in here
http://www.kuro5hin.org/story/2003/7/28/203231/335
Izzie cannot help but think of the Prophecy and the dangers of acting on incomplete and inaccurate information without provenance.
Re: Wanna bet?
Date: 2003-07-31 10:16 am (UTC)Re: Wanna bet?
Date: 2003-07-31 10:51 am (UTC)I've read that the project had been already rejected though :(