Student Rambler is widely used by students in Dublin. Swiping this card on the smartcard reader, the holder can travel an unlimited number of journeys on Dublin Bus. The current price of a 30 Day Student Rambler, which is valid for 30 calendar day, is €82.00. So, averagely, the one-day cost of the ticket is €2.74 regardless of the time value of the price of the ticket and the convenience gained from no need to prepare small changes. If the journeys you travelled in a day worth more than €2.74 by paying changes, you will be better off through using Student Rambler. If you travel more, you will gain more. The benefit you gained over the price of Student Rambler has the quality of economic rent, which can be regarded as the "excess returns" above "normal levels". The amount of the economic rent of Student Rambler here is the difference between the actual benefit you gained from using it and the opportunity cost of it, which can be considered as its price. For instance, a round trip between UCD and City Centre costs €3.3( a single fare is €1.65), which is the actual benefit you gained if you use Student Rambler in a day. While the price of the Student Rambler, as mentioned above, is €2.74 per day. Thus, the economic rent is €3.3 - €2.74 = €0.56. The amount will increase as the value of the journeys you travelled and is irrelevant to the price of Student Rambler.
There is also economics on the choice of using the Student Rambler or paying cash. Take my experience for example, I travel to and fro between my house and UCD every day. The price of a single journey is €2.3. Since I can save €1.86 (2.3*2-2.74) every day, buying a 30 Day Student Rambler is a rational choice for me. One afternoon when I planed to come back home, I found I had forgotten my Student Rambler, which I had used in that morning, in the office the time I got into the bus. Since my office is 15-minute walk far away and I did not want to miss the bus, I decided to pay cash(€2.3) for the journey. I thought I just lost the value of what I paid when I made the decision, but the story did not end there. Next morning, I needed to pay another €2.3 to travel to UCD(remember my Student Rambler was still in the office). And the point is, when I came back home that afternoon, I still should pay cash for my journey rather than use the Student Rambler, although I already had taken it with me that time. The reason is the cost of the Student Rambler (€2.74) is higher than the price a single trip ticket. The benefit is that I saved the one-days cost of Student Rambler. Therefore, my total loss of decision of not fetching the Student Rambler on the first day is €4.16 (2.3+ (2.3*2-2.74)), which is much more than what I thought. The decision to pay cash for the journey when I already had got the Student Rambler when I went back the second day involves the sunk costs, which refer to the costs that have already been incurred and cannot be retrieved. These should not normally be taken into account when making a decision, because they cannot be recovered either way. It is a common instinct to count them, however.
Monday 31 October 2011
Sunday 23 October 2011
Some Significant Chinese Comics
Translating into English, many Chinese cartoons make sense as well. Here are some.
No 7 Throw the Handle After the Blade
No 8 Once Thinking of the Coming 2012
No. 1 You Are Not VIP
You are not VIP ! You are even not IP !!
You are only a P !!!
No. 2 Three Keys to Success
1st: Persist; 2nd: Have no sense of shame;
3rd: Persist in having no sense of shame.
No 3 Stay up late & Get up tired
You stay up too late for having no guts to end a day;
you get up too tired for having no guts to start a day.
No 4 Youth and Hygienic Tissue
Youth is just like hygienic tissue.
It seems much, but little when using it.
No 5 Never Meant to Go Back
Once I come to the world, I never meant to go back with life!
No 6 Life Rounds off Our Sharp Corners
Life rounds off all the sharp corners of us,
So that we can roll further away!
So that we can roll further away!
No 7 Throw the Handle After the Blade
Once you start to throw the handle after the blade,
You will suddenly find the world is so spacious.
Thinking of the money I owe the bank,
I can laugh out even while having a dream.
Tuesday 11 October 2011
First DSP Meeting, Lecture and Language
The meeting with my supervisor and DSP chair this afternoon really encourages me. It shows me that my situation is regarded, the difficulties I encountered are noticed and my hard-working is confirmed. As a foreign newcomer here, I feel I am cared about by someones. They suggest me turn them for help and ask them questions freely, which remind me that I am in a team and not alone.
After 4 weeks' study, I gain some tips about how to follow the lectures better. The most important step, in my case, is preparing lessons before class. You need to pick up the key words and get familiar with them, especially the pronunciations, so that you will not miss them in the class. You can practise by repeating many times. What's more, tick the points you cannot understand or feel confused so that you can pay more attention to them in the class or ask the questions to the lecturer or classmates. I the class, you should pay very close attention to the lecturer. Acclimatize yourself to the his/her accent as soon as possible and take the front seat so that you can hear the lecturer more clearly if necessary. I do not think it is a good idea the record the lecture, because it is time consuming and you may relay on the recordings too much. But I appreciate the tradition of asking questions in the class as most western students do, although it needs a lot of encourage for a Chinese student. After class, it is quite necessary to review what you learnt through practising, doing assignment or homework, discussing with other people, referring to other materials, etc..The more, the better. Anyway, practice makes better. Try to make sure all the knowledge points understood and configurate the knowledge structure or knowledge tree of the sections and then the modules. This is actually what I did before, I should do this with the modules in totally English environment now. Furthermore, try to connect the knowledge of different subjects and find the over-leaped and interlinked parts. Most importantly, keep thinking about how to apply what you learn into your research.
Some specific suggestions to improve the language. (1) Simply organize the words before you speak and speaking slowly and clearly. Make sure people can understand you. (2) Try to talk with the native speakers at any suitable situations. Do not scare to speak with other people. (3) Listen to the speakers, such as the lectures in class very carefully. Never give up. You may catch more even if you cannot hear anything at the beginning. (4) Discuss the expressions which confuse you and cannot be figured out by looking up the dictionaries with the local people.
After 4 weeks' study, I gain some tips about how to follow the lectures better. The most important step, in my case, is preparing lessons before class. You need to pick up the key words and get familiar with them, especially the pronunciations, so that you will not miss them in the class. You can practise by repeating many times. What's more, tick the points you cannot understand or feel confused so that you can pay more attention to them in the class or ask the questions to the lecturer or classmates. I the class, you should pay very close attention to the lecturer. Acclimatize yourself to the his/her accent as soon as possible and take the front seat so that you can hear the lecturer more clearly if necessary. I do not think it is a good idea the record the lecture, because it is time consuming and you may relay on the recordings too much. But I appreciate the tradition of asking questions in the class as most western students do, although it needs a lot of encourage for a Chinese student. After class, it is quite necessary to review what you learnt through practising, doing assignment or homework, discussing with other people, referring to other materials, etc..The more, the better. Anyway, practice makes better. Try to make sure all the knowledge points understood and configurate the knowledge structure or knowledge tree of the sections and then the modules. This is actually what I did before, I should do this with the modules in totally English environment now. Furthermore, try to connect the knowledge of different subjects and find the over-leaped and interlinked parts. Most importantly, keep thinking about how to apply what you learn into your research.
Some specific suggestions to improve the language. (1) Simply organize the words before you speak and speaking slowly and clearly. Make sure people can understand you. (2) Try to talk with the native speakers at any suitable situations. Do not scare to speak with other people. (3) Listen to the speakers, such as the lectures in class very carefully. Never give up. You may catch more even if you cannot hear anything at the beginning. (4) Discuss the expressions which confuse you and cannot be figured out by looking up the dictionaries with the local people.
Sunday 9 October 2011
A NEW BOLG
Persisting writing something would be quite helpful for my language and study. So I open this blog and plan to renew the posts at least once a week.Hope this is a good beginning.
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