The Honor System

This video shows the honor system used to calculate the bill at a small inn in Chang Rai Thailand. Each room has a notebook where the occupants record what they have consumed during their stay. At the end of the stay one just adds up the total and pays the bill for the room.

Thailand Laos Pictures

I finally got around to uploading my pictures into Google. I have more to add but I have little time.

Here are my photos of Japan.

Sound of Frogs

I lived among these frogs for 3 years. I listened to them as I read every summer.
You will need a speaker to enjoy this video.

Bridge to Heaven

This is one of the famous sites in Japan. It is one of the 3 official beautiful sites of Japan. Literally translated the name is "the bridge to heaven". There are many haiku written by famous Japanese poets at this location. The proper way to view the bridge to heaven is demonstrated in the following video.

Questioning More is better

I am in Japan. I am traveling with my wife and an old friend. I have seen two old friends and both seemed depressed. One is a Japanese friend worried about losing his job in this economic downturn and a second an American Ex-pat secure in his position yet willing to take a pay cut to have more vacation days. My two friends are both trapped. The first is trapped by fear the second by a good job if all you think about is the pay.
This trip has me questioning the concept of more is better in economics.

Part-Time Load Increases

Good news for our part-time faculty. Inside Higer Ed reports that "California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Thursday signed legislation that raises the limit on how much individual part-time faculty members can work at any one community college from 60 percent to 67 percent of a full-time professor’s load."
This law was pushed mainly for language instructors who teach 4 or 5 units classes, and can not teach more than one class at any one school. Most of the classes in our division are 3 units classes, so this law will not affect us much.

Bariloche

I am in Bariloche now. I got a little depressed in Mendoza because of the poverty. It was difficult for me to eat at a restaurant while there were beggars coming up to my table. Here in Bariloche it is more affluent, so eating does not come with a guilt trip. The town was set up by Germans and Swiss immigrants so the town has an European feel to it. Bariloche is the highlight of this trip. Since I do not wish to drive, I have signed up for various tours as I did in Mendoza. I will post the pictures after my return.
Yesterday our tour guide could speak English. She was Argentinian but her ancestry included German and Irish. My friend asked ´how do Argentinians feel about foreigners?´
She replied with¨We like them. Except when they buy up land here.¨ She told us about Ted Turner and how he bought a big piece of land near here. However, in another story she told us how she wished her grandmother would sell a small piece of her land so they can go visit Germany. This was contradictory for me as an economist. She could not see that Ted Turner by buying up land had pushed up the price she could ask for her grandmother´s land. Also we met a lawyer/Lobbyist for GE capital. She was a nervous wreck. She had been on vacation for a month but yet you could sense how wound up she was. She had paid for the more expensive tour on the boat but stayed on the bus with us because there were too many people on the boat. She had quit her job after 9 years and is only a consultant now. My friend and her discussed the mortgage and credit markets.

Waiting for the BUS at the Internet Cafe

I am waiting for the bus in Mendoza. It is Sunday 3 pm and the overnight bus to Bariloche leaves at 8 pm. I have decided to spend the next few hours in the Internet cafe.
As I was reading the news I ran across the following article on Yahoo.
The story is about Web plagiarism in UK.
The following caught my attention because I have seen it at Rio.

LONDON (Reuters) - More than half of teachers in a survey said they
thought plagiarism from the Internet is a problem.
Some students who steal essays wholesale from the Web, they said, are
so lazy they don't even bother to take the adverts off the cut-and-pasted
text.

Leaving For Mendoza

I will leave for Mendoza mañana (that is tomorrow) (I can not spell in English let alone in Spanish). My plan was to go to Bariloche but it is the high season now. All of Buenos Aires is out on vacation in the Pampas. They either go to the beaches south or to the mountains.
I will spend a few days in Mendoza and head down to Bariloche once the crowds go back to Beunos Aires.
Today I rode the train to Tigre. This is where all of the fruits from South America come into Argentina and get sent to Buenos Aires. It is a tourist trap these days and there are no fruits.
I took a picture of a McDonald for my classes to illustrate the Big Mac Index.
I will post again later if I am not hung over and if I can find an internet access.