View From the Bushes

There was an interesting discussion over on Terra Nova about a recent event in the World of Warcraft where a group of two people completely bought out the entire contents of one of the Auction Houses (to be fair, there were apparently a few really premium items they didn't buy, but they got everything else). They then, of course, re-listed everything at a substantial markup. As you can imagine, responses ranged from rage to grudging respect. The results of this experiment in economics are known only to the two players, but by all accounts people still bought stuff even if it had been marked up. Once again it illustrates that no matter how much you try to limit a virtual economy, it still ends up acting like a real economy.

Beyond that, I'm trying to prepare for the trip to California; my wife is mercifully and quite generously taking care of all of my packing with the exception of any entertainment I want to bring along, which basically consists of reading material. This leads to a discussion of one of the biggest problems I have while on vacation: I always expect to get way too much done. My current stack consists of three books, four magazines and five or size D&D rulebooks. I know I need to trim already, but my impulse is to add more rather than subtract. If I step back and assume a dispassionate view of all of this, then my best estimate is that when I return I will have read one of the books and part of one magazine. However, you never know and it's that sort of never-say-die optimism that makes me bring several dead trees worth of reading material.

And having solved all of the other problems, Congress has voted to increase the duration of Daylight Savings Time by two months as an energy saving measure...

Carpe Diem Quam Minimum Credula Postero
Ross