New York is a state Friends send me news on winter storm. In New York City, there was little snow. I learn that the total area of New York State is 141,000 KM2. That of New York City is 780 KM2. Why East Coast is Colder Than West Coast
Don’t ask me why I would self-learn mathematics because sometimes I feel like it is a waste of time especially when I found the materials difficult. I feel that maths is the foundation of today’s science, and therefore, important. I feel that I lack training in maths. Not
This is just a sharing of an interesting paradox. I am definitely not an expert in Set Theory. If you want to learn more about the paradox, you may refer to the formal text on Set Theory. Consider the barber paradox in the picture above. The question asks “who shaves
Most financial professionals are familiar with the concept of the time value of money and the respective formulas to derive the future value, present value, rate, etc. While Excel, Google Sheets, or financial calculators offer convenient functions, not every one of us knows what equation is being solved and how
I got Covid this week and still tried to keep doing something else apart from my work. So, I continue reading the book The Theory of Interest by I.Fisher I think I have never thought of defining income. What is income? Income to a labourer like myself means the
I am currently working in the lending business. We charge borrower interest. Recently, I am tasked to work on PnL, and interest loss. But I have little understandings on interest. Why is there an interest? What is interest? How does it determined? The questions came into my mind when I
The book is written by Chris Vos, a formal FPI hostage negotiator. That’s why the book titled “Never Split the Difference” since in a hostage situation, you cannot say: give me 2 hostages, you can have the rest. I remember the negotiation class I took as a first year
今天週日，晚上和室友到外面吃飯的時候聊到了能源的話題，尤其是最近新聞常常報導的核聚變，聽起來如果成功的話，人類將會有用之不盡的能源，加上人工智能的發展，機器代替人類工作指日可待。我不是這兩方面的專家，甚至對核聚變是什麼也不是很了解，但是就算有這樣的好科技，我相信我們還是要工作的。（可以理解，不用工作是一個大家非常嚮往的事情） 在這個烏托邦，所有的東西都是從天上掉下來，世界這麼美好，家庭和睦下，出生率應該會上升，慢慢的天上掉的餡餅也不夠分了，競爭變得激烈，大家生活就沒有從前那麼無憂無慮了。但是，也有可能天上的餡餅也是無限的，就算人多了，還是夠分。如果掌握核聚變技術，和人工智能技術的國家，公司和人，都是不求回報的，那麼能源和機器生產力，確實可以依照人口來調節，而不用增加平民的負擔，不過這不太可能吧。那麼如果機器自己掌握了核聚變技術有無盡的能源，還懂得自己生產，機器是不是會依據人口，來分發餡餅給人類，人類就永遠不用工作了？但是，為什麼聽上去像是養豬一樣。
I am reading a book called The New Map: Energy, Climate, and the Clash of Nations. I learned that the United States become one of the top three oil and gas exporters in the world after discovering shale, and China imports around 70% of the local demand. This immediately sparks
This would be a rather casual article just to keep up with the writing habit. Recently, I have been quite busy with my daytime work, and I have spent less time writing. I usually spend my free time, either working on some side projects or learning (Of course, wasting some
資本利潤的起落，與勞動工資的起落，同樣取決於社會財富的盛衰，但是資本增加，雖然會提高工資，但同時回降低利潤，因為資本之間相互競爭，比如同一件貨物，美國的貨品要和中國的貨品競爭，資本的利潤率一定要比中國低，因為美國的工資比較高。如此說來，資本利潤，和貨幣利息降低，是社會繁盛的自然結果。 一個國家的財富，若以儘其國土能獲取的限度，就沒有進步的可能，人口繁殖達到國土能支持的極限或其資本能雇用的極限，就再沒有增加的可能，這時，對於職業的競爭，會使勞動工資低落到僅僅能支持現有勞動者數量的程度，而資本之間的競爭，回導致利潤少到無可再少。在富裕的國家，僅僅靠貨幣利息生存，除非是大富豪，否則是不可能的。 法律和社會體制也會影響利率，如果法律不保障合約的效力，會對高利率；完全禁止利息，也是可行的，因為為了規避法律，利率要比較高才能抵銷風險。
對於工資勞動者的需要，隨著一國的收入及資本的增加而增加，願意是如果財富有剩餘的時候，就會有投資去追逐利潤，在這個過程裡面需要雇用勞工，從而推高需求。作者特別指出，工資上漲的誘因，不是國富總量影響，而是國富的增長導致的，因為如果每年需要雇用的人很容易就得到滿足。而且，作者認為，工資和生活的水平，或者生活的基本要求沒有必然的關係，因為他觀察到工資和食品的價格或者生活水平沒有必然的因果關係。比如像最近的通脹，食品價格貴了，工資可能反而不漲，因為經濟差了；另外，幾十年前去一趟旅遊非常昂貴，工資也比現在低，但是現在去一趟旅遊可以很便宜，但工資確比以前高。 勞動工資豐裕是財富增加的結果，由是人口增加的原因，因為勞動的報酬能鼓勵結婚和生小朋友，兒童的照顧會更好，生存率更高，如果勞動者過多，優惠減低勞動的報酬，人就不會那麼願意生小朋友。