Logic vs. Conventional Wisdom

This NYT article is a great example of how conventional wisdom doesn't always stand up to logic. The subject is the great disparity in the average number of sexual partners between men and women. Some surveys produce self-reported results with men having an average of 7 partners to women's 4. That's a 75% difference. That's big. But, it makes sense with what we think about the reproductive strategies of men and women, right? You know, men want to reproduce as often as possible to guarantee the continued existence of their genes. Women, on the other hand, want a stable relationship to help raise the kids, thereby ensuring that they reach reproductive age and pass on her genes. This makes women jealous and men infidel. Right?

Sure, except that it's logically impossible. The math professor in the article, David Gale of UC Berkeley, provides the following example:

"By way of dramatization, we change the context slightly and will prove what will be called the High School Prom Theorem. We suppose that on the day after the prom, each girl is asked to give the number of boys she danced with. These numbers are then added up giving a number G. The same information is then obtained from the boys, giving a number B.

Theorem: G=B

Proof: Both G and B are equal to C, the number of couples who danced together at the prom. Q.E.D.”

For a closed population, that has to be true. Like, logically. Think about it.

The moral for today, kids: Conventional wisdom may not be as wise as originally thought.

The French Caveat

France is great, I really enjoy living here. Of course I miss people and places in the US, but if I had to choose a city to live in for the rest of my life, Paris would be very high on the list. It's pretty, but not in a sanitized way. It's exciting, but also predictable. I'm just saying it would make a good long term partner.

The thing is, however, in France, whenever something is good, there has to be this other "thing." Nothing is free (above all, not my internet service which is called "Free"), there's always a caveat. The medical care is top-notch and "free", but we all know how my experience went dealing with them. The Parisian métro is great, except when they are on strike. France is great, except...

The latest installment is Vélib, the fantastic public bike system. There are about 700 stations all around Paris, about 300 yards away from each other. At these stations are about 10,000 bikes that you withdraw from one station and return to any other. You can get a yearly membership for 29 euros or pay one euro for each half hour. With the yearly membership you get one half hour free each time you take a bike. Really, it's an awesome system. Fantastic, every city should have one...

Except...

In deciding whether or not to sign up, he obvious choice was to take the yearly membership. Naturally, you could sign up online. I found the site easily enough and began filling in my information. Name, birth date, nationality, address, all of the standard fields were there. I provided my credit card number for the one time fee and my bank information as a guarantee against me stealing, destroying, and/or selling their bikes. Even better, I was able to associate my Vélib subscription with my magnetic métro pass so I only need to carry one pass with me.

Anyway, the whole process is going great. I'm thinking that I'm going to hit the "Subscribe Me" button and be able to take my pass outside and cruise around for 30 minutes. It will be great, it will be fantastic, I'll fall in love with Paris all over again. So there I am, hopes up, shoes on, ready to ride. I click the button and, and, and....

It gives me a PDF that they have filled in with my information from the previous pages that I am now supposed to print out and mail in. Huh? What? Gwah?

IT DOESN'T MAKE ANY SENSE!!! All that typing that I just did, now it will have to be re-typed by some French administration slave, duplicating the opportunity for transcription errors, costing everyone money (but that's what the VAT is for), clogging the mail (though providing jobs for people like the communist revolutionary postman, Olivier Besancenot, who ran for president a few months back).

Wow, France, you really had me there. I really thought that something was just going to be awesome from start to finish, without any caveat. You got me. You got me real good. I should have known better, I really should have. And really, it doesn't change anything between us, you're just like I always knew you were, really wonderful, except...

La Fête de la République

Just like back in 2005, Esther's dad found some tickets for us to go to the military parade on the Champs-Élysées on July 14th, known as Bastille Day to foreigners but "la fête de la République" to most French. It's always a bunch of fun, plus I've always liked parades since I was a kid.

Below are some pictures that I took. Some personal favorites are those of Sarkozy, the Republican Guard and the French Foreign Legion (very scary). I took the time to put captions on them, hope that you enjoy them!

La fete de la Republique

Lyon!

Esther and I had the opportunity to go to Lyon for the wedding of two of her friends. Click below to see some pretty pictures!

Travels - Lyon

A little behind on things...

It would appear that I've fallen a little behind on keeping the old blog up to date (understatement intended). Here are some possible excuses that I've come up with:

• Impending wedding and related planning
• Uncertainty regarding some major educational/professional decisions
• Sudden-onset super-morbid-obesity (can:t m thuyp, fdkiingeers toioio fqat@!!~)
  
• Intensive French classes (20 hrs/week!)
• un ennui indéfinissable

Some of the above are true, others are not, you take your pick. Just to prove how behind I am on posting, here are some pictures that I took while still in the US!

Autocross at Oakland University

More posts to come as wedding planning subsides, I make some decisions, I lose 65% of my body mass, my classes come to an end, and/or I stop being annoyingly French.