Episode LXXI: A Slow Month

These last few weeks have been fairly unremarkable, except for the fact that we got our first snow on November 16^th, the earliest snow I can remember in my 3½ years here (don’t worry, it has warmed back up since then). While I’m waiting for something exciting to happen, here are a couple of recommendations:

A Book About Everything

If you are a fan of interesting things, then you should check out the book Freakonomics and its successor Superfreakonomics (the latter of which I just finished reading). Both books aim to use “economic” reasoning to look at all sorts of interesting and random behaviors, from sumo wrestling to realty to suicide bombing. What they are really doing is using science, and data, to look at the world in a different way. On the subject of fear, for instance:

-Should you be more afraid of terrorism or suicide? The average American is 575 times more likely to die of suicide than of terrorism.

-Should you be more afraid of guns or swimming pools? The average American child is almost 100 times more likely to drown in a swimming pool than die from a gun shot.

-Should you be more afraid of sharks or elephants? Worldwide, elephants kill at least 30 times the number of people sharks do.

I should note that some of the things analyzed in this book are fairly grisly, like drugs, violence and harlotry. So I amend my above statement to: if you are a fan of interesting things, and an adult, you should check these books out.

A Wicked (in a Good Way) Musical

I went with some friends last weekend to Kansas City to see the new musical “Wicked," a retelling of the Wizard of Oz story from the viewpoint of the Wicked Witch of the West and of the Good Witch of the North. It is quite a show, and has everything that the perfect musical should have: drama, action, lights, powerful music, comedy, plot twists, and fantastic performers. So, if you’re interested in really fun things, you should check it out.

Now I had gone super early to the show to see if I could get an extra (cheap) ticket for a friend, as all the affordable tickets (less than $70) had sold out. What they do is run a drawing for a limited number of unclaimed tickets for $25 a piece. I was a winner of the drawing, and the ticket I got for him was in the very front row (which normally would have cost $200!) And as it turned out, the seat next to him was empty and I got to sit front row as well. I also won a "Wicked" button along with the ticket, and wore it the rest of the evening after the show, until I started running in to people who had never heard of the musical, and thus thought I was endorsing wickedness. Which is in fact not what I was going for.

Finally: Happy Thanksgiving to everybody! Sorry to all my California peoples that I won't be there, but I should see you all soon.