UofT magazine

I get sent the UofT Alumni magazine. Some good bits I read.

Locally produced food isn't really that "good": Sure you can reduce your carbon footprint because the shipping distance is shorter, but only 10-20% of the total energy needed to get you the food is in the shipping. It's the growing and processing that takes up most of the energy. So would you rather have it be produced inefficiently locally (maybe with subsidy or energy-consuming greenhouses) or produced efficiently and shipped to you fresh? Furthermore, a fruit can be out of season locally but in season in another part of the world, making the foreign fruits' quality higher and cost of production lower. Basically, I've never really bought into the locally produced trend, and organic doesn't taste better, but I do buy organic for some products such as milk.

Pop quiz. Jack is looking at Anne, but Anne is looking at George. Jack is married but George is not. Is a married person looking at an unmarried person? Yes No Cannot be determined.

The answer is yes. Most people have the intelligence to figure it out, if you tell them to think logically, but most people don't bring their full mental faculties to address the problem if unprompted.

CEO pay should not be tied to stock performance, rather goals set for the company because stock performance can be heavily affected by expectations.