Academic Writing vs. Real World Writing

After years and years of English classes, essays, papers, and exams, I still couldn’t imagine myself as a writer. That is, before I started realizing what writing means in the real world. The kind of writing we’ve been taught in school is academic writing. The thing is, I am not very good at it, and it doesn’t work so well in the real world either.

I found this article on blogging. It’s a great read.

The biggest mistake we can make is not putting our readers first. I am learning this in the process of writing this post. I was going to post my personal reflection on the points he raised, but I realized I didn’t really add anything useful. It’s a (bad) habit I picked up from school I suppose, the urge of trying to paraphrase everything and assume someone would want to read that.

In the real world, our readers are not our professors or TAs.

Spamalytics: A Study on Spam Conversion Rate

[Photo via david ॐ]

Spam hardly get to my inbox anymore, but in the early days they were VERY annoying. I still remember having to sort through dozens of emails everyday only to find 2 chain letters (remember those?? I wonder if I could make a chain blog post.. spread this link or you will not get internet connection for one week!!). Anyways, some bright CS students from Berkley actually did a study on spam email’s conversion rates. In conclusion, of the 350 million spams they observed, only 28 resulted in sales, so the conversion rate is under 0.00001%.

[crazy high number of junk mail] x [crazy low conversion rate] = [a few crazy people buying] => [profit]

The result is not really that surprising. The fact that they are still sending out spams means they make money out of it. I am nonetheless very curious who these buyers are..

Interesting read. [Spamalytics: An Empirical Analysis of Spam Marketing Conversion via Karl Long]

stickK: Contract Yourself

I’ve been using stickK for a week now (via Freakonomics), and I think it’s pretty interesting. So what does it do? Here is a short excerpt from their FAQ section:

stickK helps you achieve your personal goals through “Commitment Contracts.”

After signing up with stickK, you will be able to create a contract obliging you to achieve a specific goal within a particular time-frame. By creating a contract to meet one of your goals, you´re actually testing yourself and saying, “Hey, I can do this”. Not only are you challenging yourself, you´re also putting your reputation at stake.

Every week I’m asked to report if I’ve achieved my goals. It’s working great for me so far, because I constantly remind myself to keep up with it.

Right now my daily goals are:
1. Exercise (anything)
2. Spend at least 30 minutes on writing

I wonder how effective money stakes actually are, because people can simply lie to get out without paying. Would the incentive be any different without money stake?

The Take-Out Dilemma

Take-out is one of the greatest achievements of industrialization thank to division of labour.

It’s fast, it’s convenient, it’s delicious. Heck, it’s pretty cheap too.

I can order a bento box from the Japanese restaurant just a few blocks away for just 6 to 10 bucks. I’ll get teriyaki beef (or chicken), California roll, tempura, salad, and miso soup. Good deal if you ask me.

One thing bothers me though: the heap of Styrofoam boxes I have to throw away. There’s a big box for teriyaki, roll, and tempura. A smaller box for salad. A bowl for miso soup, and a smaller one for tempura sauce, and a even smaller one for soy sauce (how considerate).

I keep wondering if there is a better way. I could just eat in the restaurant, but I like watching movies while eating. Plus I wouldn’t get the take-out discount (some are as high as 25%), and I’d have to pay 10% more for tips. So in a way I am financially rewarded for producing all these garbage. The volume of Styrofoam containers are many times of plastic bags, so how come we are only talking about phasing out plastic bags?

Let’s think about the alternatives. Asking people to bring their own plates for take-outs is not possible (or is it?), so how about changing to reusable plastic containers, like the Tupperware kind. Customers will pay a hefty deposit for each container they take away, and they can return them on next visit. I think this can actually increase customer loyalty and work to the advantage of restaurants. The containers, of course, should be made of highly recyclable materials and could be cleaned easily.

Has anyone done a life-cycle analysis on Styrofoam vs. reusable plastic container?

:D or $ – Happiness is more important, right?

Material wealth does not equal happiness. Studies have shown that beyond a certain level of income, money doesn’t make much difference anymore. We have all heard of stories of billionaires living in misery because they sacrificed everything, and also those who are have nothing but living in perfect harmony.

But do we really believe in any of this?

Not really.

Just ask yourself if you are doing “this” and not “that” (which you enjoy more) because “this” pays better.

Is it because earning more money feels freakin’ awesome? The thrill of getting a raise or closing a big sale is not only gratifying but also serves as the beacon of light in the midst of mundane tasks. However, the thrill wears off soon enough. Before you know it you are stuck with more work and spending more money to compensate your loved ones. Years later you realize this sucks but can’t get out of it because the huge mortgage that you thought was a good idea. On top of that, you don’t really want to get out of it because you become good at it. One day you look back and you forgot the thrill you were chasing after, and you ask, “Why didn’t I spend time on what I love?”

Of course, by “you” I don’t actually mean you. This is a cautionary tale for myself: stay focused on what matters.