July, 2008

For a long while it seemed like a perpetual motion machine, one which, of course, did not stop. But now that it has.. well, blow me down. What on Earth do I do with my life?

Wall.E has the saddest pair of eyes I have seen in a long, long time. If you have yet to see this robotic rom-com (yes, robots for the boys, rom-com for the girls) then .. well.. I suggest you do. This was one movie which consistently obtained 7-9 out of 10 across all the broadsheet reviewers (Guardian, Times, Independent). In comparison, the Dark Knight scored one 4, a 6 and a few 7-8′s. Pixar must have done something right.

*****

My Fakenham to Harwich Sustrans map has arrived, with the Colchester to Harwich route clearly mapped out. I am tempted to give it a go on Saturday or Sunday. It is about 23-25 miles one way. I hope I can get the train back. Or maybe I should do the 50 mile flat anyway. It depends on how suicidal I am post-Thursday.

*****

“Chelsea survived the biggest test of their pre-season tour so far as Nicolas Anelka and Ashley Cole scored to secure victory over a spirited Malaysian League Select team.”

A complimentary opening quote on Soccernet regarding Malaysia’s performance against Chelsea at Shah Alam, which came as a nice surprise. Or perhaps not. After all, it’s Chelsea. What do you expect?

*****
My 10-word review for Wall.E: “Love isn’t what you say, it’s how you say it.”

Yes, cheesefest. But in a good way.

Permanently under construction – just like life

In the July 12 issue of Guardian Weekend, the Love by Numbers column featured this question:

My partner and I will have been married for seven years this October. We have a daughter who’s three, and we think we’re doing pretty well. But do couples really get the seven-year itch – and can this be prevented?

Alluding the seven-year itch to Marilyn Monroe’s film of the same name, Dr. Luisa Dillner nonetheless assessed the surrounding issues related to longevity of relationships and marriage. She says:

…the Office for National Statistics says that 19% of divorces happen before four years and 27% before nine years. Most are due to disillusionment – more than 50% of women cite unreasonable behaviour, as do 31% of men. The median length of marriage is seven years for women marrying between the ages of 25 and 34. Couples who live together itch earlier; John Ermisch of Essex University says that women in their 30s live with a partner for a median time of three and a half years. In America, according to Larry Bumpass, professor at the University of Wisconsin, half of all marriages end before seven years.

(You can read the whole response here)

What interests me here is the use of statistics, or rather in particular, the preference for the median (the middle number of a group of numbers) rather than the mean (the average, in non-stat speak). There are two common situations where I prefer to use medians rather than means: one, where the sample is too small for the mean to allow meaningful inference, and two, where there are large outliers or extreme observations that would skew the mean. In the context of the statistics cited above, the sample is definitely not too small – too many smug marrieds and too many divorce lawyers making top dollars as testament. Which suggests that they may be extreme observations in the sample, which one can infer to mean that while the median marriage is seven years long, many others are either way shorter than that or way longer than that.

Which sort of makes sense, because essentially love, like life, shouldn’t be able to be simplified to mere numbers. As much as an economist that I can be when it comes to modelling the corporate world, I fully acknowledge that the world is too complicated to be reduced to mere symbols and equations. You can’t model life – everything depends. (Cue next paper on contingency theory of executive remuneration, methinks).

That aside, though, what do I know about love, life and relationships, say you, since I may have never really experienced much? Which brings me to a conversation between X, Q, J and me at a cafe on campus earlier this month.

“How can a relationship just disintegrate like that? They have had kids together – and very young ones at that,” said X.
“I suppose in some situations, when things get rocky people try for children thinking that it will repair the cracks, like pouring cement back in,” I replied.
“See,” Q quipped, “Idlan’s the expert on relationships. That’s why she’s not married.” I laughed.
“That, or she reads too much Dear Abby,” J said with a smirk.