The Cambridge Chat Thread - it's over 90,000!

See I'm also constrained in that my girlfriend, most of my friends and a lot of my music stuff is in Cambridge and so I'd like to stay around for a few more years. And I absolutely do not want to go back home. So I feel trapped, with nowhere to go and horrible choices ahead. So all I want is a job, of pretty much any kind, as long as it pays OK I don't care. If I get a job then I have some time to try and sort out my life. But no luck so far.

First (of many) post-finals exam on Tuesday, and I'm in no way prepared. Whoops.

Why not go back to basics, and monetise things like your blogs ( create guides of hypothetically how to make the instruments ie teach others your skills, perhaps consider starting to teach people & think creativeely ) ( create video blogs on youtube etc... get loads of traffic online...

Before you know it your starting from somewhere, but obviously this is the whole route of a hobby leading to a career/ ( No reason why you can't hold a part time job/ whilst you develop your true passion/ career... Just think outside the box a bit lol!

Yeah, that's crap and is why I'm thanking my lucky stars that my parents live in London. I always said I wouldn't move home after university, but they've offered to help me get started and it makes sense to be at home, where the jobs are. A lot of my friends who live in places where there aren't as many opportunities are actually going abroad next year rather than back home because it'll be easier for them to find a job and save money (usually teaching English). I hope you find something.

Is there any way you could get some sort of job within the music industry that isn't directly related to music? My ex used to do the sound quite frequently at his dad's folk club (Twickfolk) and I think he got a bit of money for that, although it wouldn't have been a lot because he was 13-17 at the time and was also doing it for his dad. Obviously that might not be what you want to do, but if there are any vaguely related jobs in the industry that could be the way to go. It doesn't seem like there's a lot of money in folk clubs though

Hmm, that was a rather anti-climactic exam. I have no idea how I've done

I want to play at Twickfolk! I sent them an email but they never replied Sad ukebert. One day I will. Snag is that I am not a soundman and likely never will be. I can tech a ceilidh band gig, badly, and I fear that is as far as I will go. And no, there is no money in folk clubs. The vast majority of them are run by volunteers and earn enough to keep going and those that don't are swamped by applicants. There is a degree in folk music up in Newcastle and all of their graduates are coming out with student loans looking for work in the industry. So any paid position is increasingly competitive and none are in Cambridge.

If you PM me your email address I'll send you an article based on his book 'Kicking Away the Ladder' where he argues that OECD countries all nurtured their economy for a long time before they placed industries into the economy without any subsidy and protection. He argues that this allowed their industries to grow strong before they then competed on a global scale. By comparison, the IMF and World Bank have not allowed developing countries to use the same method, and to protect their industries before facing international competition. They are forced into competition on the global market that is unfavourable because they aren't allowed to set their own terms.
Some people argue that the Asian economic success challenges this rule, but he shows that they only became very successful by breaking the rules that the IMF had laid out for them on the sly in how they operated economically.

The IMF is constitutionally based around 70% control by Americans, and it is in their interest that it has dealt with the third world.
The other really good thing to read is his book 'Bad Samaritans'.

I finally got round to reading the article - unfortunately it didn't live up to expectations. All it seems to show is that developed countries used trade barriers to protect their industries during their development, and recently developing countries haven't developed quickly with relatively free trade. That doesn't necessarily mean that trade restrictions would be good for developing countries today. It does not even speculate at a possible causal link, leaving open the possibility that developed countries could have done better by not imposing the restrictions, and that developing countries would have been even worse off had their not pursued free trade strategies. I'm not saying that free trade is necessarily right for developing countries, but the article did not come close to convincing me that it was wrong.

Just keep trying and you will break in eventually Even if you have to get a boring job on the side first. Have you considered volunteering at festivals? You could make some good contacts, and the festivals are really fun anyway (although you've probably played at them so you probably know that already!). I went to Shrewsbury one year and my ex went to Cambridge with his dad a few times. It's such a great world to be in - the atmosphere at Shrewsbury was so friendly and artsy, and it genuinely was one of my favourite weekends ever. I learnt how to do some sort of sword dancing as well which was great fun

I finally got round to reading the article - unfortunately it didn't live up to expectations. All it seems to show is that developed countries used trade barriers to protect their industries during their development, and recently developing countries haven't developed quickly with relatively free trade. That doesn't necessarily mean that trade restrictions would be good for developing countries today. It does not even speculate at a possible causal link, leaving open the possibility that developed countries could have done better by not imposing the restrictions, and that developing countries would have been even worse off had their not pursued free trade strategies. I'm not saying that free trade is necessarily right for developing countries, but the article did not come close to convincing me that it was wrong.

That sounds dangerously close to the "no true Scotsman" fallacy. The comparison you are suggesting is impossible to carry out in real life: you can't rerun history and do things differently!

A quick Wikipedia on the "No true Scotsman" fallacy and I can't immediately see how it applies.

I'm not talking about the paper (which I have not read), I'm talking about your criteria. It seems to me that whenever some economist is wrong, people just say, "oh, the theory doesn't apply to that situation", as if there were real-life situations to which theory could be applied! In that respect, I feel your criticism of the paper is misplaced: it gives the facts and leaves the reader to draw their own conclusions – the safest possible way to avoid an argument.

PS: In the spirit of asking random questions in CamChat, does anyone know of an effective way of dealing with an ant invasion? They're just small black ants which I think are coming through the large patio-style window/door thing I have in my bedroom but I'd like to stop them before they encroach too far into my apartment.

I realised that, but my critique is that it offers no logical mechanisms whatsoever, but does in fact draw a conclusion (that developed countries are "kicking away the ladder") directly from the facts it presents (with no causal link between the facts and the conclusion).

PS: In the spirit of asking random questions in CamChat, does anyone know of an effective way of dealing with an ant invasion? They're just small black ants which I think are coming through the large patio-style window/door thing I have in my bedroom but I'd like to stop them before they encroach too far into my apartment.

Soc2?! L. King?!
Revising that right now! Well actually not right now, it's midnight and I have a strict no work after 9pm rule

You don't by chance have any notes leftover do you?....All the other 3rd years I know all do politics. or did sociology but didn't take Soc2

Also, meh, I'm younger than you