All posts filed under: Strategy

Dissecting Andy Dufresne’s Shawshank Gamble

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I’ve seen The Shawshank Redemption way too many times. Wayyyyy-way-wayyyyy too many times. You think I care? All I know is that it’s an all-time classic and I’ll continue to flip to it whenever I see it on the TV guide. Has there ever been a more likeable convicted murderer than Morgan Freeman’s character Red? I certainly can’t think of one. Since I’d like to actively try and avoid turning this into a 10 000 word paean on the movie’s greatness, I’ll do a quick summary only and then jump right into our main topic. Before doing so though I suppose I should issue a #SPOILERALERT, although seriously if you haven’t seen it by now you should probably leave the public library where you’re reading this blog from and go back to your home in Inner Mongolia. Okay, let’s proceed. Our main guy Andy Dufresne (Du-Frain, and make sure you say it like Morgan Freeman does) spends most of the movie locked up in Shawshank Prison for murdering his wife and lover, a crime for which he is …

Signalling, First Impressions, and the Frustrating Toronto Maple Leafs

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I have never been in a relationship nor will ever be in one that’s more complicated than the one I currently have with the Toronto Maple Leafs hockey team. I love hockey as much as the next Canadian, but this relationship is tearing me apart and I’m afraid of what’s going to happen to me in the future if they don’t win soon. Management is mostly to blame for the team’s incompetence, which has remarkably lasted nearly five decades now. Very recently, the current General Manager Dave Nonis traded away hometown-hero-turned-villian David Clarkson to the great hockey mecca of Columbus, Ohio. It was a small miracle that this trade happened considering less than two years ago Nonis signed Clarkson to one of the most ridiculous contracts you will ever see in sports. It was justified because Clarkson was considered a (paraphrasing) “hard worker, leader, great teammate, and a good overall talent.” The last point is what struck a cord with many, because there are multitudes of statistics out there that actually show him as a …