Even though there is an increasingly large focus on console gaming (and that’s mostly where I find myself too), PC gaming is still alive and well. If you’re the kind of person who prefers playing games on your computer, then this is the contest for you. While at the NVIDIA press event, we were introduced to several developers and how they implement NVIDIA’s technology in their titles. This included blockbusters like Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag and Splinter Cell: Blacklist, but it also looked at titles developed by indie studios and international developers. One such example is Snail Games USA, a division of Snail Game based in Suzhou, China.

As a thank you for attending their event, we were each given a copy of Age of Wushu, along with a couple of special downloadable codes for Age of Wushu and Snail Game’s other big title Black Gold. And I’d like to give these to you, the Beyond the Rhetoric reader.

What Can I Win?

So, just to quickly go over what’s up for grabs, there is a PC DVD-ROM of the Age of Wushu game, a “Premium Loot Card” to receive some special items within that game, and an exclusive 7-day Guest Pass Key to try Black Gold.

How Can I Enter?

There are two ways to enter this giveaway:

1. Leave a comment on this post with your all-time favorite PC game and why.

2. Tweet out the following:

I just entered to win an #AgeOfWushu prize pack from @michaelkwan and so can you. Here’s how – http://ow.ly/m5kx5

Do both and get two entries. The contest closes on June 30, 2013 at 11:59pm Pacific Time.

The Fine Print

The contest is open to anyone in Canada and the continental United States. If you are an international reader, you can still enter, but you will need to supply me with a mailing address in either Canada or the United States (unless you want to pay for shipping yourself). The winner will be chosen at random and will have 48 hours to provide a shipping address before an alternate winner is selected. All decisions are final.

I’ve given away games before and I’ll likely give away games again. This is my little way of thanking the Beyond the Rhetoric community for your continued support. Good luck!

There is nothing wrong with this post. Do not attempt to adjust what you see. We are in control. The stories you are about to read are true. They are six examples of ridiculous things that happened in the history of finance. This is… The Outer Limits Of Finance…

I Hope You’re A Collector

In the history of the world, there’s an endless supply of stories where central banks have mismanaged the money supply. It’s almost seems inherent. When money is mismanaged, it collapses and is basically worthless unless you like to collect old, pretty-looking pieces of paper. To date, there have been 3800 currencies that are no longer in circulation.

I’m A Quintillionaire!

When the Hungarian currency was re-introduced in 1942, it was actually worth something. Due to political turmoil and hyperinflation, the government constantly printed higher denominations until it produced the highest denomination ever printed: a $100 quintillion bill. They didn’t even bother showing the number on the bill since it was so high.

Now THIS… Is Hyperinflation

Go For Gold

The 2012 London Olympics broke the records when it used eight tonnes of gold and silver to produce the medals for the athletes. In today’s dollars, that works out to $200,638,512.

Luckiest Find EVER!

The largest gold nugget ever found weighed in at 2520 oz. Found in Australia by John Deason and Richard Oates, it would be worth $3.5 million. The largest bar is in Japan and it weighs 8818.5 oz. That makes it worth $12,345,900.

Default Is Good For Something

In 1932, a German carpenter made the equivalent of a million dollar business by using discarded German marks as wallpaper. The currency was worth so little that people used it as fuel for fires. Not this guy. This guy made his millions with worthless millions.

Never say never. In the world of finance, if you can think it, it’s probably already happened.

“If you love a flower, don’t pick it up. Because if you pick it up, it dies and ceases to be what you love. So if you love a flower, let it be. Love is not about possession. Love is about appreciation.”

We’ve become a society that is obsessed with possession. If we see something out there that we like, we want to own it. This lends itself to a discussion on our rampant consumerism and our obsession with buying the newest and shiniest thing on the market, but the concept extends far beyond that.

When we travel to faraway lands, many of us feel compelled to return with a little piece of it. We might take a small stone from the Great Wall of China or the ruins of Machu Picchu, but we simply accelerate their decay if we all take a small piece. We are stealing them away from future generations.

A spiritual leader and guru from India, Osho was actually born Chandra Mohan Jain in 1931. He took on the name Acharya Rajneesh in the 1960s and then Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh in the 1970s and 80s before finally becoming Osho in 1989, one year before his death in 1990 at the age of 58. I don’t know a lot about Osho and his teachings, but I do understand that he became quite the controversial figure because of his outspoken opposition to socialism and Mahatma Gandhi. Whatever your opinion of him, we can all agree with the sentiment expressed in the quote above.

Yes, we feel compelled to own the things that we love. Maybe it has to do with wanting that sense of control, that desire to possess the objects of our affection so we can look upon and enjoy them as we desire. However, as Osho points out, the very act of “picking” that flower effectively kills it. Now, you can not only no longer enjoy the flower yourself, but you have prevented anyone else from also enjoying that flower. You have stolen away the very properties that made you love that flower in the first place. Its beauty fades and withers.

Of course, we can see how this concept also applies to our personal relationships. Dysfunctional relationships can easily arise when one partner feels compelled to “own” the other. A solid relationship is one that is built on trust and, indeed, mutual appreciation. You are both complete within yourselves, but your significant other makes you a better person (and vice versa). I know that’s true for me and I hope that it is true for you too.

The next time you are out and see something you truly love, remember the old adage of respectful travelers: take nothing but photos and leave nothing but footprints.

I can’t recall exactly when it was that I first shot a hotel room video tour and posted it on YouTube, but it has now become something of a tradition for me every time that I travel. You might remember my video tour of Westin Taipei or the videos from the range of Outback accommodations in Australia. Following this tradition, I naturally endeavored to shoot brief videos of where we stayed for our trip through Europe.

In general, we’ve stayed at some rather conventional hotels for most of our travels. Some have been decidedly higher end than others, but decided to take an entirely different route for most of our accommodations in Europe. All in all, we stayed in seven different cities and we only stayed in hotels for two of those. I neglected to shoot a video of the Best Western in Nice, but I did manage to put together video tours of the remaining six locations.

Five out of these six locations were private apartment rentals. The thinking was that we could get better value, more home-like amenities (full kitchens, laundry, etc.), and more central locations for less money compared to regular hotels. For the most part, I’d say it worked out.

Amsterdam, Netherlands – AirBNB Apartment near Wibautstraat

Our first stop was in Amsterdam (check out my Amsterdam photo essay and travel guide post). We stayed in a fairly large one-bedroom apartment in Wibautstraat, which was a short distance away from the heart of the city. It had a full kitchen with a Nespresso machine, a separate bedroom, and a fairly sizable living and dining area, as well as a small balcony overlooking a garden.

Paris, France – Lodgis Apartment in 6th Arrondisement

For Paris (where I also have a Paris photo series and travel guide), we stayed in a very quaint flat in the 6th arrondisement near Jardin du Luxembourg. It was easily the smallest apartment where we stayed, but it had everything we needed, including laundry and a workable kitchen. There was also a fantastic boulangerie (bakery) and patisserie (pastry shop) next door.

Florence, Italy – Casa Santa Rita near Ponte Vecchio

Offered through Florence Holiday Homes, we spent our two nights in Florence at Casa Santa Rita. The ground level one-bedroom flat was quite large and had a great living room area. Our host, Paolo Scheggi couldn’t be friendlier or more helpful. Again, we had a full kitchen, laundry and complimentary wireless Internet.

Rome, Italy – AirBNB Apartment near Vatican City

We booked a studio apartment for Rome and it was located about ten minutes on foot from Saint Peter’s Square and the Vatican City. Again, it was quite small (not as small as Paris), but we did have a balcony, a comfortable dining area and a full kitchen. In lieu of conventional Internet access, we were provided with a Wind Mobile USB mobile Internet stick. Combined with one of my USB battery packs, this meant that we had “free” Internet throughout the city too.

Venice, Italy – Hotel Villa Adele in Marghera

Staying in the actual city of Venice can be very expensive with even the most modest of hotel rooms going for $300 a night. So, we decided to stay in Marghera instead. Hotel Villa Adele is a five minute walk from the Venezia Mestre train station which, in turn, is a 10-minute train ride away from the main Venezia Santa Lucia station. Aside from Best Western Hotel Riviera in Nice, this was the only other hotel for us in Europe.

Milan, Italy – AirBNB Apartment in Porta Venezia

And our journeys through Europe wrapped up with a studio apartment in Milan. Our flat was on the third floor of a walk-up and it had a bunk bed-style setup with a sofa on the bottom and the bed on top. Again, we had a full kitchen and our host was nice enough to provide us with a “breakfast box” with crackers, spreads, coffee and juice.

Affordable Europe Accommodations

Staying in Europe can be very expensive, but you can save a substantial amount of money and still be comfortable if you take the time to shop around. We didn’t really want to stay in hostels and we didn’t want to deal with shared rooms or shared bathrooms, so renting full apartments was a good option for our needs.

On average, we spent the equivalent of about $90 to $120 Canadian per night for our accommodations. I’d say we did pretty well, particularly with our larger flats in Amsterdam and Florence.

This is a subject that we explored very briefly earlier this year in a What’s Up Wednesday roundup where I linked to a post by Allyson Bird, but I feel it is a subject that is worth discussing further. There are many reason why someone may choose to be a professional writer. Perhaps they feel that they have a story to tell. Perhaps they’re fascinated by the power of language. Or maybe they just want to make a name for themselves.

But therein lies a strange paradox. While there are certainly some extroverts among us, the stereotypical image of the professional writer is that of the loner. This isn’t always true, to be sure, but I find that many writers tend to be more private individuals. Maybe it’s because we find ourselves holed up in our home offices for so many hours of the day. We’re alone with our keyboards and our thoughts and, perhaps, this sense of isolation brings with it a certain level of comfort. At the same time, we prize the value of the byline. Many of us want people to know who we are.

There is intrinsic value in that byline and I’m not just talking about the passive marketing that results from this. It just feels good to be published. It just feels good to see your name attached to something that you accomplished. The barrier to entry for publication, particularly online, is a lot lower than it once was, but it’s still there. And that’s why it feels even better when you see your byline in something bigger, like the Wall Street Journal or Time Magazine. And that’s why, monetary concerns aside, it felt good to see my name on the cover of the book I co-authored with John Chow.

This phenomenon, this obsession with the byline and this desire to be publicly recognized, is not unique to writing. Look to professional photographers and many of them are keen to have their images published in a major magazine or book. Look to professional musicians and you’ll see how happy they can be when their song finally makes it on the radio or when it reaches the top of the charts on iTunes. What about that struggling actor who finally gets his big break, starring in a major television show or movie?

Is it necessarily fame that we seek? Is it that we assume this fame will be accompanied by fortune? Or do we just want to be respected for our craft, acknowledged as being among the best at what we do?

Maybe, just maybe, we are just seeking validation… but isn’t everyone?

Let’s have a look at some blog posts that caught my eye in the last couple of weeks.

We start off by visiting Rob Starr at Blogging Tips, where he recently wrote about some tips to increase your blog’s exposure. He uses the analogy of going fishing. For example, he says that it is important to show interest in other blogs by leaving comments and such, but “fish for these links only in the relevant waters.” Syndication can also be useful, but don’t get penalized for “having an illegal line in the water.”

He may be a proud French-Canadian, but Buzz Bishop traces his family heritage to another country. While in Edinburgh with Team Diabetes, he went hunting for his Scottish past. He ate haggis, he visited a war memorial, explored an awesome castle, and visited the “cute, kitschy town” of Drymen. Personally, I’ve been back to my mom’s hometown, but I have not visited my dad’s home village in China.

We can all be better people. We may do some random acts of kindness out of convenience, but Shelly Kneupper Tucker has taken it upon herself to complete what she calls her mitzvah project. She has pledged to do 1,000 intentional mitzvahs (meritorious or charitable acts) by next December. It also helps that one of the best ways to do well is to do good. And the world would be a better place if we all did better.

Changing gears, we turn our attention to Tris Hussey who has a bit of a workflow issue. As good as WordPress and other blogging platforms have become, they’re still not great for reviewing and editing blog posts. This isn’t a problem for single author blogs, but it does become an issue when blog submissions nee to be reviewed and edited by someone in a managerial role. There is a revision history, but where is a “track changes” like utility?

And finally, Stacey Robinsmith has a fun observation for us to consider. As helpful as Yelp and Urbanspoon may be for deciding where to eat next, some of those customer reviews are useless. If you’re a vegan and you go into a steakhouse, you’re not exactly setting yourself up to have a wonderful evening. I remember reading TripAdvisor reviews of stand-up coffee bars in Italy and people complained about the lack of seating. That’s just how it is there!

Even though I had gone in previous years, I knew that I wasn’t going to Taiwan this year for COMPUTEX Taipei. I had also assumed that I would not be attending the Electronic Entertainment Expo, better known in most circles simply as E3. That second assumption has turned out to be completely wrong.

It was a very last minute decision, but we were graciously invited by the good people at NVIDIA to see the show. More specifically, they have an extra special event tonight and they really wanted us to come. In fact, they were generous enough to provide for our flights and accommodations, “we” referring to me and Stephen Fung. I’ll be there under the MEGATechNews banner and he’s there representing Futurelooks. The two sites focus on different things, so there should be a good mix of content.

In case you’re not too familiar, E3 is the largest video game trade show in North America. A lot of AAA titles are announced here and, with both the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 slated for launch later this year, there will be a lot to see, hear and demo. The console wars are really heating up, but based on what happened at the press conferences yesterday, many people are already declaring the PS4 the winner of the upcoming generation. Time will tell, of course.

I went to E3 2009 and again in 2010, but I haven’t been back to Los Angeles since then. Thankfully, I’m no stranger to covering trade shows. This is most certainly not a vacation, but I fully intend on enjoying myself while here. I’ll be surrounded by video games, I’ll be visiting with some awesome companies, and I hope to eat in Koreatown and grab some food truck tacos while I’m at it. I’m flying home Friday morning, so this will be a very short visit.

Do you play video games? What title has you the most excited this week?

I grew up in a pretty conservative home. My parents were very right-wing Christians and I remember them persuading me as a child to adopt the same conservative views. I think all parents are more right leaning when it comes to matters related to their children. If it wasn’t a pre-built survival mechanism, I’m sure the species would’ve died off. One lesson that my parents consistently told me was the idea of going to school and getting a good paying job. Keep low expectation and live within your means.

Although I’ve pretty much done away with a vast majority of my parents’ beliefs and values, I find that many of my friends continue to hold on to this basic belief. They convince themselves that you don’t need that much money to live. Just live a simple life and you’ll be happy. While that’s a personal decision people must make for themselves, there’s risk in living that safe lifestyle.

The World Won’t Leave You Alone

There was a great line in The Lord Of The Rings where a hobbit says, “Don’t go looking for trouble and trouble won’t come looking for you.”

Depending on the style of life you decide to live, this could very well be true. If you’ve decided to live amongst the majority of society, you are very much a part of a system. And in that system, you simply cannot live without money. You need it to eat, to sleep, you need it to save for emergencies, for buying a house, and even retiring. Now, I’ve basically beaten to death the concept of inflation — and I promise I have a lot more, because it’s a cool topic (for me, anyways) — but this is a topic that is inseparable from inflation.

Ahem… Inflation

The old saying went, “A dollar saved is a dollar earned.” Looking at US history for a moment, from 1665 to 1905, the average annual rate of inflation in the United States was 0.001%. That’s basically zero.

It was such that the economy moved so slowly, you literally could save your money and have enough to live off of and retire. This is also considering that this time period saw numerous major wars, including the War of 1812, the Mexican War, the American Civil War and so on. Only when World War I came along did we see a new trend: one where inflation constantly and consistently went up. This brought with it implications for the average civilian. Ever since then, all the way up until today, the idea of simply saving your money hasn’t sufficient since, every year, your dollar was getting eaten up by the printing of more money.

The Options

If you have a job (or maybe you are a business owner), as inflation keeps going up, you have essentially three options for achieving your long-term savings goals:

• First, there is the idea of making more money. This is an option that has captivated a vast majority of the population. You only need to look at the success of the multi-level marketing industry to see how anxious people are to increase their wealth.
• Second, you can hold off on your savings goals. Again, you only need to look at the number of people who are working until the day they die.
• Third, and the option that most seem to take, is to invest your money. Assuming that most people want to save money and retire at some point, unfortunately inflation has put them in a position where they must now put their money at risk in the stock market. Since simply saving alone won’t cut it anymore, people are forced to hope that the stock market will work in their favor and no matter what any financial advisor tells you, mutual funds do not offer any more or less in the way of average returns. If only there was a non-depreciating asset that held its value against inflation over time… if only (cough)gold(cough).

The Solution

I’m wary to offer any sort of solution, since it simply is either to make more money or to change your goals. I really want to encourage people not to be so nonchalant when it comes to their finances. If you well and truly don’t care, then all the power to you. It’s just the people who typically feel that way, I find, are also the most blindsided by the eventuality of realizing what they had spent their lives hoping for is, all of a sudden, completely different.

As far as I can tell there’s never any harm in increasing your earning power. Which side are you on?

“Do we really want to travel in hermetically sealed popemobiles through the rural provinces of France, Mexico and the Far East, eating out in Hard Rock Cafes and McDonald’s? Or do we want to eat without fear, tearing into the local stew, the humble taqueria’s mystery meat, the sincerely offered gift of a lightly grilled fish head? I know what I want. I want it all. I want to try everything once.”

The world is a wide, wonderful and deeply diverse place. You may think that you have a relatively firm grasp on humanity and what it means to be a human being, but then you can go traveling to an entirely different culture and you realize that the people there have an entirely different way of living. What you thought was “Mexican” food isn’t at all what actual Mexicans in Mexico eat. You might think that your city’s metro system is advanced and then you see what they have in Tokyo. Go somewhere else and you’ll realize that you really take “clean” electricity and indoor plumbing for granted.

While I don’t necessarily agree with everything that Anthony Bourdain has to say, I do find myself identifying with much of what he does. And I completely agree that when you go out and see the world, you should make the commitment to similarly eat the world. Why on Earth would you go to Scotland and not eat the haggis? I’ve had sulfuric black eggs in Hakone, medium-rare goose gizzards in Paris, whole duck tongue on a skewer in Taipei, and kangaroo steak in Australia.

For those of you who aren’t familiar with Anthony Bourdain, he was a chef for a good number of years, but he is far better known these days for experiencing the world through his stomach. Most of us know him from television shows like No Reservations, The Layover and, most recently, Parts Unknown. Through his programming, we are reminded that so much of a culture is ingrained in its food. You haven’t really seen a country or really come to understand a people until you’ve eaten their food.

Absolutely, there are all sorts of health risks involved when it comes to eating questionable food in a foreign land. I’m not saying that you should throw caution to the wind, but it is important to sample the local fare. Generally speaking, if the locals eat it regularly and the food item is reasonably cooked, you’re probably pretty safe. You might recall when Ed Lau ate raw chicken on purpose and he’s still alive and well. Given the right opportunity, I’d gladly try balut in the Philippines or deep fried water beetle in Thailand.

“If you’re twenty-two, physically fit, hungry to learn and be better, I urge you to travel — as far and as widely as possible. Sleep on floors if you have to. Find out how other people live and eat and cook. Learn from them — wherever you go.”

I’m not 22 years old anymore, nor am I particularly all that physically fit, but I am hungry to learn and I am hungry to be better. I love to travel and it is one of the biggest regrets from my 20s that I didn’t do more of it. It wasn’t until this year that I took my first trip to Europe and it wasn’t until a couple years ago that I touched down in Australia. But there’s still so much more world to see and there’s still so much food to try. As authentic as your local restaurant may try to be, there’s nothing quite like eating Italian pasta in Italy or Peruvian ceviche in Peru.

Maybe it has something to do with novelty-seeking. That personality trait can be connected to troublemaking, but it’s also a predictor of well-being. So, if it means that I might get into some trouble for going out to see (and eat) the world, so be it. I’ll be all the happier for it.

Considering how many places we visited and how many interesting things we saw during our three weeks in Europe, I guess it shouldn’t be much of a surprise that I am still sifting through all that content. You may recall the posts I did with Amsterdam photos and Paris photos, but this is my first post with our time in Italy. Even though we ended up visiting a total of seven cities during our trip, more than half of those were in Italy. Go figure.

The first stop in Italy, not counting the brief train station layover we had in Ventimiglia, was Florence. Called Firenze in Italian, Florence is a beautiful city in the heart of Tuscany. One thing that we learned very quickly is that Florence is a surprisingly small city. For the most part, aside from taking the bus to get from the train station to our accommodations, we spent the entire time on foot. You can walk to all the major attractions, really, so there’s not much of a need to familiarize yourself with the public transit system or to take a taxi.

What you see at the top is Ponte Vecchio, which translates to “Old Bridge” in Italian. It was the only bridge in Florence to survive German attack during World War II. What’s interesting about this Medieval stone-closed bridge is that not only is it closed to vehicle traffic (it’s pedestrian-only), but both sides are lined with shops. For the most part, these are jewelry stores, but historically, it was originally occupied by butchers. In terms of shopping, you’ll find plenty of great Florentine leather goods and silk ties all around town too.

The many churches in Europe are all beautiful, but Basilica di Santa Croce (Basilica of the Holy Cross) in Florence is particularly special because it is where you will find the tombs of such notable Italians as Galileo, Machiavelli, Rossini and, pictured here, Michelangelo. Entrance is free, but donations are obviously appreciated.

Similarly, entrance to the Florence Duomo (officially called the Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore, or Basilica of Saint Mary of the Flower) is free. However, you need to pay 8 Euro per person to take the stairs up to the dome and the roof of the Duomo.

This entrance, if you are facing the front entrance from the outside, is to the left. It’s open until 6:20pm during the week and 5pm on Saturdays. Arrive earlier than that, though, as there can be a lineup. Also bear in mind that you will be ascending 463 steps to get to the top (and 463 to get back down)… but it’s totally worth it. You’ll see the inside of the dome, as well as get a bird’s eye view of Florence’s rust-colored rooftops.

We didn’t have a chance to visit the Uffizi Gallery, but we did go to the Galleria dell’Accademia to see Michelangelo’s David. That’s really the highlight of that particular museum, but there are some other great sculptures and artwork to see. You will want to hop online and buy your tickets ahead of time; they divide entrance times into half-hour blocks. There is a small booking fee, but it sure beats standing outside in the standby line for hours on end.

The food in Florence is pretty good too, as you may recall from my review of Trattoria Bordino last week. Another great place we found was all’Antico Vinaio. Indeed, it’s rated as the #1 restaurant in Florence on TripAdvisor, even though it’s not really a “restaurant,” per se. Instead, it’s a humble deli that serves up a mean sandwich where you can choose all your toppings (including meat and cheese) for a set price. Glasses of wine are self service for 2 Euro.

We ate a lot of gelato while in Italy. Most places give you the choice of cup or cone in about five different sizes, typically starting at about 2 Euro and going up to about 5 or 6 Euro. And yes, it’s good. I think we each had gelato five or six times by the time we left Italia.

Florence isn’t a huge city, but our brief two days there may have been one of the bigger highlights of my trip. While we had to rush around to see everything there was to see in Paris (and still not seeing most of it), we had far more opportunity to experience la dolce vita in Firenze. It’s a wonderfully charming town that is well worth visiting.