techstep about his econ classes past and future, and I was told by heather to watch this commercial. Now I can't get the phrase VAT ARE YOU SINKING ABOUT out of my head.Before that I saw Johan van Benthem talk about modal logic. He was an awesome speaker. The talk was packed with funny anecdotes and amusing snarky (but still relevant) comments, and the explanation of the technical material was quite clear for the most part. One of my favorite bits — favorite because it's so simple — was an example he used when he was asked to give a talk to a bunch of 7-year-olds about logic. His example was basically this: "Suppose, kids," he says, "that you go to a restaurant with your parents. Suppose one person orders steak, one person orders fish, and one person orders the salad. What happens when the waiter comes back with the food?" Then one of the kids pipes up with, "he asks who got the steak." And van Bentham goes, "Right, and then what?" and some kid says "He asks who got the fish," and then van Bentham asks, "Right, and then what?" and the lightbulbs go on over all the kids' heads and one says "and then he doesn't ask!"