Clarity
A recent study reports …
Posted 27 Oct 2008
Daily Life, Language, News, The Little Things | Leave a Comment
A recent study reports that a reference to a vague and undefined “recent study” is among the best ways to lend credence to an otherwise unsubstantiated “fact” of dubious origin.
Have you ever noticed how often one encounters the phrase “a recent study” (or a near approximation) in the news and via email? It makes me laugh because quite frequently the specific report is not referenced anywhere in the story. When creating this post I did come across arecentstudy.com, which seems to actually reference new reports when they are published — unfortunately the site hasn’t been updated since May 29, 2008.
Keep your eyes open! I have a feeling you may see “a recent study” show up soon, decrying the “disparaging remarks made on certain quirky little blogs on the topic of ‘recent studies’.”
Investment advice in trying times
Posted 20 Oct 2008
Daily Life, News, Signs | 3 Comments
When the markets move so swiftly and with such power, many of us (including myself) are at a loss as how to invest our dwindling supplies of capital. Luckily, a kindly shopkeeper was good enough to provide not only complimentary advice but also the facilities wherein the take action upon that advice.
You need to look closely now to see the tip …
Please don’t brush off the advice simply because it is written by hand, or posted haphazardly. Just be grateful that the shop owner was willing to share such wisdom with you!
Volumetric analysis: $700B in quarters
Posted 2 Oct 2008
Taking a new analytical tack on the economy, we’ve decided to consider the $700B bailout plan through volumetric analysis. Given the weight and volume of a US Quarter, as provided by the US Mint, we now understand why Congress is having trouble in deciding what to do.
$700 billion would be a pile of 2,800,000,000,000 quarters … filling about 3 MILLION cubic yards! Put another way, the $700 billion in quarters would weigh in at 14 BILLION lbs!
So what do those numbers mean?
If you were to pour all of these quarters out of a plane into a pile on the Great Plains of America, you’d end up with a huge pile, only about 10% smaller than the Great Pyramid in Egypt!
That is, 10% smaller in height and 10% smaller in weight. (Note, if you want to see my calculations, drop me an email.)
No wonder Congress is having trouble deciding what to do; moving such a huge amount of metal would take a lot of consideration from anyone.
What do I think they should do with it?
Obviously we need to build The Great Quarter Pile of Chicago to amaze and confound scholars for ages to come.
Potential market confidence booster: watch update
Posted 1 Oct 2008
News, The Little Things | 5 Comments
As we scour the news site these days, looking to stay abreast of the woeful and ever-changing financial news, it seems a feel ‘good story’ is hard to come by. Until now.
Back in February, we discussed my watch-losing history and my hopes for a new beginning – bolstered by a shiny new watch. I can honestly and proudly state that I still am in possession of my new watch. I wear it every day and have yet even to show any signs of misplacing it.
So, I am hoping that my ability to turn-around my ‘watch crunch’ issues might just be the confidence booster that Wall Street needs to turn around this financial crisis. (‘If that idiot can stop losing his watch, then we can fix this trader confidence,’ those gents in NYC will say.) Fingers-crossed anyway!
Apple’s new iPod: iLook
Posted 26 Sep 2008
Daily Life, Design, News | 5 Comments
As a company, Apple listen to their customers and innovate. That’s what they do. So, you’ll not be surprised to learn that Apple has already responded to the recent economic upheaval by releasing a brand new product: the iLook.
Apple’s newest, and perhaps most market-savvy innovation is aimed specifically at those suffering financial stringency as a result of inflation. At $9.99 (or £9.99 in the UK), this latest addition to the iPod family is a real bargain.
The new iLook looks just like a real iPod to passers-by. No, it doesn’t play any music or movies – in fact, it doesn’t play anything at all. That’s the beauty of it. The new iLook enables us to keep up our reputation for being hip and cool, without having to splash out the cash. With the new iLook, we can bee-bop down the street, head rockin’ to the beat, occasionally pulling out our iLook to pretend to skip over a song or adjust the volume.
Check your local Apple iStore for further details and product launch dates.
