You've hit rock bottom, perhaps because of choices you've made, or perhaps because of some bad luck. You need money, and you need it now. Some of us are fortunate enough to have family or friends we can turn to in such situations, some of us are not. But one of the great things about … Continue reading Sadly, One Person’s Misfortune Is Another’s Ticket to Wealth
Reconnecting, Thanks to Facebook
My wife and I went out to dinner last night with two other couples, one of which we had not seen in probably 20 years. It was a wonderful evening, filled with lots of reminiscing, catching up, and laughter (not to mention good food and wine as well). I'm not really sure how we had … Continue reading Reconnecting, Thanks to Facebook
How Can Something So Smart Make Us So Dumb?
To me, it is the greatest product of all time. It's a telephone, a music and video player, a movie making device, a banking device, a communications device, a gaming device, an information retrieval device, a GPS, a home automation control device. Do I need to keep going? I could list dozens more things this … Continue reading How Can Something So Smart Make Us So Dumb?
I’d Fit Right In with These 26-Year Olds
The Wall Street Journal had a story today about 26-year olds, the biggest single age cohort today in the U.S. at 4.8 million. The focus of the story was on the new approaches to marketing that companies must use with this age group. Companies are placing a particular emphasis on education when marketing to 26-year … Continue reading I’d Fit Right In with These 26-Year Olds
Taking Advantage of Our Most Vulnerable
"They thought they were going to rehab. They ended up in chicken plants." So begins a story by the Center for Investigative Reporting. If you want to read a story about how corporations, counselors, and our court system take advantage of our most vulnerable systems, then I highly recommend you read the full story on the … Continue reading Taking Advantage of Our Most Vulnerable
Who Knew a Porta-Potty Could Bring Out Your Creative Side
Today was the Philadelphia International Dragon Boat Race, and you couldn't have asked for a better day. The weather was perfect and our team, Friends of Linda Creed, had our best performance ever, qualifying for the B division for the first time. There's a good deal of free time between races, and so I decided to … Continue reading Who Knew a Porta-Potty Could Bring Out Your Creative Side
Happiness Metric Reaches All-Time Low
Back in 2013, a group of applied mathematicians (yay math!) from the Computational Story Lab at the University of Vermont developed what they referred to as the Dow Jones Index of Happiness - hedonometer.org. The Hedonometer measures the happiness of large populations in real time, based on people’s online expressions, capitalizing on data-rich social media, and measuring … Continue reading Happiness Metric Reaches All-Time Low
All Out of Love?
Let's hope that Air Supply's classic doesn't become the theme song for a Massachusetts-based baker and wholesaler. Nashoba Brook Bakery received a warning letter from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration reprimanding the company about one of the ingredients it lists in its granola. The ingredient causing the concern - LOVE. Here is the text … Continue reading All Out of Love?
A Startling Statistic
I'm not sure how we got on the topic, but a couple of weeks ago I decided to take a poll of my students and ask them what type of smartphone they had. Before I share the results of the survey, some background data. On a worldwide basis, Android phones have a commanding lead over … Continue reading A Startling Statistic
Binge Reading, Courtesy of Myron Bolitar (Harlan Coben)
Three months ago I wrote about a trip into Philadelphia that included stopping at a used book store. The reason for visiting the book store was to see if they had some of the first books in Harlan Coben's Myron Bolitar series. A couple of friends had mentioned how much they enjoyed the books, and … Continue reading Binge Reading, Courtesy of Myron Bolitar (Harlan Coben)
Borden's Blather 