“Hey! You! Yeah, I’m Talking to You” It may already be too late to stop this trend, but here goes: If you are an out-of-shape, middle-aged (or older) man — perhaps with an excess of (back?) hair — do not, repeat do not even consider going out and buying a pair of exceedingly fluorescent tennis shoes....Read More
Blast From the Past I’m old enough to remember not just when gas stations had actual, live attendants — but when gas was truly cheap, and competition for customers was such that gas stations on opposite corners would engage in price wars. Yes, price wars. At the extreme, you’d even see the stations’ signs attempt to lure...Read More
Minor Ironies I heard a talk this morning by Harvard philosophy Professor Michael Sandel, and was so impressed that I ran to Barnes & Noble to pick up a copy of his book, “What Money Can’t Buy.” I’m looking forward to seeing what’s on his list. The cost to find out (at least for the...Read More
Buy Boycott This Book So, five years after the collapse of Lehman Brothers and the 2008 financial crash, former Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson is peddling a new forward, “Five Years Later,” to his 2011 book “On the Brink.” Ironically, at 38 pages, Mr. Paulson’s forward is a whopping 35(!) pages longer than his original TARP...Read More
Curious Expressions, Cont. If someone called you a “pistachio” or a “pecan” . . . you’d have absolutely no idea what they were talking about. But if they called you a “nut” — as in, “you’re such a nut!” — you’d know exactly what they meant. 🙂 Why’s that?? Credit a Kaplan kid for that...Read More
Voting With Your Feet — or (Computer) Mouse The best sign of a satisfied customer? Repeat business. So, when it comes to things like groceries, gas, and dry cleaning — purveyors of such things can figure out pretty quickly how they’re doing. Ditto for the web sites (and blogs!) which people patronize regularly. Infrequent Transactions...Read More
