Category: strange

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Weird Studies – Why Do We Waste Money On Stuff Like This?

Taller People Earn More Money. Your Brain Thinks Money Is A Drug. Pretty people make more money; ugly men make the least. Seriously – these are findings of studies about money, not headlines from The Onion. A friend of mine sent out a link to this article on Twitter yesterday, so I knew I had to take a look. With all the real problems in the world, and all the legitimate things that money could be spent on, why are we wasting a single dime paying for a study about ugly people making money? I understand that some of this money comes from private donors or organizations and not taxpayers, but wouldn’t we all be better off if instead they gave that money towards helping to feed a few hungry kids or send a poor teenager to college? Or help a library stay open? Or keep state parks around for another year?

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strange
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The “12 Days Of Christmas” Items Are Only A Little More Pricey This Year.

Did you know there was such a thing as the Christmas Price Index, which figures out what it would cost to buy all the items in the “12 Days of Christmas” song? Me neither. Well, I just read that it only climbed 0.9% from last year because of the falling price of birds. Yes, you read that right – bird prices have dropped since last year. Buying all 12 items on the list would cost you $87,402.81. From CNN:

The index got the biggest boost from a surge in the price of gold, which is at a record high near $1,200. That sent the cost of five golden rings up 43% this year.
0:00 /3:44Toys R Us gets aggressive

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strange
10
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To Save Energy, California To Limit The Size TV You Can Buy.

I don’t have much to say, really, but I will say that I think this is absurd. Yes, I am an environmentalist. And yes, I am a liberal who is OK with some government regulation. But not selling certain size TV’s to customers in order to save some energy? Ridiculous.

On November 18th the California Energy Commission (CEC) is scheduled to vote on a proposal that would require by 2011 flat screen energy use be reduced to 30% of the power used today, and by 2013 the energy use would be reduced to 49%. The Consumer Electronics Association says the current CEC proposal would essentially ban the sale of all plasma TVs larger than 60-inches and 25-percent of all HDTVs currently on the market.

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strange
15
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Why Rent Books For Free When You Can Pay For Them Instead?

In the category of “what a waste of money“, a company has come out with a book rental service that acts like Netflix, except for 2 things – 1. It costs more money and 2. I already have a place I rent books from – it’s called the library. And the library lets me borrow all their books, way more than a few at a time, for weeks on end for absolutely no cost at all. Sure, they have movies too – but only a few. But one thing they have plenty of is books!

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strange
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Why Do We Use “Bacon” And “Dough” When We Talk About Money?

From a TRowePrice newsletter I found the other day, pretty interesting facts:

Bacon – Meat was expensive in the early 1900′s, and it was common, should a family want to impress its guests, to buy a bit of pork and show it off by hanging the bacon in the kitchen. The inference was a sign of wealth because one “could bring home the bacon”, an expression which first emerged in 1908.

Beans – Referenced in 1297 as a metaphor for something of small value, the slang term “beans” continued to be used through several centuries. Historical accounts beginning in 1805 refer to annual “bean-fest dinners”, low cost gatherings provided by employers for their laborers. By 1887, an inexpensive restaurant had become known as a “beanery”.

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