Polly Wants a %!*@x! Cracker
Animal news. Visitors to the Lincolnshire Wildlife Park in Frisky Friskney, England have been warned. A sign near the parrots’ habitat cautions readers that they are likely to hear “every common swear word.” Probably a few new ones, too.
Common Sense Is Not That Common
A study jointly conducted by Duncan Watts of Penn University and Mark Whiting of The Wharton School, concluded that common sense isn’t. In large groups, only about 44% of the tested claims were rated as “commonsensical” by 75% or more of the respondents. Individual results were not much different.
Explosive News
For all the PR surrounding “smart weapons” and state-of-the-art military systems, US explosives are comprised mostly of RDX and HMX, both extremely dated technologies. RDX dates to 1898, HMX to 1941. Despite many trillions of dollars of military expenditures over the intervening decades, our explosives processing is essentially the same as it was in WW2.
Paying with Plastic
Still using cash? If you are using it to buy bottled water, you are “paying with plastic.” A recent study, led by Drs. Wei Min and Beizhan Yan of Columbia University, found thousands of tiny plastic particles in single-use bottles of water.
Stop Me If You’ve Seen This Before
Last week, the Murcia Department of Health (Spain) tested 800 applicants, each seeking one of 12 open physiotherapy jobs. Those applicants probably should have studied less. The test contained one question repeated 115 times.
Time Wasting Recommendations
Made it this far? Your reward: Still more time-wasting advice. When the clock ticks more slowly and the mind wanders, take a moment to visit these two sites. One is Shorpy.com, an historical archive of photos from the Library of Congress. The other is Messy Nessy Chic, a cabinet of chic curiosities. If you have a nostalgic bent, you won’t be disappointed.
Go forth and procrastinate.
Peter has spent the past twenty-plus years as an acting/consulting CFO for a number of small businesses in a wide range of industries. Peter’s prior experience is that of a serial entrepreneur, managing various start-up and turnaround projects. He is a co-founder of Keurig.
