Cover letter tips
What's the best way to write a cover letter? You can read books on formatting. You can read articles giving inane advice like "use the active voice." Or you can simply go with what works. For my money's worth, I like to follow a winner. That is why I was happy to ...

Two-Year Anniversary of Game Theory articles
I was drafting this week's article when it donned on me that it has been about two years since Game Theory Tuesdays started. And I would like to take a moment to reflect on the anniversary, as I did previously for the one-year anniversary. I honestly can't believe this column has ...

Brazen Careerist launches innovative career site–2 reasons to check it out
I have been a part of the Brazen Careerist community almost from its start and I have great things to say about it. It has allowed me to meet other bloggers, to discuss politics and money, and to learn about the attitudes of Generation-Y. I also thank Brazen Careerist for ...

Zero-sum medicine
Competition appears to have mixed effects in health care. I'm reading about this topic in an interesting book about medicine in America. Here is an interesting prediction--more than 20 years ago--as to why the game of health care changed: Increasingly, the gains of one physician, or group of physicians, will have to ...

How to improve health care using game theory: the Prisoner’s Dilemma
"So take these pills, get a blood report, and see me in a few weeks," said my doctor. I was somewhat taken aback. It was my first physical as an adult. I was healthy overall, but I was being advised to take a prescription drug as a precaution...for the rest ...

Kraft offers “free” food in many SuperValu stores-Why?
I came across an interesting promotion from Kraft foods-it's almost like free food. If you purchase $25 in qualifying items, you will get a $5 your next purchase and $20 via mail in rebate. The offer is valid from 8/7/09 through 8/23/09 in selected SuperValu stores such as Albertsons, Jewel-Osco, ...

Pascal’s Wager explains why men are clueless romantically? Error management theory
It's a running joke in sitcoms that men over estimate women's romantic interest in them. This was parodied in Seinfeld when George discusses the various "signals" women use to communicate that men like Jerry don't pick up on. Is there a reason men are systematically clueless romantically? Long-time reader Ben sent ...

Pascal’s Wager inverted: all atheists go to heaven?
Pascal's Wager is one of the most famous arguments for belief in God. Pascal's Wager does not offer proof or evidence for God. Instead, it is an exercise in probability that suggests belief in God is a better than non-belief. But it turns out there are many flaws with Pascal's Wager. ...

How to work for a jerk: 4 tips
Every job seems to have it: the jerk boss. The boss who is stupid, or nosy, or pushy, or worse. At my first job, I thought I could just ignore the jerk boss, or perhaps escape him by finding a better job. No such luck. At each new job, I would ...

How happy are you with your job?
A year ago my friend was disappointed that his annual bonus was "only" 20 percent. This year, he's happily taking his 5 percent annual bonus--it really could have been worse! It's strange how a recession puts things into perspective. Here's a funny graph a friend sent me on that very topic ...

How to negotiate a pay raise using game theory–Youtube video
Update: Several of you have pointed out I have blogged about this topic before! For a more advanced discussion, please read my article how to negotiate at your job using game theory. I came across an interesting video that relates game theory to salary negotiations. The video is "How to Negotiate a ...