A fun card puzzle
I came across a good brain teaser at this site: A pack of cards has 52 cards. You are in a dark room with this pack of cards. You have been told that inside the pack there are 42 cards facing down, 10 cards facing up. You have been asked to ...

The Indian head wobble as strategic move
In many cultures, we nod our heads for 'yes' and shake them for 'no.' In India there is a gesture that is in between the nod and the shake. It's often called a head wobble or bobble. The head moves from side to side in a circular motion in a movement ...

My teacher’s clever Kleenex scheme
In grade school we were usually short on Kleenex. The one school-supplied box of tissue paper was not going to cut it for 25 sniffling kids. It was especially bad during allergy season and snowy days. My third grade teacher devised an ingenious bribe. At the beginning of the year, he ...

The game theory of ATM locations
I came across a paper called ATM Banking + Game Theory = Profits on the website of the consulting company A.T. Kearney. It's interesting because the authors show how game theory principles can be used by banks to optimize ATM location. The key is that banks should not only consider a ...

Sorry, you cannot buy happiness with a $75,000 salary
There's an economics study about money and happiness that's getting a lot of attention. Here's a sampling of the headlines: The Perfect Salary for Happiness: $75,000 - The Wall Street Journal After $75000, Money Can't Buy Day-to-Day Happiness - BusinessWeek What does it take to be happy? About $75000 - Los Angeles Times These headlines ...

How to get straight A’s in college
A lot of people think that to get good grades you have to be a genius or study all the time. But that's not true. A grade is just a measure of performance--often subjective--in a class. So to get good grades requires the far less impressive skill: being able to perform ...

Game theory in High Stakes Poker
I came across a great hand on the TV show High Stakes Poker. The hand is from Season 3, Episode 12, and it features poker professionals Phil Ivey and Brad Booth (yes, the same Brad Booth who used some psychology and game theory in Poker After Dark). Some background on the hand: ...

Tip to remember rotating credit card rewards
If you're like me, you have a couple of rewards credit cards. And you try to pick the best card for a given purchase. This used to be easy. Rewards cards used to have fixed rewards categories--like 5 percent cash back on gas and groceries--and you could get in the habit ...

Discover Bank savings account: why I don’t trust it
Recently I considered opening an online savings account at Discover Bank. I was intrigued for a couple of reasons. The appeal started with the rate. The savings yield was very competitive and even slightly higher than ING Direct. As of this writing, Discover Bank offers a 1.35% APY versus ING Direct's ...