Why repeating a digit may improve security on your iPhone’s 4-digit lockscreen PIN
image by flomiscuous, CC by 2.0 My good friend from college sent me an interesting email. Presh, real-life question for you: What is the safest way to lock my iphone? Let me explain. A friend unlocked his phone once and I grabbed it and said "so, 9,6,0, and 1, huh?" because the bulk of ...

Pay the Rent strategy on The Price is Right
I just learned about a new game on The Price is Right. In the premiere of the 39th season, the show introduced a game called "Pay the Rent." The game is easiest to learn if you watch the clip (after the break). Once you learn the rules, I challenge you to try ...

Math problem: passing the U.S. Citizenship test the lazy way
There's not much to prepare for in the U.S. citizenship test. Perhaps the hardest part is a section where they ask history and government questions. The interesting thing is how this section is structured. They ask a sample of questions of which one must answer a majority correctly. Here is how the ...

A joke about why you shouldn’t make fun of co-workers
There are times where you might want to burn bridges. But often it's better to play it safe and avoid confrontation. Below is a short joke someone sent me illustrating why.

Is this sleep aid a rip-off?
While perusing the drug store, I noticed a rather strange pricing scheme. On the one hand, there was sleep aid that sold for $5. On the other, was allergy medicine that sold for $2.50. So what's the catch? The interesting thing is both products were essentially the same medicines.

Amazon and the state of Illinois play a game of chicken over online tax collection
Yesterday, Illinois passed the so called "Amazon tax," a measure to collect sales tax on online commerce. If signed by Gov. Pat Quinn, the plan would require online retailers, such as Amazon.com and Overstock.com, to collect a 6.25 percent sales tax. Currently only companies with a physical presence in Illinois are ...

IHOP commercial touches on concept of common knowledge
I saw this commercial today on TV. It's a bit cheesy, but I found it amusing due its reference to common knowledge:

A gift giving puzzle (Secret Santa math)
Happy New Year! I am getting back in the groove of things, so posting might be slow for a couple weeks. In the meantime, another puzzle! During the holidays, I was part of a couple gift exchanges, and that experience reminded me about a problem that Chris mentioned a while ago ...