3 things Calvin and Hobbes taught me about money
I grew up reading Calvin and Hobbes comics. And I still appreciate re-reading and reliving antics of the imaginative Calvin and his partner in crime Hobbes. There's something wonderful about Calvin's energetic and child-like approach to life. And while my teachers never let me read these comics in school--it was strongly ...

A dilemma in dividing up chocolates
The day after Valentine's Day, a father ran into a math dilemma. He had bought a heart-shaped box of chocolates on clearance to be divided amongst his three daughters. The issue came when he tried to divide the chocolates. The box contained 17 pieces of chocolates. He had promised 1/2 of ...

Legopoly
An amusing anecdote from orgtheory.net Some years ago, when they were little kids, my children developed a hybrid game.They'd taken their Monopoly board over to a friend's house. They'd remembered to bring back the board, but they'd forgotten the houses and hotels. What to do? So, they started to use Lego ...

Winning a rigged game – a fun riddle
Someone sent me a fun riddle that I wanted to share: In a distant kingdom lived a king and his beautiful daughter. The daughter was in love with a peasant which the king strongly objects. However, he decided to show his fairness. He gave the peasant a chance. He said he ...

Money lessons from art class
I didn't learn how to draw, or paint, or mold clay. I slightly improved artistically, if at all. But I still feel I learned a lot from my eighth grade art class. It all started with the first assignment. We were to create an art portfolio case from construction paper. The ...

5 extra uses for shot glasses
I appreciate shot glasses. They are classy and inexpensive souvenirs. And they are ultimately practical for weekend parties when making drinks. I have amassed a decent collection of shot glasses. One day it bugged me that the shot glasses primarily got used on weekends. They simply occupied cabinet space on weekdays. In ...

Game Theory in The Dark Knight: the opening scene (spoilers)
The newest Batman movie The Dark Knight absolutely stunned me. Not since Dr. Strangelove has a movie contained so much game theory. A lot of people have focused on a scene near the end of the movie. But there is so much more to see. In fact, I'll be so ...

Three ways you can value your time for money decisions
I don't know what happened to me at that hypnotherapist and, I don't know, maybe it was just shock and it's wearing off now, but when I saw that fat man keel over and die - Michael, we don't have a lot of time on this earth! --Office Space Every one ...