• Posts Tagged ‘wtf’

    “Free” Magazine Subscriptions?!?

    by  • February 21, 2008 • Tagged: ,  • Comments

    A few months ago both Her and I started receiving issues of Complex Magazine (whose tagline is “Buy.Collect.Obsess” – ugh); for some reason that has now dwindled to only me receiving them. I’ve actually read a bunch of articles, but I’m not the demographic it writes to.

    Two months ago I started receiving Maxim Magazine. I had a subscription in college – it was good turn-your-brain-off kind of reading.

    The problem: I don’t ever remember signing up for these magazines. Especially Complex.

    Maybe it’s time to check my credit reports.

    Anyone have any explanations of mystery subscriptions?

    An Open Letter To The Financial Market

    by  • January 22, 2008 • Tagged: ,  • Comments

    Dear Markets,

    We’ve heard that you’re having a rough time. We can’t imagine how it feels to have rates slashed, but it doesn’t seem to be making you better. Hang in there!

    We just wanted to let you know that we’re not retiring for a while, maybe in 30 years! So go ahead and do your thing. We’ll still believe in you and keep plowing money into you. Some even say that this is a great time to buy more of you!

    We’ll check back with you in a few years.

    Get well soon!

    Love,
    Him & Her

    Chocolate Chip Cookies Are Hazardous To Your Budget

    by  • January 16, 2008 • Tagged: , , ,  • Comments

    It’s again cold as hell here in Chicago, so we’ve decided that baking would be a good way to warm up both our bellies and the house. We better check out our bank account balance if we bake chocolate chip cookies, though.

    According to a recent study, the aroma of chocolate chip cookies can prompt women on a tight budget to splurge on a new item of clothing.

    From the study:

    …an appetitive stimulus not only affects behavior in a specific behavior domain, but also induces a shared state that propels a consumer to choose smaller–sooner options in unrelated domains…(emphasis mine)

    Thus, the researchers also surmise that male investors have something to watch for as well: the presence of an attractive woman in the trading room might propel an investor to choose the investment option providing smaller but sooner rewards. I guess with Her around so much I can’t help but make stupid, short-term, impulsive purchases.

    I guess this is another reason why you shouldn’t go grocery shopping on an empty stomach; having an appetite will influence your decisions to put everything in your cart in anticipation of feeding your hunger in the quickest way possible.

    If retail stores start pumping chocolate chip cookie smells into their departments and plastering pictures of attractive women all around, our budgets will be doomed!

    (via BoingBoing)

    Restaurant Credit Card Roulette

    by  • September 25, 2007 • Tagged: ,  • Comments

    ccroulette.jpg
    photo: s e l v i n

    The scene:
    You and a few friends are eating at a nice restaurant. After everyone is finished with their meal, the bill comes as usual. Everyone then proceeds to throw their credit card into a hat. Instead of the bill being split evenly among the cards, they are removed one by one. The last credit card remaining pays the potentially wallet crippling restaurant food bill.

    Does this sound like your idea of a good time? Me neither. But according to this Chicago Tribune article, people willingly play this game. Or maybe not so willingly…

    “I was sweating bullets,” Ashley said in an e-mail interview. “I felt sick at the thought of having to pay that bill and then trying to explain it (or hide it) when the bill came in. It was both scary and amusing, after the fact, to watch those whose cards had been removed from contention to suddenly ‘find’ a larger-than-normal appetite and thirst.”

    Ashley said the final tally for his group that night came to $1,249.

    I have to wonder what kind of people these are: adrenaline junkies? impulsive gamblers? super-rich?

    This game might be fun once. Maybe twice. And only if I were eating somewhere like McDonald’s or something. And if I were never the last one picked.

    Would you ever do something like this?

    Listen to No One…I Mean Everyone…I Mean…

    by  • April 13, 2007 • Tagged: ,  • Comments

    Many read personal finance blogs in hopes of learning about a juicy financial tidbit that will help skyrocket them to their dreams. In order to avoid any potential lawsuits, these blogs prominently display a disclaimer telling their readers that the writer does not, in fact, give financial advice, just juicy tidbits, and to therefore seek the advice of a professional before acting on said juicy tidbit.

    These same personal finance blogs, in order to provide you with your juicy tidbit, often tell the masses to avoid financial professionals for various reasons.

    So if you’re not supposed act upon the advice on personal finance bloggers, then should you do the opposite of what they’re saying? Or should you actually ask a financial professional for advice that the blogger told you not to ask for, potentially spiraling you into financial decay? Then maybe the blogger IS responsible and should get mauled by disapproving bunnies.

    (I’ve worked a lot of overtime this week. This is all I got.)

    Enjoy your Friday the 13th.

    8 Year Old’s Billable Rate: $25/hour

    by  • September 15, 2006 • Tagged:   • Comments

    When I was little, I loved playing Nintendo. In fact, that’s all I pretty much did. I was so good at some games kids would call me to help them get through a level of a game. Weirdly enough, a friend of mine called me during college to help him out…but I digress. I think that after watching The Wizard a million kids across the land wanted to compete in video game tournaments. I definitely thought that I could make some bucks as a professional video game player.

    At that time though, this would have been impossible.

    But not now. Victor De Leon III, an 8 year old boy from Long Island, teaches people how to play Halo. For $25 an hour. That’s awesome.

    For the record, ever since the thrid dimension was added to gaming I have sucked at games. Therefore, I royally suck at Halo.

    Her Career Is Going To Be The End Of Us!!! OMG We Should Like, Break Up!!!

    by  • August 24, 2006 • Tagged:   • Comments

    After I read this Forbes article, I was seriously thinking that maybe I should call off the marriage. Maybe this guy is right: career women are BAD. Since I’ve read this article, I had trouble sleeping last night, dreaming that my children would constantly ask me, “Daddy, where’s Mommy?” or “Whey doesn’t Mommy live here anymore?” or “Why was Mommy making out with that homeless looking hipster listening to they-call-it-ironic-everyone-else-calls-it-crap music?” I fear for my future.

    Apparently, the slideshow that accompanied this article originally was taken down, probably because it was sooo right! (edit: the original slideshow text can be found here – still looking for the pictures) I mean, look at all of these SMART people talking about it! I think that the slideshow was duly replicated on this blog, or maybe this one! Right on!

    Men, we must band together to fight this threat! The threat of women with university degrees, who work more than 35 hours a week, and who make more than $30,000! Who’s with me?

    We’re going to have a terrible marriage. Wish us luck.

    (…and because the internet is such a fun place, I’m actually going to put a disclaimer here saying that this post is dripping with wet hot sarcasm…)

    (via here, or here, and here)