Monthly Archives:

April 2008

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Cincinnati Reds offer “all you can eat” seats

As I was driving to work, I noticed on the video screen billboard that the Cincinnati Reds are now offering “all you can eat” seats for Reds games. 

From the Cincinnati Reds website

The AYCE seats include unlimited ballpark fare – hot dogs, popcorn, peanuts and Pepsi products – all for one low price!

A seat in the AYCE section is $30.00.  With a Pepsi and a hot dog each at $4.00, and a mezzanine seat at $22.00, you’ll save money if you want to eat more than one hot dog and a Pepsi.

But there are a couple of downsides:
1. Hot Dogs at Great American Ballpark are pretty terrible- totally flavorless.  They’re not even worth a dollar on the “dollar dog” days.
2. Sitting with and watching people that have no respect for their bodies stuffing themselves with ballpark food.

Alcohol is not included.

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Monty Hall Problem

From the NYTimes.com: And Behind Door No. 1, a Fatal Flaw

An interesting story about the Monty Hall Problem a counter intuitive mathematical problem.

In the Monty Hall Problem you are a contestant on a game show and are presented with three doors.  Behind two of the doors there are goats and behind a third a new car.  You are asked to select a door.  After you choose a door, Monty Hall opens from the remaining two doors a door with a goat.  Now you have the option to keep your door or switch to the other door that Monty Hall did not open.  What do you do?  Do you stay with the door you initially chose or the third door?

The answer is that you should always switch doors.  Play the game below to understand why.

Play the Monty Hall Game

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Asian Inflation Begins to Sting U.S. Shoppers

From NYTimes.com: Asian Inflation Begins to Sting U.S. Shoppers

First, developing countries now produce nearly half of all American imports. Second, inflation in these countries is coming at the same time that many of their currencies are rising against the dollar.

That puts American consumers in a double bind, paying at least some of producers’ higher costs for making their goods, and higher prices on top of that because the dollar buys less in those countries.

It’s not clear what we can do about this inflation.  The Fed is pretty powerless to stop it since it’s based on global demand and rising wages around the world.  Normally, a week dollar would make U.S. goods more attractive, but what goods can we export besides commodities or services?  Most of the really innovative and new U.S. technology products are manufactured overseas now.

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Thieves stealing catalytic converters

From NYTimes.com: Thieves Leave Cars, but Take Catalytic Converters

Theft of scrap metals like copper and aluminum has been common here and across the country for years, fueled by rising construction costs and the building boom in China. But now thieves have found an easy payday from the upper echelon of the periodic table. It seems there may not be an easier place to score some platinum than under the hood of a car.

The catalytic converter is made with trace amounts of platinum, palladium and rhodium, which speed chemical reactions and help clean emissions at very high temperatures. Selling stolen converters to scrap yards or recyclers, a thief can net a couple of hundred dollars apiece.

I had read this article a couple of weeks ago and was reminded of it by the same story on the Today show this morning.  It seems that SUV’s are a big target because they’re a little higher off the ground for easier access, plus the larger size of the catalytic converter means more precious metals.  If you see someone crawling under a car with a saw, call the cops!