betteroffed » math

powers of 10

edjusted — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 05:50:44 +0000

I’ve always loved this short video. I remember watching it for the first time in junior high, I think, and being completely blown away by “the powers of 10.”

harper’s index for october

edjusted — Mon, 17 Sep 2007 03:03:29 +0000

number of escort services and mcdonald’s restaurants, respectively, in washington d.c.: 26, 23
percentage change in the average amount of food a person will consume when eating with one other person: +35
percentage change with four or seven others, respectively: +75, +96

from harper’s magazine, october 2007

bottled water statistics

edjusted — Sun, 22 Jul 2007 23:59:38 +0000

estimated amount of oil used to make the bottled-water containers sold in the U.S. in 2006: 16 million barrels
ratio of water use to make the containers cs the amount of bottle water consumed: 2 to 1

source: harper’s index, august 2007

america, land of cheap gas!

edjusted — Sun, 25 Mar 2007 08:40:32 +0000

next time you hear someone complain about the price of gas, maybe you should point out that the u.s. has some of the cheapest gas in the world. maybe if more people focused on being more efficient with our gas instead of driving hummers that extra 100 feet so you have the closest parking space at the 24hr fitness, we’d all be better off.

one more reason to go on that diet…

edjusted — Sat, 23 Dec 2006 06:27:24 +0000

estimated number of gallons of extra gasoline burned each year because americans are overweight: 938,000,000
from the harper’s index, november 2006

i want that job

edjusted — Sat, 27 Aug 2005 23:46:35 +0000

According to Rolling Stone magazine (9/8/05 issue):
President Bush’s 5 weeks vacation in Crawford, Texas will be the longest presidential retreat in 4 decades…
President Bush has now spent 20% of his entire presidency vacationing at his ranch…
Counting in his other retreats to Kennebunkport and Camp David, Bush will end up spending less than 6.5 of his 8 years in the Oval Office…

And don’t forget! Bush is a war time president.

Brainwashing as diet technique

edjusted — Tue, 09 Aug 2005 07:37:52 +0000

This article in Time magazine talks about how scientists were able to influence people’s dieting habits by “implanting” a false memory. The dieting part doesn’t interest me so much as — hell-o! They were able to plant a false memory in 41% of their subjects with nothing more than suggestions and leading questions!?!? So what’s you’re favorite color? Blue. No yel– Auuuuuuuugh!

“Don’t get into a lather over sweatshops”

edjusted — Sat, 06 Aug 2005 07:26:45 +0000

Interesting article presenting the “other side” of sweatshops.

People choose what they perceive to be in their best interest. If workers voluntarily choose to work in sweatshops, without physical coercion, it must be because sweatshops are their best option.

salaries ain’t relative yo

edjusted — Sat, 18 Jun 2005 09:02:03 +0000

From an article in People about Angelina Jolie: “…upon learning that they made the equivalent of $27 a month, she cried, “what a mess,” a hotel employee said, and gave them $20″…not to pick on her…(”cause she’s hot and all)…when’re people gonna learn…(more after the jump)

ok…assuming $27 a month is at least a so-so salary wherever she was…and assuming that an “average” person in the U.S. makes $30k/year…she just gave that person the equivalent of $1851.85! must be nice to be rich, relatively speaking! come on people! different countries have different economies and different standards! there’s a reason why people in china can live really well on $200 a month while that person would be dead in the u.s. making that same amount! you can’t make comparisons like that! now if the average salary where angelina jolie was getting all bent out of shape about was say $40 a month…then sure, i could see her getting upset. but for such a comment to be possibly taken out of context like that is just plain irresponsible…then again…i guess this is PEOPLE magazine……

math cures cancer!

edjusted — Thu, 09 Jun 2005 08:41:59 +0000

Well not really, but apparently a group of scientists have used mathematical formulas to help destroy tumors. More details here