August 2008
24 posts
The only three things people will pay for
They are needs, conveniences and status (sometimes substituted for pleasure). People need clothing, for example, so they will pay to have them. They could grow their own cotton, harvest it and make it into usable cloth, then sew their clothes by hand, fulfilling a basic need.
But what a hassle.
That’s why most of us buy clothes that are already made. That’s convenience. But then...
The Brain Freeze Effect
If it’s been a year since you had a bowl of your favorite ice cream and you buy one tonight, my guess is that you’ll find it highly satisfying. But if you eat another bowl tonight it will be less satisfying than the first; your third bowl will be less satisfying still. No matter how much you love that kind of ice cream, I bet eating 20 bowls of it in one evening will have a pretty...
On Choices...
When I was hiking the Appalachian Trail in North Carolina several years ago, we ran into the beginnings of Hurricane Emily. It rained three days straight, and soon, our packs and sleeping bags were soaked, and most of our food was ruined, except a couple of dehydrated meals and two cans of Spam. We were famished, exhausted and soaked to the bone when we finally decided to stop and eat. I’ll...
Sleep Sweep
It had been a hectic evening commute. You get off the subway and notice a man wearing a shirt with a large Ralph Lauren logo, a poster for a Wendy’s Baconator, a soda machine with a giant can of icy cold Diet Coke, and a business card for AllState Insurance on the ground, which you consciously step on. A woman lights up a Camel cigarette with a blue Bic lighter. Once on the street, you hear...
Pink is for boys, blue is for girls
Brands, images and even colors all have meanings. But they can also change meanings pretty quickly. Here are a few examples.
1. Pink is for boys. Before the 1950s, pink was a masculine color and blue a feminine one. Said the Ladies Home Journal:
“The generally accepted rule is pink for the boy and blue for the girl. The reason is that pink being a more decided and stronger color is...
Does product endorsement work?
My first pair of drumsticks were Pro-Mark PW747W Oak 747 Neal Peart wood tips. Why did I buy those? Mostly because Neal Peart’s signature was printed on the side. He’s the world renown drummer for one of my favorite bands; Rush. As a novice drummer, I had no idea what I was looking for in a pair of drumsticks, but hey, Neal uses these ones and look how good he is. I bought four pair....
How deep is the river? Seven
The Green River near Moab, Utah, is actually very, very brown. That’s why our guide was telling us not to dive when we went whitewater rafting this weekend.
“I’m going to tell you this now, even though I know one of you is going to ask me again - we cannot tell you how deep the river is. It might be 15 feet deep, it might be two. If you ask me while we’re on the water how...
Hypocrite cookies
I don’t like fortune cookies. The just don’t deliver. The name Fortune Cookie tells me I’ll not only be getting a cookie (yum!), but a fortune too (tell me something good will happen). Fortune cookies rarely deliver on these promises. The cookies taste kind of gross compared to most other cookies, and most of the time the “fortunes” are lame. Instead of an amazing or...
Why my coach was wrong
“Second place is the first loser,” was my high school wrestling coach’s favorite phrase. He used it whenever he saw someone slacking off or not giving their all. The phrase was meant to plant in our minds the idea that nothing but first place was acceptable. For the most part, it worked. After all, who wants to be a loser?
Second place, though, is actually a great place to be....
No Big Deal. Yes Big Deal.
When my sister spilled a fruit smoothie on the table at a restaurant, soiling the tablecloth and tile floor, the waitress came over and said “Oh, don’t even worry about it!” No big deal!”
“Sure, it’s not big deal to you. You’re not the one that’s going to have to clean it up!” I quipped sarcastically, and she laughed but knew I was right.
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