Michael Dell's tweets on HP's strategy

He once said he’d manage Apple Inc. differently if he were in charge, saying, “I’d shut it down and give the money back to the shareholders.”

The comment was made in 1997, shortly after Steve Jobs returned to the company he founded. Fourteen years later, Apple is the most highly valued technology company in the world.

That wasn’t lost on some of Mr. Dell’s followers on Thursday.

One wrote: “Last time u made fun of another co. (AAPL) they ended up being worth 13 times as much as yours so I guess HPQ will be ok.  ”

The Rise of the Five-Year Four-Year Degree

How long does it take to earn a four-year degree?

Stretching out a four-year degree means extra years of tuition costs, and additional years of labor market earnings and experience forgone.

How to land your kids in therapy

Tremendous food for thought

Van Halen's No Brown M&Ms clause

Van Halen had a clause in their concert contracts that stipulated that the band would “be provided with one large bowl of M&M candies, with all brown candies removed”.


At the heart of any major concert is the contract. Most contracts involving large venue concerts are jam-packed with riders, most of which involve technical details specific to the band’s stage design.


For instance, a rider might say “Article 148: There will be fifteen amperage voltage sockets at twenty-foot spaces, spaced evenly, providing nineteen amperes total, on beams suspended from the ceiling of the venue, which shall be able to support a total gross weight of 5,600 pounds each, and be suspended no less than 30 feet, but no more than 37.5 feet, above the stage surface”.


Van Halen’s concert contracts would have several hundred such demands. The band needed a way to know that their contract had been read fully and that's where the no brown M&Ms clause came in! 


Love it! And everyone thought they were being big babies.

Subconscious Information Processing

"He explained that once your brain starts working on a problem, it doesn't stop. If you get your mind wrapped around a problem with a fair bit of time left to solve it, the brain will solve the problem subconsciously over time and one day you'll sit down to do some more work on it and the answer will be right in front of you."

Mass State Lottery - a sure shot?

"a secret about the Massachusetts State Lottery: For a few days about every three months, Cash WinFall may be the most reliably lucrative lottery game in the country."

A Google Earth puzzle from The Atlantic

Beautiful images, up to 5.5 miles (9 kms) wide. Guess where they are

Got Harrison Ford?

Got Villains?

Great write up of website response to a dramatic increase in traffic