Twitter Digest

• 5 Things You Didn't Know About Twitter read.bi/vzNPPS
• Here’s what I like about Ebenezer Scrooge bit.ly/u5NxTs
• Ending the Infographic Plague - How infographics can mislead us bit.ly/u3o1JC
• The Ten Most Annoying Management Terms Of 2011 read.bi/v7OGSP
• Open Strategist: Chart: LEGO Brick prices? bit.ly/rtXGoT
• Investing in 2012: Get ahead of forecaster folly - The Washington Post wapo.st/vQl8eu
• How I Improved My Social Media Standing With a 30-Day Detox - Forbes onforb.es/sQmagb
• How The Best Salespeople Make The Sale - Forbes onforb.es/thNFTX

Graphic: how the future works

via

Twitter Digest

• Seth's Blog: "Why wasn't I informed?" bit.ly/l9nL03
• How To Make The Most Of The Post-Holiday Lull | Fast Company bit.ly/u2Somk
• Open Strategist: Dan Ariely[VIDEO] Buggy moral code bit.ly/sDIc78
• Don't Make These 10 Painful Mistakes If You're Applying For An MBA read.bi/udqUDM
• How Twitter Made Business Decisions For Companies In 2011 - Forbes onforb.es/vu9zKJ
• Smart Things You Can Do With $100 - New years eve prep | read.bi/rZ5fjX
• Carl Richards Napkin Sketches read.bi/vajRIf

Video: Mathemagic

Just wow:

Chart: LEGO Brick prices?

Lego prices have suspiciously been rising through the years...will we ever know why?

Geekmom has some interesting theories, but trying to sound like an economist does her no good since most economists are only next to astrologers in predicting anything. 

via: geekmom 

Hilarious Standup Economics

Twitter Digest

• BBC News - Top economists reveal their graphs of 2011 bbc.in/sA6yAQ
• 2011 revisited: Charting the year | The Economist econ.st/uwrArH
• The 5 Most Brand-Damaging Viral Videos of 2011 - Forbes onforb.es/v5PoIW
• The Dumbest Idea In The World: Maximizing Shareholder Value - Forbes onforb.es/rNCd9I
• Nine Things Successful People Do Differently - Heidi Grant Halvorson - Harvard Business Reviewbit.ly/ed9bQf
• Look Where Europeans Are Going In Search Of Jobs And Economic Growth read.bi/rIH2sj
• Leadership - Why "Yes" is a Better Answer than "No" - Forbes onforb.es/vrasjx
• Dear Santa: Do Women Want Crappy Gifts? read.bi/rDx0Tm
• 7 'Moneyball' Hiring Tips - Forbes onforb.es/vRkbOy
• The 10 Most Popular Tourist Attractions In The World read.bi/sagtZY
• Why You Really Shouldn't Curse at Work (Much) - Anne Kreamer - Harvard Business Reviewbit.ly/sed6j5
• The Evidence Keeps Piling Up That Gadget Bans On Airplanes Are Complete B.S. read.bi/tCLDpd

Dan Ariely:[VIDEO] Buggy moral code

Graph: Analytics jobs top everything

analytics, finance, healthcare Job Trends

Analytics jobs - Finance jobs - Healthcare jobs

Twitter Digest

• Seth's Blog: Q&A bit.ly/u9PH8Z
• The Sad Reason Why This Indian Billionaire Refuses To Invest In India read.bi/ttsi0g
• Good list: 12 Internet Predictions For 2012 read.bi/scV5My
• Perhaps school is for suckers... VIDEO: Changing Education Paradigms bit.ly/vWs9fb
• MBA by Gaming: MIT Launches Free Online Simulator - Education - GOOD bit.ly/tnFmcy
• SEC Goes Quant | The Big Picture bit.ly/swg9zm @cmrn_dp
• Seth's Blog: Gift wrapped bit.ly/ufEDuY
• The Evidence Keeps Piling Up That Gadget Bans On Airplanes Are Complete B.S. read.bi/tCLDpd
• Why You Really Shouldn't Curse at Work (Much) - Anne Kreamer - Harvard Business Reviewbit.ly/sed6j5
• Why You Should Work Smarter, And Harder | Inc.com bit.ly/tbQD6t
• Richard Branson: My Plan to End Occupy Wall Street | Inc.com bit.ly/uy5R8b
• Harry Potter, Lord Voldemort and game theory | Game Theory Strategies bit.ly/ruau3W
• Why your husband is fatter than when you married him | Game Theory Strategies bit.ly/t02Frt

13 points to change the way you email

1. Ask yourself if you would CC yourself. Easy with the CC.
2. BCC says more about you than the person you're BCC'ing.
3. BC: One of the all-time great comic strips.
4. Not only should you assume that every e-mail you send will get forwarded to someone else, you should assume that every e-mail you send will someday be read aloud in a court of law. Discretion.
5. If your message is less than seven words, put it in the subject line.
6. An e-mail signature should not involve words of wisdom. Not Aristotle. Not Gandhi. Not Hayley Williams of the chart-topping rock band Paramore.
7. Unless someone's in grave danger, no exclamation points.
8. Related: Grave danger is best addressed via a medium other than e-mail.
9. ALL CAPS. No.
10. small caps. No.
11. wHaTeVeR YoU cAlL tHiS. Absolutely not.
12. When in need of a font that's a little bit fun, a little bit earnest: look to Helvetica.
13. Verdana? Please.
via: BI

Changing Education Paradigms

Perhaps, school is for suckers...

Grinch Economics

Every Who down in Whoville liked Christmas a lot.

But the Grinch, who lived just north of Whoville, DID NOT.

He stood and he hated the Whos and their noise

He hated the shrieks of the Who girls and boys

For fifty-three years he’d put up with it now—

He had to stop Christmas from coming, somehow.

He asked and he questioned the whole thing’s legality

Then his eyes brightened: he screamed “externality!”

He reached for his textbooks; he knew what to do

He’d fight them with ideas from A.C. Pigou

This idea has merit, he thought in the frost

A tax that was equal to external cost

At the margin, would give all the Who girls and boys

An incentive to stop all their screaming and noise

Failing that, an injunction to make them all cease

And they’d have to pay him to have their Roast Beast.

Low costs of transacting meant that if the Whos

Were the high-value users and wanted to use

All the rights to have feasts and the rights to sing songs

Then they’d have to buy them, to right their Who wrongs

They’d buy a noise easement, if they wished to sing

Until then, the Grinch could stop the whole thing.

On Christmas Eve Night, the Grinch went to town

He stole all the presents, he took their wreaths down

He stole their Who Hash, everything for their feast!

He swiped their Who Pudding!  He swiped their Roast Beast!

He looked at his sled loaded up with Who snacks

‘Twas quite an efficient Pigovian tax!

Then late in the night, when he got to Mount Crumpit

For he’d taken the load, and he threatened to dump it

The Whos, with one voice crying out in the night

Screamed “bring back our stuff!  You haven’t the right!

“We know that we’re noisy all through Christmas Day,

But if you don’t like it, it’s you who should pay!

“For we were here first, and homesteaded the rights

To sing, to make noise, and to hang Christmas lights

“The costs of our Christmas joy helped you to save!

They were fully reflected in the price of your cave!”

“We’ll all be good neighbors, and we’ll be polite

“But you’ve done us wrong on this Christmas Eve Night!”

The Grinch was crestfallen, he knew he had lost

For he was the source of the “external” cost

He’d come to the nuisance, and yes, he was wrong

He’d now have to live with their noise and their songs

He realized that day, though, that they could be friends

His heart grew three sizes (you know how this ends)

The Whos asked the Grinch to join them in their feast

And he—he, the Grinch—carved the Roast Beast.

The holiday season brings specials galore

They teach us that Christmas can’t come from a store

Reflect, as you watch them, as day turns to night

On good economics, and property rights.

via: Forbes

Twitter Digest

• The 16 Greatest Cities In Human History read.bi/tF7qZt
• TD Bank Played ‘Critical’ Role in Ponzi Scheme | www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-12-23/rothstein-said-td-bank-played-critical-role-in-1-2-billion-ponzi-scheme.html
• Banker’s Dozen? bit.ly/uthN1F
• Seth's Blog: Quid pro quo (santa math) bit.ly/rJWM0v
• The 8 Faces of Exceptionally Creative Leaders | Robin Sharma's Blog bit.ly/nmcZSP
• The Smartest People In The World read.bi/sQMC3A
• 2011: A Year of Firsts Remembered: Arab Spring Rocks the World - Bloomberg bloom.bg/spuIeV
• The 11 Biggest PR Disasters Of 2011 read.bi/uWFWO8
• The Accident That Started the Breakfast-Cereal Business: Echoes - Bloomberg bloom.bg/uX6bQ1

Tim Harford: Trial, error and the God complex

Graph that says all: EUR/USD in 2011

Santa Gift Equation

Santa Claus Gift Momentum Equation

Gift Probability Equation

via: WMBringgs

Twitter Digest

• Great Leadership: The Perils of Hitting “Reply All” bit.ly/sIP4gb
• The game theory of buying clothes, and why money tips are often short-lived |mindyourdecisions.com/blog/2007/10/30/game-theory-tuesdays-shopping-for-clothes-and-the-problem-of-using-money-tips/
• Google Names The 10 Brands That Were The Biggest Losers Of 2011 read.bi/sEWQAw
• Graphic: Emerging vs. Developed - Trading places bit.ly/uibi8b
• IBM predicts 5 things that over the next five years will change technology | ibm.co/rDLgrk
• The 10 Jobs With The Happiest Workers read.bi/sWfa6Y
• Make 2012 Your Best Year Yet | Fast Company bit.ly/ueKMAL
• The Best And Worst Of Everything In 2011: A Mega, Meta Mashup | Fast Company bit.ly/sVgDoY
• US Moves Toward Banning Photoshop In Cosmetics Ads read.bi/vhrPnm
• MIT launches new learning initiative - MIT News Office bit.ly/ry0MIp
• Seth's Blog: Merry bit.ly/vqI79U
• 7 Reasons The World Will Not End On Dec. 21, 2012 read.bi/rRNz7D
• 5 One Minute Productivity Moves | Robin Sharma's Blog bit.ly/l6DkiL
• NewsBeast: Kim Jong-What? What will people call the new Korean leader - The Daily Beastbit.ly/sr0GME

10 Leadership lesson from Santa

Here's an amazing set of leadership lessons from Santa. When you get a chance to reflect after your meals, do give them a read: 

1. Know where your North is
2. The little people matter a great deal
3. Santa delivers
4. There will always be imitations masquerading as the real deal
5. Santa gets his timing right
6. Appearance matters
7. Santa understands the power of surprise and magic
8. Santa sees the individual. Santa’s gifts are personalized
9. Santa thinks global but acts local
10. There will always be a Grinch

via: Tomorrowtoday