Færslur mánudaginn 8. maí 2000

At 22:39: The Shopping Cart Mystery 

There's a very entertaining (as well as eye-opening) article called Attack of the Giant Shopping Carts in Slate Magazine's Everyday Economics section.

The article discusses a number of theories on why American shopping carts have steadily grown bigger over the last decades. One of those social phenomenons for which there is no official explanation.

The article ends by listing the best theories sent in by readers

What I feel was the best answer was sent in by a person called Linda. It is as follows:

Having shopped for groceries for about 40 years, I can tell you one possible reason why grocery stores have switched to larger carts. They want to keep me shopping as long as possible. When I shop, I tend to stop when the cart gets full. So -- the larger the cart, the greater the chance I'll buy several items I'd have passed up if I had a smaller, full cart. And those extra items tend to be discretionary items, which usually cost more and, I assume, have a higher profit margin.

It's not a really big mystery -- it's just that someone finally started paying attention to how people actually shop (probably when men started having to do some of it -- ever see how awkward a big man looks pushing one of those tiny old-fashioned carts?).

And by the way, you'll find Occam's Razor on aisle 6B.

Seems like a very intelligent answer to me...

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Kl. 09:11: Bjór helgarinnar: Færeyskur Portari 

Keypti mér kippu af Portaranum frá Föroya Bjór. (Portarar eru n.k. norðurlanda útgáfa af stout beer.) Þetta er "Myrkt öl við smakki av brendum malti og nógvari humlu. Vælhóskandi til sterkan mat."

Ég drakk slatta af Jósku porturunum sumarið 1997 þegar ég dvaldi í kaupmannahöfn og komst varanlega upp á bragðið þar. Sá færeyski stendur þeim dönsku ekkert að baki.

Þar sem þetta er eini portarinn sem færst í ríkinu um þessar mundir þá mæli ég eindregið með því að menn og konur skelli sér á a.m.k. eina kippu við tækifæri. Bjórinn er afbragðsgóður, og ekki sakar að um leið styrkjum við útflutningsiðnað hjá náfrænda okkar í færeyjum.

Varanleg slóð

At 09:06: Media Industry Dinosaurs 

Since I'm in a lazy mood this morning, I steal this piece directly from Tomalak

SJ Mercury: Media industry's business model must evolve or die. Dan Gillmor writes:

"It's time for the recording industry to face the new reality. Yes, digital entertainment can be copied, and it will be copied. But it's arrogant to assume that no one will pay for their music and outrageous to declare pirates of anyone who wants to make copies for personal use or play recordings on non-authorized equipment, which is where we're heading".

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