I’ve never understood why people read horoscopes. It’s never been a temptation for me and always seemed absurd. Yet I hear there are people who believe in them. This is a true story that shows the power of persuasion when someone wants to believe.
A scientist places an ad in a Paris newspaper offering a free horoscope. He receives about 150 replies, each, as requested, detailing a place and time of birth. Every respondent is then sent the identical horoscope, along with a questionnaire asking how accurate the horoscope had been. Ninety-four percent of the respondents (and 90 percent of their families and friends) reply that they were at least recognizable in the horoscope. However, the horoscope was drawn up for a French serial killer. If an astrologer can get this far without even meeting his subjects, think how well someone sensitive to human nuances and no overly scrupulous might do.
As Carlson implies here, a 401(k) or other employer IRA is one of the best methods of investment because of the tax breaks and ease of investment. Most employers also match up to a certain percentage, which is an immediate 100% gain. If you’re not funding a retirement account, get started today!
If you are not taking full advantage of your employer’s 401(k), you are making a very big mistake. You have no business investing in any other investment until you contribute the maximum allowed by law to your plan.
Update: I actually don’t agree with his last sentence. If you need the money before you retire, then no-load index funds or quality stocks are great investments even if you’re not maxing out your IRA. This is especially true for those of us with 401(k) plans, where one can contribute up to $15,500 a year. It’s not realistic for most of us to max that out!
But even then a Roth IRA is often the best investment account, as your contribution can be withdrawn at any time, while the earnings grow tax-free. If you need the earnings before retirement, then I recommend a standard investment account from a discount broker like Scottrade (the one I use) or Etrade.
Michael Shermer has written a good review of the movie Expelled. He’s very good at debunking conspiracy theories, and this film is pretty much a conspiracy theory targeted to evangelical Christians with little scientific education. Shermer goes over their various deceptions and debunks their main thesis (that anyone who believes in intelligent design is “expelled”) and their claim that Darwin caused the holocaust.
I want to make this blog better. As I’ve been thinking about how to do that, I thought that a quote every day might be overwhelming. So I’m trying an experiment to post quotes only on MWF, and then have links or commentary the other days.
I’m interested in your feedback on this. What do you think about only having 3 quotes a week instead of 7? What can I do to make this blog better?
Seth Godin explains why Firefox is like getting into college. I found it interesting that even though only 25% of Squidoo’s visitors are Firefox users, 50% of page builders use Firefox.
[N]ot putting cupholders in a car is a serious mistake. I read a couple of years ago that Volvo had to redesign all its cars for the American market for this very reason. Volvo’s engineers had foolishly thought that what buyers were looking for was a reliable engine, side-impact bars, and heated seats, when in fact what they craved was little trays into which they could insert their Slurpees.
Fire and Knowledge aims to be thoughtful and challenging through quotes, links, commentary and essays.
Topics include science, religion, politics, literature, history and technology. As someone said, there are no uninteresting subjects, only uninterested people.