January 26, 2012, Maxim
Posted by Simon
“…anyone who believes that governments are in control of economies is living in cloud-cuckoo-land.”
John Gribben, Author
The $50 Lesson
Posted by Simon
Recently, while I was working in the flower beds in the front yard, my
neighbors stopped to chat as they returned home from walking their dog.
During our friendly conversation, I asked their little girl what she
wanted to be when she grows up.
She said she wanted to be President some day.
Both of her parents, liberal Democrats, were standing there, so I asked
her, “If you were President what would be the first thing you would
do?”
She replied… “I’d give food and houses to all the homeless people.”
Her parents beamed with pride!
“Wow…what a worthy goal!” I said. “But you don’t have to wait until
you’re President to do that!” I told her.
“What do you mean?” she replied.
So I told her, “You can come over to my house and mow the lawn, pull
weeds, and trim my hedge, and I’ll pay you $50. Then you can go over to
the grocery store where the homeless guy hangs out, and you can give
him the $50 to use toward food and a new house.”
She thought that over for a few seconds, then she looked me straight in
the eye and asked, “Why doesn’t the homeless guy come over and do the
work, and you can just pay him the $50?”
I said, “Welcome to the Republican Party.”
Her parents aren’t speaking to me.
Simon Says Postcards 1/24/12
Posted by Simon
The Perfect Song
Posted by Simon
This song and the video of it were created by two young people who I had the privilege of tutoring in math many years ago. Wow!
The Twelfth Man Plays Football
Posted by Simon
This is week two of the Ideapreneur’s football focus. This week we’ll look at getting fans more into the game.
Imagine that it is late in the fourth quarter, your team is behind by two points and they are driving. What they need is to be able to stop the clock but they don’t have any time outs left. What can they do? This is where the fans come in. Under this new proposal, that we call Reality Football, the fans can purchase an extra timeout for $50,000.
In recent years the football industry has been growing at about 6% per year. The Reality TV business has been growing at about 12% per year. We here at swcamborne.com want football to be more important than reality TV so we have come up with an idea we call Reality Football.
Meta World Peace on Dancing with the Stars
Reality Football will allows football fans to be far more involved in games and therefore will significantly improve ratings and revenue.
One of the reasons that Reality TV is gaining popularity is that on many shows the fans have a say in the outcome. In Dancing With the Stars for instance the viewers vote on who they want to stay on the show. Reality Football will allow football fans to have the same kind of participation in games and to possibly affect the outcome.
Under the Reality Football proposal the fans can purchase an extra timeout for $50,000. They can text in their contributions on a mobile phone and the maximum individual contribution will be $5.00. So if 10,000 fans will text in $5.00 the team can purchase an extra timeout and possibly win the game. The money will go to charity. The fans will be more involved in the game and the teams that have the best fan support will have a slight edge in close games.
Of course the actual cost for a timeout and the maximum contribution would have to be set by experimentation and the charities that would benefit would need to be worked out.
In the long run Reality Football will mean that teams will have to think a little bit more about keeping their fans happy. So the owners, the coaches and the players will have to be more accessible and inclusive. They will have to be working extra hard so that they will appear to deserve the extra timeout from the fans when they need it.
Imagine a super bowl that is decided because Patriots fans bought a timeout for five million dollars to beat the Giants. Did I mention that the money will go to charity.
Let me know your thoughts about this idea and forward it to all of the NFL executives you know. I had the original Reality Football idea a few years ago this is the updated and improved version.
The Cell Phone Dilemma
Posted by Simon
Being in the present is difficult with your cell phone constantly urging you to be somewhere else. Now someone in New York has invented an idea that gives answering your phone during a shared meal consequences.
Basically when you sit down you put your phone in the stack. The first person to pick up their phone from the stack during dinner picks up the check.
Good Idea!
January 19, 2012 Maxim
Posted by Simon
“It is easier to wax elegiac for the life of a peasant when you do not have to use a long-drop toilet.”
Matt Ridley, Author
The Rational Optimist (p. 12).
What Would _______ Do?
Posted by Simon
“When trying to decide a course of action, it is usually helpful to ask yourself,
What would Anne of Green Gables do?
From an intriguing new book
by Leigh Stein
It reminds me of the bumper sticker I bought at the Nixon Library:
Respecting the Taliban
Posted by Simon
This one is for the director of training at the Marine Corp.
