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Monthly Archive August, 2012

The Texas sharpshooter story

Filed in Articles ,Ideas
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TRICKING PEOPLE INTO THINKING YOUR SCIENTIFIC SHOTS NEVER MISS You visit the farm of a Texan, Joe, who claims to be a sharpshooter. When walking past his barn, you see a chalk target drawn on the wall with a bunch of tightly-grouped bullet holes in the bullseye. After observing that Joe can’t shoot well at […]

Franklin’s rule as a car salesman’s tactic?

Filed in Books ,Ideas
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In response to last week’s post, my mother sends along this passage from the story “Can I just sit here a while” in Ron Hansen’s Nebraska: Stories. In the story, the salesman it telling an acquaintance that he “discovered a gimmick, a tool which handn’t failed him yet. It was called the Benjamin Franklin close.”

Benjamin Franklin’s rule for decision making

Filed in Encyclopedia ,Ideas ,Tools
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Ben Franklin had views on how to make a decision.

Two things learned at Heathrow

Filed in Gossip ,Ideas
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We recently connected through London’s Heathrow Airport, and learned a couple things about fast polling and celebrity wranglers.