Business sociology can be very interesting - the dynamics of departments, groups, teams, or other blobs of people working together toward a common goal. In business school they called this organizational behavior, but I think organizational sociology sounds much cooler.
Incidentally, the Org Behavior question was the only one I missed on the comprehensive final I took when I got my MBA, but I'm a lot wiser in they ways of how groups operate now. I'd probably still fail that exam question, though, because memorizing categories and lists of labels from theorists hasn't been particularly useful to me in the real world.
So, in terms of useful information we can use, I'm hip to how (despite the hassles and overhead of group dynamics) groups are more successful than individuals. Always. If you want to learn more about the science behind this; to hear about how fireflies the in Thailand all flash on and off in synchronicity; to hear the original exercise that inspired James Surowiecki's jelly bean jar guessing exercise -- tune in to the best Podcast on the web (imho) -- Radiolab. You can download a free standard MP3 or podcast of the "Emergence" episode here.
Afterwards, you can thank me for turning you on to Radiolab. Then you can join me in complaining that they only put out 5 new episodes per season.
There's no such thing as a $99 Brake Job
I have a rant today. This isn't my typical blog content, but I wanted to get it off my chest, and hopefully save others from the troubles I experienced yesterday.
My son took the car to Just Brakes yesterday for the $99 brake job that is the cornerstone of their advertising. Brilliant marketing - poor execution. Actually, brilliant execution if their goal is not to sell $99 brake jobs. An hour after my son dropped off the car I got the call - my $99 brake job was going to cost a minimum of $530 for just the rear. It was like pulling teeth to get a detailed breakdown of the costs over the phone- the manager kept telling me that they would all be on the printout I receive after I pay for my repaired car. Interestingly, he told me that in addition I needed to seriously consider new brakes in the front too. This was interesting since I just got new brakes in the front 3 months ago.
Anyway, to make a long story short, I discovered that $99 only applies to certain brakes that they have in stock. After some Googling I learned that this is a common ploy that they use. In Marketing 101 they called this "bait and switch", but that's illegal, so there must be a loophole that the Just Brakes folks have found a workaround for.
Anyway, I finally got the detailed breakdown of costs and called a reputable mechanic that I've used in the past. He quoted me a price that was half of the Just Brakes price, so I picked up my unrepaired car from Just Brakes and won't be back again.
My son took the car to Just Brakes yesterday for the $99 brake job that is the cornerstone of their advertising. Brilliant marketing - poor execution. Actually, brilliant execution if their goal is not to sell $99 brake jobs. An hour after my son dropped off the car I got the call - my $99 brake job was going to cost a minimum of $530 for just the rear. It was like pulling teeth to get a detailed breakdown of the costs over the phone- the manager kept telling me that they would all be on the printout I receive after I pay for my repaired car. Interestingly, he told me that in addition I needed to seriously consider new brakes in the front too. This was interesting since I just got new brakes in the front 3 months ago.
Anyway, to make a long story short, I discovered that $99 only applies to certain brakes that they have in stock. After some Googling I learned that this is a common ploy that they use. In Marketing 101 they called this "bait and switch", but that's illegal, so there must be a loophole that the Just Brakes folks have found a workaround for.
Anyway, I finally got the detailed breakdown of costs and called a reputable mechanic that I've used in the past. He quoted me a price that was half of the Just Brakes price, so I picked up my unrepaired car from Just Brakes and won't be back again.
Who else out there is modestly envoweled?
I suppose I was distressed to learn that because 31% of the letters in my name are vowels, and 74% of names have a higher vowel make-up, I am considered to be modestly envoweled. This 'fun fact' is one of several I discovered about my name, including a statistically based estimate of the total number of people in the U.S. who have the same first/last name combination as me.
You can check out fun facts for your name here.
You can check out fun facts for your name here.
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