First Things First: All Hat Tips again go to Tony Poshek, The Satirical Sourcerer
(formerly known as The Cynical Sorcerer, but it seems only us bloggers got the joke)

Someone needs to learn the definition of “Median”
Sometimes you get a 2-for-1 out of a story. The reporter in this article is discussing the rise in prices of many common items, to show a gloomy outlook on the economy. You’ve heard all this before, but it’s still a decent summary. But then as you get to the very final paragraph, the reporter ruins all credibility with the following statement to show how badly the economy is doing: “Half the nation’s families earn below the median family income of about $56,000.” HALF! Oh no, HALF are below the median!
“Soaring costs of staples like milk, eggs, bread make ordinary Americans glum about economy” (Times Union)

From dictionary.com:
Median: the middle number in a given sequence of numbers, taken as the average of the two middle numbers when the sequence has an even number of numbers: 4 is the median of 1, 3, 4, 8, 9. I guess this article will be taken as further proof that the USA really needs the No Child Left Behind act.

I’m not sure how, but I’ll bet China is behind this bee epidemic: “As bees go missing, a $9.3B crisis lurks”
“…in a honeybee-less world, almonds, blueberries, melons, cranberries, peaches, pumpkins, onions, squash, cucumbers, and scores of other fruits and vegetables would become as pricey as sumptuous old wine.”

The article notes that “a third of our food, from apples to zucchinis, begins with floral sex acts abetted by honeybees trucked around the country on 18-wheelers”. It also notes that major bee die-offs seem to occur about once a decade. Hopefully this is another false alarm – but if it isn’t, our grocery shopping will have a lot more spend management and strategic sourcing elements as we try to find suitable alternatives to the fruits and vegetables we eat, or should be eating, daily and analyze the total value of apple pie relative to cherry pie.

Fair and balanced:
The U.S. military has apologized to Afghanistan (Fox News) for handing out religiously offensive soccer balls during a public relations exercise. Then quickly points out that the balls were made in CHINA!

… and bought in a market in Kabul! I think it’s time for those “Sold in the USA” and “Provided by the USA” labels … the way things are going, we may soon see the day where a “Made in the USA” label itself is a collector item!

First Things First: All Hat Tips to Tony Poshek, The Satirical Sourcerer
(formerly known as The Cynical Sorcerer, but it seems only us bloggers got the joke)

How’s that invoice payment system working for you?
“Defense Contractor Was Paid $1 Million to Ship 2 Washers“

A South Carolina defense contractor pleaded guilty to bilking the Pentagon out of $20.5 million over nearly 10 years by adding hundreds of thousands of dollars to the cost of shipping spare parts such as metal washers and lamps. The parts were bound for key military installations, including those in Iraq and Afghanistan. In one instance, in 2006, the government paid C&D Distributors $998,798 in transportation costs for shipping two 19-cent washers.

This only goes to show why it pays to have a rules-based e-Procurement system in place that only automatically approves invoices if the amounts are within expected tolerances and routes those amounts, along with corresponding invoice information, that are not within tolerances to a human operator.

Well here’s a new market to profit from, that I bet you never thought of: A man in India is apparently charging people to spend time with his iPhone. Not to buy it mind you, just spend some time to touch/see/feel it. Apparently ~$12 will get you 15 minutes. (Gizmodo)

At least it’s an iPhone and not a blackberry … otherwise, Dictionary.com might have to create a new definition for RIMming …

“Sometimes auctions provide miracles” (Stuff.co.nz):
An 18th-century painting went into a small U.K. auction house estimated to be worth a couple hundred pounds. It turned out to be a Renaissance masterpiece worth millions!

Just goes to show that you should always research what you buy … or sell.

Oh Noooooo! Due to the biofuels demand, we have learned of price increase in Corn, Milk, Beer and Tequila to name a few. But oh dear, not this: Biofuel Boom Threatens Gummy Bears
Hat Tip: Tony Poshek, The Satirical Sorcerer (formerly known as The Cynical Sorcerer … but only us bloggers got the joke)

The biofuel boom has gone too far this time! It’s bad enough that we are over-focussed on corn-based ethanol, which is six times less economical to produce than sugar-cane ethanol, and which still has a negative EROEI (energy return on energy invested), but to threaten the “sweet, sweet candy” … Homer‘s favorite candy … that’s just not right!

A unique way to pay your invoice: In this case, how a disgruntled math genius decided to pay Verizon. (Take a second to look.)
Hat Tip: Tony Poshek, The Satirical Sorcerer (formerly known as The Cynical Sorcerer)

Note that
31.8971 + 22 + 33 + 44 + eiπ + ∑n=15 12400/2n + ∑n=16 n2/n+1
would also be valid in this instance.

Why Civil Rights pursuers don’t make good spend management professionals: A Utah family spent $536,000 in legal fees in a civil rights trial for parental rights. They won their case, and were awarded $2.

After refusing a settlement of $200,000. ‘Nuff said.