Who's Chris Martenson?

Well, by his own description at www.chrismartenson.com, he's an 'obsessive financial observer' who is comfortable with numbers and finance as the following clips will show:



To view the rest, click here.

The Hidden Persuaders

It was more than century ago that Oscar Wilde famously observed that "people know the price of everything and the value of nothing".

In Priceless, we now have the proof. William Poundstone's book makes complicated economic and psychological concepts palatable by using a numble, colloquial style in refreshingly short chapters . . . Dozens of fascinating topics are explored ... At the end you will be left wondering what money and prices really mean — the dizzying quirky irrational sort of wonder that Alice found in "Wonderland".

It's the best book on consumer psychology I have read since my student days when Vance Packard's bestseller of the 1960s, The Hidden Persuaders, was a must-read.

Beginning with the controversial lawsuit in which a jury awarded $2.9 million in damages to a woman who had spilled a scalding cup of McDonald's coffee on herself, William Poundstone presents a readable history of how we are subtly manipulated into paying more (or less) for goods and services—and the research that attempts to explain our baffling and irrational susceptibility to pricing.

I promise you, grocery shopping will never seem so simple again after you have learned how much work goes into assigning a price to a box of cereal.

So if you can get this book for under $100, grab it! After you read it, you will better understand why the price you paid felt like a bargain.

Gardening Australia

I had walked into ALDI for some bread, salami and cream cheese and walked out with ten pots of Tibouchina Alstonville, a native to south-east Brazil, where people use the massed purple blooms to decorate churches at Easter time. Here in Australia tibouchinas also make quite a statement in autumn with their riot of purple flowers. The best of the larger growing kinds is Tibouchina 'Alstonville', so named because it was produced at Alstonville on the New South Wales north coast.

It's an evergreen shrub or small tree which usually grows to about 5m (15') tall. The foliage is dark green in colour with a pale reverse. 'Alstonville' puts on a brilliant display of violet/purple flowers in late summer and autumn. It makes an excellent street or specimen tree, and responds very well to pruning.

I already have two 'Alstonvilles' growing alongside the carport and will have no problem finding suitable places for another ten, although for the moment I have repotted them into larger pots and placed them in a sunny spot by the house.

2012

I've just come back from the Bay with some last-minute Easter shopping. HOW I HATE SHOPPING!!! Anyway, I saw a DVD on sale of this recently released movie which no doubt is just the first of many more on this popular subject.

2012 is said to be the end-date of a 5,125-year-long cycle in the Mayan Calendar which marks the end of the world or a similar catastrophe. After some very extensive research, I have come up with an entirely different conclusion:

Padma is in Indonesia, so I probably get away with wishing you all a Happy Easter!

I'll be on duty with the Volunteer Marine Rescue for the long Easter weekend. However, I hope to find time to print off these labels to stick on the hand-driers in all the local pubs and clubs.


If you don't hear from me again, it's because they have no free WiFi inside the lock-up. Have a Happy Easter anyway!