Technicality: How to Lose USD 800,000

If you had USD 880,000 to place on the following question:

"Which popular product was first to go on sale in the US: Post-It Notes, the Sony Walkman, or Macintosh Computers?"

The big question is, would you put 800K of that on Post-It Notes? Even more importantly, how would you feel when you found out that the "correct" answer according to producers of the show, Million Dollar Money Drop, was the Sony Walkman?

This is something that Gabe Okoye and Brittany Mayi experienced recently. Gabe was so confident that the Post-It Notes went on sale first that he risked 800K of their 800K pot. But, Gawker, one of my favourite sites of late, is reporting that the answer, Post-It Notes is in fact correct, particularly when one considers that the question did not stipulate whether "sale" had to be nationally. The YouTube video clearly shows how the question was constructed and what was required.

The truth of the matter is that Post-It Notes went on sale in a number of US states for a series of market trials in 1977. The Post-It Notes then went on sale nationally in 1980. The Sony Walkman went on sale in the US in 1979



The Facebook page of Post-It Notes seems to support arguments for Gabe and Brittany getting "their" money back. Nevertheless, Fox is standing firm behind the producers of their game show and arguing that Post-It Note agrees with them that they did not actually start selling Post-It Notes until 1980. Yet, despite these protestations, it would seem that it is a fairly well-established fact that Post-It Notes have been around for sale since 1977. So well-established that the New York Times even wrote a story quoting the first forays into Post-It Note sales occurred in 1977.

If Rupert Murdoch was a man of principle then he would be ordering the Million Dollar Money Drop game show and its producers to rectify their mistake and return the money to the contestants.

Will This Cause Inflation?

There is a bit of concern that the introduction of the new 2000 rupiah note will lead to inflation as merchants jack up their prices with a view to not having to give change. However, these concerns have been dismissed by the Finance Minister, Sri Mulyani Indrawati, as "theoretically impossible".

I have been hearing that the notes are pretty popular in the lead up to the Idul Fitri (Eid ul-Fitr) celebration. Indonesians tend to give crisp new notes as gifts to young children in recognition of the end of the fasting month.

There is a press release on the currency release here (in Indonesian).

Manohara Odelia Pinot -- Part XVIII -- Money Owed?

In case you are wondering whether this is an obsession or a fascination with the Manohara case, then let me assure you it is a fascination. As one of my readers pointed out, perhaps it is a fascination with young women with legal problems.

I have also written extensively on Schapelle Corby. The fascination for me is with the legal issues that are inevitably going to arise in this case, assuming that either side ever gets around to fully pursuing the legal aspects of the case.

Unspun, over at the Unspun blog, also has numerous Mano themed posts at his place. By the way, Unspun my increased rate of frequency in Mano-related posts is not the beginning of a competition amongst us :D

The prince appears to be a little more committed to pursuing the legal avenues available to him. This is of course when he is not helping out on the movie he is making about the stormy marriage he had with Manohara. The marriage is going to be shown to be breaking down as the result of an over-bearing and interfering mother of Manohara / mother-in-law to the prince.

The prince has filed two cases recently at his local Sharia Court in Malaysia. The first seeks a reconciliation with his wife. The other is a claim that Daisy Fajarina and Manohara borrowed almost 1 million ringgit from him, and that money has not been repaid. This works out to be a debt of somewhere in the vicinity of USD 276,000.

Hey, if it is true that they owe the prince money, then they should not have much trouble in repaying it as Manohara has just scored a soap opera part reportedly paying more than IDR 1 billion.

Daisy has denied owing the prince any money. According to Daisy the real issue is that the prince forbade Manohara from working and earning a living. I don't know, I would have thought the real issue was why the prince, allegedly kidnapped, raped, and abused his young wife. Then again that is just me.

Daisy Fajarina is always good for a chuckle. Some of the comments attributed to her include, "he would have to prove his accusation before a court." Ah, I am guessing that is why he filed the complaints that he did in a Shariah Court. Besides proving something in a court of law is no guarantee justice is going to be done. It is not impossible that the parties would try and dodge their obligations by fleeing the jurisdiction or not presenting themselves for punishment. And, ending up subject to an Interpol Red Notice.

Daisy also wonders why the Shariah courts are even hearing the prince's complaints. As far as Daisy is concerned, the prince has violated every law of Islam in his treatment of his estranged wife.

The plot thickens as the saga continues.

Making Money From Your Blog

I post a lot to my own blog and I tend to blogwalk and post on other blogs as a means of attracting some traffic to my humble little abode. I have often wondered what it takes to make serious money from blogging and having done a little research now I know.

Now that I know it is a little sad really because I am so far from making a really decent living from blogging that I do not see myself quitting my current job any time soon to take up full-time blogging.

Technorati released its 2008 State of the Blogosphere report last week and it states that there are some 900,000 blog posts made each day worldwide. I know where 3 -5 of those blog posts come from. But here's the catch. To be making a really decent living off of full-time blogging you need to be generating some 100,000 or more unique visitors per month. This will earn you on average USD 75,000 per year. This means that full-time blogging is not such a bad gig if you can make it work for you.

The biggest problem for me as I see it is the 100,000 unique visitors per month. I have about 3,000 unique visitors per month. So, I am guessing this means I need to find another 97,000 or so to be making it worthwhile.

It would be nice to have a blog that is as popular as the blog of Perez Hilton who is reportedly seeing more than USD110,000 roll into the coffers each month! I hope he appreciates my visits! I reckon I would start working part-time if my blog was able to provide about AUD 5,000 per month. I wonder how the tax works? I am going to have to do a little research on that part of the deal.

I guess if I want to boost my readership I need to start or get involved in some "flame wars" or post some viral videos, or start getting really into Facebook, Friendster, and other social networking devices. I know the social networking thing is likely to work because I am getting a few requests to become people's friend on Facebook. I only started the Facebook account because I needed to get info about my upcoming 21st Hurlstone Agricultural High School Reunion.

Once you become a full-time blogger and your income is dependent on your blog, I would imagine this ups the ante and the pressure to produce more and more quality blog posts to keep the unique visitors rolling in and to keep me rolling in the cash.

Some thoughts to ponder.

Tea In Siberia

Just to keep you factually amused heading into the weekend...

Up until the 19th Century, solid blocks of tea were used as money in Siberia.

Simpler currency for simpler times.

Cinta Laura -- An Accountant in the Making

It would seem that Cinta Laura Kiehl's parents have her head screwed on pretty tightly. I have posted about her before and her cool accent and her inability to speak proper Indonesian and her desire to create a language of her own. The language of her own would resemble a mix of probably a number of languages including bits and pieces from Indonesian, English, German and perhaps some others as well.

However, this post is not about her language skills and her endeavours to improve it, but rather this post is on what she sees her future to be!

For Cinta, her education is her number one priority -- that is good! She wants to be an accountant -- some might say not so good. Some of my blogging colleagues really do not like accountants (see GJ and Stump).

Nevertheless, Cinta wants to study at Harvard (me too) presumably in pursuit of an accounting degree. It seems that acting is just a hobby that allows her to make lots of friends. I am guessing it also allows her to make some extra cash for her education fund. Harvard is not cheap.

It seems that Cinta Laura is a 15-year old with a future plan. Good luck to her in her pursuit!