Steve Fischer's Random Blog

Author: fish1964

  • No Interest for 12 Months

    We recently bought a new sofa. We had the money for it, but they offered no interest for 12 months. Why wouldn’t you do that? So we did.

    I was assuming with interest rates still super low, this is a promotion to encourage sales. Ha, silly me.

    It’s a nice couch, so a little over a grand. We added a nice table so all total almost two grand. I get the first bill and the payment is $54.

    I actually like math, so this leaped out at me. At that rate we would not only not pay it off in the interest free 12 months, we wouldn’t pay it off in 24 months. And the web site not only gave no indication of that fact, it makes paying something other than the minimum rather difficult.

    So that’s the scam. Offer no interest but set it up so that most folks won’t notice that it’s going on for years and you will end up paying a healthy chunk of interest. Nice.

    I was about to just pay the whole thing off, but on reflection I will make sure to pay over the full twelve months and backload the final payment.

    Because I actually like math…

  • Brooklyn Made

    Spike Lee’s ad agency collaborates on a Brooklyn branding video:

    …one thing is clear: New York City’s most populous borough is now an international brand … and a very valuable one at that. 

    No man has more effectively served as an unofficial spokesperson for the city within a city than director Spike Lee. And so, his ad agency, Spike DDB, which is based in Brooklyn’s Dumbo neighborhood, was the perfect shop to work on a project summarizing lessons marketers can draw from the city’s rise.

    I love the visuals of my neighborhood…

  • Amazing Photos

    The World Press Photo 2016 winners. A great summary is here. Each one is amazing.

    Demonstrations in Paris against terrorism. This got second place in the spot news category.

    Sports single image, second place.

    Daily life single image, second place. Indigenous Munduruku children play in the Tapajos river. Where did that top kid come from?

    Nature single image, first place.A massive “cloud tsunami” looms over Bondi Beach in Sydney, Australia, as a sunbather reads, oblivious to the approaching cloud.

     

    Nature single image, third place: Colima Volcano during a powerful night explosion.

    Nature stories, first place. Where exactly was the photographer?

    There are a ton more, all awesome. Check them out.

  • Super Awesome Geeky Stuff

    If you haven’t heard, the only part of Einstein’s theory of relativity that hadn’t been proven, finally was. Yes, Einstein rocks and not just because of his hair. And the scientists who did this will be getting the Nobel Prize soon.

    I won’t even try to explain gravitational waves and black holes and how they did it. This is a good start:

  • El Chapo May Be Tried Artisanally in Brooklyn

    I stumbled across this article and couldn’t stop chuckling. Not sure if the tongue in cheek Brooklyn references are funny to non Brooklyn folks.

    The larger-than-life narcotics trafficker was captured in January in Sinaloa state but faces indictment in several U.S. jurisdictions including New York’s Eastern District for selling heroin and cocaine that were not sustainably sourced.

    Legal experts say that obstacles to obtaining a conviction will include “the difficulty of proving Guzmán’s personal culpability in crimes actually carried out by others” and “all the strollers on the sidewalks.”

  • Tech Humor?

    The Crunchy Awards are billed as the tech version of the Oscars. Chelsea Peretti (who I had never heard of before) was the MC.

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    And while she sounds nervous, she’s funny. I can’t tell if the sound is bad in the recording or if the tech audience just doesn’t laugh. As a tech guy, I’m going with the latter…

    I’m being paid in Bitcoin for this event, is that a good thing?

    Apple is nominated in the new hardware category for making a pencil. Apple, are y’all even trying anymore?

    There’s a big battle between Uber and Lyft. If this were basketball Lyft would be the Clippers and Uber would be Kobe Bryant because of all the rape stuff…

    It’s not Letterman, but c’mon…

  • Lego Airplane

    Well, Lego folds the airplane…

  • Winter Wonderland

    NYC got a pretty snowstorm this morning, sticking to the trees…

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  • Blame the Victim

    Apparently 50% of NYC Subway crime involves victims who are asleep. So what do you do to prevent it? Sure, stop people from sleeping.

    I’m not making this up. Don’t try to stop the criminals, keep sleepy commuters awake.

  • Cool or Creepy?

    The amount of interesting data being collected all the time is both amazing and scary.

    Uber just posted an article listing the top 15 NYC restaurant destinations for Uber users over a week. Uber should really be able to spot trends and new hot places fairly easily. Cool and creepy all at the same time.

    My main conclusion from the article is that Uber users have money. Those are some pricey restaurants…