Four (or Five!) Reasons Why

….Toronto Maple Fans Are Delusional

1. The team hasn’t won the Stanley Cup since 1967 yet every year there is renewed optimism that they have a shot at the championship this season. I mean, this made the year or two after they last paraded the Stanley Cup down Yonge St. but this act has gotten old.

2. The team keeps on raising ticket prices but it has absolutely no impact on attendance. Every game is sold out while seasons tickets are impossible to get. The team is so popular that it’s starting to move more of its televised games to a digital channel (aka you need to pay to watch them).

3. People talk about hockey all year - even in the off-season, which was particularly long this year because the Leafs missed the playoffs for the third straight season. You want to talk about how the fourth-line left winger is doing, someone will take you up on it. These hockey fans proudly describe them as “Leafs Nation”.

4. The media covers puts coverage of pre-season games on the front page of the sports section. These games don’t even count but given fans are hungry for any thing about their beloved Leafs, the media has no choice but to cover the games in great depth.

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…To Play Craps if You’re Going to Gamble

1. Next to blackjack played with extreme discipline, craps offers the best bet in the casino. When true odds bets are factored into the equation, the house’s edge in craps is less than 1%. This compares to 5.26% for roulette, 19% for horse racing and 29% for Keno. And forget about the slots – for casinos, it’s a license to print money.

2. Unlike many other games, it’s easy to learn the basics. While advanced play can be complicated, it does not take much to get going. The hardest lesson may be learning when to walk away from the table.

3. You don’t have to spend a lot of money to spend a lot of time at the table. Most casinos offer tables with $5 or $10 minimums. Played conservatively, you can pass a lot of time without burning through your money.

4. While craps is a game played by individuals, there is a collegial atmosphere around the table. People win for each other – if a shooter is hot, then everyone benefits. The only people players don’t want to support are the house crew. Nice people generally, but they’re the ones who take your money!

5. The ritual of throwing dice is somehow magical. Everyone has their own superstitions – in the way they hold them, throw them or pray to them. And it looks cool when done right.

Of course, the best way to keep money in your pocket is not to play! If you think you, or someone you know, has a gambling problem, check out to Gamblers Anonymous.

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….It’s Good to be Blonde

1. You always get the benefit of the doubt. A blonde - guy or girl - walks into the a room, and the immediate assumption is they must be interesting. They can be dull as molasses but the first impression is always positive. No such thing for people with boring brown or black hair.

2. Being blonde adds at least two points to your attractiveness score. Let’s say you’re an average looking person - a 6/10. Dye your hair blonde and, for most people, you’ll suddenly be an 8/10 for some mysterious reason.

3. There aren’t many true blondes around. That means they are a novelty, and everyone likes something different. It’s estimated that only 5% of the world’s population is blonde, although that percentage is obviously higher in the northern hemesphere.

4. There’s no reason to dye your hair blonde. Note: one of the world’s most famous blondes, Marilyn Monroe, wasn’t really a natural blonde.

More: Paris Hilton has brushed aside rumors she plans to adopt four blonde babies. Meanwhile, Alicia Silverstone, who made her career playing a dumb blonde, appears naked in a television ad for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.

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…Investment Bubbles Are Beneficial

1. Yes, when investment bubbles burst a lot of pain can result. However, bubbles are a sign of investor interest and it is this interest that encourages innovation. Research requires funding and the deeper investors go into their pockets, the greater the probability of discovering something transformative. (And something truly transformative often leads to big financial gains, which leads to more investment.)

2. Investment bubbles encourage creative destruction - the process of transformation and progress that accompanies radical innovation. For example, the current interest in renewable energy, now the third-largest investment class among venture capitalists, will no doubt result in some spectacular failure and more than a few people will lose money. However, the overall benefit to society in how we make and consume energy may prove to be immeasurable.

3. Investment bubbles create knowledge and knowledge markets. Knowledge never disappears, particularly in this age of technology. It is stored, organized, transferred and consumed well beyond those that create it. The development of knowledge markets has allowed the creation of knowledge to beget more inquiry and discovery. It is a truly virtuous circle.

4. Despite the failures that result when a bubble bursts, there are also lasting benefits, whether technological, social or systemic. The remains of a burst bubble often gets reused and recycled by new entrepreneurs with new business models, as noted by Daniel Gross, Housing stock, telephone wire, fiber optic cable and railroads didn’t evaporate when their respective bubbles burst. They were used in new business opportunities and new forms of wealth, financial and knowledge-based, were created.

Check out some interesting perspectives on the role of bubbles here and here.

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….Britney Spears is Done Like Dinner

1. She’s, well, chunky. Gone are the days when Britney was lean, fresh-faced and sexy in a trashy kind of way. Today, she’s “full figured” and looking a little more cougar-ish by the day. If anything, she’s looking a whole lot older than someone who’s only 25.

2. Her parenting skills are being openly questioned in the wake of her nasty custody battle with K-Fed. Being seen as a bad parent is much, much worse than being a bad, sluggish dancer on an award show.

3. She’s becoming more trailer trash-ish and emotionally unstable by the day, highlighted by some strange behaviour (i.e. cutting off all your hair). What ever happened to quasi-innocent school girl Britney that everyone loved so much?

4. Her “best until” date has clearly expired. If you’re in the music business and you’re marketing to a young, fickle audience, sooner or later they’re going to be looking for the next new thing. Rihanna, for example, has become all the rage - and who doesn’t like “Umbrella” or “SOS”?

5. She’s trashy and has absolutely no sense of style or what to wear…ever. Say what you will about Paris Hilton but at least she knows how to dress well…most of the time.

For more, check out this New York Times’ story on what’s in store for Britney’s future as an entertainer. For conspiracy theorists, Philly.com’s David Hiltbrand cleverly suggests Britney’s MTV appearance was doomed from the start.

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