Category Archives: Fun

Fun

Pacific Rim

Video

TO FIGHT MONSTERS, WE CREATED MONSTERS

When legions of monstrous creatures, known as Kaiju, started rising from the sea, a war began that would take millions of lives and consume humanity’s resources for years on end. To combat the giant Kaiju, a special type of weapon was devised: massive robots, called Jaegers, which are controlled simultaneously by two pilots whose minds are locked in a neural bridge. But even the Jaegers are proving nearly defenseless in the face of the relentless Kaiju.

On the verge of defeat, the forces defending mankind have no choice but to turn to two unlikely heroes—a washed-up former pilot (Charlie Hunnam) and an untested trainee (Rinko Kikuchi)—who are teamed to drive a legendary but seemingly obsolete Jaeger from the past. Together, they stand as mankind’s last hope against the mounting apocalypse.

Apple, Fun

Why Prices End in 99s

I have always wondered why prices ends with 99s, but never really remembered the question long enough to search for the answer, until I read this article.

Why Prices End in 99s: Humans Are Mathematically Incompetent | Epicenter from Wired.com

Which is smaller: 298,548 or 298,000? If you picked 298,548, you’re not alone. That’s the ol’ precision heuristic in price magnitude judgments doing its thing.

I have always thought that they are just trying to make the price ‘sounds’ lower than it is by reducing it by 1. To say ‘300 something’ for a product priced at 399 surely sounds cheaper than ‘400 bucks’!

Need an example? Here’s a very good one:

Apple Store

99s.png

Here’s another theory to the same question.

It started at Bill’s Texaco in Waco, Texas during a price war. I say it’s a much older management technique to force employees to open cash register drawers for each transaction (making simply pocketing a bill more obvious).

You can read a couple more at The Sraight Dope if you’re interested. Unfortunately, trying to find out who invented it is like trying to find out who invented the hat.

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