Can a torn-up application for a credit card still be used? Does posing the question betray the answer?
Thankfully, this is clearly an excess of easy credit from back in the days when banks didn’t know better.
I should note, though, that if credit card applications or banks in general insisted that you call from a phone traceable to a permanent residence, I would be unable to get credit despite my single place of residence and continuous gainful employment for over a year.
The barbarians running rampant in the Ethereal Land are known for their sometimes-violent dislike of academic mathematics. The present author appreciates this and recognizes that this article on statistical probability may cause pain and suffering if read. Nevertheless the reading of the same is recommended, because it is making an important point: that statistics are useless if you are not measuring precisely the right event.
To generalize, the fallacy presented here is the assumption of causual relationship between physically unrelated events. These hypothetical word-problem test questions could have been constructed in a way to actually make the probabilities compound, but they weren’t; the facts as stated do not warrant the assumption of relationship that the “right” answer supposes.
To apply, when people make unwarranted assumptions of relationship, they can then make further proofs using statistics (or logic) and then champion it as scientifically proved and incontrovertible. But statistics and logic are processes; they require inputs; all of the inputs affect the outcomes; and not all of the inputs are always confessed openly. Just because someone uses more complicated science than you understand does not mean that they used the science correctly or are right in their results.
We have a phrase at Acme tool company that I suppose they have at many companies: “It’s all about the customer.”
Since anyone can say “customer focused,” we better ought to have a look at what it really means. Imagine then that you are a potential customer of my company. As such, you might first hear Click Here to continue reading.
Acme Tool Co. still calls layoffs “reorganizations.” How lame. See how cool companies do it–compare two Google announcements.
Pay attention to the titles–this is CHANGE, people! Oh boy!
First engineers get changed, then People Operators (see signature) get changed. Shortchanged?
Of the two, I think I prefer the changes to the People Operators. It basically says, you’re fired, Click Here to continue reading.
Welcome to the Pity Party. It’s easy to get in; no cover charge, just bring a complaint.
Problems we have legion. About a year ago the A-Team left, having brought with them a Mandate from Heaven which we were Not Allowed to Question and having left behind, in several incompatible versions, a process which added more Click Here to continue reading.
When I was a boy I went to a carnival and attempted one or two of those games designed for you to fail. I could not climb the balancing ladder far enough to ring the bell. But I was convinced that if I was given a few more tries I would make it.
These days the Click Here to continue reading.
The economic nosedive is affecting Acme. Open orders on the books are dwindling. It was just announced that the plant will be closed for two days because of business conditions.
About 10% of the orders are past due. Past our promise, mind you, which is almost always later than what the customer wants in any case. Click Here to continue reading.
Acme gives all of its employees a turkey at this time of year. Acme employs a lot of temporary workers–which is to say, Acme does not employ them, they are employed by the agencies, so they do not get turkeys. Acme does employ a number of high school co-ops; since they are Acme employees, they Click Here to continue reading.
The Big Mean Scary Guy is gone. Let’s call him Vice-Admiral; he was not an Admiral but he was a vice, and it gives a vague premonition of his stature in this global, multibillion dollar company. The rumor is that Vice-Admiral was told not to get on the plane for the trip he was planning. Click Here to continue reading.
I just checked to see what I had last written and found I have been even more delinquent than I had imagined. I did not tell you anything about my multi-state tour to set up my little invention that so pleased my boss: the On Time Delivery Bridge. It keeps track of lines that we Click Here to continue reading.