Category: Scale Tales

A Vote-Count Scale Tale: In the Virginia Attorney General Vote, How Small is Small, and Should Tied Votes be Do-Overs?

The initial official vote tally for Virginia’s Attorney General race is in, and here it is:   Candidate        Votes Obenshain     1,103,613 Herring     1,103,777 Write-In        4,926 Total   2,212,316   The difference between the two candidates is 164 votes. Out of the total votes cast, […]

A Scale-Tale: How Big is a Business with 400 Employees?

I am a student of scale — a collector of scale-tales. It all began decades ago with the wonderful book The Seven Mysteries of Life, by Guy Murchie, a life’s-work sort of undertaking for him, full of interesting notions interspersed with the author’s cute drawings and beginning with a chapter […]

Of Hockey Players and Home Buyers: The Luck of the (Birth) Draw

Not long ago (15 years, say) you could buy a decent house in San Francisco for $40k down and $2.5k a month. For many, that was doable, especially since it cost $2.5k to rent that same house. And, as icing on the cake, you got the appreciation ride — an […]