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Numberscruncher: The Recovery, Jobs or No Jobs

Ann Logue March 10, 2010 3

The March issue of The Atlantic has a thoroughly depressing article about how employment might not pick up when the economy recovers. As if that wasn’t enough to send you to the liquor cabinet,

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Numberscruncher: Earthquakes

Ann Logue March 2, 2010 3

On Saturday, another devastating earthquake hit, in Chile, and that gives us another chance to look at some of the numbers associated with earthquakes and rebuilding. The Richter scale, used to measure the magnitude

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Numberscruncher: Cheap Trick Takes On Nielsen SoundScan

Ann Logue February 24, 2010 5

Cheap Trick, the pride of Rockford, has a new CD out called The Latest. It’s been released through Tunecore , a service that makes it easy for bands to sell downloads of their music

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Numberscruncher: Making Money on Elections

Ann Logue February 2, 2010 1

February 2 is Groundhog Day in Punxsutawney and Election Day in Illinois. We have a lot of hot contests here in the state because our governor, who took office after Rod Blagojevich resigned, is

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Numberscruncher: Getting Value from Intellectual Property

Ann Logue January 26, 2010 5

Sita Sings the Blues is a great, sad movie about a breakup. The creator, Nina Paley, mixes animation styles and narrators, using the story of the Hindu gods Rama and Sita in the Ramayana.

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Numberscruncher: Who Needs the Radio?

Ann Logue January 5, 2010 12

When I was a kid, I had to listen to whatever the DJ picked. One of the odder decade-end lists was Nielsen’s list of the most-played singles on radio between 2000 and 2009.  It’s

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Numberscruncher: Taxes Around the World

Ann Logue November 25, 2009 2

Americans have a unique phobia about taxes. Years ago, politicians told us that we could have more stuff by paying less money, and we liked that. And so, we believe it despite all evidence

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Numberscruncher: Sweden Is Not Socialist

Ann Logue November 17, 2009 8

Last week, a conservative friend asked me how I liked living in Sweden under Comrade Obama. I sighed. Somehow or another, it has become accepted that Sweden is a frightening socialist state and that

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Numberscruncher: The Funny Papers

Ann Logue November 10, 2009 3

The death spiral of the newspaper industry has been well documented -- but the once-proud comics section has been struggling for some time now. Ann Logue surveys the damage in her latest column

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Numberscruncher: Gift Cards, Bargains, and Scams

Ann Logue November 5, 2009 0

The latest trend in the “something for nothing on the Internet” game is the pay-to-bid auction site. The auction operator lets such items as cash and gift cards go at prices far below face

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