Thursday, January 4th, 2024 - TrickJarrett.com: Semper Ad Meliora

What is the return on living healthy?

A very interesting write up looking at the return on investment for being healthy. Economics reading is not normally something I pursue for fun, it's very dry and impersonal. But I found this exercise interesting and can see how it might help some find the ongoing motivation for exercise.

At the minimum, they would insist on knowing when they get the extra year and the quality of the year. Let’s assume that the year is a high quality year. Suppose a hypothetical person, currently 50 years old, realistically expected he’d die in 2024. Let’s assume that he is otherwise physically and emotionally healthy. If he could, he would likely pay “a lot” for that extra year.

Now suppose everything else is the same, and the man had the same degree of expectation that he would die in 2054 (thirty years later). Almost certainly he would pay less today for that 31st year than he would for next year in the first example.

The willingness to pay more for receiving the good (the extra year) now versus later is an example of what economists call time preference. Time preference is a leading reason offered by most economists for the observation that in a free market interest rates are positive (or non-negative).

1/4/2024 8:10 am |

| Tags: economics, exercise, healthy choices

"The Jan. 6 Riot Inquiry So Far: Three Years, Hundreds of Prison Sentences"

An interactive article on NYT about the progress of the cases against January 6th rioters. It has animations as you scroll to provide visuals for data points, helping give context to the numbers it rattles off.

As of December, about 1,240 people had been arrested in connection with the attack, accused of crimes ranging from trespassing, a misdemeanor, to seditious conspiracy, a felony.

Around 170 people have been convicted at trial, while only two people have been fully acquitted. Approximately 710 people have pleaded guilty …

1/4/2024 3:47 pm |

| Tags: january 6th, us politics, us justice

The Bureau of Engraving and Printing will reimburse mutilated US currency

I can remember a segment on TV. I feel like it was a piece on Discovery (back when they did educational content) but I can't be sure. But, as it turns out, if you have more than half of a valid piece of US currency, the US government will reimburse you for mutilated currency.

The BEP’s Mutilated Currency Division provides free mutilated currency redemption services for individuals and institutions, such as businesses and financial institutions, in possession of United States mutilated currency notes.

On average, BEP receives more than 22,000 requests for examination of mutilated currency for possible redemption each year, with an estimated value in excess of $35 million.

And yes, my wife and I just had reason to use this. For a $5 bill one of our dogs decided to chew on.

1/4/2024 7:25 pm |

| Tags: us government, money