My mom has a wonderful book called Rules of Thumb. It contains 129 pages of random facts, such as the following: "As a rule of thumb, one ostrich egg will serve 24 people for brunch," and "A submarine will move through the water most efficiently if it is 10 to 13 times as long as it is wide."
My favorite rule of thumb appears on the cover of the book (clearly the author thought it important enough to showcase).
"Up to 25 percent of the guests at a university dinner party can come from the economics department without spoiling the conversation."
Something to keep in mind during Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow. One of my friends from school might be in a bit of trouble with this one since he, his dad, and at least two of his brothers are economists. My dinner party should be fine though. The one other econ major in my family decided to stay in Utah for Thanksgiving this year, and my parents can always banish me to the kids' table if I start monopolizing the conversation. Cheers!!
