Daily Advice for Friday, June 23rd
Weekly Topic: Finance
I was recently approached about an investment opportunity regarding a crop of 'magic beans'. What should I do?
Magic beans, snake oil elixers; back in the day these were once a staple part of the economy. Purveyors of these fine placebos would selflessly risk life and limb to give people some momentary glimpse of hope in their lives. They were true heroes. Nowadays such a profession can indeed be quite dangerous. We have all sorts of consumer protection laws, licensing requirements, FDA approvals and the like that make such merchant's lives very difficult. Most have been forced out of the country, relying on relentless spam mail to hawk their wares. Once in a great while you may actually still find a street vendor dealing out of his trench coat.
Now obviously you don't actually want to expend your hard earned money on a package of useless beans, but fortunately you don't have too. Most vendors using this age old ploy are actually either schizophrenic or delusional, and may well fall for the same line given the chance. Try offering them your invisible cow, or perhaps a free session of chi-focusing acupuncture using the magical monofilament needles you carry around in your hand. If you're convincing enough you may just make a trade, and your vendor will walk away happy.
But don't forget, as soon as you're done go plant the beans. You usually only have about 10 minutes of freshness once purchased and you don't want them to go to waste!
Today's Daily Advice has been brought to you by Honest Al's bean emporium. Every bean you could ever imagine, sold in its original imaginary state.
(If you would like to offer fake sponsorship, or you have a specific question for advice from james, email advicefromjames.blogspot.com with your request.)
I was recently approached about an investment opportunity regarding a crop of 'magic beans'. What should I do?
Magic beans, snake oil elixers; back in the day these were once a staple part of the economy. Purveyors of these fine placebos would selflessly risk life and limb to give people some momentary glimpse of hope in their lives. They were true heroes. Nowadays such a profession can indeed be quite dangerous. We have all sorts of consumer protection laws, licensing requirements, FDA approvals and the like that make such merchant's lives very difficult. Most have been forced out of the country, relying on relentless spam mail to hawk their wares. Once in a great while you may actually still find a street vendor dealing out of his trench coat.
Now obviously you don't actually want to expend your hard earned money on a package of useless beans, but fortunately you don't have too. Most vendors using this age old ploy are actually either schizophrenic or delusional, and may well fall for the same line given the chance. Try offering them your invisible cow, or perhaps a free session of chi-focusing acupuncture using the magical monofilament needles you carry around in your hand. If you're convincing enough you may just make a trade, and your vendor will walk away happy.
But don't forget, as soon as you're done go plant the beans. You usually only have about 10 minutes of freshness once purchased and you don't want them to go to waste!
Today's Daily Advice has been brought to you by Honest Al's bean emporium. Every bean you could ever imagine, sold in its original imaginary state.
(If you would like to offer fake sponsorship, or you have a specific question for advice from james, email advicefromjames.blogspot.com with your request.)
posted by James at 9:15 PM
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