Matt W

I am trying to calculate the turnover variance between jan to june 08 and jan to june 09 due to loss of customers. I have already accounted for the change in rpi. I have figures for total number of customers at end of each month, and we steadily lose them as we note them to a different product. How do i calculate the monetary impact?

I have seen a few shows of Deal or No Deal where it has come down to the last two boxes (one held by the player and one remaining box). The banker has sometimes asked the player if they wish to switch boxes.

What would you do in that situation and why? There's a particular puzzle I have seen recently that made me change my mind as to what I would do.

When I was on holiday in Colorado earlier this year I saw an advert for a remote control vehicle that operated as both a hovercraft and an airplane.

Can someone across the pond give me the name of it and the website?

It has been reported today that Tottenham Hotspur are to sue UEFA and the FA. After the spate of recent telephone scandals, Spurs have stated that it is unfair that they have been entered into competitions they have absolutely no chance of winning...

Police have named their chief suspect in the case of the burglary of Liverpool goalkeeper Pepe Reina.

It was reported that theives broke in and stole his Porsche (later found burnt on the other side of Liverpool), an entertainment system and other valuables.

The suspect has been named as "Frank Lampard", as noone could vouch for his whereabouts during the Liverpool vs Chelsea match!

OK, let's say I do a sizeable deal with a customer, but they are going to pay over 12 months with interest.

Should I get my entire commission up front or over the 12 months? My boss is saying he wants to pay it over to me monthly, but how the customer chooses to pay is nothing to do with the fact that I got the deal in is it?

Thoughts, experiences please!

Because the amount of times most of these jokes and riddles get recycled amazes me!

Does anyone have a joke that HASN'T been posted here before?

I want to start my own part-time lettings business and need to get Professional Indemnity. What sort of money will I be paying for this? Minimum cover required.

I just want to get a rough idea really before getting proper quotes.

An english speaking political reporter is in Japan interviewing a well-known politician, trying to find out more about the voting process in the far east.

"So, how often do you have elections in Japan?" she asks.

"Ohhh, we have election every day!" replies the japanese politician.

"Every day? I don't think you understand, I mean when do you have your main election?" quizes the reporter.

"Yes, we have big election every day! Japanese men always wake up with big election!"

Boom boom!

A foreman was assigned three new workers, two big strong local men, and a little guy from Japan.

Because of their size, the foreman gave the two locals the digging work, and told the Japanese man "You'll be in charge of supplies."

After an hour or so, the foreman came back to check on their progress only to find the two locals sitting down doing nothing.

"What happened? Why aren't you at work?"

The men replied that their tools were broken and that the Japanese man in charge of supplies, had disappeared.

Worried, the foreman ordered the two men outside the mine to help look for the little guy.

Just when they were about to give up the search, the Japanese guy jumps up from behind a rock and yells "Supplies!!"

A venerable monk locked himself away for decades studying the original text of the bible in Aramaic. Nobody had heard from him for years. Then one day he screamed out in agonising pain.

All the other brothers come running in to see him crying with his head in his hands. "What ever could be wrong?" thought the monks.

The venerable monk looks up and says....

"It's CELEBRATE NOT CELEBATE!"

Star if funny! :)

A previous question on billions led me to this. 10 points to the first correct answer:

(a) if you were in the UK.

(b) if you were in the USA.

I'm a brit, and although I know how the mechanics of the draft work (i.e who gets what pick etc), I was wondering about the logistics of it on draft day. I can see it's hosted in NY, but what actually happens on the day? Do representatives of each franchise attend?

I'm starting a little business, but rather than pay out for letterheads, I want to have a better quality paper for important letters and contracts.

I was going to use 80-90gsm for general printing, but what weight would you recommend for letters?

Fantastic for Steed Malbranque to score inside a couple of mins tonight!

I live in the UK and loved the animated version shown in the 90s, was the live action series as good?

Another peculiar trick I picked up from maths class...

Write down the word "CARROT" on a piece of paper and put it in your pocket. Then get someone to do some simple mathematics.

"Say a number between 1 and 10" is a good starter. Then get them to add, subtract, multiply and divide things to it. Get their brain working. Do a dozen or so calculations then suddenly burst in with "What's the first vegetable you think of?"

People will just about ALWAYS say CARROT!

Tip: Don't give the victim a chance to think, press them quickly and make them say the first thing that comes into their head!

Here's a great trick to play that my secondary school maths teach er taught us (as long as you are reasonable at maths).

Tell someone you can multiply 2 digit numbers by 11 faster than they can do it on a calculator.

Get a third person to call out numbers. Lets say they say 43 x 11.

Add the two numbers together and put that number in the middle:

4 + 3 = 7 -------> 4 3 7

43 x 11 = 437! Easy. So all you have to do is add the numbers and put it in the middle!

NOTE: It gets a little harder if the numbers add up to more than 9! Lets say they say 57...

5 + 7 = 12... put the two in the middle, and add 1 to the first number aswell. 627. See it? Easy.

Enjoy!!! Let me know if it worked!