Lehigh Wins!

Centives’ projections about Lehigh’s chances in the game seem to have been accurate. After a tough first half Lehigh led for most of the second half to win by a slender 5 point margin. This is the second largest margin by which a #15 seed has beaten a #2 seed. (In 1997 #15 Coppin State beat #2 South Carolina by 13 points.)

In our write-up we noted that it had been over a decade since a #15 seed had beaten a #2 seed and it was about time that it happened again. It turns out the 11 year gap between such an event happening (the longest in NCAA history) was enough for the gods of probability to dictate that it would happen twice this year. Over in Nebraska the #15 seeded Norfolk State Spartans are also celebrating.

The last time 2010 champions Duke were eliminated in the second round was Read the rest of this entry →

The news is that Rahul Dravid, a stalwart of the Indian cricket team, has decided to retire. As the platitudes pour in, and the highlights of his career are analyzed, Centives found a statistic that few are likely to pick up on.

Overall, across his career, Dravid ended with a Test average of 52.31, and an ODI average of 39.16.

Rahul Dravid married Vijeta Pendharkar on the 4^th of May, 2003. Between the date of their wedding and their one year anniversary he averaged 95.43 in Test cricket, with two of his three highest Test scores coming in this period. He also averaged an amazing 41.77 in ODIs.

Dravid’s first son, Samit, was born on October 11^th, 2005. Between Samit’s birth and his first birthday Dravid averaged 62.00 in Tests and 44.11 in ODIs.

His second son, Anvay, was born on April 27^th, 2009. By that time Dravid had ceased to be a regular fixture in the ODI side, but within the first year of his son’s life he averaged 95.33 in Tests.

The numbers indicate that over his career Rahul Dravid used his family as a source of inspiration and achievement.

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Eddie Izzard offers us the choice; will we have tea and cake with the vicar, or shall we die?

Most people choose the cake. But just how much cake is one human life worth?

Of course you can’t actually value a human life, but that doesn’t stop insurance companies from trying. According to a recent study based on medical insurance for dialysis, a human life is worth £81,300. And according to Marks and Spencers, one lovely Triple Layer Victoria Sandwich (for the non-brits, that’s a type of cake) costs £17.50. A hint of mathematics later, and we find that a human life is equal to 4,646 cakes.

We’re really not sure what to do with that number. Perhaps advise that all hostage negotiators have some culinary training. Beyond that; we really don’t know.

This begins part four of a series of editorials on The Evolution of The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
over the years. Read the introduction here and find previous years here: 1999, 2000, 2001.

Field

For the second year in a row the number of journalists on the show saw a significant Read the rest of this entry →

Welcome to part three of a series of editorials where Centives examines the Evolution of The Daily Show with Jon Stewart over the years. Read our introduction here. And see our previous articles for the years 1999 and 2000.

Field

The number of actors who appeared on the show suffered a Read the rest of this entry →

Welcome to the second part of a series of articles by Centives on the Evolution of the Daily Show over the years. Today we're examining the guests that appeared on the show in the year 2000. Click here to read the introduction and here to read our analysis of the guests in 1999.

Field

Compared to 1999, the percentage of actors and musicians who appeared on the show in 2000 s Read the rest of this entry →

Welcome to a new series of articles by Centives that examines how The Daily Show with Jon Stewart has evolved over the years. Find out more about the analysis in our introduction over here.

The show began its life through an interview with Michael J. Fox. As a 37 year old male actor, he broadly reflected the characteristics that would go on to define the show in 1999. Read the rest of this entry →

Centives is launching a new series of articles where we examine the guests that appear on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. Centives went through the episodes of the show and for each guest noted the date that they appeared on the show, the field that they were best known for, their date of birth, and their gender. We decided to pick these four attributes because, quite honestly, they Read the rest of this entry →

Tesla Motors has long attracted media attention for being the only company that is building a zero emission sports car. The latest news is that the first batch of Tesla Model S Sedans, scheduled to be delivered in 2012, have sold out. The company that has long been infamous for attracting a lot of investment for Research and Development (R&D) despite annual losses that stretch back several years, claims that it should begin to make a profit in 2013. How much did the company spend on R&D for the Model S?

According to this 2010 report, Tesla would break-even if it sold 20,000 cars at a price of $57,000 each. Rough, back of the envelope calculations thus suggest that Tesla spent over $1.5 billion to develop the vehicle. To put things in perspective, according to the IMF, there are 23 countries that have an annual GDP lower than that.

Amid the turmoil surrounding congressional negotiations over the debt ceiling, what has received less attention is that the United States created 117,000 jobs between June and July. Which industries were those jobs created in? Read the rest of this entry →