Rick's b.log - entry 2025/01/16

Bronze linguine

That's when I saw, tucked away on the bottom shelf with the cobwebs and random dessicated bones, was a selection of "BRONZE" pasta, costing rather more than the usual stuff. Was there such a thing as bronze linguine?

In a word: Yes.

That's not a weird sort of plastic, the pasta really does look like that. Bronze is slightly porous, so when used to form pasta, it gives a rather rough texture that is supposed to hold sauces far better than regular pasta.

Now, anybody that's been paying attention will know that texture is possibly the most important aspect of what I eat, yes, more important than taste. So I'm either going to hate this and refuse to eat it, or I'm going to fall in love with it. In order to help things along, given that a pasta that holds sauce isn't going to be able to shine with a Rick that eats pasta without sauce, I got myself a little brick of white butter and shallot sauce. That... actually sounds quite nice. Think of it like a really fancy carbonara without the icky pig bits.

I'm cold and fed up. I was okay until I went and fed Anna. Not her fault, but my god, the wind blows right through you (it's no place for the old). So, maybe tomorrow (I'll wanna settle down...) I'll make it.

Um... sorry... my mind is having one of its quirkier days. A big plate of Brownie Points if you can be the first to name in the comments the two things I'm referencing.

Maths doesn't work like that!

The U is cheaper than the Musketeers.

Now, if we add 3.42% to €526, the result is €543.98[92], which has been rounded up to €544. The actual percentage increase to reach that price is more like 3.423%.
If, however, we subtract 3.42% from €544, the actual result is €525.39[52], which is a bit of a stretch to round it up to €526.

Now, to avoid messing around with weird numbers, consider adding 10% to a hundred. You can probably do that in your head, it's 110. Now if you were to take away 10%, the result would be 99, not 100. Because ten percent of a larger number is obviously going to be more than ten percent of a smaller number.

It's the same thing here. To make some sort of point, they are ignoring centimes (so how was the actual result rounded) whilst quoting the percentage to two decimal places and then erroneously saying that the same value applies both ways.
If they vagued it up and said the U is about 3²/₅ths cheaper than the Intermarché then that would be one thing. But to give the false accuracy of the 3.42% value, and then basically get it wrong... is really bad.

I think I understand what's going on here, though. It is aimed at the numbskulls that couldn't understand why there are two different values. I guess this implies they think their target demographic is stupid. I'm not sure if I find that insulting or funny.

Perhaps the more telling thing is that a shopping trolley of €535 (that's a value between the two) represents two things. It represents about €124 a week (assuming 4.33 weeks in a month, that's 52 weeks divided by 12 months), which is...quite a lot. And it represents, in point of fact, about a third of a person's wage if they are on SMIC (legal minimum wage).

So....the takeaway from this is "we're cheaper than the shop on the other side of town but we'll burn a hole in your pocket too (PS: and we suck at maths)".

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jgh, 17th January 2025, 11:45

Also, currency doesn't work that way. It's E526 not 526E.    I've seen this getting more and more prevalent, are people just quite literally completely illiterate? I keep seeing 526£, 526$, etc. etc.

Rick, 17th January 2025, 15:09

It depends on country, there are different ideas.    Pour la France: Il se place à droite du montant, dont il est séparé par une espace (insécable si possible).    I put it on the left as that's where I'm used to putting it.

Frank, 17th January 2025, 15:22

Actually, in some countries currency does work that way. France is one of them.  And it's not E526 but €526. :-)

Frank, 17th January 2025, 15:23

OK. Rick beat me to it...

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