The Week in Meep, 18 Dec 2023: Actuarial Christmas Presents! Wrapping and Costs!
Let's not leave it til the last minute....
It’s the shortest Advent can be, with the 4th Sunday of Advent being the sole representative of the 4th week of Advent… so I had better give any Christmas tips right now!
Actuarial Kids Book!
I saw an early draft of the following, and as per usual, I’m boosting my buddy John Lee’s work in the area of actuarial fiction… now for kids!
Actuary Abby and the Future-Telling Zoo:
From the author of the Actuarial Joke Book
Comes this children’s story that deserves a look.
Join Abby on a tour of a fantastical zoo
Showing all the wonderful things that actuaries do.
From insurance to pensions, she covers them all
With a host of creatures, both big and so small.
Animals like the risk roaring lion and a modelling mole
Where explaining the actuarial world is their goal.
The Probability Peacock must be seen to be believed… with its companion flying pig (whether or not that actually exists….)
And of course, as I’ve detailed before, John Lee has other actuarial-related books, which for most people would work as gag gifts. I provided one of the jokes in the Ultimate Actuarial Joke Book:
And here’s a video from 2022 where I promo this book and another actuarial humor book: The Best Tweets From Actuary Problem Dog: 10 Years of Statistically Insignificant Humor
How to wrap oddly-shaped presents!
Speaking of videos, here is a video I consult every year, which is about how to wrap presents of any shape.
Basically, you’re making a gift bag with wrapping paper… then closing it up.
Hope this helps you!
Golden oldie: the 12 Days of Presents
From waaaaay back in January 1, 2009, I counted how many presents were given in the 12 Days of Christmas song:
I’m going to assume you’re not giving out that many presents, but maybe I’m wrong….
….and we all know the cost of everything has been going up. I haven’t checked in on the 12 Days of Christmas index yet. Gotta get that figgy pudding together, doncha know.
But in the meantime, here is my old post from 2017:
Breaking the 12 Days of Christmas Cost Scandal Wide Open!
And here were a few of my graphs:
And more:
The goods being primarily birds… so many birds.
You can go to the 2017 post to see what it looked like when I looked at the sum of all 12 days, and not just the gifts on the 12th day.
Ho ho ho!