Archive for September, 2010
Defining quadruple witching in the stock market
Today is quadruple witching day, which occurs on the third Friday of March, June, September, and December each year. Unfamiliar with the term? Quadruple witching is: “A day on which contracts for stock index futures, stock index options, stock options and single stock futures (SSF) all expire.” 1 I already know your next question: what’s [...]
Droid Does. Does what exactly?
It’s been about a year since those Motorola “Droid Does” commercials were peppered all over your TV and radio, and the big talk of many new phones often involves the word Android. Even some major news outlets seem to mix apples and oranges (like this one here) when talking about cell phone handsets and the [...]
Why the Tea Party matters
The big political news last night occurred in Delaware where Christine O’Donnell, supported by the Tea Party movement and Sarah Palin, beat out Michael Castle in the Republican primary for the U.S. Senate seat. You can read more about the story here, but the underlying issue you should know is why politicians are considering these [...]
Was Lady Gaga’s meat dress at the VMA’s real?
Last night, MTV hosted its Video Music Awards and when Lady Gaga went up to accept one of her many awards, it became obvious that she was wearing what is being described on the internet as a “meat” dress. Let Dinner Topics set the record straight: Lady Gaga’s dress was NOT made of real meat! That’s [...]
Are you ready for some football?
College football is well underway, and now the NFL has kicked off its season with the New Orleans Saints beating the Minnesota Vikings Thursday night, 14-9. A few things to know as the rest of the teams get rolling this weekend: Tom Brady just got in a car crash (he’s okay) AND signed a long [...]
Earth’s near-miss with two asteroids
The Earth was almost hit by two asteroids around 6:00 am Eastern time Wednesday. No, the asteroids were not like the ones that may have killed the dinosaurs or the one in the movie Armageddon, but they did narrowly miss the Earth. This news may shock some people because it shows we Earthlings may be more susceptible [...]
Terry Jones and burning the Koran
One polarizing topic in the news today involves a Facebook group whose sole purpose is to celebrate the burning of the Koran. The group was started by Terry Jones, a preacher from Florida. Some facts: The Koran (or Quran, Qur’an, Coran) is the holy book of the Islamic religion. Jones is a minister at the [...]
How long is a fortnight?
I know what you’re thinking: Dinner Topics hasn’t had a new post in a fortnight. Well, it hasn’t been that long, but that brings us to today’s post. You’ve heard the word “fortnight” before, sometimes used just to mean “a long time.” Fortnight is an actually finite amount of time, however. Simply, a fortnight is [...]
