Sunday Newscape Magazine

I’m ashamed to admit that I’m a couch potato. And I’m not just your ordinary, run-of-the-mill sofa spud. I’m a connoisseur of couch-potato technique.

I’ve spent many lazy hours catching Zs (while pretending to be doing something productive) on a variety of couches. The best receptacles for couch-potato champions like me are long enough to accommodate the entire body in a horizontal position, with no danger of the dreaded pretzel twist.

For many years there’s been a catchy phrase rolling around the business community that’s meant to inspire folks to stretch themselves beyond their comfort zones. It’s the familiar “think outside of the box.” It originates from a connect-the-dots puzzle configured in a square that cannot be solved with conventional wisdom and truly requires a different way of thinking.

This is a weekly column written for those who want to live the most thrilling and productive life possible. With that being said, you might tend to believe that a person must achieve a high level of personal enlightenment to live such a life.   That may be true but sometimes simply knowing a few little tricks about why things work out the way they do, can greatly improve the quality of your life because with that knowledge, you will be able to avoid repeating your mistakes of the past. Sometimes finding success in life can boil down to knowing a few simple tricks.

As an ex-mathematician, I like digits, numbers.

While statistics can be made to lie, I don’t believe pure numbers do. Except perhaps when manipulated by Rush Limbaugh, as in the recent Supreme Court decision involving Sotomayor, where the G.O.P. entertainer (magician is perhaps a better word here) transformed a 5-4 SCOTUS decision into a 9-0 decision..

Numbers haven’t lied in the case of the Franken-Coleman election battle.

On a 5-0 vote (that is unanimous), the Minnesota Supreme Court today declared Democrat Al Franken the winner in that state’s bitterly contested senatorial election.

In “Court Rules Franken Has Won Senate Seat,” and before an even bigger announcement, the New York Times had these other interesting, indisputable numbers - ”factoids”:

• $51.1 million has been raised between Coleman and Franken for the entire campaign
• $50.3 million has been spent between the two candidates
• $11 million (at least) has been spent on the recount
• 2,424,946 votes were cast
• 312 votes separate the candidates (Franken leads)
• 239 days since Election Day 2008
• 34 weeks since Election Day 2008
• 7 months, 27 days since Election Day 2008
• 4 seasons seen since Election Day 2008 election.

Later this afternoon another number, another factoid, became the big number of the day 

This happened when Norman Coleman finally, after 239 days since the elections, conceded to Al Franken.

The number is "60."