The result of the Brexit referendum was widely touted by Leave proponents as a victory for "the little guy." That can certainly be said about his results at the country's bookies.
In the runup to the vote, an estimated £40-million was plonked down, The Independent reported. While some bookies hedged their bets (literally) to cover potential losses, betting firm William Hill lost £400,000 on the £3-million in wagers placed.
Those who favoured Remain bet bigger money – 68 per cent of all money wagered – but 69 per cent of individual bets were on Leave. (Most of the Remain bettors were thought to be Remain supporters, who are generally further up the economic ladder and so have more money to gamble.)
The failure of the betting markets to predict the Brexit result contradicts the widely held view that betting is the most reliable indicator of an outcome. The thinking goes you bet the way you'll vote. But that's not always the case. You may be a Leave voter, but you think Remain will win, so you place your bet there. Voter sentiment has nothing to do with how people wager.
In other words, a betting shop isn't a pollster. "The truth is that bookies do not offer markets on political events to help people forecast the results. We do it to turn a profit or at least not lose too much," Matthew Shaddick of Ladbrokes said in a statement.
"Nobody at Ladbrokes' HQ will be criticizing the predictive powers of our odds," he said. "They'll be looking at the money we made."
An upgrade that wasn't
Computer upgrades can be expensive for the computer owner. But in one case, Microsoft had to fork out for giving away a free upgrade.
A few days after the release of Windows 10, a California woman found her computer began to automatically download and install the system, as ComputerWorld reported on Monday. Teri Goldstein, who owns a travel business, said the unwanted upgrade repeatedly failed, slowed down her system, often crashed, and would not recognize her external hard drive, leaving her unable to run her business properly.
After several attempts to work it out with Microsoft, a frustrated Ms. Goldstein went to small-claims court, asking for the maximum of $10,000 (U.S.) in penalties for loss of business.
It sounds like it would have been a David-and-Goliath court battle, but Microsoft didn't arm itself with a battery of high-priced lawyers, instead sending a less-than-top-notch defender, and Ms. Goldstein prevailed.
"This very honest kid came in, and said they had pulled him out of the [Microsoft] store at 4:30 to go to court," she said.
Ms. Goldstein won her case.
Understatement of the week
"Gosh. I suppose I had better get up."
Brexit Leave leader and Secretary of State for Justice Michael Gove, on being awakened at 4:45 a.m. to be told his side had won.
Up, up and away
Break out the party balloons! Scientists have been warning for some time that the global shortage of helium poses a serious threat. The relatively rare gas is essential as, among other things, a cooling medium for MRIs and the Large Hadron Collider, and in the manufacture of fibre optics and semiconductors.
The U.S. National Helium Reserve (yes, there really is one) in Amarillo, Tex., has been selling off the gas since 2015 in accordance with federal legislation, starting with an auction of 10 per cent a year, with subsequent annual auctions rising by 10 percentage points.
But there's some good news to report for scientists and children's birthday parties: The Earth sciences department at Oxford University announced on Tuesday the discovery of an enormous helium deposit in Tanzania. Experts estimate reserves of 54 billion cubic feet (Bcf) in just one section.
"To put this discovery into perspective," Prof. Chris Ballentine said, "global consumption of helium is about 8 BCf per year and the United States Federal Helium Reserve, which is the world's largest supplier, has a current reserve of just 24.2 BCf. Total known reserves in the USA are around 153 BCf. This is a game changer for the future security of society's helium needs."
It's also a game changer for frat parties, which faced the prospect of not being able to do Alvin and the Chipmunks impressions after downing copious amounts of booze.