Roundup: Fake Fancy Wine is Still Fancy

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You’ve probably heard of the study where, in a blind taste test, most people can’t tell the difference between cheap and expensive wine. In fact, and this is a well know psychological idea, people trick themselves into believing more expensive wines taste better simply because it’s more expensive. I know this is true for me. My palate isn’t as fine tuned and I don’t drink enough wine to be able to tell the difference. I can tell the difference between a $4 bottle and a $12 bottle but I suspect I’d have trouble between a $12 and a $100. I don’t drink a lot of wine and I don’t drink any $100 bottles! (if you’d like to buy me a bottle of wine so we can test this theory, I’m happy to oblige)

But this isn’t a “you’re a fool for buying expensive wine” story, it’s more exciting. It’s about fake wine and Rudy Kurniawan. It’s a fantastic post-mortem about how someone got hooked into a small part of the wine world and tricked them into believing his story. Ahh the perils of the 1% and wine collecting. I thought the story was fascinating.

Here are a few more fascinating stories:

• My friend Adam Baker of Man Vs Debt is part of a group filming a documentary about complacency in life, title I’m Fine, Thanks. They’re on Kickstarter now trying to raise the funds to complete the project. Please take a look, I think the documentary is compelling. (I don’t know if disclosure is necessary but I’m an early backer of the project)
• I was included in a Time Moneyland slideshow about 10 Ways to Improve Your Financial Health put together by Martha C. White. My advice? Emergency funds – boring but essential.
• Linsey at Wise Bread shares 10 Awesome Money Making Hobbies. Blogging was #4!
• If you’re a sports aficionado, you have to appreciate the craziness of how the Staples Center hosted SIX playoff games in four days. Here’s a time lapse video of the transformations (and games).
• Mark Cuban doesn’t mince words and I enjoy reading his take on things, this time it looks at the Facebook IPO. I can’t say I disagree with any of his points (especially the ones that go beyond Facebook).

Have a great weekend!

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