Nevin's Data "Points"

  “You better watch out, you better not cry, you better not pout…” Those are, of course, the opening lyrics to that holiday classic, “Santa Claus is Coming to Town.” And while the tune is jaunty enough, the message — that there’s some kind of elfin “eye in the sky” keeping tabs on us has always struck me as just a little bit…creepy. That said, once upon a time, as Christmas neared, it was not uncommon for my wife and I to caution our occasionally misbehaving brood that  they  had best be attentive to how their (not uncommon) misbehaviors might be viewed by the big guy at the North Pole. In support of that notion, a few years back — well, now it’s quite a few years back — when my kids still believed in the (SPOILER ALERT) reality of Santa Claus, we discovered an ingenious website [i]  that purported to offer a real-time assessment of their “naughty or nice” status. Indeed, no amount of parental threats or admonishments — in fact, nothing we ever said or did —  EV...

“You better watch out, you better not cry, you better not pout…” Those are, of course, the opening lyrics to that holiday classic, “Santa Claus is Coming to Town.” And while the tune is jaunty enough, the message—that there’s some kind of elfin “eye in the sky” keeping tabs on us—has always struck me as just a little bit… creepy. That said, once upon a time, as Christmas neared, it was not uncommon for my wife and I to use those images to caution our occasionally misbehaving brood that they had best be attentive to how their (not uncommon) misbehaviors might be viewed by the big guy at the North Pole. In support of that notion, a few years back—well, now it’s quite a few years back—when my kids still believed in the (SPOILER ALERT) reality of Santa Claus, we stumbled across an ingenious website that purported to offer a real-time assessment of their “naughty or nice” status. Indeed, nothing we said (or did, or threatened) ever had the impact of that website—if not on the...

One could certainly argue that many Americans act as though at retirement some kind of benevolent elf will drop down their chimney with a bag full of cold cash from the North Pole. They behave as though, somehow, their bad savings behaviors throughout the year(s) notwithstanding, they’ll be able to pull the wool over the eyes of a myopic, portly gentleman in a red snowsuit. A few years back — well, now it’s quite a few years back — when my kids still believed in the reality of Santa Claus, we discovered an ingenious website that purported to offer a real-time assessment of their “naughty or nice” status. Now, as Christmas approached, it was not uncommon for us to caution our occasionally misbehaving brood that they had best be attentive to how those actions might be viewed by the big guy at the North Pole. But nothing we said ever had the impact of that website — if not on their behaviors (they were kids, after all), then certainly on the level of their concern about the conseq...