08:15 am
September 1, 2011
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by MARK MEMMOTT


If the lights are still out, that's bad news.
One staple of economics and business reporting is the "odd indicator"
story.
Having done a few in our time, we know a good one when we see it.
This morning, The Wall Street Journal offers a look at the "Waffle House
Index," which is part economic indicator, part hurricane gauge.
As Craig Fuguate, administrator of the Federal Emergency Management
Agency explains to the Journal, if you get to a town after a disaster
and the Waffle House is closed: "That's really bad. That's where you go
to work."
"The Waffle House," according to the Journal, "spends almost nothing
on advertising, [and] has built a marketing strategy around the goodwill
gained from being open when customers are most desperate."

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/...w-bad-was-the-
disaster-check-the-waffle-house-index?ft=1&f=1001

--
People thought cybersex was a safe alternative,
until patients started presenting with sexually
acquired carpal tunnel syndrome.-Howard Berkowitz