There are some distinctly weird types working for hedge funds. A quantitative fund in the US - so-called quants are on the odder fringes of the hedgies' galaxy - is seeking someone to develop its software. They are required to send in a letter having flipped a coin 50 times and recorded the sequence of results, heads (H) or tails (T). There is much speculation on relevant parts of the web over what this is all about. One theory is that the fund is trying to detect applicants who are lucky.

Doesn't really hold up. Someone else mentions Benford's Law, an incomprehensible mathematical formula to do with random numbers. It would serve as a test of honesty, as most people can't make up a random series of numbers, so the fund could tell from the Law if applicants really did flip the coins. Or alternatively, if you understand Benford's, you can generate that random series. So candidates who have done so, rather than wasting time flipping coins, would be favoured.

Another theory is that it provides the first question in the interview: “Why do you think we wanted you to flip a coin 50 times?” As I said, well weird.

It's the Mauritians who really set the ball rolling

— It was the launch last night of The New Football Pools, which brings together the Littlewoods, Vernons and Zetters businesses. The pools is in a pretty moribund state here. But Ian Penrose, the chief executive of Sportech, which controls the game, said that there was a remarkably enthusiastic core of about 20,000 players in, of all places, Mauritius. The inhabitants have been playing for 57 years and they even have doorstep coupon collectors. Mauritius? “I know I'm the chief executive, but I have to admit I have no idea why,” admits Penrose. Actually, I may be able to enlighten him. I have come across this before. UK football itself has some fanatical adherents in the most far-flung places, none of whom have ever stepped inside a ground here.

— Commiserations are coming in for Malcolm Calvert, the retired Cazenove partner now in court for alleged insider trading. Whatever he may or may not have done, he was clearly popular and good at his job. “Affectionately known as Streaky, pre-Big Bang the jobbers used to run for cover when David Mayhew sent him into the market to complete Caz's big trades,” says one former colleague. “Last time I saw him was after his retirement when he was spending most of his time going to the big race meetings around the world.”

— A reader is puzzled by the response he received from Flybe, the low-cost airline, after a flight was cancelled. Pilot taken ill, these things happen. He wrote to complain anyway, without any great hopes, and was told: “We recommend that any passenger travelling for an important event or meeting where time is restricted travels the day before.” “To Newcastle?” he responded. “I honestly think I could cycle there if I left the day before.” It does seem a little unambitious, I suggest to the airline. Flybe tells me the response was “an administrative error”, and should have applied to flights to places such as the Channel Islands that could be affected by fog.

— Today is, you will have noted, the last day of the 12th International Conference on Penal Abolition. Surveying the headlines, what chance there will have to be a 13th? Pretty high. A 14th? I wouldn't necessarily rule it out. Maybe even a 15th ...

Times Recommends

• Brown targets fat cats after nationalising banks
• US shares soar on global banking rescue
• Europe follows Brown to head off meltdown