Fact of the Day

America has 62 percent of the world's [scientist] stars as residents, primarily because of its research universities which produce them.

http://www.nber.org/papers/w13547

Halloween Economics

"So let's do something to reform Halloween. The first step would be for Halloween donors to give kids money instead of candy. Kids could then go to the supermarket the next day and binge on the candies they really like. That solution would get an A-plus in economics."

http://www.marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2007/10/the-economics-3.html

Quote of the Day - Dividends

"...All this is yet another reminder that companies sometimes use ambiguity in the accounting rules to make their net income look better than it is. That's one reason why some Fools like companies that pay dividends -- no accounting trick in the world can put cold, hard cash in your pocket. Dividends keep companies honest."

http://www.fool.com/investing/dividends-income/2007/10/31/not-better-late-than-never-at-office-depot.aspx

Restaurant Divining: If it Sounds Bad, It's Got to be Good

I think it is pretty hard to find foods that sound "bad" on a menu because restaurants generally want to make the title of the dish as appealing as possible. Nevertheless, I agree that if something on a menu sounds bad, it has at least got to be good enough to be put on a menu...

"There are some restaurant dishes that I order because they sound better than everything else on the menu, and there are some I order because they sound worse. My reasoning goes like this: If a chef dares to offer something as unappealing as, say, a raw kale salad, chances are it’s fantastic."

If It Sounds Bad, It's Got To Be Good
by Melissa Clark
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/24/dining/24appe.html?_r=2&oref=slogin&oref=slogin

How to Cry Effectively: Male vs. Female

Before you cry, think about the results of this new study...

"When men express anger they gain status, but when women express anger they lose status...The tide later shifted against male crying, but in the last 30 to 40 years male crying has gained in acceptability...A moist eye was viewed much more positively than open crying, and males got the most positive responses."

The Crying Game: Male vs. Female Tears
by Jocelyn Noveck
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071024/ap_en_ot/the_crying_game

How Evolution Really Works

Check out this nearly 10-minute video...(warning, it does get a bit "scientific")

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SeTssvexa9s

Pinker on Jews, Genes and Intelligence

"Apparently, Ashkenazi Jews—the Eastern European ones—really do have an average IQ that's eight to 15 points higher than the northern European average...Sephardic Jews, those descended from Jews expelled from Spain in the 15th century, have the same IQ distribution as the rest of Europe."

http://www.seedmagazine.com/news/2005/12/jews_on_jews_jews_are_great.php

Persuasian 101: People Fear Losses More Than They Seek Gains

A great marketing concept....

http://the-pitytorium.newsvine.com/_news/2007/10/03/1000614-pesuasion-101-people-fear-losses-more-than-they-seek-gains

Who Owns Who in the Auto Industry

http://tides.ws/wp-content/uploads/images/WhoOwnsWho/Who%20Owns%20Who.jpg

Tim Harford Blog

Another interesting economics blog...

http://blogs.ft.com/undercover/

Why Males Die Before Females

Once again, the answer to everything is sex.

"In humans and many other animals, males age faster and die earlier than females. New research suggests this might happen because of intense competition over sex...the more polygynous a species was, the more likely their males were to age faster and die earlier than females."

http://www.livescience.com/animals/071016-male-age.html

World Energy and Population Trends to 2100

The key question is what will it really be like living with global warming. Will things be truly disastrous?

"All the research I have done for this paper has convinced me that the human race is now out of time. We are staring at hard limits on our activities and numbers, imposed by energy constraints and ecological damage. There is no time left to mitigate the situation, and no way to bargain or engineer our way out of it. It is what it is, and neither Mother Nature nor the Laws of Physics are open to negotiation."

http://www.paulchefurka.ca/WEAP/WEAP.html

5 Smallest Countries and How They Make/Made Their Economies

I like Tuvalu's story...

http://www.myinterestingfiles.com/2007/09/5-smallest-country.html

Sex, Nazi, Burrito and Viagra: Who Googles What?

"Internet users in Egypt, India and Turkey are the world's most frequent searchers for Web sites using the keyword "sex" on Google search engines, according to statistics provided by Google Inc (Google Trends)...Chile came in first place searching for the word "gay", followed by Mexico and Colombia."

The top searchers for some keywords were as follows:

-"Hangover" - Ireland, United Kingdom, United States
-"Tom Cruise" - Canada, United States, Australia
-"Homosexual" - Philippines, Chile, Venezuela
-"Love" - Philippines, Australia, United States
-"Botox" - Australia, United States, United Kingdom
-"Viagra" - Italy, United Kingdom, Germany
-"Marijuana" - Canada, United States, Australia

http://www.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idUSPAR75016820071017?feedType=RSS&feedName=technologyNews&rpc=22&sp=true

The 10 Most Depressing Job Sectors

Interesting how the top ones are all related to the service industry...

1. Personal Care and Services
2. Food Preparation and Serving Related
3. Community and Social Services
4. Healthcare Practitioners and Technical
5. Arts, Design, Entertainment, Sports and Media
6. Education, Training, and Library
7. Office and Administrative Support
8. Building and Grounds Cleaning and Maintenance
9. Financial
10. Sales and Related

http://oas.samhsa.gov/2k7/depression/occupation.htm

Free Documentaries

http://bestdocumentaries.blogspot.com/

Uncommon Business Blog

This blog's speciality is collecting stories about people becoming rich by doing weird things...

http://uncommonbusiness.blogspot.com/

The Economics of Gold-Digging

Interesting discussion on gold-diggers...

"Cutting through all the B.S., what you suggest is a simple trade: you bring your looks to the party, and I bring my money. Fine, simple. But here’s the rub — your looks will fade and my money will likely continue into perpetuity … in fact, it is very likely that my income increases but it is an absolute certainty that you won’t be getting any more beautiful...So in Wall Street terms, we would call you a trading position, not a buy and hold … hence the rub … marriage. It doesn’t make good business sense to “buy you” (which is what you’re asking) so I’d rather lease."

http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/10/09/the-economics-of-gold-digging/

How China Could Crash the Dollar

This is a discussion on how China could crash the dollar. It doesn't discuss the fact that it would probably mean economic suicide for China if it chose to do such a thing.

http://www.currencytrading.net/2007/how-china-could-crash-the-us-dollar-on-a-whim/

The World's Top-Earning Models

I wonder if the list purposely left out male models, or, if male models truly do not make as much as their female counterparts...

http://mywiki.ws/The_World%27s_Top-Earning_Models

Why Religion Still Trumps Science

The answer: better marketing.

"Those who really believe in science as a better explanation of our place in this universe are generally too busy doing science to spend time trying to get across the concept to those who let themselves be deluded by religious ideas."

http://danielhaggard.com/67/this-is-why-religion-still-trumps-science/

See Your Salary in Real Time

Just enter how much you make either hourly, weekly, monthly, or annually and let the program do the rest...

http://www.cashto.net/

5,000 Years of Religion in 90 Seconds

Nice 90-second video of the history of religion.

http://mapsofwar.com/images/Religion.swf

Who Gets Your Money?

"In the 2006 fiscal year, the US government spent more than $415 billion on contracts with 176,172 companies and entities. About one-quarter of that total - $100 billion - went to only six companies: Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Northrop Grumman, General Dynamics, Raytheon and KBR. All do the majority of their government business with the Department of Defense."

-From Parade's Intelligence Report 10/14/07 (Parade.com/intel)

Feed a Cold, Starve a Fever?

"False. In both cases, experts recommend eating moderately and healthfully. Listen to your body. If you're hungry, eat a little. If you have a fever, the most important thing to do is to keep up your fluids so you don't become dehyrated."

Feed a Cold, Starve a Fever?
by Gini Kopecky Wallace (10/14/07 Parade Magazine)

When Immigration Goes Up, Prices Go Down

"Immigration plays a powerful role in holding down prices. For every 1 percent increase in the ratio of immigrants to natives, prices go down by about 0.5 percent."

When Immigration Goes Up, Prices Go Down
by Shankar Vedantam
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/14/AR2007101400993.html

Map: All the Places Your Legally an Adult but Can't Drink

Looks like the US falls in the same category as Nicaragua, Suriname, Parts of Canada, Nepal, Oman, and Uzbekistan

http://www.drinkingmap.com/AdultDrink.html

Electoral College Politics

"Americans revere their Constitution but don't understand it...Elections belong to the people...The argument that the electoral system has worked well is ridiculous. No part of the Constitution has failed more often, and brought us closer to disaster, than the election provisions of Article II."

Let's Abolish the Electoral College
by Garrett Epps
http://www.salon.com/opinion/feature/2007/10/12/electoral_college/

CLEW Index (Cost of Living Extremely Well)

Pretty Cool "bling" index. The CLEWI reportedly has been rising much faster than the CPI (consumer price index). This, says George F. Will (11/11/07 WPost), "is the outer symptom of a fascinating psychological phenomenon: Envy is increasing while - and perhpas even faster than - wealth does."

The 6 Most "Terrifying" Foods in the World

Do any of these deserve to be bumped off the list? I think it is actually pretty well-made.

http://www.cracked.com/index.php?name=News&sid=2439

Map: Minimum Wage Laws

http://www.dol.gov/esa/minwage/america.htm

Nice Periodic Table

http://www.dayah.com/periodic/

Chinese Culture vs. German Culture

http://www.adinochang.com/archives/chinese-culture-versus-german-culture.html

Average Job Tenure

Employees are most mobile in the US, putting in an average of just four years.

http://www.economist.com/daily/chartgallery/displaystory.cfm?story_id=9934771

Why We Curse

Why We Curse
By Steven Pinker
http://www.tnr.com/docprint.mhtml?i=20071008&s=pinker100807

New Citizenship

This is quite amazing...The US is an immigration powerhouse with 47.5% of new citizenships of OECD countries...

http://www.nationmaster.com/red/pie/imm_new_cit-immigration-new-citizenships

Post Secret

This site is an ongoing community art project in which people mail in their secrets anonymously on one side of a homemade postcard...I would love to spend all day trying to find the really funny/scary ones...

http://postsecret.blogspot.com/

Married To Your Computer

The new marriage scheme:

"Consider this: In a survey earlier this year, 64 percent of Americans say they spend more time with their computer than with their significant other. Meanwhile, 84 percent said they were more dependent on their computer than they were three years ago."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/20071008/sc_livescience/whenyourmostsignificantotherisacomputer

Things Other People Accomplished When They Were Your Age

Enter your age and see how far ahead (or dead) people were when they were your age...

http://www.museumofconceptualart.com/accomplished/

20 Innovations that have Radically Changed the College Experience

Colleges/Universities are usually a few years ahead of technology compared to the rest of a country (I am talking in a general sense). Even if you only graduated a few years ago, you may not have utilized some of this technolgoy when you were there...

http://www.collegehappenings.com/college/20-innovations-that-changed-the-college-experience/

Study: Friends With Benefits (FWB) = Stress

"Removing all the "stat speak" from that paragraph, it boils down to 10% evolved into a traditional relationship, about 33% stopped the sex but continued as friends, 25% ended both the sex and the friendship, and 32% continued as FWB...The study concluded, according to Dr. Timothy Levine, one of the study's authors, 'that people got into these relationships because they didn’t want commitment. It was perceived as a safe relationship, at least at first. But also that there was this growing fear that the one person would become more attracted than the other.' Leading to the same stresses and problems seen in traditional relationships."

http://www.thebachelorguy.com/any-benefit-to-friends-with-benefits.html

UC Berkeley Puts Full Lectures on YouTube

This is probably the first of many. I imagine that attending that 8am lecture will become much less of a necessity in the future...

Besides getting a tangible degree, why should anyone pay to go to school ever again? School is much more about the socialization, networking and acquiring experiences. But if it WERE about strictly classroom education, this would probably put some schools out of business.

http://youtube.com/ucberkeley

The 80/20 Rule

"As much as the 80/20 rule has become a standard in economic theory, a team of researchers at the Sloan School of Management at MIT have crafted a new theory that shows the 80/20 rule may be fading in the world of Internet business."

http://businessshrink.biz/psychologyofbusiness/2007/10/02/internet-business-is-killing-the-8020-rule/

A Collection of Unusual Wikipedia Articles

This should keep you busy for a few hours...What is your favorite one? Mine is the Society for the Prevention of Calling Sleeping Car Porters "George" - or SPCSCPG.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Unusual_articles?re

WalletTest.com

This site did an experiment on 100 people to see if they would return a dropped wallet or steal it. Not suprisingly, 74% of people where honest and 26% were dishonest. Based on those results, honest people outnumbered dishonest ones by 3 to 1. Older people were more honest than young ones, and women were more honest than men. White people were more honest than black people. (These are just the factual results, not my personal opinion...)

http://www.wallettest.com/Lost_Wallet_Test/Results_Page.html

Economics of Fertility

Is the tip differential related to the fact that women may be more "active" during their peak period of fertility vs. a bit more sluggish (and less hussler-like) during menstruation?

"Psychologist Geoffrey Miller and colleagues tapped the talent at local gentlemen's clubs and counted tips made on lap dances. Dancers made about $70 an hour during their peak period of fertility, versus about $35 while menstruating and $50 in between...Miller links the wage fluctuations to changes in body odor, waist-to-hip ratio, and facial features."

The Stripper's Secret
by Matthew Hutson
http://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/index.php?term=pto-4435.html

Breakdown of Greenhouse Gas Emissions by Sector

According to the Energy Information Agency (EIA), the transportation sector accounted for 33% of total US energy-related carbon dioxide emissions in 2005. The residential sector acconts for 21%. Commercial sector, 18%. Industrial sector, 28%.
http://www.eia.doe.gov/oiaf/1605/ggrpt/carbon.html

King of All Teas: "Puer"

"A type of tea commonly pressed into Frisbee-shaped cakes, puer (pronounced "poo-ahr"), was long the domain of a small group of tea collectors. Earlier this year, speculators discovered the tea, driving up its value...Puer, with a medicinal flavor and smoky aftertaste, improves with age unlike other teas that grow stale...The price of one of the hottest varieties of puer soared to nearly $35-a-cake this past April, seven times the $5-a-cake value just three years ago. Today, a cake of puer sells for nearly $16, a 60% backslide from the peak, fueling fears of a crash."

Of All the Tea in China, 'Puer' is the Hottest
by Iris Kuo
http://online.wsj.com/article_email/SB119127746956745626-lMyQjAxMDE3OTAxMjIwNzI3Wj.html

Paradox: Is Great Happiness Too Much of a Good Thing?

This demonstrates why there is no need to always be happy...

"Americans report being generally happier than people from, say, Japan or Korea, but it turns out that, partly as a result, they are less likely to feel good when positive things happen and more likely to feel bad when negative things befall them... Put another way, a hidden price of being happier on average is that you put your short-term contentment at risk, because being happy raises your expectations about being happy. When good things happen, they don't count for much because they are what you expect. When bad things happen, you temporarily feel terrible, because you've gotten used to being happy."

Is Great Happiness Too Much of a Good Thing?
by Shankar Vedantam
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/30/AR2007093000632.html

If the Dollar's So Weak, Why Aren't Travelers Flocking to the US?

The real question is how does one define "unfriendly." If it is the visa process, that can (and should) be fixed. If it is the people who are unfriendly, that may be a little harder to work on...I have a feeling that it may be the perception of the US that causes it to lag in the polls (caused by ongoing wars in Iraq/Afghanistan). When people don't like an Administration's policy, the impact can be felt all around, including travel patterns.

"The answer, perhaps, can be found in another statistic that currency traders ignore as they deal with the dollar's ongoing slide. By a greater than 2-1 ration, in worlwide surveys, international travelers consistently cite the US as the world's single most unfriendly destination."

Have Money, Won't Travel
by Andrew Glass
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1007/6127.html

Differences Between Korean, Chinese & Japanese

These portayals are not necessarily true, especially with the confluence of cultures. I find that some Japanese people want look like Koreans and try to mimic much of the fashion and style. Many Koreans want to look Japanese. Some from all three want to look western, etc....

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdS2gsI_xCyDnMALuqQktW8jJfbVU-RC0teUKU1T_G6QE3TD77DHg7q83IhKdY4mYjtcJMoel5d3dTtrVY8vV6U4E8awM057pUQnvr-F6GnFaQ3DdRGVPPnoFeEsmpjnB5txIQcyBZAiI/s1600-h/asiancomic.jpg

Best Places to Travel on a Weak Dollar

Despite the weakness of the US dollar, there are countries who have much weaker currencies than the dollar...As long as the greenback continues to have at least the backing of the full faith and credit of the US government, those countries may ALWAYS have weaker currencies compared with the dollar. This is not authoritative list by any means, but the idea is that one should not cry and pout about dollar weakness.

"The dollar has been hitting record lows against the Euro and even traditional dollar-friendly travel destinations like Canada, but that shouldn’t discourage you international travels. There are plenty of countries to visit where your dollar goes a long way, here are some of the best ones..."

*Morocco
*Thailand
*Mexico
*China
*Jordan
*Micronesia
*Venezuela
*Armenia

http://www.foxnomad.com/2007/10/02/the-best-places-to-travel-on-a-weak-dollar/

Why Less Medical Treatment May Be Good For You

Reasons to avoid doctors/hospitals at all costs...

"The more medical care you receive, the sicker you'll get. That's the stark message in Overtreated: Why Too Much Medicine is Making Us Sicker and Poorer, Shannon Brownlee's new book."

Why Less Medical Treatment May Be Good For You
by Nancy Shute
http://health.usnews.com/articles/health/2007/09/26/why-less-medical-treatment-may-be-good-for-you.html

Do Sanctions Work?

To be sure, there are many different types of sanctions (economic, etc...). But it seems that many of the costs tend to be passed down to the common citizens of the country. Imposing sanctions on a country strikes me as similar to imposing ethics reforms in Congress - there is always a way around them.

Here are a few reasons why sanctions may not be a good idea in Burma...

Why Sanctions Will Not Fix Burma
by Gideon Rachman
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/44cde87e-7029-11dc-a6d1-0000779fd2ac.html

Quiz: Find Out Which Candidate Best Fits Your Views

Answer the 11 questions to find out which candidate is the right fit...

http://www.wqad.com/Global/link.asp?L=259460

Economics of Being Late

1. The busier the person, the less likely he or she is to be late. Busy people manage time well because their time is valuable. They develop rules to avoid frittering away the day.

The Five Sorry Rules of Lateness
by Michael Munger
http://www.econlib.org/library/Columns/y2007/Mungerlateness.html

How Big is the Universe?

Basically, no one has any idea...

How Big is the Universe
by Brent Tully
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/universe/howbig.html

Economics of Faking Orgasm

"Mialon's key point is that you can't analyze the Fifth Amendment without considering the fact that defendants sometimes lie, and juries sometimes try to figure out when they're lying. That's where the orgasms come in. Lovers sometimes fake orgasms, and their partners sometimes try to figure out when they're faking. So it's only natural that an intellectual journey around the Fifth Amendment should include a side trip into the economics of faking orgasm."

http://www.slate.com/id/2097396/

Newspaper Demographics

This has been around for a long time, but I still enjoy it:

1. The Wall Street Journal is read by the people who run the country.

2. The Washington Post is read by people who think they run the country.

3. The New York Times is read by people who think they should run the country and who are very good at crossword puzzles.

4. USA Today is read by people who think they ought to run the country but don’t really understand The New York Times. They do, however, like their statistics shown in pie charts.

5. The Los Angeles Times is read by people who wouldn’t mind running the country — if they could find the time — and if they didn’t have to leave Southern California to do it.

6. The Boston Globe is read by people whose parents used to run the country and did a poor job of it , thank you very much.

7. The New York Daily News is read by people who aren’t too sure who’s running the country and don’t really care as long as they can get a seat on the train.

8. The New York Post is read by people who don’t care who’s running the country as long as they do something really scandalous, preferably while intoxicated.

9. The Miami Herald is read by people who are running another country but need the baseball scores.

10. The San Francisco Chronicle is read by people who aren’t sure there is a country or that anyone is running it; but if so, they oppose all that they stand for. There are occasional exceptions if the leaders are handicapped minority feminist atheist dwarfs who also happen to be illegal aliens from any other country or galaxy, provided of course, that they are not Republicans.

11. The National Enquirer is read by people trapped in line at the grocery store.

12. The Oregonian is read by people who have recently caught a fish and need something in which to wrap it.

http://nynerd.com/newspaper-demographics/

Can You Pass the New US Citizenship Test?

Test your knowledge here (25 multiple choice question):

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21019797/

US Is Top Arms Seller To Developing World

Top Suppliers (share of 2006 sales):
1. US: 36%
2. Russia: 28%
3. Britain: 11%
4. Germany: 6%
5. China: 3%

Top Recipients (value of agreements in billions)
1. Pakistan: $5.1
2. India: $3.5
3. Saudi Arabia: $3.2
4. Venezuela: $3.1
5. Algeria: $2.1
6. Israel: $2.1
7. Brazil: $1.1

US Is Top Arms Seller To Developing World
by Thom Shanker
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/01/us/01weapons.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin