Herd Mentality Rules in a Financial Crisis

"Brain and behavior studies clearly show that when information is scarce and threats seem imminent, people often stop listening to their own logic and look to see what others are doing."

Herd Mentality Rules in a Financial Crisis
by Maggie Fox
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080930/lf_nm_life/us_financial_psychology

Find Out Who is Googling You - Ziggs

Who is Googling You?
http://www.thebostonchannel.com/news/15336943/detail.html

Ziggs.com
http://www.ziggs.com/

America's #1 Export: Debt

"Japan and Germany make cars. Saudi Arabia pumps oil. China supplies the world with socks and toys and flat-screen TVs. What does the United States produce? Lots of stuff, but in recent years this country's No. 1 export--by far--has been debt."

America's No. 1 Export: Debt
by Justin Fox
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1844547,00.html?xid=rss-topstories

High End Girlfriend/Stripper Index

"Renowned defense lawyer Edward W. Hayes, a self-described night owl, long ago developed two measurements for gauging the ups and downs of Wall Street: the HEGI and the HESI, which stand for High End Girlfriend Index and High End Stripper Index. When the financial sector's business is good, he said, the traders and bankers spend huge sums on high-end girlfriends and in the VIP rooms of Manhattan's pricey strip joints. Now, said Hayes, who represents many of the woman [sic] in the business, he is seeing evidence of the downturn."

http://www.observer.com/2008/real-estate/sign-o-times-strippers-are-getting-killed-its-terrible

Playboy Laying Off Bunnies Amid Financial Crisis

I don't know which is more of a crisis - laying off bunnies or the current financial collapse. I imagine that Playboy Magazine is considered a "non-essential" when times are tough because people can always get free porn online.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/09/26/playboy-laying-off-bunnie_n_129615.html

Fact of the Week: Russia & WTO

"Russia is the Only Major Economy Not in the WTO."

http://www.ppionline.org/ppi_ci.cfm?knlgAreaID=108&subsecID=900003&contentID=254723

One More Thought of the Day: Good vs. Bad

"Nothing is as good or bad as it first seems."

-Again, not sure who to attribute this to but it has become readily apparent this week

Thought of the Day: Uncertainty

"The only thing certain is uncertainty."

-Not sure who this quote can be attributed to, but is has become readily apparent the past few weeks amidst the financial chaos.

Online Tool Estimates Taxes Under Next President

This just proves how similar Democrats and Republicans really are. It is amazing how much fighting there is for so little difference.

"For example, the model indicates that a couple with two children earning $100,000 with $20,000 in itemized deductions would have a net tax bill for 2009 of $9,555 under McCain and $9,002 under Obama. That compares with a $9,505 tax bill for this couple under current law, the electiontaxes.com site says. In another example, a single taxpayer making $50,000 and using the standard deduction would pay $6,867 under McCain and $6,325 under Obama, compared with $6,827 under current law."


Online Tool Estimates Taxes Under McCain, Obama
by Jerry Harkavy
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080926/ap_on_el_pr/election_tax_burden

Election Taxes
http://www.electiontaxes.com

Power Shifts from NY to DC

The job market in DC is surely looking very attractive to many right now as it perhaps seems a "safer" bet than those in Wall Street. I imagine, however, that finance will eventually trump politics once all the smoke clears. But I wonder if the true power remains in the tech sector (Silicon Valley) where the "real" thinkers are at work...

"With Wall Street hobbled by the biggest financial crisis in generations, the culture of big money has lost some of its luster. And with the Street now looking to the US Treasury for an unprecedented bailout, it's suddently Washington that has become the center of financial action - creating, at least for this instant, an unlikey shift of power and influence."

Power Shifts From NY to DC
by Keith Richburg
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/27/AR2008092702169_pf.html

How to Predict Disaster

Just look for when people are doing something that they historically haven't done or generally isn't done by that segment of a population. Examples:

*During the Dot-Com boom we saw companies hiring teenagers for hundreds of thousands of dollars without degrees and those companies buying other companies (which didn't have any profits) for hundreds of millions of dollars when

*People are buying stocks who should not be buying stocks (or generally don't buy).

*People flipping houses

*People becoming real estate brokers

*The proliferation of banks

Impact of Financial Crisis on Prostitution

"One thing I've learned is that economic downturns can be boom times for high-end sex workers. Sex workers of the past waited on street corners, outside bars, and around parks, and their transactions were fleeting and usually for a few dollars. Today's high-end sex workers see themselves as therapists, part of a vast metropolitan wellness industry that includes private chefs and yoga teachers."

But What Does it Mean for Prostitutes?
by Sudhir Venkatesh
http://www.slate.com/id/2200640/

On Consulting

Of course, one must define consultant. Consultants who advise a company about how to run their own business are the culprits...

"Any company that needs to hire consultants is too big."

-From a wise business CEO

Sports Fact of the Week: Baseball

"After a wild pitch killed a batter in 1920, a tacky substance was sought [so pitchers could get a better grip]. Shoe polish and tobacco juice didn't stick. What did was the feldspar-rich clay found in a New Jersey swamp by player and coach R.A. 'Lena' Blackburne. In 1938 it became a big-league staple. Lena Blackburne Baseball Rubbing Mud has been helping pitchers get a grip for 70 years. The company reaps six harvests a year from two holes in secret spots, filters out debris, and adds a 'magic' indgredient for extra grip. Aged for six weeks, two three-pound vats are sent to each team - a season's worth of joy from Mudville."

-From October National Geographic

Why do so Many Finns Own Guns?

"Although gun violence is very rare in Finland, the country has the highest rate of firearm ownership in Europe and the third highest in the world, behind only the United States and Yemen. Why do so many Finns own firearms? They're hunters."

Finn Fact:

"Finland has the highest murder rate in Western Europe, but those cases—commonly related to alcohol or domestic abuse—often involve knives rather than guns."

Packing Heat in Helsinki
by Michelle Tsai
http://www.slate.com/id/2200722/

On Going into Space

"Why go to space at all? Partly it's prestige. It's definitely a strategic move. History tends to be written by countries that explore."

In Search of the Next Frontier
by Joel Achenbach
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/23/AR2008092302662.html?hpid=topnews

Political Polling Without Cell Phones

"Combining polls it conducted in August and September, Pew found that of people under age 30 with only cell phones, 62 percent were Democrats and 28 percent Republicans. Among landline users the same age that gap was narrower: 54 percent Democrats, 36 percent GOP."

Study: Omitting Cell Phone Users May Affect Polls
by Alan Fram
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080925/ap_on_el_pr/polls_cell_phones

Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI)

Amidst a storm of financial woes, the media has neglected to properly cover the story about RGGI, the first mandatory, market-based effort in the US to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. It is essentially the nations first cap-and-trade system. RGGI is one of three regional assocaitons of states that have been formed to institute cap-and-trade programs. The other two are the Midwestern Regional Greenhouse Gas Reduction Accord and the Western Climate Initiative.

http://www.rggi.org/home

Image: How Business Works

http://www.toothpastefordinner.com/092408/how-business-works.gif

Quote of the Day

"Politicians, journalists, and business executives alike hide behind thick tapestries of incomprehensible jargon, tossing out words such as 'asset-backed securities' and 'derivatives' in an effort to convince us that they really understand what's happening. If they did, they'd explain it in plain English."

A Street Where Businesses Still Have Some Sense
by Marc Fisher
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/24/AR2008092403173.html

French Food to be Recognized by UNESCO??

An odd proposal given the fact that there is no category at UNESCO for gastronomy. The whole proposal wreaks of pompousness. Such a proposal suggests that some inside France think that French food can't stand on its own merits and needs an outside authority to say that it is special. French insecurity may come from that fact that its neighbor Spain is stealing much of the food spotlight away from it. Now is not the time to cry, whine, and beg, rather, it is the time to innovate.

"[Sarkozy] said he wanted France to be the first country in the world whose gastronomy would be formally recognized by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)."

Time to Save the Croissants
by Elaine Sciolino
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/24/dining/24heritage.html

Fact of the Day: MacArthur Grants

"The $500,000, which is taxable income, doesn't arrive all at once. It is apportioned into quarterly payments of $25,000 over five years."

For Hopkins Astronomer and 24 Others, The Stars Align
by Richard Leiby
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/22/AR2008092203309.html?hpid=topnews

Green Idealists Most Likely to Take Long-Haul Flights

Just goes to show you that many people's conservation actions are offset by other actions which are equally or more harmful. That being said, one who lives a green lifestyle at home may feel a little bit better after taking a trip to Thailand or India.

Green Idealists Fail to Make Grade, Says Study
by David Adam
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/sep/24/ethicalliving.recycling

Fact of the Day: US Bailout

"Here's a bit of perspective on the size of the $700 billion proposal. If it were a country, it'd be the 21st largest in the world. It's more than the cost of the Iraq war. It's larger than the Pentagon budget and more than 11 times the U.S. education budget. It basically adds up to about three Ohios."

-- $700 billion: proposed Wall St. bailout
-- $695.4 billion: GDP of Taiwan. If the bailout were a country it would be the 21st largest GDP, larger than most nations.
-- $653 billion: cost of Iraq war (so far)
-- $515.4 billion: proposed 2009 Pentagon budget
-- $315 billion: McCain's nuclear energy plan
-- $295 billion: amount Pentagon overspent original budgets by.
-- $150 billion: Obama's energy plan
-- $50-$65 billion: Obama's health care plan, per year
-- $59.2 billion: proposed 2009 U.S. education budget
-- $10 billion: McCain health care proposals, per year
-- $38 million: Hank Paulson's post-2004 salary as Chairman, CEO of Goldman Sachs
-- 16.1 million: number of median Ohio household incomes ($43,371 as of 2004) that would add up to the bailout
-- or about THREE Ohios.

http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2008/09/23/1436850.aspx

On Trading Yen

"The yen's unique properties in times of turmoil stem from the influence of Japan's ultralow interest rates (current benchmark rate: 0.5%). In normal times, that encourages investors to borrow in yen and buy pretty much anything else, from Brazilian stocks to Icelandic bonds to Australian short-term paper. When volatility surges or investors have to cover losses elsewhere, they unwind these maneuvers, called "carry trades," and buy back the yen. What's more, investors who aren't involved in carry trades may be turning to the relative liquidity of the currency markets in search of a hedge as losses in other investments multiply."

In These Days, It's Yen Time
by Joanna Slater
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122186652663358785.html?mod=todays_us_money_and_investing

Why is Spain's Dining Culture Sizzling?

"In a way, Spain's ascendancy in the epicurean cosmos looms larger because it has evolved in the most conservative and insular of Europe's major cultures. Cut off from most currents of modern life until the end of the Franco dictatorship in 1975, Spain emerged from its 40-year snooze a society little changed since the 1930s and raring to make up for lost time."

What's Next in Spain?
by Raymond Sokolov
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122186075259858221.html?mod=todays_us_weekend_journal

Getting Into El Bulli

"How hard is it to get into El Bulli? Estimates on the Web range from the merely hyperbolic to the astronomical. Whether it is true that only 1% of those who apply for reservations in mid-October actually succeed in edging out the alleged 400,000 or half a million other gourmet emailers competing with them, there is no doubt that the Catalonian restaurant is full up for the year in the first day it accepts bookings -- almost nine months before it opens for a half-year in June."

What's Next in Spain
by Raymond Sokolov
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122186075259858221.html?mod=todays_us_weekend_journal

Treadmill Desks

"Enthusiasts began following Dr. Levine’s example, constructing treadmill desks that range from sleekly robotic set-ups to rickety mash-ups that could be Wall-E’s long-lost kin. But the recent introduction of an all-in-one treadmill desk from Details may inch work-walking into the mainstream, as dozens of businesses invest in the hardware to let their employees walk (and, ideally, lose a little weight) at work."

I Put in 5 Miles at the Office
by Mandy Katz
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/18/health/nutrition/18fitness.html?ei=5070&emc=eta1

World's Most Expensive Hotel Rooms

Wow.

http://www.divinecaroline.com/article/22249/39750-worlds-most-expensive-hotel-rooms

Maher on Terrorism

"Terrorism, as bad as it is, should not control our lives. 40,000 people die in cars accidents a year and we don't declare a war on cars."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xmCC_jasq0E

Japan Developing Space Elevator

"Up and down the 22,000 mile-long (36,000km) cables — or flat ribbons — will run the elevator carriages, themselves requiring huge breakthroughs in engineering to which the biggest Japanese companies and universities have turned their collective attention...Several competing space elevator projects are gathering pace as various groups vie to build practical carriages..."

Japan Hopes to Turn Sci-Fi into Reality with Elevator to the Stars
by Leo Lewis
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/science/article4799369.ece

The 50 Richest Members of Congress

From Roll Call newspaper...

1. Sen. John Kerry (D-MA): $230.98 million
2. Rep. Jane Harman (D-CA): $225.96 million
3. Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA): $160.62 million
4. Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-WV): $80.40 million
5. Rep. Robin Hayes (R-NC): $78.96 million

(See link below for the others)

http://www.rollcall.com/features/Guide-to-Congress_2008/guide/28506-1.html?type=printer_friendly

Philanthropy in a Recession

"If you look at the history of philanthropy since the 1950s, it has dropped about 1 percent on average in a recession."

Arts Groups Fret the Woes of Big Donors
by David Segal & Jacqueline Trescott
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/17/AR2008091703424_2.html

US Supreme Court Losing Influence Abroad

"Judges around the world have long looked to the decisions of the US Supreme Court for guidance, citing and often following them in hundreds of their own rulings since WWII. But now American legal influence is waning. Even as a debate continues in the court over whether its decisions should ever cite foreign law, a diminishing number of foreign courts eem to pay attention to the writing of American justices."

US Court, a Longtime Beacon, Is Now Guiding Fewer Nations
by Adam Liptak
http://www.lexisone.com/news/nlibrary/n091808b.html

Taller People are Happier

"Taller people are happier, at least on average. According to recent data from the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index study, taller people are more satisfied with their lives than shorter people are; are more likely to report experiencing several positive emotions such as enjoyment and happiness; and are less likely to report experiencing negative emotions such as anger, sadness, stress, and worry. Taller people are also less likely to report experiencing physical pain."

http://www.gallup.com/poll/110167/Taller-People-Happier.aspx

The Sciece of Stock Bubbles & Crashes

"Primitive emotions, herd mentality and raging hormones are among the invisible motors that help inflate an asset bubble and then prick it. Trond Andresen, who specialises in behavioural analysis at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, says investors may think less about the intrinsic value of a stock and more about the perception of its value. If people stopped chasing what they think the other person is thinking, rather than actually trying to value a stock on their own best terms without second-guessing people, the volatility would disappear, says Andresen."

Science Unveils Hidden Drivers of Stock Bubbles and Crashes
by Marlowe Hood and Richard Ingham
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080919/sc_afp/financesciencepsychology_080919015701

Where Did the Gov't Get $85 Billion?

"Does the government really have a spare $85 billion lying around just in case? Yes. There's no stack of unused money gathering dust in the federal coffers, but the Federal Reserve can always raise cash by selling off some of the securities it keeps in reserve."

Where Did the Government Get $85 Billion
by Noreen Malone
http://www.slate.com/id/2200299/

Four Things to Worry About

This is from an article written by Eurasia Group's Ian Bremmer. I don't think these issues are anywhere near what the common US citizen is thinking about these days amidst a financial meltdown, but they certainly are some broader, more strategic issues to think about...

*Energy: The problem is not that the world is running out of oil. It's that future supplies will come increasingly from politically less stable parts of the world—the broader Middle East, the Caspian Sea basin, and West Africa. These regions are especially vulnerable to political turmoil, terrorist and insurgent attacks, war, government collapse, and other serious threats.

*State Capitalism: The growth of state capitalism, particularly in China and the Middle East, gives authoritarian governments with opaque political systems and large amounts of cash unprecedented levels of political and economic influence.

*Technological Advances: tools that arm ambitious and aggressive governments, organizations, and even individuals with powerful new weapons. The tools of the information age help citizens connect and collaborate with one another and with the world outside. At the same time, weapons technologies—missile-guidance systems, chemical and biological agents, and nuclear know-how—are also cheaper and more widely available than at any time in history.

*Balance of Power Shift: the transition from a U.S.-dominated system toward a nonpolar world, one in which the leading political and economic institutions no longer reflect the true balance of global power.

Four Things to Worry About
by Ian Bremmer
http://www.slate.com/id/2197115/

An Brief Explanation of Various Financial Institutions

Learn the difference between banks, S&Ls, clearing houses, brokerage firms, etc..

Banks, Firms, and Houses
by Abby Callard
http://www.slate.com/id/2200410/

Lessons from the Financial Crisis

"Thanks to the current panic many Americans have learned that the experts who advise them what to do with their savings are, at best, fools."

Five Reasons to Give Thanks for the Financial Collapse of the Decade
by Michael Lewis
http://www.thebigmoney.com/articles/judgments/2008/09/18/look-bright-side?page=0,1

Term of the Day: "Naked" Short Selling

"Naked short selling, or naked shorting, is the practice of selling a stock short without first borrowing the shares or ensuring that the shares can be borrowed as is done in a conventional short sale."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naked_short_selling

Why it is Better to Win a Bronze Than Silver

"Silver medalists, the researchers found, obsessively spoke about what they could have done differently to have won gold. Bronze medalists, by contrast, tended to focus on how lucky they were to have won a medal at all."

Happiness on the Medal Stand? It's as Simple as 1-3-2.
by Shankar Vedantam
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/17/AR2008081702196.html?nav=emailpage

Social Networking Dethrones Porn

So rather than looking at porn, kids are looking for real-life porn experiences...

"Social networking sites are the hottest attraction on the Internet, dethroning pornography and highlighting a major change in how people communicate, according to a web guru. His theory is that young users spend so much time on social networks that they don't have time to look at adult sites."

Porn Passed Over as Web Users Become More Social: Author
by Belinda Goldsmith
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080916/wr_nm/internet_book_life_dc

Are There Too Many Lawyers?

Here is some thoughtful commentary from Supreme Court Associate Justice Antonin Scalia:

"I don't mean to criticize lawyers, just the need for so many lawyers. Lawyers don't dig ditches or build buildings. When a society requires such a large number of its best minds to conduct the unproductive enterprise of the law, something is wrong with the legal system."

(From September 13 Parade Magazine)

Does Intrade Lean Republican?

"My personal theory is that Intrade has a hair-trigger Republican bias which is not found in the other markets, because Intrade appeals to, and is marketed to, the more Republican-leaning segments of the U.S. population."

http://www.midasoracle.org/2008/09/12/is-intrade-out-on-a-limb/

Maps: US Personalities by Region

The map shows that the northeast is highly neurotic...

http://www.gnxp.com/blog/2008/09/personality-variation-by-region-usa.php

What is a "Compliance Fund"

A loophole...

What is a "Compliance Fund"
by Juliet Lapidos
http://www.slate.com/id/2199935/

Osama Bin Laden Statements From CIA

A US government compilation of interviews and other public statements issued by Osama bin Ladin between 1994 and 2004 is now publicly available. The texts were translated by the CIA's Foreign Broadcast InformationService, which since been succeeded by the Open Source Center.

http://www.fas.org/irp/world/para/ubl-fbis.pdf

New Study Says Spend While You're Healthy

"Our central estimate is that a one-standard deviation increase in the number of chronic diseases is associated with an 11 percent decline in the marginal utility of consumption relative to this marginal utility when the individual has no chronic diseases."

http://econ-www.mit.edu/files/2905

More on the study --

"Extra money has a much smaller effect on happiness for the sick and infirm—the authors calculate that the happiness effect of higher income is only about one-quarter as much for respondents with multiple chronic diseases. So, having a lot of money to throw around once you're retired is great … but only while you're healthy enough to spend it."

Spend It While You Can
by Ray Fisman
http://www.slate.com/id/2199463/

New Report: Secrecy Report Card

"Government secrecy, particularly in the executive branch, continued in 2007 to expand across a broad array of agencies and actions, including new classification decisions, secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court orders, military procurement, new private inventions, and the scientific and technical advice that the government receives, and an ongoing drop in the percentage of fully and openly competed federal contracts."

http://www.openthegovernment.org/otg/SecrecyReportCard08.pdf

Study Abroad by the Numbers

The number of American students receiving credit for study abroad annually exceeds 205,000; there is a higher education enrollment of 14 million - meaning that 1.46% of students study abroad.

Top Destinations of US Study Abroad (2004/2005)

1. UK
2. Italy
3. Spain
4. France
5. Australia
6. Mexico
7. Germany
8. China
9. Ireland
10. Costa Rica
11. Japan
12. Austria
13. New Zealand
14. Czech Republic
15. Greece
16. Chile
17. South Africa
18. Argentina
19. Brazil
20. India

Top countries of origin of foreign students (2005-2006)

1. India
2. China
3. South Korea
4. Japan
5. Canada
6. Taiwan
7. Mexico
8. Turkey
9. Germany
10. Thailand
11. UK
12. Hong Kong
13. Indonesia
14. Brazil
15. Colombia
16. France
17. Kenya
18. Nigeria
19. Nepal
20. Pakistan

http://www.iie.org/Content/NavigationMenu/Research_and_Evaluation/Study_Abroad_Capacity/StudyAbroad_WhitePaper1.pdf

Fact of the Day: Waste

*92 percent of frequent-flier miles will never be redeemed

*On average, households waste 14 percent of the food they buy

*15 percent of that waste includes products still within their expiration date but never opened.

*Cost of what an average family of four currently tosses out a year in food: $590

(Sources: Parade magazine, Food Production Daily, PMA Coupon Council, WPost)

Overdue Books

Washington Post conducted a telephone survey about overdue books, and here are the findings. Young people, college graduates, and men are more likely to report they've kept library books out too long...

Percentage of each group who ever had an overdue book -

Men: 61%
Women: 54%
Age 18-34: 69%
Age 65 and over: 31%
High school or less: 52%
Some college: 56%
College graduate: 65%

(Interviewing was conducted by ICR of Media, PA Sept. 15-19; year unknown)

Auction Prices & Psychology

"If there is one thing that he learned from years of studying negotiation, it's that high opening offers lead to high final prices. It's an instance of the so-called anchoring effect in psychology, whereby value is judged (or misjudged) by the first number mentioned. So Adam Galinksy, a social psychologist at the Kellogg School of Management, was intrigued when he heard that auctions might follow a different pattern. He concluded that given decent interest in an auction item, lower starting prices result in higher final prices - a reversal of the anchoring effect. Why does this happen? For starters, low starting prices reduce barriers to entry, tempting even idel browsers to place bids. Psychological forces play into it as well. Low starting prices entice bidders to invest time and energy in the auction. Finally, researchers showed that traffic begets mor traffic because later bidders take the number of earler bidders as proof of an item's worth."

Low Starting Prices Lead to High Auction Sales
by Marina Krakovsky
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/10/magazine/10Section2b.t-2.html

Restaurant Rules From an Economist

Rule 1: For good value, avoid high-rent areas. Head for your local strip mall instead. Restaurants in ritzy areas will be either expensive or chains that can afford the rent but serve mediocre food for the masses. Dupont has everything working against it. It's hip, it's easy to get to and attracts a lot of young people with disposable income. The result: High rents and food that has to be only good enough not to drive people away. In contrast, at an off-the-beaten track strip-mall joint, the food has to be good to keep people coming back...It is also a good sign to be in a strip mall without an "anchor" store such as Wal-Mart or Best Buy: That drives up rents.

Rule 2: Look for competition. The best ethnic food is found where there are teh greatest number of restaurants, which is usually a sign that there is a large immigrant population that the restaurants can draw on for labor and expertise.

Rule 3: Order strategically. In fancy restaurants, never ask, "What should I get?" The waiter might have incentives to push the dish with the highest profit margin or the most expensive items, which will jack up the tip. Instead, ask, "What's best?" That allows the waiter to highlight what's special and reveals how informed that staff is. In ethnic restaurants, in contrast, asking what's best often gets you the most watered-down dishes, designed for gringos. Instead, at a Salvadoran restaurant, for example, look at what Salvadoran diners have ordered and ask for the same.

Rule 4: Know the restaurant cycle. When it comes to fine dining, restaurants have a shelf life: First they cook for the critics, and it's wonderful. And they win awards and the word gets out. Then everyone starts to come and it becomes mainstream. The chef is less concerned about developing a reputation and more about cooking for the masses. That can happen in as little as nice months...

An Economist's Palate, Applied to Dining Around DC
by Jane Black
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/08/07/AR2007080700422.html

Fact of the Day: Dreams

"More than 80 percent of people dream in color."

"Dreaming of something you're worried about is the brain's way of helping you rehearse for a disaster in case it occurs. Dreams can help people work through the day's emotional quandaries. It's like having a built-in therapist."

(From 2/06 Reader's Digest article "Dare to Dream" by Michael J. Weiss)

National Coalition of Independent Scholars

A group that supports independent scholars...

National Coalition of Independent Scholars (NCIS)
http://www.ncis.org/

How Many Countries in the World?

"On average, the world has been gaining over a country a year since 1950. Between 1950 and 1985, the total number of countries doubled from 80 to 169. Since then it has risen by another 24 countries, bringing the total to 193."

http://www.ppionline.org/ppi_ci.cfm?knlgAreaID=108&subsecID=900003&contentID=253889

Carbonfund.org & Carbon Offsets - Worth It?

"A closer look reveals an unregulated [carbon offset] market in which some improvements bought by customers are only estimated, extrapolated, hoped-for, or nil. Some offsets support projects that would have gone forward anyway. Others delivered results difficult to measure."

Carbonfund.org
http://www.carbonfund.org/

Cost of Saving the Climate Meets Real-World Hurdles
by David Fahrenthold & Steven Mufson
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/08/15/AR2007081502432.html

Beauty & The Fattened Wallet

"Economists found that beautiful people were no better than ordinary people in solving mazes. But despite having the same productivity as others in this task, beautiful people were a lot more confident about their own abilities. Being good looking seems to be strongly associated with self-confidence, a trait that is apparently attractive to employers...It seems that good-looking people are good communicators as well, and their oral communication skills contribute about as much to employers' perceptions as their looks."

Beauty & The Fattened Wallet
by Hal Varian
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/06/business/06scene.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

Question of the Day: Ambient Noise

Q: What causes that barely noticeable hum you hear when you're in a location that is otherwise silent?

A: Assuming you have no hearing problems, ther term for this is "ambient noise." It receives much attention from sound engineers, whose work ranges from producing top-quality sound all over concert halls to quieting rooms so sound won't travel far. Humans hear only a slice of the accoustic ranbow. Below our hearing threshold, the Earth hums with low-frequency sounds generated by eruptions, storms, and more. At the other end of the spectrum, some people detect high-frequency sounds from electronic devices or lighting fixtures...

(From Ask Marilyn)

Have Tracking Tools Gone Too Far?

"Self-disclosure has been redefined online. In Web 2.0, it's led to blogs and Tweets, Facebook and instant messenger, each developed to help users share the inane minutiae of their lives with others. A life examined to the point that Socrates himself might say, 'Guys, that's enough.'" (9/9/08 WPost article on tracking tools)

*BedPost was created to map users' sex lives online - everything from partner to duration of the encounter to descriptive words, which could later be viewed as a tag cloud.
http://www.bedposted.com/

*MyMonthlyCycles offers free personalized tools to monitor, track, and manage your monthly menstrual cycles.
http://www.mymonthlycycles.com/

*BrightKite is a location-based social networking site.
http://brightkite.com/

Bytes of Life
by Monica Hesse
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/08/AR2008090802681.html

Who Makes the iPod

"...The calculation illustrates the futility of summarizing such a complex manufacturing process by using conventional trade statistics. Even though Chinese workers contribute only about 1 percent of the value of the iPod, the export of a finished iPod to the United States directly contributes about $150 to our bilateral trade deficit with the Chinese. Ultimately, there is no simple answer to who makes the iPod or where it is made. The iPod, like many other products, is made in several countries by dozens of companies, with each stage of production contributing a different amount to the final value."

Facts:

*There are 451 parts that go into an iPod.

*Apple does not make the iPod, rather, the company outsources the entire manufacture of the device to a number of Asian enterprises.

*The most expensive component in a 30-gig video iPod is the hard drive, which was manufactured by Toshiba and costs about $73.

*The next most costly components were the display module (about $20), the video/multimedia processor chip ($8), and the controller chip ($5).

*The final assembly, done in China, is estimated to cost only about $4 a unit.

*It is estimated that $163 of the iPod’s $299 retail value in the US was captured by American companies and workers, breaking it down to $75 for distribution and retail costs, $80 to Apple, and $8 to various domestic component makers. Japan contributed about $26 to the value added (mostly via the Toshiba disk drive), while Korea contributed less than $1.

An iPod Has Global Value. Ask the (Many) Countries That Make It.
by Hal Varian
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/28/business/worldbusiness/28scene.html

20 Reasons To Not Vote

*Obama's 10 Worst Ideas:
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/story/cms.php?story_id=4461

*McCain's 10 Worst Ideas:
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/story/cms.php?story_id=4465

Why Chinese Food Isn't Hip

I would argue that because Chinese food has been around "forever" in the US, it is not seen as new and exciting. I wonder if Japanese and Thai will experience the same "downfall"...

"Anyone worried about the rise of China on the world stage, as made clear by last month's lavish Olympics display, can take a kind of cold comfort from the almost total failure of the world's biggest culture to break into the foodie world."

Why Chinese Food Isn't Hip
by Raymond Sokolov
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122065742934705655.html?mod=todays_us_weekend_journal

President's & The Stock Market

"Let me tell you three things about the 'presidential cycle' in stock returns. There's not much to it, most of what you hear about it is wrong and there's no reliable way to make money on it."

If You Bet on the Election, Don't Use Real Money
by Jason Zweig
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122065839024405687.html?mod=todays_us_money_and_investing

McDonald's War Theory Finally Proven Wrong

"The Russia-Georgia conflict has finally blown this theory out of the water."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/sep/06/russia.mcdonalds?gusrc=rss&feed=worldnews

Women & Hot Cars

"David Moxon subjected 40 men and women to the sounds of a Maserati, Lamborghini and Ferrari, then measured the amount of testosterone in their saliva. He found everyone had higher levels of the stuff -- a measure of their arousal -- after hearing the revving exotics, but the amount the women had was off the charts. The econobox, however, left everyone colder than a January day in Nome."

Science Proves Exotic Cars Turn Women On
by Keith Barry
http://blog.wired.com/cars/2008/09/weve-got-some-b.html

"World Competitiveness Scorecard"

The economies rank 55 economies from the most to the least competitive...

1. US - 100
2. Singapore - 99.33
3. Hong Kong - 94.964
4. Switzerland - 89.656
5. Luxembourg - 84.405

http://www.imd.ch/research/publications/wcy/upload/scoreboard.pdf

On "New Commons"

"The economics of the new commons is still in its infancy. It is too soon to be confident about its hypotheses. But it may yet prove a useful way of thinking about problems, such as managing the internet, intellectual property or international pollution, on which policymakers need all the help they can get."

http://www.economist.com/finance/economicsfocus/displaystory.cfm?story_id=11848182

Video: How to Get Into Any Club

Good idea, but who wants to wear that outfit once inside...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uoIL2x6slC8

Panhandling Tips

Tips for panhandlers from panhandlers...

http://www.marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2008/09/tips-for-panhan.html

Fact of the Day: AARP

"AARP's 40 million members make it the country's single largest organization - that is, if you don't count a little outfit called the Catholic Church."

At 50, AARP Enters Its Golden Age
by Paul Schwartzman
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/03/AR2008090303785.html

"Moby Dick on a Stick" - Whale Meat Frenzy

Whale meat is resurfacing on Iceland menus...

"After a 20-year ban on commercial whaling, Iceland in 2006 resumed limited hunting of minke whale, one of the smallest and most numerous of the main whale species...Iceland and Japan are among the few countries that still hunt whales amid global opposition. Like Iceland, Japan is trying to revive a taste for whale among young people, dishing out school lunches of whale meatballs and hamburgers. Japan consumes almost 6,000 tons of minke, fin, sperm and other whale meat annually."

Supersize Me: Whale Meat Resurfaces on Iceland Menus
by Daniel Michaels
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122031777512289251.html?mod=todays_us_page_one

Harvard's Endowment: Lesson on Asset Allocation

"The key is diversification, and not just by investing in a variety of stocks and bonds. Harvard invests in 11 noncash asset classes, only one of which is U.S. stocks."

Asset allocation (please note this does not add up to 100%)

*Fixed equities: 12%
*Developed foreign equities: 12%
*Emerging market equities: 10%
*Total foreign equities: 22%
*Real assets, including commodities: 33%
*Fixed income: 9%
*Private equity: 11%
*Hedge funds: 18%

Harvard's Endowment Offers an Education in Asset Allocation
by James Stewart
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122040331439893385.html?mod=todays_us_personal_journal

More Stressful to be Rich than Poor?

"It is now the rich who are the most stressed out and the most likely to be working the most. Perhaps for the first time since we've kept track of such things, higher-income folks work more hours than lower-wage earners do."

Stress and Class
by Timothy Noah
http://www.slate.com/id/2199100/

How to Replace a Vice Presidential Nominee

"The members of the national party committees—the RNC and the DNC—get to pick a replacement..."

How to Replace a Vice Presidential Nominee
by Jacob Leibenluft
http://www.slate.com/id/2199167/

Two Pieces of Toro Tuna Sushi

Cost of two pieces of toro tuna sushi around the world (from WSJ):

*Manila: $8.13
*Tokyo: $9.90
*Shanghai: $11.43
*Seoul: $13.27
*Bangkok: $15.24
*New York: $20.17
*Jakarta: $21.70
*Hong Kong: $23.09
*Kuala Lumpur: $28.53
*Singapore: $34.86

(Price includes taxes)

On Today's "Men"

"Today's guys are perhaps the first downwardly mobile—and endlessly adolescent—generation of men in U.S. history. They're also among the most distraught—men between the ages of 16 and 26 have the highest suicide rate for any group except men above 70—and socially isolated, despite their image as a band of backslapping buddies. According to the General Social Survey, a highly regarded decadeslong University of Chicago project to map changes in American culture, twentysomething guys are bowling alone when compared with the rest of society. They are less likely to read a newspaper, attend church, vote for president or believe that people are basically trustworthy, helpful and fair. Meanwhile, saddled with an average of $20,000 in student debt and reared with a sense of entitlement that stops them from taking any old job, the percentage of 26-year-olds living with their parents has nearly doubled since 1970, from 11 to 20 percent, according to economist Bob Schoeni's research with the Population Studies Center at the University of Michigan."

Why I Am Leaving Guyland?
by Tony Dokoupil
http://www.newsweek.com/id/156372?from=rss

Shopping by the Numbers

There are 45,000 products in an average supermarket, so how do you pick the most nutritious items? Soon, thousands of stores reportedly wil post numbers by many items as a cheat sheet. Developed by Yale University's Griffin Prevention Research Center, the Overall Nutritional Quality Index (ONQI) scores foods from 1 to 100, based on nutrients, vitamins, sugar, and salt, as well as impact on blood pressure and other health concerns.

http://www.griffinhealth.org/Research/ONQI.aspx

Thoughts of the Day

*Nothing in the world is perfect, we can just strive for perfection (overhead in my office).

*Are most people (media, analysts, common folk, etc...) too concerned about the "little" picture?

Vanity Fair's New Establishment List

Here is the list:

1. Vladimir Putin, Russian Prime Minister (new entry)
2. Rupert Murdoch, News Corp. (1)
3. Sergey Brin (3), Larry Page (3), and Eric Schmidt (new entry), Google
4. Steve Jobs, Apple, Disney, and Pixar (2)
5. Warren Buffett, Berkshire Hathaway (5)
6. Jeff Bezos, Amazon (23)
7. Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum, ruler of Dubai (new entry)
8. Roman Abramovich, Millhouse Capital (30)
9. Angelina Jolie & Brad Pitt, actors, activists (new entry)
10. Al Gore, eco-warrior (19)
11. Bill Clinton, Clinton Foundation (6)
12. Michael Bloomberg, Mayor of New York, Bloomberg L.P. (9)
13. Bernard Arnault, LVMH (8)
14. Steven Spielberg, DreamWorks SKG (7)
15. Ralph Lauren, Polo Ralph Lauren (13)
16. Steve Ballmer, Microsoft (returning)
17. François-Henri Pinault, PPR (new entry)
18. Barry Diller & Diane von Furstenberg (15), IAC; Diane von Furstenberg (15)
19. H. Lee Scott, Wal-Mart (12)
20. Lloyd Blankfein, Goldman Sachs (new entry)
21. Jamie Dimon, JPMorgan Chase (new entry)
22. David Geffen, DreamWorks SKG (16)
23. George Lucas, Lucasfilm (40)
24. Jerry Bruckheimer, Jerry Bruckheimer Films (26)
25. Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook (new entry)
26. Ronald Perelman, MacAndrews & Forbes (31)
27. Jeff Bewkes, Time Warner (22)
28. John Lasseter (66), Andrew Stanton (new entry), and Brad Bird (new entry), Pixar, Disney
29. Herb Allen, Allen & Co. (21)
30. Miuccia Prada, Prada S.p.A. (44)
31. Damien Hirst, conceptual artist (new entry)
32. Sumner Redstone, Viacom, CBS (70)
33. Arnold Schwarzenegger, Governor of California (50)
34. Tom Hanks, actor, director, producer (32)
35. Robert Iger, Disney (36)
36. Bono, singer, humanitarian (28)
37. Larry Ellison, Oracle (20)
38. Larry Gagosian, Gagosian Gallery (84)
39. Howard Stringer, Sony (17)
40. Peter Chernin, News Corp. (24)
41. Philippe Dauman, Viacom (68)
42. Vivi Nevo, NV Investments (59)
43. Oprah Winfrey, Harpo Productions (14)
44. Jon Stewart, The Daily Show (89)
45. Stephen Colbert, The Colbert Report (87)
46. Carlos Slim Helú, Teléfonos de México, América Móvil (11)
47. Karl Lagerfeld, Chanel (52)
48. Giorgio Armani, Armani Group (37)
49. Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, Kingdom Holding Company (new entry)
50. Mike Nichols & Diane Sawyer, director; ABC News anchor (42)
51. Jacob Rothschild, financier (33)
52. Mickey Drexler, J. Crew (55)
53. Jeffrey Katzenberg, DreamWorks Animation (38)
54. Leslie Moonves, CBS (25)
55. George Clooney, actor, producer, director, activist (27)
56. Jay-Z, hip-hop (47)
57. Oscar & Annette de la Renta, Oscar de la Renta (53)
58. Judd Apatow, producer, director, actor, writer (new entry)
59. Robert De Niro, Tribeca Enetrprises, Tribeca Productions (34)
60. Bill Keller, The New York Times (new entry)
61. Mick Jagger, the Rolling Stones (60)
62. Bruce Wasserstein, Lazard; Wasserstein & Co. (43)
63. Ted Forstmann, IMG Worldwide (new entry)
64. Anna Wintour, Vogue (new entry)
65. Brian Roberts, Comcast (57)
66. Brian Grazer & Ron Howard, Imagine Entertainment (65)
67. Mukesh & Anil Ambani, Reliance Industries, Reliance ADA Group (new entry)
68. Jeff Zucker, NBC Universal (returning)
69. Jeff Skoll, Participant Media (61)
70. Jonathan Ive, Apple (83)
71. William McDonough, William McDonough & Partners (new entry)
72. Bobby Kotick, Activision Blizzard (new entry)
73. Shigeru Miyamoto, Nintendo (new entry)
74. Matt Drudge, the Drudge Report (new entry)
75. Donatella Versace, Gianni Versace S.p.A. (77)
76. Diego Della Valle, Tod’s (63)
77. Henry Kravis, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. (51)
78. Marc Jacobs, Marc Jacobs, Marc by Marc Jacobs, LVMH (returning)
79. Jean Pigozzi, investor, art collector (86)
80. Paul Allen, Vulcan Inc. (71)
81. Charlie Rose, Charlie Rose (80)
82. Frank Rich, The New York Times, HBO (82)
83. John Galliano, Christian Dior, Galliano (new entry)
84. Jann Wenner, Wenner Media (74)
85. Joel & Ethan Coen, movies (new entry)
86. John Malone, Liberty Media (69)
87. Harvey & Bob Weinstein, the Weinstein Company (41)
88. Michael Moritz, Sequoia Capital (56)
89. Steven Rattner, Quadrangle Group (97)
90. Arianna Huffington, the Huffington Post (98)
91. John Paulson, Paulson & Co. (new entry)
92. Vinod Khosla, Khosla Ventures (62)
93. Jerry Weintraub, Jerry Weintraub Productions (76)
94. Tobias Meyer, Sotheby’s (new entry)
95. Tom Brokaw, NBC News (returning)
96. Doug Morris, Universal Music Group (99)
97. Jimmy Buffett, Margaritaville (96)
98. Jeffrey Sachs, the Earth Institute at Columbia University, Millennium Promise (new entry)99. Steven Cohen, S.A.C. Capital Advisors (45)
100. Walter Mossberg, The Wall Street Journal (new entry)

Allele - The Key to Faithfulness?

"Men are more likely to be devoted and loyal husbands when they lack a particular variant of a gene that influences brain activity - the first time that science has shown a direct link between a man's genes and his aptitude for monogamy."

Study Links Gene Variant in Men to Marital Discord
by Shankar Vedantam
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/01/AR2008090102087_pf.html

Getting People to the Gym Every Week

Here is what they are doing in Denmark...

"A Danish chain of gyms is now offering membership free of charge, with the only caveat that you have to show up, in order for the membership to be free. If you fail to show up once per week you will be billed the normal monthly membership fee for that month. This should solve the problem with incentives that gym-membership normally carries - there is suddenly a very large (membership is around 85$ per month) incentive to show up each week."

http://www.marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2008/09/markets-in-self.html