Quote of the Day: Meat

"If God didn't want us to eat meat, he would have made cows run faster."

-Aisha Tyler (comedian)

Video: Everything's Amazing, Nobody's Happy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LoGYx35ypus&feature=haxa_popt00us13

Cost to put a Hit on Someone

"Anywhere from a few hundred dollars to a few hundred thousand dollars, if offered rates are anything to go by."

Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap
by Nina Shen Rastogi
http://www.slate.com/id/2212322/

Seaweed Car

"With the entire world looking for green alternatives, Toyota is in talks regarding an ultra lightweight, incredibly efficient plug-in hybrid with a body made of seaweed. The vehicle could potentially be seen in showrooms in 15 years, but it’s definitely not coming any time soon."

Toyota Wants to Build a Car From Seaweed
by Samantha Rose Hunt
http://www.tgdaily.com/content/view/41551/178/

Is Food the New Sex?

"What happens when, for the first time in history, adult human beings are free to have all the sex and food they want?"

http://www.hoover.org/publications/policyreview/38245724.html

Taxi Gourmet

Perhaps taxi drivers in DC are not a "garrulous" as in Argentina, but I find the ones in DC are often hesitant to steer you towards a specific restaurant...Also, eating in the District is quite pricey, and taxi drivers might not be as well-versed in the city dining scene. There just aren't that many bargains in DC proper...

"The food pilgrim, Layne Mosler, writes an increasingly popular blog at www.taxigourmet.com, an approach to culinary exploration that is guided by the wisdom of cabbies. It is a method the food writer from California began using two years after she moved to Buenos Aires in 2005 and found garrulous taxistas regaling her with tales of Buenos Aires."

Cabbies Steer Blogger to Buenos Aire's Diverse Culinary Offerings
by Joshua Partlow
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02/18/AR2009021803176.html

On Housing & Transport

"Ever wonder where all your money goes? According to some urban-planning researchers, almot half of it - 46 percent - goes to just two things: putting a roof overhead and getting around town. And that's before you even pay income taxes...Transportation costs begin to exceed the savings from lower housing prices when households move 15 to 17 miles away from job centers, according to a new report, 'Beltway Burden: The Combined Cost of Housing and Transportation in the Greater Washington, DC , Metropolitcan Area,' produced by the Urban Institute."

Factoring in the Cost of Getting Home
by Elizabeth Razzi
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/story/2009/02/13/ST2009021302818.html

How Other Countries Fight Fat

"In Japan, health officials check the waistlines of citizens over 40, and those considered too fat undergo diet counseling. Failure to slim down can lead to fines. New Zealand has rules barring people it deems too fat from immigrating to the country."

http://www.parade.com/news/intelligence-report/archive/how-other-countries-fight-fat.html?singleFile=true

What Does Middle Class Mean?

Here is what different people consider "middle class:"

*President Obama - Families that earn up to $200,000
*Sen. Chuck Schumer - Families that earn up to $160,000
*Sen. Mitch McConnell - Married couples filing jointly who earn $65,100 to $131,450
*Harvard College - Families earning from $60,000 to $180,000
*US Citizens - $45,000 to $200,000

http://www.parade.com/news/intelligence-report/archive/what-does-middle-class-mean.html?singleFile=true

I Got Busted by the SEC. Where Should I Flee To?

"Russia, Libya, Iran, or one of the other 90-odd countries that don't have extradition treaties with the United States. The U.S. has signed bilateral treaties with more than 100 countries, from the Bahamas to Israel to Zimbabwe, pledging that a fugitive will be sent back to the country where he committed a crime, plus numerous multilateral agreements promising to cooperate in fighting terrorism and the drug trade. Unfortunately for fugitives, that means most of the developed world is off-limits. If you want to be totally safe, you'll have to go somewhere no one really wants to be—or that isn't on friendly terms with Uncle Sam."

Financial Gangster's Paradise
by Christopher Beam
http://www.slate.com/id/2212107/

List of US Extradition Treaties:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_extradition_treaties

Why No More 9/11s?

Two theories have been discussed and another six will be laid out of the next several days...

Why No More 9/11s?
by Timothy Noah
http://www.slate.com/id/2208971/

How Did We Websurf in 1996?

Were you surfing the web in 1996? Do you remember anything you did?

Jurassic Web
by Farhad Manjoo
http://www.slate.com/id/2212108/www.slate.com/id/2212108/

Dining Experience of the Week: Kogi

"Kogi, the brainchild of two chefs, has entered the city’s gastro-universe at just the right moment. Its tacos and burritos are recession-friendly at $2 a pop. The truck capitalizes on emerging technology by sending out Twitter alerts so fans know where to find it at any given time."

For the New Generation, Kimchi Goes With Tacos
by Jennifer Steinhauer
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/25/dining/25taco.html?emc=eta1

Market for Adult Entertainment

If I had more time I'd study these studies...

http://marketdesigner.blogspot.com/2009/02/markets-for-adult-entertainments.html

Fact of the Day: Stimulus Package

"Only six percent of TV stimulus commentators are economists."

http://mediamatters.org/items/200902240021

What Happened to Hacky Sacking?

Could the demise of Hacky Sack also be related to the rise of computers/e-mail and other electronic devises? After all, I think ALL outdoor activities have been declining in recent years - including such staid pastimes as hunting and fishing.

"I see the disappearance of the Hacky Sack circle from our local landscape as a symptom of something larger. The game's demise has corresponded with the idsappearance of the slacker culture that the footbab was so closely identified with...Mattel acquired Wham-O and thus the rights to Hacky Sack in 1994, and the toy giant used footbag in an attempt to make Bohemianism part of its brand...but the target marketing didn't count on the local economy getting so good that even slackers joined the rat race. Hacky Sack was too closely aligned with the counterculture for recovering bohemians to take the game with them to the corporate realm."

Kick in the Rear
by David McKenna
http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/columns/cheapseats/

Map: Telephone Calls from NYC

"These lines link New York city to its top 50 foreign telephone partners last September."

http://www.carloratti.com/publications/on_us/20090301NationalGeographic.pdf

Competence: Is Your Boss Faking It?

"Psychologists know one way to become a leader is simply to act like one. Speak up, speak well and offer lots of ideas, and people begin to do what you say...Maybe dominant personalities talk more because they indeed had more to offer...But in the study, the ones who were rated the highest (perceived leadership-wise) were not the ones who gave the most correct answers (to math questions). Nor were they the ones whose SAT scores suggested they'd even be able to. What they did offer was the most answers - period. Even though they were not more competent...dominant individuals just behaved as if they were...So if you think your boss is making stupid moves, maybe the best thing you can do is say so. Loudly and frequently. The result could be your getting promoted - or fired."

Why Bosses Tend to be Blowhards
by Jeffrey Kluger
http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1878358,00.html

DC & Oklahoma City = Thriving in Recession

"For the past few months, Washington and Oklahoma City have been the large metropolitan areas with the lowest unemployment rates...officials in both cities said they're somewhat protected by not being overly reliant on any one sector. Both economies depend less on manufacturing and more on government than the national average. For Oklahoma City, the government jobs come from the Federal Aviation Administration, which has its largest operations outside of Washington there, and Tinker Air Force Base..."

-From 2/23/09, WPost

Is Cracking Your Knuckles Bad for You?

As a kid we were oftened warned not to crack our knuckles...but looks like it is fine to do...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02/22/AR2009022201783.html

Question of the Day: Investment Losses

Just goes to show that market cap is really a "fake" number...

Q: Investors recently lost a large amount of money. But if others were not enriched by the same amount, where did it all go?

A: Much of that so-called lost money never existed. Here's an example: Suppose you buy stock in a $1 million company at $1 a share. A year later, nothing has changed at the company, but the stock is trading at $100 per share. So do all the other investors: Your brokerage statements indicate that your holdings are worth $100 multiplied by the number of shares you own. But when you add up all this stock ownership, you see that a company worth $1 million now appears to be worth $100 million oly because the last share of stock sold at a high price. This makes no sense, but the figure is commonly used to describe a company's theoretical value. (It's called market capitalization or "market cap.") Now, say the price plummets to $1 a share. Suddently, the company is worth $1 million again. Where did that $99 million go? Nowhere. It never existed in the first place.

-From Ask Marilyn 2/22/09

Monaco is the New Switzerland

"For years, Swiss banks have been famous for their secrecy. Where should you go to hide your money now? Andorra, Liechtenstein, or Monaco. Those are the three jurisdictions listed as 'uncooperative tax havens' by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, an international group that tracks financial transparency. In other words, these are the countries whose banks are least likely to give out information about their clients, even if they're involved in major crimes or terrorism."

Monaco is the New Switzerland
by Christopher Beam
http://www.slate.com/id/2211600/

Can You Shoot Down a Helicopter With a Pistol?

"Yes, just aim for the tail or the pilot. The tail rotor is critical for stability in the air, but it's generally made of light and vulnerable materials such as fiberglass and hollow aluminum. If a bullet were to strike it in the right place, one of the propeller blades could break off, throwing the craft into a spin. (Even a stray article of clothing can get sucked into the tail rotor and down a chopper.) But the tail rotor is a small target, so you may be better off shooting at the cockpit, in the hope of disabling the pilot."

Can You Shoot Down a Helicopter With a Pistol?
by Brian Palmer
http://www.slate.com/id/2211929/

Japan's Languages

Japanese is the obvious one, but there are currently eight endangered languages, including Ainu.

"The seven other endangered languages in Japan are Yaeyama, Yonaguni, Okinawa, Kunigami, Miyako in Okinawa Prefecture, Amami in Kagoshima Prefecture, and Hachijo in Tokyo. The first six languages are spoken on the Nansei island chain, which stretches from north of Taiwan and south of Kyushu, and Hachijo in Tokyo's Hachijojima island and nearby islets."

http://www.asahi.com/english/Herald-asahi/TKY200902210050.html

Amazing Pic of Inauguration

Keep on zooming in...

http://gigapan.org/viewGigapanFullscreen.php?auth=033ef14483ee899496648c2b4b06233c

What Does a Hollywood Producer Do, Exactly?

Quite a large portfolio...

"He shepherds the production from start to finish. In a typical arrangement, the producer develops an idea or script with a writer and secures the necessary rights. He often hires the director, supervises casting, and assembles a crew. Additionally, the producer oversees the budget and then coordinates the postproduction work—everything from editing, to commissioning music, to encouraging the film's stars to plug the movie on talk shows."

What Does a Hollywood Producer Do, Exactly?
by Ian Crouch
http://www.slate.com/id/2211696/

How to go to Harvard for Free

"Over the last few years, snooty universities across the country have been filming their lectures and putting their course material online. A few months ago, Academic Earth, a startup founded by a young Yale graduate named Richard Ludlow, began collecting these videos and packaging them into full-length courses. The result is a geeky procrastinator's dream."

How to go to Harvard for Free
by Farhood Manjoo
http://www.slate.com/id/2211591/

Why Are Islamic Terrorists so Big on Beheadings?

"Is there any significance to beheading in Islam? Yes, but it's important in other cultures too...Two verses in the Quran refer to decapitation—both in the context of religious war."

Decapitation and the Muslim World
by Nina Shen Rastogi
http://www.slate.com/id/2211593/

Quote of the Day: Japanese Knives

"There is no doubt that [Japanese knives] are the best knives in the world. Nothing comes close to them in terms of sharpness. With one of these knives, you could slice fish so thin you could read a whole chapter of La Physiologie du Goût through the slices."

http://fxcuisine.com/default.asp?language=2&Display=241&resolution=low

Video: S&P 100 Stocks

"I thought it would be interesting to use Google's Motion Chart to analyze stocks in the S&P 100. The following visualizes the annual change, weekly change, market capitalization (not exactly) of the components of the SP 100 for 2008."

http://www.26variable.com/

Theory of Everything

*Garrett Lisi's Theory of Everything...
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/07/21/080721fa_fact_wallacewells?currentPage=all

*Here is a video...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-xHw9zcCvRQ&fmt=18

Bin Laden's Location

"Geography Professor Thomas Gillespie of UCLA has employed a technique typically used for tracking endangered species in order to pinpoint the most likely location of the world's most wanted terrorist. In a paper (pdf) published in the MIT International Review Gillespie describes how he used biogeographic data including bin Laden's last known location, cultural background, security needs, declining health, limited mobility and height to create a mathematical model that he claims will show where the terror mastermind is hiding. More specifically, he found a 90 percent chance that bin Laden is in Kurram province in Pakistan's Federally Administered Tribal Areas, most likely in the town of Parachinar which gave shelter to a larger number of Mujahedin during the 1980s."

http://blog.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2009/02/17/tuesday_map_osama_bin_ladens_current_location

Japan's Richest

Uniqlo, pachinko, and Nintendo rule Japan...

From the Forbes Asia March 2, 2009 edition --
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601101&sid=a.uHrHMfY.V0&refer=japan

1. Tadashi Yanai (Fast Retailing - Uniqlo): $6.1 billion
2. Kunio Busujima (Sankyo): $5.2 billion
3. Hiroshi Yamauchi (Nintendo): $4.5 billion
4. Akira Mori (Mori Trust): $4.2 billion
5. Masayoshi Son (Softbank): $3.9 billion
6. Eitaro Itoyama (Various stuff): $3.7 billion
7. Hiroshi Mikitani (Crimson Group/MDM): $3.6 billion
8. Nobutada Saji (Suntory): $3.5 billion
9. Hiroko Takei (Takefuji): $2.8 billion
10. Takemitsu Takizaki (Keyence): $2.4 billion

*Updated List
http://www.forbes.com/2010/01/12/japan-richest-tycoons-billionaires-japan-rich-10-social-networking-intro.html?feed=rss_home

Paying for Web Content

What web content would you actually pay for?

"Not all successful paid sites are alike, but they all share at least one of these attributes: 1) They are so amazing as to be irreplaceable. 2) They are beautifully designed and executed and extremely easy to use. 3) They are stupendously authoritative."

Not All Information Wants to be Free
by Jack Shafer
http://www.slate.com/id/2211486/

Male vs. Female Internet Surfing

"Recent research suggests that men and women use the Internet differently. The results strengthen stereotypes about men being more visual-spatial and focused on destinatiosn while women inhabit verbal universes and are more inclined toward emotional connections and community-building...men were quicker to use the Internet as a tool for online transactions, for eexperiences such as veideo games, or to find content. Women tended to us ethe Internet to join onine communities and were more prolific in their e-mail use."

The Online Male Takes a Licking and Keeps on Clicking
by Delphine Schrank
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02/16/AR2009021601009.html?wprss=rss_technology

What's Killing the Video-Game Industry?

"How can publishers lose money amid such incredible sales and record growth? The answer is simple: They're spending more than they're bringing in. Game development budgets have ballooned, and publishers are reeling because they can't keep the costs under control."

What's Killing the Video-Game Business?
by N. Evan Van Zelfden
http://www.slate.com/id/2210732/

Why Are Subs Always Bumping Into Things?

"Because they're stealthy. So stealthy, in fact, that they don't use the equipment necessary to detect obstacles. Most subs have two types of sonar: active and passive. Active sonar sends out acoustic sounds, or "pings," which can reach thousands of yards. If the ping bounces back, that means it hit an object—like a whale, a ship, or another submarine. But stealth subs often avoid active sonar, since the ping could give away their location. Instead, they use passive sonar, which merely detects sounds."

Sub Standard
by Christopher Beam
http://www.slate.com/id/2211411/

Why Stress is Good

"Sure, stress can be bad for you, especially if you react to it with anger or depression or by downing five glasses of Scotch. But what's often overlooked is a common-sense counterpoint: in some circumstances, it can be good for you, too. It's right there in basic-psychology textbooks. As Spencer Rathus puts it in 'Psychology: Concepts and Connections,' 'some stress is healthy and necessary to keep us alert and occupied.'"

Who Says Stress Is Bad For You?
by Mary Carmichael
http://www.newsweek.com/id/184154

Voted Best Commercial in Europe

So true...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3FzgvXdQ9vE

Why do Humans Eat Chili Peppers?

Maybe we just eat them because of trade. Even though they are native to the Americas, I doubt they are something that a large number of people would embrace without some type of PR campaign and easy access to them. I also imagine that large rice-consuming cultures are more likely to embrace chili peppers because it helps spice-up what would normally be considered bland. If there is no best alternative (fish/soy sauce/beans), chili may be the way to go...

"Why willingly ingest something that we know will bring us pain, a sensation we normally try to avoid? Among other things, eating chili peppers makes the body release endorphins. Endorphins are just about the strongest drugs you can do without doing drugs. And they are in many ways a wonder drug, because they don't create an addiction, incapacitate you or dull your senses."

An official from the Institute of Biomolecular Chemistry of the Italian National Research Council gives three reasons we voluntarily eat capsaicin (the active component of chili peppers):

1) It makes other tastes come alive.
2) Some people like hot food for its own sake
3) For the therapeutic properties of chili

The Pleasure is in the Pain
by Andreas Viestad
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/story/2009/02/16/ST2009021601052.html

How do We Know the Recession Has Ended?

"The first sign of an improvement will be...corporate silence. As in no more draconian job-cut announcements. Once that happens (or doesn't), the unemployment rate will plateau. Then, companies might start hiring again, and a couple of months after that, the unemployment rate will start to fall. Three straight monthly declines would be a good sign that the economy is really on the rebound. That probably won't happen until 2010."

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/How-To-Tell-When-The-Economys-usnews-14351762.html

Fact of the Week: North Korean Sanctions

Do sanctions really work?

http://www.reuters.com/article/vcCandidateFeed1/idUSTRE51H1P920090218

Women Live Longer Because They Talk More?

One time where it pays to be talkative is in the doctors office. It *might* also pay to be married...

"Just as in many other species, human males are built for competition and females for longevity. Physiologically, the male hormone testosterone builds muscle mass, while the female hormone estrogen boosts the immune system and increases the level of HDL. Tom Perls estimates that about 30% of the male-female disaprty in longevity is due to biological differences, and 70% to social and cultural factors...78% of all married men who visited a doctor had been influenced to come in by their wives."

Want to Live a Bit Longer? Speak Up.
by Manoj Jain
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02/13/AR2009021303111.html?hpid=topnews

Working Poor = Best Economic Indicator?

I think the best economic indicator is the average worker at a grocery store or consumer goods store...

"They saw it coming. The working poor always see it coming, well before the Wall Street analysts and the Federal Reserve wonks. From the bottom rung of the ladder, you get a more immediate view of the economy and the direction it's taking."

The Blow the Working Class Saw Coming
by Iain Levinson
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02/13/AR2009021301645.html

The Currency Count

From PPI...

In 2008 there were 194 countries and 157 different currencies.

"Since the early 1990s, the number of currencies has begun to drop even as more countries become independent. The euro is the main reason for the falling currency count...Altogether, then, the world is apparently slowly drifting back toward the currency model of the medieval world, with a few big multinational currencies rather than many small ones. Is there a deep meaning? Perhaps it is simply a pragmatic judgment that on balance, small countries lose more than they gain with their own money; perhaps it suggests a shift in the meaning of sovereignty."

http://www.ppionline.org/ppi_ci.cfm?contentID=254903&knlgAreaID=108&subsecID=127&FREM=Y&sid=1&mid=28181

Do Shark Repellants Work?

"So, do these repellants work? Hard to say, since testing them out is so difficult. For one thing, there's a distinction between deterring curious sharks and preventing an ambush-style attack by a 2,000-pound great white traveling at 20 knots. It's easier to create a test situation that replicates the former than the latter. But, even then, it's extremely costly and time-consuming—you have to rent a tank, bring in sharks, and prove that they're physically repelled by the substance and not just bored."

When Sharks Don't Attack
by Christopher Beam
http://www.slate.com/id/2211069/

Lims vs. Town Car

An interesting discussion about which is classier. Clearly, the Town Car is the only way to be driven around Washington, DC.

"A limo says you're trying too hard. It says prom night. Unless you're riding with guys with earpieces or you're so famous you go by one name, the limo says more-money-than-brains...The Town Car, on the other hand, suggests a kind of upper-crust restraint, a dignified and solemn display of bankroll."

For the Big Event, It's This Town's Car
by Paul Farhi
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/08/AR2009010803803.html

Map: Stimulus Package Size

The US government has committed around $7.8 trillion to the financial crisis so far. That is equivalent to the combined value of almost every home west of the Mississippi River.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/graphic/2009/02/11/GR2009021100842.html?sid=ST2009021001270&s_pos=list

Why Is the Flu Spread in the Winter?

"Influenza germs last longer and pass from person to person more effectively in lower absolute humidity—i.e., when it's cold outside and the air is dryer."

Flu Mystery Solved? Why It Flourishes in the Winter
by Matt Kaplan
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/02/090209-flu-humidity.html

Making Money from Marley

I wonder if Obama can do the same thing...

"Reggae singer Bob Marley's name and likeness have been slapped on unauthorized merchandise since his death in 1981. Now, the Marley family and a private equity firm that invests in retail brands are preparing a major push to license Mr. Marley's likeness, trademarks and themes to apparel, food and even video games."

Venture Seeks to Cash In On Bob Marley's Image
by Rachel Dodes and Kelly Nolan
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123422801889765831.html?mod=todays_us_marketplace

The Changing DC Press Corps

Times are a changing...

Press Corps in DC More Specialized, International
by David Bauder
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20090211/D9693RJG0.html

Body Language Reveals Wealth

I'm skeptical because it was only done with undergraduate students. I wonder if the results would be different with working adults... I imagine that wealthier people know that their time is valuable (think billable hours), and thus, they are always considering the "cost" of a conversation.

Body Language Reveals Wealth
by Jeanna Bryner
http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/20090210/sc_livescience/bodylanguagerevealswealth

Restaurant of the Week: Au Pied de Cochon

This was one of the restaurants Anthony Bourdain visited in "Food Porn." The specialty is pig.

Here is a review with pictures...
http://thisisgonnabegood.blogspot.com/2006/11/au-pied-de-cochon-montreal.html

America's 10 Most Miserable Cities

Based on nine factors: weather, commute time, unemployemnt, corruption, pro sports teams, Superfund sites, taxes (both income and sales), violent crime.

1. Stockton, CA
2. Memphis, TN
3. Chicago, IL
4. Cleveland, OH
5. Modesto, CA
6. Flint, MI
7. Detroit, MI
8. Buffalo, NY
9. Miami, FL
10. St. Louis, MO

http://realestate.yahoo.com/promo/americas-most-miserable-cities.html

Why Do Americans Love Peanut Butter?

"We can thank a vegetarian and a world war. Peanuts, which are cheap and high in protein, have been consumed in the United States for more than 250 years, but peanut butter wasn't developed until the 1890s and didn't become popular until the 1920s, when it was first mass produced. The meat shortage caused by World War II made the creamy spread an American icon...Although grinding peanuts into a paste seems a relatively obvious innovation, there is no clear reference to peanut butter in the United States until physician, vegetarian, and breakfast-cereal titan John Harvey Kellogg served nut butters to patients in his sanitarium in the 1890s."

Why Do Americans Love Peanut Butter?
by Brian Palmer
http://www.slate.com/id/2210837/

The Power of a Single Centrist Senator

If you want to be the (or one of the) most powerful Senators, just be a centrist...

"Senators already have a lot of it—they serve long terms, they craft the national agenda, they can put a hold on any bill. But that power is magnified in the ideological center, especially when the vote count is close...Because the number of swingable Republicans is smaller, each one is more powerful. Best of all for the gang, there's little consequence for breaking ranks. Republicans won't punish the three defectors for the same reason Obama didn't punish Joe Lieberman when he strayed during the 2008 campaign. They need them."

Gang Signs
by Christopher Beam
http://www.slate.com/id/2210838/

How Arson Investigations Into Wildfires Work

I had no idea that there is a registry of convicted arsonists...

Did He Start the Fire?
by Daniel Engber
http://www.slate.com/id/2210845/

The Dow Distortion

"A controversy over the composition of the Dow Jones industrial average is smoldering in the financial-indexing community, with some alleging that excessive conservatism and political pressure is keeping the Dow from staying abreast of changes in the stock market."

Facts:

*The Dow Jones industrial average is a "price-weighted index, meaning that companies with high share prices carry proportionally more weight than those with low ones.

*Instead of IBM accounting for one-30th of the Dow's overall price, these days it accounts for more than 9 percent because of its shares' relatively high price of $96.14.

*Despite its lower exposure to financials, the DJIA only slightly outperformed the S&P 500 over the last year, correlating with its market-weighted rival almost 96 percent of the time.

Some Stress Dow's Distortions
by Jeff Horwitz
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02/07/AR2009020700084.html?wprss=rss_business

Religion in the US

Percent of respondents who said religion is an important part of their daily lives...I'd like to "marry" these figures on a map with things like average life span/happiness levels, or income levels/unemployment...Even in the "least religious" state, nearly half of the people embrace religion...

1. Mississippi (85%)
2. Alabama (82%)
3. South Carolina (80%)
4. Tennessee (79%)
5. Louisiana: (78%)
.
.
49. Maine (48%)
50. New Hampshire: (46%)
51. Vermont: (42%)

To Feel the Spirit, Pol Says Go South
by Adelle Banks
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02/06/AR2009020603213.html

Smoking Ban Map

Looks like bans are largely drawn along Republican vs. Democratic states...

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

The Tax Code by the Numbers

No wonder nobody can figure out their taxes...

*Words in the tax code: 3.7 million
*Pages of tax laws and regulations: 67,506
*Pages in the 1040 instruction book: 161
*Number of changes to the tax code in 2008: 5008
*Percent of taxpayers using paid preparers: 59%
*Percent of taxpayers using tax software: 16%
*Percent of IRS answers to phone queries that are correct: 90% (impressive...)
*Number of official "tax expenditures" or loopholes in the code: 161

They Claim They Couldn't Crack the Code. Can You?
by Chris Edwards
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02/06/AR2009020602845.html

Wikileaks Obtains CRS Reports

Another resource to go to for CRS Reports...

"The 6,780 reports, current as of this month, comprise over 127,000 pages of material on some of the most contentious issues in the nation, from the U.S. relationship with Israel to abortion legislation. Nearly 2,300 of the reports were updated in the last 12 months, while the oldest report goes back to 1990. The release represents the total output of the Congressional Research Service (CRS) electronically available to Congressional offices. The CRS is Congress's analytical agency and has a budget in excess of $100M per year."

http://wikileaks.org/

What is MotleyFool Reading?

If you're looking for an investment book...

http://www.fool.com/investing/small-cap/2009/02/06/every-shareholder-should-read-this-now.aspx

Is Sharing a Bed With Your Baby Wise?

"Until we have a better study, I think it is important for parents to know that bed sharing, which might have some benefits, could well also have some very significant risks."

Crib Notes
by Sydney Spiesel
http://www.slate.com/id/2210500/

Why Amazon.com is Thriving in Recession

If WalMart is still thriving, it means that having brick and mortar stores is not the entire part of the equation...

"Over the last couple of years, the company's retail arm has pursued a relentless expansion and it has kept prices low...Analysts say it can do so for one big reason: It owns and operates zero stores. While other retailers had to order their holiday inventory weeks in advance—and, therefore, guess at consumer demand, risking getting stuck with a lot of extra stock—Amazon could wait until late in the season to buy from producers. Indeed, Amazon isn't always the cheapest place to shop—real bargain hunters can almost always find better deals at Wal-Mart (which may explain why that company is the other bright spot in retail this season)...As times get tough, you'd expect that people would turn to eBay both to sell their stuff and to buy other people's used items. But while you can occasionally get some amazing deals on eBay, shopping on an auction site requires a lot of work."

Shop Till Everyone Else Drops
by Farhad Manjoo
http://www.slate.com/id/2210620/

What Are We Doing in Afghanistan?

"Across hundreds of years of sorrowful history, no war in Afghanistan has ever been good...Even if everything goes splendidly in Afghanistan, it will count for naught unless the Taliban and al-Qaida are neutralized in neighboring Pakistan—a turbulent state that has nuclear weapons. There isn't much the United States can do about that problem militarily; it's a diplomatic puzzle to be worked out with other powers in the region."

What Are We Doing in Afghanistan?
by Fred Kaplan
http://www.slate.com/id/2210624/

Why Where Prehistoric Animals So Big?

"They had more time to grow. Prehistoric animals weren't all enormous. The horse's earliest known ancestor, for example, lived around the same time as the giant boa and (at roughly the size of a fox) was much smaller than today's equine. And though many prehistoric creatures did get very, very large, they didn't all appear at the same time."

A Snake the Size of a Plane
by Nina Shen Rastogi
http://www.slate.com/id/2210631/

25 People Who Will Affect Your Finances in 2009

Here is the top 10 -- follow the link for the rest...

1. Barack Obama
2. Ben Bernanke
3. Lawrence Summers
4. Timothy Geithner
5. Jean-Claude Trichet
6. Warren Buffett
7. Bill Gross
8. Lou Jiwei
9. Barney Frank
10. Sheila Bair

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/25-People-Who-Will-Affect-usnews-14264821.html

Federal vs. State Government

A nice little explanation on a very complex topic...

http://usgovinfo.about.com/od/rightsandfreedoms/a/federalism.htm

Do People Get More Depressed in the Winter?

Maybe not...

http://www.marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2009/02/does-everyone-get-more-depressed-in-winter.html

Is 100 Cents Worth More Than a Dollar?

"In some cases, money may just serve as a score – the higher number wins, regardless of the actual value..."

Sometimes 100 Cents Feels Like It's Worth More Than a Dollar
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/01/090121155320.htm

Scam of the Week

"Hackers print up phony 'PARKING VIOLATION' notices and plaster them on cars parked on the street. The phony ticket directs the car's owner to visit a certain website, and of course the website in question (which largely seems to comprise of photos of badly parked cars) is a hack site which attempts to install malware on your PC."

http://tech.yahoo.com/blogs/null/118488

Date Local

It is good for the environment...

Date Local
by Barron YoungSmith
http://www.slate.com/id/2202431/

Is it Worth it to Wash Your Recyclables?

"Not really. Recycling facilities are well equipped to handle dirty cans and bottles, so some caked-on tomato sauce and the occasional stray chickpea won't significantly hinder the process. (These facilities can even handle that lime wedge you left in your Corona bottle.) Residue left on plastic or glass containers generally gets flushed out with water at some point in the process; most of the gunk left behind on steel and aluminum cans is burned away when those containers get melted down."

Clean Jar, Clean Conscience?
by Nina Shen Rastogi
http://www.slate.com/id/2210344/

Most Car Injuries Don't Even Require Driving

Another thing to be paranoid about...

http://www.forbes.com/2009/01/28/car-accident-injuries-lifestyle-vehicles_0128_car_injuries.html

Top Honey Moon Spots

From Modern Bride (year unknown; but apparently, this is not the most recent...)

1. Hawaii
2. Italy
3. Tahiti
4. Anguilla
5. Fiji
6. St. Lucia
7. Mexico
8. St. Bart's
9. Jamaica
10. France

http://honeymoons.about.com/od/toprankedplaces/a/best_honeymoon.htm

The "Mini CIA"

This special NYPD unit appears to put the three letter federal government intel agencies to shame...

"Christopher Dickey's new book 'Securing the City' chronicles the creation of an elite and controversial counter-intellignece unit within the NYPD...Freed from the bureaucratic restraints of Washington, Cohen set about building his 600-person unit with astonishing speed and efficiency, infuriating former federal colleagues along the way. In no time, he had twice as many fluent Arabic speakers on his staff as in the entire FBI. His agents speak some 50 languages and dialects in all, which matches the reported linguistic capabilities of the CIA. How was the miracle accomplished? Mainly by tapping the latent resources of the NYPD while ignoring the wrongheaded security-clearance guideliness of the federal government."

Langley on the Hudson
by Matthew Brzezinski
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/29/AR2009012903568.html?wprss=rss_artsandliving%2Fbooks

Do Vegetarians Have Better Sex?

No, they don't. In sum, eat your meat!

"It's true that cardiovascular disease is associated with sexual dysfunction in both women and men and that obesity has been linked to low libido in both sexes. It's also true that, in Westernized countries at least, vegetarians and vegans tend to weigh less and have lower body-mass indexes and lower cholesterol levels than omnivores. This may be due to the fact that vegetarian diets tend to be higher in fiber and lower in protein, but it also may have to do with the fact that vegetarians are, in general, more health-conscious...Vegetarianism also may have some negative effects on sexual desire. Vegetarian diets tend to correlate with higher rates of zinc deficiency, which is closely associated with lower testosterone levels and depressed sex drives. Vegetarian women are also more likely to develop amenorrhea (loss of periods), a condition that's usually accompanied by low testosterone, vaginal dryness, and poor libido."

Debbie Does Salad
by Nina Shen Rastogi
http://www.slate.com/id/2210092/

The "Rich" Dress-Down Phenomenon

Wealthy people often dress like bums and the wanna-be rich often dress to impress...

"CEOs were easy to spot by their casual dress. In one of the strange anthropological twists of Davos, the more you make, the more you dress down. Journalists and intellectuals, thinking they're going to be around a lot of CEOs and money managers, wear suits and ties. CEOs and money managers, thinking they're going to be rubbing tweed-patched elbows with journalists and intellectuals, dress down."

Searching for an Optimist at Davos
by Daniel Gross
http://www.slate.com/id/2210100/

"Law" Making American Cowards?

Yes, law, lawyers, and lawsuits drive Americans crazy. It makes them paranoid and wastes lots of time/energy. At the same time, law is necessary. Perhaps law can be made simpler - something that also needs to happen to the tax code...

"In his new book, Life Without Lawyers: Liberating Americans From Too Much Law, Philip Howard argues that Americans are slowly being choked to death by law. We churn out more than 70,000 pages of new rules in the federal register each year, and the proportion of lawyers in the workforce has nearly doubled between 1970 and 2000. In Howard's view, our reliance on law, lawyers, and lawsuits has turned Americans into fat, neurotic cowards who 'go through the day looking over their shoulder instead of where they want to go.'"

Law! Law! Law!
by Dahlia Lithwick
http://www.slate.com/id/2210172/

Jatropha - The Next Big Biofuel?

Interesting, but the Time article does not mention the negative points about Jatropha...

"The fruit pods plucked from jatropha trees have seeds that produce clean-buring diesel fuel. But unlike corn and other biofuel sources, the jatropha doesn't have to compete with foods crops for arable land. Even in the worst of soils, it grows like weeds...India has set aside 100 million acres for jatropha and expects the oil to account for 20% of its diesel consumption by 2011. Australia, China, Brazil, and Kenya have also embraced it...the fuel emits negligible greenhouse gasses, and the trees can capture four tons of carbon dioxide per acre..."

The Next Big Biofuel
by Tim Padgett
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1874835,00.html


"Oilseed plant jatropha does not offer an easy answer to biofuels problems as some countries hope, because it can be toxic and yields are unreliable, experts and industry officials warned..."

Toxic Jatropha Not Magic Biofuel Crop, Experts Warn
http://uk.reuters.com/article/oilRpt/idUKHKG7593720070912

What is the Best Food Produced En Masse?

"Indian food, produced en masse, sits relatively well, especially the non-meat dishes and the ground meats. It can sit and stew for a long time. Chinese food, which usually should be cooked at high heat and served immediately, wares about the worst. Barbecue can do fine, if it is cooked properly to begin with (not usually the case, however). At Chipotle the carnitas are pretty good and they are cooked sous vide at a distance and then reheated in the restaurant. But the top prize goes to Korean vegetable dishes, many of which are fermented and pickled in the first place."

http://www.marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2009/01/what-is-the-best-food-produced-en-masse.html

Why Currency Matters

"Every one-yen appreciation against the dollar reduces Toyota's earnings by $450 million."

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/economy-watch/2009/01/japan_inc_in_trouble.html?hpid=topnews

On "Buy American" Provisions

Well said.

"Nearly a third of all steel purchased in the United States -- primarily for construction and cars -- comes from overseas. That is, U.S. steel mills are meeting only about 70% of domestic demand. If those mills suddenly had the market to themselves, at least for big, fat government infrastructure projects, what do you think would happen? Is it possible that, I don't know, their prices would suddenly go up as they realized Uncle Sam had nowhere else to shop?"

Buy American Provisions in Stimulus Make No Economic Sense
by David Lazarus
http://www.latimes.com/news/columnists/la-fi-lazarus1-2009feb01,0,1742019.column