Lawyers Fees $1,250/Hour

"Leading attorneys in the U.S. are asking as much as $1,250 an hour, significantly more than in previous years, taking advantage of big clients' willingness to pay top dollar for certain types of services."

Big Law's $1,000-Plus an Hour Club
by Vanessa O'Connell
http://finance.yahoo.com/career-work/article/112197/big-law-$1,000-hour-club?mod=career-salary_negotiation

Only four years ago the WSJ was talking about hourly rates hitting the $1,000 point mark...
Lawyers Gear Up Grand New Fees
by Nathan Koppel
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB118775188828405048.html

Time 100 All-Time Greatest Toys

http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/0,28757,2049243,00.html

Contrarian View on CEO Pay

"In a new paper, they suggest that the higher salaries for chief executives can largely be explained by increases in the value of the stock market. Viewed as a whole, these salaries are a result of competitive pressures rather than the exploitation of shareholders."

A Contrarian Look at Whether US Chief Executive Are Overpaid
by Tyler Cowen
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/18/business/18scene.html

Fun Wikipedia Articles on Economics

*Twin deficits hypothesis
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double_deficit_(economics)

*Fed Funds Probability
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fed_Funds_Probability

*Business Cycle
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_cycle

*Multiplier
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multiplier_(economics)

*Returns to Scale
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Returns_to_scale

The Gift Card Economy

"In their recent paper 'Paying Not to Go to the Gym,' the economists Stefano DellaVigna and Ulrike Malmendier showed that people who buy an anuual membership to a health club overestimate by more than 70 percent how much they'll actually use it."

My favorite quote from the article:

"In the small survey by Yale undergraduates on which Waldfogel based his paper, grandparents gave cash 42 percent of the time, and parents gave cash 10 percent of the time. But not once did a sutdent receive cash from his or her significant other. Plainly, there are relationships for which a cash gift is appropriate, but in most cases, the social taboo crushes the economist's dream of such a beautifully efficient exchange."

The articles notes three big things that often go to waste:

*Gym memberships
*Gift cards
*Medicine

The Gift-Card Economy
by Stephen Dubner and Steven Levitt
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/07/magazine/07wwln_freak.t.html

Membership Libraries

"The Mercantile Library Center for Fiction is one of 17 membership libraries scattered through the US, survivors of an era long before that of tax-supported public libraries."

Libraries of Gracious Reading, For Members Only
by Anne Eisenberg
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/11/business/yourmoney/11library.html

and...

A Bibliophile, 3,600 Friends and a System
by Carole Braden
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/10/garden/10trad.html

How Gas Prices Work

How Gas Prices Work
by Kevin Bonsor and Ed Grabianowski
http://auto.howstuffworks.com/fuel-efficiency/fuel-consumption/gas-price.htm

Government Gas Secrets

"Your car probably does not get the mileage advertised. Under federal guidelines by the EPA, carmakers are allowed to test miles per gallon by running the vehicle not on the road, but what's essentially a treadmill for cars. During an EPA spot check, the car ran with no air conditioning, no inclines or hills, no wind resistance and at speeds no greater than 60 mph. Chyrsler says the four-wheel drive diesel version of the Jeep Liberty gets 22 mpg in teh city. Consumer Reports tested it and found it got more like 11 mpg."

Pain at the Pump: Government Gas Secrets
http://www.kcra.com/r/9177254/detail.html

Does Oil Really Come in Barrels

"Not anymore. Classic wooden barrels were in widespread use only at the very beginning of the industry's history."

Does Oil Really Come in Barrels?
by Daniel Enber
http://www.slate.com/id/2115219/

Also:

Q: How much gasoline does a barrel (42 gallons) of crude oil produce?

A: About 20 gallons. The same barrel also produces about 10 gallons of diesel fuel and home heating oil (combined) and about 5 gallons of jet fuel, plue other products.

-From Ask Marilyn

Why Can't I Tickle Myself?

http://shine.yahoo.com/event/green/why-cant-i-tickle-myself-2454923/

Household Consumption Expenditures Going to Food

With revolutions budding in the Middle East and North Africa, many are reporting that food prices are helping fuel the revolution. But are food prices the real cause? In Egpyt, the percentage of total household consumption expenditures going to food is 38%. In Tunisia it is 36%. But to what extent has food inflation played a role? Was inflation the tipping point?

"In the US, the poor spend 16% of their income on groceries vs. the rich, who spend 11%."

Food Fights. Rising Global Grocery Bills Are Hitting The Poor and Causing Political Unrest
by Rana Foroohar
http://www.time.com/time/magazine (pay to read; has a nice global map of % of total household consumption expenditures going to food)

Social Networking & The Dunbar Number

"Robin Dunbar's number is 147.8, plur or minus a lot, and it is the size of the average human being's social network of friends, as predicted by the size of the average human brain...the size of the orbitomedial prefrontal cortex correlates well with the size of a person's circle of friends..."

How Many Friends Can Your Brain Hold?
by Matt Ridley
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704422204576130602460527550.html

Against Foodies

Now debate.

The Moral Crusade Against Foodies
by B.R. Myers
http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2011/03/the-moral-crusade-against-foodies/8370/

America's 50 Most Powerful People in Food

http://www.thedailymeal.com/50-most-powerful-food-folk-america

The Document That Brought Revolution to the Middle East?

"Few Americans have heard of Gene Sharp. But for decades, his practical writings on nonviolent revolution — most notably “From Dictatorship to Democracy,” a 93-page guide to toppling autocrats, available for download in 24 languages — have inspired dissidents around the world, including in Burma, Bosnia, Estonia and Zimbabwe, and now Tunisia and Egypt."

Shy US Intellectual Created Playbook Used in a Revolution
by Sheryl Gay Stolberg
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/17/world/middleeast/17sharp.html?_r=1&nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha22

Value of a Life - US Government View

"The Environmental Protection Agency set the value of a life at $9.1 million last year in proposing tighter restrictions on air pollution. The agency used numbers as low as $6.8 million during the George W. Bush administration. The Food and Drug Administration declared that life was worth $7.9 million last year, up from $5 million in 2008, in proposing warning labels on cigarette packages featuring images of cancer victims. The Transportation Department has used values of around $6 million to justify recent decisions to impose regulations that the Bush administration had rejected as too expensive, like requiring stronger roofs on cars. And the numbers may keep climbing. In December, the E.P.A. said it might set the value of preventing cancer deaths 50 percent higher than other deaths, because cancer kills slowly. A report last year financed by the Department of Homeland Security suggested that the value of preventing deaths from terrorism might be 100 percent higher than other deaths."

As US Agencies Put More Value on a Life, Businesses Fret
by Binyamin Appelbaum
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/17/business/economy/17regulation.html?_r=1&nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha2

World Database of Happiness

Directed by Ruut Veenhoven
http://worlddatabaseofhappiness.eur.nl/

Happiness = S+C+V

"Happiness = S+C+V. In this equation, 'S' is your biological disposition toward being happy, aka your 'happiness set point.' 'C' represents the conditions in which you live, some of which are fixed (like gender/age) and some of which you can change (like the relationships you establish). Finally, 'V' stands for the voluntary activities that you engage in: work, vacation, meditation, excercise - even playing with warm puppies."

The Secret to Happiness Can be Found in a Mathematical Equation
by Bridget Bentz Sizer
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/22/AR2006062201557.html

Coolest Sculpture

http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_upshot/20110215/od_yblog_upshot/the-love-love-boat

Currency Trading is the World's Largest Market

As of 2010:

Currency trading: $1,460 trillion
World GDP: $62 trillion
Exports: $25 trillion

http://www.dlc.org/ndol_ci.cfm?kaid=108&subid=900003&contentid=255218

3% of the World's People Are Immigrants

http://www.dlc.org/ndol_ci.cfm?kaid=108&subid=900003&contentid=253842

Brain Study: Waiting is Traumatic

"The dread is often worse than the event itself...but the results are good news because they indicate that extreme dreaders can do something to alleviate the problem: find a distraction - such as meditation, exercise or some activity - to take the focus off the anticipated event."

http://www.daikynguyen.com/eet/print_archive/united_states/chicago/2006/05-May/19/B4.pdf

Prayer Can Kill

"Prayers offered by strangers had no effect on the recovery of people who were undergoing heart surgery, a large and long-awaited study has found. And patients who knew they were being prayed for had a higher rate of post-operative complications like abnormal heart rhythms, perhaps because of the expectatiosn the prayers created, the researchers suggested."

Long-Awaited Medical Study Questions the Power of Prayer
by Benedict Carey
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/31/health/31pray.html

Electronic Smog a Real Problem?

http://www.copperwiki.org/index.php/Electronic_Smog

Dirty Living is Good

"Gritty rats and mice living in sewers and farms seem to have healthier immune systems than their squeaky clean cousins that frolic in cushy antiseptic labs, two studies indicate. The lesson for humans: Clean living may make us sick."

http://www.wired.com/techbiz/media/news/2006/06/71185

The Claim: A Shot of Whiskey Relieves a Toothache?

"Whiskey and other strong liquors have no value as a home remedy for toothaches."

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/02/health/02real.html

When Does New News Become Old News?

"In the case of a news article on the Internet, the answer if surprisingly long: 36 hours on average...More precisely, 36 hours is the amount of time it takes for half of the total readership of an article to have read it."

News Online Seems to Have Long Shelf Life
by Noam Cohen
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/17/business/media/17decay.html

What People Will do For $5

http://www.fiverr.com/

Why Are So Many Islanders Obese?

http://www.marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2011/02/why-are-islanders-so-obese.html

Pic: World of Snow and Ice

http://www.marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2011/02/snow-and-ice.html

Study: Who Gets in the Door at Nightclubs

http://insight.kellogg.northwestern.edu/index.php/Kellogg/article/sizing_up_the_nightlife/

China Steps Up Its Lobbying Game

Although a bit dated now, it still has some interesting commentary...

http://projects.publicintegrity.org/lobby/report.aspx?aid=734

and if you read that, you might as well read the Washingtonian's "Beijing on the Potomac"
http://www.washingtonian.com/articles/lawlobbying/3243.html

and, you might also like this Asia Times article on China-watching in DC
Speakin Freely: The US Finger on China's Pulse
by Richard Seldin
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/China/HF16Ad02.html

Uncertainty Can Increase Attraction

'Maybe' Is So Romantic
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB20001424052748704364004576132671193830818.html

Breathing & Panic Attacks

"Researchers are developing a new therapy for panic attacks by turning the current treatment for one of the most uncomfortable symptoms - hyperventilation - on its head. Instead of urging sufferers to take long, deep breaths when they feel they can't breathe, as many were taught for years, researchers from Southern Methodist University say a more effective strategy is to take slower, shallow breaths."

Help for Hyperventilating
by Shirley Wang
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703652104576122392361319596.html

Treasury's Tools To Delay Hitting Debt Limit

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/01/27/us-usa-debt-limit-fb-idUSTRE70Q5ND20110127

On Breast Satisfaction

http://www.bakadesuyo.com/what-percentage-of-women-are-unhappy-with-the

Do The Happiest Places Also Have The Highest Suicide Rates?

http://www.bakadesuyo.com/do-the-happiest-places-also-have-the-highest

How Visa Predicts Divorce

http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/1woBMj/www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2010-04-06/how-mastercard-predicts-divorce/full/

What Footwear is the Most Popular Among Criminals?

"Of all the footwear on the market, the Nike Air Force 1 sneaker is the most often encountered at U. S. crime scenes, turning up in about 17 percent of cases."

http://www.bakadesuyo.com/what-footwear-is-most-popular-among-criminals

How Much Does a Vote Cost a Politician?

"An additional vote costs a politician on average $145."

http://www.bakadesuyo.com/how-much-does-each-vote-cost-a-politician-in

Do Gay People Earn as Much as Straight People?

http://www.bakadesuyo.com/do-gay-people-earn-as-much-as-straight-people

Are Conservative Politicians Better Looking Than Liberals?

"We find that political candidates on the right are better looking in both municipal and parliamentary elections..."

http://www.bakadesuyo.com/are-conservative-politicians-better-looking-t

What Percent of Women Have Sex on the First Internet Date?

http://www.bakadesuyo.com/what-percentage-of-women-have-sex-on-a-first

Can You Tell If a Person Is a Lesbian Just By Looking At Her?

http://www.bakadesuyo.com/can-you-tell-if-a-woman-is-a-lesbian-just-by

How Important Is Legacy Status in College Admissions?

I wonder if this is the case in all other countries as well...

"Applicants to a parent’s alma mater had, on average, seven times the odds of admission of nonlegacy applicants."

http://www.bakadesuyo.com/how-important-is-legacy-status-in-college-adm

Can Buying Generic Products Reduce Your Self Esteem?

http://www.bakadesuyo.com/can-buying-generic-products-reduce-your-self

Why Do You See More Black Man/White Woman Couples Than Asian Man/White Woman Couples?

http://www.bakadesuyo.com/why-do-you-see-more-black-manwhite-woman-coup

Who Benefits Most From an MBA?

http://www.bakadesuyo.com/who-benefits-most-from-an-mba

The Census Bureau and Counting Americans Abroad

"Among the thorniest and least known issues in counting the US population is whether it is feasible to include Americans who live overseas, a demographic represented by a surprising number of lobbying groups. After spending nearly $8 million and three yeaers to study that question, the US Census Bureau has an answer: No."

Census Bureau Finds It Can't Count Americans Abroad
by Jim Snyder
http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/4231-census-bureau-finds-it-cant-count-americans-abroad