David Edwards, a professor at Harvard, teaches a class called "How to Create Things and Have Them Matter."
http://www.businessinsider.com/harvard-professor-invents-the-wikicell-food-packaging-you-can-eat-2012-8
Thursday, August 30, 2012
Mirror Images vs. Photo Images
Q: What I see in the mirror and what I see when I view a photo of myself are so different. Generally, I'm satisfied with the "live" version, but I usually dislike that same face in a photo. Why?
A: Because your photographed face looks fackward to you. What you see in a mirror is your imaged reversed from left to right, and you're familiar with that look. A photo, however, shows you what others see. When you see your face thta way, it looks strange to you - you notice every asymmetry (no face is symmetrical) and imperfection. For example, say one eye is slightly smaller than the other, which is common. Because you've seen your eyes that way in teh mirror all your life, you don't perceive any difference. But when you view a photo, something about your eyes looks wrong.
-Ask Marilyn
A: Because your photographed face looks fackward to you. What you see in a mirror is your imaged reversed from left to right, and you're familiar with that look. A photo, however, shows you what others see. When you see your face thta way, it looks strange to you - you notice every asymmetry (no face is symmetrical) and imperfection. For example, say one eye is slightly smaller than the other, which is common. Because you've seen your eyes that way in teh mirror all your life, you don't perceive any difference. But when you view a photo, something about your eyes looks wrong.
-Ask Marilyn
Wednesday, August 29, 2012
Surfonomics
How much is an ocean wave worth?
Surfonomics
by Gregory Thomas
http://www.washingtonpost.com/surfonomics-quantifies-the-worth-of-waves/2012/08/23/86e335ca-ea2c-11e1-a80b-9f898562d010_story.html
Surfonomics
by Gregory Thomas
http://www.washingtonpost.com/surfonomics-quantifies-the-worth-of-waves/2012/08/23/86e335ca-ea2c-11e1-a80b-9f898562d010_story.html
Tuesday, August 14, 2012
List of Numbers
I love numbers and facts and have always wanted to put together a massive list of number/percentage-facts I thought were interesting. I plan to continue adding to this list.
*UPS moves 2% - 3% of global GDP annually (August 20, 2012; Time)
*Producing a pair of jeans can take up to 1,000 gallons of water. (August 20, 2012; Time)
*After reviewing videos of stranger's conversations, 60% of participants [in the study] admitted they had told 2 or 3 lies in the first 10 minutes. (Sept./Oct. edition; Dan Ariely in Foreign Policy Magazine)
*UPS moves 2% - 3% of global GDP annually (August 20, 2012; Time)
*Producing a pair of jeans can take up to 1,000 gallons of water. (August 20, 2012; Time)
*After reviewing videos of stranger's conversations, 60% of participants [in the study] admitted they had told 2 or 3 lies in the first 10 minutes. (Sept./Oct. edition; Dan Ariely in Foreign Policy Magazine)
Washington Internships Are A Serious Business
Who says that interning is for beginners?
In 2000, after his first, brief tenure as Mongolia's youngest Prime Minister was foiled by inexperience and political turbulence, Elbegdorj decided he needed a break. "I had been trained in one superpower," he says, "but it was the wrong one." So off went Elbegdorj to the US, where he studied English in Colorado and then completed a master's in public administration at Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government. He then interned at Radio Free Asia, the Washington-based service that broadcasts news in native languages to repressed societies. His job was to provide broadcasts to Inner Mongolia, the Chinese region where tensions have simmered between Mongolian and ethnic-Han Chinese populations. Elbegdorj was probably the only intern in Washington with "Prime Minister" on his CV.
Hesitant Steppes
by Hannah Beech & Oyu Tolgoi
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2121648,00.html
In 2000, after his first, brief tenure as Mongolia's youngest Prime Minister was foiled by inexperience and political turbulence, Elbegdorj decided he needed a break. "I had been trained in one superpower," he says, "but it was the wrong one." So off went Elbegdorj to the US, where he studied English in Colorado and then completed a master's in public administration at Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government. He then interned at Radio Free Asia, the Washington-based service that broadcasts news in native languages to repressed societies. His job was to provide broadcasts to Inner Mongolia, the Chinese region where tensions have simmered between Mongolian and ethnic-Han Chinese populations. Elbegdorj was probably the only intern in Washington with "Prime Minister" on his CV.
Hesitant Steppes
by Hannah Beech & Oyu Tolgoi
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2121648,00.html
Easterlin Paradox
"The truth is that happiness is relative: It largely depends not on
your own good fortune, but on how much richer people around you are.
Economist Richard Easterlin, now at the University of Southern California, has been trying to crack the happiness code for decades. In the 1970s, he developed the theory that has become known as the "Easterlin paradox," which argues that although people with higher incomes tend to report higher levels of life satisfaction, countries don't become generally more satisfied as they become richer."
The Renminbi Blues
by Joshua Keating
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2012/08/13/the_renminbi_blues
Economist Richard Easterlin, now at the University of Southern California, has been trying to crack the happiness code for decades. In the 1970s, he developed the theory that has become known as the "Easterlin paradox," which argues that although people with higher incomes tend to report higher levels of life satisfaction, countries don't become generally more satisfied as they become richer."
The Renminbi Blues
by Joshua Keating
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2012/08/13/the_renminbi_blues
Monday, August 6, 2012
Why Jobs Data Say One Thing - And Another
This article from the WSJ explains why there is a discrepancy in the jobs data. In other words, how the unemployment rate can increase while the number of jobs added to the economy also increased.
The U.S. unemployment rate rose to 8.3% in July, even as the economy added 163,000 jobs. The contradictory result has a relatively simple explanation. The two numbers come from separate surveys.
Though they are reported at the same time, the two data points are derived from different places. The number of jobs added comes from a poll of businesses, called the establishment survey, while the unemployment rate comes from a survey of U.S. households.
Over time, the two reports generally follow the same pattern, but they can move in opposite directions from month to month.
Part of the issue can be related to seasonal distortions. July sees a large number of layoffs every year.
In order to smooth that out, the Labor Department makes a large adjustment so we can better compare movements with the prior month. The larger the adjustment, the higher the chance of distortion.
The two surveys also count people in different ways.
The establishment survey counts jobs, not people. So one person holding two jobs is counted twice.
But the household survey also counts people, such as those who are self-employed in unincorporated businesses, family employees who aren't paid and farm workers, who aren't picked up in the establishment survey.
That likely played a role this month, with many farm workers affected by droughts.
Generally, the establishment survey gives a better picture of the labor market as a whole because it has a much larger sample size—486,000 establishments compared to 60,000 households in the other survey. But it isn't able to tell us anything about the unemployed. And by that measure, the household survey told a darker story in July.
The unemployment rate is calculated based on people who are without jobs, who are available to work and who have actively sought work in the prior four weeks, and that number rose in July—by 45,000 to 12.8 million.
The rate is calculated by dividing that figure by the total number of people in the labor force.
This month 150,000 people departed the labor force, lowering what is known as the participation rate.
People often leave the labor force when they become discouraged, so a rise in the number of unemployed, even as the participation rate drops is a worrying sign.
The labor force is usually increasing through simple population growth.
Economists estimate that the U.S. economy needs to add about 100,000 to 120,000 jobs a month just to make up for new entrants to the job market.
When discouraged workers start coming back into the labor market that threshold becomes even higher.
Over the past three months the U.S. economy has added an average of only 105,000 jobs per month, according to the establishment survey.
Why Jobs Data Say One Thing - And Another
by Phil Izzo
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390444320704577567393783200160.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
The U.S. unemployment rate rose to 8.3% in July, even as the economy added 163,000 jobs. The contradictory result has a relatively simple explanation. The two numbers come from separate surveys.
Though they are reported at the same time, the two data points are derived from different places. The number of jobs added comes from a poll of businesses, called the establishment survey, while the unemployment rate comes from a survey of U.S. households.
Over time, the two reports generally follow the same pattern, but they can move in opposite directions from month to month.
Part of the issue can be related to seasonal distortions. July sees a large number of layoffs every year.
In order to smooth that out, the Labor Department makes a large adjustment so we can better compare movements with the prior month. The larger the adjustment, the higher the chance of distortion.
The two surveys also count people in different ways.
The establishment survey counts jobs, not people. So one person holding two jobs is counted twice.
But the household survey also counts people, such as those who are self-employed in unincorporated businesses, family employees who aren't paid and farm workers, who aren't picked up in the establishment survey.
That likely played a role this month, with many farm workers affected by droughts.
Generally, the establishment survey gives a better picture of the labor market as a whole because it has a much larger sample size—486,000 establishments compared to 60,000 households in the other survey. But it isn't able to tell us anything about the unemployed. And by that measure, the household survey told a darker story in July.
The unemployment rate is calculated based on people who are without jobs, who are available to work and who have actively sought work in the prior four weeks, and that number rose in July—by 45,000 to 12.8 million.
The rate is calculated by dividing that figure by the total number of people in the labor force.
This month 150,000 people departed the labor force, lowering what is known as the participation rate.
People often leave the labor force when they become discouraged, so a rise in the number of unemployed, even as the participation rate drops is a worrying sign.
The labor force is usually increasing through simple population growth.
Economists estimate that the U.S. economy needs to add about 100,000 to 120,000 jobs a month just to make up for new entrants to the job market.
When discouraged workers start coming back into the labor market that threshold becomes even higher.
Over the past three months the U.S. economy has added an average of only 105,000 jobs per month, according to the establishment survey.
Why Jobs Data Say One Thing - And Another
by Phil Izzo
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390444320704577567393783200160.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
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