What 5 Things Do You Do To Stay Sane?

"A group of volunteers, led by Andy Gibson and supported by the RSA and Young Foundation, is asking people to reveal what five things they do daily or regularly to stay sane. The project, called Mindapples, was inspired by the 5-a-day healthy eating campaign that aimed to teach us how consuming five pieces of fruit or veg a day can help us to stay physically healthy. Mindapples asks what the equivalent is for mental well-being?"

http://bps-research-digest.blogspot.com/2008/10/what-five-things-do-you-do-to-stay-sane.html

Mindapples
http://mindapples.org/

How to Deal With Political Emails

This is from a recent letter sent to Ask Amy (WPost). What a brilliant idea...

"My mother is famous for sending negative political e-mails to all of her family members and friends who do not share her political beliefs. We have asked her for years to stop because we find it offensive. We delete them, but the fact that she doesn't respect our boundaries wears us down. Then my cousin told her that she was tired of asking her to stop sending the political material she found insutling, and that if she refused to comply, for each one Mom sent, my cousin would make a $25 contribution to the opposing party in Mom's name! After receiving a few thank-you letters from 'those people,' at least Mom has quieted down, and the rest of us get a chuckle out of it."

On Social Security

Facts:

*Social Security benefits for 50 million people will go up 5.8 percent next year (starting in January 2009), the largest increase in more than a quarter century.

*The typical retiree's monthly check will go from $1,090 currently to $1,153.

*The average monthly check for a disabled worker will go from $1,006 to $1,064.

*If no changes are made, the Social Security trust fund is projected to deplete its reserves in 2041 and will begin paying out more than it collects in benefits even sooner, starting in 2017.

Social Security Benefits Going Up by 5.8 Percent
by Martin Crutsinger
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081016/ap_on_bi_ge/social_security

Weird Food of the Week: Frog Leg Pizza

"The 'Hopper' contains eight limbs on a traditional base with capers and an anchovy sorbet. The £17.95 dish has angered campaigners who slammed it as 'barbaric' — because frogs’ legs are amputated while they are still alive. An Animal Aid spokeswoman urged people to boycott London chain Eco."

Frog Pizza...Get it While it's Hop
by Alex Peake
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/article1815988.ece

American's Flunk Simple 3-Question Political Survey

"The survey, conducted between April 30 and June 1 by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, measured the political knowledge of 3,612 U.S. adults. Participants were asked to name the controlling party of the U.S. House of Representatives, the U.S. secretary of state and Great Britain's prime minister. Overall, just 18 percent of participants answered all three questions correctly. More than 50 percent of Americans knew that the Democrats have a majority in the House, while 42 percent could identify the secretary of state (Condoleezza Rice). Less than 30 percent could name the prime minister of Great Britain (Gordon Brown). "

A detailed breakdown of the percentage of individuals answering each of the three questions correctly from the different news audiences:

*The New Yorker/Atlantic: 71 percent (correctly identified Democrats as the majority in the House), 71 percent (correctly identified Condeleeza Rice), 59 percent (correctly identified Gordon Brown)
*NPR: 73 percent, 72 percent, 57 percent
*Hannity & Colmes: 84 percent, 73 percent, 49 percent
*Rush Limbaugh: 83 percent, 71 percent, 41 percent
*Colbert Report: 73 percent, 65 percent, 49 percent
*Daily Show: 65 percent, 48 percent, 36 percent
*NewsHour: 66 percent, 52 percent, 47 percent
*O'Reilly Factor: 70 percent, 60 percent, 41 percent
*C-SPAN: 63 percent, 59 percent, 35 percent
*Letterman/Leno: 51 percent, 42 percent, 31 percent
*CNN: 59 percent, 48 percent, 29 percent
*National Enquirer: 44 percent, 32 percent, 22 percent

http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/20081015/sc_livescience/americansflunksimple3questionpoliticalsurvey

The "Playboy Playmate Effect"

I wonder at what point men start to do this. Is it when they lose large amounts in their stock portfolio, when the unemployment rate increases, when the media portrays a bleak picture, etc...

"During difficult economic conditions, Playmates are slightly heavier, older, and taller and have larger waists and chins and smaller eyes. A team of evolutionary psychologists at the universities of Liverpool and Newcastle found that in times of scarcity, men's biological instinct is to be drawn to women who appear fertile and able to cope with manual labor, pregnancy and childbirth."

-From the book 'Do Gentlemen Really Prefer Blondes'

"Playboy Playmate Curves: Changes in Facial and Body Feature Preferences Across Social and Economic Conditions."
http://psp.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/30/9/1186

French Laundry "Launch Pad" Effect

"Gaining admission to the French Laundry kitchen is the food equivalent of joining an exclusive club. Purveyors must attract the attention of French Laundry chefs, then survive intense hazing: questions about the taste and consistency of their product and the philosophy behind it. Once they're in, the restaurant supports, even honors, its producers...Other elite restaurants also can provide a launching pad, but no other is as famous. If the French Laundry is using it, the thinking goes, it has to be good."

Making the Laundry List
by Jane Black
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/14/AR2008101400602.html

All That Money You Lost - Where Did It Go?

A lot of the wealth was just paper wealth - a guess at what something is worth...

"If you once thought your investment portfolio was as good as a suitcase full of twenties, you might suddenly suspect that it's not. In the process, of course, you're losing wealth. But does that mean someone else must be gaining it? Does the world have some fixed amount of wealth that shifts between people, nations and institutions with the ebb and flow of the economy? Jorgenson says no, the amount of wealth in the world 'simply decreases in a situation like this.' And he cautions against assuming that your investment losses mean a gain for someone else - like wealthy stock speculators who try to make money by betting that the market will drop."

All That Money You Lost - Where Did It Go?
by Eric Carvin
http://www.wtop.com/?nid=111&pid=0&sid=1495515&page=1

US Still Top of Global Competitiveness Ranking

"The US has again topped a widely-watched index ranking country competitiveness, despite the financial crisis that has left it and other highly ranked nations facing market meltdown and a prolonged economic downturn. Switzerland, Denmark and Sweden retain their second, third and fourth places respectively in the league table compiled by the Geneva-based World Economic Forum. The WEF’s global competitiveness index this year rates 134 countries on 12 criteria which include quality of education, labour and product market flexibility, infrastructure, macroeconomic stability and 'financial market sophistication.'"

US Retains Top Competitiveness Ranking
by Frances Williams
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/407c7b56-952f-11dd-aedd-000077b07658.html

The End of Bling?

It is interesting that rather than having to cut back on purchases, the wealthy are choosing to cut back on purchases because how they might be seen by others...

"The answer may have a lot to do with how these consumers want to be seen. It's not necessarily a good thing to show up at the tennis club with a new $30,000 crocodile handbag when your friends' net worth has been halved and the Federal Reserve is spending billions to keep the banking system afloat."

The Billion-Dollar Question: Is Bling Over?
by Christina Brinkley
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122351779589918041.html

National Debt Clock Runs Out of Digits

"In a sign of the times, the National Debt Clock in New York City has run out of digits to record the growing figure. As a short-term fix, the digital dollar sign on the billboard-style clock near Times Square has been switched to a figure — the '1' in $10 trillion. It's marking the federal government's current debt at about $10.2 trillion."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/odd_national_debt_clock;_ylt=AvuG5JqrBLm9v4c0ui1lLBADW7oF

Are Bad Times Healthy?

"Whether the current economic slump will take a toll on your own health depends, in part, on your health habits when times are good. And economic studies suggest that people tend not to take care of themselves in boom times - drinking too much, dining on fat-laden restaurant meals, and skipping exercise and doctors' appointments because of work-related time commitments. The value of time is higher during good economic times, said Grant Miller, an assitant professor of medicine at Standford. So people work more and do less of the things that are good for them, like cooking at home and exercising; and people exerpience more stress due to the rigors of hard work during booms."

Are Bad Times Healthy?
by Tara Parker-Pope
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/07/health/07well.html

"Harvard MBA Indicator"

"One gauge, called the Harvard MBA Indicator, takes into account the kinds of jobs taken by the latest graduating class at Harvard Business School. If more than 30 percent of graduates end up in "market sensitive jobs," which include investment banking, private equity and hedge funds, it's a long-term sell signal for stocks, says Ray Soifer of Soifer Consulting, a former banking analyst who created the index and has tracked it for several years."

In Tough Times, MBA Applications May be an Economic Indicator
by Peter Edmonston
http://dealbook.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/10/06/in-tough-times-mba-applications-may-be-an-economic-indicator/

Betting Markets on the Nobel Prize

http://www.pinnaclesports.com/nobelprize

History of Political Prediction Markets

"Political future markets, in which investors bet on election outcomes, are often thought a recent invention. Such markets in fact have a long history in many Western countries. This paper traces the operation of political futures markets back to 16th Century Italy, 18th Century Britain, and 19th Century United States. In the United States, election betting was a common part of political campaigns in the antebellum period, but became increasingly concentrated in the organized futures markets in New York City over the postbellum period."

http://papers.nber.org/papers/w14377

Are Markets Leading or Lagging Indicators?

From About.com --

"Leading economic indicators are indicators which change before the economy changes. Stock market returns are a leading indicator, as the stock market usually begins to decline before the economy declines and they improve before the economy begins to pull out of a recession. Leading economic indicators are the most important type for investors as they help predict what the economy will be like in the future."
http://economics.about.com/cs/businesscycles/a/economic_ind.htm

A discussion with a little more nuance --

http://bigpicture.typepad.com/comments/2008/04/are-markets-lea.html

Google Has New Beer Goggles Alert for Gmail

A cute idea, but I'm not sure if solving a few math problems with prevent people from drunk-emailing...

"When you enable Mail Goggles, it will check that you're really sure you want to send that late night Friday email. And what better way to check than by making you solve a few simple math problems after you click send to verify you're in the right state of mind?"

http://gmailblog.blogspot.com/2008/10/new-in-labs-stop-sending-mail-you-later.html

Economist Mag. Sums Up Financial Crisis With 2 Words...

This, of course, is a spoof - but a very funny (and true) one indeed.

http://consumerist.com/5059758/economist-sums-up-financial-crisis-oh-fuck

Why is the US Currency Strengthening Amid Chaos?

"The dollar is not like any other tender. As the de facto reserve currency of the world, it benefits from global upheaval, even those that originate in the US. 'It's ironic, given that we just messed up big time, the response of foreigners is to pour more money into us,' said Kenneth S. Rogoff, an economics professor at Harvard. 'They're not sure where else to go.' Indeed, the appeal of the US reflects a lack of better options. Currency traders are betting that because the US was the first to falter, it will be the first to recover."

In a Weak Climate, the Dollar Has Surprising Muscle
by Mark Landler
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/06/business/06dollar.html?ref=business

Do Free Samples Work?

I wonder how much of the purchasing done after trying a sample is done by "guilt" - as in trying a product and feeling bad about not buying it...

"Product samples work, according to a study by the research firm Arbitron. More than a third of people (35%) who accept a sample in a store or a mall go on to buy the product that day, the study found. And 58 percent who sampled products said they would buy them in the future. Samples are more effective among people who have not previously heard of the product, Arbitron found. Roughly two-thirds (64%) of people accept samples."

-NYTimes, October 6, 2008

8 in 10 MOCs Have no Business/Econ Background

Sure makes me feel confident about the decisions Congress makes...

"A new analysis shows that more than 8 in 10 members of Congress have no background in economics or business. The findings were released by a group called the Center for Economic and Entrepreneurial Literacy."

Economics Lecturer Run Amok
by Mary Ann Akers & Paul Kane
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/01/AR2008100102817_pf.html

Reading Speed Interpretation

The authors of a new edition of 'Progress in Brain Research,' a book for neurologists, suggest that in most adults a slowdown in reading speed (once assumed to be a sign of decline) actually indicates broader comprehension.

A younger brain may focus more deeply on relevant information, but an older one may take away more overall meaning from the material. The former behavior is fine for many purposes, of course, but the latter is instrumental in acquiring wisdom.

In studies where college students and older adults read material taht included seemingly extraneous information, the older group took a longer time. But when both groups were quizzed on the material - including the extra items - the older adults performed better than the students. The authors credit a gradual widening of attention as a person grows old.

-October 5, Parade Magazine

Intelligence: Then vs. Now

Q: How does human intelligence today compare with that of people 5000 years ago, such as the ancient Egyptians?

A: They were as smart as we are. No noticeable evolution in intelligence has occurred that recently. Scientists say that humans have had modern intelligence for tens of thousands of years. Some say our brainpower goes back even longer.

-Ask Marilyn (WPost, Oct. 4)

Polling Mystery

I can't quite figure out the reasoning behind some polls. Take, for example, the Gallup economic outlook poll. 86% say the economic outlook is getting worse and 11% say it is getting better. Who are those 11%? I concluded that they must be a mix of people: die-hard optimists, people joking around, ignorant people (those who aren't following the economy), and those who are so unaffected by this (so far) that they are oblivious to the economic zeitgeist.

Why is Aspirin Good for Your Heart?

http://health.howstuffworks.com/aspirin-good-for-your-heart.htm

Dollar-Cost Averaging in a Depression

"Then he gave me a little history lesson. In the history of financial markets, people talk about different periods. In the Great Depression, did people make money or lose money? His answer: They lost money only if they sold. You would have done pretty well if you just kept investing the same amount of money at regular intervals, a technique known as dollar-cost averaging. From 1929, the peak of the crash, to 1939, over that 10 years, if you dollar-cost averaged in the S&P 200 every month, you had a 13 percent return annually."

Russ Ramsey Says Stick to Your Investment Plan
by Thomas Heath
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/05/AR2008100501921.html

Open Source Center On Israeli News Media

In Israel, 'newspaper headlines are often about future events rather than past events.' That peculiar assertion is presented by the DNI Open Source Center (OSC) in a new report on Israeli news media. The new report provides descriptive accounts of many major and minor Israeli news outlets, noting their ownership, circulation, political orientation and other distinguishing characteristics.

http://www.fas.org/irp/dni/osc/israelmedia.pdf

Concept of the Day: Moral Hazard

"Moral hazard is the prospect that a party insulated from risk may behave differently from the way it would behave if it were fully exposed to the risk. Moral hazard arises because an individual or institution does not bear the full consequences of its actions, and therefore has a tendency to act less carefully than it otherwise would, leaving another party to bear some responsibility for the consequences of those actions."

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

Have we Become Socialists?

"What should we call the economic model emerging from this crisis of capitalism? Despite the collectivization of losses and risk, it doesn't qualify as even reluctant socialism. Government ownership of private assets is being presented as a last-ditch expedient, not a policy goal. Yet it's inaccurate to describe our economy, either pre- or post-Paulson, as simply laissez faire. A system in which government must frequently intervene to protect the world from the results of private financial misjudgment is modified capitalism—part invisible hand, part helping hand. This leaves us with a pressing problem of both conceptualization and nomenclature."

Name That Economy
by Jacob Weisberg
http://www.slate.com/id/2201534/

"Toshin" Funds

Recently I ran across a new Japanese word - "toshin" These are essentially Japanese investment trusts. I am curious how they are different from a sovereign wealth fund...

Quote of the Day

"You need to be fearful when others are greedy and greedy when others are fearful."

-Warren Buffett commenting on when to buy stocks. The question seems to be how do you know when the switch is taking place. For example, a few weeks ago there was a lot of fear in the stock market. But if you invested then, you probably would have lost lots of money because the fear is still going on as we speak. It is a similar idea to "buy when there is blood in the streets." How much blood is necessary though? Perhaps one cannot go wrong buying a fundamentally sound stock that has been beaten down 30%...

Is Testosterone to Blame for the Financial Crisis?

"Men with more of the sex hormone made riskier investments than guys with lower levels, according to a study published online yesterday in Evolution and Human Behavior. Just how much riskier? Those with 33 percent more testosterone than average men invested 10 percent more of their dough."

Is Testosterone to Blame for the Financial Crisis?
by Jordan Lite
http://blogs.usatoday.com/ondeadline/2008/09/is-testosterone.html

Does Congress Always Take Off for Rosh Hashanah?

"No. Representatives get a break for Easter, Passover, Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, and Christmas Day. The Senate operates according to a very similar schedule, except it remains in session for Yom Kippur and, at least in 2008, for Rosh Hashanah. The holiday schedule can vary from year to year. Leaders from both parties set up a tentative list of days off every January, before Congress convenes. Lawmakers can adjust the schedule as needed and suspend holidays in case of an emergency."

Number of Jewish House Members: 29
Number of Jewish Senate Members: 13

Does Congress Always Take Off for Rosh Hashanah
by Abby Callard
http://www.slate.com/id/2201250/

What Makes a Lawyer "Special"

"Independence. A 'special prosecutor' is an outside lawyer brought in to investigate a government official accused of wrongdoing. He or she isn't directly accountable to the people or agency under investigation, avoiding the potential conflict of interest that a regular prosecutor would have."

What Makes a Lawyer "Special"
by Noreen Malone
http://www.slate.com/id/2201248/

The Atlas of the Real World

That out this series of 18 cool/unique maps...

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/picturegalleries/3109042/The-Atlas-of-the-Real-World.html