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