Explaining Prison Life Sentences

"In most cases, the judge delivers a sentence for each crime of which the defendant has been found guilty. The judge then decides whether the sentences will be served concurrently or consecutively. Under Kansas law, the standard life sentence is '15 to life,' meaning the offender gets his first parole hearing after 15 years. No matter if he faced 10 (or even 100) concurrent sentences, that hearing would still come after 15 years. No such privilege exists with consecutive sentencing. The judge in Rader's case put 10 life terms end-to-end in order to ensure that Rader would never get parole."

Why Did Madoff Get a Longer Sentence Than He Can Possibly Serve
by Daniel Engber
http://www.slate.com/id/2221830/

On Subsidizing Homeownership

http://www.richmondfed.org/publications/research/region_focus/2008/fall/pdf/cover_story.pdf

Cool Company of the Week: Better Place

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

It Pays to Invest in K Street

"In a remarkable illustration of the power of lobbying in Washington, a study released last week found that a single tax break in 2004 earned companies $220 for every dollar they spent on the issue - a 22,000 percent rate of return on thier investment. The study by researchers at the University of Kansas underscores the central reason that lobbying has become a $3 billion-a-year industry in Washington: It pays."

Investments Can Yield More on K Street, Study Indicates
by Dan Eggan
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/04/11/AR2009041102035.html

Peer-to-Peer Renting

"A number of Web sites have sprung up encouraging people to look around their houses for things they can do away with temporarily - for a fee. Conversely, people can rent items they only need once or twice. The old paradigm of buy an duse it once and store it forever is shifting to an economy based on usage and accessibility, said Jeff Boudier, co-founder of peer-to-peer renting site of Zilok..."

For Rent: The Stuff That We Rarely Use
by Nancy Trejos
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/06/16/AR2009061603308.html

Also check out:
http://www.rent-instead.com/

Map: Polar Opposites

Expand the map (created by Jerome N. Cookson of National Geographic) at the link below to see where you'd end up if you dug a hole to the other side of the world...

"It's a childhood riddle: Where would you end up if you dug a hole to the other side of the world? Kids in the US are usually led to imagine that they'd pop up like groundhogs in a rice field in China. Wrong. One look at a map of antipodes - places on exact opposite sides of the globe - shows that an American digger would end up in the Indian Ocean."

http://blogs.ngm.com/blog_central/2009/05/polar-opposites-.html

Fact of the Day: Online Buzz

"Businesses spend about $1.6 billion a year on 'word-of-mouth' advertising, promoting their goods to bloggers and to people who use social-media websites like Facebook, according to the research firm PQ Media."

Can You Believe What You Read on the Web?
http://www.parade.com/news/intelligence-report/archive/can-you-believe-what-you-read-on-the-web.html

CEO Shelf-Life

"There are certainly some cases in which single individuals continue to do good work, even after a decade or more at the top. But there is evidence that perfromance tends to deteriorate over time, after 10, 12 years or so of holding the reins...It makes good sense for companies - and countries - to consider institutionalizing a system in which no single individual is allowed to remain top dog for longer than the rough equivalent of two presidential terms."

-Barbara Kellerman, Harvard faculty and author of "Bad Leadership and Followership"

Question of the Week: Founders & Share Price

What percent of price of a publicly traded stock is due to the founder(s)/CEO. I recently heard someone on CNBC suggest that 10% - 15% of Apple's value is related to Steve Jobs (i.e., if Jobs passes away, the stock should drop by around that percent).

Question of the Day: Great Presidents

To be considered a great president, does your predecessor have to be considered a bad or weak president?

Marriage = Obesity

"It's full-on wedding season, but anyone about to pledge to have and to hold should pay closer attention to the bit about 'in sickness and in health.' New research shows that within a few short years of getting hitched, married individuals are twice as likelty to become obese as are people who are merely dating...What is behind the weight gain?...Mealtime may become more important than it was when the people were living alone...gym memberships may not get the same workouts they did before nuptials."

First Comes Love, Then Comes Obesity
by Bonnie Rochman
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1907143,00.html

Japan's New Mating Game: Konkatsu

"Konkatsu is a new buzzword for Japanese media. The concept has been featured in magazines and is the title of a popular television show. Even shrines are getting in on the konkatsu boom. Triumph International (Japan) Ltd. has unveiled a "konkatsu bra," with a clock under the bra cups that counts down to a marriage deadline. Inserting an engagement ring into the heart-shaped ring box between the cups stops the ticking and a congratulatory wedding march begins to play. (The ring isn't included. And the bra isn't for sale.)"

Japan Has a New Name for the Mating Game: Konkatsu
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124623617832566695.html#mod=todays_us_page_one

Sentece of the Week

"The most [G]oogled brand in the porn world is 'Asian Babes.'"

The Birth, and Death, of the Asian Babe
by Johann Hari
http://www.slate.com/id/2221479/

Sentence of the Day

"The three most powerful forces in the modern world are democracy, religion, and nationalism."

No Velvet Revolution for Iran
Fareed Zakaria
http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/postglobal/fareed_zakaria/2009/06/no_velvet_revolution_for_iran.html

Ear Psychology

"If you need to bum a cigarette in a noisy Italian nightclub, make sure to ask someone in his or her right ear, says a study published last week in the German journal Naturwissenschaften (The Science of Nature)....Studies dating back about 50 years have shown that humans prefer to listen with their right ears. This is a result of hemispheric asymmetry in the brain - the left hemisphee, which is better at processing verbal information, is crosswired to the right ear."

http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/06/earcigarette/

Why Don't the French Cook Like They Used To?

Will the Michelin Guide kill Japanese cooking too?

"The Michelin Guide had become a dead weight for French cuisine. It discouraged creativity, demanded a level of opulence that made fine dining appealing and accessible only to rich fogeys, and was unacceptably opaque about its reviewing methods."

Why Don't the French Cook Like They Used To?
by Mike Steinberger
http://www.slate.com/id/2221245/

On Japan's Cool Biz Campaign

"And it struck me that Cool Biz (keeping indoor temps at 82.4 degrees Fahrenheit) might be counterproductive for Japan. Japan is currently facing something of an existential crisis. Its economy has grown very slowly for more than a decade, and its population is declining. It's as if the nation has lost its capacity for hard work and procreation...maybe there's some connection between Japan's demographic/economic issues and the Cool Biz program. For a good chunk of the year, the heat indoors saps the desire to write a business plan or to increase the population."

Tokyo is Burning
by Daniel Gross
http://www.slate.com/id/2221405/

Multiple Girlfriend Manager

http://www.apptism.com/apps/amazing-girlfriend-manager

Republican Sex-Scanal Flow Chart

This will help you keep track of things...

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/news/2009/06/sex_scandal_flow_chart.php

Pic: Lego Sushi

http://imgur.com/F0MOo.jpg

"Cane Fu"

The latest in self-defense for elders...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U2lJWAIyYtU

Why Do Politicians Cheat?

"Narcissism is an occupational hazard for political leaders. You have to have an outsized ambition and an outsized ego to run for office...Or, perhaps, think you can stray from your marriage without consequence...For some individuals, the excitement of illicit sexual activity might feed the same desire as the excitement of politics...Political life — with its long hours, frequent travel and endless stream of new acquaintances — also can be a strain on even rock-solid marriages. At times, the lifestyle almost seems to invite unfaithfulness."

Analysis: Why Do Politicians Cheat?
by Liz Sidoti
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_philandering_politicians_analysis

Crowdsourced Lobbyist Tracking

Will this be the next big thing at hearings/events?

http://www.npr.org/news/specials/2009/hearing-pano/

Quote of the Day: Talking

"Most men talk too much. Much of my success has been due to keeping my mouth shut."

-J. Ogden Armour

US National Debt Clock

This site will make your eyes spin...

http://www.usdebtclock.org/

Japanese Intrapreneurs

"Venture capitalists in the U.S. spend $30 billion annually, on average, funding startups, while Japanese funders kick in just one-tenth that amount. Midcareer managers and engineers don't want to quit and forfeit their pensions to start companies. Risk-averse Japanese students, who rarely get M.B.A.s, prefer jobs at large, long-stable companies to starting their own firms. If they have the itch to launch a business, they aim for big trading companies, like Sumitomo or Itochu, which use on-staff 'intrapreneurs' for new units...Into this lonesome entrepreneurial existence has stepped the mighty Mitsubishi Estate, Tokyo's second-biggest business landlord. It started an entrepreneurs' group, the Tokyo 21c Club, in 2000, trading rent and logistical support for stock options in the nascent companies."

In Tokyo, A Rare Incubator for Startups
by Chana Shoenberger
http://www.forbes.com/global/2009/0622/entrepreneurs-venture-capital-in-tokyo-rare-incubator-for-startups.html

Madoff Victim Map

http://madoffmap.com/

Lack of Top Foreign Chefs Due to US Visa Policy?

"Under the current visa laws, there are no clear-cut provisions that apply to world-class chefs."

http://www.visalaw.com/FAS/mysun1206.pdf

The Art of Nonconformity

A nice list of things you do and don't need - i.e., a mentor, fancy degrees, language skills, etc...

I'm sure many people would disagree...

http://chrisguillebeau.com/3x5/all-the-things-you-dont-need/

WTF Were They Thinking Tattoos

Which tattoo would you LEAST like to have. And if you had to have one of these, which one would you choose?

http://coedmagazine.com/2009/06/23/210-wtf-were-they-thinking-tattoos/

Infographic: The Friend Zone

http://topcultured.com/relationships/where-exactly-is-the-friend-zone/

Quote of the Day: Sincerity

"A little sincerity is a dangerous thing and a great deal of it is absolutely fatal."

-Oscar Wilde

The Economics of the Economist

"The easy lesson might be that quality wins out. The Economist is truly a remarkable invention—a weekly newspaper, as it calls itself, that canvasses the globe with an assurance that no one else can match. Where else, really, can you actually keep up with Africa? The Economist has reached its current level of influence and importance because it is, in every sense of the word, a true global digest for an age when the amount of undigested, undigestible information online continues to metastasize."

The Newsweekly's Last Stand
by Michael Hirschorn
http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200907/news-magazines

World's Most Expensive Cities

"Why are these countries so expensive? It has primarily to do with the high costs of shipping, fuel and fluctuating exchange rates. While the global recession may be showing some signs of easing, in Japan, for example, the yen soared against the dollar and other currencies. That slammed profits at Japanese exporters such as Toyota, Sony, and Panasonic. It also drove up the cost of living for expats and tourists alike in Tokyo and other big Japanese cities."

1. Luanda, Angola
2. Tokyo, Japan
3. Nagoya, Japan
4. Yokohama, Japan
5. Kobe, Japan

http://realestate.yahoo.com/promo/the-most-expensive-cities-in-the-world.html;_ylc=X3oDMTF0Zm05cDNkBF9TAzI3MTYxNDkEX3MDOTc2MjA0NjUEc2VjA2ZwLXRvZGF5BHNsawNtb3N0LWV4cGVuc2l2ZS1jaXRpZXM-

Frank Lloyd Wright House for Sale

Frank Lloyd Wright's Famed Ennis House to be Sold
by Christopher Michaud
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090619/stage_nm/us_lloydwright