July 2008
24 posts
Have You Seen Tom Collins?
It’s my first summer in New York, and everyone was right – it’s hot here. And because there’s nothing better on a hot summer afternoon than a nice cool drink, I’d like to introduce to you my favorite summer drink, the Tom Collins.
Tom Collins was first introduced in 1874 in The Great Tom Collins Hoax. It went a little something like this:
“Have you seen Tom Collins?...
Want a 100 billion dollar bill?
It’s yours for $199, $49.72, or as low as $25 if you act fast. The only problem – these $100 billion Zimbabwe notes are each worth less than $1 US dollar and can’t even buy a loaf of bread.
And this isn’t even even the most outrageous banknote in history. The Economist lists the highest-denomination national banknotes since 1900. They are:
1,000,000,000,000,000,000 Hungary...
Using Math to Find Mr. Right
Is he Mr. Right? Is she Miss Right? Don’t leave it to your heart to decide, let the math decide! Here are three mathematical theories with which to determine if your marriage will last (or should happen at all).
1. The Mathematics of Marriage: In their book, The Mathematics of Marriage, mathematician James D. Murray and psychologist John Gottman describe their use of calculus to study...
The Economics of Popcorn
“The Dark Knight made $155M in opening weekend.” What does that mean? Where does the money go? And why am I paying $11 for a movie ticket, and $5 for popcorn and a soda? I did some research and here’s what I got:
In the days of yore, the studio and the theater were one in the same. But in 1948, the Supreme Court forced the studios to divest themselves of the theaters due to...
Eating Polar Bears Is Okay in Greenland →
Awesome photography and interesting tidbits in this Freakonomics post.
Why We Like New Stuff
Our sense of adventure delivers the same rewards as does sex and food. In the ventral striatum of our brains, at least. That’s the part of the brain associated with rewarding behavior. A new study of novelty-related decision making in adults shows that our brains are hard-wired to prefer novelty and adventure. Thus, we’re suckers for good marketing.
The subjects of the study were shown 4...
“Young friend, God and his people expect much from u because u have within you...”
– - Pope Benedict XVI’s text message sent to thousands of World Youth Day pilgrims in Australia.
You too can sign up for Pope SMS to receive a daily message of inspiration from Pope Benedict XVI. Just text the word “Pope” to 0400 405 111 to receive the daily messages (only...
6 Things You Never Knew About Oil
1. Oil saved the whales from extinction. Oil’s first use was to replace whale blubber in lamps. That’s right, before oil, as early as 1645, whale oil was used to light lamps and blubber was used to make candle wax. Sperm whales had oil superior to other whales, and had larger heads filled with spermaceti, a waxy substance that made the best candles. By the 1770s, New England was exporting 3-4,000...
Spotlight: Fannie and Freddie
Who (or rather what) They Are: No, they’re not real people. They are nicknames for companies: Fannie Mae = Federal National Mortgage Association Freddie Mac = Federal Home Loan and Mortgage Corporation They have some friends: Ginnie Mae = Government National Mortgage Association Farmer Mac = Federal Agriculture Mortgage Corporation Sallie Mae = Student Loan Marketing Association (with...
New York's First Environmental Problem
Was it the automobile? Was it lead from paint? Was it poor water conditions? Nope – it was horses!
That’s right. Horse manure and horse carcasses filled the streets of New York, Chicago, and other major cities in the US at the end of the 19th century. In the 1880s, NYC had 1,206,299 people, and about 170,000 horses for transportation. Because they were overworked and abused, the average streetcar...
WatchWatch the Growth of Walmart Across America *Note: FlowingData has updated its version to include the year.
Wow. I’d love to see this for other companies like McDonald’s, Starbucks, etc. Per the creator (originally this guy), the database used did not include opening dates for these other companies. In fact, it only had about 1/3 of the opening dates for Walmart stores. That’s...
T. Boone Pickens' Energy Plan →
“One of the benefits of being around a long time is that you get to know a lot about certain things. I’m 80 years old and I’ve been an oilman for almost 60 years. I’ve drilled more dry holes and also found more oil than just about anyone in the industry. With all my experience, I’ve never been as worried about our energy security as I am now. Like many of us, I...
The Cheapest Stocks Around
The market is down. Woe as us, right? Well not if you’ve got some money to invest, because now’s the time to check out some cheap stocks. Luckily the Motley Fool did this so I didn’t have to. Here are their cheap stock finds:
Coca cola (NYSE:KO) hit 52 week low*
Northrop Grumman (NYSE: NOC) hit 52 week low*
Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) lowest PE since 1992
Hansen Natural (NASDAQ: HANS) stock...
t minus one month
With the Olympics just one month away, it’s crunch time for Beijing. It promised eco-friendly “Green Games” for the summer 2008 Olympics, but it certainly doesn’t look like that’s going to happen. The green part, at least. Since the smog in Beijing is reported as being five times over the international standard, per a TimesOnline study. Even the Chinese government’s official air pollution index is...
what the internet is doing to our brains →
From an author who understands that “what the Net seems to be doing is chipping away my capacity for concentration and contemplation,” this is a rather long (but good) article.
Blame Oil →
As a followup to my oil blame game post, here’s a list of 50 problems that are being blamed on high oil prices. Here are a few…
Robot aircraft look even more attractive to the military. (Department of Defense/American Forces Press Service)
Kangaroo harvesters are seeking alternative careers. (Australian Broadcasting Corp.)
Squid fishermen are angry. (AFP)
Demand for wine is weakening....
What is Microfinance?
Microfinance is a movement to provide poor households permanent access to financial services. It is the act of lending small loans to poor or low-income people who normally don’t qualify for traditional banking credit to help them start or grow their small business.
While there are many ways the loans are structured, the business model relies purely on community and relationships. While in Chile,...
“I write saying, ‘thank you Scarlett for doing what you do,’ and...”
– Barack Obama on his “personal dialogue” over e-mail with Scarlett Johansson
“the most beautiful news of my life”
– Lorenzo Delloye-Betancourt, on the release of his mother, Ingrid Betancourt, who had been a prisoner of the FARC for over six years.
The Pros and Cons of Nuclear Power →
The Journal Report this week was all about nuclear. Two comments: it seemed that the Pro side relied on refuting the arguments against nuclear, rather than presenting any clear evidence or arguments of their own. The article also mentioned NRG Energy, the first company in decades to seek a permit to build a nuclear power plant. I spent a semester doing a valuation of NRG, and they’re definitely in...
Oil Prices: Who's to Blame?
The big blame game is really getting to be too much. 77% of Americans blame the government for high gas prices, 75% blame oil companies, and 70% blame foreign oil producers, per a recent Consumer Reports survey. But all of those culprits pin the blame on another party. So, really, who is to blame for high oil prices?
Oil companies? Many like to blame big oil companies with their “windfall”...