10 for 2010 Recap

At the beginning of 2010 I posted 10 predictions for the upcoming year. Here is my report card:

1) The 2010 mid-term elections will offer little change to the makeup of Congress. Although some believe that the Republicans will grab a massive number of seats, I think that when the dust settles, things will be little changed.

C+ 
The Republicans gained 63 house seats and picked up 6 senate seats. They now control the House but they did fail to gain control of the Senate.

2) The trade in gold is crowded and seems eerily familiar to the bullishness surrounding crude oil in late 2007 when it was trading at $147 a barrel. I believe that long term gold is a great trade, but in the precious metals space, silver, copper, platinum and other precious metals will outperform gold.

A- 
Funds that track Gold were up ~25% this year. In comparison silver was up 70% and other precious metals and commodity funds performed much better.

3) The unemployment rate will continue to hover around 10% in 2010. Although some economists are forecasting a significant improvement in the employment landscape, I don't see this occurring. Things won't get much worse, but I don't think things get much better.


A
The number has ranged between 9.60% and 9.90% all year.

4) Apple will release its tablet computer in early 2010 and it will truly revolutionize the landscape in technology. Before the end of the year multiple companies with release products with striking resemblance to the Apple tablet, resembling the smartphone trend following the release of the iPhone.

A+
The iPad has been a massive success and numerous companies have already attempted to copy it. Over 7,500,000 were sold in the first 6 months alone.

5) The potential legalization of Marijuana will become one of the most hotly debated issues of 2010. Fiscal budget deficits will require that state legislators consider all options to increase revenue. Multiple states will pass legislation that either legalizes small does or decriminalizes possession.

B+
In 2010, Proposition 19, titled the "Regulate, Control, and Tax Cannabis Act of 2010", qualified for the November California ballot. Other states have implemented or discussed additional medical marijuana or other laws due to pressure on the budget and pressure from citizens.

6) Amazon which is riding high with the success of the Kindle eReader will encounter a difficult 2010 as the consumer closes their wallets and the Kindle faces stiff competition from the Barnes and Noble Nook, the Sony eReader, and the Apple Tablet.

A-
The company has never released sales figures but the Kindle marketplace is now on the iPhone and iPad so my belief is that the sales of the device are slowing. Apple stock was up 50% this year versus Amazon which was up 30%.


7) Twitter was the social media darling of 2009. I do not believe 2010 will be as kind to the the site of the tweet. Whether from increased competition or from the lack of a sustainable revenue model, I do not believe the site will have a successful year and will spend much less time in the news.

B+
Facebook is putting more focus on the type of status updates that Twitter is based around. Twitter is still extremely relevant but the competition is growing.

8) The recent rally in the stock market has many thinking that the worst has passed and the good times are here to stay. I believe that we are in for trouble in 2010 in the form of a consumer who stays in savings mode, a commercial real estate market teetering on the edge, and a government support system that cannot continue indefinitely. I believe the market will fall 5% for the year with many violent swings. The best place to invest will be large cap companies who generate a good portion of their sales abroad (McDonald's, Coke, ect.).

B-
The major market averages were up 10-15% this year but the swings were violent. Down 7% in August and up 8% in September. Coke was up 23% and McDonald's was up 16%.

9) The United States will become soccer crazy during the summer. I'm envisioning Michael Phelps like hysteria towards our national soccer team during the World Cup in South Africa.

A
The US made a great run that ended in disappointment but the enthusiasm was off the charts: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbn3rOPmR9w&safety_mode=true&persist_safety_mode=1

10) 2010 will be the year of 3D. More movies will be released in 3D and at-home-TV sets will begin to hit store shelves that are capable of handling 3D content. This will mark the start of a long term trend in media programming.

A
Most major Television companies are rolling out 3D capable sets and there are no signs that it will slow down.


I will be positing 11 predictions for 2011 right after the New Years.

Have a great holiday.

WordLens

200 Countries, 200 Years

One of the most interesting videos I have seen recently:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbkSRLYSojo&feature=player_embedded&safety_mode=true&persist_safety_mode=1

 

Hedge Fund Republic

The NY Times with a very interesting article on income inequality:


http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/18/opinion/18kristof.html?_r=2&src=me&ref=homepage

Invading the Classroom

Hand-held devices and educational clickers to engage students are invading the classroom:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/16/education/16clickers.html?src=me&ref=general

The Wealth Divide

Any time anyone tries to tell you that tax cuts for the wealth trickle down or that stock market appreciation is good for all Americans, remind them that:

http://multinationalmonitor.org/mm2003/03may/may03interviewswolff.html

iPhones For Toddlers

What is the favorite toy of some toddlers? Would you believe it's an iPhone?

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/17/fashion/17TODDLERS.html?_r=1&src=me&ref=homepage

Mars...With a Catch

A trip to Mars with a bit of a catch...It's a ONE-WAY TICKET:

http://news.discovery.com/space/human-space-settlement-mars.html

Buy a Truck, Get an AK-47

Only in America...:

http://www.boston.com/news/odd/articles/2010/11/15/fla_dealership_offers_free_ak_47_for_truck_buyers/?p1=Upbox_links

Salad Stats

Ever wanted more info on those leefy greens you consume. Well here you go:

http://www.mint.com/blog/trends/salad-stats-11102010/?display=wide

Balance the Budget??

The NY Times has a new interactive feature that challenges you to balance the budget:

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2010/11/13/weekinreview/deficits-graphic.html

100,000,000 Calls

The phone number 311 in NYC is intended in part to divert routine inquiries and non-urgent community concerns from the emergency 9-1-1 number. Dialing this number allows city residents to obtain important non-emergency services through a central, all-purpose phone number quickly and effectively.

What happens when all this data gets analyzed? One of the most interesting articles I have ever seen is the result:

http://www.wired.com/magazine/2010/11/ff_311_new_york/all/1

Democrats Lost More Seats in Districts With Better Economies???

From the Wall Street Journal:


http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2010/11/03/democrats-lost-more-seats-in-districts-with-better-economies/

Government Gridlock, Investigations and Shutdown

From the Huffington Post:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bob-cesca/angry-voters-choose-gover_b_778652.html

How Obama Saved Capitalism and Lost the Midterms

From the New York Times:

http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/11/02/how-obama-saved-capitalism-and-lost-the-midterms/?partner=rss&emc=rss

3 Years in 3 Minutes

Time lapse photography doesn't get more epic than this video of the destruction of the EDF Tower and the construction of the Sequana Tower on its place. It took three years to make, summarized in three minutes in this video.

It all started on January 2007, when Parisian videographer Ramon captured the first image of the demolition work at Tour EDF. 45,000 photographs later, taken from exactly the same point with his Pentax K 110D DSLR, his work was done and a new building was in place. It was September 2010, three years later. That's an average of 42 images per day.


3 Years At The Same Place from Ramon on Vimeo.

Entertainment

Arianna Huffington the founder of the Huffington Post was on Bill Maher's show last month and said something that really resonated with me:

"Self expression is the new entertainment"

In the era of Facebook and Twitter, it is truly amazing how much free time is spent admiring and analyzing others lives. Maybe it is wrong, maybe it is weird, and maybe it is dangerous, but it is quite the trend and I don't see it abating.

No matter what you think of it, it is unbelievable how anyone can be at the same time a director, producer, and studio head of their own movie from the palm of their hand using an iPhone, while their seamlessly upload it for millions to see...

3D-Printing

What the future holds for printing:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/14/technology/14print.html?_r=1&adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1285065631-QcAulHL9BkYtEV0N19dC3g

Family Films Are Sexist???

Newsweek recently approached the issue of family films and came to the conclusion that they are sexist in nature:

http://www.newsweek.com/2010/09/22/why-family-films-are-so-sexist.html

Commitment to Green

Thomas Friedman on the Chinese commitment to green energy and its ramification for the future:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/19/opinion/19friedman.html

Religious Knowledge

How much do American citizens know about religion? Not much:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_rel_religious_literacy_poll

A Generation of Nincompoops?

Quite the article title from the Boston Globe:

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2010/09/27/are_we_raising_a_generation_of_nincompoops/?s_campaign=8315

Political Beliefs

With the mid-term elections upon us, I thought the following quiz was extremely interesting and really easy to take. It takes less than 5 minutes and in 10 easy questions it shows where you stand on the political spectrum:

http://www.theadvocates.org/quiz

Thanks to Al for the link.

Female PHDs

For the first time, more women than men in the United States received doctoral degrees last year, the culmination of decades of change in the status of women at colleges nationwide.

The number of women at every level of academia has been rising for decades. Women now hold a nearly 3-to-2 majority in undergraduate and graduate education. Doctoral study was the last holdout - the only remaining area of higher education that still had an enduring male majority.

Of the doctoral degrees awarded in the 2008-09 academic year, 28,962 went to women and 28,469 to men, according to an annual enrollment report from the Council of Graduate Schools, based in Washington.

Doctoral degrees, which require an average of seven years' study, are typically the last to show the impact of long-term changes. "It is a trend that has been snaking its way through the educational pipeline," said Nathan Bell, the report's author and the director of research and policy analysis for the council. "It was bound to happen."

The whole article is well worth the read: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/13/AR2010091306555.html

Dollar Re-Design

Do you think our currency is in need of a re-design? If you do, you have some company, and here are some of their ideas:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/huffpost/721294

100 Years

What a difference a century makes!

One hundred years ago in 1910:

- The average life expectancy for men was 47 years.

- Only 14 percent of homes had a bathtub.

- Only 8 percent of homes had a telephone.

- There were only 8,000 cars and only 144 miles of paved roads.

- The maximum speed limit in most cities was 10 mph.

- The tallest structure in the world was the Eiffel Tower!

- The average US wage was 22 cents per hour.

- The average US worker made between $200 and $400 per year.

- A competent accountant could expect to earn $2000 per year,

- A dentist $2,500 per year, a veterinarian between $1,500 and $4,000 per year, and a mechanical engineer about $5,000 per year.

- More than 95 percent of all births took place at HOME.

- Ninety percent of all Doctors had NO COLLEGE EDUCATION!

- Sugar cost four cents a pound.

- Eggs were fourteen cents a dozen.

- Most women only washed their hair once a month, and used Borax or egg yolks for shampoo.

- The American flag had 45 stars.

- Crossword puzzles, canned beer, and iced tea hadn't been invented yet.

- There was no Mother's Day or Father's Day.

- Only 6 percent of all Americans had graduated from high school.

- Marijuana, heroin, and morphine were all available over the counter at the local corner drugstores.

- Eighteen percent of households had at least one full-time servant or domestic help.

- There were about 230 reported murders across all of America.

- The population of Las Vegas , Nevada , was only 30!

What will the world be like 100 years from today???

The Back to School Economy

Have you ever wondered about the economic impact of the back to school shopping season:

http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2010/09/the-back-to-school-economy/

How Americans Perceive the Distribution of Wealth

Americans have a really distorted view of how wealth is distributed in this country:

The top row shows the actual distribution of wealth in America. The richest 20 percent, represented by that blue line, has about 85 percent of the wealth. The next richest 20 percent, represented by that red line, has about 10 percent of the wealth. And the remaining three-fifths of America shares a tiny sliver of the country's wealth.

Below that, the "Estimated" rows show how different groups think wealth is distributed. As you can see, in people's misinformed minds things are much more equitable.

From: http://www.good.is/post/americans-are-horribly-misinformed-about-who-has-money/

Downhill

From Paul Krugman @ the New York Times:

On Thursday, House Republicans released their “Pledge to America,” supposedly outlining their policy agenda. In essence, what they say is, “Deficits are a terrible thing. Let’s make them much bigger.” The document repeatedly condemns federal debt — 16 times, by my count. But the main substantive policy proposal is to make the Bush tax cuts permanent, which independent estimates say would add about $3.7 trillion to the debt over the next decade — about $700 billion more than the Obama administration’s tax proposals.

True, the document talks about the need to cut spending. But as far as I can see, there’s only one specific cut proposed — canceling the rest of the Troubled Asset Relief Program, which Republicans claim (implausibly) would save $16 billion. That’s less than half of 1 percent of the budget cost of those tax cuts. As for the rest, everything must be cut, in ways not specified — “except for common-sense exceptions for seniors, veterans, and our troops.” In other words, Social Security, Medicare and the defense budget are off-limits.

So what’s left? Howard Gleckman of the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center has done the math. As he points out, the only way to balance the budget by 2020, while simultaneously (a) making the Bush tax cuts permanent and (b) protecting all the programs Republicans say they won’t cut, is to completely abolish the rest of the federal government: “No more national parks, no more Small Business Administration loans, no more export subsidies, no more N.I.H. No more Medicaid (one-third of its budget pays for long-term care for our parents and others with disabilities). No more child health or child nutrition programs. No more highway construction. No more homeland security. Oh, and no more Congress.”

Read the whole article here:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/24/opinion/24krugman.html?_r=1

The App Store

Just a short time ago, Apple announced that it is making some changes to the App Store review process, and among the changes is publication of the company's App Store Review Guidelines. Apple has received some criticism regarding their policy of rejecting apps, but I believe this recent response by Apple explains why they approach the approval process the way they do:

- "We have lots of kids downloading lots of apps, and parental controls don't work unless the parents set them up (many don't). So know that we're keeping an eye out for the kids."

- "We have over 250,000 apps in the App Store. We don't need any more Fart apps."

- "We have lots of serious developers who don't want their quality Apps to be surrounded by amateur hour."

- "If your app is rejected, we have a Review Board that you can appeal to. If you run to the press and trash us, it never helps."

- "This is a living document, and new apps presenting new questions may result in new rules at any time. Perhaps your app will trigger this."

- "If it sounds like we're control freaks, well, maybe it's because we're so committed to our users and making sure they have a quality experience with our products."

Their approach may be seen as aggressive, but in a world where people are worried about security, parents are worried about their kids, and we are all transmitting very private information over cell phones, I have to say I find their approach admirable and a sound business strategy.
 
From: http://www.macrumors.com/2010/09/09/apples-app-store-review-guidelines-offer-remarkably-candid-view-of-app-store-philosophy/
 

Powering Flight

An amazing video about the perseverance of a Toronto Graduate student in pursuit of a plane that is powered by your feet:

Spell Check??

A Indiana billboard misspelling has the nation giggling. The billboard in South Bend was intended to show how marvellous the schools were in their city, but as you can see below, the billboard conveyed a very different message.

It's amazing how important one letter can be...

Economic Fix

From Barry Ritholtz of The Big Picture Blog, comes 7 ways to fix the economy:

1) One Year Payroll Tax Holiday: Want to increase job creation and reduce unemployment? Tax it less. A 12 month employer FICA holiday will encourage job creation.

How to pay for it: Raising both the retirement age and the cap on FICA contributions.

2) Capital Investment 1 year 100% Deduction: The administration has already proposed a variation on this. It was an effective tax credit when done in 2004-05, but the drawback was it encouraged CapEx over new hiring. The idea of the payroll tax holiday is that it prevents that drawback.

How to pay for it: Via gains from the Corporate Tax-Free Repatriation (#3)


3) Corporate Tax-Free Repatriation: US corporations are sitting on trillions of dollars of cash in their overseas divisions. A one year tax holiday to bring that back to the US. It can be structured in tiers (0%, 5%, 10%). The goal should be to bring to the US a trillion plus in overseas profits.

How to pay for it: Its free; These are overseas revenues that are untaxed by the US.


4) Pure Science R&D Program for Alternative Energy: Gains in the basic science of solar energy conversion, battery storage, alternative biofuels, etc has been incremental. The private sector does not patience for multi-year or basic science R&D.

How to pay for it: Via a Pigouvian tax on gasoline, phased in over 5 or 10 years.


5) Mortgage Principal Write Down Plan: Buyers paid too much, banks lent too much against residences at the top of the RE cycle. To get the sector healthy again requires prices to normalize, which is now occurring thru Foreclosure. An alternative is a voluntary principal write-down, where both the borrower and lender split the losses. An underwater home is refinanced at its 2011 appraisal value, with the mortgage shortfall rolled into a 10 year interest free balloon payment. Banks cut the balloon loan in half in year 10, rolling it into the existing mortgage (assuming the owner stays current on mortgage).

How to pay for it: There is no costs, but Congress would need to make the 10 year zero interest free tax free, and permission the banks to defer reserving for eventual balloon defaults for the same 10 year period.


6) Electrical Grid Refurbishment: This is both an economic and national security issue: The electrical grid is an unreliable mishmash of public and private ownership, vulnerable to both blackouts and cyber-attacks. It needs to be upgraded yesterday.

How to pay for it: A one cent per kilowatt hour grid tax.


7) Airports, Ports, Roads, Bridges, Tunnels: The US was one of the first nations to build out a massive interstate highway system. We love big construction projects, but we seem to dislike the maintenance. Most of the transportation grid in the US is falling apart, in need of a massive repair. Many US airports look like they are from 3rd world countries.

How to pay for it: Usage tolls on roads, ports, bridges, landing slots.

From: http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2010/09/economic-stimulus-try-these-7-ideas/

$700 Wallet

From: http://www.luxist.com/2010/09/15/dunhills-biometric-wallet/


The wallet has traditionally been a low-tech device but not anymore as biometrics is changing the way we carry money. Dunhill has come out with their own version of the Biometric Wallet that promises to keep your money, id, and credit cards safe from thieves even if they pick your pocket. A carbon fiber exterior keeps things light but unbreakable while a biometric finger-print lock keeps the contents under wraps to all but the owner. And for even more high-tech protection you can connect the wallet to your cell phone via Bluetooth and get an alert if the wallet finds itself too far for comfort (i.e. you've been robbed or dropped it somewhere).

The Cost of Being an NFL Fan

Great infographic that displays the cost of being an NFL and how it has risen over time:

http://www.mint.com/blog/trends/nfl-tickets-2010-083010/?display=wide

S&P Best and Worst

A very interesting look at your portfolio's performance if you remove the 10 best & 10 worst single days of trading:

http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2010/09/missing-best-worst-days-of-sp500/

Links

The Future of Transportation in China: http://www.google.com/search?q=straddling+bus&rls=com.microsoft:*:IE-SearchBox&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&sourceid=ie7&rlz=1I7ADBF_en&safe=active

Historical Facebook Status: http://coolmaterial.com/roundup/if-historical-events-had-facebook-statuses/

The $300 Basketball Shoe: http://www.cnbc.com/id/39064018

The Economy...

NY Times: How to End the Great Recession

Newsweek: Young Adults Investing Cautiously

Slate: The Gender Pay Gap

Out of Control Cost

This following chart shows the cost of college tuition compared to historical housing prices and the Consumer Price Index (CPI). The CPI is designed to track our cost of living by estimating the average price of consumer goods and services purchased by households. Everything was normalized to 100 starting in 1978:

Here is a chart comparing the ridiculous rise in the cost private 4-year colleges versus the also rediculious rise in medical cost versus the CPI:

From: http://www.mymoneyblog.com/charts-college-tuition-vs-housing-bubble-vs-medical-costs.html

Americans Believe What??

- According to a Gallup poll in 1999, 18% believed that the earth was the center of the universe. On a side note, 3% said "no opinion". For some reason those folks could not be bothered with such pedestrian quandaries.

- As of a couple years ago, nearly one-third of Texans believed that dinosaurs and humans roamed the earth at the same time.

- A 2004 study showed that 51% of Americans believed in Creationism. Over half of the people in this country thought humans just showed up one day and were ready for homeschooling.

Which leads me to the most recent study illuminating some very interesting perceptions. According to a new Pew Research Center study, 18% of Americans believe Barack Obama is a Muslim, and 43% don't know what religion he prescribes to. Only 34% can correctly identify him as a Catholic.

From: http://www.funnyordie.com/lists/1750272a44/ridiculous-things-americans-believe?playlist=featured_documents

The Onion

A spoof website very much like The Onion, CAP News is always capable of providing a good laugh:
http://www.crystalair.com/index.php

Some of the top stories from today:

Facebook Introduces New 'Mulligan' Button

Palin Names "The Situation" As 2012 Running Mate

Tiger Woods Converting To Islam "For The Virgins"

Microsoft's Allen Sues For Being Less Cool Than Apple

Hangman

What’s the hardest word to solve in Hangman?


Jon McLoone, director of business development for Wolfram Research was inspired to investigate the English language’s hardest-to-guess word after his six-year-old daughter asked him how she could beat her Hangman computer game.

To find out, McLoone wrote a program that would play Hangman with all 90,000 words in the dictionary, attempting to guess each one in a semi-random way similar to a method a good human player might use. In total, he simulated some 15 million Hangman games, tying up several office PCs for a weekend in the process.

“Difficult,” for example, isn’t very difficult to guess at all, taking on average 3.3 wrong guesses per game -- not even close to losing. Contrary to his expectations, McLoone found that shorter words were harder to guess than longer words, and the fewer pieces you use in your Hangman drawing, the truer that gets.

And the hardest of all? “Jazz,” which topped the rankings in all the variations of the basic game he tried.

McLoone also lists the top 25 hardest Hangman words, according to his program. Words with double Zs or Fs, like “buzzer” or “faff” rank high, but he suggests players pick longer words to fool their opponents.


From: http://videogames.yahoo.com/events/plugged-in/hangman-s-hardest-word-discovered/1408256

The Roman Empire

Is America preparing to emulate the fall of the Roman Empire???

http://www.realclearmarkets.com/articles/2010/07/26/when_will_the_us_go_the_way_of_rome__98588.html

iPad

Over 3 million sold and the advertising push is still going strong for Apple's iPad:

MBA Lessons

Lesson #1:
A sales rep, an administration clerk, and the manager are walking to lunch when they find an antique oil lamp. They rub it and a Genie comes out. The Genie says, "I'll give each of you just one wish."

"Me first! Me first!" says the admin clerk. "I want to be in the Bahamas , driving a speedboat, without a care in the world." Puff! She's gone.

"Me next! Me next!" says the sales rep. "I want to be in Hawaii , relaxing on the beach with my personal masseuse,an endless supply of Pina Coladas and the love of my life." Puff! He's gone.

"OK, you're up," the Genie says to the manager. The manager says, "I want those two back in the office after lunch."

Moral of the story: Always let your boss have the first say.


Lesson #2:

An eagle was sitting on a tree resting, doing nothing. A small rabbit saw the eagle and asked him, "Can I also sit like you and do nothing?" The eagle answered: "Sure , why not."

So, the rabbit sat on the ground below the eagle and rested.

All of a sudden, a fox appeared, jumped on the rabbit and ate it.

Moral of the story: To be sitting and doing nothing, you must be sitting very, very high up.


Lesson #3:

A turkey was chatting with a bull. "I would love to be able to get to the top of that tree," sighed the turkey, "but I haven't got the energy."

"Well, why don't you nibble on some of my droppings?" replied the bull. They're packed with nutrients."

The turkey pecked at a lump of dung, and found it actually gave him enough strength to reach the lowest branch of the tree. The next day, after eating some more dung, he reached the second branch. Finally after a fourth night, the turkey was proudly perched at the top of the tree. He was promptly spotted by a farmer, who shot him out of the tree.

Moral of the story: BullShit might get you to the top, but it won't keep you there.

America's Youth

Here are two recent articles that address the new normal for America's youth:

First the New York Times investigates why it is taking so many young adults so long to grow up:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/22/magazine/22Adulthood-t.html

The second article is from The Atlantic which examines why and how young men are falling behind their female classmates and co-workers in an article affectionately entitled "The End of Men".

http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2010/07/the-end-of-men/8135/

As a male in his 20's, I now worry more about the future of my generation and my gender...

Mindset of College Freshman

The Beloit College Mindset List was first created by the Wisconsin college in 1998 to remind professors what cultural factors have gone into shaping the lives of their students.

This years list reflects the survey done of the Class of 2014, most of whom were born in 1992!!!!!

Here are some of the highlights:

- Beethoven has always been a big drooling dog, not a classical composer. Barney is a purple dinosaur, not a deputy sheriff in Mayberry.

- Bill Clinton was elected president the year most of them were born.

- Clint Eastwood is a sensitive Oscar-winning director, not a tough-as-nails detective known as Dirty Harry.

- The Post Office has always been going broke.

- Few in the class know how to write in cursive.

- A quarter of the class has at least one immigrant parent, and the immigration debate is not a big priority…unless it involves “real” aliens from another planet.

- Russians and Americans have always been living together in space.

- Ruth Bader Ginsburg has always sat on the Supreme Court.

- The U.S, Canada, and Mexico have always agreed to trade freely.

- With increasing numbers of ramps, Braille signs, and handicapped parking spaces, the world has always been trying harder to accommodate people with disabilities.

- Second-hand smoke has always been an official carcinogen.

- DNA fingerprinting and maps of the human genome have always existed.

From:
http://www.beloit.edu/mindset/2014.php
http://www.cnn.com/2010/LIVING/08/18/college.mindset.list/?hpt=T2

Principle versus Policy

Monday night, as a guest on the Rachel Maddow show, Melissa Harris-Lacewell, a Princeton University professor, was asked about the controversy surrounding the Mosque that is being proposed near the site of Ground Zero.

What she said perfectly explained why our country and the Constitution is easy in principle and becomes exponentially more difficult in practice:

Americans have what we call a principle-policy gap. You go out and do a survey and 90 percent of Americans will tell you, they agree and support freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, freedom of religion. But ask them if a communist atheist should be able to hold a rally on their neighborhood street corner and they‘ll say no.

So, this is, again, why we need to recognize that as Americans, the thing that makes America unique and interesting and such a great project in world history is that we meet vulnerability not with this kind of terrorized anxiety, but instead, by actually opening ourselves up, by saying—our government, our nation is strong enough to manage dissent. We are big enough and bold enough to allow our citizens to freely assemble, to worship as they see fit, and, heck, to even—I don‘t know, zone locally. These are the kind of American precepts that we need to be holding on to in this moment.

I couldn't agree more. We show our true nature at the times that are most difficult. The freedom to assemble is fundamental to America. It should never be a question of where and when, it is absolute. If we wavier on something as fundamental as that, what's next?

The Middle-Class in America

Here are some statistics that paint a bleak picture of the middle class in America.

- 66% of the income growth between 2001 and 2007 went to the top 1% of all Americans.

- 61 percent of Americans "always or usually" live paycheck to paycheck, which was up from 49 percent in 2008 and 43 percent in 2007.

- In 1950, the ratio of the average executive's paycheck to the average worker's paycheck was about 30 to 1. Since the year 2000, that ratio has exploded to between 300 to 500 to one.

- As of 2007, the bottom 80 percent of American households held about 7% of the liquid financial assets.

From: http://www.businessinsider.com/22-statistics-that-prove-the-middle-class-is-being-systematically-wiped-out-of-existence-in-america-2010-7

Taxing the Rich

Everyone is talking taxes these days. Here is how the Democratic plan compares to the Republican plan (click for bigger version):




From: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/graphic/2010/08/11/GR2010081106717.html?sid=ST2010081200375

Sports Survey

The Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association just recently released its state of sports participation in America study. Here are some of the highlights:

- Of the 3 million cheerleaders in this country, 400,000 are male. Of the 3 million wrestlers in this country, 500,000 are female.

- Nearly half of all people that play lacrosse (48 percent) have families that make $100,000 or more. The richest individual sport is scuba diving, with 50 percent of its participants making $100,000 or more.

- The most obsolete exercise machine in the country just might be the cross country ski machine. Its use is down 52.7 percent over the last nine years.

- Texas (781,000) and California (771,465) have more than double the participants playing high school sports than the No. 3 state, New York (380,870).

- Basketball related equipment sales were $342 million in 2009, which is its worst year of sales in at least the last nine years.

- The number of people participating in inline wheel sports is down 62.2 percent in the past nine years.

- Of all the fitness machines, the elliptical motion trainer has the highest percentage of participants whose annual household income exceeds $100,000 a year. Forty percent of those who use the elliptical make over $100,000.

- Water sports have not fared well over the last nine years. Over this time period, jet skiing (down 18.5 percent), wakeboarding (down 21.5 percent), scuba diving (down 36.7 percent) and water skiing (down 44.5 percent) have seen massive declines.

From: http://www.cnbc.com/id/38345716

Louis CK

One of the most popular comedians in the world is Louis CK. Here is a collection of some of his best material.

You have been warned that a good deal of the material is explicit. It is hilarious, but I wouldn't blast it on your office speakers.

http://www.midwestsportsfans.com/2010/07/video-10-hilarious-stand-up-moments-with-louis-ck/

Youngsters

They were ready to drop the gloves, that is until Mom got involved:

Apple Job Posting

My skill set will never afford me the opportunity to be a senior software engineer for Apple but I must say that company makes everything sound amazing, even their freakin job postings:

We are looking for a senior software engineer to help us create a revolutionary new feature in the very foundations of Mac OS X. We have something truly revolutionary and really exciting in progress and it is going to require your most creative and focused efforts ever.

Are you looking to help create something totally new? Something that has never been done before and will truly amaze everyone? Are you excited by the prospect that what you helped create would be used every day by millions of Apple customers? Then come and work on with the Mac OS X software engineering team to help build a new and revolutionary feature for Mac OS X.

From: http://www.macrumors.com/2010/07/29/apple-job-posting-suggests-revolutionary-new-mac-os-x-feature/

Here is a look at the newest Apple store, which is in the posh Covent Garden section of downtown London:

Visualizing the Billions

Ever wondered how the Defense Budget compares to the revenue of Wal-Mart?

Or how the cost of lifting 1 billion people out of poverty compares to the cost of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan?

Get the answers to these questions and more in a great graphic created by the "Information is Beautiful" website: http://www.informationisbeautiful.net/visualizations/the-billion-dollar-o-gram-2009/

The New American Dream - Renting

Fortune Magazine has an interesting look at a growing trend in America: Families renting their home rather than owning, either by necessity or by choice:

http://money.cnn.com/2010/07/28/real_estate/housing_debate_rent-vs-buy.fortune/index.htm

It Adds Up

Here is some indisputable mathematical logic:

What Makes 100%? What does it mean to give MORE than 100%? Ever wonder about those people who say they are giving more than 100%?

Here's a little mathematical formula that might help you answer these questions:
If:
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

is represented as:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26.

Then:
H-A -R -D-W-O -R -K
8+1+18+4+23+ 15+18+11 = 98%

and
K -N -O -W-L -E-D-G-E
11+14+15+23+ 12+5+4+7+ 5 = 96%

But,
A-T -T -I -T -U -D-E
1+20+20+9+20+ 21+4+5 = 100%

And,
B -U -L -L -S -H-I -T
2+21+12+12+19+ 8+9+20 = 103%

BUT, look how far ass-kissing will take you.

A-S -S -K -I -S-S -I -N-G
1+19+19+11+9+ 19+19+9+14+ 7 = 118%

So, one can conclude with mathematical certainty, that while hard work and knowledge will get you close, and attitude will get you there, its the bullshit and ass kissing that will put you over the top.

Wealth and Inequality

15 Facts about wealth and inequality in America:

http://www.businessinsider.com/us-wealth-inequality-2010-7#the-gap-between-the-top-001-and-everyone-else-hasnt-been-this-bad-since-the-roaring-twenties-1

The Future of the World Economy

From Fortune Magazine:

Think of the $58 trillion global economy, very roughly, as 32 Californias. (California today is about $1.8 trillion strong.) The U.S. accounts for eight of them; the European Union plus Switzerland and Norway, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand make up another 10½. Prosperous Asia -- that's Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Singapore -- gives you another 3½ Golden States.

That already gets us to 22, meaning the rest of the world -- the BRICs, the whole Islamic world, including its oil-rich states, most of Southeast Asia, all of Latin America, and Africa -- is the equivalent of 10 Californias, with China accounting for about a third of that output.

Now let's divide the world another way: The population in the first group of wealthy countries is about 1.1 billion, or 16% of the world's total. The rest of the world is home to 84% of the planet.

This enormous disparity between the distribution of the world's population and its economic wealth has led to two distinct arguments.

First there is the case that global inequality is both wrong and dangerous. It's wrong because we diminish our humanity if we in the rich world allow billions to live stunted and miserable lives when they don't need to; it's dangerous because poverty and disease don't stay confined. When the movement of people, pathogens, and weapons is easier than it has ever been, the resentments, diseases, and grievances of the poor risk making everyone's life miserable.

The second argument is concerned less with morals and security and more with markets. The pragmatist looks at the world and sees 4 billion producers and consumers whose appetites and ingenuity have not been fully tapped -- sees, in other words, huge opportunities for economic growth and corporate earnings.

From: http://money.cnn.com/2010/06/21/news/international/global_forum_opportunity.fortune/index.htm

Don Draper

Season 4 of Mad Men kicks off this Sunday. If you are not on the Mad Men bandwagon, get the Season 1 DVD's and enjoy. In order to get you ready for the new season, here are some of the best quotes from the first 3 seasons:

"Kids today, they have no one to look up to... 'cause they're looking up to us."

"I don't want to have a fight."
"Then stop talking."

"I hate to break it to you, but there is no big lie, there is no system, the universe is indifferent."

"That's life... one minute you're on top of the world, the next minute some secretary is running you over with a lawnmower."

"There are snakes that go months without eating. And then they finally catch something, but they're so hungry that they suffocate while they're eating. One opportunity at a time."

"It's my purpose in life to bring America to the world. Whether they like it or not."

"Very rousing, sir."
"Churchill rousing, or Hitler rousing?"

"I'm living like there's no tomorrow, because there isn't one."

"If you don't like what's being said, change the conversation."

"I can't decide if you have everything . . . or nothing."

Chicken Before Egg

British scientists claim to have solved one of the great mysteries of life, the universe and everything in it: The chicken came before the egg, they say, and they're not mincing words. "It had long been suspected that the egg came first, but now we have the scientific proof that shows that in fact the chicken came first," Sheffield University's Dr Colin Freeman, according to a report in the Metro.

Researchers from Scotland and England used a supercomputer called HECToR to look in such detail at a chicken eggshell that they were able to determine the vital role of a protein used to kick-start the egg's formation.

That protein is only found, wait for it... inside a chicken.

Freeman, who worked on HECToR with counterparts at Edinburgh's Warwick University, said the protein had been identified earlier by scientists and was known to be linked to egg formation, "but by examining it closely we have been able to see how it controls the process," he added, describing it as a catalyst. Professor John Harding, who also took part in the research, told Metro the discovery could have other applications. "Understanding how chickens make shells is fascinating in itself, but can also give clues towards designing new materials." he said.

Which is good, because in spite of HECToR's hard work and the "scientific proof" it yielded, the study offered no explanation as to how the chicken got there in the first place. If not from an egg, perhaps it just came from across the road.

From: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/07/14/tech/main6676542.shtml

Goldman Sachs Code of Ethics

Every wondered what was contained in Goldman Sachs code of ethics. A very interesting report on the document that guides the most powerful investment bankers in the world:

http://www.publicradio.org/columns/marketplace/business-news-briefs/2010/06/wheres_the_ethics_in_goldman_s.html

Somewhat Revolting, Very Thought-Provoking

I don't agree with the following opinion, and I don't know how many people would, but it is thought-provoking to say the least:

http://20smoney.com/2010/06/29/an-angle-on-charity/

Fall From Grace

From Rick Reilly at ESPN:

Nine months ago, the three most popular athletes in this country were Tiger Woods, Peyton Manning and LeBron James. Since that time, Woods has become the Sultan of Sleaze, Manning is suddenly the guy who can't get it done in the big moment, and James is disloyal, narcissistic and cruel, apparently. It's like one of those ancient cultures that would anoint a man king just long enough to kill him, ensuring a bountiful harvest. Sports fame is like riding a tiger. It's fun for awhile, but how do you get off without being eaten?

http://sports.espn.go.com/espnmag/story?id=5373709

How Apple Could Fail

I am an Apple supporter. I am constantly impressed with their product development, marketing, and execution. Here is a very interesting take on how Apple could fail, and how it has happened before for the mighty Mac empire:

http://www.businessinsider.com/this-chart-should-scare-the-bejesus-out-of-apple-2010-7

Solar Powered Flight

A solar-powered aircraft, which a team hopes will one day circle the globe, completed a 26-hour test flight in Switzerland at 9 a.m. Thursday.

Solar Impulse took off shortly before 7 a.m. Wednesday from an airfield in Payerne, 80 miles northeast of Geneva.

The plane was piloted by Andre Borschberg, who flew to a height of nearly 28,000 feet (8,500 meters).

"I've been a pilot for 40 years now, but this flight has been the most incredible one of my flying career," Borschberg said, according to the New York Times.

"Just sitting there and watching the battery charge level rise and rise thanks to the sun. I have just flown more than 26 hours without using a drop of fuel and without causing any pollution."

During the evening, the plane slowly descended to an altitude of 4,500 feet (1,500 meters), where it remained for the rest of the night using battery power. An hour before dawn, the plane still had six hours of flying time left in its solar-fueled batteries.

Read the entire article here:
http://www.cnn.com/2010/TRAVEL/07/08/solar.plane.test.flight/index.html?hpt=T2

It is my sincere hope that America starts having clean energy breakthroughs like this. I truly believe our economic future depends on it. But alas, we will have to settle for LeBron James rumors on Twitter, and articles about Lindsey Lohan going to jail (the two articles that were trending higher on CNN than the solar plane article). I sometimes worry about the fate of our country.

Consider for a Moment

Could the Republicans be purposefully attempting to weaken the economy in preparation for the mid-term elections?

Greg Valliere, the Chief Political Strategist of the Potomac Research Group, presents his thoughts: http://www.cnbc.com/id/38023788

World Cup TV Ratings

This past Saturday's World Cup match between the US and Ghana attracted the biggest audience ever in the United States for men's soccer.

ESPN announced that the game Saturday afternoon drew 14.9 million viewers in English -- and Nielsen said another 4 million watched in Spanish.

ESPN said that overall ratings are nearly 50 percent higher for these games than the 2006 World Cup. The United States is currently bidding to become the host for the World Cup in either 2018 or 2022.

http://www.boston.com/sports/soccer/blog/2010/06/record-breaking.html

Does America Need Royalty?

A very interesting perspective on a topic that at first glance may seem absurd, but will definitely make you think:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/10/opinion/10kristof.html

Missed Opportunity

Barry Ritholtz's take on what President Obama should have promised to the American people during his address to the nation regarding the BP disaster:

1. Energy R&D: First, we need to recognize that a decade into the 21st century, we are as a nation overwhelmingly wed to 19th century fuel sources. What we need is a fundamental breakthrough in energy technology. Toward that end, I am convening a new “Manhattan Project” — only this time, it is for fundamental research into new forms of Energy. We need more than incremental improvements in solar and battery power, we need a major breakthrough that is the equivalent of the Atomic bomb in its magnitude.

I am requesting Congress Fund a $250 billion dollar Federal research agency to fund fundamental physics and chemistry research — into battery technology, solar efficiency, wind and wave power, thorium nuclear, and all manners of new ideas. The private sector has failed to do this over the past century, so it is up to we the people to get this accomplished. (If we were able to find $185 billion dollars for AIG, then surely we can find $250B to secure our energy futures).

2. Gas Taxes: Gasoline is cheap and plentiful. This has encouraged us to be incredibly wasteful in our energy choices. We are the only industrialized western nation that has not implemented some form of disincentive to to be so profligate in our fuel consumption.

3. Mass Transit: I am implementing a massive overhaul of our national mass transit. We are too inefficient in how much energy we consume merely getting around from place to place. Hi Speed rail between cities, increased rail within the cities, natural gas burning buses, and electric vehicles will become the standard.

4. CAFE Standards: For local driving, we need to also be more efficient. Thus, we will raise our national Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards for automobiles. We were making progress in the 1970s and early 80s, but we got complacent. I am confident that our auto engineers and manufacturers will find a way to deign more efficient vehicles.

5. Alternative Energy for Homes: I have already established tax credits for making homes more efficient, replacing old furnaces, upgrading insulation and windows. But we can do better. So we will be offering a new set of tax credits for alternative energy sources at the home level. Solar, geothermal, wind will all be subsidized by a federal tax credits for home and multi-unit apartment owners.

6. Upgrade the Grid: Our existing energy grid is antiquated, inefficient and problematic. I am appointing a panel of scientific experts to make recommendations to upgrade the electric grid, transmit power more efficiently, and help to reduce black outs. Further, we need to make the grid more secure from attack from overseas hackers and others who would use our open society to do us harm.

The entire post is well worth the read: http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2010/06/missed-opportunity-bp-gulf-of-mexico-disaster/

World Cup

The knockout stage of the World Cup begins tomorrow. Here are some World Cup facts to get your pumped:

- The first World Cup was held in Uruguay in 1930. Many believed American Bart McGee scored the first goal in the World Cup, against Belgium in the 40th minute. But a dispute erupted and FIFA, soccer's governing body, determined the first goal was scored by Frenchman Lucien Laurent in the 19th minute against Mexico on July 13, 1930.

- The highest attendance for one match was in the 1950 final. The official attendance was 199,854 for the match between Brazil and Uruguay in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

- The XXXIX Superbowl had an estimated 94 million viewers. The World Cup averages 1.1 billion viewers per day for the almost month-long event. This year it is estimated that 2.8 billion viewers will watch a World Cup game.

- Official World Cup Sponsorship cost $125 million dollars : Coke, Adidas, McDonald's, Visa, and Sony

GO USA!!!!

http://www.ehow.com/facts_5144103_interesting-fifa-world-cup.html

Where Americans Are Moving

More than 10 million Americans moved from one county to another during 2008. The Forbes webiste below visualizes those moves. All you do is click on a county to see the comings and goings: black lines indicate net inward movement, red lines net outward movement. Pretty cool stuff:

http://www.forbes.com/2010/06/04/migration-moving-wealthy-interactive-counties-map.html

Against All Odds

From the Boston Globe:

Daniel Nava weighed 135 pounds and did not get many at-bats during his senior year at St. Francis High in Mountain View, Calif.

Mark O’Brien, the baseball coach at Santa Clara University, was only being polite when he invited Daniel Nava to come out for his team as a walk-on in the fall of 2001.

“He came out for the team and I’ll be honest with you, he didn’t get many balls out of the infield,’’ O’Brien said. “I called him in the office and said, ‘Hey, man, I love you as a kid but I can’t look you in the eye and say you can play for this team.’ It’s hard to let a kid go, but there wasn’t much I could do.’’

But O’Brien was willing to let Nava hang around the program. What he could offer was a chance to shag balls during batting practice, rake the field and wash the uniforms on road trips.

“Most kids wouldn’t have wanted to do that,’’ O’Brien said. “But look what happened.’’

Nava stuck around the Santa Clara program for two seasons and 2 years later an unexpected growth spurt left Nava 5 feet 10 inches and 170 pounds. A pipsqueak no longer, Nava was driving the ball to all fields. But for financial reasons, Nava had to leave school and enrolled at San Mateo Junior College.

Nava then tried out for the independent league Chico Outlaws and was cut. He made the team the following season and was named MVP. Baseball America magazine named Nava the best prospect in the independent leagues.

That caught the attention of Red Sox assistant director of pro scouting Jared Porter, who recommended that Nava’s rights be purchased from Chico.

The high-stakes deal: $1 up front with an additional $1,499 if Nava made it through spring training in 2008.

Nava soared through the organization, advancing a level each season before being called up to Fenway Park on Saturday. He came to the plate with the bases loaded in the second inning and hit the first pitch he saw from Joe Blanton into the Red Sox bullpen for a grand slam.

The former team manager is now 4 for 8 with 2 doubles, a grand slam, and 5 RBIs as a member of the Red Sox. There is not a more unlikely rookie in all of baseball than the 27-year-old Nava.

From: http://www.boston.com/sports/baseball/redsox/articles/2010/06/15/nava_still_rolling_against_all_odds/

Facebook Facts

1) Facebook was originally bankrolled by a co-founder of Paypal for $500,000

2) There is evidence that founder Mark Zuckerberg stole many of the ideas and much of the code from ConnectU. They sued Facebook and settled for an undisclosed amount.

3) 400,000,000 people log into their profile at least once a month

4) Half of those people log in every day

5) 70% of Facebook users live outside of the US

6 ) 44.1% of Denmark has an active Facebook profile

7) Only Google gets more traffic

8) Yahoo! tried to buy Facebook in 2006 for $1,000,000,000

9) 8,300,000,000 hours are spent on Facebook monthly

10) The fastest growing demographic in America on Facebook: Women 55+

11) FAD is a mental disorder – Facebook Addiction Disorder. FAD. Ironic.

12) Court notices and summons sent through Facebook are legal and binding in Australia.

From: http://socialblade.com/show/2010/06/13/facebook-facts/

Kids are Expensive!!

The annual report "Expenditures on Children by Families" was just recently released. A middle-income family, with a child born in 2009, can expect to spend about $222,360 for food, shelter, and other necessities to raise that child over the next 17 years.

Housing costs are the single largest expenditure, averaging $70,020 or 31 percent of the total cost over 17 years. Child care/education and food were the next two largest expenses, accounting for 17 and 16 percent of the total expenditure. Amazingly, the estimates do not include the costs associated with pregnancy or the cost of a college education.

www.pressreleasenetwork.com/newsroom/EINNews.php?id=89806

Dunkin vs Starbucks in Mass

Every wondered about the contest between Dunkin Donuts and Starbucks. Check out the website for a frightening look at the caffeine wars:

http://www.boston.com/yourtown/massfacts/snapshot_dunkin_donuts_vs_starbucks_massachusetts/

The New iPhone

The iPhone 4 is here bringing with it video calling, a three-axis gyroscope, and an improved battery life.

It can record 720p high-definition video and its display is four times the resolution of previous iPhone models. Check out the video and pay special attention to "FACE TIME".



iPhones, iPads, and iPods, ohhh my.

A Small Chance

From Barry Ritholtz at the Big Picture Blog:


The big flaw in the business critique of regulation is not so much that it overstates the costs, but that it understates its benefits — in particular, the benefits of avoiding low-probability events with disastrous consequences.

Think of oil spills, mine explosions, financial meltdowns or even global warming. There is a natural tendency of human beings to underestimate the odds of such seemingly unlikely events — of forgetting that the 100-year flood is as likely to happen in Year 5 as it is in Year 95. And if there are insufficient data to calculate the probability of a very bad outcome, as is often the case, that doesn’t mean we should assume the probability is zero.
-Steven Pearlstein

Fascinating quote that explains the game theory — and mathematical foibles — of the deregulatory free market extremists. This perfectly sums up the rationalizations used by those people who have emphasized the costs of regulation, but not the upside.

In a Democracy, when taxpayers have attempted to collectively protect themselves against corporate (and other) monied interests have had to argue against a growth storyline. That of course, turns out to have been a false narrative, but it carried the day for decades.

Pearlstein adds:
The biggest oil spill ever. The biggest financial crisis since the Great Depression. The deadliest mine disaster in 25 years. One recall after another of toys from China, of vehicles from Toyota, of hamburgers from roach-infested processing plants. The whole Vioxx fiasco. And let’s not forget the biggest climate threat since the Ice Age.

Even if you’re not into conspiracy theories, it’s hard to ignore the common thread running through these recent crises . . . regulators who were blinded by their ideological bias against government interference and their faith that industries could police themselves.”


http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2010/06/understating-the-benefits-of-avoiding-low-probability-disastrous-consequences/

Lost Generation

One of the most clever videos I have ever seen:



Amazing...

Links

Worldwide Beer Production and Consumption: http://www.lunch.com/beercommunity/reviews/Beer_Production_and_Consumption_Around_the_World-3-1466543.html

Knock-Off Foreign Toys: http://www.urlesque.com/2010/06/01/26-hilariously-inaccurate-knock-off-toys/?sms_ss=digg

Thanks to Megan for the links.

Fountain of the Future

It's been called "the fountain of the future" and "the most advanced soda fountain ever".

Coca-Cola is in the process of rolling out a new machine called Freestyle. It's a fountain drink dispenser that resides in fast food restaurants, but it's hard to believe what it does. This high tech gadget actually allows customers to mix their own flavor concoctions from more than 100 Coca-Cola drink brands.

Freestyle not only dispenses unlimited flavor choices, it's also downright cool-looking. Housed in a Ferrari-designed sleek metal shell, Freestyle boasts touchscreen technology and releases "digitally-controlled amounts of concentrate flavor from dozens of plastic cartridges." The machine is also a marketing wizard of sorts. Wireless technology allows it to beam back information to the company about beverage usage patterns.

Together at Last

2 of mankind's greatest inventions, together at last:

The possibilities are endless...

Wheaton College

As a graduate of Wheaton College (in NORTON), the following story was all the more interesting:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ynews/20100525/ts_ynews/ynews_ts2234

Historical Perspective

Time for a little historical perspecitive on taxes:

Good News

Time for some good news:

http://www.gnn.com/article/proud-mama-oral-lee-brown-sends/1069448

http://www.myfoxhouston.com/dpp/news/local/100518-homeless-student-defies-odds%2C-becomes-valedictorian

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/37106519/ns/business-retail/

40 Yards Right

From: http://sports.yahoo.com/golf/blog/devil_ball_golf/post/When-losing-a-golf-tournament-really-makes-you-a?urn=golf,238912

There are times to be competitive. Moments when all you want to do is humiliate your opponent as you defeat him. It's the nature of sports, and what our internal competition meters usually read. But, at times, and these are few and far between, we see acts that defy wins and losses.

That is what happened between two collegiate golfers, vying for a spot in the NAIA National Championship.

Grant Whybark, a sophomore at the University of St. Francis, had locked up a spot in nationals with his team, which won the Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference Championship, but was in a playoff against Olivet Nazarene's Seth Doran for individual honors.

As championships go, both the winning team and winning individual are asked to move on to nationals, so if Whybark won the playoff against Doran, he'd be honoring both spots and Doran wouldn't be asked to move on.

Whybark stood over his tee shot on the first playoff hole, looked down the fairway and back at his ball, and hit it 40 yards right of the fairway, out of bounds by a mile. He made double bogey, Doran made par, and Olivet Nazarene had a man in nationals.
What makes it so incredible? Whybark intentionally did it, because he felt Doran had earned a spot in the next round.

"We all know Seth very well," Whybark explains, "and he not only is a very good player, but a great person as well. He’s a senior and had never been to nationals. Somehow, it just wasn’t in my heart to try to knock him out.

"I think some people were surprised, but my team knew what I was doing and were supportive of me. I felt Seth deserved to go (to nationals) just as much as I did.

"It was one of those things where I couldn’t feel good taking something from him like this. My goal from the start was to get (to nationals) with my team. I had already done that."