Where GM's Eggs Are

Attracting Money

IT'S an uncomfortable truth that beautiful people make more money: in the US, attractive workers earn 10 per cent more than their less winsome colleagues. Although it is plausible that the "beauty premium" arises because we favour pretty people, it might be that ambitious employees spend more time on grooming, or that attractive people are more confident employees.

Now a study of a TV game show supports the prejudice hypothesis. The effect is so strong that contestants often lost out on hundreds of euros because they made poor judgements about fellow players. (From newscientist)

One of the reasons I should pay more attention to my appearance. . .

The Poor Gamble

ScienceDaily (July 24, 2008) — Although state lotteries, on average, return just 53 cents for every dollar spent on a ticket, people continue to pour money into them -- especially low-income people, who spend a larger percentage of their incomes on lottery tickets than do the wealthier segments of society.

A new Carnegie Mellon University study sheds light on the reasons why low-income lottery players eagerly invest in a product that provides poor returns.

In the study, published in the July issue of the Journal of Behavioral Decision Making, participants who were made to feel subjectively poor bought nearly twice as many lottery tickets as a comparison group that was made to feel subjectively more affluent. The Carnegie Mellon findings point to poverty's central role in people's decisions to buy lottery tickets. (Full story at sd)

Say what you want about the ethics of gambling, it's interesting that those who can least afford to play the lottery are the ones who make it profitable. My question would be: Do these people remain poor, in part, due to this type of irrational behavior when it comes to monetary decisions, or are they simply a victum of a broken socio-economic system?

Cutting Back on Meat

LET’S suppose you’ve decided to eat less meat, or are considering it. And let’s ignore your reasons for doing so. They may be economic, ethical, altruistic, nutritional or even irrational. The arguments for eating less meat are myriad and well-publicized, but at the moment they’re irrelevant, because what I want to address here is (almost) purely pragmatic: How do you do it?

I’m not talking about eating no meat; I’m talking about cutting back, which in some ways is harder than quitting. Vegetarian recipes and traditions are everywhere. But in the American style of eating — with meat usually at the center of the plate — it can be difficult to eat two ounces of beef and call it dinner.

Cutting back on meat is not an isolated process. Unlike, say, taking up meditation or exercise, it usually has consequences for others. (Full Story at nytimes)

With food prices rising, cutting back on meat is a good way to save some ca$h. Also, as he points out in the article, I'm starting to believe that the average American diet contains entirely too much meat. (Start following fanaticcooks blog if you are interested in studying dietary issues. She is one of the main reasons I've started heading in this direction).

Cool Chart

Below is a chart displaying the percentage of income spent on fuel. Interestingly, even though gas is cheaper down here it still hurts more to fill up than in California. If you click on the link, you can also see the price of gas around the country and the median income. Sorry about the diminutive sized chart (just click on the link to see a readable version). (From nytimes)

Best Before Dates

It is lunchtime and I am arguing with my wife. It is a big one. We are entering neighbours-can-hear-every-word territory. Something terrible has come between us: an uncooked piece of chicken. My wife Emily points out that it is six days past its Use-By date and shouts: 'It's gone off, idiot!'

She accuses me of trying to poison my stepson Felix, 16, who, like me, wants to eat it. I say she shouldn't believe everything she reads on the label. This makes things worse.

Welcome to an unusual experiment. For two weeks I have decided to eat increasingly out-of-date supermarket-food in an attempt to discover the truth about Use-By and Best Before dates, and prove that Britain is throwing out tons of perfectly good produce. (Full Story at dailymail)



I have to admit that I have always played pretty loose with "best by" and "use by" dates. I've never had any troubles from it either.

Nessy In Minnesota

LAKE CITY, Minn. (WCCO) ― There's one creature in Minnesota that's so hard to track that $50,000 reward is out for proof it exists.

Ever since the 1800s, residents around Lake Pepin in Lake City, Minn. say they've spotted a sea monster. They call him, Pepie.

"It was very strange," said Larry Nielson, who says he's seen the mysterious creature. "We watched it for quite a while and we watched it for about 15 minutes and could not figure out what it might be."

Steve Raymond shares the same story.

"Now, I'm the third person who's reported it. I distinctly remember three humps, with one hump looking like a head," recalled Raymond about his experience on Lake Pepin.

The first sighting of the creature was in April 1871. An artist has tried to show what the monster, with a hypnotic red-eye and demon-like head, might look like. It's said to live within the depths of Devil's Abys. (Full Story at wcco)


I like to think that there are still creatures that hide right under our noses.

I'll Bet My Life On It

Turn Off Your PS3

SYDNEY (Reuters) - Don't blame the fridge for your steep power bills -- an Australian consumer agency study has found that videogame consoles and plasma flat-screen TVs are major electricity guzzlers, even when left on stand-by.

The recent study by Choice said Sony Corp's Playstation 3, closely followed by Microsoft's Xbox 360 and plasma television sets, consumed the most power out of a list of 16 electronic devices tested, including laptops, stereo systems and DVD players.

"Our tests found that leaving a Playstation 3 on while not in use would cost almost... five times more than it would take to run a refrigerator for the same yearly period," said the study which was published on Choice's website www.choice.com.au.

"The plasma TV set was also a power hungry device, consuming over four times more power than a traditional analogue set. The average desktop computer was third on the list." (Full Story at reuters)

Maybe I should start turning off the PC at night. . .

What 300 Calories Looks Like And Costs

Ever wonder how many calories something is? Well, here is a site that has created a nice selection of foods that are 300 calories. As a bonus, they even tallied the cost of each of these snacks/meals. Check it out. (Monetary values are listed on the site).

Feeding The Masses

Here is Norman Borlaug, father of the green revolution, from about a decade ago but highly relevant today:

Yields can still be increased by 50-100% in much of the Indian sub-Continent, Latin America, the former USSR and Eastern Europe, and by 100-200% in much of sub-Saharan Africa, providing political stability is maintained, bureaucracies that destroys entrepreneurial initiative are reigned in, and their researchers and extension workers devote more energy to putting science and technology to work at the farm level.... (Full Story at marginalrevolution)

Click to enlarge Graph

I would be interested to see the progress we have made over the past 10-20 years. Also, how much of that "Area Spared" is now being used for ethanol production. At any rate, its encouraging to see that we are continuing to get more efficient in food production (speaking strictly of plant matter of course).

Oil Rustling

The bandit pulled his truck to the back of a Burger King in Northern California one afternoon last month armed with a hose and a tank. After rummaging around assorted restaurant rubbish, he dunked a tube into a smelly storage bin and, the police said, vacuumed out about 300 gallons of grease.

Nick Damianidis, an owner of Olympia Pizza and Pasta in Arlington, Wash., has had oil stolen.

The man was caught before he could slip away. In his truck, the police found 2,500 gallons of used fryer grease, indicating that the Burger King had not been his first fast-food craving of the day.

Outside Seattle, cooking oil rustling has become such a problem that the owners of the Olympia Pizza and Pasta Restaurant in Arlington, Wash., are considering using a surveillance camera to keep watch on its 50-gallon grease barrel. Nick Damianidis, an owner, said the barrel had been hit seven or eight times since last summer by siphoners who strike in the night.

“Fryer grease has become gold,” Mr. Damianidis said. “And just over a year ago, I had to pay someone to take it away. . .”

In 2000, yellow grease was trading for 7.6 cents per pound. On Thursday, its price was about 33 cents a pound, or almost $2.50 a gallon. (That would make the 2,500-gallon haul in the Burger King case worth more than $6,000.) (Full story at nytimes)

I wondered when this was going to start happening.

Keep It in Park

The FHWA’s “Traffic Volume Trends” report, produced monthly since 1942, shows that estimated vehicle miles traveled (VMT) on all U.S. public roads for March 2008 fell 4.3 percent as compared with March 2007 travel. This is the first time estimated March travel on public roads fell since 1979. At 11 billion miles less in March 2008 than in the previous March, this is the sharpest yearly drop for any month in FHWA history. (Full Story at dot)


That's a lot less driving. I wonder if the trend will continue or even move at an exponential rate. And another thing, when will this decreased demand translate into cheaper fuel?

Save Gas, Buy Mules

MCMINNVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - High gas prices have driven a Warren County farmer and his sons to hitch a tractor rake to a pair of mules to gather hay from their fields. T.R. Raymond bought Dolly and Molly at the Dixon mule sale last year. Son Danny Raymond trained them and also modified the tractor rake so the mules could pull it.

T.R. Raymond says the mules are slower than a petroleum-powered tractor, but there are benefits.

"This fuel's so high, you can't afford it," he said. "We can feed these mules cheaper than we can buy fuel. That's the truth."

And Danny Raymond says he just likes using the mules around the farm.

"We've been using them quite a bit," he said.

Brother Robert Raymond added, "It's the way of the future." (From wtop)

Who's laughing at the Amish now?

Sick Day

ARLINGTON, Wash. -- A former Washington state social worker has been accused of faking brain cancer to avoid work.

Theft charges were filed Tuesday against 40-year-old Sandra Dee Martinez, formerly of Mountlake Terrace, who was employed by the Department of Social and Health Services in Arlington.

According to investigators, Martinez presented fake letters that appeared to be from doctors saying she had malignant brain tumors. Prosecutors wrote that she received $21,000 worth of paid leave and took advantage of sick days donated by co-workers last year. . .

Arlington Police Chief John Gray said Martinez has moved to another state and won't speak with investigators. (Full Story at kmotv)

Wow. What do you say to something like that?

Girl Scout Cookies

DETROIT (AP) - A Girl Scout sold 17,328 boxes of the group's signature cookies this year by setting up shop on a street corner, shattering her troop's old mark and probably setting a national record.

Jennifer Sharpe, a 15-year-old from Dearborn, plans to travel to Europe with her troop with the proceeds from her feat.

"It's always been one of those goals I wanted to accomplish," Sharpe said Wednesday. (Full Story at wtop)

If my kid was selling that many, I would ditch the Girl Scout cookies and come up with something she could keep the profit from.

235mpg at 75mph

As outrageous as the idea of a 1L/100km car sounds, more reports have emerged confirming the ultra-frugal car is in fact in development and that it could be on the market by as early as 2010. At last month’s Frankfurt Motor Show senior VW exec Ferdinand Piëch claimed the car would be available by the end of the decade and now CEO Martin Winterkorn has backed up the claim as well as providing some of the production details.

First up Winterkorn stressed that the 1-Liter “would not be a best seller” and thus will only be produced in limited numbers. Its body will be constructed from plastic and magnesium and its power source will be a one-cylinder engine displacing just 0.3L. Top speed will be 120km/h and consumption will fall around the 1L/100km mark (235mpg), reports AFX. (Full Story at motoauthority)

I don't know. I think I would consider having one as a commuter.

Gas Tax

SLOCOMB, Ala. — Gov. Charlie Crist of Florida has been fighting to cut 10 cents from the state’s gasoline tax for two weeks in July. Lawmakers in Missouri, New York and Texas have also proposed a summer break from state gas taxes, while candidates for governor in Indiana and North Carolina are sparring over relief ideas of their own. . .

In Missouri, meanwhile, State Representative Jim Lembke, Republican of St. Louis, has sponsored a more novel approach to suspending the state’s 17.6-cent gas tax: drivers would turn in their receipts at the end of the summer and the state would cut them a rebate check.

Last week, the Missouri bill gained initial approval in the House; it has yet to be taken up in the Senate. The New York proposal has yet to pass. And the Florida plan failed in the Legislature on Friday, but Mr. Crist said he would like to revive it.

In North Carolina, the Republican candidate for governor is proposing a gas tax holiday and permanent reduction, while in Indiana the candidates for governor are debating ways to cap or reduce the growth of the tax, which rises with gas prices.

All of these plans come as other states resist letting go of gas tax revenue, which typically finances road construction and maintenance. (Full Story at nytimes)

This is a really, really bad idea. Gas taxes should not be cut at all. All you have to do is think of the logical outcome for a minute, and you will see why. With decreased prices at the pump there will be increased demand. Increased demand at the pump means higher prices on crude. So you have $3 gas this summer and when Fall roles around (and the taxes come back) you have $4.50 gas. In your mom's language: They are robbing Peter to pay Paul. They are only delaying the pain and it could possibly make things much worse in the long run.

Some may ask why they are proposing the "tax relief." The answer is politics. Basically they are pandering to the public outcry over high fuel prices. It gets votes. Any economist will tell you this is a bad idea. Don't get me wrong though, many people are stuck living day to day. They don't have the luxury of considering the price in three months because they are struggling to make it today. They need help but not from the government and not by artificially cutting fuel prices.

But hey, I've never been mistaken for a genius, so what do you think?

The Price of Music

The price of digital music could be in flux. Warner Music Group plans to run a test starting this month that will alter the price of certain songs on a number of unspecified online music stores to reflect demand.

Like an artificially intelligent version of Amie Street, Warner's partner on the project Digonex "gathers sales data in real-time, analyzes purchasing behavior, and sets new prices that hit the 'sweet spot' where consumer demand and market potential meet." Nettwerk Records experimented with the same system last year, charging 33, 66, or 99 cents for singles, and between $3.30 and $10 for albums. . .

In some cases, the system will charge more for recently-released popular recordings, as indicated by the company's chart (above). However, according to Billboard, popular stuff could sometimes end up costing less: "In some cases, the company recommends lowering the price on a hot-selling album in order to spike even more sales and increase overall volume." (Full Story at wired)

I like the idea. I've never challenged the idea of a fixed price for music, but this makes sense to me. What do you think?

Inflation Chart

Here is another chart that I am currently digging. This is from the nytimes. It shows the average amount spent by the American consumer in different categories. The size of the category represents relative amount of money spent. The color shows the percentage of increase in that spending. If you mouse over the categories you can see the specifics of that sector. Go here to give it a look.