Archive for 2010

August 2nd, 2010

The Facebook Economy

What the world would look like if Facebook was a country? The Facebook Economy.

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July 30th, 2010

The 500 Euro Note

The €500 note has become the drug dealer note of choice due to the large denomination. Through seigniorage the ECB is able to further stabilize the financial system in Europe due to the large profits from it’s printing presses. A fascinating, but slightly funny article from the WSJ. On a similar note, $1 million in [...]

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July 27th, 2010

Microsoft Dividends

I was reading an article in the WSJ about Steve Balmer and Microsoft, and realized something interesting. Microsoft has given considerable cash back to share holdings – in excess of $100bn when dividends and share buy-backs are added together. This is no small amount of money; had that cash stayed on Microsoft’s balance sheet, Apple [...]

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July 27th, 2010

Who Owns US Debt?

An interesting chart from the mint.com on who owns US debt?

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July 26th, 2010

Why Intelligent People Fail

Interesting article from from R. Sternberg in 1994. Lack of motivation. A talent is irrelevant if a person is not motivated to use it. Motivation may be external (for example, social approval) or internal (satisfaction from a job well-done, for instance). External sources tend to be transient, while internal sources tend to produce more consistent [...]

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July 26th, 2010

Uranium Ore Online

Need Uranium? Buy it on Amazon.com.

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July 21st, 2010

ATMs in Antarctica

Wells Fargo operates two ATM machines in Antarctica. An interview about it’s operating challenges.

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July 21st, 2010

Climate Change

Global warming is real. Sorry. An article from the Economist.

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July 21st, 2010

US Housing Market

I stumbled upon a July investor update by Freddic Mac, and learned some unsettling facts. Homeowners had more equity in their homes in 2001, before the real estate bubble than today. At the peak the enterprise value of US housing was approximately $23.5 trillion. Today, it’s $16.5 trillion, meaning $7 trillion of wealth has been [...]

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July 21st, 2010

Tarp Surfing

Have someone pull a big tarp as you skateboard under it.. It looks like you’re surfing.

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July 21st, 2010

Are Designer Sunglasses Worth the Price?

The truth about sunglasses. Luxottica manufacturers most of the worlds best known brands and is vertically integrated — they own LensCrafters, Pearle Vision, and Sunglass Hut. Eye doctors telling you need glasses and the sales people selling the glasses, all work for the same manufacturer. Talk about a conflict of interest. Article from the WSJ.

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July 8th, 2010

Architecture’s Modern Marvels

Great piece from Vanity Fair with the 20 most influential pieces of architecture in the 21st century.

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April 27th, 2010

Goldman Sachs

In today’s congressional hearings, Goldman Sachs was bluntly accused of fraud. Goldman Sachs has among the smartest people in the world working for them. Some of them are my friends. I don’t blindly support all things capitalism, but it’s infuriating to see Congress make a dog-and-pony show out of routine business practice to appease the [...]

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April 1st, 2010

Life In Charts

I try to explain life via charts at www.lifeincharts.com. Huzzah.

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January 2nd, 2010

Happy New Year

I don’t update here much, yet hello to all of you delivered here by Google. A couple quotes to start the New Year: Be always at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbors, and let each new year find you a better man. – Benjamin Franklin Every man should be born again on [...]

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