Category: Business

The Snoop Next Door

The Snoop Next Door – WSJ.com
The return of the Pilgrims’ Scarlet Letter via the On-line Community.

The embrace of the Web to expose trivial transgressions in part represents a return to shame as a check on social behavior, says Henry Jenkins, director of the comparative media studies program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Some academics believe shame became less powerful as a control over everyday interactions with strangers in all but very small neighborhoods or social groups, as people moved to big cities or impersonal suburbs where they existed more anonymously. Continue reading “The Snoop Next Door”

Street Charging Services in Uganda

Jan Chipchase – Future Perfect: Power Up: Street Charging Services in Uganda
Uganda is a country coping with a severe energy crisis resulting in frequent power cuts. In addition, access to mains electricity in rural locations is limited. Given that mobile phones require power, and access to power can be unpredictable – how do people keep their mobile phones and other electrical devices charged?

There are two forms of mobile phone battery charging services in Kampala – either offered as an additional service by phone kiosk operators or as a stand alone service. It costs 500 Ugandan Shillings (0.2 Euro) to have a battery recharged similar to the price of 2 or 3 phone calls. Whist both services appear to thrive there are a number of barriers to use: customers cannot use their phone whilst the battery is being charged; the customer risks, or perceives the risk that their battery being swapped for an inferior one; a perceived risk of phone theft – signs that suggest service providers are not responsible for loss or theft are evident.

Monster Bunnies For North Korea

Fat German Rabbits to Feed Poor: Monster Bunnies For North Korea – International – SPIEGEL ONLINE – News
An east German pensioner who breeds rabbits the size of dogs has been asked by North Korea to help set up a big bunny farm to alleviate food shortages in the communist country. Now journalists and rabbit gourmets from around the world are thumping at his door.

It all started when Karl Szmolinsky won a prize for breeding Germany’s largest rabbit, a friendly-looking 10.5 kilogram “German Gray Giant” called Robert, in February 2006.

Images of the chubby monster went around the world and reached the reclusive communist state of North Korea, a country of 23 million which according to the United Nations Food Programme suffers widespread food shortages and where many people “struggle to feed themselves on a diet critically deficient in protein, fats and micronutrients.”

Continue reading “Monster Bunnies For North Korea”

Trailer Park Millionaires

Most residents make sale toast of the town
The vote:Residentschose to accept a $510 million offer from Boca Raton-based Ocean Land Investments for the 488-unit mobile home park.

The plans: Ocean Land envisions condos, townhomes, a hotel, retail and commercial space, restaurants and parks.

The process: Ocean Land must get state and local approval, including input from neighboring towns, which have said they will consider legal challenges.

The payoff: Residents split $500 million, at $31,700 a share. While the average is about $1 million a unit, some will be paid more and some less.

Residents vote to sell oceanfront town for $510M.
Video NEWS 12 video report
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What happens now
Sale toast of the town
Residents sound off
Mementos gain meaning

A Brief History of Oil

Conversion from using whale oil to crude oil (rock oil) for ilumination Mid 1800″s( John D Rockefeller’s Std Oil that was its origin)and later the utilization of gasoline (a byproduct of refining to make kerosene ) to power automobiles (Henry Ford cars for the masses ) 1908 first Model T and the British Royal Navy converting from coal to oil almost overnight courtesy of Winston Churchill 1912.WW 1 won on a sea of oil. Sets off the scramble for energy assets see Iraq today.100 years of unprecedented economic growth powered by fossil fuels and now the sleeping giant China powering up using even greater amounts of fossil fuel.The world is now at a point in time using 1000 barrels of crude oil every second! James Watt perfecting the steam engine harnessing the power of steam generated by Coal to run the pumps 1756 to enable the miners in England to keep the deep pit coal mines dry from water flooding to fuel the industrial revolution of UK. England goofs sides with the hashemite kings against the whabbi kings over the deserts of Arabia and forever loses the trust of the Saud family(Whabbi Sunni) paving the way for Chevron, then Texaco to put togeather the energy giant1938-48 now known as Saudi Aramco but until 1973 owned lock stock and barrell by Exxon MObil, Chevron, Texaco and Gulf. Continue reading “A Brief History of Oil”

MYTH: More Foreign Aid Will End Global Poverty

ABC News: MYTH: More Foreign Aid Will End Global Poverty
In the past 40 years, Western governments have given Africa more than half a trillion dollars. Yet Africa is even poorer than it was before the foreign aid began.

Two studies by World Bank economists say foreign aid is one of the problems because “higher aid levels erode the quality of governance.”

Former World Bank economist William Easterly agrees. His new book, “The White Man’s Burden,” argues that Western efforts to cure poverty in the rest of the world have done more harm than good.

“Aid has the perverse effect that it makes [African] politicians much more oriented toward what will get them more money from the West than it does to making them meet the needs of their own people, which is really a scandal,” he said.

Fifty years ago, countries in East Asia were as poor as Africa. Now many are rich, despite much lower levels of aid because their governments created understandable laws so people could trade, borrow and start their own businesses. Continue reading “MYTH: More Foreign Aid Will End Global Poverty”

‘Fame Junkies’ is hooked on celebrity behavior

‘Fame Junkies’ is hooked on celebrity behavior – USATODAY.com
Author Jake Halpern argues that some people, particularly young girls, are literally addicted to celeb trivia. (This could explain why Paris Hilton was the most Googled name in 2006.) “We become addicted to things that have a mood-altering effect — drinking, pornography, chocolate,” says the 31-year-old freelance journalist and NPR commentator. The pictured example is of a life-size statue of Britney Spears giving birth on a bear skin rug, pointed out by Caroline Collier.

The results from a survey Halpern conducted of 653 middle-school students in the Rochester, N.Y., area:

•Given a choice of becoming the CEO of a major corporation, the president of Yale or Harvard, a Navy SEAL, a U.S. senator or “the personal assistant to a very famous singer or movie star,” almost half of the girls — 43.4% — chose the assistant role.

•When given an option to become stronger, smarter, famous or beautiful, boys in the survey chose fame almost as often as intelligence, and girls chose it more often.

•The teens who regularly watch certain celebrity-oriented TV shows were more likely than others to believe that they themselves will be famous someday.

Florida’s offer of free ice getting the cold shoulder

Florida’s offer of free ice getting the cold shoulder
In an effort to prepare for what forecasters initially predicted would be an active hurricane season, the state purchased the ice for $1.8 million.

The intent was to get the ice to areas impacted by a storm within 24 hours, said division spokesman Mike Stone. But no storm came, and with the season over, it’s costing taxpayers $90,000 a month to store.

First, the ice has a shelf life of just 6 to 10 months. Yes, even ice goes bad (think of those shriveled, yellow cubes you’ve seen in the freezer).

Second, it is stored in two facilities – Jacksonville and Bartow in central Florida.

Third, the minimum that can be picked up is 360 bags. Deliveries are possible, but only by the truckload – that’s 22 pallets or 39,600 pounds.

This is a one-time offer. The state is getting out of the ice-storage business.

“We will be working with our private-sector partners we have brought in and use those supply chains that are pre-existing,” Stone said. Among local nonprofits, the interest is non-existent. The county’s emergency operations folks say they would have the same problem as the state … it’s cost-prohibitive to store.

The Worst Predictions of 2006 – YouTube, etc.

The Worst Predictions of 2006

PREDICTION: “There’s just not that many videos I want to watch.” — Steve Chen, co-founder of YouTube, worrying in March, 2005, about his startup’s potential popularity

THE REALITY: As Chen was expressing this anxiety, YouTube had roughly 50 videos available. Today more than 100 million are viewed daily on YouTube, which was acquired by Google (GOOG) on Nov. 14 for $1.65 billion.


PREDICTION: The national median home price will rise about 6.1% in 2006. Over a full year, it “has never declined since good record-keeping began in 1968.” — National Association of Realtors, Dec. 12, 2005

THE REALITY: Through October, the median price of residential properties was down 3.5% from a year earlier.

PREDICTION: “A very active hurricane season is looming.” — National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration, May 22, 2006

THE REALITY: Of the up to six “major” hurricanes in the North Atlantic that were predicted by NOAA, only two materialized. Number that reached U.S. shores: zero.