land of not so free

ok folks, expect higher retail prices for all consumer goods from now on. no, i am not talking about the ridiculous u.s. government policy of promoting ethanol that is causing most food products (milk, corn, soybean, wheat, beef, pork, cheese, etc) to go up in price as much as 50% in recent months. if this policy wasn't enough of a blow to consumers, supreme court recently made a ruling that entitles retailers and manufacturers to price fixing.
i know this is a supreme court decision, but let's hope that this decision had nothing to do with politics or big money contribution of well-heeled corporations like in the ethanol case.

here is the article on the topic
http://www.forbes.com/2007/06/28/retail-pricing-walmart-biz-cx_bw_ls_0628scotus.html

interesting write up on this topic
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2007/07/supreme-court-oks-price-fixing.html

worthy charity destinations for turtles and entrepreneurs

the tax deadline has passed, and some of us have received our tax refunds. if you are looking to put your refund to a great cause, be careful. with so many scandals arising from charities using funds inefficiently or outright stealing from donors, you need to do due diligence on where your money is going. but do not worry, i will give you some suggestions. here are some of the interesting destination for your charitable contributions.

kiva.org

this concept is similar to the the endeavors of bangladeshi nobel prize winner muhammad yunus.
basically you send money to small entrepreneurs in developing countries to help them build their business out of poverty. you can select the person and business you want to send your money to, and keep track of how they are doing. if the business prospers, they can pay you back your money. more about kiva here
http://www.kiva.org/about/
more about muhammad yunus here
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muhammad_Yunus

great turtle race

one of the most endangered species in the world is turtles and tortoises.
there is an interesting research project done on leatherback turtles right now. check their website here
http://www.greatturtlerace.com/

or if you have so much money that you need other places to donate, make sure to use the charity navigator. this website is a great starting point for you to do background check on the charitable organization of your choice.
http://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm

don't ask me to change my im

there are so many im's out there like aim, yahoo messenger, icq, msn that it is hard to keep up with friends if you don't have 10 of them installed. it's just too bothersome to download all of them and log into them all. but no more. you can use this meebo thingy that lets you log into to all of them at the same time. it doesn't require you to download any of them, it is a web based app.
all you have to do is log into meebo, and that's it. all the messages you get are contained within you browser page. this might also let you circumvent some firewalls if you are at work.
this app does have some limitations, for example some of the fancy features like picture icons may not work, but overall for normal chat and conversation it works very well.

meebo.com

image is everything: naughtiest nation in the world

bbc conducted a poll to see which countries were viewed to have positive (negative) influence in the world, and the result is interesting.
as you can see, canada, japan, and eu had the most positive ratings, while israel, usa, north korea, and iran had the most negative ratings. the article was found here.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6421597.stm
the full report is also downloadable in pdf format. the full report gives the breakdown by country,
for example, only 11 percent of people in philippines gave a negative vote, while 78 percent in greece gave a negative.
what is interesting about these polls is that it gives you a clearer view of world. it is a mild surprise to me that israel would be perceived more negatively than north korea (i live in the usa). also surprised to see usa getting more positive feedbacks than, ....actually not many are behind the usa.
interesting way to play with these poll is to look at how some countries are looked very differently by different people. while more people in china see north korea as positive (39 vs. 34 negative), overwhelming majority see japan negatively (63 vs 18 positive). this is a stark contrast to the usa's view of north korea (73 negative vs 8 postive) and japan (65 postive vs 15 negative).


from these observation, i'm going to validate my suspicions without any empirical evidence; that these perceptions are created and influenced heavily by media, and that the media itself is influenced by politicians.
image from
http://www.economist.com/daily/chartgallery/displaystory.cfm?story_id=8810655

fun links that may be relavant
- White House Accused of Censorship
A former CIA analyst says the agency was told to cut parts of his op-ed column.

http://www.truthout.org/cgi-bin/artman/exec/view.cgi/67/24573

-great firewall of china
http://greatfirewallofchina.org/test/

cucumber ham pretzel bread salami monster

this is a cucumber ham pretzel bread salami monster. or maybe it is a cucumber ham pretzel salami monster bread. either way a tasty looking treat.

freedom fighters will get you out of your cell phone contract

the phone companies always come out with new promotions, each one being better than the one you currently have.
for example, sprint started offering a plan that gives you unlimited texting and calls for 120 bucks. for anybody(like myself) who find this an attractive offer, there were no way of taking advantage of these offers, because in american you cannot break your current contract without paying a hefty penalty. but now here is a clever service called cellswapper.com that will let somebody else take over the plan.
this is how it works. you list your current plan on cellswapper (free). if somebody takes over your plan, you pay 14.99. thats it. your name and personal info is switched out completely to the new owner of the plan, so it is safe.

very nice idea.

brain deterioration cont 2

boy, this is fun

brain deterioration cont

another one from manyeyes.
this one is height of major league baseball players in 2006

brain deterioration

did you know that your brain mass shrinks as you age? i didn't.
chart is one of many interesting 'visualization of data' at manyeyes.
good place for random information.
http://services.alphaworks.ibm.com/manyeyes/browse/visualizations

my company oonyx corporation internal memo

OONYX is the industry leader of robust obfuscation. Imagine a combination of SVG and IIS. Our technology takes the best aspects of XSL and XMLHttpRequest. We will expand our aptitude to morph without diminishing our capacity to syndicate. Think extensible. A company that can deploy correctly will (one day) be able to morph elegantly. If you reinvent globally, you may have to deliver holistically. Quick: do you have a blog-based plan for dealing with emerging users? We will repurpose the industry jargon "transparent". We believe we know that it is better to recontextualize seamlessly than to leverage intra-intuitively. What does the industry jargon "C2C" really mean?



does this make any sense? of course not. company name was created by a web 2.0 company name generator here.
http://www.lightsphere.com/dev/web20.html
the paragraph was created using the corporate gibberish generator and full article ( paragraph above is just the first part of whole article) can be found here.
http://www.andrewdavidson.com/gibberish/?companyname=OONYX

premium gas regular gas

do you ever wonder what the difference is between the premium and regular gas? i'm sure many have, especially with the retail gas prices rising of late.
well, scientific american has done the work forus. i didn't feel like reading the reasoning, but the conclusion they arrive to is this. if your car manual doesn't say that you need premium, you don't need premium.
here is link.
http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?chanId=sa003&articleId=373086C9-E7F2-99DF-385F3705197C1D4F

big money little effort

economy is at near full employment now. but in case anybody is levered too heavily into real estate or got burned in the market lately, here is a sample of high paying jobs that do not require a college degree taken from this link.
http://www.nextstudent.com/NextPath/nextPath-Online/Highest-Paying-Job-With-No-Degree.asp
Air Traffic Controller – Average Yearly Salary: $100,000+
Nuclear Power Plant Operator – Average Hourly Pay Rate: $31+
Telecommunications Equipment Installers – Average Hourly Pay Rate: $22+
Computer Software Engineer – Average Yearly Salary: $52,000+
Computer Programmer – Average Yearly Salary: $55,000+
Gaming Managers – Average Hourly Pay Rate: $36+
Immigrations and Customs – Average Yearly Salary: $59,000+
Firefighting Supervisor – Average Yearly Salary: $60,000+
Real Estate Broker – Average Yearly Salary: $76,000+
Ship Engineer – Average Yearly Salary: $57,000+
Elevator Repair – Average Yearly Salary: $58,000+
Power Distributor – Average Yearly Salary: $59,000+

another option is to start a internet business that require little effort.
examples of this taken from '10 Totally Stupid Online Business Ideas That Made Someone Rich'
http://nichegeek.com/10_totally_stupid_online_business_ideas_that_made_someone_rich
Million Dollar Homepage.com
SantaMail.org
LaserMonks.com
FitDeck.com
PickyDomains.com

or, the ultimate option is to become the chief economist for the national association of realtors. i'm not sure how much he makes, but i'm sure he is well compensated. besides, there are not many occupations that will allow you be wrong more often that your weatherman.
the jpeg, taken from minyanville, is his recent track record.
http://www.minyanville.com/articles/index.php?a=12177

hummer versus school bus

bus wins

fly in toilet

great ideas are sometimes simple ideas that nobody really scrutinizes. as a male, we all know that we tend to aim at the urinal cake if present when we pee. but thoughts never go further than that.
time of urination is a time of relaxation and relief, so that many people don't critically analyze anything.
but here is an example of person or group of people that did and are therefore better off for it. amsterdam airport has put a little fake fly in the urinals. according to this article, they say the idea is saving them a alot of money in cleaning cost.
http://www.truthorfiction.com/rumors/u/urinal.htm

so shen you get an inspiration to 'think outside of the box', don't just think of original ideas, but think at an original time and environment.

six flags = not enough flags

are you annoyed by those pesky pennies in you pants pocket? here is a way to lose them fast.
ride the 'eejyanaika' roller coaster at fuji q highland in shizuoka, japan.
here is the specs of this beast.

total distance 1153m
lift height 76 m
max speed 126km/h (approx. 80m/h)
angle of descent 89 degrees (that's 90-1 degrees!)
number of invesions 14 times (guiness world record)

steal it back

if you have had anything stolen recently, one place you can look for it is
propertyroom.com (along with ebay and your local flee market).
this site auctions off police seized properties such as laptops, jewelry, laptops, bicycles, and even land.
the interesting feature of this site is that there is a 'steal it back' section. if you notice that an item stolen from you is listed here you can claim it back for no cost.

of course you can always take advantage of other people's misery here, as there are ton on interesting items for sale.

yes, lawyers can make good money. but if you are not one, you can help yourself by not using their services and use these forms for free.
http://www.ilrg.com/forms/index.html
these are free legal forms by internet legal research group for your basic needs, like real estate, employment, business, and marital matters.

by the way, pictured is supposed to be a movie called lawyer lawyer.

e85 cars.... a childish concept continued

his is another nice car

this is still a concept car, but toyota indicates that it will be in production in a couple years.
here's what i found about this car from trendpimp using the yahoo search

For a while there I was scared hybrids and "green" cars would be weak, girly little cars with slow engines. But what I'm seeing from Toyota has made me a happy man. Imagine having a car that is much faster than a Porsche, Mercedes AMG and any M series car from BMW and still cost 1/4 the price! Well Toyota plans to sell the FT-HS somewhere in the mid 30k range which, if correct, has me sold as I type this down. The goal of the rear wheel drive(thank god!) hybrid powertrain is to produce 400 horsepower and achieve 0-60 mph in around 4 seconds. This is accomplished with by combining a 3.5-liter V6 and an electric motor in a similar manner to the Lexus GS450h. What else does Toyota have in store? Well, for starters the 2+2 vehicle features a unique retractable roof similar to a targa top, but most likely will cancel out any use of the backseats when down. There still is no final word if the Toyota FT-HS will make it to production, but they haven't had a sports car since the Supra in 1997. So if anyone from Toyota reads this article, be sure to get this car onto the production line, I will surely be your first customer!
http://www.trendpimp.com/article/162/The_Toyota_FTHS_Rocket.html

but why this title to this blog entry?
aside from the fact that ethanol cannot be transported in pipelines, produces less power than gasoline, creates food shortages, water shortages, price inflation in all food products, forest land reduction, and various other problems, it uses more resources to produce ethanol than it creates.
obviously i'm not even trying to be rigorous in my arguments here, since it is impossible to cover all angles. i just put out all this so i can just put up a link to the article that i enjoyed reading (and some cool car pictures that i ran into). Here it is.
http://www.financialsense.com/editorials/cooke/2007/0202.html

e85 cars.... a childish concept

apparently, these electric cars that you can plug into your garage socket through a home charger to power up have sold out their first batch of cars they manufactured.
looking through the website i find that it
- goes 0 to 60 in 4 seconds
- 250 miles between charges
- costs 1 cent per mile
as you can see from the picture the designs isn't shabby either. they worked with lotus on design and some engineering.
the drawbacks.
- the base price is about 93000 usd.
- obviously you can't just take this car to any mechanic to fix it if it breaks down.

another alternative is the toyota FT-HS concept.


continues on next post

global santafe

.

real deal holyfield

if you are a truly cool dude, you probably have women around you, so you can't play this game. but if you are the type of dude that tends to sit around with bunch of guys doing nothing, there is a game for you when you go to the bars. it's called the real deal or holyfield.
basically all you do is to guess whether the woman who passes by has real or fake bosoms.
i found the cliff notes for this and posted it here. now you can be great at this game and look like you know something about women.

Unnatural shape - Most breasts aren't perfect orbs and they usually aren't identical. Be on the lookout for the way they hold in place as she moves around (especially her arms), and how they stay almost the same dimension - instead of flattening out - whether she reaches back or even stretches. Furthermore, when she bends over, you should see them fall if they're real.

Bubbly look - On the topic of odd breast shapes, the top of her breasts are bubbled up - just like bubble butts. Fake boobs defy gravity, so they might look like they're bubbling up. Natural breasts follow a more natural sliding curve line from top to bottom.

Overly firm - Real breasts are mostly fat, which gives them a jiggle quality; if they look more like solid muscle, you may be in the presence of a pair of fake ones.

Standing tall -breasts should be at about armpit height. But some bad breast jobs start them way too high on the chest, as if she's got two flotation devices strapped to her chin.

Too far apart - If you can fit your fist between her breasts, they're probably fake. The doctor should have scraped the pectoral tendons to give them a more natural emplacement, but didn't.

Asymmetrical nipples - True, you don't always see nipples through clothes, but if she's wearing a see-through top, a really tight shirt, or even if it's just a little cold out, take a glance at them. Nipples are seldom perfect, but a bad boob job may put them too high, too low, or not pointing in the same direction.

Stretch marks - This usually stems from the surgery. Skin stretches as we grow, but stretched skin can also leaves marks - usually little red lines. If she went too big or her doctor wasn't that great, you might spot the stretch marks.

Disproportional body - You can usually tell if her breasts are fake by comparing it to the rest of her body.

source
http://www.funreports.com/fun/15-01-2007/1471-Big_breasts-0

Countries GDP as US States

there is probably no use for this graphic, but a reminder that some of these countries still have lots of growth left in them.
despite their recent surge, korea, russia, and brazil is still represented here.

courtesy of
http://bigpicture.typepad.com/comments/2007/01/countries_gdp_a.html

land of gentlemen

nancy pelosi has become the first woman speaker of the house, and hilary clinton may become the first president of the united states. women are more than ever becoming an integral part of every aspect of our society. therefore, it is hard to imagine a society without any women.
however, there is an ominous trend in china. it is projected that there will be 30million more men than women in less than 15 years. the article
http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=2789869
says in 2005, china's sex ration was 118 boys to 100 girls.

going to china might soon be like going to my math class.

cola coffin

no thoughts today my loyal readers.
by the way, this is a coffin. used in ghana.

http://www.neatorama.com/2006/04/15/fantasy-coffins-from-ghana/

foreigner buying power

many of the foreign currencies has appreciated significantly against the dollar in recent years. for example, euro has gained about 60% since 2002. this enables europeans to buy american products alot cheaper. evidently, many of them have realized this, and using it to their advantage.
i was on ebay looking for a sony mp3 player. when i looked at one of the listings i came across this.

		Question & Answer						Answered On
		Q:	Hello, how much is the shipping price to Belgium? Do you accept paypal for int'l? Thanks a lot						Jan-06-07
				A:	no international paypal. cashiers check or money order only. Cost for shipping to Belgium is $30.00. Thanks
		Q:	Hi! Do you ship it to Brazil? How much? Do you accept Paypal from Brazil? How can I buy it through e-bay from my country?						Jan-06-07
				A:	Yes we ship to Brazil. Cost for shipping would be $30.00 WE accept cashier checks or money order only for International purchase.
		Q:	hallo, how much dose it cost to ship it to paris?						Jan-05-07
				A:	The amount to ship would be $31.09. All International purchase we only except cashiers check or money order.
		Q:	how much is your posting to the UK? Ta						Jan-04-07
				A:	Airmail Parcel Post $35.19 us. We only except cashiers check or money order for International.
		Q:	Hello again! will you accept paypal from me? (im the Australian who emailed you yesterday and paypal wasn't mentioned in your reply) Thanks for your...more						Jan-03-07
				A:	I will not take Paypal from Australia becasue the address through Paypal are not able to be confirmed. So the only payments I can accept are cashier checks...more
	View all 6 questions | Ask seller a question

yes, majority of them are europeans taking advantage of their appreciating currencies.
this leads me to think maybe i should go dig in the garage to see if i have anything to sell to them. maybe i can sell something to that looks cheap to them, but get paid handsomely.