Nivea Ad - after Ferd got done with adding the KKK hood

Ferd is my lovely girlfriends nick name.  I like it because it is easy to say and so unfitting so ironic.  She was not offended by the original ad, but many people were and she took advantage of the opportunity to make a joke.  Ferd is on the swing.  Here is a link to an article about the ad.

The price of fame: Jersey Shore Style

How Much Does the Jersey Shore Cast Make? - Jersey Shore: In addition to what they get paid per ep, the Jersey Shore kids are able to charge more for their side business ventures due to their increasing popularity. Pauly D makes up to $80,000 a week DJing, with as much as $40,000 being asked per gig. Snooki rakes in up to $20,000 for red carpet appearances, and was even paid $11,000 to show up for two hours at a relatively modest New Jersey tanning salon. The Situation, the brand, proved to be a multi-million dollar business in 2010, and Mike, who also made some cash for his few weeks as a contestant on Dancing With the Stars this year (about $135,000), hopes to hit the one billion mark by the end of 2011.

I can't imagine the pain of having to be sober in one of the places these goof balls is paid to be.

How much to diversify and when?

Notice: I have done no research for this post.

The concept of diversification is comon on the context of capital markets.  My friends and I often quip, "Good thing you have so many kids."  How much one should diversify and what determines the opimal amount of diversification is topic of which I am not familiar.  It came to my mind as I took a crap after 4 beers thinking that my girlfriend and I were unusually mobile because all of our friends are long distance.  We loose no camaraderie if we move, other than time zone effects.  Maybe this lowers our mean happiness wherever we are.  But, the freedom is great.

How many friends should one have?
Where should they be?

How many kids should one have?
With how many women?
In how many different places, in how many countries, of how many races?

Maybe I'll come back to this...I wish I was back in grad school.  I can only imagine the enjoyment of working with my committee of Tyler Cowen, Gordon Tullock, Roger Congleton, Ron Heiner, and James Sanford (Psych) on this.  Those were the good old days.

Model of production that creates unemployment even with flexible wages

From the comments, on nominal wage stickiness — Marginal Revolution

In many businesses workers below a given quality are worse than no workers at all. For example, our software developers all have between 13 and 20 years experience meaning that they all move fast with few errors. Adding anyone less good to the team would slow them down (according to them) because teaching the methodologies, tools, etc. and communicating would consume more time than offloading the work would save, especially considering the additional errors that are expected from the new guy. All of the workers productivity is multiplicatively not additively associated. It's like a Nash production function or similar to a O-Ring theory of production.

Another example is in sale. If a lead costs $100 to generate and sale is worth $100,000 in contribution margin, then a marginally better sales person is worth a lot of money and a poor sales person is worthless. Maybe better to save the money generating marginal leads.

Complementary high stakes activities lead to high wages for a few and no spot for many.

One solution to this problem is to facilitate hiring of the less employable in low complementarity low risk jobs. But even in a Hotel with a global brand the maid can damage the reputation of the hotel, so those with a criminal record are unsuitable. Maybe brands for being shoddy but cheep fulfillment of mundane tasks will arise. Think "Pretty Good Gardeners" with the slogan "When picking up most of the leaves is good enough".

Dementia May Be Prevented By Moderate Drinking | ThirdAge

Dementia May Be Prevented By Moderate Drinking | ThirdAge

Now we have another excuse to drink.

Funny for only a moment

Gerard Depardieu Relieves Himself In Front of Airplane Passengers - OK! Magazine - The First for Celebrity News

Actually a dick move (pun intended) because it made everyone else late.

Grade redistribution analogy goes further than expected

College Students in Favor of Wealth Distribution Are Asked to Pass Their Grade Points to Other Students - FoxNews.com

Grades and wealth share many attributes. Individuals are born with varying aptitudes for acquiring each, but effort augments these other aptitudes (Is the ability to apply focused effort a partially innate aptitude? I think so.) The inputs provided by parents can also matter a good deal. A major difference is that there are very few "grade trust funds". One must actually show up to class, but legacy considerations at elite schools might be the closest thing.

Google Reader (1000+)

Google Reader (1000+): "How big? Today, 60% of all videos go live in under one minute — a year ago, no videos were being processed that quickly."

And progress continues behind the scenes in ways most of us cannot comprehend.

Only 50 docs per user on box.net

Google Reader (1000+): "Box, which has 6 million users and stores 300 million documents, is a cloud storage platform for the enterprise that comes with collaboration, social and mobile functionality."

That seems like a small number. I have many thousands of files in dropbox. I wonder if this lack of user intensity makes their offering less sticky than they would hope.  My guess that many of their corporate deals include many people who do not and never will use their system, but the headcount helps their vanity stats.

The un-surprise of the year

Facebook Offers Court 'Smoking Gun' Against Paul Ceglia - Forbes

Did this thief actually think that his fraudulent docs would pass multi-billion dollar scrutiny?  I think he falls into the category of not knowing what he doesn't know.  Maybe he should watch more crime scene and forensics type shows.

So SoBe

Get Your Free Beach Towing VIP Decal Right Here - Miami News - Riptide 2.0

Sushi study finds deception - Even fish is mostly marketing

Sushi study finds deception - The New York Times

I wonder how often wine is mislabeled? I marvel at the number of bottles and the range of prices in the grocery store, despite the movies such as Wine for the Confused with John Cleese show how most people can't tell the difference between two buck chuck and $100 Bordeaux, but they still pay $20 for a bottle to take to someones house so not be appear cheap.

Gender Tests Create Controversy - WDAF

Gender Tests Create Controversy - WDAF: "New research says a blood test that determines a fetus' sex is incredibly accurate. In some cases, it can be close to perfect."

In almost all cases isn't the test either exactly right or exactly wrong?

It Pays to Be Fat | Dollars and Sex | Big Think

It Pays to Be Fat | Dollars and Sex | Big Think: "So, there you have it. A new cause for public outcry – slender, single women are under-rewarded in their employment."

Conclusion does not follow form article, because the idea is that thin, attractive women are less skilled and all are earning in approximate proportion to their marginal products.

Why I don't do social networking online exhibit n

Anonymous Vows to 'Destroy' Facebook on Nov. 5 | News & Opinion | PCMag.com: "'Facebook is the opposite of the Antisec cause,' reads the release, a full copy of which plus a video version is published below. Facebook, which 'knows more about you than your family,' according to the press release, 'has been selling information to government agencies and giving clandestine access to information security firms so that they can spy on people from all around the world.'"

The interesting strategy of Anonymous is that they are showing that hackers can do what Facebook is already doing to a large extent. But if profit maximizing hackers or social terrorists got access to Facebooks data, what would happen?

How do you like my girlfriends sexray?

She reluctently let me post the pic, but I begged because I think its so funny.  Click to enlarge for a better view.

Here is her competition.

S&P downgrade

The Best Summary of the S&P Downgrade - NYTimes.com

This might provide the greatest example of brand recognition over logic. S&P got the mortgage crisis wrong, but now they pass judgement on the national debt and some of hell breaks loose.

I think it is a wise strategic maneuver for the company to re-establish credibility by moving the markets and appearing prescient. They and we hope it doesn't work too well.

How do such people wipe?

Heavy Duty, Adjustable Toilet Seat Can Hold 1,000 Pounds

Steve Perlman's Wireless Fix - BusinessWeek

Steve Perlman's Wireless Fix - BusinessWeek: "“That’s my kind of company,” Perlman says. “That is what Silicon Valley is like for those of us that work all night long. It’s crappy offices. It’s borrowed spaces. Welcome to my world.”"

New death tax

Why are we in this debt fix? It’s the elderly, stupid. - The Washington Post

Many elderly who get Medicare and SS have investment accounts and home equity that is then passed to their heirs. I suggest as a way out of a dire situation that we keep track of how much people are paid by these systems and the collect it after death. Problems are that the money might be spent or given away more frequently, likely true, but restrictions could make it more difficult and people often don't want to be broke so will hold on to their wealth until death as a form of insurance.

Arab aesthetic???

The most beautiful female goat in the world – Boing Boing

Maybe they actually think burkas are sexy if they think this goat is beautiful. I previously wrote that forcing women to wear burkas theirby keeping their relative attractiveness known only to a few reduced competition for the beauties from young attractive men with power thereby making it easier for the older, less attractive men with power to skim the creme. Guess I was wrong.

One have to wonder what is going on in the minds of these gawking men. Yuck!!!

An Interracial Fix for Black Marriage - WSJ.com

An Interracial Fix for Black Marriage - WSJ.com

I've dated many black women and so know all about weaves, sew-ins, micros, etc. Hip hop has been my favorite genre since Run DMC, LL, and PE. Because of this cultural familiarity the burden of stepping outside their race is reduced with me, even for black women who have never dated a white man. And no, I do not affect any hip hop fashion or speak ebonics. My understanding from discussions with women I've dated is that most consider wiggers in most cases inauthentic and trying to hard.

One issue that I think the book might discuss, but is beyond the focus of this article is the significant portion of black women who will not date black men. Yes, I have benefited from the fact that many black men have abandoned their daughters and their daughters have accordingly responded with an aversion to anyone who reminds them of their father. I do not.

dropbox is greatbut 10 bil valuatio/?

After Auction, Dropbox Close To Choosing Investors — Round Could Put Valuation At $10 Billion | TechCrunch

A bit of persective, on all 3 major us exchanges there are only 385 companies worth 10 bil or more.

Satirical Mints Poking Fun at President Obama Yanked From Tennessee Bookstore - FoxNews.com

Satirical Mints Poking Fun at President Obama Yanked From Tennessee Bookstore - FoxNews.com: "“Let me make very clear, there is no candy exception to the First Amendment,” Glenn Reynolds, a constitutional law professor, told the newspaper. "

Obama, if asked, should say that he believe in the first amendment and that political pressure should not determine the candy sold in campus stores.

Do exogenous increases in the # of children lower child quality? — Marginal Revolution

Do exogenous increases in the # of children lower child quality? — Marginal Revolution

Another, slightly different, interpretation is that parents want to invest in children until the expected marginal return is very low and parents are risk averse, meaning that parents on average over-invest as a form of insurance on the undiversified portfolio. The insurance does not noticeably affect the mean outcome, but could reduce the risk of bad outcomes enough that individual parents rationally buy the insurance of over-investing in their children from a societal point of view. Society cares about the mean the parent cares about their own.

Cuba Prepares for Private Property - NYTimes.com

Cuba Prepares for Private Property - NYTimes.com: "There is even a question of how buyers and sellers will come together. Classified listings are illegal in Cuba, which explains why brokers like José, known as corredores, spend their days moving through open air bazaars with notebooks listing apartments offered or desired."

Craigslist anyone?

Good quote on committees

i would rather deal with a tyrant any day over a committee. Committees are as a general rule aren't willing to take chances, which is why you have a committee in the first place, so you can share the blame.

Hal Riney