Outsourcing

Absolutely brilliant example of outsourcing. A programmer at a company in the US paid a Chinese company 20% of his salary to do all of his programming work. He would then spend most of the day in the office essentially doing nothing and kept the remaining 80%. To top it off according to his performance reviews he was considered one the firm's leading programming experts. Besides the dishonesty I don't really see anything wrong with this, who is to say the company (and not the worker) should capture the benefits of outsourcing?

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/01/16/developer_oursources_job_china/

It was the best of times...

Chicago man wins the lottery, dies a month later - the medical examiner determined it was a natural death. After pressure from relatives the case is reopened 6 months later. Turns out the cause of death was actually a lethal dose of cyanide. Scary stuff.

http://www.cnn.com/2013/01/07/justice/illinois-lottery-death/?hpt=hp_t1

A comet so bright it can be seen in daylight

In December 2013 a comet will pass near Earth, astronomers are saying it has the potential to be the brightest in hundreds of years - brighter than a full moon!

http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-57561294-1/2013-could-be-the-best-year-for-comet-spotting-in-generations/

Today I learned patent infringement is more serious crime than laundering terrorist money

A patent lawsuit wipes out over a year of profits at a tech company. HSBC launders terrorist money and losses 2 weeks of profits. No way has this infringement done more harm to people and to the incentives for companies to "play fair." Ridiculous (this class is ridiculous)

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2012/12/jury-slams-marvell-with-mammoth-1-17-billion-patent-verdict/

Update: Maybe I could patent a money laundering scheme and sue HSBC for infringing on that patent.

Teachers on strike

Some 29,000 teachers in Chicago went on strike meaning that 400,000 students aren't in school today and won't be until an agreement is reached.

http://in.reuters.com/article/2012/09/10/usa-chicago-schools-idINL1E8KA3HY20120910

The arguments for both sides sound pretty reasonable so I don't really know who to support here. In general I'm all about accountability and more power to dismiss bad or non-performing teachers. But according to Reuters 80% of CPS students qualify for free lunches because they come from low income families so I can see how teachers are worried that students are often "non-performing" for reasons far beyond what goes on in the classroom. Clearly this outcome is pretty extreme but hopefully this marks a new era for Chicago politics away from the Chicago Machine and toward something new. Financially the city is in pretty awful shape and no doubt that has an impact on businesses and people who want to call the city home.

Flying abroad? Bring cash

You never know when your pilot needs money for jet fuel.

http://news.yahoo.com/air-france-gas-ask-passengers-pitch-091550929.html?_esi=1

Obama, I think you just won my vote

He came out and said he'd support a constitutional amendment to end Super-PACs. No doubt there is some political motivation here since Romney is dominating the Super-PAC game but the rules around campaign finance are certainly contributing to the current disaster in DC.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-08-29/obama-says-amendment-may-be-needed-to-limit-campaign-finance.html

Music + Dancing = Beheading

In case anyone doesn't already think Afghanistan is a screwed up place - 17 people were beheaded for attending a party. This is the closest I've come to supporting the war since 2001.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/08/27/afghanistan-beheadings-idUSL3E8JR1GG20120827

Zynga misses big on earnings

Zynga, maker of games such as Farmville, is down BIG after reporting a $22 million loss. How could this widely successful social gaming company possibly lose money? These games are huge cash cows, they don't require massive servers, complex development etc. In fact the company had nearly $1.2 billion in revenues last year. So what happened? One trip to their Wikipedia page is very telling:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zynga

At the company's headquarters in SoMa:

employees enjoy perks such as free gourmet meals, access to an in-house nutritionist, personal training, and insurance coverage for pets. Zynga headquarters features a coffee shop, gaming arcade, gym, basketball court, and wellness center

...the building is only 7 stories tall - are there actually any offices in there??

Kelo strikes again?

Article in rolling stone about a plan to use eminent domain to seize foreclosed houses and write down mortgages en masse. San Bernadino County is at the forefront of this plan and its pissing off a lot of bankers. I think this plan is brilliant and has the potential to reshape the housing market for the better... that said I should probably drop my position in BAC.

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/blogs/taibblog/from-an-unlikely-source-a-serious-challenge-to-wall-street-20120720

Now this is civil disobedience!

Judge ruled that stripping to protest the TSA's full body scans is protected by the 1st Amendment! This also serves as a warning to anyone who has to fly with me anytime soon :)

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/sideshow/judge-rules-ok-strip-naked-protest-tsa-182446590.html

By the 1% for the 1%

After the 2010 ruling in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission enabled super-PACs the campaign finance game has gotten worse than ever. According to this article in the Atlantic a mere 196 donors have provided 80% of the super-PAC money in the presidential election so far. The numbers are quite large, pro-Romney's super-PACs took in $20 million last month and that total is sure to grow as the election nears. When are candidates are so beholden to corporate interests can we really trust them to rule for the best of the people?

http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2012/07/big-campaign-spending-government-by-the-1/259599/

So what can we do to end this ridiculous system? Jon Soros (son of billionaire George Soros) has started his own super-PAC with the primary goal of ending super-PACs. Basically he's going to use this money to campaign only for candidates who support campaign finance reform. I'm still trying to figure out how I can donate to this. Although I'm reminded of a classic Nietzsche quote "Be careful when you fight monsters, lest you become one."

http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/07/17/the-super-pac-that-aims-to-end-super-pacs/

Trial about no potential for jail-time

Banker from Citi is being charged by the SEC with negligence for some CDO deals. But if criminal bankers only have to give up a portion of their ill-gotten gains it won't serve as much of a deterrent. Start throwing them in jail and people will think twice about lying to investors, defrauding clients and manipulating markets.

http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/a5e535f6-cd1f-11e1-b78b-00144feabdc0.html#axzz20n9l2D6W

21st Century American Life

Great article about a study of 32 families in LA.

http://www.boston.com/community/moms/articles/2012/07/10/new_study_says_american_families_are_overwhelmed_by_clutter_rarely_eat_together_and_are_generally_stressed_out_about_it_all/?page=full

Some pretty depressing observations:

American families are overwhelmed by clutter, too busy to go in their own backyards, rarely eat dinner together even though they claim family meals as a goal, and can’t park their cars in the garage because they’re crammed with non-vehicular stuff.

And in particular:

50 of the 64 parents in our study never stepped outside in the course of about a week 

And this sounds like my mom:

Her children, ages 9, 13, and 17, have largely outgrown the toys, but she can’t bring herself to give them away. “I’m saving them for my grandchildren.”

...how can I be sure to avoid this?

LIEBOR

After subprime mortgages, shadow banking and robo-signing I shouldn't be surprised by another fraud that the banks have gotten themselves into. There's a good article in the economist describing what exactly Barclay's (and inevitably others) are guilty of:

http://www.economist.com/node/21558281

LIBOR (london inter-bank offered rate) is everywhere, anyone who borrows or saves money is touched by it. The fact that these banks were brazen enough to manipulate this rate for their own profit is appalling. As the scandal spreads so will the outrage. In previous scandals the banks were generally ripping off "sophisticated investors" i.e. greedy people who should have known better. But scandal takes their fraud to a whole new level. Litigators must be thrilled about this - shit's about to get real.

Prison = Detention for adults?

In Brazil now, prisoners can shorten their sentence by 4 days by reading a book and writing an essay about it. I like the idea but the parallels to high school (i.e. doing homework in detention) are eerie.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sns-rt-brazil-prisonreadingl2e8hp75l-20120625,0,7694158.story

Perception, New Jersey and Wine

Great article in the new yorker this month about how in a blind taste test a panel of experts recently judged that a series of inexpensive wines from New Jersey were better than expensive wines from Bordeaux. Other blind taste tests have found similar negative correlations between enjoyment and price, on average people tend to enjoy expensive wines slightly less than cheaper ones. However the most interesting part of the article is about how the perception of wine quality is a big factor in the enjoyment of wine. If people expect they are getting an expensive bottle they will enjoy it more and if they expect a cheap bottle they will enjoy it less - even if its the same wine with two different labels! But I suppose I shouldn't be surprised people are paying big margins for fancy labels with little to no different in quality.

http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/frontal-cortex/2012/06/wine-taste.html

I know I shouldn't laugh...

But I can't help myself when I read this headline:

Suspect in wheelchair gets stuck in sand while fleeing

I wonder if the placebo effect works for birth control pills?

If not then a lot of women might be in for a surprise. Apparently pfizer accidentally put sugar pills where birth control pills were supposed to go.

http://www.boston.com/lifestyle/health/articles/2012/02/01/pfizer_recalls_28_lots_of_birth_control_pills/

Starbucks will start selling beer and wine

The article names Chicago as one of the cities where Starbucks will start selling beer, wine and cheese platters at select locations to lure evening customers. I'm so there.

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-01-23/starbucks-to-add-alcohol-at-more-cafes-to-lure-evening-customers.html