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THE BIG MAC INDEX

One of my favorite features of The Economist is their Big Mac index. As they (always) succinctly explain:

Burgernomics is based on the theory of purchasing-power parity, the notion that a dollar should buy the same amount in all countries. Thus in the long run, the exchange rate between two countries should move towards the rate that equalises the prices of an identical basket of goods and services in each country. Our "basket" is a McDonald's Big Mac, which is produced in about 120 countries. The Big Mac PPP is the exchange rate that would mean hamburgers cost the same in America as abroad. Comparing actual exchange rates with PPPs indicates whether a currency is under- or overvalued.

Of course it's a rather expedient snapshot of the global economic condition, but I think it's still very illuminating.

As of their most recent posting, the euro and Norway's kroner, among others, is over-valued with a Big Mac costing, in dollars, $5.34 and $7.88 respectively per burger. That is some expensive fast food: by comparison, for those of you who haven't visited your local golden arches, the current cost in the US for a Big Mac burger is $3.57.

In Thailand however (the latest tourist destination du jour amongst all my friends it seems) the dollar is heavily under-valued by some 48% where a Big Mac will only cost you $1.86.

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%$#@ SESAME STREET!

Here's a hysterical segment from the Jimmy Kimmel show where they selectively bleep out and censor parts of the popular children's show Sesame Street to make it appear that the boys and girls and their furry friends of Sesame Street curse up a storm. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8Vh9_Hi1kY]

I'd like to thank the following people who bought this video to my attention: Thank you people with too much time on your hands. Thank you YouTube. Thank you broadband internet connection. Thank you Jim Henson.

[Via]

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10 GREATEST BATTLE CRIES

Wired lists a top ten list of battle cries, including this one below uttered by Finnish troops in Väinö Linna's World War II novel The Unknown Soldier.

Tulta munille!

Translation: Fire at their balls!

I think that is against the Geneva Convention.

Read more here.

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CHRIS BROWN'S FOREVER IS A COMMERCIAL

Does that catchy hit song Forever by Chris Brown you dance to at your 2k dollar table at the club, where he sings "Double your pleasure, double your fun," make you feel so fresh and so clean? Well, there's a good reason for that because it's a freakin' extended jinle for Wrigley's Doublemint gum (a 30-second version will begin airing next month) as part of the company's strategy to update their brands. The WSJ reports:

But Mr. Brown's "Forever" is the most ambitious part of the campaign. Mr. Brown was commissioned to write and sing both the pop song and a new version of the Doublemint jingle, introduced in 1960.

First, Mr. Brown updated the jingle and recorded it with hip-hop producer Polow Da Don. Then, during the same Los Angeles recording sessions in February, paid for by Wrigley, Mr. Brown added new lyrics and made a 4½-minute rendition of the tune, titled "Forever."

Remember in the dystopic future presented in Judge Dredd we all laughed when they listened to popular commercial jingles on the radio? Well, the future is here.

Read more here.

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IMMIGRANT SUPERHEROES

Dulce Pinzon, a Mexican-born female artist living in Brooklyn, captured the lives of New York City Mexican and Latino immigrant workers in a superb series titled The Real Story of the Superheroes. Employed in a range of jobs from nannies, to chefs, to cab drivers, to construction workers, Pinzon photographed these ordinary immigrants "in a satirical documentary style...in their work environment" while they wore costumes in the likeness of various iconic American comic book superheroes. She further uses the photos to highlight and engage the viewer in a dialogue about immigrant remittances ("Noe Reyes from the State of Puebla works as a delivery boy in Brooklyn New York. He sends 500 dollars a week."), which when considering their jobs' laborious nature, low wages, and lack of benefits, seems indeed downright super heroic.

View more here.

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TWO THUMBS DOWN: EBERT'S MOST HATED FILMS

Roger Ebert's lists his most hated films (although the only one I completely disagree with is The Usual Suspects which is on his list). Here's a few samples:

Freddy Got Fingered This movie doesn't scrape the bottom of the barrel. This movie isn't the bottom of the barrel. This movie isn't below the bottom of the barrel. This movie doesn't deserve to be mentioned in the same sentence with barrels.

One Woman or Two Add it all up, and what you've got here is a waste of good electricity. I'm not talking about the electricity between the actors. I'm talking about the current to the projector.

Stargate It is also the kind of movie where the sun god Ra, who has harnessed the ability to traverse the universe at the speed of light, still needs slaves to build his pyramids. And where the local equivalent of a Nubian princess is sent into the chamber of the Earth visitors, to pleasure them. Don't tell me there aren't any coincidences. The movie "Ed Wood," about the worst director of all time, was made to prepare us for "Stargate."

Read more here.

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UNFAIR, UNBALANCED, 100 PERCENT FOX

Bill O'Reilly is running an unintentionally hilarious poll on his website asking which news organization is the most biased in America, in the following order: The New York Times, MSNBC, Associated Press, or NPR? As this image from Poplicks points out, WHAT?

So inspired by such a clearly unbiased poll, they decide to run their own poll. Who is the most talented hip hop artist or group of all time?

  • Oaktown's 3.5.7.
  • Snow.
  • Shaquille O'Neal
  • MC Skat Kat

Shaq and Snow are in a near dead heat. Go cast your vote here.

I wish Fox would change their programming and just run clips of Megan Fox all day, every day.

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OVERKILL

This knife, called the Wasp Injector Knife, is outfitted with a gas canister in the handle that "injects a freezing cold ball of compressed gas, approximately the size of a basketball, at 800psi nearly instantly" upon stabbing. I'm going to go ahead and use my once per day quota of the usage of the word "aggressive" now. Back up, I'm using it NOW.

This. knife. is. AGGRESSIVE. No doubt about it.

And it will totally be handy if you ever find yourself in a hand-to-hand combat against Osama bin Laden, Chuck Norris, or a T-Rex. Or against a WATERMELON OF ILL WILL!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sa_NC-_fvKs] [Via]

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LAST NIGHT'S PARTY: THE ONE WITH THE CHAMPAGNE DUMPED ON MROD

I realized that drinking straight out of the bottle isn't the most classy thing to do, especially when there were seven or eight lonely full flutes each filled with bubbly only an arms distance away.

But you know what's even more unclassy (Is that a word? Auto spell check says it is not.)? Answer, getting champagne dumped all over you. That is ONLY classy when it occurs in the designated champagne room. Allegedly.

But I still rallied tho, if not soaked, for awhile.

FYI: Last Night's Party segments and other retardo moments in MRod & Co's lives are back so stop.

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CAT FIGHT

Besides the really obvious and sophmoronic headline, this bench clearing brawl between two WNBA teams, the LA Sparks and Detroit Shock, is serious and as the kids are saying ad nauseum, aggressive. This fight between WNBA ballers Candace Parker and Plenette Pierson on Tuesday night in Detroit is crazy. Watch the slow-mo replays later in the clip for the full Ante Up effect: [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Uwo8hqKM3s]

Parker got tangled up with Detroit's Plenette Pierson and fell to the ground. As she was getting up, Pierson intentionally ran into her, setting off the melee.

Parker threw a punch at Pierson before being tackled by Detroit's Deanna Nolan. Players and coaches from both teams joined in, and Mahorn knocked Lisa Leslie to the court at one point.

Read more here.

RELATEDLY (And for point of reference):

Here's a photo of Candace Parker standing next to soccer star David Beckham at this year's ESPY's.

Yea, that's serious business. [Thanks N for the video head's up and the strong work the past couple months with the links. He's putting the rest of ya'll to shame.]

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BUSINESS TRAVEL 2.0

An externality of the increased gas prices and the accompanying rise of travel costs, in addition to a greater availability of a suite of tech aided communication tools--such as "online document sharing, wikis and Internet telephony"--means that business trips at large and small companies are increasingly being replaced with video conferencing. But really what got me is this awesome photograph to the article:

Now, bring on the HOVERBOARDS AND (non-petrol powered) JETPACKS!

Read more here.

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