“And, anyway, money is not the only ingredient; to have subsidized a Bach, or Fulbrighted a Beethoven would have done no good at all. Money may kindle but it cannot by itself, for very long, burn.” —Igor Stravinsky
In my neighborhood, two areas have a 1000% difference in household income levels. They’re barely a mile apart. I think I subconsciously intuited the differences while out on my runs, but seeing the numbers mapped like that is still pretty amazing.
Over the next year, Get Rich Slowly is tracking how much money a garden will save. The monthly reports should be worthwhile.
I’m prone to reading phases, veering off on thematic streaks. Do other people do this? For example, in the past year I read through the Edward Tufte corpus pretty much back-to-back (reviewed Beautiful Evidence and Envisioning Information), all but one of Steven Johnson’s (reviewed The Ghost Map, Everything Bad Is Good for You), the Scott […]
Here’s an analysis of the economy of Second Life. Rapid, artificial inflation of the Linden dollar means a recession is due at some point. It’s hard to predict when they’ll reach it, but it seems pretty much unavoidable.
The Telegraph has a couple articles on the toxic wife.
I have every admiration for women who choose the selfless task of caring and nurturing the next generation. No, the toxic wife is a completely different species. She is the woman who gives up work as soon as she marries, ostensibly to create a stable home […]
An interview with Ootje Oxenaar, designer of Dutch currency. [via kottke]
A guy won a trip to Space… and then had to cancel because the IRS wants $25,000 in taxes for the winnings. [via mises]
The Mises Institute published a video called Money, Banking, and the Federal Reserve. Must see.
In praise of Dilbert’s 9-point financial plan, which reads:
1. Make a will
2. Pay off your credit cards
3. Get term life insurance if you have a family to support
4. Fund your 401k to the maximum
5. Fund your IRA to the maximum
[…]
In another grand infringement of property rights, the U.S. Mint has announced a ban on melting pennies and nickels. The price of copper is up to $3 a pound, so you can potentially make more money by selling the coins as raw metal. Whose metal is it, really?
Here’s a weekly rogues gallery for the world’s worst spammers. And here are the top 200 operations, accounting for about 4 of every 5 spam e-mails you get. “Spam gang.” That is so… weird. [via jb]
“I’m a 24-year-old aspiring real estate investor from Sacramento CA. After going to few seminars I bought 8 houses in 8 months across 4 states with no money down. I fixed and sold 2 and then ran out of cash. I am now facing foreclosure on 4 houses. I’m learning my lessons, finding solutions and […]
Bob Barker is retiring from Price is Right. Best Week Ever mentions the reasons we’ll miss him. Man, I remember entire summers spent without missing an episode. And I always wanted one of those big price wheels in my house.
I love these resume tips posted over at LifeClever. All those subtle, detailed changes add up so nicely you can taste it. (via jb)
BoingBoing tells us that you can search through all of Enron’s e-mails with the Enron Explorer. Most of it is what you’d expect–memos, corporate talk, weekend plans. But there are some gems: “why the heck am I getting all the crap on this one….I’m not the one who came back to the table with puke […]
Sometimes I wonder “What did the Irish 1-pound note look like in 1937?” Oh, well the Geographical Directory of World Paper Money gives me an answer for that.
Courtesy of the Smithsonian Institution, today is Museum Day! Get in free at participating museums, like the ones in Georgia, for example. [via lh]
Death and Taxes: A Visual Guide to Where Your Federal Tax Dollars Go. This is the new 2007 edition that shows outlays in the discretionary budget–what Congress directly decides. Also check out the graphic that shows the general breakdown of the entire $2,800,000,000,000 budget, give or take a few pennies.
The NYT has a cool piece on rent in New York: “What we saw was a uniquely New York kind of mess.”
The Mises Institute has gathered up some of the latest economic indicators for the United States. It ain’t looking good, folks.
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