This Thanksgiving, my son Zach made a stupid bet with himself – that he could gain 10 pounds in one day.
His mom and I both tried to tell him not to do it; but we forgot a golden rule: Never tell a Getson they can't do something.
The image speaks for itself.
He gained over 13 pounds.
Even considering the weight normally gained on a Thanksgiving, that's "disgusticating" (worthy of a made-up word).
Hope you enjoyed your holiday too!
My son, Zach, had my favorite Philly cheesesteak sent in from the Jersey Shore. Shipping cost way more than the sandwiches. Worth It!!
As much as I love innovation (or finding something better), sometimes things are perfect as they are.
Wow, how time flies! Birthdays seem to come more quickly as I get older. It makes sense, though. When you were four, a birthday represented a quarter of your life. Now, a year represents a much smaller percentage.
Reminder: while aging may suck. It sure beats the alternative.
I was in Indonesia last week – and had some exotic experiences.
That picture was taken in Bali, where I first met my wife many years ago.
Indonesia is famous for coffee. For example, "Sumatra" is their biggest island – with “Java” coming in close behind (and both are synonymous with coffee).
They also make one of the most expensive coffees in the world … Luwak Coffee.
It is a very particular coffee, created using a very particular process.
In traditional coffee production, the cherries are harvested, and the beans are extracted, before being shipped to a roaster, ground into a pulp, and brewed by a barista at your local Starbucks.
In contrast, with Luwak coffee, something different happens.
The coffee cherries are harvested by wild animals.
Specifically, they’re harvested by the Asian Palm Civet, a small, cat-like animal that absolutely loves the taste of coffee cherries.
But, if the civets eat the cherries, how can they still be used to make coffee?
Here comes the gross part—the civets eat the coffee cherries, but their digestive tract can’t effectively process the beans, only the flesh surrounding them.
When the partially digested, partially fermented beans are eventually excreted, coffee producers harvest them. The beans are then cleaned, roasted, and used to make astonishingly expensive (“with retail prices reaching up to $700 per kilogram”) coffee.
Now is the coffee that mind-blowing to warrant a price north of $300 a pound?
No, not really. In fact, many critics will openly call it bad coffee, or as Tim Carman, food writer for the Washington Post put it, "It tasted just like...Folgers. Stale. Lifeless. Petrified dinosaur droppings steeped in bathtub water. I couldn't finish it."
To be fair, the Luwak coffee industry is an experience. When I toured a plantation near Ubud, Bali, a smiling tour guide greeted and led me on an in-depth exploration of the forested property, where I was allowed to immerse myself in the various spices, roots, beans, and civets used to produce this one-of-a-kind coffee. Here is a video I shot of the process.
via YouTube.
If you think about it, I paid a premium to drink exotic cat poop coffee. Kind of strange!
I wouldn't drink coffee made from people poop (or even domestic cat poop).
It’s the story that allows this not so awesome coffee to fetch awesome prices. People are paying for the experience, not the commodity itself.
The same is true when you buy Starbucks. The coffee at 7-Eleven is cheaper – and Consumer Reports tell us that McDonalds coffee is better.
Nonetheless, I'd still rather drink at Starbucks.
We live in an Experience Economy.
Hope you had a Happy Thanksgiving weekend. Times may change, but human nature doesn't. There is a lot to be thankful for anyway!
Here are some of the posts that caught my eye. Hope you find something interesting.
This map shows the difference in living costs around the world using figures from the world's largest database of user contributed data about cities and countries worldwide.
The Consumer Price Index, used to determine the difference in the living costs between countries, takes into account the prices of groceries, transportation, restaurants and utilities.
There are many more charts with specific data by region. The chart below shows the places with the highest and lowest costs of living.
via MoveHub.
Image by Simon Miller via Flickr
The Economist's Big Mac index seeks to make exchange-rate theory more digestible. They say, tongue-in-cheek, that it is arguably the world's most accurate financial indicator to be based on a fast-food item.
The Big Mac index is based on the theory of purchasing-power parity (PPP), according to which exchange rates should adjust to equalize the price of a basket of goods and services around the world. For them, the basket is a burger ... a McDonald’s Big Mac.
According to this measure, the most undervalued currency is India's Rupee at about 67% below its PPP rate. In India, a McDonald’s Big Mac costs just 95 Rupees on average, the equivalent of $1.54 at market exchange rates. In America, the same burger averages $4.62.
The interactive graphic, below, shows by how much, in Big Mac PPP terms, selected currencies were over- or undervalued.
The index is supposed to give a guide to the direction in which currencies should, in theory, head in the long run. It is only a rough guide, because its price reflects non-tradable elements such as rent and labor. For that reason, it is probably least rough when comparing countries at roughly the same stage of development. The Economist has added an adjustment option to account for this in the interactive version of the data.
Image by Simon Miller via Flickr
The Big Mac index is based on the theory of purchasing-power parity (PPP), according to which exchange rates should adjust to equalize the price of a basket of goods and services around the world. For them, the basket is a burger ... a McDonald’s Big Mac.
According to this measure, the most undervalued currency is India's Rupee at 67% below its PPP rate. In India, a McDonald’s Big Mac costs just 90 Rupees on average, the equivalent of $1.50 at market exchange rates.
In America, the same burger averages $4.56.
The interactive graphic, below, shows by how much, in Big Mac PPP terms, selected currencies were over- or undervalued.
The index is supposed to give a guide to the direction in which currencies should, in theory, head in the long run. It is only a rough guide, because its price reflects non-tradable elements such as rent and labor. For that reason, it is probably least rough when comparing countries at roughly the same stage of development.
My wife has been away ... and the minimum standards in our house have shifted.
Sometimes my son and I look at each other and ask: "Should I eat this?"
Here are some simple rules to help if you find yourself asking the same question.
via FakeScience.
Well, that certainly gives an answer ... not sure it's the right one?
Here Are Some Links for Your Weekend Reading
Lots of crazy stories from the Olympics. For example, an Olympic Kayaker capsized after hitting a submerged sofa. At least they figured out how to deal with the mosquitos.
Here are some of the posts that caught my eye. Hope you find something interesting.
Lighter Links:
Trading Links:
Posted at 05:26 PM in Current Affairs, Food and Drink, Gadgets, Games, Just for Fun, Market Commentary, Science, Sports, Trading, Trading Tools, Web/Tech | Permalink | Comments (0)
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