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Posted on June 13th, 2007 by Sprad.
Categories: Philosophy & Spirituality, Humor & Pop Culture.
In a surprising refutation of the conventional wisdom on opinion entitlement, a study conducted by the University of Chicago’s School for Behavioral Science concluded that more than one-third of the U.S. population is neither entitled nor qualified to have opinions.
“On topics from evolution to the environment to gay marriage to immigration reform, we found that many of the opinions expressed were so off-base and ill-informed that they actually hurt society by being voiced,” said chief researcher Professor Mark Fultz, who based the findings on hundreds of telephone, office, and dinner-party conversations compiled over a three-year period. “While people have long asserted that it takes all kinds, our research shows that American society currently has a drastic oversupply of the kinds who don’t have any good or worthwhile thoughts whatsoever. We could actually do just fine without them.”
In 2002, Fultz’s team shook the academic world by conclusively proving the existence of both bad ideas during brainstorming and dumb questions during question-and-answer sessions.
Posted on June 1st, 2007 by Sprad.
Categories: Business & Finance, Arts & Literature.
I ran across this article about the current relationship between the art world/market and hedge-funders - thought you all might like some food for thought.
The hedge-funders: Barbarians or bogeymen?
by : Marc Spiegler
Andy Warhol, Dollar Sign, 1981 I’ve been meaning for a long time to write about the way in which the artworld talks about collectors who made their money from hedge funds. In fact, I’d rough-drafted a post two months ago, but newsier topics (and my hectic life) interceded. A comment posted by Olav Velthuis in response to Ian’s “Contemporary: what real value?” post prodded me to pick up that draft again. Because I often wonder if artworld insiders haven’t started to treat hedge-fund buyers as their handy whipping boys, blaming them for everything that makes people uneasy about the art market as it progresses into uncharted territory.
Let’s start with the case against hedge-funders. Olav wrote:
The new players on the market are hedge fund managers who have on the one hand an enormous reputation deficit (they are considered the parasites of the financial system, much more so than the Wall Street traders that flocked the art market in the 1980s) and on the other hand an enormous surplus of capital (again, much more so than Wall Street in the 1980s or, for that matter nowadays).
In April - when I wrote that rough draft - two pieces published in the same week likewise touched on hedge-funders in the current art market. Both pieces noted the wariness with which many regard those collectors (albeit while happily taking their money). In the New York Sun piece, “Art Market Shifts With Players” Marion Maneker wrote: “Many in the art world [are] nervous that their market is beginning to resemble the volatile financial markets. The presence of many hedge-fund managers — the puppet masters of the herky-jerky stock market — among the new breed of art collector has many dealers on edge.” Likewise in an item I contributed to a small part of New York Magazine’s blowout package on “hedgies,” I quoted a dealer saying: “The big fear is that if the market turns, they’ll get out of art just as fast as they came in.”
The fundamental notion here is what the French call deformation professionelle - the syndrome where the modus operandi of your professional life shapes how you handle things in your private life. In this case, that means that the people buying art with hedge-fund money are allegedly treating the artworld as yet another market to be gamed. By extension, observers predict that the hedge fund guys (and they always seem to be guys) will ruthlessly bail on the art market as soon as they feel like it’s “topped.”
Granted, many of the hedge-fund guys seem to be using the same strategies that they would in playing markets - quantitative analysis, portfolio diversification, trading on insider information, trying to corner markets, and playing many potential buyers (individuals, or auction houses, or both at the same time) off against each other to maximize return when they do decide to sell.
That seems very un-connoisseur, totally alien to the notion of collecting art as a form or cultural patronage. But is it fair to only tar the hedge-funders with this brush? Because as the prices have gone stratospheric, a lot of so-called “real” collectors have suddenly started cashing out at auction. And the artworld has become a generally harder place, governed more and more by financial clout than by ideas and aesthetics. There are certainly a lot more lawsuits flying around, and many handshake agreements are suddenly evaporating when a higher price for the piece manifests itself. (I even heard of one collector who feigned amnesia to get out of a deal recently.)
Thus, the knee-jerk attacks on hedge-fund guys remind me of a political psychology theory I learned in college (the only idea I seem to have retained from that entire semester of study): That groups use a common enemy to create cohesion amongst themselves, and that this enemy commonly mirrors precisely those aspects that the group most fears lurk within itself.
So let’s be fair here. The motivations of those much criticized hedge-funders are not truly different than those of the private dealers and speculative collectors that preceded them into the art market. And it’s not a missing link in their moral DNA that has made those newer collectors into the new masters of an old game, but rather their huge appetite for risk and the razor-sharp analysis that they deploy.
Posted on May 30th, 2007 by Sprad.
Categories: Travel & Leisure, Philanthropy & Environment, Sports & Health.
It’s about to be a really interesting time to be alive. The combustable engine has been around for well over 100 years now, and despite massive break-throughs over the years, it’s truly amazing that other forms of “power” for our means of transportation are just now coming about. That said, one company, African Cats, has decided to tackle the problem out on the water, providing electric motors for sailing yachts. There have been several extremely intersting proposals over the past couple of years for trans-oceanic shipping, involving enormous sails, electric motors, etc, in attempts to make it more (surprise surprise) cost efficient. This won’t solve that problem just yet, but it’s great to see a step in the right direction regardless however small, as it’s where we’re going to end up I’m sure is going to be fascinating.
African Cats Developing All-Electric Drive for Sailing Yachts
29 May 2007
African Cats, the Dutch company that last year introduced a hybrid version of one of its lightweight, 43-foot catamarans is developing a full-electric retractable propulsion and generation system for sailing yachts.
African Cats plans to use a 40 kW lithium-ion battery pack designed to provide continuous operation for 12 hours at a speed of 6 knots without any recharging. The company is looking at using li-ion cells from A123Systems or Nanoexa.
Solar panels (4 x 210 Watt) and a wind generator (300 Watt) provide renewable power generation to recharge the battery. When the yacht is under sail, the electric motors regenerate power for the battery pack as well. Regeneration starts at 5 knots. At 8 knots, 3 kW per motor is regenerated out of the 10 kW drive unit. African Cats is developing a range of 8 different electric motors from 5 kW up to 50 kW. The retractable drives reduce resistance while sailing. When extended, the props hang three feet from the hull, and not in the wake of the keel, enabling a better water flow.
African Cats is currently testing the system with 10 years of simulated usage in its salt water testing facility in Durban South Africa. After 3,000 hours of total run time, the company will disassemble the units to check for wear. Concurrently, it is building the first FastCat 435 Green Motion (no hybrid) and at the end of this year will complete two Atlantic crossings for further testing. The retractable Green Motion drive system will be made both for monohulls and catamarans.
Posted on May 22nd, 2007 by Sprad.
Categories: Philanthropy & Environment, Business & Finance, Science & Technology.
Apparently, people are starting to realize that using a 50,000 pound, gas guzzling truck to move 10,000 pounds of furnitute hundreds of miles isn’t exactly energy efficient. Thanks to the likes of So-Cal resident Kevin Kramer, transportation companies are now helping customers go ‘green’. Kramer’s companies GoGreenMoving.com and EarthFriendlyMoving.com use recycled rentable boxes made from landfill materials and 18-wheelers that run on bio-diesel fuel and vegetable oil.
Click here for the full article, and keep them in mind the next time you relocate.
Posted on May 18th, 2007 by Sprad.
Categories: Travel & Leisure, Food & Wine.
FYI, PDT
Crif Dogs’ New Underground Speakeasy
When someone has a secret, everyone goes excavating. (And when it involves deep-fried frankfurters, look out.)
So you may have already heard some buzz about PDT, the sneaky, behavior-conscious new speakeasy opening the start of next week adjacent to Crif Dogs on St. Marks. PDT stands for Please Don’t Tell—but, for you, we’ll tell.
To get to PDT, walk down the four steps into Crif Dogs. Along the dive’s left wall, you’ll find a wooden phone booth from the 1940s. (On some nights, you’ll also find a man working the door—making Crif Dogs the first hot dog stand in America with a bouncer.) Enter the camera-installed booth, pick up the phone and press a button. As you wait for bartender Jim Meehan (Gramercy Tavern) to check you out on his monitor and buzz you in, note the rules of etiquette posted nearby—e.g., don’t hit on women you don’t know.
Once inside, you’ll find a low-ceilinged, very dimly lit space for 45, with three large black leather booths and plenty of taxidermy (otter, raccoon, jackalope, etc.). You’ll hear classic rock, old-school hip hop and Sinatra, and you’ll taste classic-minded cocktails like Aviations and gin and tonics. Food-wise, you’ll be able to order from the Crif Dogs menu—the fare is sent through a small slot behind the bar—plus a few new Crif dogs will be created exclusively for PDT. (Sorry, we were sworn to secrecy.)
And before you leave, be sure to check out the bathrooms, which feature glass-shard mosaics from artist Jim Powers and signs declaring, “No Opium Smoking” and “No Cocaine Peddling.”
There they go again with those rules…
PDT, 113 St. Marks Pl (between Ave A and 1st Ave; west basement)
Note: PDT plans to go reservation-only in a little bit, and starting Thursday you can reserve a table the day of—provided, we’re told, you can find the number. Lucky for you: 212-614-0386.
Stolen from URBAN DADDY
Posted on April 25th, 2007 by Sprad.
Categories: Travel & Leisure.
The Site Who Nu Too Much
As the snow melts and winter hibernations come to an end, it’s only natural for primal man to start foraging, mating, and visiting Philadelphia. For a proper Brotherly excursion, use www.uwishunu.com.
While some may be content to spend the day soaking up the awesomeness of the tallest masonry load-bearing structure in the world (City Hall), uwishunu can turn your long Philly weekend into a carnival of food, drink, sport, and strangely edifying bizarreness. Some of the glory they’ve uncovered:
-A legendary boxing venue, where pugilism garners the respect that contenders’ faces don’t
-A restaurant that serves eggs benedict with fried chicken, ending the years of frustration you’ve suffered vainly explaining the combo to a drive-thru squawk-box
-A brewery so steeped in history, you’ll actually learn as much from beer as beer has made you forget
-A medical oddities museum that displays actual brain from the man who shot James A. Garfield, and America’s tallest preserved skeleton (not James A. Garfield’s)
Uwishunu is constantly updated, and if by some miracle you find something they haven’t, you should feel free to tip them off. They’ll be interested to learn of your Philly findings, though chances are slim that they’ll care to watch you forage and mate.
-stolen from Thrill-List
Posted on April 22nd, 2007 by Sprad.
Categories: Food & Wine, Arts & Literature.
No, it’s not the amount I owe the loan shark down the street, (if only that was all), but yet and much more imporantly, it’s the perfect place to hide out from him, and even better, try to drown out his memory. If you’re wondering what on earth I’m talking about, then you need to a much needed trip downtown to Seven Grande. Located at 515 W 7th St, Second Floor, in Downtown, It’s the perfect mesh of Elks Lodge meets what the Lower East Side used to be - in an absolutely fabulous and perfectly done way.
Now tied, (yes tied), with The Bar (Bronson and Sunset), this new spot is certainly calling out your name in a very seductive and tantalizing way. There’s the 250 year old wood bar by the entrance, empty bottles of Makers lining the entrance, a menu boasting a paltry 125 whiskies, 16 tap beers, each with a nitrogen system tailored to its brewer’s specs, a secluded back room, a pool table, and a smoking patio — All with that very (much missed) NYC feel.
A rare-to-downtown live-performance permit allows for acts and DJ’s, and jazz some nights (much to our pleasant surprise). So off you go, to drown out that ex, meet some new people, AVOID HOLLYWOOD, or just plain escape that damn loan shark. Whatever your excuse, enjoy, and enjoy soon.
Posted on April 21st, 2007 by Sprad.
Categories: Consumer Products.
845 Madison Ave, at 70th
Tom Ford’s super-high-end store’s a throwback to a time of elegantly-dressed men, and a dutiful servant class: three stories of “Cary Grant”-inspired menswear staffed by (seriously) butlers, maids, and salespeople so solicitous, you’ll mistake them for butlers or maids.
- I couldn’t resist sharing, because after all, there can never be too much Cary Grant in the world.
Posted on April 21st, 2007 by Sprad.
Categories: History & Politics, Business & Finance.
Super-rich population surges in 2006: survey
Tue Apr 17, 2007 1:53pm ET
Business News
[-] Text [+]
NEW YORK (Reuters) - The number of U.S. households with a net worth of more than $5 million, excluding their primary residence, surged 23 percent to surpass one million for the first time in 2006, according to a survey released on Tuesday.
The survey by Chicago-based Spectrem Group found that the number of U.S. households with more than $5 million rose from 930,000 in 2005. In 1996, there were only 250,000 U.S. households in the “ultra-rich” category, Spectrem said.
“The past few years have been nothing but astounding for wealthy Americans,” said Catherine McBreen, managing director of Spectrem, a consulting group that researches the affluent and retirement markets.
McBreen said the surge in household growth is underpinned by economic growth in recent years, which has fueled both stock market gains and also the market for private companies. She also ascribed gains to rising real estate valuations and favorable tax policies.
“The wealthiest households are the business owners,” said McBreen. She also said broader ownership of stocks has helped overall household wealth.
The survey found that U.S. households that are merely wealthy, defined as having assets of more than $500,000 excluding primary residence, rose 9 percent to 15.3 million in 2006 from the year before.
The findings are based on U.S. census data, a July 2006 mail and online survey of 526 U.S. households, and 3,000 telephone interviews throughout 2006.
Posted on April 20th, 2007 by Sprad.
Categories: Travel & Leisure, Sports & Health.
Air Combat Flying Adventures
230 N Dale Pl, Fullerton
800.522.7590
At points in your childhood, your obsession with Top Gun threatened to eclipse even your pursuit of feeling boobs. Now that you’re almost tiring of the latter, it’s your turn to buzz the tower at Air Combat Flying Adventures.
Located in deepest, darkest O.C., Air Combat gives civies a chance at genuine air-to-air dogfighting, without the nuisance of going to war. Their one-day beginner course starts with an hour of on-ground training, covering everything from basic flight logistics and tactical maneuvering, to techniques for struggling hilariously into your flight suit. Once airborne, the instructor lets you control the single-prop Marshall SF260 an alarming 90% of the time on your hour-long mission. The actual dogfights are mano-a-mano deathmatches that start with a neutral in-air pass-by, include evasive tactics like high and low yo-yos and lead and lag pursuits, and end in electronically measured “Deaths” — announced by smoke trail special effects nearly as amazing as those that make Tom Cruise look not short.
In-air cameras capture all the action, meaning when it’s over you get to take your airborne adventure home — a DVD that’ll represent the ultimate realization of your dreams, as soon as you splice in footage of Kelly McGillis’s rack.
stolen from THRILL LIST - LA
