Nice piece by Tim Harford in the FT about charity and visibility of suffering.
Here is the difficulty: faced not with a specific baby right in front of us, but some unnamed baby far away, £300 suddenly seems like a steep price tag. That £300 is a plausible estimate for the cost of enough mosquito nets or health education to save a child’s life in sub-Saharan Africa. Few Britons donate that much to charity each year.
The BBC reports that a Ukrainian bride is looking for guests for her side of the wedding.
The woman says in the advertisement: “I’m having a large mixed wedding of about 150 people.
“My partner has loads of family around to invite to the wedding. Unfortunately for me, my family are all in Ukraine so they all can’t make it. Only my mum and dad will be there.”
Volunteers have to send a photograph and write about themselves, but in return they get invited to the reception.
Perfect opportuntity for any “Wedding Crashers”!
From the Irish Times today, it seems like Obesity is now affecting one in five pregnant women. This is absolutely crazy. For a government running out of ideas, how about a tax proposal that would target obesity in the same way that alcohol and tobacco addition is targeted. How about a huge tax increase on all foods that have a fat proportion of over a certain level and then a sliding scale below that. One of the most laughable things I found on my last trip to Ireland was on the back of a pack of Tayto crips was a statistic that 2500 calories were the standing level for a man. Since I’ve been using Gyminee to track diet and exercise, the figure is close to 1700 for me. When is misleading packaging like that on Tayto (which I love by the way) going to be tackled in Ireland?
Beautiful simulation of the amount of air traffic that happens every day throughout the world.
With all of the stories of financial meltdown, recession, depression and economic disaster, it’s important to remember that for almost 2 billion people in the world life is much worse. I came across this fascinating video of Dean Kamen via an article in the New York Times where he describes how he has turned to solving the two main problems facing the world’s poorest people, clean water and energy.
Thinking about selling? Here’s Warren Buffet in the New York Times.
I don’t like to opine on the stock market, and again I emphasize that I have no idea what the market will do in the short term. Nevertheless, I’ll follow the lead of a restaurant that opened in an empty bank building and then advertised: “Put your mouth where your money was.†Today my money and my mouth both say equities.
Telemegaphone promises that your voice will be carried over the fjords of Norway by calling a number that is hooked to the loudspeaker powered by wind turbines. However, if the weather is especially calm, there may not be enough power make your announcement heard.
According to A Very Short List where I got the tip, it will only continue until September 6, the start of deer hunting season.
Nice post from Drumm. The comments are interesting too.
Now, if you’re with me so far you’ll get that I’m describing the yesses and nos of attraction. Straightforward stuff, really. But dating, as I interpret it, is not straightforward. Dating is neither yes nor no. Dating is maybe.
Take a look at the Michael Phelps diet. You really can eat what you want provided that you have 6 hours a day to work out. Pizza, pasta, french toast, pancakes…..