February 2011 Archives

Free Beer!

Posted on February 28, 2011February 28, 2011 by Sam Kornstein in Bars, Beer, Boston/Cambridge, Current Events, Food

Gotcha, but it’s very close to free. A few classmates and I have been working on the board of a local non-profit organization, Somerville Local First (SLF). SLF helps to build “a sustainable Local First economy by supporting and promoting locally owned and independent businesses, artists and nonprofits” in Somerville. They’re hosting a fundraiser at the Foundry On Elm, a new restaurant and pub in Davis Square, on Wednesday, April 6th from 6:00-8:00pm. Tickets are only $20, and include a beer and wine tasting from 6:00-7:00pm and appetizers from 6:00-8:00pm. Here are a few reasons you should buy a ticket soon: 1. 100% of the money goes to SLF, so you’d be supporting a good cause. 2. The beer is all

Brewing Beer With Vanilla Beans

Posted on February 27, 2011February 27, 2011 by Sam Kornstein in Beer

I was recently out in San Francisco, and went to the Thirsty Bear brew pub on Howard street. All of the beers I tried were pretty good, but their Golden Vanilla ale really blew me away. It had a cream soda taste –without being too sweet — and the vanilla was pleasant, but not overpowering. I generally prefer to brew and drink beers that stick with just the four primary beer ingredients — water, barley, hops, and yeast — but every once in a while it’s good to experiment. So my roommate and I decided we’d buy some vanilla beans and take a shot at a vanilla ale. After doing some research, we learned that the best way to brew with vanilla

Turtle Calls

Posted on February 26, 2011February 26, 2011 by Sam Kornstein in Links

From turtlecalls.com, Americas turtlecalls leader: the $2 turtlecall america’s original turtlecall – i will try to get through at least three times and if i cannot i will leave a cool voicemail in my turtle voice the $3 cheadlecall this is a special turtlecall where i will call and pretend to be a turtle pretending to be don cheadle, who is a famous actor in american movies like hotel rwanda the $10 super turtlecall this turtlecall has advanced features like that i will keep calling until i do not get a voicemail, even if it takes weeks a super turtlecall pushes your turtlecall to the front of the line for execution and for getting onto the internet for you to

Where Do MBA Students Live?

Posted on February 25, 2011February 25, 2011 by Sam Kornstein in General

Before, during, and after school? The Financial Times has a great map showing this distribution by nationality. It’s a bit tough to navigate at first, but click the country you’re interested in, then click each of the radio buttons to see the geographic movement: A few observations: Israelis don’t tend to go home after graduating, the Chinese do, and Dutch people rarely come to the US for school.

Houdini: Master Magician and Photoshop Editor?

Posted on February 25, 2011February 25, 2011 by James Marshall Spector in History, Magic

Have you seen this photo? Perhaps you’ve seen this version of it? No? How about the original? One of Harry Houdini’s greatest pieces of magic was making an elephant vanish on stage. A lesser known, but equally brilliant, trick involved making a group of passengers disappear from a photo. Nearly a century before magazine editors relied on Photoshop for every minor touchup, Houdini understood the importance of visuals. As you can see, the original photo was like any ordinary fan photo with a celebrity–an assorted group of people with former President Theodore Roosevelt and Houdini. Ever the publicity hound (and without the aid of photo editing software), Houdini edited the photo to remove the other people, create Roosevelt’s left arm,

Tax Advice From Greg Mankiw

Posted on February 24, 2011February 24, 2011 by Sam Kornstein in Markets

Or not. Yesterday Professor Mankiw posted this on his blog: Tax Fact of The Day “The U.S. effective corporate tax rate on new investment was 34.6 percent in 2010, which was the highest rate in the OECD and the fifth-highest rate among 83 countries. The average OECD rate was 18.6 percent, and the average rate for 83 countries was 17.7 percent.” Okay. He chose not to add any commentary, but he’s obviously implying that he believes the rate is too high based solely upon the fact that other countries have lower rates. I suppose that’s a reasonable starting point for a discussion. But his data is extremely misleading. Because the correct way to measure the tax burden on U.S. corporations

Lots of Awesome Links

Posted on February 24, 2011February 24, 2011 by Sam Kornstein in Links

At least in my opinion. They’ve been piling up: 1. What a prank call proves about Wisconsin 2. “I don’t want to marry someone if I don’t have a job first” 3. The Wrong Answer to Climate Change 4. The Onion on Opting Out of Google 5. Who Doesn’t Love Stop Motion? 6. What Motivates Employees? (Not Money) And these are from my Mom (she sends me lots of interesting stuff): 7. Find You Some Vinyl. It’s a new “search engine” exclusively devoted to finding the best deals on vinyl records, and here’s an article about it. It’s still under development, but it looks like it will be a great resource. 8. Could Biologists Avert the Next Banking Crisis?

More On Hollywood Tans

Posted on February 24, 2011February 24, 2011 by Sam Kornstein in Music

Correction: It turns out Hollywood Tans has a very active facebook page in lieu of a myspace page. Check it out to hear more songs. Update: Wayne just sent me a picture of the new Hollywood Tans t-shirt. For anyone who’s unsure, it’s Elvis with lots of blood:

Hollywood Tans

Posted on February 23, 2011February 23, 2011 by Sam Kornstein in Music

My good friend, Wayne Pritzker, is in a band out in Portland Oregon called Hollywood Tans. They’ve just been written up for the first time. From the Willamette Week: “[SWEATY JUMP AROUND] Hollywood Tans plays guitar rock that revives its worn format (guitar, synthesizer, bass, drums, beards) with a near-lethal infusion of enthusiasm. Stylistically, I’d lump the band in the same category with Swim Swam Swum, though whereas the latter Portland guitar-rock institution distinguishes itself with technical ability, Hollywood Tans attains its uniqueness through a healthy regimen of mania. As I write this I am listening to the quartet’s cover of Frankie Valli’s “Can’t Take My Eyes Off of You” for the fourth time straight. Hollywood Tans puts such love into that

The Death of the Music Industry

Posted on February 22, 2011February 22, 2011 by Sam Kornstein in Music

The Understatement has a great post on how, and how not, to evaluate recent trends in recorded music sales, and what they might mean for the industry. The post includes many interesting charts, and an explanation as to why Bain’s recent report on the topic is deeply flawed and misleading. But the most relevant chart is this: When measured by inflation adjusted sales per capita, “the music industry is down 64% from its peak” and “45% from where it was in 1973” at the peak of vinyl. There are quite a few ways to view this. Many blame music piracy, which certainly has contributed to the decline. Or you could take a more optimistic view, and claim a cyclical pattern.