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.
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
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?
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:
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 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.
Lots of fascinating pictures of really small things from Microcosmos, a book about life up close. They were all taken with an electron microscope. An ant holding a microchip. A clutch of butterfly eggs sits on a raspberry plant. A mosquito head. Velcro! The surface of a silicon microchip. Human eyelashes. A rusty nail.
Back in high school, you know, around 1998 or so, I played the guitar in a rock band with a bunch of close friends. We named ourselves Premiere, after a long gone vhs rental shop in Framingham Center (long story). We practiced every week, and played a good mix of rock/blues covers and original music we had written. We played all the high school music events, and eventually got to the point where we had weekly gigs at local bars around town. It was a lot of fun. Right before we all went off to college, the band saved up some money and recorded an album at a studio in Rhode Island. We sold a few hundred copies, and the
It’s out. That was quick. And Thom Yorke’s got some moves: I’m on my third listen through the album. Like all Radiohead records, at least for me, it sounds weird and monotonous the first time through, I’m intrigued by the second listen, and it’s brilliant each time thereafter.
Well, kind of. But not the green beer you drink on St. Patrick’s day. An MIT mechanical engineering grad has developed a new technology to turn spent grain from the brewing process into natural gas to be used in…well the brewing process. Sounds very sensible. His invention is called the “biphase orbicular bioreactor” and is a type of anaerobic methane digester. Those words alone are impressive. He’s working with Magic Hat’s Vermont Brewery, which installed his system last year. Here’s an excerpt from the Globe: Before he started “saving the earth, one beer at a time,” all inventor Eric Fitch knew about home brewing was that it could make quite a mess. Once, he accidentally backed up the plumbing in