Why Stay with Rectangular Shape When These are So Cool!

So cool. More here and here.

Topping Off Our Star Trek Weekend

The story is more than a few days old, but it's still timely as a closure to our weekend watching Star Trek.

With the birth of his son 15 years ago, dedicated linguist d’Armond Speers embarked on the ultimate experiment: He spoke to him only in Klingon — the language of the alien race of “Star Trek” fame — for the first three years of his life.
...
Ultralingua created their Klingon dictionary around the Simon & Schuster’s data set and developed applications for the iPhone in May and for Mac and Windows computers over the summer. The software includes a conversational phrases component, featuring audio clips of Lt. Commander Worf, the Klingon from the “Star Trek” television series, “The Next Generation,” speaking phrases such as “All of you are boring” and “I’ll have the black ale.”
...
“I don’t go to ‘Star Trek’ conventions, I don’t wear the fake forehead,” he said. “I’m a linguist.”

If only I could say "I'm speechless" in Klingon...

Credit Card Deliquency Lowest in a Decade

Wow. Seriously? A decade?

One reason for consumers to pay more attention to their credit cards was worry over potential job losses, as the unemployment rate climbed toward double-digits during the third quarter. It reached 10.2 percent last month.

[Ezra] Becker [of TransUnion's financial services group] said cutbacks in credit availability and higher interest rates also played a role in cutting the delinquency rate. While the fear of having cards shut down and anger over the moves banks have made can't be easily measured, there's anecdotal evidence that those emotions played into the improvement as well.

No kidding. I got a letter from Citibank a few weeks back, informing me that my APR had been raised to 29.9% That ought to jolt you into paying at least the minimum amount on time every month.

Banks have cut back on the number of cards they have issued and the amount of credit available ahead of that law. Becker said the law will likely lead to the creation of new credit products, and consumers will choose cards based not only on interest rates, but other features.

"The landscape of card lending is going to change fundamentally," Becker said. (Full story)

Leave it to banks to change our behavior. And banks seem to have that kind of control more and more as our society is becoming more than ever a consuming society. I recall someone saying that this recession will change consumers behavior permanently. I beg to differ. Most people who got themselves into financial troubles prior to this recession are going to continue their spending pattern, unless their habits have been changed severely. Infomercial industry doesn't just get to be a $100+ billion industry without people spending on things they never thought they'd need. However, it still would be interesting to see how things, big or small, will change because of this recession.

Thinking Twice Before Buying Those Bittersweet

I was listening to NPR this morning. There was a story about bittersweet plant, a popular decoration at this time of the year. So this beautiful bittersweet plant, particularly the oriental bittersweet, is actually pretty destructive. The vines wrap around trees and can have up to a few inches in diameter, suffocating the trees they twine themselves to. The oriental bittersweet is not native to North American; it was introduced to the Northeast around 1860s. Birds would eat the berries and spread the seeds through droppings. Now, thanks to its popularity in home decorations, we spread the seeds by buying the vines and throwing them out. The seeds then would end up in various landfills or decomposing sites.

I'm not calling for a ban of bittersweet or anything, but the story is interesting. There are many actions that we human do that have unintended consequences. This is not a problem that most people will be affected, but rather a few who work in the ecological or forestry field. If you want to be more conscious about the impact that your actions has on the environment, then you might find the story interesting as well.

Space... The Final Frontier

While I was at Costco the other day, I picked up a copy of the newly released Star Trek. We unwrapped the movie, peeled off the sticker, and watched the movie last night. It was AWESOME! The acting was good, and the dialogs were not cheesy and actually good. Winona Ryder made an appearance, along with Allison Cameron from the show House. There are other well-known actors and actresses, too, but most are not that well-known. It was packed with actions. It made me want to join Star Fleet again (the first time was so I could meet Geordi La Forge and Data.) We might just watch it again today. Why not!

Rain Rain Go Away

It's so yucky outside! Here's a little Wednesday diversion.

Depends On Who You Ask

From Cheap Talk:

At Legoland, admission is discounted for two-year-olds. But a child must be at least three for most of the fun attractions.

At the ticket window the parents are asked how old the child is. But at the ride entrance the attendants ask the children directly.

The parents lie. The children tell the truth.

[HT: Marginal Revolution]

Go East, Young Man!

From NYT:

Shanghai and Beijing are becoming new lands of opportunity for recent American college graduates who face unemployment nearing double digits at home.

Even those with limited or no knowledge of Chinese are heeding the call. They are lured by China’s surging economy, the lower cost of living and a chance to bypass some of the dues-paying that is common to first jobs in the United States.

... many Chinese companies are looking to hire native English speakers to help them navigate the American market.

Cashing In Burial Plots

From Las Vegas Sun:

Nevadans down on their luck are selling what they don’t immediately need: Burial plots.

This real estate calls for careful advertising: “Prestigious and matured garden,” “near water feature and tree,” “includes vault and headstone.”

Standing-Room Only Flights

From the Daily Mail:

Ryanair wants passengers to stand during its flights so the budget airline can squeeze more people onboard.

The Irish air carrier plans to cut costs by making fliers perch on stools with seatbelts around their waists.

Interesting proposal.

The Right Aid

“For too long, our primary response [to fight hunger] has been to send emergency [food] aid when the crisis is at its worst,” Ms Clinton said last month. “This saves lives, but it doesn’t address hunger’s root causes. It is, at best, a short-term fix.”

-from FT, as G8 plans to announce new initiative to increase investment in farming to developing world

I can't say that hunger prevention is something I know much about, but what Mrs. Clinton has said above sounds logical to me. Like that Chinese proverb: "Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day. Teach a man to fish and he will eat for the rest of his life." I hope that this initiative will not only battle hunger, but also will also lead to economic development.

Trickling Down of Wealth?

From BW (a bit dated, but I just now came across it):

Private sector job growth was almost non-existent over the past ten years.

Between May 1999 and May 2009, employment in the private sector sector only rose by 1.1%, by far the lowest 10-year increase in the post-depression period.

Over the past 10 years, the private sector has generated roughly 1.1 million additional jobs, or about 100K per year. The public sector created about 2.4 million jobs.

But even that gives the private sector too much credit. Remember that the private sector includes health care, social assistance, and education, all areas which receive a lot of government support. I’ve been talking about the HealthEdGov sector.

The article goes on, listing industries most affected/changed in the past 10 years. Manufacturing is the industry with most job lost during the period. I guess that makes sense, considering we have been losing that battle to China and/or other low-cost countries. Job lost in the construction industry is surprising at first, but I think it's due to the fact that we've gained migrant workers who are willing to work longer hours with same pay, so pushing off higher-wage workers. The industry with the highest job growth goes to private healthcare, which is almost laughable to me considering it's one of the most problematic sectors (but that's another discussion). The numbers cited in the articles are still thought provoking enough.