Results for “markets in everything” 1878 found
Markets in everything the culture that is Japan (Finland)
Introducing Japan’s Moomin Cafe, which seats those who are dining alone with large stuffed animals to keep them company.
Moomin Cafe is a theme restaurant, based on a series of Finnish picture books about a family of hippopotamus-like creatures.
At the link you also will find interesting pictures of the food. For the pointer I thank R.H. and also Jeffrey Lessard.
By the way, here is a parable about the “Hello Kitty” craze in Singapore.
Markets in everything, positive pregnancy tests
The latest, uh, must-have appears to be positive pregnancy test results.
Women across the country are selling — and buying — them on Craigslist.
One post from Buffalo, New York, sums up the appeal for potential shoppers:
“Wanna get your boyfriend to finally pop the question? Play a trick on Mom, Dad or one of your friends? I really don’t care what you use it for.”
That particular test was going for the reasonable rate of $25 dollars. The tests in Texas seem to be slightly more expensive, at $30 a pop.
There is more here, via Marcela Veselková.
What is a job that exists only in your country? (place-specific labor markets in everything)
Let us start with “Teheran markets in everything”:
I think this happens only in Tehran. Some people get paid to walk behind your car, so the traffic cameras can not capture your plate number when you enter the restricted traffic areas!
The photo alas does not reproduce, and that is from a fascinating Quora discussion on “what is a job that exists only in your country?”
The Vietnamese water bag carriers are impressive (you get into a plastic bag and they pull you across a river). Here is some Indian arbitrage:
Disabled people get 50-75% concession on train ticket from Indian Railways. Additionally, they can take one person as escort who will be entitled to the same amount of concession.
Some disabled people earn their living with this scheme. Their only job is travelling between different cities and taking Strangers (who actually want to go to some city) as escorts. These strangers pay 75% of the fare to the disabled people. Thus Stranger saves money, Disabled person earns profit.
This also was new to me:
In China, when there are big traffic jams, you can pay a fee to have two people on a motorcycle drive to your vehicle, where one takes your place at the steering wheel, and the other will take you wherever you need to go on his motorcycle.
Nor had I known about the “pet food taster” (Simon and Marks) or the costumes of those Australian Meter Maids. India is prominent on the list but Mexico makes an appearance as well:
In Mexico we have men who make a living by discharging electricity into the bodies of consenting drunk people (who gladly pay a couple of dollars for the experience). These men usually hang around bars and areas where nightlife abounds and yell “toques toques!”(“discharges, discharges!”) while banging the two metallic handles of their contraption together. The device is a battery-operated metal box with a voltage regulator that can increase the intensity of the electrical current depending on how much the customer can take. It is generally accepted by Mexicans that a bit of electricity will increase your buzz…
It costs about $2-$4 per jolt. Maybe the real winner should be this one:
United States of America: Man who walks on the moon (currently on hiatus).
I believe I owe thanks to somebody on Twitter, alas I can no longer recall to whom.
Customized restaurant markets in everything privacy is dead
A restaurant with three Michelin stars is now trying to up its customer service game by Googling its customers before they arrive. According to a report from Grub Street, an Eleven Madison Park maitre d’ performs Internet recon on every guest in the interest of customizing their experiences.
The maitre d’ in question, Justin Roller, says he tries to ascertain things like whether a couple is coming to the restaurant for an anniversary, and if so, which anniversary that is. If it’s a birthday, for instance, he wants to wish them “Happy Birthday” when they arrive. He’ll scan for photos of the guests in chef’s whites or posed with wine glasses, which suggest they might be chefs or sommeliers themselves.
It goes deeper: if a particular guest appears to hail from Montana, Roller will try to pair up the table with a server who is from Montana. “Same goes for guests who own jazz clubs, who can be paired with a sommelier that happens to be into jazz,” writes Grub Street.
Obviously, the restaurant is just trying to be better in tune with the people sitting around eating its food and drinking its wine. But it seems like a reasonable assumption to believe people posting their birthday dates online aren’t doing so in the hopes that someone they’ve never met before will know, as if by telepathy, to wish them the best on their special day.
There is a bit more here, and for the pointer I thank Donnie Hall.
I am now curious what they would do for me. Any ideas?
Addendum: Here is what happens if you buy a scale on Amazon.
Educational markets in everything (a short disquisition on the Tullock paradox)
Danish price discrimination markets in everything
Danish travel company offers “ovulation discount” for couples, rewards if you conceive on holiday. Furthermore:
…if you can subsequently prove that you conceived a child on the trip, they’ll give you three years’ worth of baby-stuff and a family holiday.
Hat tip goes to Tim Harford.
Flex-price markets in everything, cable TV edition
Time Warner Cable customers looking to lower their bills would be able to hire “professional negotiators,” to squeeze discounts out of the cable provider under a trial service being offered by Yipit, a New York-based daily deals startup.
Yipit sent out an email on Thursday to a small group of people on its distribution list directing them to a link to submit their Time Warner Cable account information. Then Yipit said it would have employees who are “professional negotiators” try to haggle for better rates with the cable company.
The service is being tested as consumers are being hit with cable bills rising faster than the rate of inflation and as cable companies find it harder to hold onto customers who are defecting to newer entrants such as Verizon FiOS.
Yipit was founded in 2009 and offers an email newsletter roundup of top daily deals from websites such as Groupon and Gilt Groupe.
A representative from Yipit verified the authenticity of the offer but declined to comment further. A Time Warner Cable spokeswoman said “there’s no need for our customers to pay someone to call us on their behalf.”
The website cites potential savings of $564 per year. Yipit will not charge customers if it is unable to extract better rates but customers do have to pay a 20 percent cut of savings if it succeeds, according to the offer on its website.
There is more here, via the excellent Daniel Lippman.
Ski holiday markets in everything
The ski holiday company that is offering to pay parents’ fines for taking children out of school to go skiing has received tremendous support from parents since the promotion went viral.
Lee Quince, the owner of Bedford-based MountainBase, which sells holidays to Morzine in the French Alps, said: “90 per cent of the people who have got in touch have been supportive of what we’re doing.”
It was a fortnight ago an advert called ‘Are Schools in the UK taking the PISTE?’ ran, claiming that the company would pay any local authority fines parents received for taking their children out of school if they booked a holiday in March or April. But it wasn’t until last week the advert was picked up by the national press, reigniting a long running debate about the cost of holidays out of term time.
Mr Quince has admitted his company’s deal encourages parents to break the law, but said he has received a lot of support for the advert.
The company claims it has no choice but to put its prices up by almost 50 per cent during the peak season, which it claims is unfair on customers.
There is more here.
Only Singapore markets in everything
For the pointer I thank Michelle Dawson, citing David Dobbs.
Markets in everything
Horse head squirrel feeder. Who could possibly want such a thing? Is that the result of a fixed point theorem? Aren’t fixed costs God’s way of keeping such nasty stuff away from us?:
You have a Creepy Horse Mask, why not the squirrels in your yard? It turns out it’s even funnier on a squirrel. This hanging vinyl 6-1/2″ x 10″ squirrel feeder makes it appear as if any squirrel that eats from it is wearing a Horse Mask. You’ll laugh every morning as you drink your coffee while staring out the window into your backyard. Now, if only the squirrels would do their own version of the Harlem Shake video. Hole on top for hanging with string (not included).
For the pointer I thank John De Palma.
Markets in Everything: Prostitution for Beginners
The Guardian: An enterprising association of sex workers in Barcelona has angered some of Spain’s most prominent feminists by offering an “intro to prostitution” course in response to what its members say is a growing number of women turning to sex work in the wake of Spain’s financial crisis.
…Four hours was too little time, she said, to cover a list of topics such as dealing with the stigma of prostitution, sex tricks, filing tax returns and marketing. A second day will be held this month because of high demand. “Nobody else can teach these things,” said Borrell. “Not psychologists, anthropologists or political scientists – only prostitutes.”
In related stories, this piece on the legal, mega-brothels of Germany is well produced.
Markets in Everything: Protest Rights
At the Olympics if you want to protest a decision, you must have cash:
The reason that Mathieu — and many other coaches across most Olympic sports — make certain they always have a specific amount of cash on hand is that if they want to protest an official decision during competition, they need more than just a strong opinion and an angry yell.
They also need money.
…Depending on the sport, the fee varies: for luge, it is 50 euros (about $67). Cross-country skiing, like snowboard and Alpine skiing, demands 100 Swiss francs (about $112) but stipulates that all protests must be submitted in English. Bobsled and skeleton are among the most expensive: they require a deposit of 100 euros before any protest will even be considered. If multiple countries want to make a similar protest, sharing the tab is allowed.
Hat tip to the excellent PriorProbability who also points out that if your protest is successful you get your money back so these payments are also protest bets.
Manhattan markets in everything
How much would you pay to poop in private? A new company called Posh is betting the answer is six dollars, alongside a $15-a-year membership fee. Taking a Zipcar-style approach to bathrooms in Manhattan, the service will offer private powder rooms with baby-changing stations and luxury showers in a central Manhattan location. The service also offers lockers where visitors can store their bags, but the core appeal is the bathroom, a crucial respite for small-bladdered tourists without access to other facilities. According to the site, the rooms will be cleaned after each usage, and equipped with touchless faucets and flushers to minimize hygenic concerns. The first facilities are set to arrive in the summer of 2014.
Nonetheless I find this problem to be much less severe than in the New York City of old, perhaps because merchants are less worried about you shooting up drugs in their bathroom.
There is more here, with visuals, and for the pointers I thank Samir Varma and Bill Badrick.
Markets in everything
For only 23,500 euros (who says you can’t take it with you?):
Sweden’s Catacombo Sound System is a funeral casket that eternally plays the deceased’s choice of tracks while they’re six feet under.
Created by Pause Ljud & Bild, the system consists of three different parts. Firstly, users create an account through the online CataPlay platform, which connects to Spotify and enables customers to curate a playlist for their own coffin or get friends and family to choose the tracks when they’re gone. The CataTomb is a 4G-enabled gravestone that receives the music from CataPlay and display the current track — along with details and tributes to the deceased — through a 7-inch LCD Display. Finally, the CataCoffin is where the parted will themselves enjoy two-way front speakers, 4-inch midbass drivers and an 8-inch sub-bass element that deliver dimensional high-fidelity audio tailored to the acoustics of the casket. The video below explains more about the concept…
Of course I want Brahms’s German Requiem, the Rudolf Kempe recording. I am afraid, however, that I (in some form) will last longer than Spotify does.
For the pointer I thank Michael Rosenwald.
Markets in everything, 3-D printed babies
As far as I can tell, this is not from Japan:
The custom lifesize baby figurine is 8 inches (crown to rump). The lifesize baby is so called, because a 23-24 week old fetus is about 8 inches from crown to rump. It comes customized to resemble your baby. Provide between 1 and 5 images of your baby. For best results, include a portrait and a side view image.
Don’t forget the Grandparents. Order more than one 3D Baby and receive 10% off your order by using the Promotional Code LOVE.
Now if only they became taxpayers…
There are good pictures here. These pictures are even better. For the pointer I thank Samir Varma.