Results for “markets in everything” 1895 found
Markets in Everything: Hair
Sometimes markets in everything surprises even me. Who knew that the market for human hair entangles the Russian mafia, Indian mystics, and Paris Hilton’s “precious.” Here is one bit:
In the state of Andhra Pradesh in southeastern India is a cluster of seven hills. Perched atop one is Tirumala Venkateswara. Dating back nearly two thousand years, it is the most visited religious site in the world. With attendance three times that of the Vatican, Tirumala hosts nearly 20 million pilgrims a year. About half are women participating in a ceremony they hope will bring good luck. Perhaps they still haven’t found a husband. Perhaps their child is sick. For their luck to change, they believe, a special action is required.
So, after waiting in a queue that is miles long, 25,000 women each day mount the steps of a special building. Inside sit some six hundred barbers. The women bend over and, with a few deft strokes of a straight razor, the barbers shave off their hair. The hair used to be thrown away. These days, if it is virgin — that is, never colored, never processed, never cut, having cascaded from her head two or three feet or more — it will have a significance that is not merely spiritual. It is auctioned to licensed peddlers; this past year Tirumala held several online auctions, in one day reaping $27 million. Peddlers sell the hair to exporters, who sell it to manufacturers, who process it and sell it to distributors, who sell it to salons, who attach it to the heads of millions of Western women. Removing the hair had been a means of ego eradication; adding it serves now as an ego boost.
Hat tip: Daniel Lippman.
Markets in everything, Indonesian traffic jockeys
To reduce the number of cars on the road, lawmakers have designated several main arteries as what they call “Three in One zones.” During the morning and afternoon rush, you can’t drive there unless you have at least three people on board. That’s why, near the entrances to the zones, men, women and children line up – raising their index finger – offering to rent themselves to commuters in a hurry.
20-year-old Litjak climbs into a black sedan, cradling her 2-month-old daughter Nabilah. Together, they’ll help a college student get to class on time. The baby gives Litjak a competitive advantage, providing two passengers for the price of one.
Litjak says she can make at least two trips in a morning, collecting two or three dollars to help pay for household expenses. She never worries about her safety, and she likes the work. People who can afford to pay have nice cars, so she sits in air conditioned comfort, listening to the radio.
She and others in this line of work are called traffic jockeys. They dress neatly each day and may have regular customers. For some, it’s their only income. Others, like 21-year-old Adik, see this as an easy way to make extra cash when he’s not on the job parking cars.
Here is more, and for the pointer I thank Nick Lawler. It is not legal to work as a traffic jockey in Indonesia.
Markets in everything
Their new crossover model the Fiat 500L boasts a whole range of accessories, but the one drawing the most attention and perhaps concerns, is their built-in espresso machine.
…However, the car maker says, don’t rush to judgement, you can’t brew up a cup unless your car is stopped.
The story is here, and for the pointer I thank Chris F. Masse.
Reversal of fortune markets in everything
Cote, a 56-year-old drywall finisher from Ogunquit, Maine, has found that with a little dye on his eyebrows and in his hair, he looks a lot like the Republican presidential candidate.
Cote starred as Romney in the “Rombo” ad paid for by the Rick Santorum campaign, and played him in a yet-to-be-aired reality TV show in which presidential impersonators live in a house together. (Fake Sarah Palin created drama by mistaking sleeping pills for allergy medication.)
Now, with the general election campaign just ahead, Cote is hoping to land gigs at corporate events, commercial shoots and TV shows that have meant big paydays for a lucky few candidate impersonators. He said he had already booked some “top secret” photo shoots that will have him on magazine covers and California billboards this summer.
It’s a strange place to be for Cote, who didn’t go to college, doesn’t have a savings account and is divorced — all traits that distinguish him from the erudite, wealthy and long-married 65-year-old Romney.
And yet there is competition:
Cote’s voice is higher than Romney’s, and he has a heavy New England accent. Then there’s the competition: With the race heating up, more wannabe Romneys are popping up, many with professional training in acting.
“This is going to be a challenge,” said Dustin Gold, Cote’s manager. “We’re taking a drywaller, trying to turn him into a country club guy.”
I wonder if it works the other way around. The article is interesting throughout, including the photo and video, and for the pointer I thank Daniel Lippman.
Optimal product durability (Pakistani markets in everything)
…many rallies end in the same way: the burning of an American flag.
…The man who dominates much of the supply chain of American flags to religious groups, 30-year-old Mamoon-ur-Rasheed – who’s been publishing anti-American placards and hand-made stars and stripes since his school days, when he was angered by the Clinton administration’s sanctions on Pakistan following its nuclear weapons testing in 1998 – is now remarkably dispassionate about his services, as well as about the short shelf-life of his flammable goods.
“We work hard for our product, and we get paid for our product,” says Rasheed, clad in a camouflage baseball cap and seated behind a desk that takes up most of the space in his eight-by-six-foot office in Gulashan-e-Iqbal, one of the city’s oldest working class neighborhood.
“So what if it burns? The purpose of the flag is to last for an hour. It’s unfortunate, but if the demand is for an hour, then the supplier must meet such demand too,” he says.
The story is here, and for the pointer I thank Jake McGuire.
Markets in everything durable goods monopoly edition add urgency to your reading
Argentina-based publisher Eterna Cadencia has released El Libro que No Puede Esperar – which translates as ‘The Book that Cannot Wait’ – an anthology of new fiction printed in ink that disappears after two months of opening the book.
The link is here, check out how the title looks on the cover, and for the pointer I thank Michael Rosenwald.
India markets in everything
Premarital investigations cost $200 to $400 and take seven to 10 days. Detectives follow the subject for 12 to 18 hours daily and chat up co-workers, domestic help and tradesmen under various pretexts. “Beware — your neighbor knows everything,” says Sanjay Singh, chief executive of New Delhi’s Indian Detective Agency. “Sometimes more than you know yourself.”
Particularly useful are fake marketing surveys. Enticed into participating with the promise of a free gift, sometimes something as modest as a bottle of shampoo, the subject or a neighbor may reveal a secret relationship or details of a would-be bride or groom’s late-night entertainment activities and smoking or drinking habits.
“People love freebies,” says Krishna Kumar, an Anapol Institute graduate. “Most fall for it hook, line and sinker.”
She worked at a computer company for four years before deciding detective work would be a lot more challenging. Women have a big advantage as sleuths because they’re non-threatening, can mingle better and are more intuitive, she says.
“I like doing premarital investigations best,” she says. “You’re watching someone go in a new direction, and your work could make or break their future.”
…Most premarital investigations are ordered by parents, although sometimes spouses-to-be want a little snooping done, including women keen to size up their prospective mothers-in-law in a society where it is common for couples to live with the husband’s extended family.
The story is here, and for the pointer I thank Vishal Ganesan. Oh, and the results?:
According to detectives, investigations turn up significant problems in about 60% of cases. In about 10%, the discoveries are explosive enough — such as previously undisclosed marriages or serious hereditary diseases — to cause cancellation of the wedding.
For the caste-conscious, a hidden Dalit relative, or so-called untouchable, is also problematic. “Caste and dowries remain huge issues today, and people like to exaggerate,” says Sachit Kumar, director of Globe Detective Agency.
A factor driving premarital investigations is the growing number of cases in which foreigners of Indian descent marry and then disappear, often taking huge dowries with them. It happens to 30,000 brides every year in northern Punjab state alone, according to India’s National Commission for Women.
Euro auction markets in everything (a good start)
…an entire Tuscan village has gone up for sale on eBay.
Nestled among oaks at 850 metres altitude and blessed with stunning views over the Casentino valley, the medieval village of Pratariccia has stood empty for 50 years, ever since its population of farmers and shepherds abandoned their stone cottages for factory jobs during Italy‘s economic boom.
Now the owners of the remote village – reportedly a religious order – are seeking to cash in with an online sale.
“They tried and failed to sell the village through agencies for years but have got a lot of attention by putting Pratariccia on eBay and should get a result,” said Luca Santini, mayor of nearby Stia, who walked in the woods around the village as a child picking mushrooms.
There is more information here, hat tip goes to @grahamfarmelow.
Markets in everything
If you, like me, sometimes wander around Sephora and find that all the perfumes seem to smell the same, I bring you the odor of change.
It’s called Money. It’s the nosechild of Microsoft VP of Sales Patrick McCarthy. And it gives off a fragrance of brand new bills.
His Money Cologne and Her Money Eau de Parfum are, quite clearly, what the material world has needed for a long time.
Here is more, and for the pointer I thank Chris F. Masse.
Markets in everything
After nearly ten years of doing this series, I still find novel and (to me) startling entries, hat tip to @SciencePunk. Excerpt:
| P4304 | Sigma Pseudo™ Corpse Scent Formulation I | Canine training aids for the detection of corpses. For early detection, or below 0 °C |
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| P3929 | Sigma Pseudo™ Corpse Scent Formulation II | Canine training aids for the detection of corpses. For post-putrification detection |
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| PSCI | Sigma Pseudo™ Corpse Scent Corpse Scent Kit | Canine training aids for the detection of corpses. |
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| P7184 | Sigma Pseudo™ Corpse Scent drowned victim scent | A valuable training aid for water search. It provides a reliable scent source for 30 to 45 minutes, in still or running water, at depths of 1-12 feet. Canine training aids for the detection of corpses. |
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Markets in Everything: The Karl Marx Credit Card
The Karl Marx credit card now available in Eastern Germany for when you really need kapital. Planet Money is looking for taglines which you can tweet to @planetmoney. Here are a few good ones:
- Vanguard members get double reward points! #marxcard @planetmoney.
- “What’s in YOUR wallet? Seriously, though, I need to see your papers. Now.”
- @planetmoney There are some things money can’t buy. Especially if you abolish all private property. #marxcard.
Markets in everything
Conflict Kitchen is a take-out restaurant that only serves cuisine from countries with which the United States is in conflict. The food is served out of a take-out-style storefront that rotates identities every six months to highlight another country. Each iteration of the project is augmented by events, performances, and discussions that seek to expand the engagement the public has with the culture, politics, and issues at stake within the focus country. These events have included live international Skype dinner parties between citizens of Pittsburgh and young professionals in Tehran, Iran; documentary filmmakers in Kabul, Afghanistan; and community radio activists in Caracas, Venezuela.
That is in Pittsburgh, and Cuba and North Korea are on the way. Here is more, and for the pointer I thank Michael Rosenwald.
Norwegian markets in everything
Caveat emptor black markets in everything
Nonetheless this story, from the BBC, caught my eye:
South Korea says it will increase customs inspections targeting capsules containing powdered human flesh.
The Korea Customs Service said it had found almost 17,500 of the capsules being smuggled into the country from China since August 2011.
The powdered flesh, which officials said came from dead babies and foetuses, is reportedly thought by some to cure disease and boost stamina.
But officials said the capsules were full of bacteria and a health risk.
Here is more.
Monkey markets in everything, game theory edition
With the city’s trapping program a failure, some residents are getting a bigger monkey, a langur, to urinate around their homes. The acrid smell of the urine scares the smaller rhesus monkeys away for weeks.
…”Mr. Singh said that he had 65 langurs urinating on prominent homes and buildings throughout Delhi. He and his partners feed and walk each monkey during the day, but they remain tied to their posts overnight. He charges about $200 a month.
Here is more, and for the pointer I thank Umung Varma.