Results for “markets in everything” 1885 found
Rental markets in everything
…parents in nearby Johannesburg were themselves renting their children to beggars for as little as 20 Rand a day – just under £2.
The full story is here and I thank James Jenkins for the pointer.
Markets in everything
Established in 1704, Saruya is the only shop in Japan specializing in toothpicks. Of course our toothpicks are not the machine-made, mass-produced items you find anywhere, but hand-crafted, quality toothpicks made from “kuromoji” or spicewood (lindera). Kuromoji is a member of the camphor (linden) family, and besides its fine aroma, it is flexible and hard to break, making it an ideal material for toothpicks.
In addition to regular-use toothpicks, we also make toothpicks to use like a fork for eating slices of fruit or Japanese sweets. Depending on the product, toothpicks might be packaged in a wooden box, or individually wrapped in paper, etc.
At five dollars a box, they are cheaper than artisanal pencil sharpenings.
Markets in everything
David Rees, the man behind the popular political comic Get Your War On, wants to sharpen you a pencil. Slowly. Attentively. And with a carefully selected sharpener or blade that suits the pencil best. If there are movements for slow food and slow reading, why not for slow writing implements?
"With an electric pencil sharpener, a pencil is meat," Rees said. "It's this thoughtless, Brutalist aesthetic. For me, it's almost a point of pride that I would be slower than an electric pencil sharpener."
This is how Rees' artisanal pencil sharpening works: You might send him your favorite pencil, but Rees more often selects and sharpens a classic No. 2 pencil for his clients, he promises, "carefully and lovingly." He slides the finished pencil's very sharp tip into a specially-sized segment of plastic tubing, then puts the whole pencil in a larger, firmer tube that looks like it belongs in a science experiment. Throw it at a wall, he says, and it won't break. The cost? $15.
For the pointer I thank Ellen P.
Betting markets in everything
Think you're going to ace freshman year? Want to put money on that?
A website called Ultrinsic is taking wagers on grades from students at 36 colleges nationwide starting this month.
Just as Las Vegas sports books set odds on football games, Ultrinsic will pay you top dollar for A's, a little less for the more likely outcome of a B average or better, and so on. You can also wager you'll fail a class by buying what Ultrinsic calls "grade insurance."
CEO Steven Wolf insists this is not online gambling, which is technically illegal in the United States, because wagers with Ultrinsic involve skill.
Student users claim it motivates them to work harder. Here is the full story, here is another. Here is an Andrew Gelman post.
How do they avoid adverse selection? Is it that they lure failing fools, who think that money will make such a difference?
For the pointer I thank Max Levine, a loyal MR reader.
Markets in Everything: Divorce Insurance
NYTimes–Here’s a new option for those worried they’ll end up on the wrong side of the statistics that show so many marriages ending over time: divorce insurance.
SafeGuard Guaranty Corp., an insurance start-up based in North Carolina, recently released what it’s billing as the first world’s first divorce insurance product. Here’s how its WedLock product works.
The casualty insurance is designed to provide financial assistance
in the form of cash to cover the costs of a divorce, such as legal proceedings or setting up a new apartment or house. It is sold in “units of protection.” Each unit costs $15.99 per month and provides $1,250 in coverage. So, if you bought 10 units, your initial coverage would be $12,500 and you’d be paying $15.99 per month for each of those units. In addition, every year, the company adds $250 in coverage for each unit.
My wife tells me she already has divorce insurance, it's called a job.
Hat tip Mark Perry.
The culture that is Japan, markets in everything
There is much more at the link, including more photos, and I thank Michael Mullen for the pointer.
Advertising markets in everything
Goldman Sachs Group Inc., winning its first job managing a share sale by an Indian state-owned company, may earn next to nothing for the privilege.
The most profitable securities firm in Wall Street history tied for the lowest bid among 17 banks vying to manage the $1.8 billion offer by Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd., three people with knowledge of the matter said. Goldman Sachs and SBI Capital Markets Ltd. said they’d do the work for a fee equal to 0.00000001 percent of the sale proceeds. That means the firms stand to reap about 2 rupees (4 cents) each on the deal.
The full story is here and I thank Mehul Kamdar for the pointer. There were other low bidders, including JP Morgan. Why bid four cents I wonder, why not bid one cent?
Here is a related page, from what is propitiously called the Department of Disinvestment.
Insurance markets in everything?
http://www.ticketfree.ca/, or try this site.
Like insurance for the very tickets that jack up your actual insurance, TF’ll cover the cost of nearly any violation you incur while driving (for a reasonable annual fee), so you can finally go too fast without getting all too furious. Current plans consist of the Mini, which exclusively covers speeding offenses; the Classic, which adds everyday scofflaw activities like light running and illegal u-turns; and the Enthusiast, which picks up the tab on parking tickets, plus miscellany like window tinting and noise violations, a necessary prophylactic for anyone playing the whistle tip game. Whoo WHOO! To recoup expenses, members simply enter their ticket info within 10 days of the court date and TF handles the rest, supplying an email confirmation when their payment goes through; if you choose to contest, they'll pay the fine in the event you lose, but should you actually win they'll cut you a check for the original ticket amount anyways (if crime truly doesn't pay, then speed drifting through the median must not be illegal, Dad).
Thrillist says it is real; is it? For the pointer I thank Joseph Calucci.
Thwarted auction markets in everything
Vienna's archdiocese has ruled that the box-like structure where believers confess their sins cannot be turned into a sauna.
Bidding on a confessional described on eBay as ideal for conversion into a one-person sauna, a small bar or a children's playhouse was ended when the archdiocese stepped in.
Archdiocese spokesman Erich Leitenberger told the daily Salzburger Nachrichten that auctioning "objects that were used for dispensing the sacraments is not acceptable."
Confessionals "should not be converted into saunas or bars," he was quoted Tuesday as saying.
At the time the leading bid was 666.66 euros. There is more here and I thank John Chilton for the pointer.
Markets in Everything: A Puzzle
Markets in everything Africa fact of the day
Desperate heroin users in a few African cities have begun engaging in a practice that is so dangerous it is almost unthinkable: they deliberately inject themselves with another addict’s blood, researchers say, in an effort to share the high or stave off the pangs of withdrawal.
The practice, called flashblood or sometimes flushblood, is not common, but has been reported in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, on the island of Zanzibar and in Mombasa, Kenya.
It puts users at the highest possible risk of contracting AIDS and hepatitis.
Here is more, but perhaps that is all you need to know. The pointer comes from Steve Silberman.
China markets in everything fact of the day
Luckily, a new shop in China will let you vent your frustrations on other people's equipment without dealing so much as a scratch to your own. After paying for the right to abuse an old TV, mobile phone, plate, chair or other item — yes, the Pottery Barn rule still applies — you have up to one minute to unleash your wrath upon your target. As an additional bonus, the store makes motorcycle helmets and gloves available to prevent injuries. But there's a catch: if you're not a woman, you can't play. Looks like frustrated men will have to stick with the ol' pillow standby for now.
The link is here and I thank Vinnie and Trevor Wagener and also John Thorne for the pointer. Here is further information.
Thwarted markets in everything?
In a too-good-to-check item, the Daily Mirror reports that rapper Snoop Dogg recently attempted to rent the entire nation of Liechtenstein for a music video…
Since it's too good to check, I won't check it. Caveat emptor.
For the pointer I thank David Brinh and also Milena Thomas.
Markets in everything
Be among the first to own a part of history with volcanic ash from Eyjafjallajökull
This ash has been filtered and dried and is free of all chemicals.
(Pronounced “Eye-a-fyat-la-jo-kutl”)
That is from The Nordic Store. There is more information here and I thank Laco for the pointer.
Markets in everything
How much would you spend for a good night's sleep?
Some people
might say $33,000. That's the price of E.S. Kluft & Co.'s
hand-tufted, king-size Palais Royale mattress and box spring, currently
the most expensive American-made mattress set on the market. The company
says it has sold about 100 since introducing it in 2008.Or maybe
it's $44,000–the price tag on Kluft's Sublime model, which the company
has teed up for a launch later this year.…Hästens says it takes 160 hours to assemble this mattress entirely by
hand, which has a Swedish-pine frame with thick layers of horsehair,
cotton, flax and wool inside. The company says since introducing the
mattress in 2006, it has sold 250 of them world-wide.
Laugh all you want, but if I were rich, this is something I would spend my money on. Given how much time we spend sleeping, most people are oddly unconcerned about the quality of their bed, pillow, and so on.
The full story is here and I thank Eric John Barker for the pointer.