Results for “markets in everything” 1863 found
India black markets in everything
A dirty little secret that most Indian politicians don't discuss is the thriving cow smuggling trade from their Hindu-majority nation, home of the sacred cow, to Muslim-majority Bangladesh, where many people enjoy a good steak. The trade is particularly robust around the Muslim festival of Eid.
India has outlawed cattle exports, but that hasn't prevented well-organized traffickers from herding millions of the unlucky beasts each year onto trains and trucks, injecting them with drugs on arrival so they walk faster, then forcing them to ford rivers and lumber into slaughterhouses immediately across the border.
The story is here. Here is information on the price differential:
A $100 medium-size cow in Jharkhand is worth nearly double that in West Bengal and about $350 in Bangladesh. Indian residents along the border complain that the markup also attracts illegal migrants from Bangladesh, who steal cows at night and dart back home.
In a bid to stem the rustling, the Murshidabad local government announced a cow-licensing system in 2007. Cows were issued photo IDs.
In theory the "border is sealed" but in reality the guards are often corrupt and accept bribes to allow the illegal migration.
Charity markets in everything, Star Wars edition
It could very well be the ultimate car-obsessed/Star Wars fanboy fantasy. What is this latest object of our geekery? How about a car wash carried out by a gaggle of Princess Leias? And not just any Princess Leia, mind you, but slave Leia.
There is a photo (safe for work), about which you will have mixed opinions, and also videos. The full account is here and I thank John Thorne for the pointer.
The demand for privacy markets in everything
This story is about Abramovich's private yacht:
Infrared lasers detect the electronic light sensors in nearby cameras, known as charge-coupled devices. When the system detects such a device, it fires a focused beam of light at the camera, disrupting its ability to record a digital image.
The beams can also be activated manually by security guards if they spot a photographer loitering.
The yacht also has a missile defense system. For the pointer I thank Daniel Lippman.
Advertising markets in everything
A Springfield man with colon cancer who has been told he has just months to live is selling advertising space on his urn. Aaron Jamison told KVAL-TV he hopes to raise $800 to help his wife Kristin pay for the cost of his cremation.
One friend, restaurant owner Dustin Remington, has already paid $100 for an ad. Jamison plans to hand-paint the ad on his urn.
The story is here and I thank Daniel Lippman for the pointer. In the meantime, also from Daniel, a town in Washington state sells on eBay for $360,000.
Markets in everything watch
Bored guests at a certain Crowne Plaza hotel can now skip the pricey mini-bar and hop on an exercise bike, generate some electricity, and earn some meal vouchers. The hotel in Copenhagen started the free meal idea as a way to boost guests' fitness and shrink their carbon footprint, according to the BBC.
The bikes are hooked up to generators that require guests of average fitness to pedal for about 15 minutes to create 10 watt-hours of electricity. iPhones attached to the handlebars display the amount of power being generated.
Hitting the 15-minute mark earns lucky exercisers a $36 meal voucher…
There's more here, courtesy of Daniel Hall. Then there's Washington Express:
- Washington Express has a professional Line Standing team that specializes in monitoring congressional hearing schedules, as well as the demand for particular hearings.
- Washington Express constantly checks the demand for individual hearings so we can accurately suggest the proper line standing starting time.
- Washington Express regularly surveys committee websites to check for hearing re-locations and postponements so that your line standing is done at the right time and place.
The rate is $36.00 an hour and that one comes from Timothy McKenna.
Darren Johnson sends along meteor hunting in Wisconsin.
Markets in everything
British actor John Cleese of Monty Python fame opted for a daylong cab ride halfway across Europe after the dust plume from an Icelandic volcano left him stranded.
Cleese paid $5,100 for a Mercedes taxi Friday from the Norwegian capital, Oslo, to Brussels, said Kjetil Kristoffersen, managing director of Publicom, his agent in Norway. Cleese was in Oslo to appear on the talk show Skavlan.
The article is here. Cleese and Monty Python, of course, were the original inspiration for the MR "Markets in Everything" series.
Markets in everything?
London minicab company Addison Lee said it had received requests to take passengers to cities as far away as Paris, Milan and Zurich.
(But did they fill them?) Here is more. Suddenly they are saying they don't really know when this will end…
Addendum: Here is one pessimistic view, I do not vouch for it. Read this too.
Markets in everything, evil clown edition
Dominic Deville stalks young victims for a week, sending chilling texts, making prank phone calls and setting traps in letterboxes.
He posts notes warning children they are being watched, telling them they will be attacked.
But Deville is not an escaped lunatic or some demonic monster.
He is a birthday treat, hired by mum and dad, and the ‘attack’ involves being splatted in the face with a cake.
‘The child feels more and more that it is being pursued,’ said Deville.
‘The clown’s one and only aim is to smash a cake into the face of his victim, when they least expect it, during the course of seven days.’
There is more information here, with an excellent photo. For the pointer I thank Tim Johnson.
Markets in everything?
Is this real?
OK. Let's put it right out there. Buy a Job Reference allows you to make up any fake job reference, job title, salary, any dates of employment and any other information you would like to place on your resume or next job application and WE WILL HAVE YOUR BACK.. The human resource department of one of our established companies will provide the details of your choice to anyone who calls.
I thank Jim Crozier for the pointer.
Markets in everything: vanquished empires edition
Here's one I actually wish to buy:
A 2,000-year-old snack-bar in the Ancient Roman city of Pompeii will 'open for business' once more this Sunday, with a special one-off event marking its restoration. A limited number of visitors to the Campanian archaeological site will be taken on a 45-minute guided tour of the Thermopolium (snack-bar) of Vetutius Placidus, which was previously closed to members of the public. Once inside the thermopolium, participants will also be treated to a typical Roman snack of the type once served to customers. The shop takes its name from electoral graffiti engraved on the outside of the shop, calling on passersby to vote for the candidate Vetutius Placidus, and on three amphorae found inside the premises.
Hat tip goes to Brad DeLong.
Auction markets in everything
Daniel Lippman sends me notice of the following:
The Exchange Bar & Grill, set amid the bustling shops and pubs of the Grammercy Park neighborhood, is replete with a ticker tape flashing menu prices in red lettering as demand forces them to fluctuate.
Customers can move prices for all beverages and bar snacks such as hot wings ($7 for 6 pieces) or fried calamari ($9). The prices will fluctuate in $.25 cent increments, but will most likely plateau at a $2 change in either direction.
A glass of Guinness starts at $6 but could be pushed to a high of $8 or a low of $4, depending on popularity.
So if one drink is in heavy demand, its price will rise, causing the cost of other equivalent drinks to drop. A rush on a particular beer would increase its price, and cause other beers to drop.
It is, of course, a marketing gimmick. Daniel also sends along a link on the new idea of eco-sex.
Markets in everything vending machines in everything
The Passive-Aggressive Release Machine.
The “Passive Aggressive Anger Release Machine” is a machine that allows you break a dish or two until you feel better. All you have to do is insert a dollar, and a piece of china will slowly move towards you until it falls to the bottom and breaks into a million pieces.
Want to do it again? Insert another dollar.
The photo at the link is quite good. For the pointer I thank Chug.
Fixed price markets in everything
What do you get when you mix unemployment, frugal consumers and Internet boredom?
One possible answer — Fiverr.com, a site that allows you to buy and sell tasks for $5.
The "gigs," all fixed at $5, range from the silly to serious. Among them: sending a nice postcard from Paris, burning a small paper effigy of your enemy, offers for breakdancing lessons, Photoshopping monsters into your family photos, coining that nickname you never got in high school, balloon animal instruction via Skype and even the penning of Italian love songs.
There's a flurry of more practical microtasks, too: CSS microbugging, social marketing, resume revising and PowerPoint editing help.
The company takes one dollar of the five. The full story is here and I thank Daniel Lippman for the pointer. Also via Daniel, here is a story about robots teaching English in South Korea.
Markets in everything: opera for babies
Yup, real baby babies, not non-real grown-up babies:
Scottish Opera is attempting to reach beyond its normal audiences of middle-aged music buffs by launching a series of concerts aimed at infants, aged between six and 18 months.
The experimental performances, to be staged at venues across the country, will feature no lyrics, narrative or plot. Instead, classically trained singers will create baby-friendly noises, such as Wellington boots splashing in puddles, buzzing bees, quacking ducks and the fluttering of feathers.
The audience will also be encouraged to gurgle along to the score and to crawl over a furry garden set, featuring hand puppets and a range of themed props.
There are many quote-worthy paragraphs in the article. Like this:
“We were advised that when you are seven months old you are still not focusing very well [TC: I doubt this] so we have created a tactile garden set.”
Davidson said test performances had confounded expectations. “We expected it to be quite noisy, but we were delighted when we saw the happy expressions on their wee faces,” she said.
Or this:
“When I first mentioned the idea of opera for babies, some people looked at me as though I was demented. People would roll their eyes and say, ‘You can’t expect a six-month-old child to sit through a performance of Wagner,’ ” said Davidson.
“Of course, that was never going to happen, but some people still have fixed opinions of what they perceive opera to be. We believe this project will show just how robust and flexible an art form it is.”
Markets in everything
Jonathan Keats — a San Francisco-based experimental philosopher who has, over the years, sold real estate in the extra dimensions of space-time proposed by string theory (he sold a hundred and seventy-two extra-dimensional lots in the Bay Area in a single day) made an attempt to genetically engineer God.
That's from the March 15 New Yorker, p.23. You;ll find some confirmations of that claim here. His recent projects include pornography for plants and television for plants.