Beef's raw edges: As the U.S. beef industry became 2x as concentrated vs. Teddy Rossevelt's times (Now 87% of heifers and steers are slaughted by the big four packers), the risk of contamination runs higher: the increasing demand forces firms to bring the meat to market sooner, which causes a change in animal feeding practices and in turns makes the meat tougher. To tenderize the meat, the industry increasingly utilizes the "blading" or "needling technique (hollow needles penetrated into meat fiber to inject flavoring and antibiotics) which (1) increases cross-contamination as the needle is continuously used and (2) pushes pathogen into the center of the meat. According to the 2011 Food Protection article, even 160 degrees on a gas grill might not kill all E. Coli bacteria in such beef. [Note: a bonanza hidden with danger. I will have my steak well-done please]...Source: http://www.kansascity.com/2012/12/06/v-project_one/3951690/beefs-raw-edges.html
Pop goes the art bubble: The scholar Michael Moses, now retired from the NYU business school, has spent years building an index that tracks the prices of artworks sold at major auctions—of the art, that is, already on top of the heap. (Auction houses won’t even accept lesser works, which include most art that gets made.) And Moses points out that, over the long run and on average, even this high-end art tends be a worse investment than equities, however well some of it has done over the past year or two. His index tracks single works that have come up for auction a second time, and of those “sale pairs,” about one third actually represent a drop. In the long run, Moses says, the fancy, flashy treasures whose sales the auctioneers trumpet most loudly don’t yield the best returns.
Moses points out that to match a normal 10-year stock-market return, today’s $80 million Rothko would have to soar to an unlikely $160 million. [Note: I never understood how art is valued; might have something to do with my poorness and ignorance]...Source: http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2012/12/09/blake-gopnik-pop-goes-the-art-bubble.html
Meet Magnus Calrsen, the 22-year-old Norwegian set to be the highest-rated Chess player: Now just 3 points below Garry Kasparov, Magnus is the son of an Exxon engineer and taught himself chess at the age of 8. He embraces chess as a play and believes it's meant to be fun, but also relishes battle on the chess-board and sees chess as a combat-sport. [Note: the supportive environment, the absence of dogma and even overweening ambition have let him follow where his attention pleasurably leads him.]...Source: http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/2/2164608e-3ed2-11e2-87bc-00144feabdc0.html#axzz2FEfRQdLC
Basketball Isn’t a Sport. It’s a Statistical Network: like what Billy Beane did for Oakland A's. This time around the technique is via network analysis that seeks patterns in typical paths of balls-passing to a successful score. The limited data suggested a possible relationship between quick, unpredictable ball movement and success in games. [Note: much work remains to be done beyond the 16 games the researcher sampled, also basketball is much more a star-oriented sport. But I applaud their efforts]...Source: http://www.wired.com/playbook/2012/12/basketball-network-analysis/all/1
The difference between persuading and convincing: Marketers don’t convince. Engineers convince. Marketers persuade. Persuasion appeals to the emotions and to fear and to the imagination. Convincing requires a spreadsheet or some other rational device. It’s much easier to persuade someone if they’re already convinced, if they already know the facts. But it’s impossible to change someone’s mind merely by convincing them of your point. Source: http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2012/11/persuade-vs-convince.html
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