And I Thought It Was The Heavy Food- October 23, 2004 Edward Prescott, co-winner of the 2004 Nobel Prize in Economics, asks: Why do Americans work so much more than Europeans&8230; Here&39;s a startling fact: Based on labor market statistics from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, Americans aged 15-64, on a per-person basis, work 50% more than the French. Comparisons between Americans and Germans or Italians are similar. What&39;s going on here What can possibly account for these large differences in labor supply The answer.http://www.avocare.net/archives/001619.html Mr. Saigon- October 19, 2004 My friend and colleague Jeff Grimshaw has just completed a trip to Vietnam, working to help local orphanages&8212;including the one from which he received his stunning daughter Anna several years ago. What he saw and experienced is moving &8230; and online via a Flickr photostream he&39;s created. Click the pic and check it out....http://www.avocare.net/archives/001618.html Did Somebody Step On A Duck- October 18, 2004 Esquire has a nice, and free, &8220;What I&39;ve Learned&8221; from the late (and great) Rodney Dangerfield. He didn&39;t have an easy life, and in the face of it his humor was remarkable. Among the gems is this account of how a legend was born: I started over again with an image: &8220;Nothing goes right.&8221; Then when The Godfather came out, all I heard was, &8220;Show respect. With me, you show respect.&8221; So I changed the image to &8220;I don&39;t get no respect.&8221; I tried it out...http://www.avocare.net/archives/001617.html Freakish Debunkment- October 17, 2004 The truth about Ozzy&39;s bat, Rod&39;s stomach, Mama&39;s ham sandwich, and more &8230;...http://www.avocare.net/archives/001616.html Oil May Float, But It Sinks Airlines- October 17, 2004 From WSJ online: Greenspan warned that a further increase in crude-oil prices could risk &8220;more serious negative consequences&8221; for the economy. U.S. retail sales surged 1.5% in September but consumer sentiment soured in October. Producer prices rose 0.1%.Keep an eye on oil (current spot prices here) &8230; if the rise continues you can expect two &8220;serious negative consequences&8221;&8212;US Airways will be out of business, and Delta will declare bankruptcy....http://www.avocare.net/archives/001615.html Send Me Mail And Tell Me Why Your Opponent Sucks ... Please- October 17, 2004 Living in a &8220;swing state,&8221; our house is being spammed with a heavy, daily dose of political direct mail. Most of them are from the Dems (which is actually a bit of a surprise to me, given that I thought Karl Rove had made direct mail the province of Republicans), and most of them are ridiculously simple-minded and insulting. But again, it&39;s like advertisers say: If you hate or don&39;t get an ad, it wasn&39;t meant for you. Regardless, I figured: when you have a surplus, share the..http://www.avocare.net/archives/001614.html Don't Talk To Me- October 17, 2004 Spending as much time on airplanes as I do, I particularly enjoyed this MSNBC article on how to avoid talkative seatmates (via FARK). I&39;m a big fan of the Headphone Strategy myself &8230; although I thought this was interesting (if a bit strange): Robert Salmon of Chevy Chase sends a different kind of message. Whenever he flies on Southwest Airlines, Salmon dons on a surgical mask in the boarding area. It&8217;s not that he has a breathing disorder or an infectious disease. Since Southwest...http://www.avocare.net/archives/001613.html Jib Jab, V 2.0- October 9, 2004 It&39;s good to be in D.C.!....http://www.avocare.net/archives/001612.html Keep Or Kill- October 9, 2004 I&39;m struggling with whether I should keep Avocare online &8230; my posting is so infrequent, and I&39;m so involved in other stuff. Keep Kill Kill Keep Thoughts...http://www.avocare.net/archives/001610.html |