Cold-brewed coffee is supposed to be very good. It can also be served hot.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/27/dining/276drex.html?em&ex=1183262400&en=c257dd9ce443c3e2&ei=5070
Know any place in Norman that serves it? Although I suppose I could try making it at home ...
Losing the manufacturing edge
When you buy a $30 shirt in a department store, the majority of the cost (I've always believed) benefits the American economy because the actual cost of the shirt (raw materials and labor) is only about $5 to manufacture. The rest of the value is captured here.
This story about the breakdown of the costs of an iPod made me rethink my sang-froid.
I would imagine that much of the "unaccounted-for parts and labor costs" is Chinese. So which countries' economies benefit from an iPod sold in the US? The technical knowhow and design are American (54%) and Japanese (9%). Yet, Chinese manufacturers receive about 37% of the benefit.
Don't tell me that American competitiveness is not reduced when a product designed in the US has to be produced at a 37% cost.
This story about the breakdown of the costs of an iPod made me rethink my sang-froid.
$163 of the iPod's $299 retail value in the United States was captured by American companies and workers, breaking it down to $75 for distribution and retail costs, $80 to Apple, and $8 to various domestic component makers. Japan contributed about $26 to the value added [...] The unaccounted-for parts and labor costs involved in making the iPod came to about $110.
I would imagine that much of the "unaccounted-for parts and labor costs" is Chinese. So which countries' economies benefit from an iPod sold in the US? The technical knowhow and design are American (54%) and Japanese (9%). Yet, Chinese manufacturers receive about 37% of the benefit.
Don't tell me that American competitiveness is not reduced when a product designed in the US has to be produced at a 37% cost.
Second worst job in science
Popular science magazine has an article on the ten worst jobs in science. While you can read most of the article for laughs, the second worst job, that of an oceanographer "Nothing but bad news", is quite sobering:
Scientists estimate that overfishing will end wild- seafood harvests by 2048 and that Earth's coral reefs will be rubble within decades. About 200 deoxygenated "dead zones" dot the world's coasts, up from 149 in 2004. Meanwhile, a vortex of plastic the size of Texas clogs the North Pacific, choking fish and birds; construction is destroying coastal habitats; and countless key marine species are nearly extinct. To top it all off, if global warming goes the way scientists predict, the uptick of carbon dioxide levels in the seas will acidify the water until little more than jellyfish can live there. With so much going on, there's plenty of work for oceangoing scientists—if they can stomach bad news.
Find the odd one out
We spent the weekend driving up north and east to Chicago. Just past the Oklahoma-Missouri border, we saw a sign for the George Washington Carver National Monument and took the exit -- with two kids in tow, this was a welcome diversion. The monument is at the site of his childhood home: secluded, wooded but stil a farm. Very much a scene of the Ozarks. It's easy to recognize how such a childhood would prepare him for a lifetime of botanical research. With our luck, we happened to visit on the very weekend that a temporary trailer was being closed down and the exhibits moved to their permanent home. But the mile-long trail through the woods was great.
The five-year old was very impressed, but mostly with the name. "Now I know four Georges," he informed us as we were driving back from the monument. George Washington who is our first president. George Bush who is our president now. And George Washington Carver . And George the Monkey.
The five-year old was very impressed, but mostly with the name. "Now I know four Georges," he informed us as we were driving back from the monument. George Washington who is our first president. George Bush who is our president now. And George Washington Carver . And George the Monkey.
Dancing guests
Usually, guests at a wedding have to be coaxed onto a dance floor. But not at the wedding we attended on Saturday.
The groom teaches ballroom dancing a couple evenings a week, and many of his dancing buddies were there. The newly weds started their first dance and halfway through that first dance, a dozen guests were already on the dance floor.
The rest of us were intimidated enough to keep our seats.
The groom teaches ballroom dancing a couple evenings a week, and many of his dancing buddies were there. The newly weds started their first dance and halfway through that first dance, a dozen guests were already on the dance floor.
The rest of us were intimidated enough to keep our seats.
What's worse?
Lost in the hullabaloo about whether the president's watch was stolen or not is that, from an Albanian's point of view, both explanations are quite embarrassing.
(1) Someone in the adoring Albanian crowd steals the President's watch
(2) The President finds the adoring Albanian crowd so suspicious-looking that he pockets his watch before wading in
(1) Someone in the adoring Albanian crowd steals the President's watch
(2) The President finds the adoring Albanian crowd so suspicious-looking that he pockets his watch before wading in
Eris could not clear out its neighborhood
Now that the Kuiper belt object that caused Pluto to get booted out has been named ("Eris", after a goddess who caused a ruckus amongst the Olympians), you may find it poignant to go back and read the requiem written by Michael Brown, its discoverer soon after the astronomers' decision about Pluto. He does support the decision even though that meant he didn't get his name in the history books as the discoverer of the 10th planet.
Incidentally, his explanation about "a planet clearing out the neighborhood" helped me conceptualize one way to identify local maxima in radar images. This technique is now used to identify storms so as to optimize scan strategy [long PDF] within the CASA radar network. It's amazing how totally random an idea's origins can be, with a phrase triggering all sorts of associations.
Incidentally, his explanation about "a planet clearing out the neighborhood" helped me conceptualize one way to identify local maxima in radar images. This technique is now used to identify storms so as to optimize scan strategy [long PDF] within the CASA radar network. It's amazing how totally random an idea's origins can be, with a phrase triggering all sorts of associations.
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