US Customs Regulating Bad Taste

In another Techdirt post today, a man was fined $53,ooo for bringing back a few fake rolexes from China for family gifts. Techdirt questions whether this is the best use of Customs’ power. Shouldn’t Customs worry about the wholesaler sellers, not buyers of a few rolexes. I say Customs shouldn’t discriminate on the designer goods’ authenticity and instead fine those who enter our country wearing designer (faux or real) goods who look tacky. Bad taste is an epidemic, and Customs should be our first line of fashion police. For our second line of defense, INS (aka ICE) should deport the fashionably challenged–watch out Britney (and my father).

That Fake Rolex You Buy In China May Cost You More Than The Real Thing

I Join Business Week’s Elite Circle of $1 CEOs

Today I join the Elite Club of CEOs who only take home a dollar in in
pay a year (or less). I announce to the world that as CEO of Better
than a Wooden Nickel, I will only get paid one virtual wooden nickel
all year. I have decided to link my future with the future of the
website. Don’t worry about me.

Full disclosure: If I get a wooden nickel every year from now on, I
will have over 40 wooden nickels by the time my natural life ends.
That is over two wooden dollars worth.

For a take on other CEOs who follow my path of putting the company
first, check out this Business Week article. Basically, it says that some CEOs play all humble with the 1 dollar position but get tons of stock options, that they then backdate. Steve Jobs, who is one of the eminent 1 dollar CEOs, got a least one free ipod last year, and I bet he didn’t pay taxes on it.

Slate article on why bubbles are good for the economy

Slate (my favorite mainstream internet site) posted an article on how bubbles (internet, housing, gum) are in total good for the economy. I recommend you check it out but don’t be stupid enough to invest in a bubble even if it benefits America as a whole:

slate article

But this is only half the story! After all, the process of growth and innovation doesn’t end when a bubble bursts. The Internet wasn’t unplugged and shut down in 2002. In fact, once you gain a little historical distance from bubbles, it is clear that some bubbles—some, not all—leave behind something that is a little bit boring but extremely useful: infrastructure. The bubbles that have left behind commercial infrastructure have been incredibly important contributors to America’s remarkable long-term economic performance.

I want one of the new Pioneer Plasmas

Despite lesser numbers (black levels, contrast, brightness), Pioneer plasmas are the considered the best because the screen looks the best. The latest models are supposed to be even better, and of course I have to get one. I have an industrial Panasonic plasma (for now). Gizmodo says:

The best of the model line includes a 60 and 50 inch 1080p display, with the 20,000:1 contrast ratio, “Digital Colour Filter III Plus” for the “most accurate colour reproduction in commercially available flat screen TVs” and a street date of September.

link

If the Plasma looks good in the shithole below, imagine how good the TV would look in your palace.

Subway systems compared

This link compares the relative extent of subway systems over the world. What would be even more interesting would be a comparison of which subway system stinks the most. I have transited on many of these subways, and plan on hitting the rest of them before I expire.

http://www.fakeisthenewreal.org/subway/

A couple of interesting ones that I have been on although the scale of the Paris one seems off, although it is purported to scale.

New York

DC

Paris

Seoul