Friday, May 30. 2008
Threadless is a multi-million dollar, online community-based tshirt company. Users submit tshirt designs, vote on the designs, and based on the result, Threadless awards the designers then prints the designs and sells the shirts in their shop for around $20.
What makes this user-driven site so unique, is it was started by a couple of college drop outs, and last year the company earned over $30 million.
Inc.com has a full article.
Here's the remainder of the rejected capsules for this week. Look for more rejected capsules next Friday.
Continue reading "Rejected Capsules of the Week--Volume 1, No. 1, Part 2"
Thursday, May 29. 2008
The NASA/Dept of Energy-funded Vulcan Project released the most recent map of US carbon emissions. It shows that the bulk of our carbon footprint is in both the South- and Northeastern regions of the country, a surprise to scientists who couldn't believe how inaccurate previous emissions inventories had been.
Continue reading "How Big is Your Footprint?"
A coworker stopped in my office yesterday and asked me if I considered Michel Fournier a hero. He's the guy who made the headlines yesterday when what might have been his last ride to 130,000 feet took off without him. Had he (in his specially designed suit, helmet and parachute) been attached to the balloon, he would have been lifted to the stratosphere almost three-times higher than a commercial jetliner. To put it into perspective, according to foxnews.com "a mountain climber would have to ascend the equivalent of four Mount Everests stacked one on top of the other" to reach similar heights.
Continue reading "All Day, Baby! All Day!"
Wednesday, May 28. 2008
As promised, here's the first round of the rejected capsules of the week, Nos. 1-3. Expect the second half of the list (Nos. 4-6) later in the week.
Continue reading "Rejected Capsules of the Week--Vol. 1, No. 1, Part 1"
Tuesday, May 27. 2008
From racing aficionados to casual viewers who happened to catch this year’s Triple Crown races, Big Brown’s incredible athleticism as he outstripped the competition has captured the country’s imagination.
The Thoroughbred’s performance at the venerable Kentucky Derby, in which his powerful strides propelled him from the twentieth position to the head of the field, set tongues wagging, while an equally commanding display in the Preakness has racing fans agog over the prospect of seeing the first Triple Crown winner in thirty years.
The fact that Big Brown hails from a relatively unheralded bloodline has only fueled the media frenzy.
Continue reading "Horseplay"
Everyone in the publishing business knows the drill: Many ideas are thrown around during editorial meetings but only a select few actually make the cut for publication. My suggestions seem to have some sort of gravitational pull, making a habit of leaping into the reject pile and getting thrown by the wayside never again to see the light of day. Although getting the editorial heave-ho is increasingly grating week after week, there is an upside. So, whether you're interested or not, I'm using the blog to post my rejected Personal Finance capsule ideas. That way, it's still a win-win situation: Readers still get to hear from me, and my news scouring won't be completely in vain. And, hopefully, launching "The Rejected Capsules of the Week" won't influence the powers that be to give my story proposals the cold shoulder simply to appease this blogging venture.
Continue reading "A New Home for Cast-off Capsules"
Monday, May 26. 2008
Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge ruled Cambodia from 1975 to 1979. Classified as "one of the most lethal regimes of the 20th century," the communist party--seeking an agrarian utopia--was responsible for the murder of almost two million people through execution, starvation, torture and forced labor. The horror of the regime is summarized in its motto; "To keep you is no benefit. To destroy you is no loss." In 1999, the UN finally recommended a genocide tribunal which was ultimately established in 2006. But the tribunal has been "plagued over the past few years by political wrangling, corruption scandals and inadequate financing." So why the brief history lesson? As I follow the ongoing debacle of the UN-backed tribunal and its investigations, I find myself asking the question if it's possible to reach justice for such an atrocity almost 30 years after the fact. The surviving Khmer Rouge leaders are elderly and will likely die of old age before justice can be reached. Furthermore, what punishment can equal the crime?
Friday, May 23. 2008
Sky-high gasoline prices aren't just keeping airplanes grounded. With prices going up by as much as a penny a day in some areas, for the fist time since 2002 millions of Americans have decided to curtail their Memorial Day travel plans because of sky-high gas prices. But if you're still planning on traveling this weekend, watch out for bootleggers. 
The term "retirement job" sure sounds like an oxymoron, but it's become all the rage for recent baby boomer retirees. After all, the point of retirement isn't homogenous across the board: Not everyone wants to stop working altogether once they've retired. In fact, many people save their greatest passions for their retirement years because they'll have more time to spend doing what they love, without worrying about whether or not it will pay the bills. VocationVacation lets you dip your toes in to test the waters of your dream job before taking the big plunge. And it's not just for retirees. It's a great option for anyone seeking a new profession, including recent graduates just entering the full-time working world and those in need of a mid-life career change. VocationVacation offers a chance to turn passions into lucrative careers, regardless of whether you're just now leaving those responsibility-free college days behind or crossing the threshold from a lifelong career into retirement. Just think: If you could do anything for one day and potentially turn it into a career, what would it be? Sports announcer? Comedian? Artist? Photographer? Brewmaster?
Continue reading "Take Your Dream Job for a Test Drive"
Gas prices keeping you home this holiday weekend? You might be tempted to resort to your handy credit card as companies continue to offer seemingly unlimited credit. Even when George Soros cries “credit crisis” in his new book The New Paradigm for Financial Markets: The Credit Crash of 2008 and What It Means, people turn to their cards more than ever since higher prices make it hard to get not just what they want, but what they need. Will we see an end to our credit addiction if companies beckon us to charge ever higher? The recent documentary Maxed Out: Hard Times in the Age of Easy Credit illustrates how hard this addiction has taken hold in our culture.
The last in a list of policy changes eBay announced in January will finally be implemented Monday-and sellers aren't happy. eBay first rolled out a 21-day PayPal holding period for high-risk transitions, a new fee structure and a new algorithm for its "best match" feature. Now sellers will no longer be allowed to post negative feedback on buyers.
Continue reading "eBay Holding Sellers to Higher Standards"
This graphic tells at least some of the story about rising energy prices. Speculation has no doubt played some role, but the long-term story is about the emergence of Asia and other rapidly developing countries. 
While the financial media has covered the Federal Reserve's role in abetting and combating the woes afflicting our housing, mortgage and credit markets, I always get a kick out of following my favorite banking regulator, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC). What, you may ask, is the rationale behind my fascination with the OCC?
Continue reading "Lessons Learned"
Thursday, May 22. 2008
It's pretty simple: If the workers can't come here, then we'll go to them. The failed immigration reform last year resulted in increased undocumented-worker raids and fewer legal immigrant workers. So now, American farmers are bringing their farms to the workers.
Farming on rented land in Guanajuato, Baja California and other Mexican states is more profitable because there's a ready and cheap work force.
And wait, there's an added benefit. If they move to Mexico, there aren't any expensive environmental regulations. You don't have to buy air quality permits to burn fields in Mexico.
Continue reading "If You Can't Bring Mohammad to the Mountain…"
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