Million dollar home pages (selling each pixel for a dollar), Goggles for dogs, Antenna balls and designer diaper bags. Filed under the category “Huh. then seconds later – why didnt I think of that“?

Ever wonder who funds these people that do the useless reports that state the obvious?  I am wondering and the answer is we all do. Take for example:

• Sleep is good for you.
• People who eat more get obese
• How to make the perfect cup of tea

I mean really do you need research for that?

I remember the Seinfeld episode in which he makes fun of the researchers that invented seedless watermelon ( I personally am thankful for that BTW), but he asks a good question – “What kind of people work on this kind of stuff? Flunkies? Other people work on Aids, cancer research, but these guys (spits out an imaginary seed) they say this has to stop”.

The other extreme is the guys that do the research on the weird. If you remember USA Today always has their little survey box on front page with obviously ridiculous items:

• When adults in America shower do they soap their left hand first or the right – with a pie chart that has to have the “refused to disclose” at a small percentage at 7. I swear I am not making this up.
• How many people who eat fruit in the morning prefer their watermelon cut in squares versus wedges?
• Nytimes this morning: Happy people dont watch TV.

Now to be clear, I love data as much as Flowing data and its representations fascinate me, but dont you think this goes beyond the norm?

Great graphic from the NYTimes on car inventory in Long Beach port (near LA). Tells you that BMW is the closest to Just in time manufacturing as claimed by them in several articles. They are best managing the current downturn (in terms of inventory on hand).

So if you are in the market to buy a car, this is a great time to get an awesome deal. Inventory of any kind in excess is not good.

I was talking to a friend today about the difference between the willingness for Indians in India to take risks versus the ones in US to take risk. It is well known that there are several problems with the inability for Indian investors and entrepreneurs to take significant risks (which usually results in breakthrough returns). Most Indian entrepreneurs face different challenges than Americans OR even Indian entrepreneurs in America.

He boiled it down to one specific thing: Other People’s Money. Its a very powerful concept which I have not completely had the time to think through but the more that I think about it, the more it makes sense. I’d love any alternative opinions.

What does that mean?

He argues its easier to take large risks with other people’s money (which is the case in US) versus your own money and assets (which is the case in India).

Its well known that entrepreneurs in US look to get funding from VC’s to grow. So many entrepreneurs (who dont bootstrap) dont put their own money into their startup. They put sweat equity but not their own cash (most cases). You could argue its the same or more vaulable, but its not the same thing.

The Venture Capitalist does not put their own money in also, it comes from their Limited Partner.

The Limited partners (like pension funds, etc) dont put their own money in, its the money they are managing for retirees, investors.

So in some terms there is a fourth degree of separation between the money and its owner, who feels the pain when its “lost”.

In India however its your money or your own assets on the line(though that’s changing with more VC’s coming in), or from friends and family. You have an obligation to return their money with “interest” – its usually debt not equity.

When its your money or your collateralized assets, you tend to take less risk.

What do you think?

From Fox News.

“The media have spent twice as much money
traveling with the Obama campaign as with John McCain. The Politico
newspaper reports Federal Election Commission records from the time
they announced their candidacy through the end of September, show the
press spent $9.6 million on hitting the trail with the
Obama camp
versus $4.4 million on McCain’s.”

I love the numbers behind the election

1. US population is 301,139,947

2. # of people over 18 years of age (who can vote) is 227, 059, 520

3. Illegal & Legal immigrants who cannot vote 17,292,992

4. # of people that voted in this election is 136,393,939

5. % voter turnover is 59.9% (of people that can vote) and 64% of people that are eligible to vote

6. Obama: 62,945,655 (52%) and McCain 55,753,366 (46%) – this totals 118,699,021, with 7 states still counting according to CNN which will take the total to 136, 393,939

7. This is the highest voter turnout in 40+ years

The Merc reported (registration required) that circulation dropped 1.9% in the past year, but wait the silver lining – Its not as bad as the other guys. Yes, I said the same – whatever.

“As of Sept. 30, the
Mercury News beat the national average with a daily circulation of
224,199, down 1.9 percent from a year ago. About 1.1 million people
read the paper every week, along with about a million unique users
online, according to a new report.

For the same period, 507
daily newspapers reported a 4.6 percent average drop in daily
circulation, to 38.17 million, down from 40.02 million a year ago.”

“The Bay Area News Group —
which operates the Mercury News and Contra Costa Times — reported
711,309 in daily circulation, down 6.3 percent from the previous year.
The San Francisco Chronicle’s daily circulation dropped 7 percent, to
339,430; on Sundays, it dropped 7.4 percent, to 398,116.”

Great graphic from CNNFN on who pays what portion of the federal and local taxes across all income categories. File it under “I love data of all sorts” and their visualization.

Flush with cash and a booming 8% YoY growth-based economy, the festival of lights or Diwali has changed dramatically from the years I was a kid. The basics of celebration remain, but depending on who you speak to its either muted or redefined. So, how has it changed:

1. Fireworks: when we were kids “loudest” was a proud badge we had to own in our neighborhood. Everyone competed for the “bombs” that shattered even a small piece of glass. It was not the politically correct days. The runner up had to settle for the “longest” prize. Small, but bright dazzling displays were for “kids”.

These days every celebrity, kids on the street are going for the “clean, green” Diwali. Reduce noise pollution, smoke, and accidents that cause injuries and in some cases death. Its for the better, but the festivities are muted no doubt.

2. Sweets: Next to fireworks more money is spent on boxes of sweets that are both the norm of corporate and family gifting. Not any more. I mostly miss the very nicely decorated “regular sweets” like Cashew
cake, Almond cake that were “colored” and “dressed up” for the
occasion.

Thanks to increasing awareness of the ills of obesity, the corporate norm is changed to dried fruits & nuts – cashews, almonds, and the like. Again, this is another trend that’s for the better, is the philosophical view I take.

3. Clothes. The 3rd leg in the Diwali spend. New clothes were the norm. Most times in India, you’d get only 3 unique opportunities to get new clothes each year – your birthday, Diwali and back-to-school (which was mostly a uniform, so there). The new clothes I got at Diwali were proudly worn on weekends each time we went visiting friends and family. Very treasured, we’d spend an entire month selecting, re-selecting, getting them tailored and finally trying them out several times before they “fit” just right.

The new trend to buy clothes during a “40% off sale” makes buying new clothes for Diwali a quaint traditional experience. I do see many folks still shopping before the Diwali season, but the “Diwali sale” has been replaced by the “Year round sale”. This trend is clearly a borrowed one, so I am on the fence on this.

4. The rituals: Getting up in the morning at 4 am, followed by a hot shower and distribution of sweets to everyone near your home was a very traditional experience. In fact we’d fight over who got up earlier “I got up at 345, atleast 15 min before you” or “I am not going to sleep all night so I can get the fireworks started earlier”.

The new norm is “sleep in”, spend a little time with the family, get some breakfast and get some rest from the daily commute. I dont get this trend, but hey its changed so you gotta keep up with the times.

5. Decorating your home: It was the Indian equivalent of “spring cleaning”. You’d buy new furniture, clean the home (most cases repaint it), throw away old books, magazines (or actually recycle them) and make way for one new piece of furniture every year. Just a month before Diwali the hectic pace of activity would be overwhelming. My mom would actually get no time for anything else since she was busy getting everything “ready for Diwali”.

This has changed in a more subtle way – you can see the hesitation this year more profoundly with the question marks around the economy. New purchases are being put off, corporate gifting has taken a hit and the “home cleaning” bit has waned off.

So if you are in America, and want to relate to this, think of a Christmas without gifts, without the trip back home to meet friends and family, no Christmas tree to decorate and no lights to put up. Its probably for the better – fewer Christmas trees get felled, we reduce our “consumption” and reduce our usage of gasoline (since we dont drive to meet friends, family), but it would be very different wont it?

If you celebrate Diwali, a very happy & safe Diwali to you. Look around, there are a lot more things that have changed with Diwali than when you were a kid. What’s the biggest change you see?