Making it easier to access pistols and knives is the latest trend in fashion reports Matt Richtel:

• The rise of laws more conducive to concealed guns has led to a new line of clothing that helps people to better conceal the weapons they are carrying.
• In contrast to the previous look that included camouflage markings similar to those used by the military, the more recent trend is for normal looking clothes to have compartments that can hide weapons.
• Some innovations include a vest where the gun owner can pretend to warm their hands in their pockets but in reality grip onto a firearm in high-tension situations.
• Under Armour has developed a line of weapon-concealing vests that wick moisture away, ensuring that there’s no danger of rust building on the guns.
• Wearers of this fashion say that it maximizes uncertainty – those with ill intentions can never know if the people around them are armed if they look to be sporting common clothing.

To read more and find links where you can buy some of this clothing, what science has to say about “maximum uncertainty”, why you should dress for the weapon and not for fashion, what makes Illinois an exception, and what some of the other clothing innovations are, click here.

Source: New York Times

Via: Marginal Revolution

Students at University of California, Riverside, have thought of an innovative way to deal with the problem of rising tuitions reports The Economist: charge students for their education rather than their parents. Highlights of the plan include:

• Under their plan public universities would offer free education in return for a contractual agreement by the students to pay 5% of their salary for the first 20 years to the university.
• This would put the university at more risk since its revenue stream would be more uncertain although the students believe that it would double the amount of money coming into the system.
• This would mean that higher-income students would subsidize lower-income ones through their future earnings. However the current system already has higher-income parents subsidize lower income ones.
• This might encourage universities to drive resources towards higher income disciplines and away from those such as philosophy.
• Another concern is that if the policy is not implemented across all universities then those who know they’ll have high salaries will have an incentive to go to universities that charge an up-front tuition, leaving the low-income students to study at the universities that require bond agreements.

To read more about how why this system might be more equitable, but also ways that it might not be, how our idyllic vision of university doesn’t really exist, and the numbers that demonstrate just how concerning the tuition problem has become click here.

Source: The Economist

Via: Freakonomics

From the days of hyperinflation that saw the distribution of 100 trillion dollar bills that weren’t enough to buy a loaf of bread, Zimbabwe has come a long way. Crucial to its economic recovery was its decision to peg its currency to the US dollar. However this has led to its own problems writes Lydia Polgreen:

• In Zimbabwe $1 goes a really long way, and most purchases require change in nickels, dimes, quarters, and pennies.
• However while it’s relatively easy to ship US dollar bills across from the United States, it’s too difficult to send over coins which are heavy.
• Other countries deal with this by minting their own coins and promising that their coins are worth the same value in the pegged currency. However after Zimbabwe’s experience with hyper-inflation during which the life-savings of many people were wiped out, nobody trusts money issued by Zimbabwe’s government.
• Some have resorted to using South African coins but even those are in short supply and the fact that its value fluctuates relative to the US dollar makes it difficult to determine how much each South African coin is worth in US currency.
• A barter economy of sorts has risen where cashiers sell thing such as 5 cent aspirins to make up full dollar amounts so that coins don’t have to be given out.

To read other creative ways that people have dealt with the problem, as well as why $2 bills are popular, why some $1 bills have turned black, what the American Federal Reserve has to say about the problem, why Zimbabweans approach the problem with humour, and the examples of various people affected by the problem click here.

Source: New York Times

Via: Marginal Revolution

10% of America’s workforce now regularly works from home write Nicholas Bloom, James Liang, John Roberts and Zhichun Jenny Ying. What effect does this have on productivity? Their research suggestes:

• Over a 9 month period there was a 12% increase in performance for those who opted to work from home.
• 8.5% of that was due to people working more minutes because they took fewer breaks and fewer sick days.
• 3.5% of that performance boost was due to more productive use of time, likely due to a quieter environment.
• Those who worked from home also reported higher job satisfaction, and their attrition rate fell by 50%.
• There were no negative consequences for those left over in the office.

To read the entire report, its methodology, some more conclusions, some limitations of the study, and what this might mean for businesses, click here.

Source: Stanford (.pdf)

Via: Chris Blattman

Morgan Housel produced a list of 50 amazing numbers about the economy. Some of them include:

• The unemployed lose the ability to read over time.
• Adjusted for inflation, the $6 billion predicted to be spent in the 2012 elections will be 60% more than the amount spent in the 2000 elections.
• China’s growth is the equivalent of a Greece every three months.
• For every dollar that newspapers make through digital advertising, they lose $7 in print advertising.
• The end of the housing bubble annihilated wealth equivalent to half of inflation adjusted America of just 60 years ago.
• Those older than 60 in America owe $36 billion in student loans.
• Americans spend 1.8% of their income on alcohol and tobacco. In the UK it’s almost three times that.
• 5% of Americans account for 50% of health care costs.
• Five companies (Apple, Microsoft, Cisco, Google, Pfizer) hold almost 25% of all corporate cash.
• 88% of non-farm jobs created since 2009 have gone to men. 41% of men say that the economy has improved while only 26% of women do.

To read the rest of what is a fascinating list, click here.

Source: The Motley Fool

Via: Boston

Doug Saunders described Ikea’s latest business initiative: a push into urban community planning.

• The business best known for furniture is building a centrally planned neighbourhood in East London called Strand East.
• Strand East will have a sophisticated public transport system and most of the main streets will be free of cars to encourage people to walk. Garages hidden underneath the neighbourhood’s buildings will hold most of the automobiles.
• The neighbourhood will contain 1,200 homes and apartments, and 40% of them will be family sized. This will give it a higher proportion of children than most urban centers.
• There will be no Ikea store in the neighbourhood.
• Strand East will be fully owned by Ikea and residents will only be able to rent their apartments. Ikea is doing this because they see this as a long-term investment and a way to build upon their cash reserves. However they will maintain a tight grip on “undesirable activity.”
• Ikea is hoping to build a community and will deliver an events calendar to the residents to let them know of things such as farmer’s markets.

To read more about how being in the city would feel like being in an Ikea store, how this could help Britain’s dire housing shortages, the benefits and drawbacks of living in a neighbourhood where everybody is a renter, and how this deals with a problem common in East London, click here.

Source: Doug Sanders

Via: Chris Blattman

In light of the release of Sacha Baron Cohen latest film, The Dictator, Helier Cheung took a look at some real life autocrats whose eccentricities have come to define their reign. They include:

• Emperor Caligula of Rome
  • His love of race horses led him to give his favourite horse an army of slaves who served the horse wine in golden goblets.
  • His troops were ordered to collect sea shells during a fight against the British.
• Francois Duvalier of Haiti
  • He believed that voodoo spirits guarded him on the 22^nd of every month and refused to leave his palace on any other day.
  • He believed that a voodoo curse he placed on US President John F. Kennedy led to his assassination on the 22^nd of November.
  • He banned the boy scouts.
  • Some reports suggest he killed all black dogs in Haiti.
• Saparmurat Niyazov of Turkmenistan
  • The 150m tall gold statue that he had built of himself was made to revolve so that it always faced the sun.
  • He named the month of January and a meteorite after himself.
  • He had an ice palace built in the capital.
• Kim Jong-il of North Korea
  • State media reports that he scored a perfect 300 the first time he bowled, and had five holes-in-one the first time he golfed.
  • His fear of flying meant that he travelled by train. He had live lobsters air-lifted to the train every day.
  • He loved movies so much that he kidnapped a South Korean film director and forced him to make films for the “Dear Leader”

   

To read why these men acted in these ways as well as more examples and other details, including the King of Scotland, the lake in the middle of a desert, and the double rainbow that appeared in the sky when one was born click here.

Source: BBC