Launder your money. One could argue it’s your civic duty according to a research paper:

• A standard American currency bill lasts anywhere between three and fifteen years depending on its denomination.
• Oils from human skin build up on the bills and eventually turn them yellow.
• Central banks print out new bills to replace 150 billion old bank notes every year.
• 150,000 tons of bills have to be shredded.
• All of this costs $10 billion.
• However the bank notes can be cleaned fairly easily, without harming the bill’s security features such as holograms by “superciritcal” CO₂ – saving the economy billions.

Read more about the study here.

Source: ACS

John McDuling writes that 2014 could be a tough year for Netflix:

• A-la-carts movie services where people pay to stream individual movies have a much wider selection than Netflix.
• Netflix is responding to this by producing its own original content, and may even produce its own movie. However original content is a risks business.
• The company’s share price surged in 2014 and this may mean that film studios try to charge more for the rights to stream their films.
• Its growth prospects overseas are limited. It has spread to most of the English-speaking world, and many countries don’t have fast enough broadband internet connections.
• Netflix does appear to be trying to milk its existing users for more revenue by taking steps like cracking down on freeloaders.

Read more about why Netflix abandoned its “poison-pill” defense, what celebrity investor Carl Icahn has done, and more over here.

Source: Quartz

The Economist applied its lens to the AK-47:

• About 10% of all firearms in the world are AK-47s.
• The gun is so popular that “Kalash” is a common name for boys in parts of Africa.
• It is popular because of its supply chains. The Soviet Union wanted to standardize military equipment among its allies and supplied the guns and built factories in various countries to churn out the rifles. They flood the markets today.
• Due to its ubiquitous supply and usage it’s also easy to find ammunition for it.
• It isn’t a particularly good gun. Its features mean that it has low accuracy. However those very same features mean that it is unlikely to jam in a variety of conditions including in the desert or muddy marshes.
• It was designed to be used by Soviet soldiers wearing thick winter gloves – meaning that even children can use them.
• In Lebanon a version of the gun labelled “Bin Laden” sells for twice the normal price of an AK-47 because it’s the version that Al-Qaeda’s former boss is seen carrying in his videos.

Read more about the gun, its history, and the country that pays homage to it on its flag over here.

Source: The Economist

Unlike current western conceptualizations of the netherworld, Viking hell was thought to be cold not hot. The Polar Vortex sweeping across the United States has caused at least some of our staff to think that they may well have had a point. Steve Goldstein wrote about what this means for the American economy:

• Cold weather leads to increased sales of winter apparel.
• However this is offset by the decrease in other types of economic activity such as construction.
• Overall for every 100 degree Fahrenheit deviation between 65 degrees and the average temperature on a given day, GDP decreases by roughly 0.4%.
• The weather in January could cause a 0.5% drop.

Read more about America’s relatively good hurricane season and more over here.

Source: The Wall Street Journal

Pagan Kennedy took a look at the history of t-shirts:

• T-shirts were originally marketed as a form of underwear for bachelors that required no “safety pins” “buttons” “needle” or “thread”.
• The US Navy saw its convenience and required sailors to wear such undershirts – introducing the comfort of them to a generation of men.
• They were still mostly seen as underwear though. So much so that in Havana it was illegal to go out in public wearing them.
• By the 1940s t-shirts had become a standard part of outer-wear and were being customized by teenagers.
• These days some t-shirts have become a collector’s item that can auction for as much as $1,500.

Find out which famous author is credited with coining the term “t-shirt”, how the size of t-shirts has changed over the years, and more over here.

Source: The New York Times

Via: ManMade

The Economist took a look at why renewable energy is so often more expensive than forms of energy that cause more pollution:

• Renewable energy technology has only really been developed since the 1970s, meaning that its still in its infancy.
• There isn’t much competition in the infant industry to create competition and bring prices down.
• Renewable energy sources have their own inherent costs to them. Wind farms have to be built far from population centers on hilly areas or in the ocean. Connecting them to the grid over such vast distances is expensive.
• They also only produce energy for parts of the day, so traditional energy generating systems have to be maintained at the same time as renewables.

Read more over here.

Source: The Economist

Rebecca Byerly took a look at doping in India:

• Since 2009 nearly 500 Indians have tested positive for banned substances – more than any other country.
• This is in part due to the coaches. They dope junior athletes while they’re young and impressionable for better results.
• India’s culture of respect for elders and authority figures such as coaches exacerbates the problems by making young athletes more likely to take substances provided to them.
• The coaches themselves often come from members of the former Soviet Union where doping is rampant. Russia had the second largest number of athletes suspended for doping since 2009.
• India also has high tariffs on legal supplements such as protein shakes which can cost up to $150 a month. Steroids on the other hand cost as little as $5.
• There is also a lot of pressure on athletes from poor rural states to perform. Success means a government job which provides financial security for the family.

Read more about the problem, the role that India’s pharmaceuticals industry plays, the poor state of sporting facilities, and what Indian athletes have to say about it over here.

Source: The New York Times

Via: Quartz

Roberto A. Ferdman looked at the shift in Rovio’s strategy – the maker of Angry Birds:

• Rovio’s latest app, Angry Birds Go! was launched as a free app – the first in the company’s history.
• Rovio currently makes about $200 million in licensing agreements – 30% more from last year, and the company seems to have decided that this is where future profits lie.
• By making its apps free the company is hoping to reach a wider audience and build a bigger market for its merchandise.
• It is also planning to license the world’s largest Angry Birds theme park.

Read more here.

Source: Quartz