Centives

Jeb Boniakowski wants to build a McWorld in Times Square. Here’s what it would look like:

• The McWorld would have all of the items that McDonald’s serves across all locations all over the world. You can see some of the more interesting items over here. They include the McSpicy Paneer, McBeer, and McRice pictured above.
• One section of McWorld would be revamped every month to look like a McDonald’s in some other country with all its local customs. Germany’s McDonald’s charges for condiment packets and in Hong Kong, McDonald’s hosts weddings. You could get those experiences in McWorld.
• This section might also sometimes show what a typical McDonald’s of the past looked like.
• Discontinued menu items could be bought at McWorld. These would include chocolate stick french fries and McPizzas.
• A McDonald’s labs would invite celebrity chefs to make their own dishes using basic McDonald’s ingredients like chicken nuggets and french fries.

Read more about the Cloud Atlas inspired look that it would have and other features of the proposed McWorld over here.

Source: The AWL

Via: Kottke

When it comes to picking between Batman and Iron Man the US military has a clear favourite, writes Sharon Weinberger: the Caped Crusader is the future.

• Defense Contractors attempted to capitalize on the release of the first Iron Man movie by designing Tony Stark-like exoskeleton suits.
• However they require power cords attached to external batteries, severely constraining the use of the suits.
• Instead the military is now focusing on augmenting a soldier’s natural strength through the use of something similar to the Batsuit.
• This suit is worn under the soldier’s clothes and is powered by rechargeable batteries embedded in the suit.
• Musculoskeletal injuries are one of the leading causes of disability in the US army and this new suit would mitigate that problem.

Read more about Stark’s secret, DARPAs batsuit requirements, and early designs of an Iron Man suit that failed over here.

Source: BBC

Centives has previously reported on a group of billionaires who have chosen to use their money to mine asteroids rather than form a secret society with a tacky name such as “League of Evil” which plans to take over the world. (Although comic books haven’t totally misled us – these individuals are at least a little evil.) Matt Smith writes that now they have competition:

• Deep Space Industries wants to send a fleet of “fireflies” to prospect asteroids for minerals, and then later send “dragonflies” to mine them and return to earth.
• Scientists point out that this is unlikely to be cost effective since it costs billions of dollars to bring a few grams of matter back to earth – and gold prices haven’t become that high yet.
• Deep Space Industries responds that by piggy-backing off other space launches, they’ll cut down on the cost of fuel and make things more cost-effective.
• Ultimately the hope is to pioneer technology that could let humans set up a permanent base in space – and mine materials from the surrounding systems to sustain themselves.

Read more about the effort over here.

Source: CNN

The everyday life of Americans is affected by the on-goings in a few key states writes Cracked. Here are some highlights from their article:

• Ohio controls the fast-food you eat. Because its demographics match those of the rest of the United States, and because it’s a college town that uses social media, fast food companies test their products in Columbus, Ohio before deciding if they want to launch them nationally.
• Texas controls the schools. Since Texas demands the most textbooks, textbook companies write their textbooks with Texan requirements in mind. Other states then buy those same books since it’d be too expensive to commission books that meet their own requirements.
• South Dakota and Delaware house all the credit card companies. These two states passed legislation that allowed banks to charge whatever interest rate they wanted. By putting their headquarters there the banks were able to set rates across the country.

Check out the full list over here to see how New Jersey determines what your food tastes like and why Utah produces vitamins.

Source: Cracked

Nobody really reads books these days writes Kevin Kelly. Perhaps authors should pay the people who do. Here’s how it would work:

• Individuals would pay to buy the book on an e-reading device.
• The e-reading device would use algorithms to figure out if you actually read the book. If you do read it, then you’ll be paid back the price of the book, plus a little extra for reading it.
• This would likely incentivize people to buy books because they know that it is possible that it will be free. But few people will actually read the book.
• Authors win since they have higher book sales. Readers win since they get free books.

Read more over here.

Source: The Technium

Via: Marginal Revolution

Barack Obama will be sworn in for a second term today. Here are some interesting facts about the event from around the web:

• At the swearing in ceremony Obama will be using a Bible used by Abraham Lincoln resting on top of a Bible used by Martin Luther King Jr. This is to mark the 150th anniversary of Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation and the 50th anniversary of MLK’s March on Washington. (Yahoo News)
• Yesterday there was a dress rehearsal for the event. Military officers stood in for both the President and the First Lady. (Time)
• Wireless carriers are encouraging inauguration attendants to text their friends instead of using data heavy services such as phone calls or Facebook. Just in case they choose not to heed this advice the carriers have installed temporary mobile units to try to cope with the demands on their network (Washington Times)
• According to one interpretation of the constitution, yesterday America had a President Joe Biden for a few hours. (Josh Blackman)
• Guests aren’t sure what to wear for the event. (Wall Street Journal).

Parents who work hard so that they have the money to send their children to a good college should pause and think according to a study reported on by Scott Jaschik:

• According to the study, the greater the financial support that students received from their parents, the lower their grades were.
• This was especially true of students at expensive out-of-state private colleges.
• However parental support isn’t all bad. Those students who received it were more likely to graduate – probably because the students who have to pay for their own college might have to drop out if they lose their job.
• Parents communicating their expectations to their children seems to mitigate the problem of low grades.

Read more about the study, its findings, and its methodology over here.

Source: Inside Higher Ed

Andrew Sielen put together an exhaustive analysis of the price of Lego sets over the years. Here are some highlights from his findings:

• Contrary to popular perception the price of Lego has decreased over time.
• We might think that Lego has become more expensive because while the average price per Lego piece has gone down, the number of Lego pieces in a set has gone up, meaning more expensive sets overall.
• These new, more complex Lego sets are marketed to an older crowd who have deeper pockets and more of an interest in difficult projects.
• Lego has also increased the number of sets it produces in a year. Retailers can only have so many Lego products on their shelves and they may be choosing to only stock the most expensive ones – thus contributing to the perception that the price of Lego has increased.
• We might also think that Lego sets are now more expensive because when we were kids we never truly appreciated how much they cost.

Read much more over here. Sielen goes through the price per gram, the price of signature Lego sets, and presents a bunch of fascinating graphs.

Source: Reality Prose

Claire Suddath went over a study that looked at the effects of the CEO of a company having a child. Highlights include:

• Employees of a company see their salaries go down when their CEO has a child.
• This money ends up going to the CEOs…who award themselves larger salaries after the birth of a child – presumably to better take care of their family.
• The wages of male employees go down by a greater percentage than those of female employees when the CEO has a son. This might be because the CEO has a new respect for motherhood.
• When the CEO has a daughter the wages of male employees go down but the wages of female employees actually go up.

Read more about what happens with the birth of multiple children, and how this might apply to the United States over here.

Source: Business Week

Via: Marginal Revolution

Ten years ago Americans drank half a liter of sodas like Coke and Sprite every day writes Derek Thompson. Since then though a drink that can be just as sugary but without the association with adolescence has become the American drink of choice:

• In 2003 Americans spent $4 on soda for every $1 that they spend on coffee.
• Since then soda revenue has fallen 40% while coffee revenue has increased 50%.
• This may be because sodas have become linked with bad health while coffee has no such stigma attached.
• Bottled water, sports drinks, and energy drinks have also benefited from soda’s association with bad health.
• There has been a rise of coffee culture as evidenced by the spread of chains such as Starbucks. Younger consumers especially seem to buy into this culture.

Read the full piece here to see a graph that shows the rise of coffee and the decline of soda, and find out the effect that coffee prices have had.

Source: The Atlantic