Reading List

As work takes up much more time than it used to in my life, I find myself relying on my magazine subscription and people's reading lists to keep me informed.

Here are a few good articles I've read recently, (and some ideas I searched out to share):

My Empire of Dirt. About a man that turned his small Brooklyn backyard into a farm and managed to feed himself for a month despite it being hit by a tornado. New York Mag

A Silver Lining. The Connection Between Gasoline Prices and Obesity What do you know, another source saying the more you walk the more fit you are. New York Magazine also ran a cover story about "Why New Yorkers Live Longer." It's because they walk, and they walk fast (more or less).

Don't read it all, just know this:

"I find that a $1 rise in gasoline prices lowers the obesity rate by almost 5 percentage points after five years. This result implies that a $1 increase in gasoline prices would reduce obesity by 15% in the U.S., saving 16,000 lives and $17 billion per year. I also provide evidence that the effect occurs both by increasing exercise and by lowering the frequency with which people eat at restaurant."PDF

eBay's Changing Identity It owns Paypal, Stubhub, and Skype. It just recently bought a 25% share in Craigslist. This company has quite a few things going for it Business Week

That's all for now. I misplaced one about the UK Market being dragged down by the global credit crunch. It pointed out how the English are in a bad position with with a low savings rate and an economy very dependent on finance related earnings. It could transfer over to their housing market as well, and they would be in a nice little mess. Couple that with a strong pound vs the dollar (less exports) and you could see their economy taking more drastic hits than the rest of the global market place. Although they seem quite correlated to the US market, to me it seems like the downside is higher than the upside (i.e. US goes down they go down more, but US goes up they don't go up all that much). I don't have any short positions staked out, but I'm sure there are a few good bets to be made here. I'll look into it some more, if you're interested let me know.