Four (or Five!) Reasons Why

….I Want to be Tom Brady

1. You’re an NFL quarterback. I mean, does it get any better than that? It’s the glamour position in one of the world’s highest profile sports league.

2. You’ve already won three Super Bowls, and now your team, the undefeated New England Patriots, is the prohibitive favorite to defeat the New York Giants on Feb 3.

3. You’re good looking, well-spoken and the media loves you.

4. Most important, you get to date extremely hot chicks such as super-model Gisele Bundchen and Bridget Moynahan, who he apparently knocked up.

Check out this YouTube video featuring Bono talking about Brady’s appearance on the cover of Sports Illustrated:

Technorati Tags: Gisele Bundchen, Tom Brady

Related Posts

….the NFL Playoffs Are So Exciting

…Pro Athletes Should Be Held To The Same Standards

…Superman is the Greatest Superhero of All Time

…Investment In Innovation Should Increase During Recessions

1. During recessions, consumers generally look for alternatives to their existing spending habits, usually as a means to save money. As pointed out by Next: Innovation Tools & Trends, maybe consumers will look for products that help them save money but allow them to still achieve what they want? Let’s call this the Productivity-Efficiency Paradigm - a Mr. List innovation! When money is easy and things are good, consumers/businesses spend more in order to ultimately achieve greater productivity. When times are tough however, the goal is to reduce spending while maintaining the same level of productivity.

2. While consumer spending habits over the upswing in this most recent economic cycle have revolved around “value-for-money” (think of how many luxury cars you see in Wal-Mart parking lots), this concept becomes more acute during recessions. Purchases become increasingly based around wallet-friendly goods and services, as opposed to the latest “must-haves.” Having said that, innovation opens up many doors that allow purchasing habits to achieve both.

3. Innovation tends to be a virtuous circle - exciting new innovations inspire competition, which inspires innovation. When the imagination is inspired, money tends to follow. This also suggests that the venture capital community, which generally closes its purse strings when the economy goes south, should actually increase investment spending, which in turn will inspire more innovative thinking among entrepreneurs, arguably the greatest disruptive force in the economy.

4. As Paul Kedrosky points out in his book Coping With Recession, “Investments in innovation may trigger off other forms of investment which, in turn, help to stimulate the economy and bring forward the end of the recession.”

5. As simply put here, as a recession settles in, a company should work harder at developing the next big thing. By doing so, you would be well placed in the market when the economy picks up again. Can anyone say Apple?

Related Posts

….a U.S. Recession is Looming

…The Superbowl Is Almost The Greatest Spectacle On Earth

…Even Addiction Isn’t Recession-Proof

….a U.S. Recession is Looming

1. Many Americans have been on a buying binge for a decade. At some point, you have to look around and decide that there’s really not a lot more stuff that you really need. So, you stay home and hunker down rather than go to the mall to get that large-screen TV, or blow $40,000 on a new SUV.

2. The U.S. housing market sucks. It must be really strange to put your house for sale only to discover that no one wants it, even if you drop the price. For many people, a house is their biggest asset so the inability to do something we it - other than live in it - must be frustrating.

3. Debt. Many Americans have way too much debt - linked, of course, to the decade-long spending spree they’ve been on. Much of the spending has been done with a credit card, line of credit or second mortgage on their houses. With the housing market tanking, all that debt is starting to catch up with people. The average American has a credit card balance of $8,000, compared with $2,400 in Canada.

4. Economic cycles. Economies are cyclical - sometimes cycles last longer than normal but they usually come to end. The U.S. economy has enjoyed a tremendous run but this party is over - for now.

Technorati Tags: Economy, recession

Related Posts

….Gift Cards Are a Bad Deal

…Home Ownership Is Not A Savings Strategy

….We Shouldn’t Exchange Xmas Gifts

…Genetically Modified Food Is Inevitable

1. Once the face of the anti-GM movement, European governments were forced to lower trade barriers when the WTO ruled in February 2006 that the European Union broke trade rules by barring entry of GM crops and food. With the European market now open, and African aid recipients forced to take GM-foods, there are few policy makers left to debate the unknown impacts of our scientific tinkering.

2. The power of the corn industry in the United States, as well as the burgeoning biotechnology industry around the world, has made it next to impossible to fight the ongoing modification of basic food stocks. Current policy in the U.S., in particular the controversial Farm Bill which aims to ensure a cheap source of corn (used in just about everything), provides an environment that is conducive to genetic modification.

3. There is the potential of a global food shortage within a few years and GM-supporters will claim this as a call to action. While a highly complex issue, the International Herald Tribune summarizes that the problems are all interrelated. Factors include “the early effects of global warming, which has decreased crop yields in some crucial places, and a shift away from farming for human consumption toward crops for biofuels and cattle feed. Demand for grain is increasing with the world population, and more is diverted to feed cattle as the population of upwardly mobile meat-eaters grows.”

4. The general public continues to demand access to cheap food, either manifest through complaints about supermarket pricing or the continuing explosion of fast/already-prepared foods. Most people don’t care, don’t know or haven’t considered the unknown long-term effects - social, environmental, cultural or agricultural - of GM-foods and crops.

For an enlightening perspective on our food chain, take a look at Michael Pollan’s The Omnivore’s Dilemma. (You can download the Introduction and first chapter here.) And for more articles relating to both sides of the debate, check out the Social Issues Research Centre.

Related Posts

…Food Aid Is Facing The Perfect Storm

….We’re in a Food Crisis

…The Debate Around Global Warming Is Irrelevant

….Only Needing Four Hours Sleep Would Be So Good

1. Think of all the extra time you’d have in the morning to read, surf the Web, blog, listen to music and, of course, eat.

2. By getting up before most everyone else, you would get to enjoy something few people really experience these days: quiet. No hustle and bustle, no one trying to engage you in peppy morning conversations, no kids asking for another glass of juice. Just serenity and bliss!

3. It would give you time by yourself and time to think. Life is so busy with so many distractions and demands that we rarely get time alone to bask in our thoughts. Some people take yoga for this kind of thing but stretching your body into all kinds of different positions doesn’t lend itself to deep thoughts - at least not for me.

4. No more worries about not getting enough sleep. While everyone complains about being sleep-deprived because they’re not getting the recommended seven or eight a night, you’d be doing just fine by turning in each night at midnight and getting up at 4 a.m.

5. You would some one characteristic with Bill Clinton, who is notorious for not needing a lot of sleep.

Technorati Tags: Sleep, Bill Clinton

Related Posts

….Morning Exercise is Good for You

…You Should Give Up Caffeine

….Grammar is So Terrible