nVerse

Ever Watch Someone Play an Action Game on Playstation or a X-box?

…because that is exactly what it is like watching Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (Transformers 2).

Boring and confusing, and wishing it was your turn to play.

…about 1 minute of story at the beginning and at the end, with 30 seconds of story development between each “level.”

7 eleven sushi

7 eleven sells sushi.

One “flavor” is albacore and jalapeno rolls…which, as you can see, looks more like chicken salad…or some other mayonnaise-filled concoction encased in a sleeve of rice.

Notice that the “freshness date” indicated, or in the parlance of 7-eleven, the “Best By” date is a mysterious $3.99…

No More Big Macs in Iceland

The multitudes of readers of this blog will recall from my prior ramblings about McDonalds that McDs is an economic index of sorts - a bell-weather of global financial bust and booms.  Yesterday, the Golden Arches announced that they are shuttering all of their Icelandic restaurants with no plans to ever come back.  Yikes!  Now, recall that prior to the collapse of their banking sector last year, Iceland was one of the wealthiest nations per capita.  Reykjavik was an international financial hub providing support for all sorts of European assets…now their economy is at crisis levels.  And McDs is saying that the global economy that the Icelandic business model relies on is too precarious to ever come back to, even after people start spending more Kronas on Big Macs. 

See, the closings aren’t just about shifts in the demand curves - not just about people jonesing for that oh-so sweet-and-fatty taste of the McChicken Sandwich.  It’s also about the challenges of operating within the Icelandic economic profile - an economy that relies heavily on the Global Economy. Mainly, the sensitivity to import costs.  Most ‘ingredients’ come in from Germany; hence, die bestandteile prices have nearly doubled their costs due to the recent currency shifts (Krona way down, Euro up).  This cost function shift pushes the prices of menu items far above what consumers would pay in a sensible economy, let alone in a down economy.

Ok, ok, so what’s the punchline?  McDonalds is showing us that the underpinnings of harnessing your nation (esp if you are a small island of 300,000 people in the middle of the Atlantic) to the Global Economy spigot is not quite mature enough a system to bet the farm on…especially when currency rates are variables in your operating cost function…no insulation from the effects of macro-economic shocks to the global markets.

Beef on the Highway

At 2:30 this morning a truck hauling tomatoes stopped at the toll booth at the Massachusetts Turnpike.  A truck 2 spots back, which was carrying beef, abruptly slammed into the truck in front of it which was hauling styrofoam cups.  The result:  thousands of pounds of meat all over the highway.

The full story here.

So There I was Making Coffee…

So some dude was making coffee in his own home and happened to not be wearing anything.  aaand he got busted for it.

Hi roomies weren’t home and he needed some coffee.

…it just so happens that someone saw him and got offended…enough to call the cops.
Perpetrator claims, “Yes, I wasn’t wearing any clothes but I was alone, in my own home and just got out of bed. It was dark and I had no idea anyone was outside looking in at me.”

Ya know…using the curtains could help avoid the situation.