Money, Models, and Marginal Cost

National Geographic has a 12 month subscription plan for 15$. Isn't that a deal or what? Why are they doing it? Lets see. We all know that newspaper circulation is on an inexorable ride down, except if you are a gossip mag like US Weekly or People. Anyway, as a magazine is confronted with declining circulation, it is going to see lower sales revenues as well as less advertising revenue as advertisers have more incentive to leave. One way to stem the circulation decline is to cut prices. Even if you keep circulation up by selling at cost, it has a nett positive benefit because you have higher advertising revenue. One could actually sell extra copies at a loss, if that additional circulation leads to sufficiently higher advertising revenue. Which is the business model for your commuter free papers like Red Eye (Chicago) or Metro (London). The online model is essentially the same thing, where content is free in order to attract viewership, and then advertising is where you try to make some money.

Coming back to my original point, 15$ sounds like a steal. $ 1.25 for an issue filled with gorgeous photos and beautiful essays on the wonders of this world. I can live with that. Hail Economics! Those who are about to get a deal salute thee! Ha ha.

Lakshmi and Saraswati

Growing up, my grandfather's little puja stand had two large prints of Lakshmi and Saraswati. I found them hauntingly beautiful, something about them I couldn't exactly pin down. Combine that with the smell of incense and freshly made dosa (the stand was in the kitchen), the cool morning, and my grandfather coming from his bath smelling of Hamam soap - it makes for a very fond childhood memory. Recently I found those same prints online.

It turned out that they were by Raja Ravi Verma. I wonder if art inspires religion or religion inspires art. I would think art inspires religion, though over the millenia, from the Egyptian Pyramids to the cathedrals of Europe to the paintings at Ajanta, religion has definitely been a topic of interest.

Bing

Microsoft has done a good job with Bing. Like the part where in the new IE you can highlight a word, right click and kick off a Bing search on a new tab. Nice presentation of results. Note that by supporting Microsoft you are supporting AIDs workers in Africa, as a decent chunk of the company's shares belong to a charity. Don't know why Microsoft doesn't play that up more?

 

Also, by purchasing insurance from Geico, you do the same because about half of Berkshire is also held by the same charity. Let the overpriced "Earth" water from Starbucks go to hell. Give the capitalist way.

Pros and Cons of Fall/Winter

Cons

- Greatly reduced tennis. Sustained indoor tennis would require a monthly budget of 200+$.

- Switch to daylight saving time, and it starts becoming dark at 4pm.

- 2500 layers of clothing and day after day of mind numbing cold (its winter, duh!).

- Football season begins. Its all that everyone watches and talks about. Whats the fascination with 300 pound men running into each other at full throttle? Seems to be some modern day version of the Roman Coliseum where gladiators beat each other senseless.

- Around Christmas time every restaurant and shop starts playing the same Frank Sinatra Christmas CD and trust me, it gets to you after a while.

 

Pros

- Sitcom season begins. Family Guy. American Dad. 30 Rock. Parks and Recreation. Some good new ones too - Modern Family and Community.

- Holiday time! Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year....

- Skiing ?! Its super fun but need to get head count (not body count.).

- Improv season might begin if I decide to start classes again. Or, is it going to be Lindy in the Windy City?

- Chicago starts looking like a scene from the Batman movie, which is not particularly surprising as Batman Returns was shot here.

Best Latin Food in Chicago

is in Irving Park. Where Mexican is different from Peruvian which is different from Colombian which is different from Cuban which is different from Chilean which is different from....and you can stuff your face for under 10 bucks.

On Turnarounds

We have written in past reports about the disappointments that usually result from purchase and operation of "turnaround" businesses. Literally hundreds of turnaround possibilities in dozens of industries have been described to us over the years and, either as participants or as observers, we have tracked performance against expectations. Our conclusion is that, with few exceptions, when a management with a reputation for brilliance tackles a business with a reputation for poor fundamental economics, it is the reputation of the business that remains intact.

Chrysler, Sears, Readers Digest....larger economic and competitive issues dominate management skill. Humans, they get so deluded about what they can control.

Berkshire Hathaway, Chairman's Letter - 1979

Overall, we opt for Polonius (slightly restated): "Neither a short-term borrower nor a long-term lender be."

Fairly accurate statement I might say.

Coincidences

I think life is random. While events can be scheduled/predicted in the short term, long term control is largely illusional. Also, specific sets of highly correlated events which can take up a lot of your time and energy, and contribute a lot to your happiness are driven by coincidences. I know what you are thinking. Exactly.

3 weeks back we were having a discussion at work about disguised ethnicities and I brought up that Freddie Mercury was actually Farrokh Bulsara, a Parsi from Mumbai (George Michael is Greek btw). Then a week later I was at a coffee shop which for some reason played 2 hours of Queen straight. Then, I left that coffee shop and went to get a sandwich at Jimmy Johns, which for some reason was playing Queen as well. The right song at the right time - you have no idea what that can do to you. I have been obsessively listening to Queen songs since, and by default the opening riff from "Under Pressure" (copied by Vanilla Ice to make Ice Ice Baby) makes its rounds in my head.