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| This week on "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" The team helps out a man whose mother was killed by Sand People, was horrible disfigured by lava, and believes he killed his wife and unborn children. |
Sep 30, 2012
Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, Death Star
Ice Cream Truck Costume
A parenting win if I've ever seen one.
Sep 28, 2012
Genie One Wish
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| You who have summoned me from the lamp: I will grant you ONE WISH. I want to have sex with a genie. I...UH... Are you being serious right now? |
None Discrimination
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| It doesn't matter what race you are... what you're a fan of..or what your sexual preference is... because I hate everybody no matter what. |
Funny Social Posts
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| Alan Garner Tweet My homework brings all the Asians to the yard, And they're like "It wasn't that hard." |
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| Will Ferrell Parody Taylor Swift waved at a boy yesterday and he didn't wave back... So she will have a new album coming out tomorrow. |
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| When you say the word "poop" your mouth does the same motion as your butt hole. The same can be said for the phrase, explosive diarrhea." |
Grandma, How long have you been stuck here?
"OH MY GOD! How long have you been stuck here?? Shit! Are you OK? Oh Grandma please stop crying, Dad is next door, I will go get him and we will help you up. I will be RIGHT back! Umm, actually, maybe I should get a picture of this first since I know Dad is probably going to be as much of a drama queen about this as you are being right now. Oh fucking relax, it's not like I have to upload it right away, I can do that while Dad is wedging the car jack under you."
Sep 27, 2012
Choose your Facebook/Twitter/Chat Emoticons:
How to use: Just Copy & Paste these emoticons to Facebook/Twitter/Chat...
Happy
| ^o^ | ☺ | ☻ | ت | ヅ | ^.^ | ツ | ッ | シ | Ü | ≧◡≦ | ᵔᴥᵔ | ^^ | (°⌣°) | |
| ٩(^‿^)۶ | ٩(-̮̮̃•̃) | ◕‿◕ | ٩(●̮̮̃•̃)۶ | ٩(-̮̮̃-̃)۶ | ٩(͡๏̮͡๏)۶ | =^.^= | ||||||||
| (•‿•) | ó‿ó | ¢‿¢ | ٩◔‿◔۶ | ಠ◡ಠ | ༺‿༻ | (^L^) | ||||||||
| ♥‿♥ | ◙‿◙ | ●‿● | ^( '‿' )^ | ^‿^ | ❀‿❀ | 乂◜◬◝乂 | ||||||||
| {◕ ◡ ◕} | (｡◕‿◕｡) | ┌( ಠ‿ಠ)┘ | ◃┆◉◡◉┆▷ | (▰˘◡˘▰) | ||||||||||
| < (^^,) > | q(❂‿❂)p | <【☯】‿【☯】> | |◔◡◉| | ⊂◉‿◉つ | ||||||||||
| ✌.ʕʘ‿ʘʔ.✌ | ۹⌤_⌤۹ | ⎝⎲⏝⏝⎲⎠ | ⎝⓿⏝⓿⎠ | ⎝⏠⏝⏠⎠ | ||||||||||
| ⎝ᄽ⏝⏠⎠ | ＼(^ω^＼) | (●⌒∇⌒●) | ヾ(●⌒∇⌒●)ﾉ | (〃^∇^)ﾉ | ||||||||||
Sad
| ☹ | ๏̯͡๏ | ».« | (͡๏̯͡๏) | (×̯×) | ಠ_ృ | ಥ_ಥ | v_v | ►_◄ | ►.◄ | >.< | ಠ_ರೃ | טּ_טּ | ಠ╭╮ಠ | |
| מּ_מּ | לּ_לּ | טּ_טּ | ಸ_ಸ | ಠ,ಥ | ໖_໖ | Ծ_Ծ | ಠ_ಠ | ⇎_⇎ | ●_● | ~̯~ | ◔̯◔ | ᇂ_ᇂ | أ ̯ أ | |
| (╥﹏╥) | （ ´_⊃｀） | (►.◄) | (ு८ு) | v(ಥ ̯ ಥ)v | (ಠ_ರೃ) | (◕︵◕) | ||||||||
| ⎝⎲⎵⎲⎠ | ب_ب | |||||||||||||
Cute Face
| ✿◕ ‿ ◕✿ | ❀◕ ‿ ◕❀ | (✿◠‿◠) | (◕‿◕✿) | (｡◕‿◕｡) |
unsure, confused
| ◐.̃◐ | *-* | ◑.◑ | ^( '-' )^ | ఠ_ఠ | ◔_◔ | ◔_◔ | ◔_◔ |
| ಠ~ಠ | ರ_ರ | {•̃̾_•̃̾} | 【•】_【•】 | v( ‘.’ )v | |||
mad emoticons
| ».« | >.< | ⇎_⇎ | ॓_॔ | 〴⋋_⋌〵 | ‷̗ↂ凸ↂ‴̖ | ̿ ̿̿'̿'\̵͇̿̿\=(•̪●)=/̵͇̿̿/'̿̿ ̿ ̿ ̿ |
| (-''-) | ⎝↯⎵↯⎠ | (>.<) | \m/(>.<)\m/ |
surprised faces
| ⊙▃⊙ | O.o | õ.O | (O.O) | (⊙̃.o | ⊙.◎) | ๏_๏ | |˚–˚| |
Other Emoticons
| 'Ω' | ಠoಠ | ☼.☼ | ♥╭╮♥ | ôヮô | ◘_◘ | ਉ_ਉ | $_$ | ◄.► | ~,~ | ◪_◪ | ಠ▃ಠ | ತಎತ | ˚⌇˚ | |
| ॓.॔ | ‹•.•› | ۞_۞ | ಸ_ಸ | ↁ_ↁ | ~_~ | ˘˛˘ | ^L^ | 句_句 | (°∀°) | ヽ(｀Д´)ﾉ | ||||
| ‹(•¿•)› | d|--|b | d(--)b | (•̪●) | (╥╥) | (≧o≦) | (✖╭╮✖) | ||||||||
| ⊙︿⊙ | ⊙﹏⊙ | ●︿● | ●﹏● | (ㄒoㄒ) | {(>_<)} | o(╥﹏╥)o | ||||||||
| (`･ω･´) | 흫_흫 | இ_இ | (ﾟヮﾟ) | ⋋_⋌ | ಠ益ಠ | (• ε •) | ||||||||
| \˚ㄥ˚\ | ┌( ಠ_ಠ)┘ | (●´ω｀●) | (◜௰◝) | १|˚–˚|५ | 〠_〠 | १✌˚◡˚✌५ | ||||||||
| (>‘o’)> | ^( '-' )^ | <('o'<) | v( ‘.’ )v | <(' .' )> | <('.'<) | (० ्०) | ||||||||
| @(ᵕ.ᵕ)@ | (*≗*) | (◡‿◡✿) | (─‿‿─) | 凸(¬‿¬)凸 | ||||||||||
| ¯\(©¿©) /¯ | ◤(¬‿¬)◥ | (∪ ◡ ∪) | (*^ -^*) | (●*∩_∩*●) | ||||||||||
| ۹⌤_⌤۹ | ⊂•⊃_⊂•⊃ | ◖♪_♪|◗ | •(⌚_⌚)• | !⑈ˆ~ˆ!⑈ | ||||||||||
| ⋋ō_ō` | ☾˙❀‿❀˙☽ | |◔◡◉| | ‹(•¿•)› | \ᇂ_ᇂ\ | ||||||||||
| ᇂﮌᇂ) | ⊂◉‿◉つ | ☜-(ΘLΘ)-☞ | щ（ﾟДﾟщ） | (\/) (°,,°) (\/) | ||||||||||
| (づ｡◕‿‿◕｡)づ | ˚ᆺ˚ว | ╚(•⌂•)╝ | (-’๏_๏’-) | ✌♫♪˙❤‿❤˙♫♪✌ | ||||||||||
| (•̪●)=ε/̵͇̿̿/’̿’̿ ̿ ̿̿ ̿ ̿”” | ||||||||||||||
╚(•⌂•)╝Share your feeling/thoughts right now
Funny Facebook Status Updates
- When you have a flask, every hour is happy hour.
- Better to light a candle than to curse the darkness.
- Never drink water – if it can rust iron, imagine what it can do to your stomach.
- It doesn’t matter what temperature the room is. It’s always room-temperature.
- Always forgive your enemies – Nothing annoys them so much.
- When you’re right, no one remembers. When you’re wrong, no one forgets.
- Always borrow money from a pessimist.A He won’t expect it back.
- If you can’t see the bright side of life, polish the dull side.
- Where there’s a will, there are five hundred relatives.
- Accept that some days you’re the pigeon and some days you’re the statue.
- The 50-50-90 rule: Anytime you have a 50-50 chance of getting something right, there’s a 90% probability you’ll get it wrong.
- If a man is standing in the middle of the forest speaking, and there is no woman around to hear him, is he still wrong?
- Better to understand a little than to misunderstand a lot.
- Everyone is gifted. Some open the package sooner.
- Suburbs are areas where they cut down trees and then name the streets after them.
- Never forget a friend, especially those that owe you–Chinese Proverb
- You can’t have everything, where would you put it?
- Strangers have the best candy.
- Before you criticize someone, walk a mile in their shoes. That way, you’ll be a mile from them, and you’ll have their shoes. -Jack Handy
- If at first you DO succeed, try not to look astonished!
- When the blind leadeth the blind, get out of the way.
- Keep smiling – it makes everyone wonder what you’re up to.
- There’s always a light at the end of the tunnel…just hope it’s NOT a train!
- If it doesn’t fit, force it; if it breaks, it needed replacement anyway.
- If two wrongs don’t make a right, try three.
- Education is what you get from reading the small print. Experience is what you get from not reading it.
- Money may not buy happiness, but it sure makes misery much easier to live with.
- Whoever said money can’t buy happiness doesn’t know where to shop.
- There are 3 kinds of people: those who can count & those who can’t.
- Everyone makes mistakes. The trick is to make mistakes when nobody is looking.
- Money can’t buy happiness but it can certainly rent it for a couple of hours.
- Eat drink and be merry, for tomorrow they may make it illegal.
- When in charge, ponder. When in doubt, mumble. When in trouble, delegate.
- There’s nothing more restful than taking orders from fools.
- He who laughs last didn’t get the joke.
- Why be difficult when with a bit of effort you can be impossible?
- I’d rather have Lockheed deliver the mail than ride around in a plane built by the post office.
- Time flies when you don’t know what you’re doing.
- Age and treachery will always overcome youth and skill.
- We are the people our parents warned us about.
- Love your enemies. It’ll make ‘em crazy.
- Do not argue with an idiot. He will drag you down to his level and beat you with experience.
- Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.
- Knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit; Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
- He who smiles in a crisis has found someone to blame.
- Never get into fights with ugly people, they have nothing to lose.
- Always borrow money from a pessimist. He won’t expect it back.
- Never hit a man with glasses. Hit him with a baseball bat.
- When in doubt, mumble.
- To be sure of hitting the target, shoot first and call whatever you hit the target.
- A bus is a vehicle that runs twice as fast when you are after it as when you are in it.
- When tempted to fight fire with fire, remember that the Fire Department usually uses water.
- Change is inevitable, except from a vending machine.
- If you keep your feet firmly on the ground, you’ll have trouble putting on your pants.
- What do you get when you cross the Godfather with a lawyer? An offer you can’t understand.
Introducing Facebook Gifts
Every day, millions of people share special moments with their
friends on Facebook by saying "Happy Birthday," "Congratulations," or
simply, "I'm thinking of you." Now there is another way to celebrate
those moments.
Starting today, you can give real gifts to your friends on Facebook using Gifts.
Gift easily and instantly You can send gifts from birthday reminders, or from your friend's timeline.
Choose
a gift, attach a card and send. You can post your gift to your friend's
timeline or send it privately. Your friend can then unwrap a preview of
the gift and it will show up on their doorstep a few days later.
You can pay right away or add your payment details later. Your friend provides their address.
To make sure they love the gift, they can choose the color, size or flavor that they want, or even exchange it for something else of equal value.
There are hundreds of gifts with more added every day: cupcakes from Magnolia Bakery, a stuffed animal from Gund, or a digital gift card from Starbucks.
Availability
Facebook Gifts will roll out gradually, first to people in the U.S. To learn more, visit Facebook.com/Gifts.
Starting today, you can give real gifts to your friends on Facebook using Gifts.
You can pay right away or add your payment details later. Your friend provides their address.
To make sure they love the gift, they can choose the color, size or flavor that they want, or even exchange it for something else of equal value.
There are hundreds of gifts with more added every day: cupcakes from Magnolia Bakery, a stuffed animal from Gund, or a digital gift card from Starbucks.
Availability
Facebook Gifts will roll out gradually, first to people in the U.S. To learn more, visit Facebook.com/Gifts.
Mother Dog Adopts Baby Chimpanzee
After a mother chimpanzee who lived in a zoo died, one of the zoo's employee s took the baby chimp home to care for i t. It never crossed his mind that his dog, who had recently given birth, would adopt the chimp and raise it with her pups.
Sep 25, 2012
Horror Fiend's Last Dinner
Fast Food - Wiki - American Cuisine
Outlets may be stands or kiosks, which may provide no shelter or seating, or fast food restaurants (also known as quick service restaurants). Franchise operations which are part of restaurant chains have standardized foodstuffs shipped to each restaurant from central locations.
Sep 24, 2012
Adam Smith
Smith studied social philosophy at the University of Glasgow and at Balliol College in the University of Oxford, where he was one of the first students to benefit from scholarships set up by his fellow Glaswegian John Snell. After graduating, he delivered a successful series of public lectures at Edinburgh, leading him to collaborate with David Hume during the Scottish Enlightenment. Smith obtained a professorship at Glasgow teaching moral philosophy, and during this time he wrote and published The Theory of Moral Sentiments. In his later life, he took a tutoring position that allowed him to travel throughout Europe, where he met other intellectual leaders of his day. Smith then returned home and spent the next ten years writing The Wealth of Nations, publishing it in 1776. He died in 1790 at the age of 67.
Legacy in Economics and Moral Philosophy
The Wealth of Nations was a precursor to the modern academic discipline of economics. In this and other works, Smith expounded how rational self-interest and competition can lead to economic prosperity. Smith was controversial in his own day and his general approach and writing style were often satirized by Tory writers in the moralizing tradition of Hogarth and Swift, as a discussion at the University of Winchester suggests. In 2005, The Wealth of Nations was named among the 100 Best Scottish Books of all time. Former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, it is said, used to carry a copy of the book in her handbag.
In light of the arguments put forward by Smith and other economic theorists in Britain, academic belief in mercantalism began to decline in England in the late 18th century. During the Industrial Revolution, Britain embraced free trade and Smith's laissez-faire economics, and via the British Empire, used its power to spread a broadly liberal economic model around the world, characterized by open markets, and relatively barrier free domestic and international trade.
George Stigler attributes to Smith "the most important substantive proposition in all of economics." It is that, under competition, owners of resources (for example labor, land, and capital) will use them most profitably, resulting in an equal rate of return in equilibrium for all uses, adjusted for apparent differences arising from such factors as training, trust, hardship, and unemployment.
Paul Samuelson finds in Smith's pluralist use of supply and demand as applied to wages, rents, profit a valid and valuable anticipation of the general equilibrium modeling of Walras a century later. Smith's allowance for wage increases in the short and intermediate term from capital accumulation and invention added a realism missed later by Malthus, Ricardo, and Marx in their propounding a rigid subsistence-wage theory of labour supply.
On the other hand, Joseph Schumpeter dismissed Smith's contributions as unoriginal, saying "His very limitation made for success. Had he been more brilliant, he would not have been taken so seriously. Had he dug more deeply, had he unearthed more recondite truth, had he used more difficult and ingenious methods, he would not have been understood. But he had no such ambitions; in fact he disliked whatever went beyond plain common sense. He never moved above the heads of even the dullest readers. He led them on gently, encouraging them by trivialities and homely observations, making them feel comfortable all along."
Classical economists presented competing theories of those of Smith, termed the "labour theory of value". Later Marxian economics descending from classical economics also use Smith's labour theories, in part. The first volume of Karl Marx's major work, Capital, was published in German in 1867. In it, Marx focused on the labour theory of value and what he considered to be the exploitation of labour by capital. The labour theory of value held that the value of a thing was determined by the labor that went into its production. This contrasts with the modern understanding of mainstream economics, that the value of a thing is determined by what one is willing to give up to obtain the thing.
The body of theory later termed "neoclassical economics" or "marginalism" formed from about 1870 to 1910. The term "economics" was popularized by such neoclassical economists as Alfred Marshall as a concise synonym for "economic science" and a substitute for the earlier, broader term "political economy" used by Smith. This corresponded to the influence on the subject of mathematical methods used in the natural sciences. Neoclassical economics systematized supply and demand as joint determinants of price and quantity in market equilibrium, affecting both the allocation of output and the distribution of income. It dispensed with the labour theory of value of which Smith was most famously identified with in classical economics, in favour of a marginal utility theory of value on the demand side and a more general theory of costs on the supply side.
"Men may live together in society with some tolerable degree of security, though there is no civil magistrate to protect them from the injustice of those passions. But avarice and ambition in the rich, in the poor the hatred of labour and the love of present ease and enjoyment, are the passions which prompt to invade property, passions much more steady in their operation, and much more universal in their influence. Wherever there is great property there is great inequality. For one very rich man there must be at least five hundred poor, and the affluence of the few supposes the indigence of the many. The affluence of the rich excites the indignation of the poor, who are often both driven by want, and prompted by envy, to invade his possessions. It is only under the shelter of the civil magistrate that the owner of that valuable property, which is acquired by the labour of many years, or perhaps of many successive generations, can sleep a single night in security. He is at all times surrounded by unknown enemies, whom, though he never provoked, he can never appease, and from whose injustice he can be protected only by the powerful arm of the civil magistrate continually held up to chastise it. The acquisition of valuable and extensive property, therefore, necessarily requires the establishment of civil government. Where there is no property, or at least none that exceeds the value of two or three days' labour, civil government is not so necessary. Civil government supposes a certain subordination. But as the necessity of civil government gradually grows up with the acquisition of valuable property, so the principal causes which naturally introduce subordination gradually grow up with the growth of that valuable property. (...) Men of inferior wealth combine to defend those of superior wealth in the possession of their property, in order that men of superior wealth may combine to defend them in the possession of theirs. All the inferior shepherds and herdsmen feel that the security of their own herds and flocks depends upon the security of those of the great shepherd or herdsman; that the maintenance of their lesser authority depends upon that of his greater authority, and that upon their subordination to him depends his power of keeping their inferiors in subordination to them. They constitute a sort of little nobility, who feel themselves interested to defend the property and to support the authority of their own little sovereign in order that he may be able to defend their property and to support their authority. Civil government, so far as it is instituted for the security of property, is in reality instituted for the defence of the rich against the poor, or of those who have some property against those who have none at all." (Source: The Wealth of Nations, Book 5, Chapter 1, Part 2)
Mortgage-Burning Parties
"It was paid for, so why not use it?" Sharon said. "It wouldn't have made sense to rent a place for the party. We wanted to enjoy our accomplishment with our friends and families in our home."
While a person may have secured a 15- or 30-year mortgage, there are a multitude of reasons that may keep him or her from paying it off in that amount of time, according to Fairway mortgage consultant Megan Brunner.
Dan Ranck, a mortgage banker with Guaranteed Home Mortgage Co., has seen his number of mortgages get secured, but he has yet to see one get paid off.
"I know there is a small percentage of people who actually pay off their mortgage," Ranck said. "I have worked in the mortgage business for eight years and have yet to see someone do it."
"Of course, the economy has made it difficult to pay down mortgages as many people have less money in their pockets," Brunner said. "On the other side, the economy is the reason the interest rates have gone so low and have remained there for such an extended period of time."
The Kelligs, who have been married for 33 years, paid off their $102,000 mortgage in 27 years by paying a little extra each month.
"We knew it would save us money in the long run," Sharon said. "When you think about what you spend money on, it's actually very easy to put a little extra in the payment every month."
Brunner said that by paying even just a little toward the principal each payment, you can shave time off of the original mortgage's life.
Brunner gave the following as an example:
"If you have a mortgage of $170,000 at 4 percent for 30 years, your principal and interest payment is $811.61 per month. If you divide your payment by 12 (for 12 months) and round up to the nearest dollar, you have $68," Brunner said. "If you pay an extra $68 each month when you make your mortgage payment, your mortgage will payoff in 26 years and you will save $19,000 in payments. With mortgage rates so low, the benefit of paying extra is diminished as the cost of interest is already so low."
The Conference Board of Canada - Consumer Confidence
About the Index of Consumer Confidence
The Index of Consumer Confidence, the Conference Board's survey of Canadian households has been ongoing since 1980. It measures consumers' levels of optimism regarding current economic conditions. This is a crucial indicator of near-term sales for companies in the consumer products sector.
It is constructed from responses to four attitudinal questions posed to a random sample of Canadian households. Those surveyed are asked to give their views about their households' current and expected financial positions and the short-term employment outlook. They are also asked to assess whether now is a good time or a bad time to make a major purchase such as a house, car or other big-ticket items.
What questions are asked for the Index of Consumer Confidence?
The Index of Consumer Confidence survey is based on four attitudinal questions. Data is collected on each respondent's age, sex, marital status, and geographic location of residence.
The four questions are:
What methodology is used for the Index of Consumer Confidence?
To construct the Index of Consumer Confidence, the percentages of positive and negative responses are calculated, by question, at the regional and national levels. Positive responses are those in which the respondent says his or her financial situation improved over the past six months or will improve over the next six months, that more jobs will be available over the near term, or that now is a good time to make a major purchase. Negative responses are defined as those in which a respondent reports a worsening of a household's financial situation over the previous six months, expects that his or her financial position will worsen or that the number of jobs will decline over the near term, or indicates that it is a bad time to make a major purchase.
The index is then derived using the following calculation for each question:
percentage of positive responses / (percentage of positive responses + percentage of negative response)
The index is the average of these values for all four questions, rebased so that 2002 = 100.
The index of consumer confidence is not seasonally adjusted. Periodically, the Conference Board tests the historical data to determine if seasonal patterns do exist, however, to date, there is insufficient evidence to conclude that seasonality is present.
Why has the methodology used to construct the index been changed?
The old methodology used to construct the Index of Consumer Confidence was derived by adding the percentage of positive responses, subtracting the percentage of negative responses, adding a scalar equal to 400, and indexing the resulting series to a base year of 2002. The scalar was introduced to force the value of the Index to zero if all responses were negative.
Relative to the new index, it is easy to see that the introduction of the scalar in the earlier method artificially lowers the variance of the index. Additionally, the new Index of Consumer Confidence is now constructed using a methodology similar to that used by The Conference Board Inc. in New York to produce its monthly estimates of consumer confidence for the United States.
The new methodology employed by The Conference Board of Canada will allow for easier comparison between changes in confidence levels in Canada and those in the United States.
Will the new methodology affect historical estimates of consumer confidence?
Yes. The new methodology has been retroactively applied to both the quarterly and monthly series available on e-Data.
The quarterly Index of Consumer Confidence began in 1980, while the monthly series began in 2002. For quarterly data after 2002, the values of each index are simply the third month in each quarter (rather than the average of all monthly values within the quarter).
The Index of Consumer Confidence, the Conference Board's survey of Canadian households has been ongoing since 1980. It measures consumers' levels of optimism regarding current economic conditions. This is a crucial indicator of near-term sales for companies in the consumer products sector.
It is constructed from responses to four attitudinal questions posed to a random sample of Canadian households. Those surveyed are asked to give their views about their households' current and expected financial positions and the short-term employment outlook. They are also asked to assess whether now is a good time or a bad time to make a major purchase such as a house, car or other big-ticket items.
What questions are asked for the Index of Consumer Confidence?
The Index of Consumer Confidence survey is based on four attitudinal questions. Data is collected on each respondent's age, sex, marital status, and geographic location of residence.
The four questions are:
- Considering everything, would you say that your family is better or worse off financially than six months ago?
- Again, considering everything, do you think that your family will be better off, the same or worse off financially six months from now?
- How do you feel the job situation and overall employment will be in this community six months from now?
- Do you think that right now is a good or bad time for the average person to make a major outlay for items such as a home, car or other major item?
What methodology is used for the Index of Consumer Confidence?
To construct the Index of Consumer Confidence, the percentages of positive and negative responses are calculated, by question, at the regional and national levels. Positive responses are those in which the respondent says his or her financial situation improved over the past six months or will improve over the next six months, that more jobs will be available over the near term, or that now is a good time to make a major purchase. Negative responses are defined as those in which a respondent reports a worsening of a household's financial situation over the previous six months, expects that his or her financial position will worsen or that the number of jobs will decline over the near term, or indicates that it is a bad time to make a major purchase.
The index is then derived using the following calculation for each question:
percentage of positive responses / (percentage of positive responses + percentage of negative response)
The index is the average of these values for all four questions, rebased so that 2002 = 100.
The index of consumer confidence is not seasonally adjusted. Periodically, the Conference Board tests the historical data to determine if seasonal patterns do exist, however, to date, there is insufficient evidence to conclude that seasonality is present.
Why has the methodology used to construct the index been changed?
The old methodology used to construct the Index of Consumer Confidence was derived by adding the percentage of positive responses, subtracting the percentage of negative responses, adding a scalar equal to 400, and indexing the resulting series to a base year of 2002. The scalar was introduced to force the value of the Index to zero if all responses were negative.
Relative to the new index, it is easy to see that the introduction of the scalar in the earlier method artificially lowers the variance of the index. Additionally, the new Index of Consumer Confidence is now constructed using a methodology similar to that used by The Conference Board Inc. in New York to produce its monthly estimates of consumer confidence for the United States.
The new methodology employed by The Conference Board of Canada will allow for easier comparison between changes in confidence levels in Canada and those in the United States.
Will the new methodology affect historical estimates of consumer confidence?
Yes. The new methodology has been retroactively applied to both the quarterly and monthly series available on e-Data.
The quarterly Index of Consumer Confidence began in 1980, while the monthly series began in 2002. For quarterly data after 2002, the values of each index are simply the third month in each quarter (rather than the average of all monthly values within the quarter).
There’s arsenic in your rice — and here’s how it got there
Rice. It’s just one of the basics, right? Whether eaten on its own, or in products like pastas or cereal, this inexpensive and healthy food is a staple for Asian and Latino communities, as well as the growing number of people looking to avoid gluten.
Here’s the bad news, The food most of us think we have more or less locked down is shockingly high in arsenic. And arsenic, especially the inorganic form often found in rice, is a known carcinogen linked to several types of cancer, and believed to interfere with fetal development.
According to new research by the Consumers Union, which took over 200 samples of both organic and conventionally grown rice and rice products, nearly all the samples contained some level of arsenic, and a great deal of them contained enough to cause alarm. While there is no federal standard for arsenic in food, according to the Consumers Union, the advocacy arm of Consumer Reports, one serving of rice may have as much inorganic arsenic as an entire day’s worth of water. (They’ve also created a useful chart of various rice products, rice brands, and their arsenic levels.) Rice often readily absorbs arsenic from soil where chemical-heavy cotton once grew.
How does rice compare to other grains like wheat and oats? It turns out it’s much higher because of two main factors: How and where rice is grown. The November issue of Consumer Reports, released today, breaks down both phenomena. First, the how:
Rice absorbs arsenic from soil or water much more effectively than most plants. That’s in part because it is one of the only major crops grown in water-flooded conditions, which allow arsenic to be more easily taken up by its roots and stored in the grains.
Then, the where:
In the U.S. as of 2010, about 15 percent of rice acreage was in California, 49 percent in Arkansas, and the remainder in Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, and Texas. That south-central region of the country has a long history of producing cotton, a crop that was heavily treated with arsenical pesticides for decades in part to combat the boll weevil beetle.
Not a big rice eater? Well, I’d argue this study matters for other reasons too; it illustrates what a long shadow industrial farming practices can cast over the entire food system — and the way some chemicals can cycle through our food and water, for literally generations. You see, in some areas, even rice grown organically is impacted because of what you might call the legacy of the soil.
For decades, farmers used lead-arsenate insecticides to control pests. As the name implies, these were extra dangerous because of their lead content and they were banned in the 1980s, but much of the arsenic that was left behind still remains in the soil. As Consumer Reports mentioned above, the worst offenders were cotton farms in the South, which relied heavily on these heavy-metal-containing chemicals. (Cotton farming, generally, is known to be some of the most “chemically dependent” farming on Earth.)
Retrieved from Grist.
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