The Moth Presents: Ishmael Beah (recommended by Tim Ferris)…
A Few Financial Facts to Think About
* After-tax income of the rich: Between 1979 and 2005, the average after-tax income of the top 1% increased by 176%, compared with an increase of only 6% for the bottom 20%.
* Inflation effects on the working class: Between 1990 and 2005, the purchasing power of the federal minimum wage actually declined by 9.3% when adjusted for inflation.
* US Debt is now $22 trillion and mounting at a trillion a year.
* Stocks vs. GDP: Normally, the stock market is worth about 80% of GDP. Now, it is worth 150% of GDP. That’s equivalent to $14 trillion.
* Corporate pre-tax earnings are the same today as they were in 2012. Yet the market valuation is $14 trillion greater.
One good thing about social media is that it has made it easier to discover talent and performance outside of the main media. Hillary Klug is one such discovery for me.
In a new analysis of the latest numbers (from 2014), 63% of non-citizens are using a welfare program, and it grows to 70% for those here 10 years or more, confirming the concern that once immigrants tap into welfare, they don’t get off it.
I sometimes feel that the best way to judge the elevation of a culture is by the value it gives to human life and the respect it accords women.
Interesting Facts About Dubai
* In 1968, there were only 13 cars registered in Dubai. Today, there are nearly 2 million.
* Robot jockeys are replacing children in camel racing.
* 39% of the luxury Burj Al Arab hotel (the fifth-tallest hotel in the world) is made up of empty space at the top.
* The 3 man-made Palm Islands were constructed with 94 million cubic meters of sand.
* There are plans to build an air-conditioned city in Dubai that will be twice the size of Monaco.
* Dubai’s police cars include the Ferrari FF ($500,000), the Lamborghini Aventador ($397,000), and the Aston Martin One-77 ($1.79 million).
Is Windex safe? I don’t know. But here are six ways – aside from windows – to use it.
Pythagoras coined the word philosopher to describe himself as a “lover of wisdom.”
An Amazing Street Drummer
I love watching street musicians, acrobats, and other such performers. And if I can see, at a glance, that they are doing something special or that they have attracted a responsive audience, I cannot resist working my way to a good vantage point.
K doesn’t feel that way. If ever we approach a street performer, she hurries by. If the crowd is large and noisy, I am moving into it while she is moving as far away as she can. Although we’ve talked about this several times, I’ve never understood exactly why. I think she sees street performance as a kind of cheap tourist attraction and she doesn’t want to think of herself as a tourist. Or maybe she sees the performance as something like an auto accident with the audience as rubberneckers.
To me, street performance is, in some ways, the epitome of performance art. I see it as genuine and organic. As a street performer, you are entirely free to invent your own art. And if you want to profit from it, you have a non-stop passing audience to figure out how to do so. The show is free. Pay if it was worth your time.
Anyhooo… here’s a good example –an amazing drummer that adds a bit of juggling and humor and pots and pans to create a performance that is much more than just drumming.
More than 500 meteorites hit the earth every year.