Where Are You Most Productive?

Mike at Techdirt links and comments on an study that was done on where workers are the most productive.

Turns out workers are more productive while flying business class and in hotel rooms. Mike questions the basis of the study, but it's absolutely true for me.

If I had to rate where I am the most productive, it's in a hotel room. Most of the time this is because I am overseas and awake in the middle of the night, and the only thing on TV is in Korean or Japanese. I bring movies with me these days when I travel (the magic of the PC DVD), but after a blog entry or two, I nearly always end up doing email, working on action items, doing my expense statement (can't get behind on that), and other tasks. The same is true of flying business class, but without an internet connection, I do usually end up watching movies.

That leaves office and home, and between the two I am definitely more productive at home. So if my employers want more work from me, they should send me home from the office, buy me a ticket in business class, and fly me to an overseas hotel room. In this situation I would be unstoppable.

This Calls for A Major Economic Policy

From today's WSJ (link requires subscription):

THE U.S. SAID that 4,633 workers lost their jobs to "offshoring" during the first quarter, in the government's first attempt to count the number of workers who get fired when their jobs are transferred overseas.

Out of a labor force of about 142,000,000 workers, that is .0032% of all workers. I'll even take a yearly number and say it's .013%.

Should the U.S. enact major economic policy changes for 0.013% of workers?

For Relaxing Times, Make It Suntory Time

The title of this post is from Bill Murray in Lost in Translation. I know I seem to be referring to this movie a lot, but Sofia Coppola did capture a lot of the strange things Americans notice while traveling in Asia.

The reason Murray's character is in Japan is to get paid a ridiculous amount of money to do a commercial - something most major movie actors wouldn't be caught doing stateside. The fact is, this really happens. I picked up this little flyer in the Seoul airport for Lancelot Scotch:

In fact, there is a dedicated web site that chronicles major American actors doing commercials in Japan which allows you to search by last name.

People who have never been to Asia might not get the fact that the reason Murray is in Japan is a part of the movie's humor.

 

Here is a follow-up post where I hunted down the main scenes from Lost in Translation.

Reagan Coin or Currency

As a currency collector, I was very interested when I heard about the proposals for putting Reagan on the $10.



(Photoshop courtesy of Outside the Beltway)
Putting him on the $10 makes sense (cents?) since most people have no idea who Hamilton was or why he was put on our currency in the first place (he was instrumental in setting up our modern banking system and was the first Secretary of Treasury). Personally, I think he was one of the more interesting Founding Fathers who lived a charmed life until he caught that bullet from Burr. But he was never a President. Calls for replacing Jackson on the $20 or Grant on the $50 miss the point that, no matter what people think about them today, they were Presidents of this great land while Hamilton was not (Franklin on the $100 was also not a president, but everyone would agree he was a greater Founding Father than Hamilton was).



Perhaps a better proposal would be to put Reagan on the $1 coin which has had the most turnover in portraits in the last 50 years having everyone from Anthony to Eisenhower. And to mollify the anti-Reagan crowd (of which there are many), it could be a commemorative issue, similar to what we do with State quarters today.

Apple Martini Recipe

I always get compliments on my apple martini recipe, so I thought it would be the best one to pass on. It may seem very simple, but it took me many, many trials and errors to come up with just the right ingredients and ratios, a search for martini perfection that I thoroughly enjoyed.

Ingredients - Kettle One Vodka, Dekuyper Apple Pucker (don't use other Apple mixer liquors - this is the best one. Vodka is a matter of taste, but I think Kettle One is a good premium vodka that isn't extremely expensive).

Optional Ingredients - Cuban cigar (pictured above), Apple Schnapps

Ingredients Not To Use - I tried many, many ways to make this and recommend not adding real apple juice, using gin instead of vodka, or using a low-end vodka.

Instructions - Mix two parts Apple Pucker with one part Vodka. Mix in martini shaker (I prefer mine shaken, not stirred, to the point where small ice chips appear on the top of the drink after pouring). For an extra kick add a small amount (like a cap-full) of apple schnapps before mixing. Enjoy your capitalistic decadence with a socialist Cuban cigar.