] The California data establish just how dissimilarly black
] and white parents have named their children over the past
] 25 years or so -- a remnant, it seems, of the Black
] Power movement. The typical baby girl born in a black
] neighborhood in 1970 was given a name that was twice as
] common among blacks than whites. By 1980, she received a
] name that was 20 times more common among blacks. (Boys'
] names moved in the same direction but less
] aggressively -- likely because parents of all races are
] less adventurous with boys' names than girls'.) Today,
] more than 40 percent of the black girls born in
] California in a given year receive a name that not one of
] the roughly 100,000 baby white girls received that year.
] Even more remarkably, nearly 30 percent of the black
] girls are given a name that is unique among every baby,
] white and black, born that year in California. (There
] were also 228 babies named Unique during the 1990s alone,
] and one each of Uneek, Uneque, and Uneqqee; virtually all
] of them were black.)

A Roshanda by Any Other Name - How do babies with super-black names fare? By Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner

] "There can be no reason for the board to support an offer
] to MCI owners that is substantially inferior to what
] Verizon has just agreed to pay for a non-control block of
] stock," Miller said in the letter, which was made public
] late Saturday. "Shareholders would be outraged if the
] Board did less than insist that the identical terms be
] made available to all other owners. That, of course,
] implies a higher value than the $25.72 cash price Mr.
] Slim will receive, since he will have the use of that
] cash shortly, while other MCI owners would have to wait
] until closing if Verizon offered the same price,
] including the same effective call option on Verizon's
] stock. Our rough calculation of the present value of what
] Verizon agreed to pay Mr. Slim, including the call, is in
] excess of $27.00."

How crazy this all is.

Brief recap:
* Qwest makes generous offer to buy MCI. MCI says No.
* Verizon makes low offer to buy MCI. MCI says Yes.
* Shareholders say Qwest. MCI says No. Shareholders say "lawsuit".
* Verizon makes a slightly better offer ($23.10/share). MCI says Yes.
* Qwest makes more generous offer ($27.50/share). MCI says No. Shareholders say WTF
* Verizon makes deal to buy 13% stake from prominent billionare investor (make the takeover easier). Offers $25.72 plus an option. MCI says... nothing. Shareholders say WTF.

Why is this significant? This is MCI executives probably behaving badly. MCI, the company known as Worldcom. What a shock. Here are the forces in motion: MCI shareholders, post bankruptcy, are value players who saw a buyout as inevitable and lucrative. They are looking for the best price. Qwest wants to buy MCI for its customer list -- and needs to have it to survive, so it will pay whatever it takes. Verizon sees big market assets cheap. MCI execs see themselves without jobs if Qwest buys, and sweet offers of something from Verizon. So, 20% premium be damned.

I think it was in really bad taste for Verizon to make this side offer. They want a voting block (13% is as big as they can get before the poison pills) to help the merger. But they can't sweet talk an investor out of an equity position -- not someone who lost in the debt-equity conversion post-scandal. So they had to make a reasonably attractive offer. Not like the one for the rest of the company.

It will be fun to watch the justifications for why they have a higher price for a non-majority share than the company. Or how the MCI people continue to say it is the best deal they could get for the company, despite the obvious evidence that they are selling it cheaper than the buyer is willing to pay. Gross.

Verizon's Slim Deal

] If you've ever longed for a way to monitor your dog's
] social life, map out its buddy network and sense who its
] true friends really are, you might have been waiting for
] SNIF.

Have a very vocal and discriminating dog means that no, I have never really considered needing electronics to determine which of the dogs mine runs around with he likes or dislikes.

Wired News: Collar Cultivates Canine Cliques

] Lamp components come neatly packed into a postal tube.
] Surprise a friend with a unique gift: first you write the
] address on the tube, then choose the nicest stamps, and
] hop! On reception, no two lamps are the same! Different
] stamps, addresses, the lamp becomes a unique object.

2pm

] A Baltimore man tried to pay for a Best Buy car stereo
] installation with $2 bills -- and was arrested.
] Apparently the man was already upset with the Best
] Buy's service, so thought he'd stage a minor
] protest by using the uncommon currency

Best Buy Has Customer Arrested For Using $2 Bills : Gizmodo

] The internet is a great thing. Many people and
] organizations put a lot of information on their websites,
] which only have to be combined. If done properly,
] it's interesting how much information can be
] retrieved within a very short time.
]
] My goal was to identify a nuclear power plant in the
] United States of America on a satellite picture.

How to find nuclear power plants

] Looks like internet overseer ICANN is in hot water over
] some less than angelic industry moves recently. Techdirt
] tells us that they appear to be doing secret deals with
] Airline front groups over the .travel Tld among other
] things...

ICANN under Fire for Dodgy Deals | Threadwatch.org

] proper shaving has become a lost art. Shaving is one of
] those glorious male traditions that used to be passed
] down from father to son, but somewhere along the line,
] when shaving became more about cheap, disposable razors
] than a nice, precision-made metal tool in your hand, it
] became a brainless routine to rush through in the morning
] without even thinking about it. A dull disposable razor
] dragged across a layer of foam or gel on your cheeks is a
] step backward from the past, not an improvement. Now that
] men of all ages are paying more attention to their
] appearance, it%u2019s no wonder that the hottest trend
] right now in male grooming is a return to the traditional
] wet shave %u2013 and millions of men have been shocked to
] discover that the %u201Cold fashioned%u201D method of
] shaving they thought went out with the Hula Hoop is
] actually the best quality shave you can get.

How to get that perfect shave - Today, Weekend Edition - MSNBC.com

] The biggest equity impacts so far has been twofold: it
] has put a damper on sales at retailers of the most price
] sensitive consumers -- Tthat means the bigger discounters
] (Wal-Mart,Target, Kmart, Kohls, etc.).
]
] Second, sales of the largest and most profitible SUVs are
] slowing. This has a disproportionate impact on GM and
] Ford. I'm not sure what the net net is on an individual
] (consumer) level; if you own a large SUV, I expect you
] will be disappointed at what you can sell it for, as long
] as gas stays near $2.50 per/gallon. Now consider all of
] the SUVs which have been leased over the past 3 years:
] Dealers will soon have a glut of them on their lots, if
] they don't already, as lease renewal/extensions and trade
] ups slow.

The Big Picture: Gasoline Prices (Adjusted for Inflation)

] Apologists for the industry are replacing the catchphrase
] "Its illegal" with a new mantra.
]
] Are you ready to hear what it is? (Hold onto your seat):
]
] "Its morally wrong."
]
] Allow that to sink in a moment. One of the most corrupt,
] decadent, morally bankrupt industries the planet has ever
] seen is now making the argument that people should not
] use P2P -- due to the ethical considerations:
]
] I find that approach utterly fascinating, more than a
] little infuriating, and outright hilarious -- all at
] once. The Recording Industry must be hellbent on getting
] into the Guinness Book of World Records for the most
] hypocritical, disingenuous, cynical, and intellectually
] dishonest arguments in the history of mankind.

Spelling it all out, yet again, with little geekspeak

The Big Picture: New Arguments Against P2P: The Phony Moral Debate