Soda Popinski

6/30/08

“…if people were rude to me then I used to give them their milk last… so it was warm.”

-Gareth Keenan (“The Office”) referring to being a milk monitor

I quickly scanned the New York Times business section today to find some positive story in the news.  I did find one that ties into the work I’m doing here at Brilliont.  One of my assignments here is to find innovative “green” companies.  While I did not find a green company, I found a new green concept at two major discount retailers.

According to today’s article “Solution, or Mess? A Milk Jug For a Green Earth?” both Wal-Mart and Costco are unveiling newly designed milk cartons which they claim are cheaper to ship, better for the environment, costs less, and above all the milk is fresher.  These new jugs have no spout but seem to be harder to pour for many customers.  However, the traditional jug has been deemed “inefficient and labor intensive” and the new jug has gotten praise even with its difficulties.

With rising oil prices and a very volatile market/currency, we all will be really inconvenienced, but usually such hardships spur innovation and this is one small step towards greater efficiency in our lives.

-Amit

akooner@brilliont.com

6/27/08

A quick glance of today’s Bloomberg online explained that the Dow Jones Industrial Average is pushing into a bear market.  The Dow pushed down another 106.91 points and oil is trading at $143 a barrel.  And we will be in the midst of a bear market if the market pushes down 0.1% more.

This article left me with a lot of questions however.  For example, what do the terms “bear market” and “bull market” came from.  I assume that a bull market is given the name because of how a bull can rush uphill, but can’t it also rush downhill?  Someone who knew nothing of bears might think that form the term “bear market”, bears were meek and non-confrontational animals.  However I feel that bears are as fearsome as bulls.

With a little bit of research, I was able to find that a bear market happens when multiple indexes, such as the S&P 500 and the Dow, fall 15-20%.  According to The Motley Fool, “bear market” got its name “because bears strike things down with their paws — in a downward sweeping motion” and a “rising stock market is called a bull market because bulls swing their horns upward to strike”.  So now you know.

Check back next week when I write more about some of the innovative companies I’ve been finding.  I have found some cool companies but I will elaborate on them next week.

“Family, religion, friends…these are the three demons you must slay if you wish to succeed in business.”-C. Montgomery Burns

I have only read one Tom Wolfe novel (“A Man in Full”) but have heard all about his white suits.  Also I have only heard about his famous book “The Bonfire of the Vanities”, but since the movie is rated only a 5.1 out of 10 on IMDB, I have had little motivation to read it.  (Note:  I know this is a stupid reason)

There was a really interesting story today about Tom Wolfe’s visit to the New York Stock Exchange one year ago in today’s New York Times that I thought was interesting and really well written.  Mr. Wolfe looks like a Nostradamus since he seemingly predicted the end of capitalism on his visit even though he was amidst a flurry of M&A deals going on.  Obviously Wolfe was exaggerating, but in the past year the malaise in the business world has definitely started to affect everyone from me to Goldman Sachs.

I find it funny whenever people who are not very knowledgeable on a certain subject (even though Mr. Wolfe probably did research for “The Bonfire of the Vanities”) make sweeping comments that when even semi-true make them look prophetic.  Similar things happen on sports radio shows; or when people talk about politics.

-Amit

akooner@brilliont.com

I recently finished reading “The Barbarians at the Gates”, which chronicles RJR Nabisco’s attempt to go private via leveraged buyout.  One of the products that RJReynolds attempted to launch was a smoke-less cigarette called “Premier”, that was supposed to heat the tabacco rather than burn it.  The product was a disaster and was axed from immediate future designs when KKR purchased the firm.

I bring this up because in today’s Wall Street Journal article “Altria Drops New Filter Cigarettes, in Strategy Setback” I was surprised to hear about all of the initiatives the cigarettes companies to make a supposedly safer cigarette.  Phillip Morris has decided to drop its Ultra Smooth line (which was known as SCOR during development) which used a carbon filter to deliver nicotine while claiming to expose smokers to less carcinogens.

Philip Morris’s other failure was the “Accord” which utlized a battery-powered holder to heat, rather than burn, th e tobacco.  And speaking of the Premier, RJReynolds late 1980s disaster, the company released a line called “Eclipse” which was the same concept as the Premier brand.

The main marketing ploy to sell these types of cigarattes to consumers have been to push a lower risk of cancer and a safe alternative to those already on the market.  In my eyes the failure of these lines of cigarattes should have been foreseen by the management, board, or whatever consultants were brought in.  It would seem that smokers prefer the burning of the cigaratte, flavor, and taste over health benefits since it is obvious that smoker care little for their own health (and those around).

The whole idea of safer alternatives to unhealthy indulgences put out by companies is such a knee-jerk reaction to any negative publicity and never seem to last.  Fast food companies have done this in cycles for many years and the healthy selections on the menu are in constant flux becuase customers are probably not interested.

According to the Wall Street Journal article, the overall US cigarette market is down by 4% in the past year.  Clearly Americans are starting to not start smoking, stop smoking, or (what is probably the case) have slowed down their smoking.  What is their next move?

-Amit

akooner@brilliont.com

6/20/08

Dear U.S. Auto Industry,

Growing up in Texas gave me heavy exposure to trucks and always-expanding SUV’s in the late 1990s and early “aughts” (2000s).  Even with growing gas prices and Texans’ insatiable love of trucks, I was saddened to read an article in today’s New York Times which discussed Ford’s decision to delay the release of the 2009 F-150 two months to allow more time for dealers to sell off the current model.

At the rate SUVs and trucks were growing, I only foresaw bigger things happening, and would never have dreamed of the US auto industry tapping the breaks on releasing more large vehicles.

Obviously I am being a little sarcastic, and we have been able to procure such cheap oil for so long that bigger cars were somewhat economical a few years ago.  However how could you not effectively foresee what is happening now?

Sincerely,

Amit

akooner@brilliont.com

6/20/08

I cannot believe that it has been 12 years since the Unabomber was arrested.  According to today’s Wall Street Journal article “Terrorists Shouldn’t Profit From Their Crimes”, Theodore Kaczynski is trying to get his handwritten manuscripts that are currently being held by the US Government and donate them to the Labadie Collection at the University of Michigan which specializes in anarchy.  What is perhaps more interesting is that the article is written by Mr. David Gelernter, who is a Yale professor and happened to receive a package from the Unabomber in 1993.  Obviously he’s against the whole idea of Kaczynski’s fame-seeking.

Something I never really thought about was what a “Unabomber” is.  According to Wikipedia it was the term the FBI used to refer to Theodore Kaczynski’s case (UNABOM = UNiversity and Airline BOMber).

Speaking of the mentally ill, I found in the New York Times that the Supreme Court ruled on Thursday that judges could essentially determine whether a mentally ill defendant could actually get rid of his/her lawyer and opt for self-representation.

-Amit

akooner@brilliont.com

6/20/08

I found an interesting article today in the Wall Street Journal entitled “Melanoma Study Offers Cautious Hope” where doctors in Seattle were able to cure a patient’s late-stage skin cancer by injecting him with 5 billion of his own re-engineered white blood cells.  With treatments tailor-made for each patient, it is admitted in the article that “it doesn’t lend itself well to commercial development”.  Once such treatments go out of the testing stage and are perhaps even approved for use, will insurers cover them?  With treatments costing between $30,000 and $50,000 it is unlikely if insurers will ever cover the costs…

“There Is a House in New Orleans,
They Call the Rising Sun.
And It’s Been the Ruin of Many a Poor Boy,
And God I Know I’m One.”

Uh oh.  As sad as it makes me, and as endearing as New Orleans is (after having spent four years of my life there), it seems that sub sea-level cities might soon be a thing of the past.  I remember going back to get my belongings after Hurricane Katrina and walking the empty streets with my roommates and realizing it then.  If it’s not another hurricane then it’ll be global warming…

Chris Bosh loves New Orleans almost as much as I do.

-Amit

akooner@brilliont.com

6/18/08

Like I was saying in an earlier post, I divide my team between a number of projects a day.  Finding innovative companies for Brilliont is an interesting, sometimes confusing (“is this really innovative?”), and sometimes hilarious.  Take for example the site Motodate.com, where listed on the front page is this:

“Motodate.com is just like any other dating website, with one special but significant twist: you are also assigned a special code and are sent adhesive labels with this code to place on the inside front windows of your vehicle. When a person sees you while driving (or vise-versa) and they like what they see, they simply remember your 4-digit code and learn more about you from their home computer! It’s safe, simple, and enables to utilize your down time while stuck on the highway!”

Well I guess this is innovative.  Maybe when people drive slowly and crane their necks when passing by car accidents they are actually trying to find the driver’s 4-digit code for later.

-Amit

akooner@brilliont.com

6/18/08

After watching the famous “Daisy” Ad from Lyndon Johnson’s presidential campaign in the 1960s (and to be honest I had never seen it before), I found myself wondering why I don’t see such scare-tactic commercials on TV.  It is probably because I don’t have one.

“President Bush announced that we were landing on Mars today… which means he’s given up on Earth.”

-Jon Stewart

Even though I have my own conceptions on life on Mars, I found an Economist article detailing the Phoenix’s landing on the red planet.  It is quite an appropriate name for a project that “rose out of the ashes” of a number of previous failed missions.

(Possible conversation at NASA:

“How many inches are in a centimeter?”

“Let’s say they’re equal.”)

While the article does point out that conditions on Mars may just be too harsh to support life, even if life can adapt to the most severe conditions (ex:  archaebacteria), I still hope that some sort of life is find; at least a black monolith.

-Amit

akooner@brilliont.com

6/17/08

As is common with most people of my generation, I multitask.  My multitasking here during my internship revolves around trying to work on my various projects, keep up to date with news, keep logged into my Gmail account, and blog.  I found an article today on the New York Times about the official “launching” of Mozilla’s Firefox 3.0 which has essentially been available for the past few weeks.

Other than increasing their 18% share of the browser market it seems that Mozilla is trying to get into the Guinness Book of World Records for the most number of downloads in a 24-hour period.  This all got me thinking….

According to a search of “Guinness Book of World Records” on Wikipedia:

On May 4, 1951, Sir Hugh Beaver, then the managing director of the Guinness Brewery, went on a shooting party in North Slob, by the River Slaney in County Wexford, Ireland. He became involved in an argument over which was the fastest game bird in Europe out of the golden plover and the grouse. That evening at Castlebridge House he realized that it was impossible to confirm in reference books whether or not the golden plover was Europe’s fastest game bird.

Not only that but:

The book itself holds a world record, as the best-selling copyrighted series of all-time.

So not only does the founder of the Guinness Book of World Records have a hilarious name but the series of books he founded is IN HIS OWN BOOK.

-Amit

akooner@brilliont.com