Starbucks economics

Starbucks economics. Why Starbucks has a better, cheaper coffee that it keeps a secret. Comments Dhar 11 Jan 2006 10:28 am: This was so damn interesting! ritzkini 12 Jan 2006 6:14 am: “The more market power firms have, the less attractive they make the cheaper products.” I can think of N Marketeers in India doing this ! Madhu 13 Jan 2006 11:10 am: Interesting to compare this with the Bottom of the Pyramid concept of CKP.

Python vs Perl

Python vs Perl. Sums up my feelings perfectly: Python may be better for larger projects, but for my meddling, I’ll stick to Perl. It’s served me well for 10 years. Until 1999, I used Perl a fair bit, but no more than Java or C or anything else. My first “real-life” use of Perl was in 2000, when I was processing 600MB of IBES data. Access and SPSS couldn’t handle the load. Perl slurped all the data in a few seconds, though. A few years later, when processing bank data (3GB worth, this time), Perl again was the only saviour. In fact, between Excel and Perl (and CPAN), I think I have all the data analysis power I’ve ever needed. This blog, for instance, is written in an Excel spreadsheet, exported to XML, and converted into the blog format by Perl.

Meditation helps

How to get smarter, one breath at a time. Time magazine on the benefits of meditation.

In search of Bill Watterson

Len goes in search of Bill Watterson, the author of Calvin and Hobbes. He visits Bill’s home town, and manages to interview Mom. Apparantly, Dad is quite like Dad, but Bill is more like Hobbes than Calvin.

Finding subversives using Amazon wishlists

Finding subversives using Amazon wishlists.

dots not google

dots not google. An interesting Java animation that reminds me of Michael Crichton’s Prey.

Burned CDs last only 2-5 years

Burned CDs last only 2-5 years.