We use a parametric method to estimate the income distribution for 191 countries between 1970 and 2006. We estimate the World Distribution of Income and estimate poverty rates, poverty counts and various measures of income inequality and welfare. Using the official $1/day line, we estimate that world poverty rates have fallen by 80% from 0.268 in 1970 to 0.054 in 2006. The corresponding total number of poor has fallen from 403 million in 1970 to 152 million in 2006. Our estimates of the global poverty count in 2006 are much smaller than found by other researchers. We also find similar reductions in poverty if we use other poverty lines. We find that various measures of global inequality have declined substantially and measures of global welfare increased by somewhere between 128% and 145%. We analyze poverty in various regions. Finally, we show that our results are robust to a battery of sensitivity tests involving functional forms, data sources for the largest countries, methods of interpolating and extrapolating missing data, and dealing with survey misreporting.
Just in time for the holidays, I’m joining the ailing retail business with my online store, the Swift Fox. The Swift Fox sells accessories for urban mobility – laptop bags, iPod cases, etc. We’re just getting started, expect more soon.
And if you’d prefer to buy hand made items, be sure to check out my girlfriend’s business, surrealestate crafts – knitted cats, hats, iPod socks, and wallets.
The base 4Season fabric is a blend made in Switzerland by Schoeller Textiles. A durable tech fabric with a great handfeel worthy of our old school New York garment district construction. It stretches with you as you ride your bike, but drapes like a pro as you walk indoors. It’s abrasion resistant and wicks moisture away from your body. In light rain, it’s water resistant and raindrops bead up and roll away. In a downpour? Well… nothings perfect. It’ll saturate eventually. But once you are in the clear, it’ll dry out in no time (10-20, usually.)
As for the Lotus, that’s our name for what the Schoeller people call “nanosphere” or “self-cleaning”. It’s a nano tech fabric treatment modeled after the surface of a lotus leaf, no lie. What that means is that the surface is a fractal with no repeating surface structure upon which oil or stains can bond. We’ve been known to pour coffee and red wine straight onto our pants. Usually it just rolls off. Occasionally a bit might actually dry down, but it too will roll right off if you splash some water over it.
We aren’t too comfortable with that phrase “self-cleaning” but this is some pretty nice fabric. It wears harder and needs way less cleaning than your average fabric. It’s extremely comfortable, resists wrinkles, fading and odors too (just a bonus). In other words, a seriously versatile fabric for all 4 seasons.
To top it off, it’s made to the bluesign environmental standards of Switzerland. The fabric is woven and dyed in a manner which minimizes waste, reduces emissions and avoids the toxic chemicals common in much of the textile industry. In other words, it’s a start, and we at Outlier are committed to pushing our suppliers to do even more and rewarding those that follow through.
A former LA resident photo documents his new life in Iran.
When I was leaving Los Angeles, many of my friends were worried for me. They thought I was jumping into a war zone. Soon after moving to Iran I shared a few photos with them and assured them that all is safe and normal. But I soon realized how little they knew about Iran. Their fears and lack of knowledge about Iran is justified and a result of negative portrayal of this country in the Western media — as well as sound bites from a certain controversial President. So I decided to start a site to remind them (and the rest of the world) that life goes on in Tehran and elsewhere in Iran.
This is apparently only a prototype, they are not available commercially yet. And I expect them to be rather expensive when they do become available. So how might we be able to build our own compact living solutions?
A Step in the Right Direction is a sneaker based wearable technology project designed by mstrpln in collaboration with Ubiq boutique.
Once the pressure sensitive insole is activated, the unit scans the surrounding area for Wi-Fi signals and displays the result through LEDs.
The three LEDs on the flap enclosure represent the signal strength of any wireless internet signals within a 50 meter area. A blinking LED represents no signal, while a solid LED shows that there is a signal present.
It’s not just Banksy who is getting Bristol noticed at the moment. This year sees the release of new albums by a number of Bristol bands who first came to prominence in the mid-Nineties – Portishead, Tricky and Tricky’s former collaborator Martina Topley Bird. It also looks like being an unusually busy year for Massive Attack, who will also release an album as well as curating the Meltdown festival on London’s Southbank and playing at Glastonbury. Much of the music made in the Nineties by these bands has lasted particularly well. The Bristol creative scene, it would seem, was more than just a passing moment.
This is well done and interesting. I’ve got nothing to argue with here, per se. But what’s interesting to me is that Facebook has only been open to anyone since September. Now that everyone can sign up, will it remain a status-symbol social network? Any my point about control remains. If Facebook gives users more options and Myspace tries to force everyone to use their tools, will people stick around? People choose Myspace over Friendster* because it was less restrictive.
It’s also worth noting that teens under 18 only make up 12% of Myspace users. But some of the same social stratification may apply for older users as well. I signed up for Facebook in September because several friends of mine who were in college around 2005 use Facebook exclusively. People who aren’t in college and don’t know anyone in college are less likely to want to sign up because the networks for them are smaller.
As to Abe’s point about Myspace and music… I think Myspace will continue to be relevant for musicians, actually. It’s one area where Myspace is genuinely useful. I’ve been using it to book acts for esoZone. But before I started book musicians, there was nothing that Myspace offered me in terms of music that I needed to be registered user for, other than updates from the bands and the signal to noise ratio got pretty bad.
It’s funny to read the tech types on this stuff cause they just don’t get culture. Sure the Facebook app platform is light years ahead of what MySpace is doing, but it doesn’t exactly help you promote your band or your photo studio or your art does it? I’m actually more optimistic about MySpace’s long term relevance now than I’ve ever been. That doesn’t mean what Facebook is doing isn’t cool and potentially important, it’s just a big fork in the paths these companies are taking.
I can’t help but think though that what Abe sees as Myspace’s strength – promoting your band or photo studio or whatever – is actually its weakness. Myspace is basically a big spam machine. Although I still spend more time on Myspace, as that’s where most of my friends are, I’ve been spending less and less time on it and so has everyone else I know. My Facebook network, meanwhile, is continuing to grow. The thing is, Facebook is designed to actually facilitate communication between users. Myspace is designed to get people to accept spam.
If Myspace continues to wall its gates, it becomes even less useful. Doing even the most basic tasks in Myspace – from sending messages to uploading pictures – is painfully slow and unreliable. A flood of bulletins from bands and businesses and never ceasing friend requests from cam girls have no real value to me. Putting a funny You Tube video or Photobucket pic on a friend’s comments is one of the fun things about Myspace, and if I can’t do that, then what’s the point?
This video is pretty representative of Obama’s support. It may help get his base pumped, but does nothing to convince me that he’s actually better. His supporters love him and hate Clinton, but the reasoning is fairly unclear. Mostly, it seems, because he’s much cooler. However, their voting record in the senate’s pretty much the same, and Obama’s even said that he might have voted for the Iraq war if he’d been in the senate at the time (ref). There’s very little difference between him and Clinton.* Still, he’s energizing a large base of young supporters, even more than Dean. Perhaps Dean had too much substance, not enough style. If we’ve learned anything from Schwarzenegger it’s that the best way to win elections is to be someone with no credentials and to make vague promises about making things better without proposing any solutions.
The Obama supporters I know are all pretty bright, and they say they like Obama because he’s new and young and he just inspires confidence in his leadership ability. I guess I’m more of a policy wonk, so I’m cynical about Obama. I’m leaning towards Bill Richardson myself, but as UlyLaz loves to point out, he’s got Chinagate to contend with. Other than that, he’s got a great record. Obama’s record’s fine, but it’s easy to have a decent record if your career barely spans a decade.
*Considering that women got to vote later than blacks, and women are still struggling to get equal pay and the right to control their own bodies (a right even the supposed libertarian Ron Paul opposes), a woman president is at least as good a “symbolic victory” as a black president. If you want to play that game.
Oh, Ellis. He’s so shocking and confrontational. How can you push super hero ethics any further? Oh I know, maybe he could make a comic where a super hero kills thousands of innocent people in order to unite the whole world against a common, but imaginary threat.
Oh, wait…
Seriously, this just looks awful. I don’t see it as being much of a “deconstruction” nor very interesting politically nor ethically. Should a superhero kill the president is right up there with “If you could travel back in time and kill Hitler, would you?” for un-interesting party conversation. It’s just straight-up shock value.
Alan Moore was doing far more interesting things in Watchmen and even V for Vendetta (which is now a major motion picture) over 20 years ago. Moore’s stories pose far more disturbing questions. Ellis is just breaking a taboo.
I saw the movie and loved it, but agree that movie tie-in shoes are pretty silly. But I don’t think it’s that big of a deal either. And what’s wrong with being the art-house version of Armeggedon?
Ned Vizzini did, and the squip – a tiny ingestible supercomputer that gives you social advice on the spot (“Be jaded and profane” or “Keep looking her in the face”) – became the centerpiece of his novel for teenagers, “Be More Chill” (Miramax, 2004). To market the book, Mr. Vizzini, 23, asked a friend who is a Web designer, Adam Collett, to help him build a tongue-in-cheek Web site promoting squips as if they were real.
The narrator of So Yesterday, 17-year-old Hunter, is (as his name implies) a coolhunter, also known as a Trendsetter: one of those people who discovers the newest trends, recognizing them before anyone else, and thereby helping to market them to the masses, to make them “cool.” The object of his affection, Jen, is an Innovator: one of the people who actually invents the trends (in fashion, clothing, etc.) that are then picked up by the Trendsetters and marketed. Hunter works freelance for “a certain athletic shoe company named after a certain Greek god,” advising them on what’s cool and what’s not. (The narrator promises that there will be “no product placement in these pages,” which is why he resorts to such cute euphemisms).
I’ve been meaning to mention the No Sweat sneakers for some time. While Adbuster’s “Black Spot” sneaker may never see the light of day, you can already pick up a pair union manufactured kicks.
I like the idea of using union labor in foreign countries to both bring jobs to developing nations and to ethically manufacture materials (and likely still for a lower price than using U.S. labor).
I’d like to see some edgier Puma-esque designs available. Also, No Sweat offers an entire line of union made clothing, but their stuff’s not very stylish.
From a Trendcentral newsletter from earlier this month, posted here before I forget about it
Experiences are the new status symbol and, for many, are becoming more important than products.
We?ve seen a shift from wanting ?things? to wanting ?experiences?. Products can break, go out of style, or can quickly feel obsolete due to the introduction of new and improved versions. The actions and emotions involved with a particular activity, and the stories and memories associated with it, are what people are searching for.
When asked if they had an extra $500 to spend, 75% of trendsetters and 55% of mainstream respondents said they would rather spend it on an experience than a product.
The “Voting is For Old People” shirt that Urban Outfitters sold was, I think, one of those instances where I think the market would actually have corrected the problem. The shirt was just dumb (I think the “ghettopoly” game is much worse). And now, if you want to show your contempt for UO you can buy a Urban Outfitters is for Dumb People t-shirt.
Interesting t-shirt shop: users submit designs and vote on designs, and the highest rated become limited edition t-shirts. I want the one above, but it’s sold out. I requested a reprint, though. Oh, all their shirts are on sale for $10 until Monday. Via Josh.
Also interesting is Zazzle, which seems to be like Cafe Press only with more colors (via E-Sheep)
Catchy marketing word aside, metrosexuality is just an extension of what people used to call a gentleman. A style that appeared to have gone out of style but is making a comeback in a big, manicured way. It’s about men being men, secure with themselves, flaunting their masculinity through individuality instead of simply emulating a stereotype. Call it the furthering evolution of the alpha male. Surely, women must be rejoicing. Because although you may hear about them wanting the pretty boy or the bad boy, at the end of the day when the lights are low, truth be told, they don’t want a boy at all, they want a MAN.
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