Tracking the Most Popular Viral Ads (and More)

Here's something interesting - a website that tracks the most popular viral ads, movie trailers, and webisodes....

Also interesting: a big viral hit does not necessarily translate into bigger sales....

Update: Despite a few naysayers, it appears that Old Spice sales (one of the most popular viral ads) have spiked recently. Of course, it's correlation not causation, but highly likely to be related to the campaign's popularity.

Still, popular ad campaigns don't always increase sales.

Book Review: The Mystery of Capital: Why Capitalism Triumphs in the West and Fails Everywhere Else

Here's an argument for individual rights, openness and equality before the law:

Hernando de Soto: The Mystery of Capital: Why Capitalism Triumphs in the West and Fails Everywhere Else

De Soto is a Peruvian economist that tackles one of the oldest mysteries: how can societies unlock their human potential? The answer, as he argues, lies in individual rights and a predictable, open legal system. Which the third world poor lack.

But how do you establish such a thing? De Soto's central idea is that the poor need titles for their often informally owned land and property. If you have legal title, you can get loans, and grow economically with that capital. But obtaining titles to some of these holdings would be fraught with controversy and entanglement....

This book is more of a thought piece and critics have noted De Soto's lack of empirical data in his work. But it's an interesting idea and ideas have to start somewhere.

Examples of Texas Law Forms and Find a Texas Law

We've got two books in the reference section that will help with Texas laws.... There's Texas Transaction Guide, which contains sample forms of contracts, custody, etc... and a few restatements of law.

Then there's Texas Law Finder. This book refers you to the laws you'll need given your problem.

Then you can check the actual Texas Code to read the law.

I would also suggest Lexis Nexis to find the actual text of the law.....

Outsourcing Statistics

Looking for outsourcing statistics? The official data is located at the Bureau of Labor Statistics and called Extended Mass Layoffs Associated with Domestic and Overseas Relocations

Or rather, it used to be. The above link is from 2004. Its passing as a data collection point was duly noted by many.

More recent data is mentioned in passing in this report.

Search the document for the phrase: 60,950 workers lost their jobs

Some newer information is given here, but much less prominence is given to outsourcing in these new figures and often it is not mentioned at all.

Here you have arrived at the end of the sidewalk so to speak. I suggest you search wonky news articles from ABI Inform to read other people's takes and context for these numbers.

How Not To Be Defrauded

American Greed is a highly entertaining series that profiles famous cases of investor defrauding, from publicly listed giant companies like Enron to small entrepreneurs claiming to have invented the next big thing.

Four things I noticed about the defrauded victims:

1. Naivete about the process of investing
2. Greed
3. Lack of risk control (put all their eggs in one basket)
4. Vulnerable to affinity fraud.

Affinity fraud is one of my favorite examples of how people get taken down. Affinity fraud means that the fraudster plays up similarities in ethnicity, politics, or religion in order to gain the trust of the investor. IMO, Bernie Madoff and Bernie Ebbers (of Worldcom infamy) both engaged in this strategy.

Or.....maybe don't invest with people named Bernie!

Professions Most At Risk From Outsourcing

The Bureau of Labor Statistics has a take on which U.S. professions are most vulnerable to outsourcing in the future.

They come up with some surprising nominations. Read this and ponder.....Incorporate this into your career choices....

Book Review: The Best Way To Rob A Bank Is To Own One

Today's book is William Black's The Best Way to Rob a Bank is To Own One: How Corporate Executives and Politicians Looted the S & L Industry.

The savings and loan crisis of the late 1980s and 1990s has now passed into history but seems a precursor to today's crisis of financialization. Investigator William Black is a favorite of many observers for his tough, common sense insights and refusal to kowtow to conventional wisdom and platitudes.

The savings and loan crisis features many of the familiar culprits behind today's bank problems: banks being allowed to invest capital in risky areas, low requirements for reserves, overextension, and understaffed government regulatory agencies (among other). This crisis particularly affected the Southwest and you need to read this if you plan to be a businessperson here (it's part of our history).

William Black's book is an interesting read for banking junkies and accounting students and includes copious nitty gritty details.

This could be your introduction to the concept of control fraud: where the company executives knowingly misstate numbers and mislead investors (see Enron).

I prefer to think of control fraud as creating conceptual frameworks that make the reckless seem viable and logical. Spotting control fraud is very hard because of the accompanying social acceptance and official approval. It pays to think for yourself.