Oops I dropped my iPod…
 Staff at a design and marketing company in Newcastle spent a day working together naked after being told it would improve their morale. David Taylor, a business psychologist, told workers at design and marketing onebestway, in Newcastle upon Tyne, that a Naked Friday idea would boost their team spirit.

The emergence of empires of one, business colonies and seed capitalists
The importance of stimulating entrepreneurship has not been lost on Asian nations. Communist Youth League of China will set up a fund to help young people establish their own businesses, as part of efforts to ease employment pressures, particularly among graduates, China.com reported in February.

Golden Showers of Vending Goodness

Shoppers in Germany will soon be able to buy gold as easily as bars of chocolate after a firm announced plans to install vending machines selling the precious metal across the country.
TG-Gold-Super-Markt aims to introduce the machines at 500 locations including train stations and airports in Germany.
The company, based near Stuttgart, [...]

Mega yacht ”Eclipse” 
Roman Abramovich’s most-awaited mega yacht “Eclipse,” touted as the world’s biggest yacht, has finally made a preliminary launch at the Blohm & Voss shipyard in Hamburg, Germany where it was built secretly for more than two years. The 170-meter yacht (557.6 feet) will feature 2 heli-pads, 20 water jets, a pool with large Havana [...]

‘Shrink to Survive’ – Entire Neighborhoods In U.S. To Be Bulldozed
Dozens of US cities may have entire neighbourhoods bulldozed as part of drastic “shrink to survive” proposals being considered by the Obama administration to tackle economic decline.  
The government looking at expanding a pioneering scheme in Flint, one of the poorest US cities, which involves razing [...]

GOOD magazine’s infographic reveals that recent bankruptcies dwarf Enron’s collapse. I dunno if that fact is supposed to make us laugh, cry or look for another country to migrate to….

Online advertising revenues have fallen
Asked about a possible recession early in 2008, IDC analyst Karsten Weide said, “We think there will be some effect on advertising spending overall, but online ad spending will almost be unaffected-even if there’s a depression.”
What a difference a year makes.

Americans driving less 
Fewer Americans are dying on our nation’s roads, not only because they are driving less, but also because the type of driving has changed, says a researcher at the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute.

Does lack of cash flow produce bad breath?

As if looming unemployment were not enough to cause sleepless nights for legions of the country’s businessmen, they are now falling victim to an unfortunate side effect of work-related stress.
Ichiro Saito, a professor of dentistry at Tsurumi University, said that he has witnessed a dramatic increase in the [...]

Products bucking the recession
It’s not all doom and gloom in the U.S. economy. Some products are bucking the recession and flying off store shelves.
Sales of chocolate and running shoes are up. Wine drinkers haven’t stopped sipping; they just seem to be choosing cheaper vintages.
Gold coins are selling like hot cakes. So are gardening seeds. Tanning [...]

Newspapers struggle to preserve their legacy
Raymond Alvarez:  The White House says there will be no bailout for newspapers.
The media has languished in the grips of depression for 15 years, shedding jobs, and losing ad dollars and subscribers. Indeed, print publishers lately are showing themselves to be yet another example of an old line business that won’t [...]

MySpace has let go of as many as 45 employees in the last week, we’ve confirmed. Sources close to the company say that the exact figure may be smaller, but that MySpace has definitely laid off a significant number of people. MySpace has refused to comment on the matter, so it isn’t clear if this [...]

 
Women bully other women at work
YELLING, scheming and sabotaging: all are tell-tale signs that a bully is at work, laying traps for employees at every pass.

Convicted Sexual Slave Trafficers Deserve The Harshest Punishments Available

For years, Gerardo Salazar played the Romeo in dusty Mexican villages, trolling town squares and schoolyards for women and girls he could seduce with declarations of love and, ultimately, sell in seedy Houston cantinas.
Salazar, who called himself El Gallo – the Rooster – could have been arrested three [...]

LOOK, I can smoke an entire cigarette in one lung full! 
Local government officials in China have been ordered to smoke nearly a quarter of a million packs of cigarettes in a move to boost the local economy during the global financial crisis.
The edict, issued by officials in Hubei province in central China, threatens to fine [...]

My granddaughter, Dez, and I rarely see eye to eye. But we have a relationship where we are heavily dependant upon each other

I’m a bit like film director Robert Zemeckis who co-wrote the screenplay Back to the Future. I notice those little things that have disappeared, fond memories of my chilldhood, like service stations that [...]

 
The financial industry brought the economy to its knees, but how did they get away with it?

Herb Rubenstein, Brent Green, Arjun Sen and Mike Cote at the Startup Junkie Underground
Monday’s Startup Junkie Underground featured ZenMango President Arjun Sen on “Winning Big in a Down Economy.” Sen, bringing experience from retailers including Einstein Bagels and Papa John’s Pizza, began by highlighting the core mantra of his consulting firm: “Guest experience enhancement.” Sen’s [...]

Now you sashimi, but soon you won’t.

Psst! Love your tuna sashimi? Well, eat up because they may not be around much longer. The World Wildlife Fund has a dire report saying that unless current fishing practices are changed, tunas will be wiped out by 2012…

Before ReCycling Try UpCycling

The recyclers are out in force. Whether it’s using a local recycle centre or a council-provided green bin, it’s never been easier to get your household waste processed back into useful raw materials. But that takes energy – and why spend that energy when this “rubbish” can be turned into something useful [...]

 
Smoking takes years off your life and adds dollars to the cost of health care. Yet nonsmokers cost society money, too – by living longer.
It’s an element of the debate over tobacco that some economists and officials find distasteful.

 
A record 4.2% of consumer loans were delinquent at least 30 days
A record number of consumers are falling delinquent or into default on their loans, a problem that some economists say will only get worse this year.

 
Frenchman Dimitri Gauer poses with his invention, the ‘crustacean peeler’
Crisis is the mother of invention, if one believes the bright sparks behind the gizmos, contraptions, novelties and potions at the international inventions exhibition in the Swiss city of Geneva.

Remember the Prius Waiting Lists?
Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past few months, you know that car sales are down. Way down. The light duty vehicle sales stats for March 2009 show a 36.8% drop by volume compared to March 2008, and March 2008 probably didn’t break any records in the first [...]

Waste heat from industries could cut down fossil fuel use  
Tapping waste heat from industries could cut down fossil fuel use and improve efficiency of countless manufacturing processes, says a study.