Month: March 2007

Super Foods

In trying to get fit, I’ve been paying closer attention to what I eat and drink. Here’s a list of super foods that I should probably incorporate into my diet:

* Beans
* Blueberries
* Broccoli
* Oats
* Oranges
* Pumpkin
* Salmon
* Soy
* Spinach
* Tea
* Tomatoes
* Turkey
* Walnuts
* Yogurt

For help using these foods in a meal, try Google’s Base Recipe suggestions. Insert the ingredients you wish to you and it will suggest meals. Or, alternatively go to Allrecipes.com.

Ballpark Location

Alex Reisner has made the observation that baseball parks are built differently depending on whether they are located in an urban or rural area. Further:

Professional baseball teams must play in places where fans can go to see them. Before the 1950s this meant that they played in cities where the population was dense and public transportation available. In the 1950s, however, as cars became affordable and good roads the rule rather than the exception, the growing class of car owners began to move to the suburbs. It was no longer necessary to locate a ballpark in the city, and it became common practice to build on the outskirts where land was cheaper, parking safer, zoning rules more lax, and events generally less disruptive.

He notes that ballparks built after 1960 when personal transportation was more widely used are more symetrical and larger, while the shape of ballparks built before that time are often irregular and smaller so they fit into a city center. Look at the New York Mets’ Shea Staduim on the left and the Boston Red Sox Fenway Park on the right below.

The Economics of Beanie Babies

Here’s an interesting passage from Ty, Inc. v. Publications Int’l, Ltd., a case I recently read in Introduction to Intellectual Property. The case is concerning whether Publications Int’l is violating Ty’s copyright by publishing books with images of Ty’s Beanie Babies. The description of Ty’s marketing strategy is used to set up the differences and similarities between children’s and collectors’ approach.

As a marketing gimmick, Ty deliberately creates a shortage in each Beanie Baby by selling it at a very low price and not producing enough copies to clear the market at that price. As a result, a secondary market is created, just like the secondary market in works of art. The secondary market gives widespread publicity to Beanie Babies, and the shortage that creates the secondary market stampedes children into nagging their parents to buy them the latest Beanie Babies, lest they be humiliated by not possessing the Beanie Babies that their peers possess. The appeal is to the competitive conformity of children – but also to the mentality of collectors.

As far as I’m concerned, the best use for Beanie Babies was to wipe the dust off computer and TV screens.

On Being Home

I’ve been home for less than a week, and already I’m gong nuts. I walk around looking in cupboards, around corners, and outside. I’ve managed to take a doorknob off, but replacing it has been asking a bit too much at the moment. It’s weird to experience such a drop-off in mental tasking from 2+ weeks of law school finals to loafing. The down time is good, but I need to make / build / do something sooooon.