I hope you know that today is Halloween. If you didn’t, you were probably wonder why that witch of a boss of yours was dressed like an actual witch. Anyway, before you trick or treat (or hand out candy to trick or treaters), check out this handy infographic with some fun stats about Halloween. Did you know that Americans will spend $11.7 billion on Halloween this year? Continue reading
Money
What Happens To Olympic Venues After The Games? (Infographic)
The 2012 Olympics wrapped up last night with the closing ceremonies. To put on two weeks worth of the biggest spectacle in sports cost an estimated $15 billion for operating costs, the venues and infrastructure upgrades. As happens with all major sporting events where new arenas and stadia have been built, the question that arises after the event is what happens to the venues. Some cities have regular events and occupants of their venues. Other stadia stay empty most of the time.
So which are the most successful former Olympic stadia in the world and how good is the return on investment? To find out, we have a handy infographic. Continue reading
How Much Does It Cost To Be Batman and Iron Man? (Infographic)
As awesome as it would be to be Batman or Iron Man, the cost of all those gadgets would bankrupt all but the richest people in the world. The cost of being the two legendary heroes is an estimated $2.3 billion (yes, with a “b”). Fortunately, for Bruce Wayne and Tony Stark, their combined net worths are in excess of $36.6 billion divided between a $7 billion value of Wayne Enterprises, Tony Stark’s $9.3 billion personal net worth and $20.3 billion value of Stark Industries.
For these facts and more information about two of the biggest superheroes on the big screen, we have a handy infographic that crunches the numbers. Continue reading
Sunday Link-Off: Race Day
It’s the greatest day in motorsport today. That’s why today’s linkdump is up early. In a half-hour, it’s the Monaco Grand Prix. That’s followed by the Indianapolis 500 in the afternoon and the Coca-Cola 600 this evening. So before the first green flag of the day wave, here’s American model Alyssa Miller. She seemed an appropriate choice for today. By the way, she’s not on Maxim’s Hot 100 list but Amanda Knox, Lois Griffin and anyone who did a Maxim shoot over the last 24 months or will do one appearing in the next three to six months is on there. What a waste of everybody’s time to acknowledge its existence.
Given the trouble that NCAA athletes seem to get themselves into, programs are using new ways to monitor their charges. They’re now contracting out to a social media monitoring service in order to keep their athletes out of trouble. (Deadspin)
Facebook opened just over a week ago at $38 per share. Now, it’s under $32 per share. How could the opening valuation be so wrong that Facebook has lost 16% of its value in a week? Maybe it’s because the current system is broken. (New Yorker)
The RIAA are fine, upstanding group protecting the interests of musicians. They’re so keen to protect music that they sued Limewire for $72 trillion. (AV Club)
After the jump, why can’t Leafs fans get over the 1993 Western Conference final, some Mass Effect links and wrestlers versus inanimate objects. Continue reading
The World of Lost Cell Phones (Infographic)
Ever lose your cell phone? I think just about everyone has lost their phone (or misplaced it so badly that you think you’ve lost it) at least once. And while we’re all used to Facebook status updates along the lines of “lost my phone at the bar last night fuck!!!” there are lots of places where it’s more common to lose your phone. For that info and more, we have a handy infographic after the jump. Continue reading
The Economics of March Madness (Infographic)
The Final Four of March Madness goes down on Saturday and the final is Monday night. The final will be the 67th game played in the NCAA Men’s Basketball championship tournament over the last three weeks from the first game of the First Four to the final game of the Final Four. Over that time, over $175 million worth of worker productivity was lost.
For more on the dollars and cents of March Madness, we have a handy infographic for you. Continue reading
UWO Releases 2011 Sunshine List
As mandated by the Public Sector Salary Disclosure Act of 1996, you found out what most of your professors got paid for 2011 on Friday. When I went to UWO, this was one of my favourite days too. Learning stuff that doesn’t have too many practical applications in real life (for disclosure’s sake, I was in social sci) is made that much easier by knowing that someday I could teach kids nothing and get well compensated for it. Continue reading
Sunday Link-Off: The Squeeze
I know I should lead off with Yvonne Strahovski but my computer suffered a complete hard drive failure and I lost all my good Strahovski pics. Hopefully Canadian model Kim Cloutier makes up for it.
Is MLB’s drug testing program really random? Blue Jays slugger Jose Bautista was “randomly” tested 16 times over the last two seasons. (Toronto Star)
GQ profiles the unemployed and now bankrupt Terrell Owens. (GQ)
The advent of the internet has really hurt the publishing industry. Among the hardest hit was Esquire which was almost killed off in 2009. Here’s the story of how it survived and bounced back. (New York Times)
After the jump, Kardashian’s next targeted squeeze, a Royal Rumble preview and the best home run derby ever. Continue reading
The Economics of College Bowl Games (Infographic)
Tonight is the BCS National Championship Game between the LSU Tigers and the Alabama Crimson Tide. It will be the first time under the BCS system that two teams that have faced each other in the regular season have done battle in the national championship game.
Why would the BCS replay a game that we’ve already seen and fell asleep watching? For the money. As the following infographic shows, there’s quite a bit of money to be made from bowl games. Continue reading
Man Lab Link-Off: We’re Not Faking It
After a week off, it’s time for the return of the Man Lab’s linkdump to help the modern man. To make up for our absence, here’s Kate Upton.
The latest fad in scientific studies is on the health benefits of sex. Good news: Sex is good for you. Bad news: None of these studies are looking for test subjects in my neck of the woods. (Wall Street Journal)
After the jump, the pros and cons of groping at sports events, money advice for first dates and Kate Upton. Continue reading
The Lowdown 