Gas Prices

I recently read an article, which stated that gasoline only cost 45 cents a gallon in Saudi Arabia, 33 cents a gallon in Iran and less than a quarter in Venezuela. These prices are extremely low compared to what we pay here in America partly because of the cost of living, but mainly because of the government subsidies. Many countries around the world have some government subsidy; and this is why they par far less than we pay. In America gasoline prices are over three dollars and are expected to reach four dollars by summer time. As gas prices continue to skyrocket the demand stays the same. People need gas to commute to work everyday, so of course the demand is going to always stay the same. In the article they said that the cost per barrel of oil went from sixty to eighty dollars and there was no change in demand. The only way that prices will go down is when the demand goes down. I suspect that this wont happen for a long time and prices will continue to rise, and people will continue paying high prices, including me.

Salmon and Coffee

I recently came across an article that was titled “Salmon and Coffee – for Ultimate Brain Power”, which discussed how certain foods and drinks can sharpen our memory. A study, which included more than 3000 men and women, was conducted at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago and researchers found that fish can help prevent memory loss. The study showed that “people who ate fish at least once a week had a 10 percent slower decline compared with those who did not eat fish”. This is because of the omega-3 fatty acids which are the good fats found in fish. The article mentioned that some of the best foods for omega-3 are salmon, anchovies, rainbow trout, pacific oysters, flaxseed, walnuts, canola oil and soybeans. The article then started to discuss the affects that coffee has on your memory. A study was done at the University of Innsbruck in Austria, which used functional magnetic resonance imaging, or fMRI, to examine brain activity of people working on a memory task while drinking coffee, and while not drinking coffee. The study showed that caffeine drastically improved the memory skills of those people that drank coffee. I thought that the article was interesting and provided information that can help us all improve our memory.

Bottled Water vs. Tap Water

When I went online today, an article titled Is bottled water really better than tap? caught my attention. In the article the author states that bottled water "isn't necessarily healthier or safer than tap water". The author said that a test was done on 1,000 bottles of 103 different brands of bottled water, and that in the water they found man made chemicals, bacteria, and arsenic in 22 percent of the bottles. The author of the article also says that “twenty five percent of all bottled water is repackaged tap water”. It is true that there is also the same chance for these chemicals to show up in your tap water coming from your faucet; however, when you buy bottled water you don’t expect this. The author of the article says that “an estimated 60 to 70 percent of all bottled water in the U.S. is packaged and sold in the same state, which exempts it from FDA regulation” and that “1 in 5 states do not regulate that bottled water”. The author makes some interesting points in the article, but I still think that bottled water is still probably safer than tap water. I also think that bottled water is convenient, which is why so many people drink bottled water every day.

New World Record

When I went online today there was a news article, which caught my attention. The article describes a Japanese musician who played the piano for 184 hours non-stop. Initially I did not think about how long 184 hours really was, but when I did the math and found out that this translated to nine days; I was completely surprised. The musician was able to overcome fatigue for these nine days and break a new world record. Music from the concert included various arrangements including some of The Beetles and traditional Japanese music. I am amazed that this can even be done. I get tired from being awake for 15 hours, and for a pianist to play music for 184 hours seems almost impossible. The previous record on file was done in Canada, which lasted 182 hours. The concert began March 23 and ended March 31st and various musicians came to see the performance. During the performance there was a magnitude 6.9 earthquake which, shook the stage, while she was playing, but this didn’t stop her from breaking the world record.

Test Taking

In college there are always tests to be taken, and if you are taking many classes it can be hard to study for all of the tests. Today I had three tests to take and had to study the material in each class. After taking the tests I realized how hard it was and thought that I would try to find test taking strategies to help me better prepare for finals. I came across several websites, which emphasized that it is not a good idea to cram. I personally try to study for a week before the exams; however when you have to take several tests in one day you sort of have to cram. Here are some test taking strategies that I found:

Plan reviews as part of your regularly weekly study schedule; consequently, you review over the whole quarter rather than just at exam time.

Reviews are much more than reading and rereading all assignments. You need to read over your lecture notes and ask yourself questions on the material you don't know well.

Review for several short periods rather than one long period. You will find that you retain information better and get less fatigued.

Turn the main points of each topic or heading into questions and check to see if the answers come to you quickly and correctly. Try to predict examination questions; then outline your answers.

It may seem "old-fashioned", but flashcards may be a helpful way to review in courses that have many unfamiliar terms. Review the card in random order using only those terms that you have difficulty remembering.

I found this information at:
(http://www.d.umn.edu/kmc/student/loon/acad/strat/test_take.html)

I think that these kind of test taking skills are usefull and I am definitely going to use them for future tests!

Ford to Sell Aston Martin

Ford Motor Company, which owns Aston Martin, has been debating whether or not to sell the luxury car to another company since August. As gas prices continue to rise and as Ford motor company continues to try and restructure the company, the sale of the Aston Marin seems most logical to the company. Ford will be selling the British car maker, Aston Martin, for 925 million dollars. Ford suspects that the sale of Aston Martin will allow them to reach their objective of “restructuring the company to operate profitably at lower volumes”, according to the article. Ford is still in the process of closing plants and cutting jobs. By selling Aston Martin Ford will be able to begin speeding up the developing new products and after the sale Ford will still retain forty million pounds in the company. Will see if this was the right move for Ford Motor Company soon enough!

Sirius and XM merger

Yesterday, in my marketing class, we discussed an article that was printed in the wall street journal. The article discussed a possible merger of Sirius and XM radio. The merger is estimated at 11.4 billion dollars and would be structured as a fifty-fifty merger, with CEO of Sirius, Mel Karmazin, to serve as the CEO of the company after the merger. The satellite radio industry began in 1997, but just recently has been growing and both companies both have debts, which combined amount to 2.3 billion dollars. The federal communications commission, FCC, says that the companies can not merge because these two companies are the only companies to offer satellite radio in the United States, which would make the satellite company a monopoly after the merger. There is debate whether or not the merger will happen and if they would legally be able to merge the two companies. Both companies are in debt because of the high startup costs involved, however they may believe that without competition they can begin making profits. We discussed, in class, the reason the satellite companies will or will not succeed. Satellite radio charges 12.95 per month and is coming standard in new vehicles, but they are competing against free radio. It all depends on what people want. Satellite radio has more stations, it is uncensored, and no advertisements when listening to music. It is unclear whether or not the merger will go through and for how long until the satellite companies actually start making profits. Only time will tell!