FREAK Shots: What Does 75 Cents Do?

“I’d rather be lucky than good”-Lefty Gomez   Sometimes, it is easy to spot a lucky guess. When Paul the Octopus, the most famous resident of the Sea Life Centre in Oberhausen, Germany, successfully picked the winner of seven straight FIFA World Cup matches in 2010, few people believed it was due to the cephalopod’s superior football knowledge.  

Nate Anderson at Ars Technica has an excellent writeup of the little dustup between me and Sonny Bunch about whether copyright policy should try to serve the interests of consumers or the interests of incumbent producers. I did want to reply, though, to a criticism Anderson made of my post since the general issue of marginal costs and average costs is something that comes up a lot:

Blog reader Dan Ciruli emailed us this photo from a California cemetery as another candidate for a recession magazine cover: Dan Ciruli It may be prematurely optimistic, but after last week, should it look more like this? If you have a Freak-worthy photo of your own, send it along here.

For one couple’s invention to succeed requires not just a customer base, but also a cultural shift within the dry-cleaning world.

A blog reader named Lee emailed us a photo he took on Highway 86 in Imperial, California. "It made me wonder if [the economy] is really that bad that even dead people will lose their resting places," he writes. "What will they do?

Blog reader Paul Gorbould emailed us this photo from a parking lot at the Joggins Fossil Cliffs on the Bay of Fundy in Nova Scotia, Canada: Photo: Paul Gorbould Gorbould understands the good intent of the spots: The site was recently declared a Unesco World Heritage Site, and it appears to have taken the designation to [...]

At around 231 million percent, Zimbabwe's hyperinflation rate (which we've written about before) is currently the highest in the world. Blog reader Ben Saltsman sent us this photo of a restroom sign in South Africa, which hints at one use for Zimbabwe's severely devalued currency: Photo: Eugine Baron But is it cost-effective for Zimbabweans to use money [...]

Blog reader Abe Mirrashidi sent us this photo of a vending machine at his workplace which has a most unusual pricing scheme. The Cheetos and Doritos in "A0″ and "A2″ sell for $.65, and are identical to the Cheetos and Doritos in "B0″ and "B2," both of which go for $.75.