Why Great Wine Offers Lousy Returns
Written by Barron's Most Emailed TodayGrowing up in Alexandria, a small town in Louisiana, the closest thing to wine in my house was Old Crow bourbon, a distillate that would melt the tar on roads. I discovered wine with my wife, Darlene. We couldn't afford Scotch or bourbon, which were the social beverages of the moment at Louisiana State University, so we drank wine as an affordable
The Latest in Royal Oak Watches
Written by Barron's Most Emailed TodayIn these tough times, it's wise to remember that some of the world's most innovative products were wrung from companies facing near-certain extinction. The Royal Oak watch made by Switzerland's Audemars Piguet is a case in point.
Both Switzerland and Japan came to the market within months of each other at the start of 1970 with the world's first
...Pregnant males and pseudopenises: complex sex in the animal kingdom ars technica
Crows Hold Grudges in Humanlike Fashion LiveScience
The Salton Sea: Death and Politics in the Great American Water War s Wired (Lambert). A must read.
The Next Industrial Revolution Starts in this 20-foot Shipping Container Gizmodo
My Life as a TaskRabbit BusinessWeek
UPDATE 3-Syria envoy meets Assad, says conflict is global threat
Written by Reuters: Company NewsEspresso Book Machine - Barrons.com
Written by Barron's Most Emailed TodaySheets of paper whiz through a zigzag of conveyor belts as the Espresso Book Machine prints and stacks pages; a robotic arm grabs them, applies glue to the spine, and presses it down on the custom-printed cover. Through windows in the side of the machine, I watch the book move into another chamber where it is trimmed, and ...
...How to Duck the New Health-Care Taxes
Written by Barron's Most Emailed TodayBasing investment decisions on forecasted tax changes is about as surefire a strategy as asking the Ouija board for stock tips. But whether the Bush tax cuts are allowed to expire on schedule or a compromise is found, it's all but certain that tax hikes included in the health-care-reform law will start affecting high earners on Jan. 1.
The law
...When the Chinese microblogging service Weibo made its debut in 2009, people thought it was just a clone of Twitter. Three years later and with 300 million registered users, Weibo has proved to everybody that it's way more than just a copycat: It has become an integral part of life for a big percentage of the Chinese population. It matters to
...It may be time to give your portfolio an Ivy League education. The giant, broadly diversified endowments of Harvard, Yale, and several other big universities have handily outpaced the stock market over the past 20 years, and now wealthy individuals can get in on similar styles of investing.
While Harvard and Yale don't take outside money, a group