On New Years Day 2009 I wrote a brief post linking my favorite news stories from the previous year.  Nothing beats an epic tale, so I’ve decided to publish it again and continue the tradition.  Without further ado, here are my favorite stories from 2009:

1) Somali Pirates Again

Last week, according to the pirates and maritime officials in Kenya, the ship’s owners finally paid $3.2 million — in cash, dropped by parachute — to free the Faina and a day later the last of the heavily armed pirates made their way off the ship.

2) Colombia Confronts Drug Lord’s Legacy: Hippos

Doraldald, Colombia — Even in Colombia, a country known for its paramilitary death squads, this hunting party stood out: more than a dozen soldiers from a Colombian Army battalion, two Porsche salesmen armed with long-range rifles, their assistant, and a taxidermist.

They stalked Pepe through the backlands of Colombia for three days in June…

3) Metro Bus Driver Takes a Bite Out of McGruff the Crime Dog

The bus driver, 38-year-old Shawn Brim, climbed out of the bus, adjusted both sideview mirrors and then slugged McGruff in the face with his closed fist, according to a police report. Because the huge McGruff head offered little visibility, Hardy didn’t see the punch coming, one officer said.

4) Man with Cocaine-Filled Chicken Busted at Dulles

Chicken a la cocaine?

Federal officials said Friday that was on the menu after a man tried to pass through customs at Dulles International Airport last week carrying a fully cooked chicken. It turned out the bird was stuffed with the drugs, they said.

“It’s the Thanksgiving holiday, and this guy is bringing in a chicken. You’d expect a turkey,” said Steve Sapp, a spokesman for U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

5)  Miles for Nothing: How the Government Helped Frequent Fliers Make a Mint

At least several hundred mile-junkies discovered that a free shipping offer on presidential and Native American $1 coins, sold at face value by the U.S. Mint, amounted to printing free frequent-flier miles. Mileage lovers ordered more than $1 million in coins until the Mint started identifying them and cutting them off.

Coin buyers charged the purchases, sold in boxes of 250 coins, to a credit card that offers frequent-flier mile awards, then took the shipments straight to the bank. They then used the coins they deposited to pay their credit-card bills. Their only cost: the car trip to make the deposit.

I hope everyone has a happy new year!

The Story

This past weekend I finally took the time to try out the new S street dog park. I don’t have a dog and I’ve steered clear of the park since it opened a few months ago out of general annoyance of the smell omitted (despite fancy K9 grass), noise created and frustration with the $552,700.51 spent on it.  However, after voicing my complaints I realized I never actually went into the park. Turns out, it’s full of very friendly owners and incredibly happy pooches. After watching some cute dogs eagerly lap up some water from the water fountain specially designed for dogs, I felt like the Grinch watching all the happy creatures down in Whoville. My small heart grew three sizes that day.

I knew there would be some photo opportunities, so I brought my new camera and the rest of this week will be devoted to the dogs I saw.

The Controversy

The space for the current dog park at S and New Hampshire and 17th Street was always a dog park.  At some point there may have been people who ventured over there, but only if you enjoyed a dirt patch covered in large amounts of dog remnants. The dog owner community was lobbying and signing petitions for a fully outfitted park since early the early 2000s.  After a number of community meetings, the park was eventually approved and designs were submitted.  Even in these early meetings, a number of concerns were raised.  Here are some bullet points from the preliminary application [PDF link]:

Community concerns around the use of S Street Park as a dog park have been extensively discussed since public forums were held on the matter in 2005.

The primary concerns against the dog park involved excessive barking, late- night use, and environmental impact. In each case, the same laws that apply to human use of public parks can be applied and enforced by the dog community at large as well as public enforcement.

The designs were made, approved and the park broke ground this past summer.  However, since the park opened to much fan fare, the controversies have risen again.  According to the DC Government’s Dog Park Rules and Legislation FAQ, there is “a maximum of 30 dogs per 10,000 square feet may be in a park at one time.”  If you look up the specifics on the S street park, it is 5,600 square feet and should be limited to around 15 dogs at a time.  This is rarely observed.  On beautiful days, like this past Sunday, upwards of 30 dogs are crammed into the tiny park.  While it is usually quiet, dog fights quickly escalate and turn into a cacophony of barks and yelps, much to the dismay of anyone living nearby.  A petition went out recently in the neighborhood, asking for police enforcement of the 15 dog limit, but clearly this is a stupid use of city resources (which the park itself may also qualify under).

Most recently, someone dug up a quote from Obama about stimulus money not going to projects like dog parks, drawing attention to the massive Recovery sign at the front of the park.  Here are Obama’s words from the National Conference of State Legislatures in March 2009:

Now, no plan is perfect. And I can’t stand here and promise you that not one single dollar will slip through the cracks. But what I can promise you is that we will do everything in our power to prevent that from happening, which is why we’re building on the provisions in the Recovery Act to forbid the use of these funds to build things like dog parks.

Now, let me be clear. I don’t have anything against dog parks. [Laughter] I intend to get a dog. [Laughter] What I do oppose is building them with funds from the Recovery Act, because that’s not how we’ll jumpstart job creation, and that’s not how we’ll put our economy on a firmer footing for the future.

It’s certainly a great find for any investigative reporter and the huge sign stands in stark contrast to the quote.  It is outrageous that stimulus money went to this dog park for upper middle class yuppies, but when I tried to track down the Recovery contract I found it didn’t exist (or just as likely, wasn’t in the system).  Here is what I found on Recovery.gov:

No matter where your opinion falls, I think we can all agree that some cute dog pictures will be a welcome change to this long winded post.

Over this past week I was fortunate enough to be in Washington DC for the inauguration of Barack Obama. For the few days I was home I was able to experience crowds and general good cheer on a level I’ve never seen. The reasoning was behind my excitement at attending were not just to witness the historic event, but to be amongst the diverse crowds during such a unifying moment.

One of the more powerful moments of the weekend was during a hurried walk home from the concert at the Lincoln memorial. Like every large event I’ve attended in DC, there tend to be splinter groups that piggyback on the intentions of the protest or, in this case, celebration. Often this involves a group of anarchists who cause a ruckus until the police crack down, but occasionally a small group or single individual with a sign is able to become the center of attention. On 19th street, near the Corcoran, a group similar to the Westboro Baptist Church had set up a series of signs proclaiming “God Hates Homos.”  Obviously this message ran counter to the spirit of the week’s events and riled up the crowd.  Some had gathered around them, taking photos and trying to engage in a fruitless argument.  As I approached the scene, someone in front of me began chanting, “Stop the hate!” over and over.  It quickly caught on and soon the hundreds of people passing this small hate-filled group were joined in a chorus, all smiling that they had overcome the negative message on the street.

It was moments like this that stuck me most, and I was fortunate enough to enjoy the event in the company of family and close friends.  It is in this spirit that I am dedicated a week or more to the photos I took during this past week.  Enjoy.

I’m not one for New Year’s Resolutions, but I do love a ripping good yarn. To start off 2009, here are the three news stories that I found most interesting from 2008 (excluding all of the coverage and excitement for Obama of course).  Each nomination is followed by a brief excerpt to further entice you.

3) Chinese Attempts to Conceal Rampant Pollution (and its failure)

Although they possess the world’s largest weather modification program, the Chinese point to the Russians as being the most advanced. In 1986, Russian scientists deployed cloud-seeding measures to prevent radioactive rain from Chernobyl from reaching Moscow, and in 2000 they cleared clouds before an anniversary ceremony commemorating the end of World War II; China’s then president, Jiang Zemin, witnessed the results firsthand and pushed to adopt the same approach back home.

2) The Story of the Wax Cartel (and the $900 million fine) (also notable for the best supervillain name of 2008: Tibor Toth)

Most cartels operate in secrecy, destroying documents, encrypting e-mail messages or using prepaid phone cards to erase communication traces. But the paraffin cartel was rare in that some members kept minutes, and attendance lists. Cartel members e-mailed invitations and sought R.S.V.P.’s. They booked each other’s rooms and played host to open bars.

1) Somali Pirates (and its many tales)

When asked why the pirates needed $20 million to protect themselves from hunger, Mr. Sugule laughed and said, “Because we have a lot of men.”

I can’t wait to see what great stories will come out of 2009, hopefully some news a little more positive than the last.

I normally wouldn’t write publicly about financial decisions, but given the type of internet mutualistic relationship I have with my blog visitors, I can see no harm in doing so.  The recent financial crisis sucks for a lot of people, but a friend of mine recently convinced me to start investing after he made a $10 investment in Fannie Mae when it hit 35 cents a share. First I followed suit and got some money in Fannie Mae, right as the bailout was being discussed, and then I bought up some Royal Bank of Scotland when it hit the lowest point in decades and another European bailout was in the works.  I based my thinking on long term strategies backed by government guarantee, sure the banking industry is in a terrible fix right now, but these massive companies aren’t going to completely fail, right? (Weak laugh).

I talked things over with others and learned that my style of investing was lovingly known as “Bottom Feeding” as I was taking advantage of the suffering of other investors.  Actually, with some more research, and an incredible article by Warren Buffett I learned my recent investing strategy is known as contrarian investing.  Buoyed by this outlook, I continued my research and came to the conclusion that I should be investing in companies that represent my values rather than simply the seemingly smart financial plays I’d made earlier.  I started looking at name brands that I knew, but my retail experiences didn’t seem to mesh with professional analysis.  Continuing my search, I’ve proudly settled on a theory of socially responsible investing.

Without going into my extensive political beliefs, I was rather shocked at some of the arguments made during the election season with regards to energy.  I am wholly dissatisfied with the pollutant output of most energy sources and I am firmly resolved on the change clean energy can usher in.  You can make economic arguments for job creation, but forcing a backwards energy technology would simply prolong the negative effects of the industry.  I am mostly referring to coal and the ludicrously labeled “Clean Coal.”  Some have argued for nuclear as a long term solution, but this fails to recognize the incredible investment of money and time required to get a single plant online.  Solar, to me, represents an increasingly efficient technology that can bring the systemic change the world needs.  There are not transportation costs, power is generated on site and storage (though rather lackluster now) is removed from the electrical circuit.  No drilling in foreign or domestic lands, no shipping, no Yucca mountain expansion, no blackouts.  It could be a simple societal process dictated by technology that is anything but simple.

Given my beliefs I embarked on a long project to track down a solar company that also represented a sound investment.  After compiling a short list I tracked the progress of each company over the course of about three weeks.  For those curious, my final four were First Solar, JA Solar Holdings, ReneSola and the SunPower Corporation.  After tracking the fluctuation and finding a balance of market cap and the business model I decided on the SunPower Corporation.  Yesterday I invested my most recent blog writing earnings in this large solar energy company that is vertically integrated.  How I fare in the market recovery hinges on the prospect that solar energy offers.

Although solidly profitable, the stock prices for these companies have plummeted just like all the others on Wall St. However that means they are terrific investment opportunities even if their earnings decline due to slowing economies and the credit crisis, he said.

[via A Green Lining in Market Meltdown]

Throughout the international financial crisis I remain optimistic as history has proven that humanity endures and progresses due to the work invested in positive movements.  But as always, this is just my two cents (hopefully worth more soon).

Over the summer I wrote about an iPhone application that I thought was a fun, simple and innovative idea.  It took the traditional handshake and business card exchange ceremony into the 21st century.  Granted, it was completely limited to the iPhone, but like all good ideas, it would have easily spread to other devices.  I could never really see myself taking advantage of this technology when it was proposed as it’d involve the assumption that both individuals had iPhones and the required software, but my interest was on the concept rather than immediate implementation.  Now, after checking the site for release, I learned of an unknown competitor releasing the same concept before the original company got theirs off the ground.  In addition to capturing the market, this other company is offering it for free.

This situation raised questions of the changing environment of copyrights in a prolific market of computer applications as well as the dangers of previews.  Thanks to widespread coding knowledge, innovative applications can be recreated and even improved upon before the original is even brought to the market.  Beyond slight changes in GUIs, it has become a crowded competition of principles that ultimately benefits the consumer by driving down cost (or in this case eliminating it altogether).

In a letter to Isaac McPherson on copyrights and invention, Thomas Jefferson stated, “It is the principle…which constitutes the invention, not the form…nor the manner…nor the material.”  While this rather outdated reflection (August 13, 1813) doesn’t have much resonance on the market today, it was an intellectual argument at the fundamentals of copyright law.  I find it compelling that even amongst the rapid competition for innovative applications, companies are willing to showcase unreleased software.  Odds are it has a lot to with generating positive publicity for their soon-to-be-released products, but it clearly is a risk as Tapulous lost big time with their iPhone contact exchange application gamble.  The fundamentals of software competition are strong, even if the benefits may be lacking.

What happened to MegaSex I?  Did it sink?  This picture was taken in Lisbon and I thought it was a comically bad name for a business. However, I’ve found that the name of a business doesn’t really matter if you have a solid business strategy.  Recently I’ve been doing some absent-minded thinking on the variety of modern business models. I will not profess that I have any professional experience or even any knowledge on the subject, but most of the time business models seem like common sense. If you create something of value, design a framework that keeps people interested, makes you money and does it all without alienating the fans.  Here is a sampling of business models that I’ve noticed in the past week.

The Good Model: Hulu
Hulu is a relatively new website that takes copyrighted material like TV shows and movies, uploads them on to the internet and provides them to the public for free. This concept is not new at all, illicit and freely available piracy sites come and go daily. What sets Hulu apart is that it’s legal and even encouraged by the copyright holders.  Unlike sites like YouTube that scrambled to make videos profitable, Hulu formulated a model and stuck to it as the traffic poured in (but it is important to note they had $100 million in venture capital backing them).  Short video ads are interspersed with the vast amount of content to make money and scale based on the length of each clip, episode or feature film.  I hate advertising as much as the next person, but when it’s a 15 second break between the Daily Show in HD, I will gladly endure.  I see this as the future of television, I just hope they can keep it as profitable and smooth as it seems now.

The Bad Model: Remember the Milk
What makes me sad about this business model is that I love this little web application.  It’s a simple idea of an online to do list to aid forgetful people in everyday mistakes, like remembering the milk.  It has a heartwarming story and is run by some nice playful people, but they have a truly crummy model when it comes to making a profit.  The photo on the right is taken from their website and is the explanation of why users should sign up for a “Pro” account.  Many sites have this approach (Flickr, gmail, etc), but Remember the Milk cuts the basic services and forces you to pay for them instead of adding new features.  Let me explain further.  Gmail and Flickr add the storage space available to you.  They implemented this by keeping the great free services consistent and just adding these features under a new account header that appeals to heavy users.  Remember the Milk took the basic concept of a to do list and ported it onto phones, but than revoked those features and slapped on a ludicriously high $25 a year price tag.  I say ludicrously high because on principle, a to do list should not have a subscription based business model.  This is software, that could even be implimented offline, not a service that requires continued fees.  ISPs, cable and phone companies all have legitimate reasons to have continued fees (don’t get me started on text messages, I could rant about that for a while).  The bottom line is that Remember the Milk is a poor excuse for the Freemium business model because they have yet to impliment premium features worthy of their price tag.

Last Word: It’s hard for me to judge these businesses when I’m pouring myself into a blog that isn’t ad supported and is mostly a drain on my free time and money.  Luckily, I enjoy doing this and I do it for my own satisfaction (which is why I took a month to tell anyone it even existed), but if I come up with a simple business model, who am I to turn it down.  In the meantime I’ll be waiting for the right job offer, partnership or other opportunity to come my way.