The Cry Baby is on sabbatical ....

Thursday, March 10, 2011

Graphic: U.S. has the highest incarceration rate in the world


Intuitively, you would think countries like China would have the highest rates of incarceration, however, the U.S.  takes the lead role in this race with a rate of 743 per 100,000 people. China's rate: 120. Even evil empire state Iran's rate is significantly lower at 222. The rates can be skewed with definitions of incarceration (people can be "detained") and medieval punishment practices, such as poking out eyes, cutting off hands and stoning, yet given Canada's rate of 117 per 100,000, you realize something is very seriously wrong. Have a look at this excellent graphic by GOOD.is

If you had bought 100 shares of Microsoft from their IPO 25 years ago ...


If you had the hindsight to have purchased 100 Microsoft shares at the $21 IPO price March 13, 1986,  and sat on the investment for 25 years, it would have ballooned into 28,800 shares after  nine stock splits and be worth about three quarters of a million dollars today. Then again had you sold on Dec. 1, 1999, when Microsoft's stock price reached its peak, you would have taken in $1.4 million. Could have, should have ..... Read more on Networkworld.

http://www.networkworld.com

Liverpool riots over the lad from Canada – Justin Bieber


Man, you would think this was all for the Beatles or someone real important. Turns out it's only Bieber-mania!

Dating site for the ugly


Maybe Lavalife didn't work out for you. Nor Match.com. Well, this dating site might be just the thing for you: theuglybugball.com From the site: "If you are one of the millions of people that don’t always like what they see in the mirror, then this is the place for you!" This may be the ugly truth, but the site actually scares me a little. As an veteran of online dating I can tell you first-hand that you don't always get what you see online, but I think I would rather take that risk than using a site where you know what you're getting is, well, too real!

Spider Man comic sells for staggering $1.1 million


A comic book collector has paid an amazing $1.1 million for a near-mint quality copy of "Amazing Fantasy" No. 15 which features the debut of Spider Man. The issue was published in 1962 and sold for 10¢. Despite the high price, this is not the record for a comic book sale. That  honour goes to "Action Comics" No. 1 with Superman on the cover, which sold for a cool $1.5 million. Read more here in the Huffington Post.



 

Colour 3-D photos of San Francisco after 1906 earthquake


These may well be the first colour photographs of San Francisco, but amazingly they are 3-D as well. They were created by photographer Frederick Eugene Ives. Ives was an inventor, best known for inventing the half-tone printing process, but spent most us his life unsuccessfully trying to develop a commercial colour printing process. Anthony Brooks, a volunteer at the National Museum of American History discovered the images and wrote about them in his blog post.

Photos: How twenty celebrities have changed with age


We all age (except for Dick Clarke). It's especially interesting how the faces we see on TV and in the movies change with time. Unreality.com has put together this great combo package of celebs now and as kids. Here's a few of the pics, click here to see the rest.