You know you’re business model is outdated when…
The Onion parodies it:
Historic Blockbuster Store Offers Glimpse Of How Movies Were Rented In The Past
Bringing back the Tasmanian Tiger
Much of the discussion about cloning and stem cell research is focused on bioethics — worries of “frankenfoods”, “designer babies”, the recent bill before British parliament about Cybrids, the ethics of embryonic stem cell research, etc. These are all important and interesting questions, and they’re a big reason, I think, of why shows like Star Trek are so popular — they make us ask big “what if?” questions. Yes, today we don’t have the technology to bring back dinosaurs with genetic technology … but what if?
But rarely do we hear about things which I think very few people will disagree with — using genetic technology to bring back species driven to extinction by human activity. The video below (hat tip: Megan McArdle) describes work by some researchers in Australia who have applied similar technology to that used in in vitro fertilization procedures to use Tasmanian Tiger DNA to re-create the entire animal.
There are still probably many scientific kinks to deal with before we can really claim we are bringing back the Tasmanian Tiger (i.e. dealing with the lack of epigenetic regulation — biological information that is written not in the DNA itself but “on top of” the DNA, dealing with finding a surrogate mother, dealing with, probably, the lack of population size to overcome in-breeding/founder effects, etc.), but it’s still very cool and very exciting.
Citizen’s arrest
Fact 1: We are facing tough economic times. Fact 2: When people are facing tough economic times they look for other sources of income. Fact 3: Police tips are a source of additional income.
Conclusion: We are probably seeing an increase in police tips right now.
The New York Times has a fascinating article about this (hat tip: Marginal Revolutions):
Cities and towns from Detroit to Omaha to Beaufort County, N.C., all report increases of 25 percent or more in the first quarter, with tipsters telling operators they need the money.
Are we sure it’s not a rise in generosity?
Some coordinators suggest that rising crime rates might be driving up the number of tips. But in Jackson, Tenn., Sgt. Mike Johnson said his call volume had gone from 2-3 a day to 8-9. He theorized that rising crime there was not a factor because the program advertises steadily regardless of trends. “People just need money,” Sergeant Johnson said.
Jim Cogan, director of the Silicon Valley Crime Stoppers program in California, said most of the rewards offered by his program used to go unclaimed. But with large numbers of foreclosures and heavy job losses, Mr. Cogan said, “now we’re seeing rewards get picked up right away and our tipsters being frustrated when tips aren’t available as quickly as they need the money.”
Yeah, pretty sure. Actually, sounds like this could be quite lucrative, doesn’t it?
Some people have made a cottage industry of calling in tips. Although repeat callers do not give their names, operators recognize their voices.
“We have people out there that, realistically, this could be their job,” said Sgt. Zachary Self, who answers Crime Stoppers calls for the Macon Police Department.
“Two or three arrests per week, you could make $700, $750 per week,” Sergeant Self said. “You could make better than a minimum-wage job.”
Which then raises the issue that my consultant mind likes to ponder — could this be a viable business model? Or at least a viable non-profit initiative? This could be the libertarian’s compromise — a private police/investigation group, but not officially deputized and lacking the authority to make arrests or use force that the official police has. This way, the private group becomes like a consultancy — providing advice and tips on solving crimes, helping to gather and share information, etc — and a link between the police and the community.
I haven’t fully thought this through, but this is how I see it working:
- Retaining an “expert group” of criminologists and sociologists who follow crime and drugs and gang activity to provide analytical horsepower to provide investigation/profiling consulting services
- Designing a database and IT infrastructure to provide readily accessible information to police departments around the country
- Becoming an intermediary between police department rewards and the people who report them — the group would need marketing specialists and people who are good at building social networks and community advocacy to reach out and encourage members of communities to phone in tips. In return, the business will handle timely payments, payment schemes (e.g. incentives to improve quality), and the filtering of information to make sure only the most useful information makes it to the police’s desk
- Retaining a group of “professional” tip-gatherers equipped with better tools and training
- Implementing policies to make sure that local government officials are involved as oversight to guarantee transparency
The payment scheme could be simple — the company could charge a group of police departments an annual fee for access to the database, a small finder’s fee (1-2%) for each tip that contributes to the solving of a crime, and a fee for any consulting services that the firm is hired to do.
In terms of setting up the business, I see two big hurdles that need to be crossed. The first is establishing trust in the quality of the service. This is something that depends greatly on the caliber of the individuals involved and the database. This would represent a significant upfront investment, but could be justified as I suspect the activities being pursued are fairly profitable (low variable cost, so as long as the service is good, the group can cover its costs) and police departments should be excited to be increasing the quality of their service to the community.
The second is establishing trust in the integrity of the service — one doesn’t want this to be run by the mob or a corrupt agency. This is something that depends highly on the transparency policies involved, and is one reason I think that it would work best if a group of police departments were involved — it’s much more difficult to corrupt an organization with background checks and oversight from 5 or more police departments and citizen/government groups.
Bad boys bad boys — what you gonna do? What you gonna do when a non-official network of informants snitches on you?
You know you’re a consulting firm partner when…
United Airlines writes you a letter telling you that you’re one of their top 30 fliers — worldwide.
What is this referring to? A partner at our firm who has been helping the firm set up offices across Asia and Australia!
Fashionable Superheroes
Who said comic book superheroes were just for geeks?
The NYTimes has an interesting article (hat tip: JZG) New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art new exhibit on comic book costumes and their significance in the fashion world. The exhibit supposedly has plenty of classic costumes (e.g. one of those worn by Lynda Carter in the old-school Wonder Woman show, Tobey Maguire’s Spiderman costume, etc.)
Skeptical? So am I. But, it makes sense. Comicbook super heroes are a form of escapism involving roleplaying, violence, and barely hidden sexuality. What the heck do you think fashion is about?
I’d like to hear from anyone who’s actually been to the exhibit how it is though. Anybody?
Redacted
Business Context:
AMD wants to sue Intel for anti-competitive behavior. AMD’s argument is that Intel has used its market leadership to exert unfair influence on customers to force AMD out of the market. Intel retorts that it is simply making better products.
Legal Context:
To bring this dispute to trial, AMD needs to file certain papers with the courts. Due to the sensitive nature of the subject (internal Intel and OEM documents may reveal technical or strategic secrets), much of the paperwork has been blacked out (or “redacted”, if you want to use that smart lawyer vocabulary).
The Humor:
Uh oh — you’ve been redacted.
Indeed. That is clearly what the lawsuit is all about.
(Source: The Register)