to top

The Baby Name Map [Google Maps]

Check out the Baby Name Map to find out which names are most popular in your state (or country), all conveniently laid out on a Google Map. What's interesting is that many of the most popular names seem to have no state or country boundaries, which wouldn't have been the case just 50 years ago with limited media and mass communication channels. I think that J, whose primary requirement in choosing baby names was not to know anyone in real life with that name, would be happy to find out that the name we chose for our girl does not seem to be very popular at the moment. Neither the first nor middle name made it to the top 100 in...

Continue reading

What Credit Card Agreements Should Look Like

Branding expert Alan Siegel has designed a model credit card agreement that is only one page long, is easy to understand, and communicates everything that the average user would need to know about their credit card. As such, "It therefore has no chance of coming to life" according to The Consumerist and I must sadly agree. See TED to view Siegel's talk, which calls for a simple, sensible redesign of tax forms, credit agreements, healthcare legislation, etc to make legal paperwork intelligible to the rest of us. ...

Continue reading

$250k Doesn’t Get You Far in Manhattan

I always said that a six-figure salary doesn't mean much in Manhattan — it seems like everywhere I turn I run into 26-year-olds making at least $150k a year, or people younger than me buying $1.2 million apartments. (And yes, these are real example of my friends and acquaintances!) According to the White House, the $250k salary is the mark of wealth in the U.S. However, it is obvious when taking into account cities like New York that $250k does not have the same effect in different parts of the country. CNNMoney has compiled a Google Map to show just that — in Manhattan, you would need to make $545k/year to maintain the same lifestyle as someone making $250k/year living in...

Continue reading