Marginal Revolution

RateMyCop.com

Inspired by the many Web sites that allow users to rate their teachers, their doctors, even their neighbors, a couple from Culver City have created one that allows people to rate police officers and sheriff’s deputies across the country.

Here is the link.  Here is the site.  I don't see any ratings for "hotness"; I guess that is only for the professors.  There do seem to be more positive reviews than negative ones.  I would on net expect this site to make the world a nicer, freer place, given the benefit of the doubt that abusive cops receive from the system.  I also believe this is the beginning of a much wider trend...what will be the next profession to be rated?

Scream it from the Rooftops

Shark's Fin and Sichuan Pepper: A Sweet-Sour Memoir of Eating in China, by Fuchsia Dunlop, due out in mid-April.

She is one of the writers I revere most.  And yes, I know she is usually a cookbook writer, but I do mean her writing, not just her recipes.  The more general point is you should expect to see many of the best writers, today, in new media and genres, not in the old.  I saw notice of this, by the way, in the vastly superior to almost anything else London Review of Books.

Trading in space

Money has no value in space. When seven astronauts are living together in a cramped atmosphere the psychology of small isolated groups kicks in. Whoever has squirreled away the most M&Ms, tortillas or coffee has the most bargaining power. Those are items that are most prized at the end of a mission if someone runs short in their own stash. Astronauts' meals are color coded on shuttle missions -- and reliable sources tell ABC News some astronauts aren't above switching the colored dots on their dehydrated meals if they have run out of say, lasagna, on day six and have way too much creamed spinach left.

Here is more and the story is interesting throughout.  Are they not allowed to bring money on the ship or does money temporarily lose its function as a general medium of exchange?  Does the use of money, or the promise of money, break down spaceship norms?  They're allowed to bring iPods, so can songs become a medium of exchange?  Or does preventing a general medium of exchange produce network externalities (increasing returns) to enhance the liquidity of all the other goods which need to be traded?  You do in fact get the tortillas being squirreled away.  Can this be a case where the emergence of a general money would be inefficient?

Pollo Campero

The company, part of the Corporación Multi Inversiones, a diversified privately owned group with interests including finance, real estate, construction and agriculture, does not post earnings. But, according to reliable sources, total income last year was between $380m and $400m (£199m) (€254m). That is about 1.2 per cent of Guatemala’s gross domestic product [emphasis added].

...the best example of how it has adapted its image is China, where the company used its heritage to appeal to the local crowd – even though Guatemala is not usually associated with things most foreigners identify as Latin American, such as soccer and Salsa.

“Chinese people are obsessed with Latin pop culture but they don’t really distinguish between countries,” says Mr Weaver. “So we tried to associate ourselves with figures such as Ricky Martin as well as with Latin American and Spanish football,” he says.

So far, thanks also in part to a new “extra crisp” line of chicken, sales are reportedly strong. Juan José Gutiérrez, Pollo Campero’s chief executive, recently told La Opinión, the US Spanish language daily newspaper, that: “The Latin concept is well received and they loved our chicken.”

Here is more.  It is very good chicken, I like the branch in Falls Church, on Colombia Pike.  I might add that there is a notable trend of successful Latino multinationals.  If Pollo Campero shows nothing else, it is too early to pronounce the Latino market-oriented reforms to be failures.