Economist, Oct 5, 2013 (I)

choi

(1) Chess | A Sporting Chance. Professional chess has a chequered history. Fans hope to revive it.
http://www.economist.com/news/in ... -it-sporting-chance
("Lengthy duels could still flourish if packaged well. Golf’s slow pace does not stop big audiences following four-day tournaments; in the cricket-playing world, witty commentary keeps fans tuned to games that last five days. Lately ESPN, a broadcaster, has turned poker, spelling bees and Frisbee-flinging into tense, dramatic television")

Note:
(a) "IN LONDON in April, a 22-year-old Norwegian turned cartwheels by the Thames. Magnus Carlsen, the world’s top-ranked chess player (and a model for G-Star RAW, a fashion firm) had just earned the right to challenge for the World Chess Championship in India next month. His battle against Viswanathan Anand, a 43-year-old Indian and world champion since 2007, is a long-awaited spectacle."
(i) cartwheel (gymnastics)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cartwheel_(gymnastics)
(ii) Anand (name)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anand_(name)(
"happy" in Sanskrit)
(b) 'Yugoslav variation on the Sicilian"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sicilian_Defence,_Dragon_Variation
(section 1 The Yugoslav attack)

choi

(2) Specialty chemicals | Cleaning Up. Bed bugs and fracking are not the only things Ecolab has going for it.
http://www.economist.com/news/bu ... oing-it-cleaning-up

Note:
(a) Yet even as the traditional laundry and washing-up businesses prospered, especially in developing countries, Ecolab abruptly transformed itself in 2011 with two big purchases."

wash up (vi): "British :  to wash the dishes after a meal"
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/wash%20up
(b) "Now, rather than more big purchases, Ecolab is looking for occasional bolt-on acquisitions to build on what it hopes will be organic growth of 6-8% a year."
(i) bolt-on (adj):
"[ONLY BEFORE NOUN] BUSINESS BRITISH:  able to be added to something easily without needing any major changes <The company has relied on a series of bolt-on acquisitions to deliver rapid growth>"
http://www.macmillandictionary.com/dictionary/british/bolt-on
(ii) organic (adj):
"having the characteristics of an organism :  developing in the manner of a living plant or animal <society is organic>"
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/organic

choi

(3)  The economics of cow ownership | Udder People’s Money. Cattle may be a terrible investment but a decent savings vehicle.
http://www.economist.com/news/fi ... hicle-udder-peoples

Quote:

(a) "IN INDIA there are about 280m cows. They produce valuable things—milk, dung and calves. But cattle are expensive to keep. The biggest outlay is food—the average cow consumes fodder worth about 10,000 rupees ($160) a year. Veterinary costs also add up.

"These expenses are so high that cows are often a poor investment. According to a new and splendidly titled NBER paper, which looks at cow and buffalo ownership in rural areas of northern India, the average return on a cow is -64% once you factor in the cost of labour.

(b) "The paper has implications for poverty-alleviation strategies and for financial services in developing countries. Aid programmes that try to reduce poverty by distributing livestock may be ineffective at raising incomes, if the returns from owning them are so poor.

Note:
(a) There is no need to read the rest of the article.
(b) The paper at issue:

Santosh Anagol, Alvin Etang and Dean Karlan, Continued Existence of Cows Disproves Central Tenets of Capitalism?  NBER, Sept 11, 2013 (working paper No 19437)
http://www.nber.org/papers/w19437
(abstract: "when valuing labor at market wages, households earn large, negative average returns [-64%] from holding cows * * * if we value the household’s own labor at zero, in which case estimated average returns for cows is negative 6%")
(c) Why does the subtitle say cattle ownership is "a decent savings vehicle." Economist states, "Compared with money held in savings accounts, cattle are illiquid assets." That should be a disadvantage for cattle owners. But "only 7% of Indian villages have a bank branch." With cash in hand, one (who is not disciplined) may be tempted to spend it. And that is what the subtitle means.

choi

(4)  Britain, America and the nuclear bomb | Two-Man Race. How the nuclear arms race could have been avoided.
http://www.economist.com/news/bo ... voided-two-man-race
(book review on Graham Farmelo, Churchill’s Bomb; How the United States overtook Britain in the first nuclear arms race. Basic Books, 2013)

Quote: "In October 1941 "British scientists had by then solved some important problems ahead of their American peers. * * * after the Pearl Harbour attacks [2 months later] * * * America threw itself into nuclear work with an 'awesome energy.' Britain was pushed aside with a total lack of sentimentality.

Note: Niels Bohr(1885-1962; Nobel laureate in physics, 1922)