Wednesday, July 12, 2006

Duh! Because Popcorn Explodes

The New York Times published the national assets database today. Here are the key takeaways...
  • Indiana is the most valuable state in the Union. Say what? Apparently that's what the US government thinks. Indiana, the state who's favorite pastime is cow tipping, has 8,591 registered national assets. Hmmm... how convenient that it is a red state. Oops did I just imply that the government has politicized national security -- God forbid! I mean the fact that Wisconsin and Indiana both have over twice as many national assets than California is undeniable (yeah right!?! where is the Terminator when you need him).
  • Basically it sounds like Indiana has been able to pull a nice little scam here... and they aren't the only ones. Did you know that New Mexico has 73% of the country's information technology assets? Yeah, I'm still scratching my head about that one...
  • And how does any state have more banking assets than New York? New York only has 2% of the banking assets in the US, according to the very accurate database set up by the Department of Homeland Security. I don't even know what to say about that.

My favorite part of the New York Time's article was when the owner of a Amish Country Popcorn in Indiana was asked why he his business was in the national assets database. His response...

"I am out in the middle of nowhere. We are nothing but a bunch of Amish buggies and tractors out here. No one would care." But on second thought, he came up with an explanation: "Maybe because popcorn explodes?"

On a random side note, I am super excited that Google has decided to open an office in Ann Arbor. The plan is to hire ~1,000 people. But quite frankly at this point, even one incremental new job in Michigan is a good thing. And the best thing about these jobs is they are totally and completely unrelated to the auto industry.

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