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Overnight Briefing & General Reality Check - Feb 4, 2014
February 4, 2014
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Culture Shock:
Give your kids an allowance? How much?
An annual survey finds that kids' allowances are climbing to as much as $50 per week.
They survey, by Baltimore-based money managers T Rowe Price, finds that the percentage of parents giving $10 a week fell from 77 percent in 2011 to 68 percent in 2013. Four percent of families gave between $50 a week in 2013. May not seem like a high percentage but it's almost quadruple the number from the 2011 survey.
The money managers are guessing this may be the result of an improving economy.
One percent of parents actually shell out $100 a week.
Editor's note: So we even have kids now who are in the one percent. (Future hedge funders, no doubt.)
--I will happily pay my kids an allowance of $50 per week. And just as happily, charge them $180 per month for rent, food, and utilities. (I'm a job creator, you see.)
--$50 per week? Or roughly the average annual 401(k) contribution from Walmart. (Maiman)On, off and way-off Broadway:
Broadway theatres will honor PHILIP SEYMOUR HOFFMAN by dimming their lights for one minute at 7:45 PM tomorrow night (Feb 05). Philip had three Tony Award nominations from three Broadway plays; playing Willy Loman in the 2012 revival of ARTHUR MILLER's "Death of a Salesman" along with a Best Leading Actor nomination for his role in SAM SHEPARD's "True West" in 2000 and as Best Featured Actor in EUGENE O'NEILL's "Long Day's Journey Into Night" in 2003.
Ratings:
Were you one of those people that thought the Seahawks' blow-out in the Super Bowl would make people tune out? Two words: Didn't happen.
As a matter of fact, overnight Nielsens show the Super Bowl broadcast set an all-time viewership record with an average audience of 111.5 million viewers --that's the biggest audience ever for a TV broadcast in the US.
In case you were wondering, the old record of 111.3 million was set at Super Bowl 46 two years ago.
However, despite the record, more people watched the first half and the halftime show with BRUNO MARS and the RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS than ever before --115.3 million viewers. The previous halftime record was set by MADONNA's performance in 2012 with 114 million people watching.Meanwhile, "Downton Abbey" was the second most-watched show of the evening, with 6.8 million viewers --a far cry from Super Bowl ratings but still beating the other broadcast networks.
Grace notes:
In case you were wondering, the RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS didn't even have their instruments plugged in for their one song during BRUNO MARS' halftime show at the Super Bowl. Not even a wireless unit that would least make it appear as if the band was playing live. Nope. It was one big air guitar display. (Marino)
Trolling for IQ points:
The newest trend among young women in China: shaping their noses to look like the Eiffel Tower.
People in China are reportedly forking over thousands for plastic surgery to make their noses look like the famous French landmark. One girl who had the surgery says "We are not content to just add something to the nose, we reconstruct it." Students are paying around $10-thousand dollars for the operation. Many of them say they do it because they're facing intense competition to stand out in the job market. (Still) -
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