And the tallest skyscraper is...

So it's been about a year since I visited Shanghai. I was reminded today of the Shanghai World Financial Center which I saw under construction while I was there. At the time of my visit, it was near completion and it was said it would be the tallest skyscraper in the world. So I decided to see how plans were going. It's supposed to be completed in March, but the top has been completed and it falls about 17 meters short of Taipei 101. It is just as well as its status as the world's tallest skyscraper would have been short-lived. As of July 2007, the incomplete Burj Dubai in Dubai, UAE surpassed Taipei 101 in height. In September, it surpassed the CN Tower, being the tallest freestanding structure in the world. More recently, it surpassed 2,000 feet in height. At completion, it should be around half a mile tall. This is higher than if you stacked two Empire State Buildings on top of one another. The Burj Dubai should be complete by 2009.

My first quarterly report

I've been keeping incredibly detailed notes of all my expenses since I received my first paycheck back in November. Well, I just received my fourth paycheck, meaning it's time to look back at the previous three months.

In this quarter, I received $6881.02, 92% of which can be attributed to my paychecks. Presumably, the remaining 8% was made from prostitution. My total costs over this quarter were $1768.71. Just under 26% of my revenue went to cover to costs, netting $5112.31 as pure profit.

As for my expenses, they break down as thus:

Food: 47%
Utilities: 16%
Transportation: 14.7%
Helping Dan: 9.9%
Entertainment: 8%
Other: 4.4%

For some clarification, the helping Dan expense is a bit of an oddity. Dan needed to buy some medicine, but he doesn't have a credit card, so I bought it for him and he then repaid me in cash, so this transaction is also listed as an income. Normally, I wouldn't bother entering this kind of transaction, the problem though is that I paid in US Dollars and received Korean Won. In order to account for changes in the exchange rate, I had to list the use of US Dollars as an expense and the receiving of Korean Won as an income. As it stands, I paid $175 and received 165500 Won, which at the current exchange rate means I actually gained $1.05.

Animal Research Takes a Step in the Right Direction

BBC News

In one of my classes back in high school, every week I had to find some science article and write a summary. Every week it seemed, I stumbled across an article about scientist making poison-resistant, cancer-immune, and/or super-strong mice. This led me to wondering when would we reach the tipping point where scientist would create mice so powerful that they could overtake humanity. Well, thankfully scientists have seen their errors and the dark path they were leading us and have succeeded in making mice weaker. Now they are susceptible to the common cold. Take that rodents!

I need to find something to do with my time

Latest updates on the currency market. There were some surprisingly large shifts this month. The Japanese Yen and the Swiss Franc made massive gains this past month, although their benchmarks are still a year or more away. Poor performance by the Canadian Dollar and Korean Won, have pushed their benchmarks beyond what I feel comfortable predicting. I'm rather disappointed with the Korean Won as for one thing, I'm being paid in Korean Won, and also because briefly 900 Won had been worth more than a US Dollar back in October. It's sad to see it back at 940 Won per US Dollar. Remember, these benchmarks are for monthly averages. The best monthly average the Korean Won achieved was 915 Won per US Dollar.

Apr. 2008: 1 Euro > $1.50 US (no change)
Jul. 2008: 6 Swedish Kronor > $1 US (1 month sooner)
Sep. 2008: 7 Chinese Yuan > $1 US (2 months sooner)
Jan. 2009: $1 Aussie > $1 US (2 months later)
Jan. 2009: 100 Japanese Yen > $1 US (6 months sooner)
Mar. 2009: 1 Swiss Franc > $1 US (5 months sooner)
Oct. 2009: 30 Indian Rupees > $1 US (3 months later)
Dec. 2009: 5 Swedish Kronor > $1 US (1 month sooner)

Removed (Benchmark in unforeseeable future):
$1 Canadian > $1.50 US
900 Korean Won > $1 US

New:
Mar. 2009: $1 Canadian > $1.25 US