When Cora and I went on our little bookstore binge a few weeks ago, I added The Economist to my reading as I was caught by the 11-17 June issue's front cover. That particular week, The Economist celebrated EBay's tenth birthday and EBay's colors were emblazoned beneath another article that caught my historian's eye ("Should Americans worry about class"). Additionally, that particular issue carried a "Technology Quarterly" special, and I thought that the information contained within these pages might add to our investment idea bank.

While I also try to read the Wall Street Journal, Newsweek, and several other magazines and newspapers which track innovative technological news and an intertwining between politics and commerce, The Economist never fails to fascinate me - and now Cora - with their short and interesting takes on a multitude of topics. Their main editorial office is located in London and other offices are located throughout the world, while their U.S. offices are located in Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, and Washington. Therefore, the editorial staff has a wide reach that - since 1843 - has enabled its writers to inform readers about news or angles that a smaller newspaper or magazine might overlook or omit from its pages.

For instance, Cora and I learned from this particular issue that theatrical (fake) wrestling has risen to be Mexico's second most popular sport after football, "drawing over 7m a year to live matches, with many more watching on television." We also learned that Japan intends to privatize its snail mail services (worth about $3.6 trillion in assets because it also doubles as a financial institution), and that Australia's John Howard is finally poised to reform his country's labor market after the Australian Industrial Relations Commission (AIRC) delivered its last ruling on the country's minimum wage. AIRC's last act marks the end of a century's worth of wage fixing.

The news is offbeat, so it piques my teenage daughter's interest, and the color photos add depth to the stories for her as well. But, it was the technology section that held us both rapt, as we learned that:

1. Young people are spending less time watching television and more time online and playing games
2. Moshe Alamaro, a scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has developed and tested a way to slow down hurricanes with large abandoned jet engines (as in scrapped American and Soviet long-range bombers)
3. Plastic is becoming an increasingly popular material from which to build bridges
4. Flash Drives, or a small removable data storage device that uses flash memory and a USB connector, are now fashion items in every country except Italy (Italians perceive flash drives as a symbol of American corporatism and won't wear them like other fashion-conscious tech-heads).
5. Velcro was developed after a Swiss inventor, George de Mestral, observed how burdock plant seeds had attached themselves to his clothes and to his dog's fur. Now, other scientists are using nature as inspiration for such things as fins on underwater vehicles and for a new kind of sticking plaster based on how geckos' feet work.

A nice twist to The Economist is that they also cover art news, an addition that seems to round out the political leanings in the global agenda section. In this issue we learned how art conservators battle to preserve modern art, which is a science in itself. Who would have thought that a shark dunked in formaldehyde would deteriorate since it was "created" by Damien Hirst in 1991 and that because of this reason it would become a problem for its creator and conservators? Fortunately, the shark (and its formaldehyde) sold earlier this year for $12m, so all can breathe a little easier?

What do any of these tidbits have to do with our investment portfolios? Cora and I like to discover new methods and ideas to understand where world commerce is heading, and our heads were spinning over the information listed above. We especially want to know more about MIT's jet engine methodology, where they will test it next, and which company will pick up on this innovative technique. We learned that since flash drives are now fashion items, the demand will probably keep the current price on memory chips level or it may even increase.

Cora and I also wanted to know more about the type of plastic used for those bridges, and whether it would persevere under weather extremes. We also wanted to know who made these bridges (and the plastic). Our questions led to an online search for answers, a quest that kept us both busy for a few hours. We also wondered why U.S. mail services never incorporated a financial institution and where wrestling stands in the U.S. sports hierarchy. While the latter information lends little to investment possibilities, the ideas that these tidbits generate help Cora to understand how to compare other cultures to the U.S. (and vice versa). Additionally, the articles generated conversation, questions, and activities that compared to and possibly exceeded any board game intrigue.

If you want to spend some quality time with your teen(s), The Economist provides a great format to learn and share how you feel about global issues and new technologies. If you have two bored teenagers, then you might introduce them to The Economist so that they can keep each other busy for a few hours. If you have only one teenager, tell them to invite a friend over to peruse the magazine together. One warning, though: If you don't become involved in the conversations, your teen(s) might become the highlight of that outdoor summer barbeque that you planned to impress your boss.

How do you stay on top of the information tidbit clique if you can't find The Economist at the local newsstand? You can visit http://www.economist.com for information on the current print edition, back issues, research, country briefings, books and art, travel, and more. The online version might come in handy if the teens make off with your print edition.

Until Next Week,
Linda Goin