Watercooler Stories

Underwear sales foretell economic trends?

WASHINGTON, Aug. 31 (UPI) -- Conventional measures of the U.S. recession may be no more accurate than the underwear index, which charts sales of men's underwear, a consumer researcher said.

The theory suggests that sales of men's underwear are stable -- as are sales of other necessities -- but during financial downturns sales drop off.

"It's a prolonged purchase," Marshal Cohen, senior analyst with the consumer research firm NPD Group told The Washington Post. "It's like trying to drive your car an extra 10,000 miles."

The research firm Mintel started tracking underwear sales in 2003 and found 2009 sales will probably fall 2.3 percent. The group predicts the drop will slow for 2010.

They say underwear sales are a good predictor because, since hardly anyone sees it, people feel they can delay purchasing new pairs.

Even former Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan gave the theory credence when he was interviewed on NPR two years ago, the newspaper said.

Swedish nightclub: No tattooed women

MALMO, Sweden, Aug. 31 (UPI) -- A Swedish night club turned away two women because they sported visible tattoos, the club manager said.

The Swing Inn, a Malmo club with a policy of excluding women with tattoos, had permitted the women entrance on other occasions during the past few years, Swedish News Agency TT reported one of the women said last week.

"They told us that they don't let in women with visible tattoos. But if we put on a sweater it would be alright," Jessica Brotherton said, referring to herself and her friend.

The Swing Inn has a long-standing policy against tattoos, said Gabrielle Holst, the club manager.

"We want to have a well-groomed clientele with neat clothing. We think that tattoos look distasteful," Holst said, adding the policy only applies to visible tattoos, as the management cannot ask patrons to remove their clothes.

Harvard religions don has a cow

BOSTON, Aug. 31 (UPI) -- A Harvard professor said he will bring a cow to Harvard Yard in accordance with an almost 300-year-old university tradition, school officials said.

The Boston Globe reported Harvard religion don Harvey Cox, who holds the Hollis Research professor of divinity chair, endowed in 1721, also holds grazing rights at Harvard Yard for any cows he might possess. He intends to exercise those rights in a formal ceremony at Memorial Church across from Widener Library on Sept. 10, the newspaper reported.

"I'm reclaiming a tradition that almost got lost," he said. "Why can't we have cows grazing in Harvard Yard? People started saying to me, 'Why don't you do it?' I finally said to myself, 'I'm going to do it.'"

The ceremony will focus on a cow from The Farm School in Athol, Mass. The cow's name is Pride, but because of her name's association with the seven deadly sins, she will be renamed Faith just for the occasion, the Globe said.

At the end of the ceremony, Faith is slated to be milked.

Internet presence and end-of-life issues

ORLANDO, Fla., Aug. 31 (UPI) -- U.S. experts say people who use social networking sites should plan ahead for disposition of their virtual belongings in the event of actual death.

Jeremy Toeman, founder and chief executive officer of Legacy Locker, told the Orlando (Fla.) Sentinel online assets have value that people often don't think about in end-of-life planning.

"When we have stuff sitting in our house, it's easy to say, 'Well, this ring goes to that person, and this piece of art goes to that person,'" Toeman told the Sentinel. "But we don't necessarily really think about our Facebook and our PayPal and our eBay accounts, which may have just as much value as something physical."

Legacy Locker is one of several companies that help people manage digital assets, the newspaper reported Sunday. Toeman said online sites and services as a rule will not disclose account information to family members -- who often have to resort to red tape and legal expenses to recover account information.

Legacy Locker charges $30 annually or a one-time fee of $300 for users to store online account information and other data for survivors and beneficiaries. It is also possible for people to inform family members of their passwords or to include information like that in wills, the Sentinel said.