Diana Wolf

Joined: Nov 21, 2012

What the Financial Crisis Means for Spam, Psychics, Hosiery & More

The Dow: Then & Now

The Stories Behind 5 Old American Brands

How to Sell Short (And Why? And When?)

AIG: Now that you own it, learn about it!

First of all—what is AIG? AIG is American International Group, the largest insurance company in the world. It's not just an insurance company, however; its business is divided into four divisions: general insurance, life insurance and retirement ser

What Does the Freddie/Fannie Bailout Mean to You?

The big bailout of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac has been big news this week. But what does it mean to you? GSEs —> TSEs? Well, the Government Sponsored Entities just became Taxpayer Sponsored Enterprises. The Treasury "bailed" them out, changed th

10 (un)American Icons

When you think of 7-Eleven, the Chrysler Building, and Budweiser, what country comes to mind? If you said Japan, Abu Dhabi, and Belgium, then no need to read on. But if such news comes as a shock, keep reading to learn about ten un-American Icons this cou

Does Starbucks have any relation to the Starbuck family?

While romping about Nantucket's fields and beaches, I stumbled into a little history. Nantucket was originally inhabited by the Wampanoag tribe until the English settled down in the mid 1600s. Among the founding families of Nantucket were the Macy's of Ma

Under Old Management: A Giant List of 14 Changes at Starbucks

"We're not this young, beloved, entrepreneurial enterprise anymore"¦ We have to do business in a different way." "“ Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz And that's exactly what he's doing "“ business in a different way. And then in a different way. And then in a

The Tall Tales of Tom Collins (and how the drink came about)

"I was taking a drink just now at Andy Parle's, when I overheard an individual denouncing you in the vilest manner. He said you loafed on your friends, borrowed money and never returned it, owed bills in every quarter of the city, and were the biggest bea

How Movie Theaters Work

Last week I went to go see The Dark Knight. As if the eleven dollar ticket fee wasn't bad enough, the concession stand made my stomach drop. Six dollars for popcorn? Five dollars for a soda? While taking out a loan or making a pre-theater pawn shop run ma

Is Cupid being thwarted by "The Pill"?

Did you put on perfume or cologne this morning? Well if you did, you might not be attracting Mr. or Ms. Right. In fact, you may actually be attracting the wrong person. That's because attraction has scientifically been linked to smell. In fact, our respon

Why We Like New Stuff (The science is in!)

Believe it or not, a new study of "novelty-related decision making" in adults shows that our brains are actually hard-wired to prefer novelty and adventure. It's true! In fact, research on the ventral striatum (the part of the brain associated with reward

6 Things You Probably Don't Know About Oil

1. A Spoonful of Sugar made the Crude Oil go

What Happened to Acid Rain?

Remember when your mother used to scold you for opening your mouth to the deadly sky as it was pouring? "It's acid rain," she'd say. Envisioning raindrops burning through my gums, jaw, and skin, I always followed my mother's advice. But the last I ever he

The Electric Shock: Electric Cars Pre-Date the Civil War!

Talk about an old idea. The first electric cars hit the scene way back in the early 1830s, 30 years before the Civil War (for the record, they're also older than the Eiffel Tower, Joan Rivers and sliced bread). In fact, the electric car was actually the f