Overpaid for Underperformed
Proxy researcher Glass-Lewis recently evaluated a pay-for-performance study among large and small publicly traded companies and, in its new Pay Dirt Report, identified 61 executives who last year were awarded more than $25 million in annual compensation.

Although 40 of these execs took in more than $30 million each, according to Glass Lewis estimates, the investor advisory firm has deemed Sprint Nextel Corp executives the most overpaid in corporate America, with top managers awarded pay valued at nearly $74 million last year when "the company lost $29 billion in the year from continuing operations, largely from a huge goodwill write-off and shares fell 30 percent."

Among the other large companies on the "Overpaid 25" list: automakers Ford Motor Co. and General Motors Corp. and home builder KB Home. On average, stocks on the list fell almost 33 percent during the companies' 2007 fiscal years, Reuters reports Glass Lewis as having said.

Particularly interesting: in terms of pay for performance, financial firms Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., Washington Mutual Inc. and Citigroup Inc. were not among the worst offenders. Of course, their troubles, while apparent last year — all earned "deficient" grades in the Glass Lewis report — accelerated in 2008.

Bear Stearns, which has been acquired by JPMorgan Chase & Co., had a deficient grade in both 2005 and 2006, but collapsed before it could be reviewed this year.

The Banking Crisis Game
After the recent near-collapse of many parts of the financial banking sector, many workers at Lehman Bros. and elsewhere were seen clearing their desks and leaving with office equipment such as desk chairs and the like. A new board game take ripping off office loot to the next level — and lets everyone enjoy the therapeutic virtual revenge on banking bosses.

In T-Enterprise Co.'s new board game, called Lehmans' Loot, each player is a sacked banker and earns points by stealing as much office equipment (computers and calculators, etc.) as he or she can on the way. Players can even get bonus points for stealing stationary and other Lehman-branded materials.

"We created Lehman's Loot so everyone can take part in the global financial meltdown," T-Enterprise said to UK's The Sun.

Ithaca, NY: The First Podcar City?
Podcars, or PRTs (personal rapid transit) are electric, automated, lightweight vehicles that ride on their own network separate from other traffic. The Institute for Sustainable Transportation (IST) predicts a podcar system will be installed in an American city within the next five years, although it is likely to cost tens of millions of dollars.

Carol Peterson, the mayor of Ithaca, N.Y., says a podcar network "could be part of her upstate city's long-range transportation plans and its mission of developing urban neighborhoods that are environmentally sustainable and pedestrian-friendly," the Associated Press reports: "In Ithaca, a network could connect the downtown business district and main business boulevard with the campuses of Cornell University and Ithaca College, which sit on hillsides flanking the city."

The capital cost per mile — for guideways, vehicles and stations — would be anywhere from $75 million to $260 million cheaper than for a mile of light-rail or subway systems, according to the IST. Initial funding for the plan, which is currently only in the conceptual stages, would have to come from both public and private sectors, IST officials said.

Developing a Telepathy Helmet
A new Army grant to researchers at University of California, Irvine, Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Maryland is going towards developing a technology known as synthetic telepathy that would allow someone to create email or voice mail and send it by thought alone, Discovery News reports. The concept is based on reading electrical activity in the brain using an electroencephalograph, or EEG.

Basically, the objective is to enable e-mail or voice mail to be sent by thought alone — no typing, no dialing, no speaking necessary.

Similar technology is being marketed as a way to control video games by thought.

Strummin' Through Surgery
Here is a guy playing a banjo while undergoing brain surgery:

Cheers.