The Most Exclusive University in the World?

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-01-26/getting-into-harvard-easier-than-mcdonald-s-hamburger-university-in-china.html

Chart: When Are People Most Likely to Break Up?

http://www.cnn.com/2010/TECH/social.media/11/02/facebook.breakups/index.html?hpt=T2

Video: US-China Currency Rap Battle

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IGYAhiMwd5E

Accent Map

http://accent.gmu.edu/browse_atlas.php

What Are Your Rights on Private Cruise Ships?

http://www.marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2010/11/what-are-your-rights-on-private-cruise-ships.html

What Was the Most Boring Day in History?

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/uk/April-11-1954-was-most-boring-day-in-history/articleshow/6994947.cms

The Chinese Are Flocking to Picassos

"Chinese collectors are flocking to late Picassos and helping drive prices to unprecedented levels. What's the allure? Well, they're large, bright, and loud—and, of course, they were painted by Picasso."

The Chinese Love Late Picassos
by Rachel Wolff
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/10_47/b4204096232579.htm

Why Are There No Great Women Chefs?

http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1525/gfc.2010.10.1.24

What's The Best Predictor of Sex Partners?

http://www.marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2010/12/whats-the-best-predictor-of-sex-partners.html

What Do High-Status Emails Look Like?

http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/4pRBcE/www.bakadesuyo.com/can-we-tell-someones-social-status-by-looking

Why Do So Many Prices End in .99?

http://www.marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2010/12/why-do-prices-end-in-99.html

The Happiness U-Bend

http://www.themonkeycage.org/2010/12/age_and_happiness_the_pattern_.html?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

Why Are "X" and "Z" So Popular in Drug Names?

http://neurocritic.blogspot.com/2010/12/why-are-letters-z-and-x-so-popular-in.html

On How to Improve Congress

http://www.marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2010/12/joseph-gibson-on-how-to-improve-congress.html

A Theory of Why Latvian Women Are Beautiful

http://www.marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2009/09/a-theory-for-why-latvian-women-are-beautiful.html

Why Are the East of Cities Usually Poorer?

http://www.thejanuarist.com/why-are-the-east-of-cities-usually-poorer/

Eye Movements & Political Leanings

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2010-12/uon-lwy120810.php

Which Shipping Company is Kindest to Your Package?

http://www.marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2011/01/which-shipping-company-is-kindest-to-your-packages.html

Why Are People Less Willing to Help Victims of Man-Made Disasters?

http://www.marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2011/01/we-are-less-willing-to-help-the-victims-of-man-made-disasters.html

On Modern Conveyor Belt Sushi

"Each Kura store is also highly automated. Diners use a touch panel to order soup and other side dishes, which are delivered to tables on special express conveyor belts. In the kitchen, a robot busily makes the rice morsels for a server to top with cuts of fish that have been shipped from a central processing plant, where workers are trained to slice tuna and mackerel accurately down to the gram. Diners are asked to slide finished plates into a tableside bay, where they are automatically counted to calculate the bill, doused in cleaning fluid and flushed back to the kitchen on a stream of water. Matrix codes on the backs of plates keep track of how long a sushi portion has been circulating on conveyor belts; a small robotic arm disposes of any that have been out too long."

For Sushi Chain, Conveyor Belts Carry Profit
by Hiroko Tabushi
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/31/business/global/31sushi.html?_r=1&nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha26

The "Private CIA"

Former Spy With Agenda Operates a Private CIA
by Mark Mazzetti
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/23/world/23clarridge.html?_r=1&nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha2

Map: Surnames in the US by Country of Origin

http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2011/02/geography/usa-surnames-interactive

Explaining the French

http://www.marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2011/01/explaining-france-a-reader-request.html

You Are Probably Less Popular Than Your Friends

Why You're Probably Less Popular Than Your Friends
by John Allen Paulos
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=why-youre-probably-less-popular

America's Most Bizarre Taxes

http://blog.turbotax.intuit.com/tax-tips/americas-most-bizarre-taxes/01032011-4659

Proximity Matters

I recently noticed this after having met new acquaintances in my office building and noticed that the tone is rather friendly. Proximity also seems to buy access. I also noticed that one of my office mates is getting business from a neighbor next door...That probably only happened because of being on the same floor of the same building.

"Will sitting together for an evening make lawmakers more likely to get along? Turns out, sociologists and psychologists have long explored how promixity affects the chances of friendship, attraction, and collaboration. Most recently, in a study published in 2008 in the jounral Psychological Science...researchers discovered that proximity matters - and in a good way."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/01/21/AR2011012102936.html

18 Common Work E-mail Mistakes

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/18-Common-Work-Email-usnews-1004018741.html?x=0

Sex and Statistics or Heteroscedasticity is Hot

http://www.marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2011/01/heteroscedasticity-is-so-hot.html

Why Are There So Few Filipino Restaurants Outside of the Philippines?

http://clubtroppo.com.au/2011/01/12/why-are-there-so-few-filipino-restaurants/

Where In the Federal Government Do The Economists Work?

http://www.marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2011/01/where-in-the-federal-government-do-the-economists-work.html

Measuring Southernness

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/graphic/2011/01/15/GR2011011504491.html

The Power of Twitter

http://new.music.yahoo.com/blogs/thatsreallyweek/130325/jan-10-16-50-cent-uses-twitter-to-make-87-million-in-one-day/

10 Artisanal Ice Creams That Make Us Melt

http://www.dailycandy.com/online/article/84818/ShopTalk-10-Artisanal-Ice-Creams-That-Make-Us-Melt

Word of the Day: Lickerish

Lickerish: Fond of and eager for choice food.

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/lickerish

World's Biggest Coffee Drinkers

1. Finns
2. Norwegians
3. Swiss
4. Italians
5. Brazilians
6. Americans
7. Algerians
8. Japanese

http://www.dlc.org/ndol_ci.cfm?kaid=108&subid=900003&contentid=255206

Booze Facts

Some New-Year News About Booze
by Roger Highfield
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/01/10/AR2011011005196.html

How Many People in the World Speak English?

A quarter of the world...

*Native: 400 million

*Fluent, non native: 300 million

*Some competence: 750 million

http://www.dlc.org/ndol_ci.cfm?kaid=108&subid=900003&contentid=255184

Poll: 10% Sick With Allergies on a Given Day

http://www.gallup.com/poll/144662/Adults-Sick-Allergies-Given-Day.aspx?utm_source=alert&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=syndication&utm_content=morelink&utm_term=USA%20-%20Wellbeing

Why Does Asia Have So Many Disputed Islands?

http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2010/11/03/hot_rocks

Best Meibutsu in Japan?

Yatsuhashi?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yatsuhashi

Environmental Kuznets Curve

http://www9.georgetown.edu/faculty/aml6/pdfs&zips/PalgraveEKC.pdf

On Undercover Restaurant Reviews

After Los Angeles Times restaurant critic S. Irene Virbila had her cover blown, do you think it is even necessary to be "under cover" when critiquing restaurants?

"The anonymity tradition isn't shared by critics in other countries. British newspapers run photos of their critics next to their reviews, for example. In France, where critics are celebrities, chefs often demonstrate and explain their techniques so that reviewers can appreciate the delicate and subtle culinary art involved."

Food for Thought: Is Justice Served by Unmasking a Restaurant Critic?
by Paul Farhi
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/12/30/AR2010123004787.html

"Reassuringly Expensive"

What items are reassuringly expensive? In other words, what items are you happy to pay more for because you know you'll be getting good quality?

My tentative list:

*Toilet paper
*Sushi/sashimi
*Ties/Suits?

Any thoughts?