Why is New Zealand Poorer than Australia?

I wonder if geography explains anything...

http://www.marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2007/12/why-is-new-zeal.html

Trend Tracking - Pirated Songs/Movies

By tracking the most heavily pirated transfers on the net, one could easily find the hottest goods and trends...

http://www.wired.com/entertainment/hollywood/news/2007/12/YE_best_of_p2p

The Changing Face of British Cities by 2020

Is Britain's food revolution directly correlated to the growing diversity of its population?

The Changing Face of British Cities
by Amelia Hill
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2007/dec/23/communities.population

Fair Tax = 23% ...?

Presidential candidate Mike Huckabee is pushing for a "Fair Tax" of 23%. This would wipe out the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), not to mention countless accountants...hmmm...

http://www.latimes.com/la-na-salestax24dec24,0,5286232.story?coll=la-home-center

Cool Food Fact of the Week

With 35 million people, greater Tokyo is by far the world's most populous metro area, with nearly twice the people of greater New York. There are 80,000 restaurants here - six times as many as in New York.

-From Washington Post, December 21, 2007 (Blaine Harden)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/world/interactives/tokyostories/vignettes.html

Real Estalker

Check out the celebrity real estate scene...

http://realestalker.blogspot.com/

Michelin Tokyo - Debut

The debut edition of the Michelin dining guide to Tokyo, published Nov. 22, 2007 immediately hit the top of the bestseller list provided by Kinokuniya Co., a nationwide book chain. The publication of the French-based tire company's first restaurant guidebook for an Asian city has become a popular topic of conversation, especially as eight Tokyo venues were awarded the top three-star rating.

http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/features/book/20071130TDY17005.htm

Capital of the World

London was just named "capital of the world," according to a comparison of the world's great cities.

http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/this_britain/article3276224.ece

Top 10 News Stories of '07

Interesting how the Virginia Tech masacre (32 dead) was chosen as the top news story ahead of the Iraq War...My prediction is that global warming (now at #6) will move up to the top three starting next year.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071220/ap_on_re_us/ye_top10_stories

Bad Ideas Can be Contagious

This is one of the reasons why contrarian investing works...

"When people have limited information about something important -- a potential crisis in a building several stories high, a fire alarm that goes off in a crowded theater or a sudden drop in the stock market -- they use other people as guides to their own behavior. "

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/16/AR2007121601472.html
Bad Ideas Can be Contagious
by Shankar Vedantam

Image: Back Side Pleasure (NSFW)

Not sure if this is an actual Planned Parenthood ad or just a joke...

http://img225.imageshack.us/img225/8762/plannedparenthoodvv4.jpg

Wikipedia vs. Knol

"Like Wikipedia, articles in knol (the name derives from “knowledge”) will be free to read online. In a departure from the nonprofit Wikipedia model, however, knol’s authors will be able to attach advertising to their work and take a share of revenues."

Google to Tackle Wikipedia with New Knowledge Service
by Rhys Blakely
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/technology/article3054287.ece

Priciest US Restaurants

"According to the most recent Zagat Survey of America's Top Restaurants, New York City continues to lead the way as the most costly U.S. city in which to dine out, with an average tab of $39.46. By comparison, Zagat's national average is $33.29, while New Orleans ($26.18) and Austin ($25.30) are the least expensive cities. Of course, U.S. restaurants cost roughly half of what their peers do in cities such as London ($79.46), Paris ($74.24) and Tokyo ($69.58)."

Top 5 Priciest US Restaurants:

1. Masa, New York City
2. Alinea, Chicago
3. Canlis, Seattle
4. Joel Robuchon at the Mansion, Las Vegas
5. Urasawa, Los Angeles

http://finance.yahoo.com/family-home/article/104021/Pricies-U.S.-Restaurants

Study: Liberal Arts Girls Put Out

Looking at the chart one can tell that things are a bit off. Nevertheless, it raises an interesting question - what major is most promiscuous?

http://www.ivygateblog.com/blog/2007/08/sex_on_campus_art_students_did_it_all_for_the_nookie.html

95% of All Email Sent in 2007 = Spam

"There was a time--2004 to be precise--when spam "only" consumed 70 percent of all e-mail. Those were the good old days. Today, as Barracuda Networks' annual spam report shows, upwards of 95 percent of all e-mail is spam. In 2001, the number was 5 percent."

http://blogs.cnet.com/8301-13505_1-9831556-16.html?tag=nefd.blgs

A Librarian's Worst Nightmare

Perhaps librarians should be required to fact check on Yahoo! Answers...It seems harder to police something like this than something like Wikipedia.

"The blockbuster success of Yahoo! Answers is all the more surprising once you spend a few days using the site. While Answers is a valuable window into how people look for information online, it looks like a complete disaster as a traditional reference tool. It encourages bad research habits, rewards people who post things that aren't true, and frequently labels factual errors as correct information. It's every middle-school teacher's worst nightmare about the Web."

A Librarian's Worst Nightmare
by Jacob Leibenluft
http://www.slate.com/id/2179393/nav/tap3/?sid13

Most Expensive Places to Buy Gas in the US

California takes the top five spots...

"West coast drivers are hit hardest. Those in cities like San Francisco and Los Angeles pay more at the pump than those in Houston or Dallas, where the average price per gallon Wednesday was $2.90 and $2.923, respectively, due to such factors as fuel taxes, environmental standards and costs of business like regulatory burdens and taxes."

1. San Francisco
2. San Jose
3. San Diego
4. Sacramento
5. Los Angeles
6. New York City
7. Buffalo
8. Seattle
9. Miami
10. Chicago

http://finance.yahoo.com/loans/article/103987/Most-Expensive-Places-to-Buy-Gas-in-the-U.S.

Vietnam = The Next China

So who will replace Vietnam?

"After China, Vietnam is emerging as the world's next factory of choice for labor-intensive goods. One can see that in the changing composition of the country's exports. Rice and coffee -- two of Vietnam's biggest agricultural exports -- are now becoming less significant to the $61 billion economy than textiles. Footwear shipments are gaining prominence over seafood."

After China, Vietnam Will be the World's Factory
by Andy Mukhherjee
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601039&refer=columnist_mukherjee&sid=aDjL0As_b1h4

Weather & Wall Street

Data reveal strong correlations between sunshine, and possibly other weather-related factors, and the performance of the stock market...

"If you consistently bought stocks when the sky was gray and overcast and consistently sold stocks when the weather was bright and sunny, and you did this over a period of 16 years across 26 stock markets around the world, you would . . . well, let's just say you would be lounging on a hot beach right now with a long, cool drink next to you. "

Wondering Wall Street's Mood? Look Up.
by Shankar Vedantam

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/02/AR2007120201558.html

US National Debt Grows $1 Million a Minute

Like a ticking time bomb, the national debt is an explosion waiting to happen. It's expanding by about $1.4 billion a day — or nearly $1 million a minute. What's that mean to you? It means almost $30,000 in debt for each man, woman, child and infant in the United States.

National Debt Grows $1 Million a Minute
by Tom Raum

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071203/ap_on_go_ot/nation_in_debt

Bicycling: Which Side of the Road?

Q: I've always heard that the safest way to ride a bike on the street is "with traffic" (on the side of the road, in the same direction the cars are moving), but I ride in the opposite direction instead. I feel I can see trouble approaching and avoid it, rather than not know what's happening behind me. Am I missing anything?

A: Envision a flow of pedestrians along a sidewalk, all walking in the same direction. One of them especially dislikes getting bumped, so he stays on the far right of the sidewalk. Now imagine the same scene with that one pedestrian walking in the opposite direction, against the flow of traffic. Which way is he most likely to get bumped? By going against the flow, you interfere with traffic, which can cause a crash, and your movements will seem unpredictable to card going in the opposite direction, putting you at even greater risk.

-From 12/2/07 Ask Marilyn, Parade Magazine

What the World is Searching For

If you click on the following link you can see what the top searches are on Yahoo. The searches are usually heavily sports and models/celebrities-oriented. A great look into the psyche of the US...

http://buzz.yahoo.com/overall

Republicans Report Much Better Mental Health Than Others

From Gallup:

*58% of Republicans report having excellent mental health
*43% of Independents report having excellent mental health
*38% of Democrats report having excellent mental health

One could be quick to assume that these differences are based on the underlying demographic and socioeconomic patterns related to party identification in America today. A recent Gallup report (see "Strong Relationship Between Income and Mental Health" in Related Items) reviewed these mental health data more generally, and found that men, those with higher incomes, those with higher education levels, and whites are more likely than others to report excellent mental health. Some of these patterns describe characteristics of Republicans, of course.

But an analysis of the relationship between party identification and self-reported excellent mental health within various categories of age, gender, church attendance, income, education, and other variables shows that the basic pattern persists regardless of these characteristics. In other words, party identification appears to have an independent effect on mental health even when each of these is controlled for.

http://www.gallup.com/poll/102943/Republicans-Report-Much-Better-Mental-Health-Than-Others.aspx

PDB

Fascinating document from the Nixon Library explaining the process of producing the President's morning intelligence reading package - the President's Daily Brief, or PDB.

http://www.nixonlibrary.gov/virtuallibrary/documents/mr/031870_pdb.pdf

Top 10 Forecasts for 2008 & Beyond

Each year since 1985, the editors of The Futurist have selected the most thought-provoking ideas and forecasts appearing in the magazine. Over the years, Outlook has spotlighted the emergence of such epochal developments as the Internet, virtual reality, and the end of the Cold War.

My three favorite for 2008:

*The world will have a billion millionaires by 2025. Globalization and technological innovation are driving this increased prosperity. But challenges to prosperity will also become more acute, such as water shortages that will affect two-thirds of world population by 2025. --James Canton, author of "The Extreme Future," reviewed in THE FUTURIST May-June 2007, p. 54

*The threat of another cold war with China, Russia, or both could replace terrorism as the chief foreign-policy concern of the United States. Scenarios for what a war with China or Russia would look like make the clashes and wars in which the United States is now involved seem insignificant. The power of radical jihadists is trivial compared with Soviet missile capabilities, for instance. The focus of U.S. foreign policy should thus be on preventing an engagement among Great Powers. --Edward N. Luttwak, "Preserving Balance among the Great Powers," Nov-Dec 2006, p. 26

*Counterfeiting of currency will proliferate, driving the move toward a cashless society. Sophisticated new optical scanning technologies could, in the next five years, be a boon for currency counterfeiters, so societies are increasingly putting aside their privacy fears about going cashless. Meanwhile, cashless technologies are improving, making them far easier and safer to use. --Allen H. Kupetz, "Our Cashless Future," May-June 2007, p. 37

http://www.wfs.org/Nov-Dec%20Files/TOPTEN.htm

Oxford Word of the Year: Locavore

Make sure to check out all the runners-up...

http://blog.oup.com/2007/11/locavore/

Top 60 Japanese Buzzwords of 2007

Publisher Jiyu Kokuminsha has announced this year’s crop of nominees for Japanese buzzword of the year. The wide-ranging selection of 60 words and expressions — many of which come from the worlds of politics, sports and entertainment — were selected based on suggestions from the general public, and they provide an interesting look at some of the events, people and trends that had an impact on Japan in 2007.

http://www.pinktentacle.com/2007/11/top-60-japanese-buzzwords-of-2007/

Mad Networks

I was recently intrigued by a WSJ article on rolodexes. It notes that 500 business cards is a "piddling amount" by the standards of a hardcore networker. It also says that the 6,000 cards signals a huge network of contacts. I've had a friend say that her notable firm expects you to have 3,000 contacts to be a partner. My question to all of this is what is the definition of a "contact." Is it someone who you call once a year? Someone who you send a holiday card to? Or just someone who you've met at least once?

Clinging to the Rolodex
by Katherine Rosman
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119585920760602459.html

Cheating Sign: He's a Do-Gooder

I'm always skeptical of "ultra-volunteers" and "ultra-contributors."

What? Your guy contributes to the local orchestra fund, the church, and the alumni association, plus he volunteers to build houses for the homeless. How could a guy like that give into the temptation of midnight motel rooms?

A study just published in the November issue of the Journal of Applied Psychology found that when there's a blurry line between right and wrong (as there often is with matters of infidelity), the people who become the worst cheaters are actually the ones who think of themselves as having the highest moral standards.

Why? The speculation is that these people can justify their wrongdoings with explanations that they weren't doing anything wrong at all.

http://health.yahoo.com/experts/menlovesex/70193/5-surprising-symptoms-of-infidelity/

Surgical Masks: Healthy or Useless

If you travel around Asia (esp. China/Japan), you'll notice many people wearing surgical masks if they are sick or because of air pollution. In the US and Europe, you see almost nobody wearing those masks. It seems like such a simple fix to spreading germs and avoiding polluted air - so why do so few people do it in the US and elsewhere? I think to an American, a surgical mask is associated with the Apocolypse and hospitals - it symbolizes tragedy, disease and death. Is there are way to make the surgical mask more sexy?

How about this? http://www.wired.com/news/images/full/snap_masks_f.jpg

Rule of 72

Use this rule to understand compound interest...

http://genxfinance.com/2007/11/07/use-the-rule-of-72-to-understand-compound-interest/

A-Bombs

Countries with A-Bombs: United States, Russia, United Kingdom, France, China, Israel, India, South Africa, Pakistan, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Belarus and North Korea.

Countries with Nuclear Capability: Iran, Brazil and Japan

Questionable: Argentina, Germany and The Netherlands

http://www.lacrossetribune.com/articles/2007/11/27/opinion/letters/01letter1127.txt

Facebook is Almost 2/3 Women

Facts:

*The tool shows a total of 42,966,780 members in the top 31 countries. The U.S. leads with just over 18 million users, followed by the UK (6.8m), Canada (6.7m), Australia (1.9m) and Turkey (1.6m).

*Forty percent of U.S. users are male, compared to 36% overall. Men looking for love may want to try Ireland or China, where 73% and 72% of users are female, respectively. Other than the U.S., which has the highest percentage of males, the lowest percentage of female users is in Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, UAE and Egypt.

http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/11/21/facebook-is-almost-23-women-and-other-stats/

Video: Congressional Recess

Click the link for an amusing video about how much time Congress takes off for "recess."

http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/26b0d09397

Determine Your Real Age and Life Expectancy

This may not be the most accurate indicator, but it will help you think about where you can "improve" your life in order to perhaps live longer...

http://plabox.info/real-age/

Definr

Check out this amazingly fast online dictionary...

http://definr.com/

Champagne as an Economic Barometer

"Champagne sales are a remarkably accurate barometer of the world's economic health...while sales are dropping in the United States, they are skyrocketing in places where times are good... Sales to Russia rose 158 percent and to China by 74 percent in the first six months of the year..."

In France, Dollar's Decline Fails to Burst Champagne's Bubble
by John Ward Anderson
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/23/AR2007112301682.html

Most Desirable Country to Live In: Iceland

This is from the latest annual UN Development Index which rates 175 UN member countries plus Hong Kong and the Palestinian Territories. Here are some facts from this years Index:

*Iceland has overtaken Norway as the most desirable country to live in.
*Rich free-market countries dominate the top places, with Iceland, Norway, Australia, Canada and Ireland the first five and the US slipping to 12th place from 8th place.
*Japanese have the longest life expectancy - 82.3 years - and Zambians the lowest, at 40.5 (although note that the index does not include 17 countries, including Iraq, Afghanistan and Somalia because of inadequate data.)
*The UN has published its human development index every year since 1990.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20071127/lf_nm_life/un_development_index_dc

Natural Disasters Have Quadrupled in 2 Decades

More than four times the number of natural disasters are occurring now than did two decades ago, British charity Oxfam said in a study Sunday that largely blamed global warming.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20071125/sc_afp/britainweatherclimate

Afro-Asiatic Style: Iona Rozeal Brown

"Modeling those works on Japanese Edo-era woodblock prints, brown turned geishas into go-go girls with afros and track suits and dark brown makeup. Her influence was the real-life Japanese subculture of ganguro, kids who mimic African Americans as an act of rebellion and badge of hipness. The resulting pictures bewilder and intrigue by subtly melding cultures."

G Fine Art's Kitsch and Makeup
by Jessica Dawson
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A23927-2004Nov3.html

Age Limit for US Senators?

"Robert Byrd of West Virginia is the oldest, at 90, but he's just one of 42 Senators 65 or over. And that total could top 50 (half of the Senate) within three years. While the average American is 37, no Senators are in their 30s, and just 13 were born after 1955. Should there be an age limit for Senators? Are too many of them out of touch?"

-From 11/25/07 Parade Magazine

Global Carbon Dioxide Emissions from Businesses

This is from 2006; in millions of metric tons

*Conoco Phillips: 62.3
*Chevron: 61.3
*Wal-Mart: 20.2
*General Electric: 10.8
*General Motors: 10.3
*Ford: 8.7
Coca Cola: 4.8
Procter & Gamble: 2.9
IBM: 2.8
Target: 2.6
General Mills: 1.1
Colgate-Palmolive: 0.7
Microsoft: 0.4

RSVP Rudeness

Is it rude not to RSVP? Apparently not...

"It has been suggested that some people do not understand what RSVP stands for, because the abbreviation comes from the french répondez s'il vous plaît, which directly translates to respond if you please."

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylc=X3oDMTFtMXI2N3ZvBF9TAzI3MTYxNDkEX3MDMzk2NTQ1MTAzBHNlYwNmcm9udCBwYWdlBHNsawNGUC1Ub2RheUludA--?qid=20071116042542AAfKOjQ&fr=hp

What's Happening to the Adult Entertainment Industry

Obscene Losses
by Claire Hoffman

http://www.portfolio.com/culture-lifestyle/culture-inc/arts/2007/10/15/YouPorn-Vivid-Entertainment-Profile/?print=true

Why Intelligent People Tend to be Unhappy

I'd be interested to find a study proving that intelligent people are indeed less happy...

http://www.scribd.com/doc/8778/Why-Intelligent-People-Tend-To-Be-Unhappy

An Economist Goes to a Bar

"We males are a gender of fragile egos in search of a pretty face and are threatened by brains or success that exceeds our own. Women, on the other hand, care more about how men think and perform, and they don't mind being outdone on those scores."

That has been a commonly held belief for a long time, but, the more interesting thing relates to racial preferences...

"Women of all the races we studied revealed a strong preference for men of their own race: White women were more likely to choose white men; black women preferred black men; East Asian women preferred East Asian men; Hispanic women preferred Hispanic men. But men don't seem to discriminate based on race when it comes to dating. A woman's race had no effect on the men's choices.

"Two wrinkles on this: We found no evidence of the stereotype of a white male preference for East Asian women. However, we also found that East Asian women did not discriminate against white men (only against black and Hispanic men). As a result, the white man-Asian woman pairing was the most common form of interracial dating—but because of the women's neutrality, not the men's pronounced preference. We also found that regional differences mattered. Daters of both sexes from south of the Mason-Dixon Line revealed much stronger same-race preferences than Northern daters."

An Economist Goes to a Bar
by Ray Fisman
http://www.slate.com/id/2177637/

Economics of "Hot or Not" Website

"You're not attractive and neither is your girlfriend, but in order to stomach the prospect of a long-term relationship, you delude yourself into believing she's better looking than she really is."

http://www.portfolio.com/views/blogs/odd-numbers/2007/11/18/youre-not-attractive

Happiness of the Job

See where your job rates on the happiness level. Gas station attendants and bartenders need good tips (or benefits - free gas?) because their job satisfaction appears quite low. Lawyers ranked really high, contrary to what many may think.

http://www.time.com/time/2007/america_numbers/job.html

How You Spend Your Time

See how you compare with the rest of the US. On TV watching, Americans spend 2.35 hours on average. The average US household has more televisions (2.73) than people (2.6). After work and sleep, TV takes up the largest segment of an American's day. Americans spend "only" 1.14 hours eating/drinking per day and only 17 minutes excercising. The site says that Americans spent 20 minutes on average surfing the net, but is says that some figures put it closer to 2.5 hours. Because of that huge difference, I tend not to believe the other statistics a great deal...

http://www.time.com/time/2007/america_numbers/play.html

Map: Who Has the Oil?

Note that the map does not appear to take into consideration the oil sands in Canada or things like oil shale in the middle of the US...

http://www.civicactions.com/sites/home2.civicactions.net/files/map01_1024.jpg

Chart: Money Spent on Energy Research vs. Iraq War

Note that the figures are in millions. The source for energy R&D expenditures is from the National Council for Science and the Environment.

http://www.solarpowerrocks.com/solar-trends/a-sick-graph-2/

How America Differs From Europe/World

On November 10, Chris Matthews spoke before an audience in Miami suggesting how America will be able to "survive" what looks like a host of domestic and global problems. The two things that make America unique and strong are 1) adaptability, and 2) assimilation. Americans are able to give up things if it is absolutely needed and he said that anyone is able to become an American - unlike in Europe, China, Japan, etc...

$25,000 Dessert Sets Guiness Record

Do you want a brand new car or a fleeting dessert? Most would probably choose the car, but anyone who can afford such a dessert probably already has a nice car. The memory and "cocktail talk potential" of the dessert may actually be worth its weight in gold...

"Stephen Bruce, owner of Serendipity 3, partnered with luxury jeweler Euphoria New York to create the "Frrozen Haute Chocolate," a blend of 28 cocoas, including 14 of the most expensive and exotic from around the globe."

New York's $25,000 dessert sets Guiness Record
by Vivianne Rodrigues
http://www.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUSN0753679220071107?feedType=RSS&feedName=domesticNews&rpc=22&sp=true

53% of Men Admit to Ogling Other Women

Does a Wandering Eye Mean a Wandering Heart?

http://health.yahoo.com/experts/menlovesex/67486/does-a-wandering-eye-mean-a-wandering-heart/

Video: Noodling

I respect noodling more than almost any other sport. Skill, timing, patience, knowledge of nature, bravery, daring, strength, stamina, craziness...

http://www.livevideo.com/video/F7C455C18CCF4C9D9B6B83EA681BFBD9/manly-cat-fish-catching.aspx

Map: Countries Distorted to Represent Relative Population

Australia looks like it has turned into some sort of Dr. Seuess creation...Russia has turned into a toothpick...I'd love to see a moving map based on future populations estimates and how the countries would shrink/grow in size.

http://www.sasi.group.shef.ac.uk/worldmapper/images/largepng/2.png

Books to Base Your Life On

Not exactly my choice of books, but it still may give you a few ideas...

http://www.ryanholiday.net/archives/entries/ryan_clark_holiday_book_list_1.phtml

Top 100 US Conservatives and Liberals

Study this list to understand the political intricacies of the US...

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/exclusions/uselection/nosplit/listintro.xml

Millionaires - Just Middle Class

"Private wealth specialists Lewis Schiff and Russ Alan Prince found the number of Americans with $1 million to $10 million had risen to 8.4 million households -- or 7.6 percent of U.S. households -- and was growing at 15 percent a year...But instead of entering the echelons of the elite, these new millionaires adhere to middle-class values, earning their money rather than inheriting it, working 70 hours a week, and choosing neighborhoods based on the quality of schools...He said the four main characteristics of a millionaire were that they were hard working, networked, persistent even in the face of failure, and put themselves in the flow of money."

More US Millionaires are Middle Class
by Belinda Goldsmith
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20071101/lf_nm_life/wealth_millionaires_dc

Do Kids Cause Stress?

I'd like to see who funded this study...But basically, a 3% difference is not that great. My conclusion: kids or no kids, you have about a 10% chance of having serious pyschological distress within the next year.

"Children bring joy and stress into a parents life, but a new study finds that parents report fewer pyschological problems than their non-parenting counterparts. A national survey of more than 33,000 American adults found that 9% of parents say that they have experienced serious pyschological distress in the past year. It was 12% for non-parents."

-From Yahoo/ABC News Clip 11/1/07

Fact of the Day

America has 62 percent of the world's [scientist] stars as residents, primarily because of its research universities which produce them.

http://www.nber.org/papers/w13547

Halloween Economics

"So let's do something to reform Halloween. The first step would be for Halloween donors to give kids money instead of candy. Kids could then go to the supermarket the next day and binge on the candies they really like. That solution would get an A-plus in economics."

http://www.marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2007/10/the-economics-3.html

Quote of the Day - Dividends

"...All this is yet another reminder that companies sometimes use ambiguity in the accounting rules to make their net income look better than it is. That's one reason why some Fools like companies that pay dividends -- no accounting trick in the world can put cold, hard cash in your pocket. Dividends keep companies honest."

http://www.fool.com/investing/dividends-income/2007/10/31/not-better-late-than-never-at-office-depot.aspx

Restaurant Divining: If it Sounds Bad, It's Got to be Good

I think it is pretty hard to find foods that sound "bad" on a menu because restaurants generally want to make the title of the dish as appealing as possible. Nevertheless, I agree that if something on a menu sounds bad, it has at least got to be good enough to be put on a menu...

"There are some restaurant dishes that I order because they sound better than everything else on the menu, and there are some I order because they sound worse. My reasoning goes like this: If a chef dares to offer something as unappealing as, say, a raw kale salad, chances are it’s fantastic."

If It Sounds Bad, It's Got To Be Good
by Melissa Clark
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/24/dining/24appe.html?_r=2&oref=slogin&oref=slogin

How to Cry Effectively: Male vs. Female

Before you cry, think about the results of this new study...

"When men express anger they gain status, but when women express anger they lose status...The tide later shifted against male crying, but in the last 30 to 40 years male crying has gained in acceptability...A moist eye was viewed much more positively than open crying, and males got the most positive responses."

The Crying Game: Male vs. Female Tears
by Jocelyn Noveck
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071024/ap_en_ot/the_crying_game

How Evolution Really Works

Check out this nearly 10-minute video...(warning, it does get a bit "scientific")

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SeTssvexa9s

Pinker on Jews, Genes and Intelligence

"Apparently, Ashkenazi Jews—the Eastern European ones—really do have an average IQ that's eight to 15 points higher than the northern European average...Sephardic Jews, those descended from Jews expelled from Spain in the 15th century, have the same IQ distribution as the rest of Europe."

http://www.seedmagazine.com/news/2005/12/jews_on_jews_jews_are_great.php

Persuasian 101: People Fear Losses More Than They Seek Gains

A great marketing concept....

http://the-pitytorium.newsvine.com/_news/2007/10/03/1000614-pesuasion-101-people-fear-losses-more-than-they-seek-gains

Who Owns Who in the Auto Industry

http://tides.ws/wp-content/uploads/images/WhoOwnsWho/Who%20Owns%20Who.jpg

Tim Harford Blog

Another interesting economics blog...

http://blogs.ft.com/undercover/

Why Males Die Before Females

Once again, the answer to everything is sex.

"In humans and many other animals, males age faster and die earlier than females. New research suggests this might happen because of intense competition over sex...the more polygynous a species was, the more likely their males were to age faster and die earlier than females."

http://www.livescience.com/animals/071016-male-age.html

World Energy and Population Trends to 2100

The key question is what will it really be like living with global warming. Will things be truly disastrous?

"All the research I have done for this paper has convinced me that the human race is now out of time. We are staring at hard limits on our activities and numbers, imposed by energy constraints and ecological damage. There is no time left to mitigate the situation, and no way to bargain or engineer our way out of it. It is what it is, and neither Mother Nature nor the Laws of Physics are open to negotiation."

http://www.paulchefurka.ca/WEAP/WEAP.html

5 Smallest Countries and How They Make/Made Their Economies

I like Tuvalu's story...

http://www.myinterestingfiles.com/2007/09/5-smallest-country.html

Sex, Nazi, Burrito and Viagra: Who Googles What?

"Internet users in Egypt, India and Turkey are the world's most frequent searchers for Web sites using the keyword "sex" on Google search engines, according to statistics provided by Google Inc (Google Trends)...Chile came in first place searching for the word "gay", followed by Mexico and Colombia."

The top searchers for some keywords were as follows:

-"Hangover" - Ireland, United Kingdom, United States
-"Tom Cruise" - Canada, United States, Australia
-"Homosexual" - Philippines, Chile, Venezuela
-"Love" - Philippines, Australia, United States
-"Botox" - Australia, United States, United Kingdom
-"Viagra" - Italy, United Kingdom, Germany
-"Marijuana" - Canada, United States, Australia

http://www.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idUSPAR75016820071017?feedType=RSS&feedName=technologyNews&rpc=22&sp=true

The 10 Most Depressing Job Sectors

Interesting how the top ones are all related to the service industry...

1. Personal Care and Services
2. Food Preparation and Serving Related
3. Community and Social Services
4. Healthcare Practitioners and Technical
5. Arts, Design, Entertainment, Sports and Media
6. Education, Training, and Library
7. Office and Administrative Support
8. Building and Grounds Cleaning and Maintenance
9. Financial
10. Sales and Related

http://oas.samhsa.gov/2k7/depression/occupation.htm

Free Documentaries

http://bestdocumentaries.blogspot.com/

Uncommon Business Blog

This blog's speciality is collecting stories about people becoming rich by doing weird things...

http://uncommonbusiness.blogspot.com/

The Economics of Gold-Digging

Interesting discussion on gold-diggers...

"Cutting through all the B.S., what you suggest is a simple trade: you bring your looks to the party, and I bring my money. Fine, simple. But here’s the rub — your looks will fade and my money will likely continue into perpetuity … in fact, it is very likely that my income increases but it is an absolute certainty that you won’t be getting any more beautiful...So in Wall Street terms, we would call you a trading position, not a buy and hold … hence the rub … marriage. It doesn’t make good business sense to “buy you” (which is what you’re asking) so I’d rather lease."

http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/10/09/the-economics-of-gold-digging/

How China Could Crash the Dollar

This is a discussion on how China could crash the dollar. It doesn't discuss the fact that it would probably mean economic suicide for China if it chose to do such a thing.

http://www.currencytrading.net/2007/how-china-could-crash-the-us-dollar-on-a-whim/

The World's Top-Earning Models

I wonder if the list purposely left out male models, or, if male models truly do not make as much as their female counterparts...

http://mywiki.ws/The_World%27s_Top-Earning_Models

Why Religion Still Trumps Science

The answer: better marketing.

"Those who really believe in science as a better explanation of our place in this universe are generally too busy doing science to spend time trying to get across the concept to those who let themselves be deluded by religious ideas."

http://danielhaggard.com/67/this-is-why-religion-still-trumps-science/

See Your Salary in Real Time

Just enter how much you make either hourly, weekly, monthly, or annually and let the program do the rest...

http://www.cashto.net/

5,000 Years of Religion in 90 Seconds

Nice 90-second video of the history of religion.

http://mapsofwar.com/images/Religion.swf

Who Gets Your Money?

"In the 2006 fiscal year, the US government spent more than $415 billion on contracts with 176,172 companies and entities. About one-quarter of that total - $100 billion - went to only six companies: Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Northrop Grumman, General Dynamics, Raytheon and KBR. All do the majority of their government business with the Department of Defense."

-From Parade's Intelligence Report 10/14/07 (Parade.com/intel)

Feed a Cold, Starve a Fever?

"False. In both cases, experts recommend eating moderately and healthfully. Listen to your body. If you're hungry, eat a little. If you have a fever, the most important thing to do is to keep up your fluids so you don't become dehyrated."

Feed a Cold, Starve a Fever?
by Gini Kopecky Wallace (10/14/07 Parade Magazine)

When Immigration Goes Up, Prices Go Down

"Immigration plays a powerful role in holding down prices. For every 1 percent increase in the ratio of immigrants to natives, prices go down by about 0.5 percent."

When Immigration Goes Up, Prices Go Down
by Shankar Vedantam
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/14/AR2007101400993.html

Map: All the Places Your Legally an Adult but Can't Drink

Looks like the US falls in the same category as Nicaragua, Suriname, Parts of Canada, Nepal, Oman, and Uzbekistan

http://www.drinkingmap.com/AdultDrink.html

Electoral College Politics

"Americans revere their Constitution but don't understand it...Elections belong to the people...The argument that the electoral system has worked well is ridiculous. No part of the Constitution has failed more often, and brought us closer to disaster, than the election provisions of Article II."

Let's Abolish the Electoral College
by Garrett Epps
http://www.salon.com/opinion/feature/2007/10/12/electoral_college/

CLEW Index (Cost of Living Extremely Well)

Pretty Cool "bling" index. The CLEWI reportedly has been rising much faster than the CPI (consumer price index). This, says George F. Will (11/11/07 WPost), "is the outer symptom of a fascinating psychological phenomenon: Envy is increasing while - and perhpas even faster than - wealth does."

The 6 Most "Terrifying" Foods in the World

Do any of these deserve to be bumped off the list? I think it is actually pretty well-made.

http://www.cracked.com/index.php?name=News&sid=2439

Map: Minimum Wage Laws

http://www.dol.gov/esa/minwage/america.htm

Nice Periodic Table

http://www.dayah.com/periodic/

Chinese Culture vs. German Culture

http://www.adinochang.com/archives/chinese-culture-versus-german-culture.html

Average Job Tenure

Employees are most mobile in the US, putting in an average of just four years.

http://www.economist.com/daily/chartgallery/displaystory.cfm?story_id=9934771

Why We Curse

Why We Curse
By Steven Pinker
http://www.tnr.com/docprint.mhtml?i=20071008&s=pinker100807

New Citizenship

This is quite amazing...The US is an immigration powerhouse with 47.5% of new citizenships of OECD countries...

http://www.nationmaster.com/red/pie/imm_new_cit-immigration-new-citizenships

Post Secret

This site is an ongoing community art project in which people mail in their secrets anonymously on one side of a homemade postcard...I would love to spend all day trying to find the really funny/scary ones...

http://postsecret.blogspot.com/

Married To Your Computer

The new marriage scheme:

"Consider this: In a survey earlier this year, 64 percent of Americans say they spend more time with their computer than with their significant other. Meanwhile, 84 percent said they were more dependent on their computer than they were three years ago."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/20071008/sc_livescience/whenyourmostsignificantotherisacomputer

Things Other People Accomplished When They Were Your Age

Enter your age and see how far ahead (or dead) people were when they were your age...

http://www.museumofconceptualart.com/accomplished/

20 Innovations that have Radically Changed the College Experience

Colleges/Universities are usually a few years ahead of technology compared to the rest of a country (I am talking in a general sense). Even if you only graduated a few years ago, you may not have utilized some of this technolgoy when you were there...

http://www.collegehappenings.com/college/20-innovations-that-changed-the-college-experience/

Study: Friends With Benefits (FWB) = Stress

"Removing all the "stat speak" from that paragraph, it boils down to 10% evolved into a traditional relationship, about 33% stopped the sex but continued as friends, 25% ended both the sex and the friendship, and 32% continued as FWB...The study concluded, according to Dr. Timothy Levine, one of the study's authors, 'that people got into these relationships because they didn’t want commitment. It was perceived as a safe relationship, at least at first. But also that there was this growing fear that the one person would become more attracted than the other.' Leading to the same stresses and problems seen in traditional relationships."

http://www.thebachelorguy.com/any-benefit-to-friends-with-benefits.html

UC Berkeley Puts Full Lectures on YouTube

This is probably the first of many. I imagine that attending that 8am lecture will become much less of a necessity in the future...

Besides getting a tangible degree, why should anyone pay to go to school ever again? School is much more about the socialization, networking and acquiring experiences. But if it WERE about strictly classroom education, this would probably put some schools out of business.

http://youtube.com/ucberkeley

The 80/20 Rule

"As much as the 80/20 rule has become a standard in economic theory, a team of researchers at the Sloan School of Management at MIT have crafted a new theory that shows the 80/20 rule may be fading in the world of Internet business."

http://businessshrink.biz/psychologyofbusiness/2007/10/02/internet-business-is-killing-the-8020-rule/

A Collection of Unusual Wikipedia Articles

This should keep you busy for a few hours...What is your favorite one? Mine is the Society for the Prevention of Calling Sleeping Car Porters "George" - or SPCSCPG.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Unusual_articles?re

WalletTest.com

This site did an experiment on 100 people to see if they would return a dropped wallet or steal it. Not suprisingly, 74% of people where honest and 26% were dishonest. Based on those results, honest people outnumbered dishonest ones by 3 to 1. Older people were more honest than young ones, and women were more honest than men. White people were more honest than black people. (These are just the factual results, not my personal opinion...)

http://www.wallettest.com/Lost_Wallet_Test/Results_Page.html

Economics of Fertility

Is the tip differential related to the fact that women may be more "active" during their peak period of fertility vs. a bit more sluggish (and less hussler-like) during menstruation?

"Psychologist Geoffrey Miller and colleagues tapped the talent at local gentlemen's clubs and counted tips made on lap dances. Dancers made about $70 an hour during their peak period of fertility, versus about $35 while menstruating and $50 in between...Miller links the wage fluctuations to changes in body odor, waist-to-hip ratio, and facial features."

The Stripper's Secret
by Matthew Hutson
http://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/index.php?term=pto-4435.html

Breakdown of Greenhouse Gas Emissions by Sector

According to the Energy Information Agency (EIA), the transportation sector accounted for 33% of total US energy-related carbon dioxide emissions in 2005. The residential sector acconts for 21%. Commercial sector, 18%. Industrial sector, 28%.
http://www.eia.doe.gov/oiaf/1605/ggrpt/carbon.html

King of All Teas: "Puer"

"A type of tea commonly pressed into Frisbee-shaped cakes, puer (pronounced "poo-ahr"), was long the domain of a small group of tea collectors. Earlier this year, speculators discovered the tea, driving up its value...Puer, with a medicinal flavor and smoky aftertaste, improves with age unlike other teas that grow stale...The price of one of the hottest varieties of puer soared to nearly $35-a-cake this past April, seven times the $5-a-cake value just three years ago. Today, a cake of puer sells for nearly $16, a 60% backslide from the peak, fueling fears of a crash."

Of All the Tea in China, 'Puer' is the Hottest
by Iris Kuo
http://online.wsj.com/article_email/SB119127746956745626-lMyQjAxMDE3OTAxMjIwNzI3Wj.html

Paradox: Is Great Happiness Too Much of a Good Thing?

This demonstrates why there is no need to always be happy...

"Americans report being generally happier than people from, say, Japan or Korea, but it turns out that, partly as a result, they are less likely to feel good when positive things happen and more likely to feel bad when negative things befall them... Put another way, a hidden price of being happier on average is that you put your short-term contentment at risk, because being happy raises your expectations about being happy. When good things happen, they don't count for much because they are what you expect. When bad things happen, you temporarily feel terrible, because you've gotten used to being happy."

Is Great Happiness Too Much of a Good Thing?
by Shankar Vedantam
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/30/AR2007093000632.html

If the Dollar's So Weak, Why Aren't Travelers Flocking to the US?

The real question is how does one define "unfriendly." If it is the visa process, that can (and should) be fixed. If it is the people who are unfriendly, that may be a little harder to work on...I have a feeling that it may be the perception of the US that causes it to lag in the polls (caused by ongoing wars in Iraq/Afghanistan). When people don't like an Administration's policy, the impact can be felt all around, including travel patterns.

"The answer, perhaps, can be found in another statistic that currency traders ignore as they deal with the dollar's ongoing slide. By a greater than 2-1 ration, in worlwide surveys, international travelers consistently cite the US as the world's single most unfriendly destination."

Have Money, Won't Travel
by Andrew Glass
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1007/6127.html

Differences Between Korean, Chinese & Japanese

These portayals are not necessarily true, especially with the confluence of cultures. I find that some Japanese people want look like Koreans and try to mimic much of the fashion and style. Many Koreans want to look Japanese. Some from all three want to look western, etc....

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdS2gsI_xCyDnMALuqQktW8jJfbVU-RC0teUKU1T_G6QE3TD77DHg7q83IhKdY4mYjtcJMoel5d3dTtrVY8vV6U4E8awM057pUQnvr-F6GnFaQ3DdRGVPPnoFeEsmpjnB5txIQcyBZAiI/s1600-h/asiancomic.jpg

Best Places to Travel on a Weak Dollar

Despite the weakness of the US dollar, there are countries who have much weaker currencies than the dollar...As long as the greenback continues to have at least the backing of the full faith and credit of the US government, those countries may ALWAYS have weaker currencies compared with the dollar. This is not authoritative list by any means, but the idea is that one should not cry and pout about dollar weakness.

"The dollar has been hitting record lows against the Euro and even traditional dollar-friendly travel destinations like Canada, but that shouldn’t discourage you international travels. There are plenty of countries to visit where your dollar goes a long way, here are some of the best ones..."

*Morocco
*Thailand
*Mexico
*China
*Jordan
*Micronesia
*Venezuela
*Armenia

http://www.foxnomad.com/2007/10/02/the-best-places-to-travel-on-a-weak-dollar/

Why Less Medical Treatment May Be Good For You

Reasons to avoid doctors/hospitals at all costs...

"The more medical care you receive, the sicker you'll get. That's the stark message in Overtreated: Why Too Much Medicine is Making Us Sicker and Poorer, Shannon Brownlee's new book."

Why Less Medical Treatment May Be Good For You
by Nancy Shute
http://health.usnews.com/articles/health/2007/09/26/why-less-medical-treatment-may-be-good-for-you.html

Do Sanctions Work?

To be sure, there are many different types of sanctions (economic, etc...). But it seems that many of the costs tend to be passed down to the common citizens of the country. Imposing sanctions on a country strikes me as similar to imposing ethics reforms in Congress - there is always a way around them.

Here are a few reasons why sanctions may not be a good idea in Burma...

Why Sanctions Will Not Fix Burma
by Gideon Rachman
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/44cde87e-7029-11dc-a6d1-0000779fd2ac.html

Quiz: Find Out Which Candidate Best Fits Your Views

Answer the 11 questions to find out which candidate is the right fit...

http://www.wqad.com/Global/link.asp?L=259460

Economics of Being Late

1. The busier the person, the less likely he or she is to be late. Busy people manage time well because their time is valuable. They develop rules to avoid frittering away the day.

The Five Sorry Rules of Lateness
by Michael Munger
http://www.econlib.org/library/Columns/y2007/Mungerlateness.html

How Big is the Universe?

Basically, no one has any idea...

How Big is the Universe
by Brent Tully
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/universe/howbig.html

Economics of Faking Orgasm

"Mialon's key point is that you can't analyze the Fifth Amendment without considering the fact that defendants sometimes lie, and juries sometimes try to figure out when they're lying. That's where the orgasms come in. Lovers sometimes fake orgasms, and their partners sometimes try to figure out when they're faking. So it's only natural that an intellectual journey around the Fifth Amendment should include a side trip into the economics of faking orgasm."

http://www.slate.com/id/2097396/

Newspaper Demographics

This has been around for a long time, but I still enjoy it:

1. The Wall Street Journal is read by the people who run the country.

2. The Washington Post is read by people who think they run the country.

3. The New York Times is read by people who think they should run the country and who are very good at crossword puzzles.

4. USA Today is read by people who think they ought to run the country but don’t really understand The New York Times. They do, however, like their statistics shown in pie charts.

5. The Los Angeles Times is read by people who wouldn’t mind running the country — if they could find the time — and if they didn’t have to leave Southern California to do it.

6. The Boston Globe is read by people whose parents used to run the country and did a poor job of it , thank you very much.

7. The New York Daily News is read by people who aren’t too sure who’s running the country and don’t really care as long as they can get a seat on the train.

8. The New York Post is read by people who don’t care who’s running the country as long as they do something really scandalous, preferably while intoxicated.

9. The Miami Herald is read by people who are running another country but need the baseball scores.

10. The San Francisco Chronicle is read by people who aren’t sure there is a country or that anyone is running it; but if so, they oppose all that they stand for. There are occasional exceptions if the leaders are handicapped minority feminist atheist dwarfs who also happen to be illegal aliens from any other country or galaxy, provided of course, that they are not Republicans.

11. The National Enquirer is read by people trapped in line at the grocery store.

12. The Oregonian is read by people who have recently caught a fish and need something in which to wrap it.

http://nynerd.com/newspaper-demographics/

Can You Pass the New US Citizenship Test?

Test your knowledge here (25 multiple choice question):

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21019797/

US Is Top Arms Seller To Developing World

Top Suppliers (share of 2006 sales):
1. US: 36%
2. Russia: 28%
3. Britain: 11%
4. Germany: 6%
5. China: 3%

Top Recipients (value of agreements in billions)
1. Pakistan: $5.1
2. India: $3.5
3. Saudi Arabia: $3.2
4. Venezuela: $3.1
5. Algeria: $2.1
6. Israel: $2.1
7. Brazil: $1.1

US Is Top Arms Seller To Developing World
by Thom Shanker
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/01/us/01weapons.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin

Chart: Spot the Housing Bubble

This is why technical analysis is key:

http://www.nytimes.com/imagepages/2007/09/23/weekinreview/20070923_BAJAJ_GRAPHIC.html

Change: Men Happier Than Women

"In the early 1970s, women reported being slightly happier than men. Today, the two have switched places...A big reason that women reported being happier three decades ago — despite far more discrimination — is probably that they had narrower ambitions..."

He's Happier, She's Less So
by David Leonhardt
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/26/business/26leonhardt.html?_r=3&oref=slogin&oref=slogin&oref=slogin

There Are No Ugly Women

It is pretty amazing what a 12-hour makeover can do...

"There are no ugly women, only those who can't afford a makeover."

http://www.sonnyradio.com/nouglywomen.htm

Men Are Smarter (And More Stupid) Than Women

"When scientists measured the intelligence of more than 2,500 brothers and sisters, they found a disproportionate number of men in both the top 2 percent and the bottom 2 percent...The average scores of the men were virtually identical to that of the women."

Men are Smarter (and more stupid) Than Women, Say Scientists
by Neil Sears
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=483488&in_page_id=1770

Americans Can Go Without Sex Longer Than The Internet

Is the Internet more interesting than sex? Has the Internet created a insatiable thirst for knowledge? Or, are all these people just finding porn more rewarding than sex?

Americans Can Go Without Sex Longer Than The Internet, Study Finds
by Sharon Gaudin
http://www.informationweek.com/news/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=201808208&cid=nl_IWK_daily

Chart: Our Local Universe

Makes us look pretty insignificant. Oh, wait...

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/76/2MASS_LSS_chart-NEW.jpg

Fire Your Best People, Reward the Lazy

The arguement is that one is less valuable if all the knowledge is locked in your head. The author, however, overlooks the fact that you can be the best *and* disperse information to others. The problem comes when the team leader or boss does not tell his colleagues to share information within the company.

http://www.testearly.com/2007/08/17/fire-your-best-peoplereward-the-lazy-ones/

Best Cities For Singles

A fairly nice split between East Coast, West Coast, and the in between...

"Today the median age of first marriage is rising for both men and women, and singles make up 41% of American adults 18 and over. In fact, most Americans can expect to spend fully half of their adult lives unmarried."

1. San Francisco
2. New York
3. Los Angeles
4. Atlanta
5. Chicago
6. Washington, DC
7. San Diego
8. Seattle
9. Dallas-Fort Worth
10. Philadelphia

http://www.forbes.com/2007/08/21/best-cities-singles-forbeslife-singles07-cx_ee_0821singlesintro.html

Those Afraid of Cars/Planes Having Superior Genes?

I agree that having a phobia for spiders/snakes is a survival instinct. If that is the case, then those having phobias for driving/flying/riding roller coasters, etc... may be the ones who received "advanced" genes to develop those fears. If one has a fear of say, a car (one of the biggest killers of humans), then they probably won't drive/ride in a car as often, and thus, they will likely knock out the chances of dying in an auto crash. And thus, they will be able to spread their seed over a greater amount of time.

"People develop phobias for spiders and snakes and things that were ancestral threats. It's very infrequent to have somebody afraid of cars or electrical outlets," New told LiveScience. "Those statistically pose much more of a threat to us than a tiger."

Modern Humans Retain Caveman's Survival Instincts
by Jeanna Bryner
http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/20070925/sc_livescience/modernhumansretaincavemanssurvivalinstincts

Video: The Banking System

The first in a series of videos with a criticizing eye on the modern banking system. The remaining videos can also be found on YouTube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cy-fD78zyvI&feature=PlayList&p=D8B8EAC323DC2524&index=0

Deep Pockets

From a 9/23/07 Washington Post Outlook article titled "We Can't Rely on the Kindness of Billionaires" by David Nasaw:

Top 5 Philanthropists in History (Value of gifts adjusted for inflation)
1. Warren Buffett ($36 billion pledge, 2006)
2. Bill and Melinda Gates ($13.98 billion in gifts, 1999)
3. David Packard ($7.87 billion bequest, 1996)
4. Andrew Carnegie ($7.16 billion lefetime gift, 1835-1919)
5. William Hewlett ($6.75 billion bequest, 2002)

Top 5 Private Foundations in 2007
1. Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation ($33.1 billion)
2. Ford Foundation ($11.6 billion)
3. J. Paul Getty Trust ($9.6 billion)
4. Robert Wood Johnson Foundation ($9.4 billion)
5. William and Flora Hewlett Foundation ($8.5 billion)

Top 5 US Charitable Causes in 2005
1. Religious/Faith-Based ($88.3 billion)
2. Education ($33.8 billion)
3. Health ($22 billion)
4. Human Services ($19.2 billion)
5. Arts, Culture and Humanities ($14.0 billion)

2 Questions I Want Answers To

Why are banana prices so low and music CD prices so high?

It's Just Your Mind

A great way to sell products:

http://haha.nu/creative/its-just-your-mind/

World's Most Expensive Dessert

The hotel Fortress Sri Lanka has the world's most expensive dessert, coming in at $14,500. It is called the "The Fortress Stilt Fisherman Ingulgence." The tax alone on that ($725 assuming a 5% tax rate) would probably cause most people to choke. Here is a description:

"A combination of a gold leaf Italian kasata, flavoured with Irish cream and served with a mango and pomegranate compote and a bubbly-based sabayon enlighten, forms the mouthwatering base of this delicious desert, however, the finishing touch is the 80-carat aquamarine stone nestled on the handmade chocolate stilt fisherman."

http://www.dailynews.lk/2007/09/24/news03.asp

Who Owns the Arctic?

"Now that global warming has rendered the Arctic more accessible than ever--and yet at the same time more fragile--a new frenzy has broken out for control of the trade routes at the top of the world and the riches that nations hope and believe may lie beneath the ice."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/time/20070922/wl_time/fightforthetopoftheworld

Most Popular Car Color

What is the most popular car color. Most people would probably say white or black, but silver is the king of colors...

1. Silver
2. White
3. Gray
4. Black

http://biz.yahoo.com/brn/070914/22589.html?.v=1&.pf=family-home

The Forbes 400: All Billionaires

"One billion dollars is no longer enough. The price of admission to this, the 25th anniversary edition of the Forbes 400, is $1.3 billion, up $300 million from last year. The collective net worth of America’s plutocrats rose $290 billion to $1.54 trillion."

1. Bill Gates: $59 billion
2. Warren Buffett: $52 billion
3. Sheldon Adelson: $28 billion

http://finance.yahoo.com/personal-finance/article/103513/The-Forbes-400

The Forbes 400 List:
http://www.forbes.com/2007/09/18/richlist07_The-Richest-Americans_slide.html?partner=yahoo

List of Countries by Current Account Balance

The current account (CA) is the sum of the balance of trade (exports minus imports of goods and services), net factor income (such as interest and dividends), and net transfer payments (such as foreign aid.)

1. China
2. Japan
3. Germany
4. Russia
5. Saudi Arabia

Not suprisingly, the US is last on the list at #163.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_current_account_balance

Which Countries Get The Most Students Into College?

"Australians are the keenest students, with over 80% of young people entering university in 2005. Australia also had a high graduation rate."

1. Australia
2. Finland
3. Poland

http://economist.com/daily/chartgallery/displaystory.cfm?story_id=9823950

One Language Dies Out Every 2 Weeks

If that pace remains the same, all languages will be dead in about 269 years. In terms of global trading efficiency, one language is a no-brainer. Cultural diversity is a different story...

"While there are an estimated 7,000 languages spoken around the world today, one of them dies out about every two weeks, according to linguistic experts struggling to save at least some of them."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070918/ap_on_re_us/endangered_languages

America's Deadliest Jobs

1. Fishers and fishing workers
2. Pilots and flight engineers
3. Loggers
4. Iron and steel workers
5. Refuse and recyclable material collectors
6. Farmers and ranchers
7. Electrical power line workers
8. Roofers
9. Drivers
10. Agricultural workers

http://news.thomasnet.com/IMT/archives/2007/09/most_dangerous_jobs_bureau_of_labor_statistics_2006_2007.html

Eyes Can't Resist Beautiful People

"If we’re interested in finding a mate, our attention gets quickly and automatically stuck on attractive members of the opposite sex, explained study leader Jon Maner of the University of Florida. If we’re jealous and worried about our partner cheating on us, attention gets quickly and automatically stuck on attractive people of our own sex because they are our competitors.”

Eyes Can't Resist Beautiful People
by Andrea Thompson
http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/20070918/sc_livescience/eyescantresistbeautifulpeople

Dan Gilbert on Happiness

"Ben & Jerry's doesn't have liver and onion ice cream, and it's not because they whipped some up, tried it, and went 'yuck' - it's because without leaving your armchair you can simulate that flavor and say yuck before you make it."

"One of the main reasons human brains got so big is because it got a new part called the frontal lobe, particularly a part called the pre-frontal cortex...one of the most important things it does is act as an experience simulator..."

"Which one would make you happier - winning $314 million in the lottery or becoming parapalegic? The fact is, a year after losing the use of their legs and a year after winning the lotto, lottery winners and parpalegics are equally happy with their lives."

Why Are We Happy? Why Aren't We Happy?
by Dan Gilbert (a la TED)
http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/97

NY vs. Cali: Wealth

New York is down, California's up:

http://images.amazon.com/media/i3d/01/westcoast2x.pdf

Richest Americans Ever (Inflation-Adjusted)

Wealth (calculated in billions) at its peak.

1. John D. Rockefeller: $305.3
2. Andrew Carnegie: $281.2
3. Cornelius Vanderbilt: $168.4
4. John Jacob Astor: $110.1
5. Stephen Girard: $95.6
6. Richard B. Mellon: $82.3
7. A.T. Steward: $80.8
8. Frederick Weyerhauser: $72.2
9. Marshall Field: $60.1
10. Sam Walton: $58.6
11. Jay Gould: $58.2
12. Henry Ford: $54.3
13. Bill Gates: $53.0
14. Andrew W. Mellon: $50.5
15. Warren Buffett: $46.0

http://images.amazon.com/media/i3d/01/power1x.pdf

30 Yr. Fixed-Rate Mortgages - Historical View

This is from FreddieMac for figures going back to 1971...how about buying a house October 1981? No thanks.

http://www.freddiemac.com/pmms/pmms30.htm

*Here is the prime rate historical data going back to 1947:
http://www.mortgage-x.com/general/indexes/prime.asp

Measuring Happiness and Satisfaction

"Happiness among American men and women reaches its estimated minimum at approximately ages 49 and 45 respectively."

Hypertension and Happiness Across Nations (NBER Working Paper No. 12934)
http://papers.nber.org/papers/w12934

Girl vs. Boy Japanese

Work ethics of the Japanese male are largely to blame for the huge discrepancies in a foreign male learning "female Japanese" vs. "male Japanese."

"Japanese men, unlike their friendly female counterparts, are often inaccessible. They generally work 12 hours at a stretch and afterward go out in tight-knit, impenetrable groups. My girlfriend once tried to recruit a few male coworkers to teach me better Japanese but had little success. They were either too busy or just too exhausted."

I Sound Like What in Japanese?
by Matthew Rusling
http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0917/p19s01-hfes.html

Bill Maher on Feminism

"You cannot reform biology, and by the way, the male impetus to spread his seed is why we are a successful species, and do we get thanked for it, no! We get impeached."

http://youtube.com/watch?v=_Z8j4QJ0oiY

Priorities for Saving the World

There are hundreds of problems in the world...how does one prioritize them? The list that scientists from around the world came up with may suprise you. Climate change tends to always be at the bottom of the list and disease/malnutrition is at the top...

Here are some facts:

*800 million are starving
*1 billion lack clean drinking water
*2 billion lack sanitation
*2 million dying from AIDS each year
*175 international migrants
*940 million illiterate adults
*Several billion people will be affected by global warming

The 10 Challenges:

*Climate Change
*Communicable Diseases
*Conflicts
*Education
*Financial Instability
*Governance & Corruption
*Malnutrition & Hunger
*Population: Migration
*Sanitation & Water
*Subsidies & Trade Barriers

Our Priorities for Saving the World
Bjorn Lomborg (a la TED)
http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/62

Map: The 10 Regions of US Politics

The 10 Regions of US Politics
by Robert David Sullivan
http://www.massinc.org/index.php?id=417#northeastcorridor

The Science of Love

"George Bernard Shaw said that love consists of overestimating the differences between one women and another, and indeed, that is what we do."

"I don't think honestly we are an animal that was built to be happy, we are an animal that was built to reproduce."

Helen Fisher (a la TED)
http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/16

A Brief History of Violence

"We are probably living in the most peaceful time of our species existence."

A Brief History of Violence
by Steven Pinker (at TED)
http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/163

Will America Stay on Top? I Like the Odds.

"The evidence for our nation's downward spiral isn't sufficient to rule out the very opposite possibility: that the US will become, in purely geopolitical terms, even stronger in coming decades. The mistake we make is not so much overestimating our problems, but underestimating the problems of our potential rivals. We think we're the only country with decline-and-fall issues."

Some facts from the article:

*The GDP of the US for 2007 probably will be in the vicinity of $13.2 trillion. China is right around $2.6 trillion - in fourth place, after the US, Japan, and Germany.

*China's rivers are sewers. Environmental problems make the Chinese economic boom unsustainable.

*China will be the first country to get old before it gets rich. China's one-child policy, so rigidly enforced in the 1980s and 1990s, will haunt the country as it finds itself without enough workers to support a geriatric population.

*By 2020, there will be only one German worker for every German pensioner.

*Japan is rapidly aging and having few babies.

*Russia combines a low birthrate with decreasing life expectancy. Every year, 700,000 more Russians die than are born.

*The European Union isn't a country. It's more like a confederation. The US effort to unite disparate sovereign states into a single political unity started two centuries ago. The Europeans right now are where we were back in the days of powdered wigs and pewter mugs.

*The EU lacks a common language, a common postal system, a common soccer team, even a standardized electric socket.

Bet on America
by Joel Achenbach
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/08/31/AR2007083101468.html

Competitive Intelligence vs. Espionage

"The difference? Espionage by definition is using spies to obtain information about the plans and activities especially of a competing company. CI practitioners generally abide by local legal guidelines and ethical business norms."

http://intellibriefs.blogspot.com/2007/05/competitive-intelligence-vs-espionage.html

When the Dollar Falls, Oil Prices Rise

"An article examining the reasons that oil hit a new record price (in nominal terms) failed to note the sharp fall of the dollar against other major currencies. This is not the whole story, but if the value of the dollar falls then the price of oil, as measured in dollars, rises. It's pretty simple."

http://www.prospect.org/csnc/blogs/beat_the_press_archive?month=09&year=2007&base_name=when_the_dollar_falls_oil_pric

Why Do People in the US Vote on Tuesday?

Why vote in the middle of the work week? Perhaps that is part of the reason the US is ranked 139 of 172 countries in the world in voter turnout. Should we all have a half day on Friday? Any ideas? I'm still a big fan of having a lottery (with a monetary reward) in order to increase voter turnout.

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=FG-Ief0n8vY&feature=dir

Midomi

This new site lets you find music by singing or humming. This is exactly what the world needed. Lyrics are often forgotten, but a tune can stay with you for quite awhile...Brilliant!

http://www.midomi.com/index.php?action=main.video&from=landing

10 Interesting Google Video Documentaries

1. Dangerous Knowledge
2. Dogfighting Undercover
3. Secret Space
4. The History of Freemasonry of US
5. The Iceman - Confessions of a Mafia Hitman
6. Zeitgeist the Movie
7. The Half-Ton Man Documentary
8. Conspiracy of Silence - Pedophile Ring in Washington, DC
9. Why We Bang Documentary
10. Big Sugar

http://nichegeek.com/10_google_documentaries_you_have_to_watch

Retail Price of Cannabis

It's those isolated islands where prices are really high...

http://www.economist.com/images/ga/2007w37/Cannabis.jpg

Old Men Chasing Young Women: A Good Thing

"Evolutionary theory says that individuals should die of old age when their reproductive lives are complete, generally by age 55 in humans, according to demographer Cedric Puleston, a doctoral candidate in biological sciences at Stanford. But the fatherhood of a small number of older men is enough to postpone the date with death because natural selection fights life-shortening mutations until the species is finished reproducing."

http://www.scienceblog.com/cms/old-men-chasing-young-women-good-thing-14203.html

Video: Creative Way to Stop Speeders - "Bikini Bandits"

Leave it to the Danes to think of this...
I think it is an excellent idea, as long drivers don't crash while ogling.
Also, I wonder if it has the same impact on women speeders...

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=tzWinJyNqVI

Who Has The Oil & Who Uses It

An excellent map. I assume that Canadian oil sands are not being counted...

http://www.blog.thesietch.org/wp-content/uploads/2007/09/map01_1024.jpg

Math of War

Many people ask how the US can still be at war when the majority of the country is reportedly against the war. That can be explained by simple math. Congress could cut off funds for the war or do other things to stop the war, but it needs 2/3 veto power if the President is against that. So one President and 1/3 of the country can keep a war running indefinitely.

"In the US, it only takes one President and 1/3 of the country to maintain a war."

-Chris Matthews, 9/13/07

London: Most Expensive Capital City for Dining

"Thinking of a night out in London? Don't forget your wallet. London is the most expensive dining capital in the world, restaurant rating company Zagat said Tuesday. The average meal in London costs just over $79, beating out Paris, at nearly $72 and Tokyo, at just over $71, according to the company's survey of 5,300 Londoners."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070912/ap_on_re_eu/britain_costly_eating

Toilets in Japan

Fact: The Japan Toilet Association celebrates an unofficial Toilet Day on November 10, because in Japan the numbers 11/10 (for the month and the day) can be read as ii-to(ire), which also means "Good Toilet".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_toilet

50 Most Influential Bloggers

1. Nick Denton - Founder of Gawker Media
2. Kevin Rose - Founder of Digg.com
3. David Sifry- Founder and CEO of Technorati
4. Jason Calacanis - Former CEO and co-founder of Weblogs Inc.
5. Joi Ito - VP Intertional & Mobility, Technorati

http://northxeast.com/blogging/nxes-fifty-most-influential-bloggers/

Economics Definition

Economics: How to get the most out of life.

-Tyler Cowen

Intellectual Property & Magicians

"What makes magic unusual is that practitioners rarely rely on intellectual property law even though magic tricks are protectable by patent and as trade secrets."

http://www.freedom-to-tinker.com/?p=1196

Redefining the Dictionary

"Online dictionaries replicate all the problems of print except for searchability and when you improve searchability you actually take away the one advantage of print which is serendipity."

Erin McKean: Redefining the Dictionary
http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/161

Japan's Map of the Net

The map is modelled on the Tokyo Metro map...

Untangling The Web: Japan Experts Publish Map of the Net
http://news.independent.co.uk/sci_tech/article2931747.ece

40 Interesting Websites

Another list of sites that may be useful:

http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/40-unusual-websites-you-should-bookmark/

Map of World Happiness

This map is a bit different than other maps/studies I've seen on global happiness comparisons...

"The first World Map of Happiness has been published by scholars from the University of Leicester. The map is a global projection of subjective well-being (SWB), taken from a variety of recent sources, and compared with related data from UNESCO, the UN and even the CIA."

http://www.technovelgy.com/ct/Science-Fiction-News.asp?NewsNum=893

80% - 85% of Items Wal-Mart Sells = More Expensive Than Other Retailers?

80% - 85% of the items that Wal-Mart Sells are more expensive than other retailers, according to Zenith Management Consulting (ZMC). I'm not sure how believable that figure is, but it sure is interesting. ZMC claims it is "price spin" - creating a strong impression of lower prices.

http://zenith-consulting.com/research/walMart/Wal-Mart-Strategy.pdf

How Much Cash Should Be In Your Wallet?

I tend to agree with this statement. There are definitely more times I've kicked myself for not having immediate cash available than for having too much cash available. Think taxis, street vendors, outdoor markets, etc...

"My view is simple. If you have a job ('economist'), and you live in the safe suburbs, hold gobs of cash, even if you don't want to use it very often. "

http://www.marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2007/09/how-much-cash-s.html

Condom Nations

"Many people assume that men take more risks than women, or that married couples are more cautious than their single friends. But, in truth, gender, sexual orientation, or being single doesn't predict who will engage in unprotected sex - and who will play it safe..."

*Men and women report unsafe sex in mostly equal numbers: Female (45.3%) and Male (48.4%).

*Gay, straight, or bisexual - the groups register comparable rates of unprotected sex: Homosexual (58.3%), Bisexual (56.6%), and Heterosexual (46.3%).

*Being single or committed bears little importance on whether individuals have unsafe sex: Single (47.4%), Not Single (47.9%).

Condom Nations
by Miguel Fontes, Peter Roach
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/story/cms.php?story_id=3933&fpsrc=ealert070904

Why Are Textbooks So Expensive?

"If I had to bet, the root cause is a feature of the marketplace that has changed greatly over the years and fundamentally reshaped the textbook market: sale of used books."

Why Are Textbooks So Expensive?
by Henry L. Roediger, III
http://www.psychologicalscience.org/observer/getArticle.cfm?id=1712

Prediction Tools

Prediction how long your marriage will last, how long you'll live, and more...

http://islandia.law.yale.edu/ayers/predictionTools.htm

How Many Books Should You Start?

From Tyler:

http://www.marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2007/09/how-many-books-.html

Marginal Foodie

New blog on economics and food.

http://marginalfoodie.blogspot.com/

World's Most & Least Democratic Countries

The US does is not in the top 10...
"Democratic" is based on 60 indicators...I wonder what they are...

Most Democratic:

1. Sweden
2. Iceland
3. Netherlands
4. Norway
5. Denmark
6. Finland
7. Luxembourg
8. Australia
9. Canada
10. Switzerland

Least Democratic:

167. North Korea
166. Central African Republic
165. Chad
164. Togo
163. Myanmar
162. Turkmenistan
161. Libya
160. Uzbekistan
159. Saudi Arabia
158. Guinea-Bissau

http://www.economist.com/images/rankings/Democracy.jpg

September: Worst Month for Stock Market?

"People talk a lot about October, because that's when the big crashes - 1929, 1987 - have happened, but actually it's September that is usually the worst month of the year for stock indexes," said Tobias Levkovich, U.S. equity strategist at Citigroup."

Markets Brace For Seismic September
by Suzanne McGee
http://www.nypost.com/seven/09042007/business/markets_brace_for_seismic_sept.htm

Why Some People Are Prone to Mosquito Bites

"Specific cells in one of the three organs that make up the mosquito’s nose are tuned to identify the different chemicals that make up human body odour. To the mosquito some people’s sweat simply smells better than others because of the proportions of the carbon dioxide, octenol and other compounds that make up body odour."

Why Some Peopel Are Prone to Mosquito Bites
by Nic Fleming
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jhtml?xml=/earth/2007/08/30/scimozzie130.xml

Map: Cost of Home Ownership as % of Income

Colorado is suprising to me...is it because of expensive ski resort areas?

http://www.visualizingeconomics.com/2007/08/30/united-states-cost-of-home-ownership-as-of-income-map/

A Short History of the English Language

"In general, the common words of English are Germanic."

http://www.cryptograph.com/englang.htm

Who Gets The Most Public Holidays?

Spain topping the charts with 16 fiesta days...

1. Spain
2. Finland
3. Japan
4. Germany
5. Sweden

http://www.economist.com/daily/chartgallery/displaystory.cfm?story_id=9719355

Average Broadband Speed by Country

Source: Information Technology and Innovation Foundation

1. Japan
2. Korea
3. Finland
4. Sweden
5. France
.
.
.
14. US

http://www.worldpoliticsreview.com/Images/commentarynews/broadbandspeedchart.jpg

20 Things You Didn't Know About Death

Eighty percent of people in the United States die in a hospital. So if people stop going to the hospital, will that reduce death?

http://discovermagazine.com/2006/sep/20thingsdeath

7 Rules to Understand People

Very Hobbesian view of people...

http://www.scotthyoung.com/blog/2007/08/28/the-critical-7-rules-to-understand-people/

"Love Hotels" Not Just For Love

"Although love hotels continue to do brisk business in Japan, raking in nearly 4 trillion yen (17.1 billion pounds) in annual sales, according to Chaplin, the 1.3 million people who visit the 30,000 hotels each day often go there just to relax...Japan ranked last in a 26 nation survey of sexual activity released in July by condom maker Durex. The average Japanese had sex 48 times a year, well below the global average of 103 times."

Author says Japan Love Hotels Not Just For "Love"
by Emi Foulk
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070831/od_uk_nm/oukoe_uk_japan_love_hotels_1

Wikirage

This site lists the pages in Wikipedia which are receiving the most edits per unique editor over various periods of time. Popular people in the news, the latest fads, and the hottest video games can be quickly identified by monitor this social phenomenon.

http://www.wikirage.com/

The World's 100 Most Powerful Women

From Forbes:

1. Angela Merkel
2. Wu Yi
3. Ho Ching
4. Condoleezza Rice
5. Indra K. Nooyi
6. Sonia Gandhi
7. Cynthia Carroll
8. Patricia A. Woertz
9. Irene Rosenfeld
10. Patricia Russo

http://www.forbes.com/home/business/2007/08/30/most-powerful-women-biz-07women-cz_em_cs_0830power_land.html

Bartering Up a Better Life

This young lad bartered a red paperclip for a house through a series of internet trades...not bad. Can the feat be repeated?

Bartering Up a Better Life
by Andrew Stark
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB118834811175211711.html?mod=todays_us_personal_journal

Beer Pong: Investors Rush In

With the World Series of Beer Pong (see bpong.com), you know that Beer Pong has officially "arrived."

"As beer-pong season hits a peak with the start of the school year, these beer-pong entrepreneurs are running tournaments and peddling customized beer-pong tables, balls and apparel...The game has been gaining fans on campus for more than a decade. But only in the past few years have entrepreneurs begun zeroing in on devotees who spend freely on beer, cups, balls and tournaments. The market appears to be expanding as beer-pong fans go on playing the game after they get out of college."

Thwock, Gulp,Kaching! Beer PongInspires Inventors
by Shelly Banjo
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB118834341517511527.html?mod=todays_us_page_one

One Hour In An Internet Cafe

The cost for one hour in an Internet cafe around the world:

*Shanghai: $0.52
*Kuala Lumpur: $0.62
*Bangkok: $0.75
*Jakarta: $0.77
*Manila: $1.23
*Hong Kong: $1.28
*Sydney: $1.93
*Singapore: $2.74
*Seoul: $3.01
*London: $4.03
*Paris: $5.81
*Tokyo: $6.04
*New York: $7.79

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB118827274405810763.html?mod=todays_us_personal_journal

Japan Trash Woes

Japan must have the stictest rules in the world on trash.

"Already, Japan burns about 80% of its garbage, compared with 14% in the U.S., and has two-thirds of the world's waste incinerators. But land-scarce Tokyo faces a dire situation: It's running out of places to put its trash."

Talking Trash: Tokyo Residents Feud Over Junk
by Amy Chozick
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB118816154342309070.html?mod=todays_us_page_one

World's Metro Areas By GDP Per Capita

No city outside the US is in the top 25...

1. San Francisco
2. Washington
3. San Jose
4. Boston
5. Seattle

The first city outside the US is Paris at #26.

http://www.demographia.com/db-gdp-metro.pdf

Bathroom Sex FAQ

Is tapping your foot really code for public sex?

"Yes. The signal has been around for decades in the US and Europe. Generally, one person initiates contact by tapping his foot in a way that's visible beneath the stall divider. If the second person responds with a similar tap, the initiator moves his foot closer to the other person's stall. If the other person makes a similar move, the first will inch closer yet again. The pair usually goes through the whole process a few times, just to confirm that the signals aren't an accident.

"Next, one of the men will slide his hand under the divider. This usually means he's inviting the other person to present himself, as if to say, "Show me what you got." The partner can respond by kneeling on the floor and presenting his penis or rear end underneath the divider. Or he can swipe his own hand under the divider, as if to say, "You go first." Some married men make a point of displaying their wedding band (like Sen. Craig allegedly did) to make themselves more alluring."

Bathroom Sex FAQ
by Christopher Beam
http://www.slate.com/id/2173033/

An Eyeful A Day Keeps The Doctor Away

So is staring at women's breasts for half an hour equivalent to 1.5 hours in the gym?

"Staring at women's breasts is good for men's health and makes them live longer, a new survey reveals. Researchers have discovered that a 10-minute ogle at women's breasts is as healthy as half-an-hour in the gym. A five-year study of 200 men found that those who enjoyed a longing look at busty beauties had lower blood pressure, less heart disease and slower pulse rates compared to those who did not get their daily eyeful. Dr Karen Weatherby, who carried out the German study, wrote in the New England Journal of Medicine: Just 10 minutes of staring at the charms of a well endowed female is roughly equivalent to a 30-minute aerobics workout. "

An Eyeful A Day Keeps The Doctor Away
by Jonathan Hayter
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4161/is_20000611/ai_n14504639

China's Great Wall Becoming Less Great

The Great Wall will remain forever because it will always be rebuilt by China. But it is interesting to note that lots of fixes have been made to the wall over the centuries.

"Sand storms in northwest China are reducing sections of Great Wall to mounds of dirt and may cause them to disappear in about 20 years, state media said."

China's Wall Becoming Less and Less Great
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070829/od_uk_nm/oukoe_uk_china_wall

Does America Need a Recession?

"Central banks must stop recessions from turning into deep depressions. But it may be wrong to prevent them altogether."

Does America Need a Recession?
http://www.economist.com/finance/displaystory.cfm?story_id=9687245