Nasty Beatbox Video

http://video.yahoo.com/network/100063489?v=5123291

6 Stress Reducing Moves

http://health.yahoo.com/experts/healthieryou/13963/6-simple-stress-melting-muscle-relaxing-moves/

How Does Your Salary Stack Up

http://finance.yahoo.com/career-work/article/108460/how-your-income-stacks-up?mod=career-salary_negotiation

Psychology of Menu Pricing

Using Menu Psychology to Entice Diners
by Sarah Kershaw
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/23/dining/23menus.html?_r=1&em

*How to Avoid Being Fooled by a Menu
http://www.marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2009/12/how-to-avoid-being-fooled-by-a-menu.html

What Determines How Well You Keep Resolutions?

Blame It On The Brain
by Johah Lehrer
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703478704574612052322122442.html?mod=article-outset-box

Pic: 20 Things That Happen in One Minute

http://imgur.com/gallery/fFmmv

What Are the Odds That the Best Chess Player in the World Has Never Played Chess?

http://www.marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2009/12/what-are-the-odds-that-the-best-chess-player-in-the-world-has-never-played-chess.html

Video: The Evolution of Empires

http://vimeo.com/6437816

How Vicotoria's Secret Modifies a Photo

http://www.hackerfactor.com/blog/index.php?/archives/322-Body-By-Victoria.html

Things We Don't Know in Our Daily Routine

I always wonder what things go on in the world as we go on our merry ways. For example:

*Who is reading our email and listening to our phone conversations
*Who is able to hear me/us through the wall(s)
*Who is watching through the window
*Who is a spy or conducting a spy operation
*Who has been Googling me
*Who is thinking about me at any one moment
*Who hates/likes me
*Who has a crush on you
*Who thinks you're smart/stupid
*Who is planning a terrorist attack (or any other crime) at the moment
*Who is inventing something that will change the world (or end it)
*Who thinks that I am a great/bad person
*Who is carrying a gun/weapon on them
*Who is a murderer/thief/gang member
*Who walking among us has cancer/AIDS or other life-threatening diseases
*Who walking among us has a criminal record
*Who walking among us has had a rough childhood
*Where is lightening striking; where are earthquakes occuring, and tsunamis
*Is radiation impacting us at any moment (from satellites, microwaves, cell phones, etc...)
*Who is having an affair
*Who is willing to cheat on their partner
*Who has a crush on who
*Who is living under a false identity
*Who is a multi-millionaire or even a billionaire; who is poor or struggling to get by
*Who has an ultra-high IQ (or ultra-low IQ)
*Whose parents are famous and powerful
*Who is lying to me
*What video cameras (public or private) are focused on us
*Who is stealing from me
*What does it feel like to be someone else
*Which appliance (auto, fridge, drain, etc...) is about to break
*Who is playing a practical joke for a TV show/Youtube video
*Who works for US or foreign intelligence services
*Who is more powerful or less powerful than we think
*What secrets do people know about us (or think they know about us)
*Who is plotting to kill someone
*Who is depressed, suicidal, on drugs, etc...
*What great accomplishments or talents do people have that we don't know about
*What salary does everyone have (what about savings/retirement)
*Who is envious of me (or feels sorry for me)
*What do old friends think of me
*Who is trying to commit fraud
*Who is researching me or my company
*Who is taking advantage of the system
*Who is a really hard worker; how much work are people really doing at work
*Who is the coolest person on Earth
*Who will change/impact my life (in both a positive and/or negative way)
*Will I retire with enough money
*Will I (or people I know) get an uncurable disease
*Will my family/friends survive me
*What foods/products/chemicals are really good/bad for us
*Is there something that is killing me as we speak (x-rays, etc...?)
*Will I achieve all my goals
*Am I worrying too much; am I too tense
*Why simple things can I do that can greatly benefit my health
*Are most predictions really useless (and are all the jobs that try to predict useless)
*Which videos/cameras/satellites capture my movement every day
*Who notices me every day
*Who think I am smart or stupid
*Who pays who; who is whose client
*Who is manipulating stocks or trading illegally
*Who is being targeted for assassination
*Which countries are secretly testing or building nukes
*What are terrorist groups now planning
*Will we all die from a "black swan" event and not even know it
*Who is gay, bi, transgendered
*Whose family is/was/will be poor or wealthy
*Who collects what (antiques, paintings, etc...)
*Who is the most well-rounded person in the world, well-read, well-traveled, well-fed, intellectual...
*What mistakes do I make every day
*What do people dislike about me
*What clothes/color look best on me
*Will I ever win the big lottery
*Who is writing a secret blog or book or writing under a pen name
*Who has a second or third job
*Who is about to leave their job
*Who is cash poor, house rich, and vice versa
*Who is driving a used car or leased car or company car
*Who do I look most like in the world
*Will the world be better in 20, 30, 40, 50 years
*Will I have a positive impact on the world
*Who really runs the world
*What is the president up to now
*Which way or organizations/corporations really biased; how about people
*Who is Democrat vs. Republican vs. Libertarian vs. etc...
*Who really believes in God vs. science
*Who knows as little as I do about many things
*Who owns what buildings/cars/boats/planes/art work
*What really makes the markets move
*What is the true meaning of life
*How happy (or sad) are other people
*What pain are other people feeling
*What places have people traveled to; have they traveled to the same spots I've been
*Are people's experiences more or less intense than mine (or equal)
*What are people's commutes like every day
*Who telecommutes
*Who is living off government money, or trust funds, or other family money
*Who is a sex addict; he has a sex tape; who has done porn; who is an escort/prostitute
*What business idea is staring us in the face
*Who do we know that is nearbye
*Which products/advice are useless/counterproductive
*Who used to like/love me
*Is recycling really being recycled
*What animals live in our house without us knowing
*How dirty or unsanitary is the stuff around us
*Is the restaurant staff (or medical staff) washing their hands appropriately

20 Secrets Your Waiter Will Never Tell You

http://shine.yahoo.com/channel/food/20-secrets-your-waiter-will-never-tell-you-550722/

Chart: Relative Prices of Different Liquids

http://12.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_kubtk8AF9q1qzxzwwo1_500.jpg

Why Does Pakistan Hate the US?

"It hates it because it is dependent on it and is still being bought by it. It is a dislike that is also a form of self-hatred of the sort that often develops between client states and their paymasters."

Why Does Pakistan Hate the United States?
by Christopher Hitchens
http://www.slate.com/id/2239339/

The Champagne Bubble Bursts

"According to the Comité Interprofessionnel du Vin de Champagne, a trade association, exports to the United States and the United Kingdom, Champagne's two biggest foreign markets, fell by 38 percent and 30 percent, respectively, through the first nine months of this year. There are reportedly more than 1 billion unsold bottles now clogging up warehouses and cellars in France's Champagne region."

Feeling Bubbly?
by Mike Steinberger
http://www.slate.com/id/2239008/

Carbon Footprint: Pets Worse Than SUVs

"Man's best friend could be one of the environment's worst enemies, according to a new study which says the carbon pawprint of a pet dog is more than double that of a gas-guzzling sports utility vehicle."

Polluting Pets: The Devastating Impact of Man's Best Friend
by Isabelle Toussaint and Jurgen Hecker
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20091220/sc_afp/lifestyleclimatewarminganimalsfood

To Rip Off a Band-Aid Slow or Fast?

For the study, published today in the Medical Journal of Australia, each student had two plasters applied to their upper arm, hand and ankle. The plasters were then removed using both fast and slow methods, with a randomisation process used to decide which was used first on each student. Subjects were asked to rate the pain on a scale of 0 to 10, with 10 being the "worst pain imaginable". Fast removal achieved an average pain score of 0.92, while slow removal was significantly more painful at 1.58.

http://bakadesuyo.com/the-perennial-debate-rip-the-band-aid-off-slo

Does Time Fly When We're Having Fun?

"As we all know, time flies when you’re having fun. But according to a study in the journal Psychological Science, the reverse is just as true: we enjoy ourselves more when we think time passes quickly."

If Time Flew, You Had Fun
by Karen Hopkin
http://www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/episode.cfm?id=if-time-flew-you-had-fun-09-12-15

Largest US City Without a Bookstore?

I wonder what the largest city in the world without a bookstore is...

Laredo Could be Largest US City Without Bookstore
by Paul Weber
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091216/ap_on_bi_ge/us_last_bookstore_2

Which Books do People Steal at Bookstores?

Steal These Books
by Margo Rabb
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/20/books/review/Rabb-t.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

The Best Food Books of the Decade?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2009/dec/23/best-food-books-decade?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

Which are the "Safest" Cuisines

Looks like it may be Korean...

http://www.marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2009/12/which-are-the-safest-cuisines.html

Entrenchment Clauses

Can Congress make a law that says that the new law cannot be changed in future Congresses? Is entrenchment the same thing?

http://volokh.com/2009/12/22/entrenchment-provisions-in-the-health-care-bill/

Vid: How to Peel a Banana Like a Monkey

http://video.yahoo.com/network/100000089?v=5541397&l=6936086

Does Your Stomach Shrink When You Eat Less?

"Reducing food intake does seem to reduce stomach capacity."

The Claim: Your Stomach Shrinks When You Eat Less
by Anahad O'Connor
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/22/health/22real.html?_r=1&nl=health&emc=healthupdateemb5

Sunshine States are the Happiest

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091217/ap_on_sc/us_sci_who_s_happy_out_there

Car-Care Myths

http://autos.yahoo.com/articles/autos_content_landing_pages/1138/reality-check-on-car-care-myths/

How to Serve Caviar

How to Serve Caviar (Forget the Capers and Silver Spoons!)
by Cheryl Lu-Lien Tan
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB20001424052748704398304574598520660924550.html#mod=todays_us_opinion

Photos of Dubai in Decline

Is this Detroit or Dubai?!

http://lens.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/11/30/showcase-85/

Map: Can You Afford to Live in NYC?

http://envisioningdevelopment.net/map

The Seven Psychological Principles Con Artists Exploit

http://www.lonegunman.co.uk/2009/12/02/seven-psychological-principles-con-artists-exploit/

Career Advice From Charlie Hoehn

"And therein lies the best career advice I could possibly dispense: just DO things. Chase after the things that interest you and make you happy. Stop acting like you have a set path, because you don’t. No one does. You shouldn’t be trying to check off the boxes of life; they aren’t real and they were created by other people, not you. There is no explicit path I’m following, and I’m not walking in anyone else’s footsteps. I’m making it up as I go. It’s harder, for sure, and kind of scary sometimes. But it will allow you to look at yourself in the mirror and know you’re playing by your own rules."

http://charliehoehn.com/2009/08/29/thoughts-on-tour/

Top Global Thinkers Recommend Books

http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2009/11/28/global_thinkers_books_club

Video: The Making of an Eames Fiberglass Chair

http://kottke.org/09/12/the-making-of-an-eames-fiberglass-chair

Though of the Day: The Big Picture

How can we get people to make sure to not forget about the big picture in all of the world's major debates? When one looks at the big picture, things are often either much worse or mess better than they appear.

Afraid to Lose Wealth: The World's Biggest Problem?

It seems that today's largest problems stem from the fact that people are afraid to lose wealth. How can this be changed? Should it be changed? Is there a way around it? Take a few examples.

1) In the climate change debate, a host of industries are refusing to support legislation because it will cost them money.

2) The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and [largely unnecessary] troops stationed overseas in Europe and Asia remain because the defense industry and government-related defense agencies don't want to slash budgets.

3) Overhual of the Chesapeake Bay cleanup is stalled because the American Farm Bureau and the National Assocation of Home Builders think overhaul is too costly.

4) The US housing bubble formed in part because banks/lenders wanted in on the action and didn't want to be left out of making money, even when their lending practices were outrageous.

5) Things like drug reimportation cannot be solved because the drug industry would lose too much money.

If everyone agrees to take a 20% (or whatever percent) cut, would things be easier to accomplish?

Number of Books in Home Correlated to Intelligence

http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0014/001474/147465e.pdf

*NEA Study
http://www.nea.gov/research/ToRead.PDF

World's Longest Sea Bridge

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/dec/15/worlds-longest-sea-bridge

Top 10 Most Outrageous Holiday Gifts for Foodies

http://www.endlesssimmer.com/2008/12/15/the-top-10-most-outrageous-holiday-gifts-for-foodies/

How Dangerous is Hail?

"Do giant hailstones ever kill anyone? Yes, but it's very rare. Hailstorms have caused only a handful of deaths in the United States over the last 100 years or so; most of those killed were children."

How Dangerous is Hail?
by Daniel Engber
http://www.slate.com/id/2238190/

Questions Never Answered in 2009

Based on the list, the questions I would most like to see answered are:

*Can sex offenders have children?

*Why have I never seen a female gas station attendant?

*Which global leaders speaks the worst English?

*Are there really special agents like Jack Bauer working for the U.S. government? Just total badass muthas who can basically do anything? Or are Navy Seals and Army Rangers the toughest we've got?

*Why do all people (it seems) cross their legs so much?

The Questions We Never Answered in 2009
by Daniel Engber
http://www.slate.com/id/2238241/

Global Problems Globally Shared

Exactly! Nowadays, practically everything effects everyone...We are bombarded with news alerts from around the world. Perhaps that is why 2009 felt like such a painful year...

"From climate change, swine flu and economic meltdowns to terrorism and nuclear menace, the shocks, threats and surprises that befell humanity in 2009 were, more than ever, an experience globally shared."

In a Weird World, News Good and Bad Touched All
by Marcus Eliason
http://www.wtop.com/?nid=104&sid=1841202

The End of the Banana Food Fight?

"The European Union ended one of the world's longest-running trade battles Tuesday as it agreed to cut import tariffs on bananas from Latin America grown by U.S. corporations like Dole Food Co., Fresh Del Monte Produce Inc. and Chiquita Brands International Inc. The settlement, which national lawmakers are expected to ratify within four months, trade officials say, means less-expensive bananas for Europeans, more profit for U.S. fruit companies and lower revenue for some former EU colonies. It ends a 16-year-old trade dispute over access to the EU's $6.7 billion banana market, the world's largest. Since 1993, when it set up its tariff-free zone, the EU has offered the best import rates to 12 former colonies, places like Cameroon, Ivory Coast and Belize."

EU Ends 16-Year Banana Trade Battle
by John Miller
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB126089161812692163.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_MIDDLENexttoWhatsNewsSecond

How to Avoid Being Fooled by a Menu

http://www.marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2009/12/how-to-avoid-being-fooled-by-a-menu.html

Why do Airstrikes in Afghanistan Seem to Kill 30 People?

http://www.alternet.org/world/144509/why_do_airstrikes_in_afghanistan_keep_killing_exactly_30_people

Does Fresh Air Keep You Well?

"People living near a green space had lower rates of 15 out of 24 diseases, including asthma, diabetes, intestinal complaints, and back and neck problems. The links were stronger for depression and anxiety."

http://www.parade.com/health/2009/12/13-does-fresh-air-keep-you-well.html

Are Your Feces Healthy?

A guide to feces...

*http://healthmad.com/conditions-and-diseases/are-your-feces-healthy/

*http://www.puristat.com/constipation/bowelcolor.aspx

*Bristol Stool Scale
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bristol_Stool_Scale

How Clean is Your Cities Drinking Water?

http://www.epa.gov/safewater/ccr/

*That Tap Water is Legal but May be Unhealthy
by Charles Duhigg
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/17/us/17water.html?_r=1&th&emc=th

DNA BarCodes for Food

DNA 'Barcodes' Surface Fishy Imposters on Menu
by Robert Lee Hotz
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125988474375175571.html

Cool Pic of the Day: Wall of Knowledge

http://blog.longnow.org/2009/12/08/wall-of-knowledge/

Strange Sex

The Discovery Channel does it again...

"Sexomnia: A woman's boyfriend suspects that she may have unknowingly had sex with her ex-husband. Stunned, she learns that she suffers from sexomnia - a condition in which she has sex while sleeping, and wakes up with no recollection of her actions."

http://www.examiner.com/x-4819-Cable-TV-Examiner~y2009m11d4-Strange-Sex-special-on-Discovery-Health-Channel

Why is DC so Stuffy?

"People often come here representing somewhere else - another country, a particular region, maybe a political belief - and people use dress codes so that people of all backgrounds can feel comfortable together."

Don't Wait for That Engraved Invitation to Look Sharp
by Sally Quinn
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/12/09/AR2009120903160.html

Quote of the Week: Persistence

"You can achieve your goal if you persistently pursue it."

-Cha Sa-Soon, a 68-year-old South Korean woman who passed her country's written driver's-licene exam on her 950th try

Do Feds Get Paid Too Much?

"The growth in six-figure salaries has pushed the average federal worker's pay to $71,206, compared with $40,331 in the private sector."

For Feds, More Get 6-Figure Salary
by Dennis Cauchon
http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/news/20091211/1afedpay11_st.art.htm?loc=interstitialskip

Best Wikipedia Entry of the Day: Food Porn

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

Gross vs. Net Income

http://homepages.cambrianc.on.ca/tutorial/thetutorialcentre/mathscience/math/gross%20versus%20net.htm

Global One One-Child Policy?

Also don't forget a no-child policy...

"If only one child per female was born as of now, the world's population would drop from its current 6.5 billion to 5.5 billion by 2050, according to a study done for scientific academy Vienna Institute of Demography."

The Real Inconvenient Truth
by Diane Francies
http://www.financialpost.com/story.html?id=2314438

Food Quote of the Year: Cooking vs. Eating

"Fools make feast and wise men eat them."

-Benjamin Franklin

Food Quote of the Week: Pretty vs. Tasty

Tries too hard to make the food pretty. I prefer ‘tasty.’

http://www.zagat.com/Blog/Detail.aspx?SNP=NWDC&SCID=41&BLGID=25337&zagatbuzzid=dec09week2&utm_source=buzz&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=buzz20091209

Infographic: A Day in the Internet

http://www.onlineeducation.net/internet/

A Day in the Life of a Climate Change Delegate

"Talk, interpret, spin, schmooze; repeat."

A Day in the Life of a Climate Change Delegate
by Juliet Lapidos
http://www.slate.com/id/2237795/

Vid: How to Fold a Shirt

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4776825453418327083#

Radiological Survey of Washington, DC

"In mid-January 2009, in advance of the inauguration of President Obama, a radiological survey of downtown Washington, DC was conducted at the request of the Secret Service. No statistically significant man-made radiological activity was detected in the survey. Typical variations in natural background radiation were found, along with slightly elevated readings at the National World War II Memorial and elsewhere "caused by the building materials containing naturally occurring radioisotopes."

http://www.fas.org/sgp/eprint/dc-rad.pdf

Interactive Map: Food Stamp Usage in the US

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2009/11/28/us/20091128-foodstamps.html?ex=1275195600&en=e0a4dd4c450838e4&ei=5087&WT.mc_id=NYT-E-I-NYT-E-AT-1202-L21

How to Party Correctly

"Should couples be seated together at dinner? My answer is emphatically no. Here's why: The whole point of going out to dinner is to meet people, make new friends, see old friends, learn something, make connections and share something of yourself with others, not to mention having fun. It's very hard to do this if you are sitting next to your spouse."

Up the Intrigue: Let a Stranger Divide a Couple
by Sally Quinn
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/12/01/AR2009120104533.html

How to Name Your Kid

"If you had to choose between naming your son Maxwell or Michael, which would you pick? If you want to keep the kid out of prison, go with Michael. That's the conclusion of a study in Social Science Quarterly showing that people with unpopular names have a higher risk of criminality than people with popular ones."

-Time Magazine; December 7, 2009

Does Being More Physically Active Lead to Better Sleep?

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/01/health/01really.html?_r=1&nl=health&emc=healthupdateemb3

Banana Dispute

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSGEE5B30Y220091204?type=swissMktRpt

Study Reveals the Angriest Americans

http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/20091203/sc_livescience/studyrevealstheangriestamericans

PowerPoint: War Strategy Map for Afghanistan

Do YOU think this war will succeed? (Scroll down a bit on the link.)

From the Office of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/i/MSNBC/Components/Photo/_new/Afghanistan_Dynamic_Planning.pdf

Americans Don't Have the Biggest Homes

Now Australians do...

http://finance.yahoo.com/real-estate/article/108274/study-australians-have-the-worlds-biggest-homes

Strange Maps

Strange maps from Slate...

http://www.slate.com/id/2236256/

How Should You Break a Car Window?

Should Tiger's Wife Have Smashed in His Car Window With a Golf Club?
by Briam Palmer
http://www.slate.com/id/2236963/

Yahoo's 2009 Year in Review

See what the top searches of 2009 were...

http://yearinreview.yahoo.com/2009/overview

Extreme Beer

"It is banned in 13 states and sure doesn't come in a six-pack. The maker of Samuel Adams beer has released an updated version of its biennial beer Utopias — now the highest alcohol content beer on the market. At 27 percent alcohol by volume and $150 a bottle, the limited release of the brandy-colored Utopias comes as more brewers take advantage of improvements in science to boost potency and enhance taste."

Boston Brewer Pushes New Limits on Extreme Beer
by Russell Contreras
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091130/ap_on_bi_ge/us_extreme_beer

Sleep-Better Foods

http://health.yahoo.com/experts/eatthis/38272/8-perfect-sleep-better-foods/

Climate Targets Won't Change Our Lives Much

It seems to me that my own life (and the lives of others) needs to be impacted in order for real progress to be made...

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_climate_costs

Interactive Map: A 200-Year-Old Tour of Gastronic Paris

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2009/11/22/travel/20091122-paris-restaurants.html?nl=travel&emc=tdb1

*Liberty, Eqaulity, Gastronomy: Paris via the 19th-Century Guide
by Tony Perrottet
http://travel.nytimes.com/2009/11/22/travel/22Grimod.html?nl=travel&emc=tda1

Pic: Careers

http://www.fortunewatch.com/career-path-wow-how-true/

Infographic: Why Americans Are Fat

http://www.onlineeducation.net/why-americans-are-fat/

Quote of the Week: Restaurant Attitudes

"Why the attitude? No one else is eating here."

-Zagat November 2009 Outake of the Week

National Pisco Sour Day

*It is the first Saturday in February; it is interesting to note that the national origin of pisco sour is debate if from Chile or Peru. That would be a great gastronomic tour to see which country has better pisco sours...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pisco_Sour

*For some recipes
http://www.perutoyou.com/SpecialEvents/February2004/Sunday6/pisco_sour_day.htm

Birth Control: The Most Effective Way to Reduce GHG Emissions

It's all about population control...

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article6922245.ece

On Sanctions

"Sanctions have one virtue: They delay or block military action."

http://www.stratfor.com/weekly/20091123_sanctions_and_strategy?utm_source=GWeekly&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=091123&utm_content=readmore

Are Better-Looking Sportsmen More Likely to Win?

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn18176-betterlooking-sportsmen-more-likely-to-win.html

Product of the Week: GPS Tracking Bra

http://shine.yahoo.com/channel/sex/lingerie-with-a-gps-tracking-device-creepy-or-sexy-547034/

The Rise of China's Auto Industry

Even though I have a stand-alone section for CRS reports, I thought this one was particulary interesting...

http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/row/R40924.pdf

Wine Quiz: What is Your Wine Profile

http://www.saveur.com/quiz_questions.jsp?ID=1000077710&new=Y

The Flaws of Wine-Ratings

A Hint of Hype, a Taste of Illusion
by Leonard Mlodinow
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703683804574533840282653628.html#mod=todays_us_weekend_journal

Tips for All-You-Can-Eat Buffets

This guy means business...

http://eatingtheroad.wordpress.com/2009/11/09/the-all-inclusive-all-you-can-eat-buffet-guide/

Some Amazing Career Advice

http://blog.penelopetrunk.com/2009/11/16/dont-be-a-snob-about-career-advice/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+BrazenCareerist+%28Brazen+Careerist+-+by+Penelope+Trunk%29&utm_content=Google+Reader

Engagement Ring Economics

http://bakadesuyo.com/what-the-amount-spent-on-an-engagement-ring-s

Pics of Beautiful Libraries

http://curiousexpeditions.org/?p=78

Reverse Remittances

"Unemployment has hit migrant communities in the United States so hard that a startling new phenomenon has been detected: instead of receiving remittances from relatives in the richest country on earth, some down-and-out Mexican families are scraping together what they can to support their unemployed loved ones in the United States."

Money Trickles North as Mexicans Help Relatives
by Marc Lacey
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/16/world/americas/16mexico.html?_r=1&hp

Crowd-Sourcing the Healthcare Bill

http://innovation.cq.com/congress/whip_count/1?ref=politicalwire

Undercover With a Michelin Inspector

Lunch With M.
by John Colapinto
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/11/23/091123fa_fact_colapinto?printable=true

Men Married to Smart Women Live Longer?

"Swedish scientists have discovered that long life and good health have nothing to do with a man’s education and everything to do with his wife’s. Men married to smart women live longer — simple."

Men Married to Smart Women Live Longer
by Shane Watson
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/health/article6872519.ece

Questions I Still Cannot Answer Too Well

Here are a few...I know I have dozens more...

*What is the best way to deal with "rogue" nations like Iran and North Korea (and should we even "deal" with them)?

*Does the US need to fight terrorism overseas?

*Is too much deficit spending really a bad thing?

*Should everyone have affordable access to health care and what is the best way to achieve that?

*Is there a system better than capitalism?

*Is GDP growth really that important?

Can a Person Get Two Colds at the Same Time?

The Claim: A Person Can Contract Two Colds at One Time
by Anahad O'Connor
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/17/health/17real.html?_r=1&nl=health&emc=healthupdateemb3

Map: Tracking Great White Sharks

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/graphic/2009/11/03/GR2009110303427.html

Latest Thinking on Dream Interpretation

"A new theory suggests that dreams are a warm-up for the day ahead."

A Dream Interpretation: Tuneups for the Brain
by Benedict Carey
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/10/health/10mind.html?_r=1&nl=health&emc=healthupdateema1

The US Food Scene

"These days, American food is far more complicated and infinitely better. The U.S. has revolutionized its culinary culture over the last 40-odd years. No longer is it the developed world’s worst food nation; in fact, it’s perhaps the best. And it’s largely thanks to the (currently disputed) genius of America’s entrepreneurial capitalism."

America's Food Revolution
by Jerry Weinberger
http://www.city-journal.org/2009/19_3_urb-american-food.html

Are Men More Competitive Than Women?

Are Men More Competitive Than Woman?
by Ray Fisman
http://www.slate.com/id/2234066/

How Does a Lawyer Calculate Accident Claims?

http://www.autoaccidentclaims.com/

*Personal Injury Claims Calculator
http://www.calculatorslive.com/Personal-Injury-Claim-Calculator.aspx

100 Best Films of the Decade?

http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/film/article6902642.ece

Rum Wars

"At issue is an unusual tax deal that lured rum producer Captain Morgan from its longtime home in Puerto Rico to a new facility in the Virgin Islands - with the promise of billions of dollars in subsidies to the liquor company paid from US rum taxes. Puerto Rican legislators are outraged that Diageo, the British-owned liquor giant that produces Captain Morgan, is receiving tax dollars the US government intended for the territories' economic development and infrastructure needs."

Rum Controversy Intensifies as Lawmakers Lean on Pelosi, Rangel
by Susan Crabtree
http://thehill.com/homenews/house/67457-rum-controversy-intensifies-as-lawmakers-lean-on-pelosi-rangel

Worried About the National Debt: Send Your Donation Here

In the last fiscal year, Treasury "only" received $3 million, according to the article. That probably pays for about a few minutes of interest owed on the debt...Well, it is better than nothing, right?

"The U.S. Treasury Department accepts gifts, payable to the Bureau of the Public Debt. Just mail them to the attention of Department G, Post Office Box 2188, Parkersburg, West Virginia, 26106-2188. Make a note in the memo section that it is a gift to reduce the debt held by the public. Yes, really. It's all on the Treasury's website, at the end of the list of frequently asked questions. http://www.treasurydirect.gov/govt/resources/faq/faq_publicdebt.htm"

Worried About the National Debt? Send Your Donation Here
by Emily Kaiser
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20091112/us_nm/us_usa_economy_budget_gifts

Video: The Well-Being Explosion

An interview with Daniel Kahneman...

http://www.gallup.com/video/123914/Well-Being-Explosion-What's-Next.aspx?CSTS=alert

How to Become Amazingly Great at Something

http://washington.bizjournals.com/washington/blog/working_the_room/2009/11/zen_habits_how_to_become_great_at_something.html?ana=e_du_pub

Is the Internet Stifling New Music?

There is something else I've been wondering. Do people who grew up listening to their own generation's music generally stick to that music and the music that preceeded them, or, do they have the general tendency to listen to there own generation's (say, music they've listened to up to the age of 25 or so) music and any new music that comes out?

Also, is it me or do more recent songs/bands sound less appealing than those of the 80s, 90s, and early 2000s?

"When artists today are asked to Twitter their every thought, their every action, to record on video their every breath, their every performance, I believe they're diluting their creative powers, their creative potency and the durability of their work...And in the long run I believe they're also diluting the magical power and the magnetic attraction that they can or will ever have over their audience."

Is the Internet Stifling New Music?
by John Taylor
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/8347178.stm

Video: How People Count Cash in Different Countries

http://www.metacafe.com/watch/1098393/how_people_count_cash/

Real vs. Placebo Coffee

http://neuroskeptic.blogspot.com/2009/11/real-vs-placebo-coffee.html

Why We Love Fast News

http://www.ethanzuckerman.com/blog/2009/11/09/why-we-fall-for-fast-news/

How Does the Government Keep Track of Employment Numbers

One Lost Job, Two Lost Jobs, Three Lost Jobs...
by Brian Palmer
http://www.slate.com/id/2234925/

Last Prison Meal

Can a prisoner request anything for his last meal?

"Sure, but he might not get it. Final meals are generally limited to food that can be prepared on-site. Virginia prisons have a 28-day rotating menu—for example, hot dogs on the first day of the cycle, chili on the second day, etc.—and prisoners facing imminent execution are limited to one of the 28. Other states are more flexible. In Texas, the chef at the Huntsville unit where executions take place tries to accommodate any order. But sometimes that means cooking a close approximate."

I'll Have 24 Tacos and the Filet Mignon
by Christopher Beam
http://www.slate.com/id/2235155/

Should the Feds Protect Consumers From Raw Oysters?

"Coming down on the oyster is kind of an odd move for FDA to be making in the context of much larger food-safety issues that haven't been addressed. Nasty as Vibrio vulnificus is, it's a perfectly natural bacterium that's always been present in oysters. In the meantime, other bacteria have evolved in our factory-farming system to new levels of virulence and spread with little FDA control."

Raw Deal
by Arthur Allen
http://www.slate.com/id/2235360/

Word of the Day: Terrior

"A French term in wine, coffee and tea used to denote the special characteristics that geography bestowed upon particular varieties."

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

Food Quote of the Week: Philosophy of Taste

"He who eats a radish, for instance, will he be in a good mood? Will he eat it correctly, with a little butter from Charente to counteract the sting? I can't know that. But once we've eaten the radish, we can talk about it. And when we do, we can know one another. and once we know one another, we can appreciate one another, even love one another."

-Jacques Puisais, Founder of the Institute of Taste in Paris

Philospher of Taste
by Edward Cody
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/06/AR2009110604194.html

Quote of the Week: E-Books

"Reading an e-books is about as appealing to me as cybersex."

-Hilton Henderson quoted in a 11/5/09 WPost article by Ylan Q. Mui about e-books.

Financial Secrecy Index

From Tax Justice Network...

http://www.christianaid.org.uk/images/FSI-rankings.pdf

Can Clean Smells Improve Moral Behavior?

"In two separate experiments, participants who sat in a room spritzed with citrus-scented Windex were more likely to act fairly and charitably than those in an unscented room."

Call It Nasal Sway
by Catherine Elton
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1935013,00.html

Mapping the Food Critic' Favorites

This is one for the DC area...One for the entire US (and eventually the whole world) would be a very useful tool to have...

http://capitalspice.wordpress.com/2009/11/09/a-map-of-all-of-the-best-restaurants-in-dc-tom-tim-todd-and-the-zagats-picks/

Intercoastal Waterway

This would be a cool trip by boat (or kayak if you are dedicated)...

http://www.cruisingtheicw.com/

*Check out hull speeds
http://www.frontrower.com/hullspeedchart.htm

Food of the Day: Cod Tongues

Apparently big in Newfoundland...

http://www.tastereport.com/TasteReport.com/food/Entries/2007/6/4_Tasting_cod_tongues_in_Newfoundland.html

Video: How to Eat a Chicken Wing

http://video.yahoo.com/network/100000089?v=6343611&l=100022574

Inn at Little Washington - Still Five Diamonds

http://washington.bizjournals.com/washington/stories/2009/11/02/daily115.html?ed=2009-11-06&ana=e_du_pub

Things I Dislike

I wonder if I can find a theme, or a way to understand and fix these dislikes/pet peeves. What gets you upset, angry, annoyed, riled up, pissed off? Here a just a few that I can up with in about an hour...

Business
*Terrible customer service (salesperson not paying attention or gossiping with her colleagues)
*When plumbers, electricians, delivery people, etc... don't give you an estimate (or a very innacurate estimate without updates) on when they will arrive at your house or business
*Stores that don't list hours of operation
*Banks and other firms that try to hit you with hidden fees, surcharges, and taxes
*Unclear prices at stores
*Dealing with auto repair shops
*Stores (including restaurants) that are too bright (lighting)
*A lack of common business sense
*Delivery service/repair person who does not call in advance before a delivery or who gives a wide range of times for a delivery/meeting - like 10am-6pm

Health
*Trying to find a new doctor/dentist
*Doctors who don't tell you your test results (without aggressively pursuing them)

Shopping
*Purchases (like printers) where you need to buy other items to make it work (like cables)
*That impossible to open plastic protection case (I don't know the exact name of that...)

Noise
*Taxi drivers who always beep (when trying to find new customers)
*Talking too loudly in public (including on a cell phone; unless the conversation is interesting)
*Emergency vehicles that are obscenely loud (along with their dangerously distracting flashing flights; and emergency vehicles that are so poorly parked that they halt traffic unnecessarily)

Driving
*Tailgators
*People who drive dangerously fast
*People who drive impossibly slow
*Speed bumps and speed cameras
*Parking signs that are hard to figure out
*Intersections that are hard to navigate
*Traffic lights that are poorly timed
*Roads that have too many lights/stop signs (or too few)
*People who beep when you don't make a right turn on red

People's habits and actions
*Littering
*Smoking while walking (near me) or smoking near a building entrance
*People who are consistently and egregiously late
*People who don't pay attention when walking and talking on there cell phones
*People who keep on tapping your chair with their feet or encroach onto my space when seated
*People who don't know how to stop talking

Society
*Aggressive beggers
*A proliferation of offspring
*Violent crime (or any crime, really)
*Religious wackos
*Barking dogs
*The fact that fat is the new normal

Technology
*Complicated websites
*Spam mail
*Computer viruses
*Email that bounces back
*Online businesses that make customer service telephone numbers hard to find
*Customer service that keeps on transferring you
*When you go completely electronic but companies still send you stuff by snail mail
*Groups that make it difficult to remove yourself from their listserv or email blasts
*Annoying commercials (on TV) and popup ads (on computers)

Events
*Chairs that are too close together
*Introductions and presentations that are too long
*Q&A sessions where the questioner talks too long

Common products
*Pens that don't work well
*Books and articles that are too long (i.e., unnecessarily long)
*Use-by dates that are hidden or non-existant
*Instructions that aren't clear (both public and private sector problems)

Restaurants
*Ones that don't put menus online or who don't have the most recent/accurate menus online (with prices)
*Waiters who say the specials too quickly and neglect to mention prices
*When water is not filled up in a timely manner
*When proper utensils are not on the table (only for restaurants, not at home...)

Government
*Red tape, waste, and inefficency
*The fact that the government doesn't put enough effort into the simple fixes for becoming energy efficient, like weatherization of homes and promoting proper tire pressure
*States/localities that are lenient on crime

How Many People Does the Average Person Know

Two questions:

1) How many friends/contacts/acquaintances does the average person have (at different stages in their life; obviously, most 50-year-olds will know more people than a teenager)?

2) How many total people does the average person "know" (as in recognize; this may include TV personalities, local shopkeepers, friends, family, actors, sports figures, politicians, etc...)?

*Here are some formulas to help figure some of these questions out:
http://www.stat.columbia.edu/~gelman/stuff_for_blog/estimatingdegree24_unblinded-1.pdf

Secret Mission to Rescue Yemen's Jews

Secret Mission to Rescue Yemen's Jews
by Miriam Jordan
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125693376195819343.html#mod=todays_us_page_one

Tips on Moonlighting

Unleashing Your Creativity While You're Moonlighting
by Jane Porter
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB20001424052748703932904574511350856621672.html#mod=todays_us_personal_journal

"Couples Dating"

"Little did we know that finding another couple we could stand to spend time with could seem twice as hard as finding each other in the first place."

When Four Play the Dating Game
by Elizabeth Bernstein
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB20001424052748703932904574511432686237774.html#mod=todays_us_personal_journal

Is MoCo a Den for Spies?

Is Montgomery County a Den for Spies?
by Andrew Ujifusa
http://www.gazette.net/stories/11042009/potonew202224_32544.shtml

What Rich People Eat/Drink

http://www.buzzfeed.com/awesomer/what-rich-people-eat-cci

YouTube Video: History of Iran

Certainly biased, but an interesting video nonetheless...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fy3KDYE5KQE

Video: The Power of Water

http://video.nytimes.com/video/2008/09/23/business/1194820732727/the-power-of-water.html&WT.mc_id=NYT-E-I-NYT-E-AT-1104-L29

Map: The Nuclear Wait

The Nuclear Wait
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2009/11/01/business/metrics.html?ex=1272776400&en=29d17fcc40045542&ei=5087&WT.mc_id=NYT-E-I-NYT-E-AT-1104-L28

Map: What is the World Bank Funding?

http://www.visualeconomics.com/what-is-the-world-bank-funding/

Map: How Countries Spend Their Money

http://www.visualeconomics.com/how-countries-spend-their-money/

How Governments Decide Whether a Religion Is Real or Not

Vaguely. French law doesn't define the term "cult." Rather, it uses the expression "cultlike movements" to describe groups that demand unreasonable financial contributions, encourage nonparticipation in elections, promote anti-social behavior, or cut members off from their families.

Cult Busters
by Christopher Beam
http://www.slate.com/id/2233850/

Extending Battery Life on Electronics

How to Charge Your Laptop
by Farhad Manjoo
http://www.slate.com/id/2234009/

In Defense of Jaywalking

In Defense of Jaywalking
by Tom Vanderbilt
http://www.slate.com/id/2234011/

Why Do So Many Baseball Players Chew Tobacco?

"Early ballplayers likely chewed tobacco for the same reasons as other American men, but they soon discovered baseball-specific benefits. It spurs saliva production and lubricates the mouth in the dusty infield environment. When fielding gloves came into vogue in the 1870s and 1880s, players moistened the leather with spit. Pitchers used the juice from a chaw to prepare the notorious spitball, which was widely permitted until 1920."

Why Do So Many Baseball Players Chew Tobacco?
by Brian Palmer
http://www.slate.com/id/2234341/

What Ever Happened to the Amazon Rainforest?

"We didn't save it, but we haven't stopped trying."

What Ever Happened to the Amazon Rainforest?
by Brendan Borrell
http://www.slate.com/id/2234319/

Sleep Debt

"In studies over the years, scientists have found that it can take a week or more for the cognitive and physiological consequences of poor sleep to wear off — even after increasing sleep."

The Claim: A Person Can Pay Off a Sleep Debt by Sleeping Late on Weekends
by Anahad O'Connor
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/03/health/03real.html?nl=health&emc=healthupdateemb3

FOCI Q&A

https://www.dss.mil/GW/ShowBinary/DSS/isp/foci/foci_faqs.html

10 Stinky Foods From Asia

Can you name 10?

http://iamkoream.com/stinking-good/

The Perfect Traveler

http://www.worldhum.com/features/travel-books/the-perfect-traveler-20091026/

African-American CEOs Have Baby-Faces

http://www.marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2009/11/africanamerican-ceos-have-baby-faces.html

Why Are Swedish Meatballs Small?

http://www.marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2009/11/why-are-swedish-meatballs-so-much-smaller-than-their-american-counterparts.html

Vid: How to Sell a Dollar For More Than a Dollar

http://www.marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2009/11/how-to-sell-a-dollar-for-more-than-a-dollar.html

The Secret to a Healthy Heart

"Just 30 minutes of jogging or cycling three times a week has amazing results for people with heart problems – the UK’s biggest killer – a study has found. In just three months it slashed the risk of an early death by 60 per cent in those who followed the ­fitness regime."

http://www.dailyexpress.co.uk/posts/view/137593

Legatum Prosperity Index

"The Legatum Prosperity Index is an annual ranking developed by the Legatum Institute of 104 countries, according to a variety of factors including wealth, economic growth, personal wellbeing, and quality of life. Finland topped the list of the 2009 report."

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

Gelato U.

"For three weeks every month, 20 or 30 students from the world over gather in Bologna at Carpigiani Gelato University...and despite the $1,052 tuition for a weeklong session, so far this year enfrooment at Gelato U is up 87% compared with the same period in 2008."

Gelato U.
by Nina Burleigh
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1933219,00.html

100 Things Restaurant Staffers Should Never Do

One Hundred Things Restaurant Staffers Should Never Do (Part 1)
by Bruce Buschel
http://boss.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/10/29/one-hundred-things-restaurant-staffers-should-never-do-part-one/?em

Here is Part II
http://boss.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/11/05/one-hundred-things-restaurant-staffers-should-never-do-part-2/?ex=1273381200&en=c68a263f9cd6841a&ei=5087&WT.mc_id=NYT-E-I-NYT-E-AT-1111-L18

Le Cordon Bleu

"My two days at the Canadian branch of the Paris cooking school, its only outpost in North America, provided an opportunity to sample the teaching techniques that earned Cordon Bleu its vaunted reputation. It also taught me the highs and, sadly, the lows that the professional kitchen can provoke."

Tasting Ectasy and Agony at Le Cordon Bleu in Ottawa
by Micheline Maynard
http://travel.nytimes.com/2009/11/01/travel/01journeys.html?nl=travel&emc=tda3

Why Is It Called "The Hague"

And why is it in The Netherlands?

Blame the locals. Those who live in The Hague never stopped using an old-fashioned name that described the place according to its medieval use. We get the official name Den Haag from Des Graven Hage, which means "the counts' hedge" and refers to the fact that Dutch noblemen once used the land for hunting. Many other place names started off as descriptions with definite articles.

Why Is It Called the Hague
by Brian Palmer
http://www.slate.com/id/2233716/

The Secret Lives of Numbers

http://www.turbulence.org/Works/nums/

5 Tips to Reduce Your Cancer Risk

http://health.yahoo.com/experts/healthieryou/13697/5-simple-secrets-to-lower-your-risk-of-cancer/

World's Most Expensive Suit

"The world’s most expensive suit is set to be unveiled in London at the bargain price of £70,000. It has taken in excess of 80 hours to complete with over 5,000 individual stitches equating to £14 per stitch."

What Recession? £70K For A Suit
http://www.djmick.co.uk/life/what-recession-70k-for-a-suit/

When Do Markets Crash?

"When everybody is speaking with one voice, it's very possible that they're all about to be wrong. So when will the next big plunge happen? I can't say for sure, but I'll say this: When the last of the curmudgeons start to get bullish, when the gloom and doom on most of the financial blogs gives way to optimism, when guys like me start writing articles about how good things are going ... look out below."

Here's When The Crash Will Happen
by John Rosevear
http://www.fool.com/investing/value/2009/10/27/heres-when-the-crash-will-happen.aspx

The Easiest Way to Become a Millionaire

Three easy steps:

1. Find strong, long-term dividend-paying companies
2. Hold forever
3. Implement this strategy today

The Easiest Way to Become a Millionaire
by Adam Wiederman
http://www.fool.com/investing/dividends-income/2009/10/27/the-easiest-way-to-become-a-millionaire.aspx

Tullock Effect & Harberger Effect

Tullock Effect: When safety measures increase recklessness

*Bonus: What is the Harberger Effect

Should You Feel Bad for Taking Hot Showers?

I almost wish I was made to feel bad for using a hot shower because then I probably would consume less. So, a little shame (and maybe some economic incentive) could help things out...

Bathing Hot, Hot, Hot
by Nina Shen Rastogi
http://www.slate.com/id/2233527/

Are Pick-Your-Own Orchards a Scam?

"In the United States, overconsumption is encouraged as a positive good (see under: McMansions, SUVs, all-you-can-eat buffets). Add pick-your-own apples to the list. And, just as people who visit wineries end up walking away with a case instead of a bottle, it's a given that people leave pick-your-own orchards with a surfeit of apples."

Against Apple Picking
by Daniel Gross
http://www.slate.com/id/2233467/

Food, Sleep, or Sex?

Which is more important?

http://www.slate.com/blogs/blogs/humannature/archive/2009/10/26/napping-sex-and-abstinence.aspx

TED Video: The Power of Time Off

An arguement for sabbaticals...

http://www.ted.com/talks/stefan_sagmeister_the_power_of_time_off.html

TED Video: How Food Shapes Our Cities

http://www.ted.com/talks/carolyn_steel_how_food_shapes_our_cities.html

TED Video: Life Lessons From an Ad Man

Very funny/interesting...

http://www.ted.com/talks/rory_sutherland_life_lessons_from_an_ad_man.html

Ted Video: Navigating Our Global Future

Good big-picture assessment of what the future may hold from Ian Goldin, director of the 21st Century School at Oxford...

http://www.ted.com/talks/ian_goldin_navigating_our_global_future.html

The Next Nostradamus: Bruce Bueno de Mesquito?

"Politics is predictable. All that is needed is a tool, like a model, that takes basic information, evaluates it by assuming people do what they think is best for them, and produces reliable assessments of what they will do and why they will do it....Certainly knowing about places and how different they might be is important, but not as important as knowing about people and how similar they are, wherever they are."

Recipe for Failure
by Bruce Bueno de Mesquita
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2009/10/16/recipe_for_failure?page=0,0

Bruce Bueno de Mesquita
*http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bruce_Bueno_de_Mesquita

Temple of Tempura: Rakutei

"Go to an ATM, extract roughly $200 in cash per person and make your way to Rakutei, a tempura resturant in Akasaka: 11 seats at an L-shaped counter; one chef, one assistant; one vase with one flower; one sweet, motherly waitress in kimono..."

Batter Up: A Visit to a Tokyo Tempple of Tempura
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/10/23/AR2009102301967.html

On Milk

Q: When buying milk, I see that the "use-by" date is typically no more than 10 days away. Yet in other countries, milk is routinely bought in unrefrigerated boxes that have a long shelf life. It tastes just fine. Why isn't this milk sold in the US?

A: In fact, ultrapasteurized or ultra-high temperature (UHT) processed milk is sold here. I buy it myself. It's a little different from pasteurized milk in two main ways: 1) It's slightly sweeter; and 2) the UHT process kills all bacteria, instead of just enough to keep you from getting sick, as with standard pasteurization. You can buy either ordinary or organic UHT milk, and it's available as whole mike, 2%, and skim, etc.

-October 24, 2009, Parade Magazine

Why Can Cockroaches Always Escape?

Q: Have you ever wondered how cockroaches achieve such consistent success in avoiding their smartest predators - us?

A: Well. A team of Italian researchers did. They studies the "escape trajectories" of American cockroaches. They already knew that cockroaches don't scrurry randomly, or we would find them heading generally toward us about half the time. Yet a predictable path - which any hungry cat could learn - would spell doom. What to do? The researchers found that roaches flee along four emergency exit routes: at a right angle (90 degrees) from the direction of the threat, at the other right angle from the threat, and at the two angles that fall about equidistant between those routes, rarely straight ahead. The angles very somewhat, and would-be squashers never know which route will be chosen.

-October 24, 2009 Parade Magzine; Marilyn vos Savant

What Keeps Scientists Up At Night?

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn18041-seven-questions-that-keep-physicists-up-at-night.html#

Kanji Overhaul

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/ek20091021mn.html#

InfoGraphic: Left vs. Right World

http://www.informationisbeautiful.net/leftvright_world.html

Successful Government Bureaucracies?

http://www.marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2009/10/successful-government-bureaucracies.html

Starbucks Coffee Chart

http://www.marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2009/10/i-coffee.html

Products of the Day: Cupcake Cars

http://www.neimanmarcus.com/store/sitelets/christmasbook/fantasy.jhtml?cid=CBF10_O4428&icid=NMCDpage48&r=cat24050744&rdesc=The%20Christmas%20Book&rparams=xpage%3D48

Why So Few DC Residents Are Married

http://blog.newsweek.com/blogs/thegaggle/archive/2009/10/20/why-so-few-dc-residents-are-married.aspx

Does Microfinancing Help Alleviate Poverty?

Brother, Can You Lend a Dime?
by Sandy Stonesifer
http://www.slate.com/id/2233017/

What Days Do People Spend the Most?

"Gallup's Daily monitoring of consumers' self-reported average daily spending in stores, restaurants, gas stations, and online finds that Americans spend the most on Saturdays, followed closely by Fridays; they spend the least on Mondays and Tuesdays."

http://www.gallup.com/poll/123839/Consumers-Spend-More-Weekends-Payday-Weeks.aspx?CSTS=alert#

What is the Best Passport to Hold?

Q: Which country's citizens can travel to the most countries and territories without a visa?

A: Denmark. Danes have the most freedom to travel - they could enter 157 countries and territories without a visa as of September 1, 2008, according to consulting firm Henly & Partners. Other nationalities facing the least red tape when traveling abroad include Finns, Irish, and Portuguese (156 visa-free countries and territories), and Americans, Belgians, Germans, and Swedes (155). Countries whose people are relatively stuck: Afghanistan (22 visa-free destinations); Iraq (23); and Iran, Pakistan, and Somalia (25).

-Foreign Policy Magazine, September/October 2009

Genetically Similar Countries Fight More?

"According to a recent study, countries are far ore likely to go to war with other countries whose populations are genetically similar to their own. Date from 1816 to 2000 show that the likelihood of conflict gereatly increases with greater genetic likeness. So why do we fight those who are most like us? 'Countries are likely to have interacted more with other countreis that are genetically similar, and therefore will have more issues over which they disagree,' UCLA economist Romain Wacziarg says."

Brother Against Brother
by Joshua Keating
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2009/08/13/brother_against_brother

New Japanese Verb: "Obamu"

http://jamesfallows.theatlantic.com/archives/2009/10/to_obama_in_japanese.php#

Social Security & Medicare Taxes

http://www.ssa.gov/pubs/10003.html#offset2

Authentic Jewish Delis?

http://www.wtop.com/?nid=25&sid=1790360

Map: Coal-Fired Power Plants Near You

http://projects.nytimes.com:80/toxic-waters/polluters/power-plants?WT.mc_id=NYT-E-I-NYT-E-AT-1021-L22

Can Government Rescuers Send You a Bill?

Can the government charge anyone for a search and rescue? No. As a general rule, the United States adheres to the "free public services doctrine," which states that the cost of law enforcement, fire suppression, and search and rescue should be shared by all taxpayers. However, there are some situations in which the state can demand payment for a rescue operation from a particular person.

Let's See, That's Two Choppers at $5,000 Per Hour...
by Brian Palmer
http://www.slate.com/id/2232909/

What Does "Off-The-Record" Really Mean

The professional jargon reporters use to describe sourcing ground rules is poorly understood within the profession in general and inside the Washington Post in particular, even though the Post has codified them in its stylebook. I concluded that journalists deliberately keep the applied meaning of terms like "off the record" and "background" fluid to maximize their latitude to impart information.

What Does "Off the Record" Mean
by Timothy Noah
http://www.slate.com/id/2233009/

"Zero Waste"

"Across the nation, an antigarbage strategy known as 'zero waste' is moving from the fringes to the mainstream, taking hold in school cafeterias, national parks, restaurants, stadiums and corporations."

Nudging Recycling From Less Waste to None
by Leslie Kaufman
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/20/science/earth/20trash.html?_r=1&th&emc=th

Billable Hours

"Lawyers working in Washington, D.C., have the highest median rates at $455 an hour for partners and $295 per hour for associates in 2006, according Altman Weil’s most recent Survey of Law Firm Economics. Nationwide, the median hourly billing rate in 2006 was $305 an hour for partners and $200 for associates."

http://seattle.bizjournals.com/seattle/stories/2008/08/25/focus4.html

*2009 Survey of Law Firm Economics
http://www.incisivesurveys.com/r5/showkiosk.asp?listing_id=3326837

Why Isn't Plane Travel Getting Faster?

http://trueslant.com/matthewsteinglass/2009/10/06/across-the-planet-in-20-hours-is-fast-enough-thanks/

Which Countries Produce the Most Beef?

http://graphs.gapminder.org/world/agriculture.php#$majorMode=chart$is;shi=t;ly=2003;lb=f;il=t;fs=11;al=67;stl=t;st=t;nsl=t;se=t$wst;tts=C$ts;sp=3.31483870967742;ti=2007$zpv;v=0$inc_x;mmid=XCOORDS;iid=phAwcNAVuyj1jiMAkmq1iMg;by=ind$inc_y;mmid=YCOORDS;iid=rLF%5Fyw13i9d2w4gZ5Y9%2DGDA;by=ind$inc_s;uniValue=20;iid=phAwcNAVuyj0XOoBL%5Fn5tAQ;by=ind$inc_c;uniValue=255;gid=CATID0;by=grp$map_x;scale=log;dataMin=273;dataMax=95395$map_y;scale=lin;dataMin=1;dataMax=12427000$map_s;sma=52;smi=1$cd;bd=0$inds=

Balloon Boy FAQ

Is it illegal to pilot a homemade balloon? How much helium do you need? Do you need permission to launch a balloon out of your backyard?

Balloon Boy FAQ
by Christopher Beam
http://www.slate.com/id/2232594/

Who Decides What to Call an Old Painting

"Who decides what to call an old artwork? Art historians."

Mona Linda? Nah. How About Mona Lisa?
by Brian Palmer
http://www.slate.com/id/2232558/

How to Get Bikers to Obey Traffic Obeys

"Bikes occupy a gray area of the law. They're neither cars nor pedestrians. Most states do carve out special laws for bikes, but not enough to avoid confusion. Take this scenario: I'm approaching a stop sign on my bike. There are clearly no cars coming from either direction. Do I come to a complete stop? Can I cautiously slide through? The traffic laws say full stop. But in practice, few bikers hit the brake, put their foot on the ground, and then start pedaling again. Are they criminals?"

Stop Means Stop
by Christopher Beam
http://www.slate.com/id/2232555/

KaChing - The Future of Stock Trading?

"In 2008, Daniel Carroll started KaChing, a Web site where 400,000 amateur and professional investors manage virtual portfolios. Others have logged on to see what the investors on the site are doing and make the same trades in their own real portfolios. On Monday, KaChing is to add a new twist. Customers can set up brokerage accounts that automatically mirror the trades of a money manager, some of them professionals."


Site Lets Investors See and Copy Experts' Trades
by Claire Cain Miller
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/19/technology/start-ups/19kaching.html?th&emc=th

Psychological Allergies?

Is there such a thing?

Networking Event Utility Belt

What do you pack?

http://washington.bizjournals.com/washington/blog/working_the_room/2009/10/packing_your_networking_event_utility_belt.html?ana=e_du_pub

The Facebook Global Happiness Index

"The index is an attempt to say something profound based on the reports of daily life that Facebook users impose on — um, share with — their friends. The idea, one that is generally accepted in social psychology, is that word choice can reveal a person’s mood."

Is It a Day to Be Happy? Check the Index
by Noam Cohen
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/12/technology/internet/12link.html?_r=1&th&emc=th

US's Six Main Taxes

"America's six main taxes in 2008: income taxes raised $1.15 trillion; payroll taxes $900 billion; corporate income tax $304 billion; excise taxes on gasoline, liquor and cigarettes $67 billion; estate and gift taxes $29 billion; tariffs $26 billion. Smallest and oldest of the main taxes, the tariff system is also the most regressive, as most tariff money comes from taxes on clothes, shoes, household goods and a few types of food."

http://www.dlc.org/ndol_ci.cfm?kaid=108&subid=900003&contentid=250599

NYTimes Magazine: The Food Issue

http://www.nytimes.com/indexes/2009/10/11/magazine/index.html?WT.mc_id=NYT-E-I-NYT-E-AT-1014-L1

Map: Economics of Clean Energy

http://www.americanprogress.org/projects/energy_hub

Financing a Global Climate Bill

Biggest Obstacle to Global Climate Change May be How to Pay for It
by Elisabeth Rosenthal
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/15/science/earth/15climate.html?_r=1&th&emc=th

Vision of Humanity

http://www.visionofhumanity.org/

*Also check out the Global Peace Index for 2009. It is interesting how nearly all of the peaceful countries are relatively isolated geographically: Canada, Greenland, Japan, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Chile, Japan, New Zealand, Australia, etc...
http://www.visionofhumanity.org/gpi/home.php

*Also check out the Institute for Economics & Peace
http://www.economicsandpeace.org/

*Also check out the Institute for Economics and Peace's research report on calculating the potential size of a Peace Gross World Product

Restaurant of the Week: Asador Etxebarri

Chef Victor Arguinzoniz cooks everything over a grill...

http://www.asadoretxebarri.com/

*Perhaps it might be worth stopping by the Benfumat factory in Barcelona (if they have one) to eat their boqurones anchovies...
http://www.benfumat.com/

Why do so Many Greenlanders Kill Themselves?

One reason for Greenland's high suicide rate is that people are particularly proficient at the act, employing methods that leave little chance for survival. Shootings and hangings account for 91 percent of male suicides and 70 percent of female suicides. (Almost every Greenland home has at least one rifle for the annual caribou and musk-ox hunts. Of course, any rope, fishing net, or electric cord can be fashioned into a noose, which in the Greenlandic language is called "our Lord's lasso.") "Young people in Norway and Sweden make a lot of suicide attempts with pills, but they're not successful. Here the kids are successful because it's always so violent," said Poulsen.

The Suicide Capital of the World
by Jason George
http://www.slate.com/id/2231576/

Is It a Sin to Leave Your Cell Phone or Laptop Plugged in Overnight?

You Charged Me All Night Long
by Nina Shen Rastogi
http://www.slate.com/id/2232195/

Facial Profiling

Can you tell if a man is dangerous by looking at his face? Physiognomy is making a comeback...

Facial Profiling
by Dave Johns
http://www.slate.com/id/2232409/

Rock-Climbing: The Only Truly Gender-Blind Sport?

Sports generally reward bulk, speed, strength, and, often, height—all traits in which men tend to have the physical advantage. But climbers can’t rely on brute strength alone. The typically feminine assets of balance, flexibility, and a sprinkle of grace are essential to navigating the vagaries of ancient rock and plastic gym holds. (To effortlessly “dance up the wall” is a high compliment.) Excessive bulk, be it muscle or fat, while not a showstopper, is a definite disadvantage in a sport that rewards a high strength-to-weight ratio. Height can help or hinder, depending on the contours of the rock. True, most of the top climbers are men, but in a few cases, women have accomplished what men could not...

http://www.doublex.com/section/life/rock-climbing-only-truly-gender-blind-sport#

Prizes That Help the World More Than The Nobel

"There are generally two kinds of prizes that try to improve the world. The first, like the Nobel, awards those who have made the world better in extraordinary ways. The second, like the X Prize, tries to incentivize innovation that could have enormous impact in the future."

And the Winner Is...
by Sandy Stonesifer
http://www.slate.com/id/2232416/

Is a Virus the Cause of Fatigue Syndrome?

I wonder if there is any link to mono...

Is a Virus the Cause of Fatigue Syndrome?
by Denise Grady
http://www.nytimes.com:80/2009/10/13/health/13fatigue.html?nl=health&emc=healthupdateema1

Wash Hands With Cold or Hot Water?

I still wonder which (hot water, or cold) is better for washing dishes...

"Hot water for hand washing has not been proved to remove germs better than cold water."

The Claim: Always Wash Your Hands With Hot Water, Not Cold
by Anahad O'Connor
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/13/health/13real.html?_r=1&nl=health&emc=healthupdateemb2

Do Sanctions Work?

"A 2007 study of 174 attempts during the 20th century found that sanctions at least partially met their stated goals just 34% of the time."

A Brief History of: Sanctions
by Alex Altman
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1926621,00.html?xid=rss-world

*PIIE on Sanctions
http://www.iie.com/publications/briefs/sanctions4075.pdf

Map: Every Space Mission From the Last 50 Years

http://www.flickr.com/photos/adamcrowe/4002050596/sizes/o/

How Traffic Jams Help the Environment

I generally agree with this arguement. The only problem I have is that making people frustrated is not good for the happiness of society. Sitting in traffic may push people to use more public transportation, but it also raises their blood pressure and makes them more angry, thus hurting productivity and raising health care costs. There should be a better way to nudge people to use public transport besides frustrating them...

"Congestion pricing has dubious environmental value. Traffis jams, if they're managed well, can actually be good for the environmnet. They maintain a level of frustration that turns drivers into subway riders or predestrians...If the result of congestion pricing is simply to spread traffic out, thereby maintaining or increasing total traffic volume while also making driving more pleasant for those who continue to do it, then its putative environmental benefits are fictitious."

How Traffic James Help the Environment
by David Owen
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703746604574461572304842840.html

Mapping the Size of the Muslim World

"If you are interested in the concentrations of Muslim populations worldwide, take a look at the cool (or alarming, depending on your perspective) interactive graphic produced by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life and the Pew Research Center. Using proportionate bubbles, it maps the size of Muslim communities worldwide. It's part of Pew's big demographic study of the global Muslim population, which finds that there are 1.57 billion Muslims of all ages and that one in four people living today is Muslim."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/10/09/AR2009100903892.html

*Pew Map of the Muslim World
http://pewforum.org/docs/?DocID=451

Nobel Geopolitics

"Two things must be remembered about the Nobel Peace Prize. The first is that Nobel was never clear about his intentions for it. The second is his decision to have it awarded by politicians from — and we hope the Norwegians will accept our advance apologies — a marginal country relative to the international system. This is not meant as a criticism of Norway, a country we have enjoyed in the past, but the Norwegians sometimes have an idiosyncratic way of viewing the world...The Norwegian politicians gave their prize to Obama because they believed that he would leave Europeans in their comfortable prosperity without making unreasonable demands."

http://www.stratfor.com:80/weekly/20091012_nobel_geopolitics?utm_source=GWeeklyS&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=091012&utm_content=readmore

The Rise of "Boneless Wings"

"Wholesale chicken prices have turned upside down. The once-lowly wing is selling at a premium over what has long been the gold standard of poultry parts, the skinless boneless chicken breast. The recession is the cause of the price flip-flop. Restaurants, normally big buyers of breast meat, slashed orders as millions of people cut back on eating out, and breast prices slumped. But demand for wings has remained strong, partly because people perceived them as a cheap luxury. Yet the high price of wings has also accelerated a development that bothers wing purists: that oxymoron dipped in hot sauce, the boneless wing. Boneless wings, increasingly promoted by restaurants, are not wings at all, but slices of breast meat deep-fried like wings and served with the same sauces — a bit like a spicy Chicken McNugget."

'Boneless' Wings, the Cheaper Bite
by William Neuman
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/13/business/economy/13wings.html?th&emc=th

Eurosclerosis

"The Europeans are the biggest losers of the economic crisis, even though the home of subprime madness was the U.S."

Crisis Leaves Europe in the Slow Lane
by Nelson Schwartz and Matthew Saltmarsh
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/10/business/economy/10euro.html?_r=1&th&emc=th

Why are Stocks & Treasuries Both Rising?

Why Stocks and Treasurys Have Been Rising at the Same Time
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Why-Stocks-and-Treasurys-Have-cnbc-2739491172.html?x=0&sec=topStories&pos=1&asset=&ccode=

Book Awards Cheat Sheet

Learn the basics of popular book awards...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/10/07/AR2009100703661.html?sid=ST2009100804415

The Geography of Venture Capital Expansion

"In Buy Local? The Geography of Successful and Unsuccessful Venture Capital Expansion (NBER Working Paper No. 15102), authors Henry Chen, Paul Gompers, Anna Kovner, and Josh Lerner examine the location decisions of venture capital (VC) firms and the impact that venture capital firm geography has on investments and outcomes. They analyze data for 2,039 VC firms in the period 1975 to 2005, including their office locations and that of the businesses in their investment portfolios."

http://papers.nber.org:80/papers/w15102

Game Theory and Major League Sports

"In this paper, we explore minimax play in two high stakes, real world settings that are data rich: choice of pitch type in Major League Baseball and whether to run or pass in the National Football League. We observe more than three million pitches in baseball and 125,000 play choices for football. We find systematic deviations from minimax play in both data sets. Pitchers appear to throw too many fastballs; football teams pass less than they should. In both sports, there is negative serial correlation in play calling. Back of the envelope calculations suggest that correcting these decision making errors could be worth as many as two additional victories a year to a Major League Baseball franchise, and more than a half win per season for a professional football team."

http://papers.nber.org/papers/w15347

US Trade Policy Since 1934

http://papers.nber.org/papers/w15397

STRATFOR's George Friedman on the State of the World

Q: If you could give future leaders of this country counsel on how to deal with this, what would you advise?

A: The first would be to make sure that the rest of the world is as unstable as possible. It is much easier not to fight foreign countries by letting them fight with each other. The perfect model for this was Iraq.

Instead of trying to occupy the country, the U.S. created a civil war within Iraq. One of the outcomes was that you didn’t have to worry about another terrorist attack upon the United States. So long as your enemies are fighting with each other, they’re not fighting with you.

The second piece of advice would be to make sure that DARPA (U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) has all the money it needs. The best research and technology in this country always comes out of the Defense Department. U.S. corporate research and development is pretty good at applying things that other people invent. But no one is better at research and development than the Defense Department.

The myth that the government is not good at R&D is just nonsense. It is the single institution that is better than American universities at cranking out things from the Internet to the microchip. All of these started as Defense projects.

The last thing I would advise is to make sure that the United States has the most liberal immigration policy in the world. In 20 to 30 years, all sorts of countries are going to be competing for immigrants to fill their workforces. As an example, Germany is going to be down 30 percent of its population.

We need to ensure that we maintain those institutions which allow people to come into the country, either legally or illegally. Whatever crazy way you want to do it, just make sure our workforce is filled.

http://www.sfomag.com/article.aspx?ID=1414&issueID=c

Current Trends in Population Growth

http://www.worldwatch.org/node/6257?emc=el&m=297190&l=4&v=bf1e6d6aca

American's Least Happy in Their 50s & Late 80s

"A new analysis of more than 600,000 Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index interviews conducted in 2008 and 2009 shows that happiness is highest among Americans who are in their early adulthood. Happiness drops among Americans in their 30s and 40s, and -- in particular -- among those in their 50s; it is higher among Americans in their 60s, drops among Americans in their late 70s and 80s, and then rises again among those older than 90. Men and women in most age groups have broadly equal happiness scores, with women scoring slightly higher than men in the middle-aged years, and notably higher after age 80."

http://www.gallup.com:80/poll/123452/Americans-Least-Happy-50s-Late-80s.aspx?CSTS=alert

Old Bay

"Old Bay Seasoning was the invention of Gustav Brunn, a German Jew who emigrated to Baltimore in 1938. An experienced spice merchant, Brunn soon landed a job at McCormick & Co., which wanted him to develop blends for meatpackers who were making products including sausages and hot dogs. It was a short gig: Two days after being hired, he was let go because he was Jewish. If it weren't for the firing, Old Bay might never have come into being..."

The Measure of Old Bay
by Jane Black
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/story/2009/10/06/ST2009100603029.html

Food Safety 101

Make sure to click on the Food Safety 101 link to test your food-safety skills...

Food-Borne Illness: More Than Meets the Eye
by Jennifer LaRue Huget
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/09/28/AR2009092801574.html

Crusade for Economic Self-Restraint

Basically, the US has been spending itself to death. Now, it needs to save itself back to life. The problem: who wants to give up their lifestyles? Almost everyone wants to keep/increase their salaries. No group wants to pay more taxes. No group (defense, transportation, health care, agriculture, etc...) wants to lose out on earmarks. It might have to be done collectively. Simply put, we all need to get poorer.

"If there is to be a movement to restore economic values, it will have to cut across the current taxonomies. Its goal will be to make the U.S. again a producer economy, not a consumer economy. It will champion a return to financial self-restraint, large and small. It will have to take on what you might call the lobbyist ethos — the righteous conviction held by everybody from AARP to the agribusinesses that their groups are entitled to every possible appropriation, regardless of the larger public cost. It will have to take on the self-indulgent popular demand for low taxes and high spending. A crusade for economic self-restraint would have to rearrange the current alliances and embrace policies like energy taxes and spending cuts that are now deemed politically impossible."

The Next Culture War
by David Brooks
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/29/opinion/29brooks.html?pagewanted=print

Eating What the Last Person Ordered

http://www.marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2009/10/markets-in-everything-ill-have-what-he-ordered.html

Spending Conundrum

I still do not understand why people go out of their way to save a few bucks on a lower-priced item when they totally ignore the costs of higher priced items and often neglect to try to save money on those more expensive things. It is weird because the savings one can get from just one large purchase (car, TV, bed, etc...) can outweigh all the savings one accrues from purchasing a host of smaller items. One theory is that it is easier for the brain to comprehend the savings on an item that is, say, $0.99 vs. $1.99 as opposed to an item that is priced in the hundred or thousand dollar price range. Is the brain hard-wired this way?

Pay-What-You-Wish Pricing

I wonder what the average percent someone gives when they are told there is pay-what-you-wish pricing. For example, at a recent pay-what-you-wish theatre night, I believe the clerk said that most people give between $4 - $9 dollars - averaging somewhere around $5. I imagine that an actual ticket is around $20 - $30, and thus, people are giving about 25% of the full cost.

http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/10/05/more-news-on-the-pay-what-you-wish-front/

Business Meal Etiquette

If I could write an etiquette expert, I'd ask them how often one should take a client to lunch, and what do to if one does not have an expense account...

http://www.sideroad.com/Business_Etiquette/business-meal-etiquette.html

*More Etiquette
http://www.sideroad.com/Business_Etiquette/business-meal-etiquette.html

Green Intentions

Common myths about going green...

Best, Green Intensions...
by Pat Mertz Esswein
http://groups.google.com/group/sci.environment/browse_thread/thread/79f443998dba82cd/63d84a1bfb825323?lnk=raot&pli=1

The Olympics: Good or Bad for the Economy?

As with anything, there is the good side, and the bad...

Myths About Landing the Olympics
by Stefan Szymanski
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/10/01/AR2009100103891.html

On Earphones

http://gizmodo.com/5371253/giz-explains-why-you-cant-get-decent-earphones-for-less-than-100

Comic: Vacation vs. Stress

http://www.phdcomics.com/comics.php?f=1231

What are the Most Well-Kept Secrets in the World?

These are some fun ones, but I'm sure there are some more interesting ones out there...Can you think of any?

http://www.cracked.com/article/147_7-secrets-only-two-living-people-know-for-some-reason/

Infographic: Rise of Atheism in the US

http://www.good.is/post/transparency-the-rise-of-atheism-in-america/

*Also check out Good Magazine's other infographics...
http://www.good.is/sections/department/department.php?tname=transparency

How do Inspectors Know Whether a Nuclear Facility is Being Used for Peace or War?

"First, they check the numbers. Inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency keep tabs on the amount of uranium coming in and going out of a facility, the number of centrifuges being used, and the pieces of equipment purchased. Then they compare those data with the declarations made by the country that owns the site. Any discrepancies raise a red flag, and the agency conducts a further investigation. Inspectors also test the uranium at a given site to measure its enrichment level. This refers to the amount of the U-235 isotope present in the fuel as compared with the amount of heavier, less reactive U-238. Natural uranium contains only a fraction of 1 percent of U-235. Low-enrichment uranium, which is used in nuclear power plants, has about 4 percent. The highly enriched stuff that goes into nuclear weapons is something like four-fifths U-235. When inspectors find enrichment levels higher than the 4 percent required for civilian purposes, they start asking questions."

This Means War
by Christopher Beam
http://www.slate.com/id/2231162/