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