The Start of a New Congress: Confusion

"When the Twentieth Amendment changed the starting date of the congressional term to January 3, it also set January 3 as the default date for Congress to first meet. Like before, Congress has the option of specifying a different meeting date by law, and for 2011, Congress has specified that it will begin on January 5 instead of January 3. But that change in start date does not change the time when the term of the old Congress ends and the new one begins. That date is January 3 at noon."

http://blog.american.com/?page_id=24119

Map: North American Dialects

Has a really cool map...

http://business.highbeam.com/5308/article-1G1-140923418/north-american-dialects-far-fading-away-theyre-getting

Chinese vs. Spanish

"Chinese takes nearly three times as long as Spanish to master, accordign to the Foreign Service Institute."

Foreign Language Proficiency Scale: ILR Scale

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

Cantonese vs. Mandarin

"Cantonese, a sharp, cackling dialtect full of slang and exaggerated expressions, was never the dominant language of China. But it came to dominate the Chinatowns of North America because the first immigrants came from the Cantonese-speaking southern province of Guangdong, where China first opened its ports to foreigners centuries ago. It is also the chief language of Hong Kong, the vital trading and financial center that became China's link to the West. But over the last three decades, waves of Mandarin-speaking mainland Chinese and Taiwanese immigrants have diluted the influence of both the Cantonese language and the pioneering Cantonese families who ran Chinatowns for years."

Cantonese Is Losing Its Voice
by David Pierson
http://articles.latimes.com/2006/jan/03/local/me-cantonese3

Department of State Staffing & Foreign Lanuage Shortfalls

http://www.census.gov/hhes/socdemo/language/data/acs/ACS-12.pdf

Languages Spoke in the US

Good chart on page 7...

http://www.census.gov/hhes/socdemo/language/data/acs/ACS-12.pdf

Car Accidents vs. War

Q: How many Americans have died from car accidents since the invention of the automobile? How does this compare to the number who have died in wars?

A: The comparison is stunning. Since the start of the Revolution, about a million Americans have died in wars. And since Henry Ford introduced the mass-produced motorcar in 1913, more than 2.5 million Americans have met their deaths on the road.

-Ask Marilyn, March 5, 2006

Vid: Heat Transfer in the Modern Kitchen

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

On Modern Inflation Tracking

"Last month, MIT unveiled the Billion Prices Project, an inflation measure based on 5 million items sold by 300 online retailers in 70 countries...Google's chief economist Hal Varian decided to use Google's vast database of Web prices to construct the 'Google Price Index,' a constantly updated measure of prices changes and inflation."

Inflation Tracking is Faster Than Ever. Is That a Good Thing.
by Annie Lowrey
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/12/23/AR2010122305070.html

Thiel Fellowship: 20 Under 20

"Warning that America's long term economic prospects are uncertain without radical innovation in technology, Peter Thiel this week launched the Thiel Fellowship to foster the next generation of tech visionaries. The new program will support 20 entrepreneurs under 20 years old with grants of up to $100,000."

http://www.thielfoundation.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=14:the-thiel-fellowship-20-under-20&catid=1&Itemid=16

The World Has Become More Peaceful

Average annual deaths in armed conflicts, worldwide -

*1950-1959: 155,000
*1990-1999: 95,000
*2000-2008: 27,000
*2002-2008: 17,000

http://www.dlc.org/ndol_ci.cfm?kaid=108&subid=900003&contentid=255223

Whacky Tax Deductions

http://finance.yahoo.com/taxes/article/111626/wacky-tax-deductions-from-chicken-wings-to-cruise-ships?mod=taxes-advice_strategy

Can Hooters Make It In Japan?

http://www.slate.com/id/2276982/

20 TED Talks for Foodies

http://www.onlineclasses.org/2010/12/09/20-great-ted-talks-for-total-foodies/

10 Best Vizualization Projects of the Year - 2010

http://flowingdata.com/2010/12/14/10-best-data-visualization-projects-of-the-year-%E2%80%93-2010/

Claims About Marketing

"If a stranger is standing nearby, shoppers are more likely to pick the expensive brand."

http://www.marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2010/12/claims-about-marketing.html

Social Status Divining Using Email

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

On Dr. Seuss & Green Eggs and Ham

"One way to interpret the book is as a celebration of two particularly American traits: salesmanship and open-mindedness. Sam-I-Am is the consummate entreprenuer."

Uncle Sam-I-Am
by Tunku Varadarajan
http://online.wsj.com/public/page/news-lifestyle-arts-entertainment.html (1/18/06; WSJ)

The Theory of Self Interest

"The world out there is bitterly competitive, and those who do not pursue their own interests ruthlessly are likely to be swept aside by others who do...Some economists go so far as to say that self-interest explains virtually all behavior...As Gordon Tullock of the University of Arizona has written, for example, 'the average human being is about 95 percent selfish in the narrow sense of the terms.'"

Economic Scene
by Robert Frank
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/17/business/17scene.html

What % of the Population are Loners?

"A third of us are loners, including a disproportionately large share of blacks, men, and Democrats."

Washington Post Poll

On Craving an Eames Chair

A 50-Year-Old Chair Design and, for 30 Years, a Craving
by Katherine Salant
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/11/AR2008011101696.html

When a Dollar Isn't a Dollar

"Americans are accustomed to the idea that the dollar is good anywhere. Overseas, however, that guarantee carries less wight. In many countries, the dollar's value depends not just on global economic forces that move international currency markets, but also on the age, condition, and denomination of the bills themselves. Roughly 75% of the 5.5 billion $100 bills in print are circulating abroad."

In Some Places, US Money Isn't As Sound as a Dollar
by Michael Phillips
http://online.wsj.com/google_login.html?url=http%3A%2F%2Fonline.wsj.com%2Farticle%2FSB116241659064510586.html%3Fmod%3Dgooglenews_wsj

On Test Taking

"Tests represent fear-based learning, the opposite of learning based on desire. To compensate for my no-testing policy, I assign tons of homework...For 25 years of testing the waters by not testing, I've been telling my students not to worry about answering questions. Be braver and bolder: Question the answers."

Teach to the Test? What Test?
by Colman McCarthy
http://news.infoshop.org/article.php?story=2006no_tests

Budget Allocations

Budget allocations that Money Management International (MMI) recommends:

*Personal Debt: 14%
*Housing: 27%
*Food: 21%
*Transportation: 8%
*Utilities: 6%
*Clothing: 4%
*Misc.: 1%
*Savings: 7%
*Insurance: 6%
*Personal Care: 3%
*Health: 3%

http://www.seattlepi.com/money/285312_singletary16.html

"Stroke Belt" & Fried Fish

http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/20101223/sc_livescience/friedfishmayexplainstrokebeltmystery

Mating Habits Around Japan

"Females who draw the greatest pleasure from the sexual act hail from Hokkaido, Iwate, and Gifu...gals of Akita, Fukushima and Yamanashi were most likely to lapse into unconsciousness resulting from sexual ecstasy...As for as who can be seduced the most quickly, gals from Hokkaido were found to have the roundest heels, followed by gals from Saitama and Shiga."

Pornography Meets Geography in Nationwide Sex Survey
by Masuo Kamiyama
Wataru Irokawa in Asahi Geino
http://www.littlespeck.com/region/CForeign-Jp-041113.htm

Sex in the Syllabus

*Undergraduates taking Cyberporn and Society at the State University of New York at Buffalo survey Internet porn sites.

*At New York University, assignments for Anthropology of the Unconscious include discussing X-rated Japanese comic books.

*In Cinema and the Sex Act at the University of California, Berkeley, undergrads are required to view clips from Hollywood NC-17 releases like Showgirls and underground stag reals.

Sex in the Syllabus
by Lisa Takeuchi Cullen
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1176976,00.html

Females Don't Always Go for Hottest Mate

"Instead of choosing mates who will increase the genetic quality of their offspring, females make choices that will increase their number of offspring...mating with 'sexy' males isn't necessarily the way to a plethora of descendants."

Darwin Revisited: Females Don't Always Go for Hottest mate
by Sharon Begley
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB114678722314044356.html?mod=mostpop

Festival of the Week: Condom-Blowing Contest

A contest to herald the Qixi Festival in Chongqing Municipality, China...

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/photo/2006-05/29/content_603247.htm

Mile High Club Business - Flamingo Air

Also, New York Aviation apparently offers three packages: the Quickie, the Young Lovers, and Romeo & Juliet for $600 to $1,000...

http://www.flamingoair.net/flight_of_fancy.html

The Neuroscience of Political Thinking

"Using M.R.I. scanners, neuroscientists have now tracked what happens in the politically partisan brain when it tries to digest damning facts about favored candidates or criticisms of them. The process is almost entirely emotional and unconscious."

A Shocker: Partisan Thought Is Unconscious
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/24/science/24find.html

Not So Pleased To Meet You

"It still happens against better judgement, but it's a prickly proposition to make new friends at a certain point in life...Hendry Adams had it right: One friend in a lifetime is much, two are many, three are hardly possible...Maybe that's because, unlike family, whose needs are nonnegotiable, and unlike a spouse, whom many single people will seek to find by any means, friends seem expendable in the hierarchy of social needs. They also take work. Friendship is a pretty full-time occupation."

Not So Pleased To Meet You
by Bob Morris
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9805E0DD143BF933A05752C0A9639C8B63

"The answer is of course subjective, varying by region and by individual defintions. To get into most private banks and wealth-management firms today, you need investible assets of at least $2 million - and most often, $10 million. In private-banking lingo, having $1 million counts as 'high net worth,' while it takes $25 million to $20 million to be 'ultra-high net worth.'"

The Rich-O-Meter
by Robert Frank
http://blogs.wsj.com/wealth/2007/02/01/the-rich-o-meter/

Also check out the Global Rich List, as mentioned in the article:
http://www.globalrichlist.com/

Hand Sanitizers, Good or Bad?

"There is a 60 percent minimum alcohol concentration that health officials deem necessary to kill most harmful bacteria and viruses...make sure that whichever of those alcohols is listed, its concentration is between 60 and 95 percent. Less than that isn't enough."

Hand Sanitizers, Good or Bad? Good, if the Alcohol Content Is Strong Enough
by Deborah Franklin
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/21/health/21cons.html

All in Your Head?

"Psychological stress has long been known to make asthma worse...When volunteers who inhaled an asthma trigger, such as cat dander, looked at asthma-related words such as 'wheeze,' their symptoms worsened - and their brain seemd to show why. Activity rose in the insula and the anterior cingulate cortex, regiosn that connect to areas that process emotions. That increased activity worsened inflammation and obstruction of the airways...These changes in brain activity might be part of a pathway by which emotions affect asthma symptoms."

All in Your Head? Yes, and Scientists Are Figuring Out Why
by Sharon Begley
http://psyphz.psych.wisc.edu/web/News/All_in_Your_Head.html

Follow Your Gut, Study Advises

"Researchers found that people who face a decision with many considerations, such as what house to buy, often do not choose wisely if they spend a lot of time consciously weighing the pros and cons. Instead, the best strategy is to gather all of the relevant information and then put the decision out of mind for a while. Then, when the time comes to decide, go with what feels right."

Thought for Thinkers
by Gareth Cook
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2006/02/17/thought_for_thinkers/

Too Complex to Exist

"It may be time for a new approach: preventing the system from becoming overly complex in the first place...once everything is connected, problems can spread as easily as solutions, sometimes more so...Taking free-market principles seriously, therefore, requires us to acknowledge that firms that are 'too big to fail' are really too big to be permitted to exist."

Too Complex to Exist
by Duncan Watts
http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/ideas/articles/2009/06/14/too_complex_to_exist/

Measuring Quality of Life

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

Ten Laws of the Modern World

Includes such laws as:

*Moore's Law
*Metcalfe's Law
*Gilder's Law
*Ricardo's Law
*Wriston's Law
*The Laffer Curve
*Drucker's Law
*Ogilvy's Law

http://www.forbes.com/2005/04/19/cz_rk_0419karlgaard.html

Game Show Economists

"Thierry Post is part of a small, intense cadre of economists who study game shows in a variation on 'game theory,' seeking to explain the situational choices contestants make, and the clues those choices may hold for economic behavior in everyday life...In a 2002 paper notable in game-show delving, two economists calculated the 'unique subgame-perfect Nash equilibrium' -- roughly, the best way to play -- in a segment of 'The Price Is Right.' They found that contestants frequently deviated from it, acting too conservatively when worried about being eliminated."

Why Game Shows Have Economists Glued to Their TVs
by Charles Forelle
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06012/636981.stm

Professional Event Smoochers

"Since they met in 1981, Keren Coxe and Alex Belinfante have dined almost exclusively at gallery openings and other cultural events...You can't ingest that much raw celery and dip without getting a name for yourself, and the Chevy Chase couple have several: "the Eaters," "the Munchers," "the Moochers," "the Art Bums," "the Cheese Critics." Whatever they're called, their voracity is legendary."

The Hunger Artists
by John Metcalfe
http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/articles/29307/the-hunger-artists

Origami As The Shape of Things to Come

"Dr. Erik Demaine, an assistant professor of computer science at MIT, is the leading theoretician in the emerging field of origami mathematics, the formal study of what can be done with a folded sheet of paper."

Origami As The Shape of Things to Come
by Margaret Wertheim
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/15/science/15origami.html

You Are What You Speak

"New research in the January 2000 issue of the journal Nature Neuroscience, found that the primary language a person is raised with affects the way he or she thinks and processes information. The researchers studied Italian and British college students found that the Italians read and process information faster, even when reading words from other languages."

http://italian.about.com/library/weekly/aa010500a.htm

Also check out:

Does Your Language Shape How You Think?
by Guy Deutscher
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/29/magazine/29language-t.html

Economy of Desire

"Setting the value of an American life at $2 million, Francis calculated that in terms of AIDS-related mortality, it cost $1,923.75 in 1992 (the peak of the AIDS crisis) for a man to have unprotected sex once with a random gay American versus less than $1 with a random woman...In a study of Mexican prostitution, when a client requested sex without a condom, a prostitute was typically paid a 24 percent premium over her standard fee...in the draft paper titled the Economics of Sexaulity, not a single man in the survey who had a relative with AIDS said he had had sex with a man in the previous five yers; not a single man in that group declared himself to be attracted to men or to consider himself homosexual. Women in that group also shunned sex with men."

The Economy of Desire
by Stephen Dubner and Steven Levitt
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/11/magazine/11wwln_freak.html

Diplomats & Parking Tickets

"Researchers who examined tens of thousands of parking tickets issued to United Nations diplomatc found those least likely to pay up were from countries where people hold a drim view of the US...diplomats were more likely to run up unpaid parking fines if they hailed from countries with a history of unchecked corruption, such as Nigeria. But a second factor - poor US image - emerged when the researchers matched the list of offenders against a 2002 world public opinion survey perfromed by the Pew Research Center."

http://www.alldeaf.com/current-events/30811-study-shows-why-diplomats-wont-pay-up.html

10 Most Wanted Government Documents

http://www.openthegovernment.org/otg/TopTenReport.pdf

Vampires a Mathematical Impossibility

"A researcher has come up with some simple math that sucks the life out of the vampire myth, proving that these highly popular creatures can't exist...On January 1, 1600, the human population was 536,870,911. If the first vampire came into existence that day and bit one person a month, there would have been two vampires by February 1, 1600. A month later there would have been four, and so on. In just two-and-a-half years the origninal human population would all have become vampires with nobody left to feed on."

http://www.livescience.com/strangenews/061025_vampire_debunk.html

Science of Attraction

"Scientists now believe that people of mixed race, particularly Eurasians, possess certain genetic advantages that lead to gerater health, and, as a result, attractiveness. In the first study of its kind, Caucasians and Japanese people rated Eurasian faces as more attractive than faces of either race."

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/the-face-of-the-future-why-eurasians-are-changing-the-rules-of-attraction-523076.html

Question of the Day: Being Better

Q: Why do some people think they're better than others?

A: I believe some people are better than other people, so, in those cases, they're right. But the rest of the time, it's just plain wishful thinking.

-Ask Marilyn

"Morning People" and Survival

"Just as there are morning people, scientists have found morning flies and morning mice. Variations in sleep patterns among the population may have benefited the species. The whole tribe is better off if someone is up all the night, listening for a lion walking through the grass."

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/27/health/27SLEEP.html?pagewanted=2&_r=1

Pet Peeves in Customer Service

"Why are items in hotel minibars so expensive? Hotels price minibar goodies competitively with other items within the hotel, not with a convenience store down the road. So if a Coke is $8 at the hotel lounge, it will be close to that price in the minibar. Moreover, the traditional minibar carries high overhead. An employee must check what has been removed every day and refill accordingly. And many people take items and then try to avoid paying - whcih boosts the cost for everyone else."

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB116171022993502237.html?mod=hpp_us_at_glance_sr

Travel Abroad Statistics

In 2005, Europeans took 1 trip per person per year; Americans and Japanese took 1 trip per eight people per year.

http://www.ppionline.org/ppi_ci.cfm?knlgAreaID=108&subsecID=900003&contentID=253904

Which Country Works the Hardest?

I like the chart going back to the 13th century showing the male peasant (UK) working 1620 hours per year. In 2004, the average American worked 1,824 hours.

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

Wikipedia Article of the Day: RPI

"RPI, the Ratings Percentage Index, is a quantity used to rank sports teams based upon a team's wins and losses and its strength of schedule."

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

Hot Leftovers Should Cool at Room Temperature?

"According to the FDA, leftover food should be refrigerated immediately after serving, and certainly within two hours of cooking. Food bacteria can double every 30 or 40 minutes, and several outbreaks of food poisoning have been linked to meat cooked and left to cool at room temperature for too long."

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/09/health/09real.html

Some Types of Alcohol Make a Hangover Worse?

"Experts say that the type of alcohol you drink does make a difference. Among the most important is the amount of congeners - complex organic molecules, like methanol - in a particular drink. Impurities in poorly refined spirits like cheap vodka can also play a role, but congeners, which are common in darker liquors, seems to have the greatest effect...the drink that produced the most hangover symptoms was brandy, followed by red wine, rum, whiskey, white wine, gin and vodka."

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/07/health/07real.html

Which Countries Think Americans Are Rude?

http://pewglobal.org/files/pdf/247.pdf

Poll of the Week: Love at First Site

"Nearly half of all Americans say they believe in love at first site - and more than a quarter say it's happened to them."

-Washington Post national telephone survey of 1,006 adults.

Can an A-Bomb Stop a Hurricane?

"For it to actually stop a storm it would have to raise barometric pressure (the weight of the air above the ground) considerably. In fact, a nuclear blast wouldn't even cause a hiccup. To change a devastating Category 5' cane into a merely pesky Category 2, at least a half-ton of air would have to be added to every square meter of space within the hurricane's eye."

Maxim, February 2006

More Than 2.4 Million Hold Security Clearances

http://www.fas.org/blog/secrecy/2009/07/security_clearances.html

Gas & Weight Correlation

"Americans are spending more money on fuel these days in part because adult men and women on average are at least 24 pounds heavier than their counterparts were in 1960...collectively, today's automobiles are burning more gasoline to haul all that extra weight around - about 1 billion gallons more annually...at recent gas prices of $2.20 a gallon, that adds up to $2.2 billion more spent at the pump each year because of America's weight problem."

To Spend Less on Gas, Lose the Spare Tire
by Christopher Lee
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/25/AR2006102501776.html

Facts on Multinational Companies

*29 of the world's top 100 economies were multinational businesses rather than countries.
*There were more than 63,000 multinationals in 2000.

http://www.ppionline.org/ppi_ci.cfm?knlgAreaID=108&subsecID=900003&contentID=253303

Cool Facts of the Week: Cocoa

*70% of the world's cocoa comes from West Africa.
*America's top suppliers of finished chocolates are Canada and Mexico, and Europe accounts for almost all the rest.
*About 50,000 Americans work as chocolatiers.

http://www.ppionline.org/ppi_ci.cfm?contentID=253716&knlgAreaID=108&subsecID=127&FREM=Y&sid=21573&mid=16821

Sovereign Wealth Fund Rankings

http://www.swfinstitute.org/fund-rankings/

Drivers Give Helmeted Cyclists Less Room

"This may be because drivers believe cyclists with helmets are more serious, experienced, and predictable than those without....It was found that drivers passed an average of 3.3 inches closer to cyclists with a helmet than without."

http://www.wmrc.org/node/25

Test: Human Limits

Adults can take 10 minutes at 300F...when core body temperature hits 107.6, heatstroke can't be reversed and will prove fatal...at 40% of blood loss, you'd need an immediate transfusion...

http://blogs.ngm.com/blog_central/2009/09/human-limits.html

How to Survive the Worst

I like #3 (Leave the hospital alive):

"If you need to go to the hospital, weekdays are much safer than weekends. Possible explanations are lower staffing levels and the presence of workers who are less experienced and less familiar with procedures and patients."

and #4 (...And don't go back):

"Beware of checking out of the hospital on Friday. Friday is the most common hospital discharege day, because doctors try to send patients home for the weekend. But Canadian researchers have found that indivudals released on that day show an increased independent risk of death."

Other interesting points:

*The safest seats on a plane are within five rows of any exit.
*Most fire departments use leadders that, at their maximum can extend around 80 feet into the air. Thus, you should be on or below the 7th floor to escape a fire in a building/hotel.
*The best place to have a heart attack is in a casino in Las Vegas (b/c there are so many security cameras and security personnel know CPR, etc...)
*The rear middle seat is 16% safer than any other place in a vehicle.

http://www.parade.com/news/2009/01/how-to-survive-the-worst.html

Japan's Phillips Curve Looks Like Japan

http://www.econ.queensu.ca/working_papers/papers/qed_wp_1083.pdf

Graphi: Strife & Power in the New Middle East

http://www.nytimes.com/imagepages/2006/07/23/weekinreview/20060723_MIDEAST_GRAPHIC.html

Which DC Office Buildings Have the Best View?

http://www.bizjournals.com/washington/blog/2010/12/high-end-view-space-rare-pricey-in.html?ed=2010-12-17&s=article_du&ana=e_du_pap

High-Dollar Art & High-Stakes Shipping/Handling

Once you buy an object worth a fortune, how do you haul it home? Read the article to find out...

Want That to Gogh?
by David Segal
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/19/AR2006051901983.html

Painkiller Index

"Certain sectors of the economy appear to be recovering, based upon observations at the autumn US Sailboat Show. Better attendance, more signed sales contracts, and the all-important Painkiller Index, which stochastically tracks the annual moving average number of Pussers Rum-based magic elixirs sold locally."

Chesapeake Rambler
by Fred Miller
November 2010; SpinSheet


Here is the recipe for a Pussers Rum Painkiller:
*Four parts pineapple juice
*One part cream of coconut
*One part orange juice
*Anywhere from two to four parts rum, depending on how strong you like it
*Serve over the rocks and top with freshly grated nutmeg

Wikipedia Article of the Day: Journalism Sourcing

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

Wikipedia Article of the Day: Economic Espionage Act of 1996

On collecting business intelligence...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economic_Espionage_Act_of_1996

Red = Color of Attraction

Women thought red signified men with higher status, but it did not make the males seem more likable, kind, or sociable.

"A multicultural study published in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: General concluded that women were more attracted to photographs of men who wore the color red or whose photographs were bordered with the color red...and, apparently, red works in women's favor as well. In a 2008 University of Rochester study, a similar finding was published saying that men are more turned on by a lady in red."

WhatsUpMag.com; November 2010

Where Does a $250,000/Year Salary Go?

This article has a nice chart of where people's salaries go...

Where Does $250,000 a Year Go?
by Karen Hube
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/12/11/AR2010121100136.html

Too Many Laws

"Once a law is in place in the US, it's almost impossible to dislodge. Once enacted, most laws are ignored for generations, allowed to take on a life of their own without meaningful review. Decade after decade, they pile up like sediment in a harbor, bogging the country down - in dense regulation, unaffordable health care, and higher taxes and public debt. Congress could follow a simple proposal: Every law should automatically expire after 10 or 15 years. Such a universal sunset provision would force Congress and the president to justify the status quo and give political reformers an opening to reexamine trade-offs and public priorities....Accumulated law has become a defining problem of modern democracy. To an amazing degree, our government's choices are dictated by political leaders who are long dead."

One Nation, Under Too Many Laws
by Philip Howard
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/12/10/AR2010121007132.html

List of the Day: States With Limited Recognition

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

Weird Word of the Day: Koonago

http://wapedia.mobi/en/Koonago

Also, the Straight Dope's analysis of "tentacle porn" --

"What turned tentacle porn into a genre of its own was the manga series Urotsukidoji, begun in 1986 by cartoonist Toshido Maeda, and its subsequent anime adaptations. The reason for the reliance on tentacles was simple. Till 1993 Japanese law prohibited straightforward depictions of penises and intercourse. So Maeda was obliged to come up with a substitute: tentacles."

http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2968/whats-the-deal-with-japanese-tentacle-porn

2010's Best Cookbooks

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/08/dining/08books.html?_r=1&nl=todaysheadlines&emc=a210

The Big Bang Theory of Art

"A new study, published this week in Proceedings of the Royal Society, suggests that artists, from poets to painters to puppeteers, have, on average, twice as many sexual partners as non-artists...the greater the artisitc endevour, the larger the sexual appetites. The study also suggests a link between artistic sexuality and schizophrenia...Artisitic ability may have evolved as a form of mating display, a courtship technique to attract partners...Artists may not actually have wilder sex lives than mere mortals; they may simply be better at misrepresenting what they do in bed."

The Big Bang Theory of Art
by Ben Macintyre
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/ben_macintyre/article744712.ece

On South Korea's "Sea Women"

"The sea women on Cheju Island are among the most skillful and toughest natural divers...but the 1,700-year history of Cheju's sea women will probably end. In 2003, 5,650 sea women were registered in Cheju, of whome 85 percent were over 50 years old. Only two were under 30."

South Korea's "Sea Women" Trap Prey and Turn Tables
by Norimitsu Onishi
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/15/international/asia/15udo.html

Realtor vs. Real Estate Agent vs. Broker

Realtors, Real Estate Agents, and Brokers: What's the Difference?
by Ellen Beck
http://washingtonexaminer.com/business/2009/06/realtors-real-estate-agents-and-brokers-what-s-difference

Also:
Whom Can You Trust When You Sell or Buy
by Harvey Jacobs
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/01/07/AR2011010700033.html

On "Phantom Interest" or "Imputed Interest"

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/10/23/AR2009102300026.html

Five Marks of a Great Leader

1. Moral courage
2. Judgement
3. A sense of priority
4. The disposal and concentration of effort
5. Humor

http://www.forbes.com/global/2005/0509/014.html

How to Choose a Bulb

Get help in choosing a lightbulb...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/artsandliving/homeandgarden/features/2007/bulb-040507/bulb.html

Chart: How Cargo Travels Through the Shipping System

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/graphic/2006/02/26/GR2006022600087.html

Beware Your Trail of Digital Fingerprints

Watch out for the metadata...

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/07/business/07link.html

Fact of the Week: "Green" Products

More than 95% of consumer products claiming to be green are committing at least one of the “sins” of greenwashing, according to a new study released today by environmental marketingcompany TerraChoice. Greenwashing is defined as the act of misleading consumers about the environmental practices of a company or the environmental benefits of a product or service.

http://www.sustainablebusiness.com/index.cfm/go/news.display/id/21313

Museum of the Week: Octopus Ball Museum

"Toshio Yamaoka, president of Yamaoka Kinzoku Kogyo, makers of the finest takoyaki frying plates in Japan, is dedicating the twilight years of his life to promoting the pleasures of eating octous balls to the rest of the world. He set up his takoyaki museum in a corner on the second floor of his company's three-story factory in Moriguchi, Osaka Prefecture."

-Mainichi Daily, 9/22/06

What's The Real Federal Deficit?

A good discussion on cash vs. accrual accounting and the tricks that are played...

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2006-08-02-deficit-usat_x.htm

Role of Diplomats in Spying

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/29/world/29spy.html?_r=1&nl=todaysheadlines&emc=a2

Eating Too Much = Heart Attack?

"A study of 1,986 heart attack patients presented at a meeting of the American Heart Association in 2000 suggested that an unusually large meal quadrupled the chance of having a heart attack within the next two hours."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/11/19/AR2010111906281.html

Can Cell Phones Cause Allergies?

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/23/health/23really.html

Sushi Shokutsu

"A lot of shokutsu (gourmands) will say that sushi is meaningless without the stress of engaging in sushi warfare...fine sushi involves the wordless kakehiki (wheeling and dealing) between the chef and customer - and the unwritten agreement is that if the chef deems you worthy, he will serve the best fish available, at a reasonable price."

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/ek20040624ks.html

Comfort Food & Sex

http://www.wtop.com/?nid=25&sid=2114510

Finns Are The World's Biggest Coffee Drinkers

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

WD-40 CEO Interview

An interesting WSJ interview from 2006...

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06143/692447-28.stm

Quote of the Day: Duct Tape and WD-40

"Two rules get you through life: If it's stuck and it's not supposed to be, WD-40 it. If it's not stuck and it's supposed to be, duct tape it."

-From The Duct Tape Guys' book

Lawyer Glut

A Case of Supply v. Demand
by Annie Lowrey
http://www.slate.com/id/2272621/

True Cost of Smoking: $150/Pack

http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/20101028/sc_livescience/truecostofsmokingupto150apack

Vid: How to Buy Happiness

My question would be this: How long does the happiness from material purchase (e.g., clothes, car, painting, etc...) last? Does it last longer for some items? Does price matter?

http://financiallyfit.yahoo.com/finance/video-top-5-ways-money-can-buy-happiness-22630342

Do October Suprises Matter?

http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_newsroom/20101027/el_yblog_newsroom/the-fast-fix-do-october-surprises-matter

Green Whitewashing

http://www.wtop.com/?nid=106&sid=2093519

Another Michelin Controversy

Michelin Stars Draw Shots
by Mariko Sanchanta, Katy McLaughlin, and Max Colchester
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303738504575568442015009552.html?mod=ITP_pageone_3

Does Every Murder in the US Really Cost $17 Million?

http://www.slate.com/id/2271951/

Insider Trading Legal for Congressional Insiders

http://www.marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2010/10/insider-trading-is-legal-for-congressional-insiders.html

Shipping Container Facts

"A 40′ container filled with household goods, shipped from Shanghai to Houston, TX costs $6169.93. Reverse the trip and ship the same container from Houston to Shanghai and the cost is $3631.07. That’s because 60% of containers on ships coming from the US to China are empty, which means Maersk and other shippers are desperate to sell container space."

http://www.marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2010/10/-leaving-las-vegas-continued.html

How to Negotiate a Higher Salary

http://www.wtop.com/?nid=25&sid=2087838

Which Ingredients Most Signal a Quality Dish?

http://www.marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2010/10/which-ingredient-most-signals-a-quality-dish.html

Kimchee Crisis

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/15/world/asia/15kimchi.html?hp

Why Japanese Loe Robots More Than Americans

http://www.technologyreview.com/blog/mimssbits/25881/

On Selling Islands

Islands Are a Tough Sell in Current Market
by Blythe Lawrence
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/realestate/2013164911_realisland17.html

Why Isn't Mexico Rich?

http://www.nber.org/papers/w16470.pdf

Economic Espionage

New Spy Game: Firms' Secrets Sold Overseas
by Christopher Drew

"Rather than relying on dead drops and secret directions from government handlers, the new trade in business secrets seems much more opportunistic, federal prosecutors say, and occurs in loose, underground markets throughout the world."

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/18/business/global/18espionage.html?_r=1&th&emc=th

Chart: The New Auto Industry

http://jalopnik.com/5354899/breaking-down-the-us-auto-industry-flow+chart-style

Seven-and-Seven Rule

"John Burns of John Burns Real Estate Consulting says in previous local-market bubbles, the rule of thumb is seven years down and seven years up after the bubble pops. Apply that tule to the national market, where the bubble popped in 2006, and we're talking about a sustained recovery starting in 2013, and taking unitl 2020."

http://economiccrisis.us/2010/10/magically-fix-economy/

Vid: Colonization of the American Map

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f1Im20BAtaQ

Calling Someone "Doctor" vs. "Professor"

http://www.rubabataineh.com/prof-dr/when-do-you-call-a-professor-prof-or-dr

"I am a Chinese" vs. "I am Chinese"

http://forum.wordreference.com/showthread.php?t=1712120

Pusser's "Painkiller" Recipe

http://www.examiner.com/rum-in-national/the-legendary-pusser-s-painkiller-rum-cocktail

Humans Are Evolving Faster and Faster

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=culture-speeds-up-human-evolution

Eating Etiquette

I know it is proper "etiquette" to do so by some, but I somewhat disagree. For instance, one must be fairly agile at using a fork to take food out of ones mouth gracefully. If one knows that whatever is coming out of the mouth will fall down and create a scene, I think the napking option is better. In my view, it all depends of how good you are...

Q: What do you do when you take a bit of something, say meat, and it's all bones or fat and you need to get it out of your mouth? Discreetly put your napkin to your mouth and hide it in there?

A: In addition to being ineffective, the napkin disguise is condemned by etiquette as a "genteelism" - a ploy that draws unwarranted attention to its own fastidiousness. The simple rule is that inedible food comes out the way it went in. Meat would have arrived by fork, and therefore it is deposited back on teh fork for the return trip. But if you are eating something by hand, for example a grape that turns out to have seed, you deposit the seed back into your cupped hand. Noiselessly. Etiquette is legitimately fastidious about that.

WPost, October 13, 2010

Does the Internet Make You Happier?

"A new British study released today found that access to the Internet and the web, and especially to social networks such as Facebook, can improve people’s levels of happiness. The study found that Internet access improves the overall well-being of lower-income users, those with less education and women — particularly those in developing countries — by giving them a sense of freedom and control over their lives."

Yes, It's True: The Internet Makes You Happier
by Matthew Ingram
http://www.nytimes.com/external/gigaom/2010/09/21/21gigaom-yes-its-true-the-internet-makes-you-happier-66233.html?ref=technology

How to Get Better Korean Food

http://jamesjchoi.blogspot.com/2010/09/hope-for-better-korean-food-in-us.html

How to Eat at an Indian Buffet

http://milkmiracle.net/2010/09/25/buffet/

No Religion; Know Religion

"From a recent Pew Survey on U.S. Religious Knowledge, atheists and agnostics know more about religion than most religionists. Atheists and agnostics score particularly well on knowing something about world religions but also do better than most on Christianity. The effect remains even after controlling for education."

http://www.marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2010/09/no-religion-know-religion.html

Map: Europe According to France

http://www.flickr.com/photos/alphadesigner/3936207864/sizes/o/

Pic: How Big is Africa

http://twitpic.com/2woim6/full

Gay Sex vs. Straight Sex

"Another common myth about gay people is that they sleep around, but the statistical reality is that gay people as a group aren't any more slutty than straights."

http://www.marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2010/10/gay-sex-statistics.html

The Demise of Soft Shell Clams?

http://www.bayjournal.com/article.cfm?article=3905

The Science of "Brain Freezes"

The Claim: "Brain Freeze" Occurs Only On Warm Days
by Anahad O'Connor
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/12/health/12really.html?nl=health&emc=healthupdateemb5

Air Sex World Championships

http://laughingsquid.com/the-world-air-sex-championships-2009-tour/

Kliman on Visiting a Restaurant When Slammed

Todd Kliman: Going at an off-time is, generally, a good piece of advice for all restaurant-going.There are exceptions: I know of a couple of restaurants that tend to slack when it's not slammed, and things suffer. These are places that hum along when it's crazy-busy and everything tends to fall into place; it's as though they need the frenetic pace to function the way they should.Most places, however— and the vast majority of the nicer restaurants in this or any city, I should point out— are better when they're not as busy. If you hit a well-regarded place at the start of service on a Monday or Tuesday night, you are sometimes the only couple in the dining room— or one of only a few for the first hour of service. It's a little like having a personal chef— a personal chef, who also comes with a personal staff. A total focus on you and your dinner.Great cooking is about precision, and it's a lot easier for the cooks to zone in on your dishes and get all the details right when they're not slammed with other orders.And great service is about devotion and pampering. Again, a lot easier to deliver when there are fewer tables to keep watch over.

http://www.washingtonian.com/chats/restaurants/16873.html

Cleanliness & Politics

"Wray also cites intriguing research that shows how our deepest psychological needs may play a big part in determining where we fall on the political spectrum. In one study, psychologiests found that conservatives have little tolerance for any messiness, whereas liberals are more likely to live amid clutter."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/10/01/AR2010100103306.html

20 Mind-Numbing Optimal Allusions

http://videogames.yahoo.com/events/brain-teasers/brain-teasers-and-optical-illusions/1400154

High Altitudes Increase Suicide Risk?

For years, researchers have observed that U.S. suicide rates appear to be highest among residents of the so-called "Intermountain West" region of the country. Now, fresh research points to a possible explanation: high altitudes. Other well-observed regional factors, including low population density and the high prevalence of gun ownership, may contribute to the noticeably elevated risk, the study team acknowledged.

Could Living at High Altitude Raise Sucide Risk?
by Alan Mozes
http://www.usatoday.com/yourlife/health/medical/mentalhealth/2010-09-24-altitude-suicide_N.htm

Edible Dirt

"Edible dirt - perhaps one of the stangest fads to hit haute cuisine since sous vide - is not actual dirt but rather dried or charred ingredients used to give menu items an extra-earthy kick...It was foams, gels and liquids that defined the last crop of superchefs, molecular gastronomists like Ferran Adria...Chef Rene Redzepi (on Copenhagen's Noma) and company are trading in those elements for a moe grounded geogastronomy - celebrating the land directly on the plate."

Ground Control
by David Kaufman
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2019612,00.html

30 Ways the World Could End

Which one is most likely?

http://discovermagazine.com/2010/oct/30-ways-the-world-could-end

Smoking = For Poor & Uneducated?

"Smoking rates by state vary widely, with smoking twice as prevalent in some states as in others. States with the most highly educated residents tend to have the lowest smoking rates and vice versa. Smoking is also lower in states with higher cigarette taxes and broader smoking bans."

http://www.gallup.com/poll/142694/Adult-Smoking-Ranges-Across-States.aspx?utm_source=alert&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=syndication&utm_content=morelink&utm_term=USA%20-%20Wellbeing

Paper Towels Better Than Hand-Drying?

"The best available evidence suggests that as far as germs go, the method of drying is less important than the amount of time invested: the longer the better."

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/14/health/14real.html?_r=1&nl=health&emc=healthupdateemb3

"Skishing"

"Practitioners interviewed agree he coined the sport's name: 'skishing.' It's a mix of skiing and fishing. The idea is to hook a fish big enough to tow the angler through the water."

Swimming With The Fishes: Anglers Tangle Over 'Skishing'
by Christopher Rhoads
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703636404575353323048912844.html?mod=djemLifeStyle_h

Can Salt Water Ease Cold Symptoms?

"Gargling with a saline solution can ease symptoms of a cold. "

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/28/health/28real.html?_r=1&nl=health&emc=healthupdateemb4

It Pays to Know Lawyers

"According to a new survey from Robert Half Legal, lawyers estimate they gave away $5,000 worth of free legal advice to friends, family members and other well-meaning moochers in the last 12 months on average."

http://www.bizjournals.com/washington/blog/2010/09/it_pays_to_know_lawyers.html?ana=e_du_pap

Why America Is Addicted to Olive Garden

http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/137/why-america-is-addicted-to-olive-garden.html?page=0%2C0

The Highest Paid Athlete of All Time

http://www.laphamsquarterly.org/roundtable/roundtable/greatest-of-all-time.php

Food of the Week: Deep Fried Beer

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/localnews/stories/DN-friedfood_26met.ART.State.Edition2.357c6b1.html

PriceOfWeed.com

Crowdsource marijuana prices...

http://www.priceofweed.com/

The Evolution of Premium Pricing In Japan

http://neojaponisme.com/2010/09/17/the-premium-pricing-problem/

Lobbyists Don't Run DC

"The authors randomly chose 98 legislative fights and then sifted through more than 20,000 lobbying reports and 300 interviews with key players to come up with a suprising result: Usually, the lobbists lost. In fact, the best predictor of action wasn't the money spent or the lobbyists involved. It was the politicians. Action became more likely when major players decided they wanted to act or suddently were given the power to act...Members of Congress don't actaully listen to lobbyists unless they want to..."

Poli Sci 101: Presidential Speeches Don't Matter, and Lobbyists Don't Run DC
by Ezra Klein
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/10/AR2010091002671.html

Things Employers Aren't Allowed to Ask You

http://finance.yahoo.com/career-work/article/110601/8-things-employers-arent-allowed-to-ask-you

Is "Forest Bathing" Good for Your Health?

"According to studies, exposure to plants and trees seems to benefit health."

The Claim: Exposure to Plants and Parks Can Boost Immunity
by Anahad O'Connor
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/06/health/06real.html?_r=1&nl=health&emc=healthupdateemb3

Does Accident-Proneness Exist?

"A meta-analysis of the distribution of accidents in the general population showed that the observed number of individuals with repeated accidents was higher than the number expected by chance. In conclusion, accident proneness exists."

http://www.bakadesuyo.com/is-there-really-such-thing-as-being-accident

A Little-Known Wine Trail in Hungary

http://travel.nytimes.com/2010/07/25/travel/25Tokaj.html?ex=1295755200&en=fc244d6758327183&ei=5087&WT.mc_id=NYT-E-I-NYT-E-AT-0728-L20

The Day's Events Are Incorporated Into That Night's Dreams?

"The dream cycle can be much longer than a single night."

The Claim: The Day's Events are Incorporated Into That Night's Dreams
by Anahad O'connor
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/07/health/07really.html?_r=1&nl=health&emc=healthupdateemb3

The Perfect Salary for Happiness: $75,000?

The Perfect Salary for Happiness: $75,000 a Year
by Robert Frank

"The magic income: $75,000 a year. As people earn more money, their day-to-day happiness rises. Until you hit $75,000. After that, it is just more stuff, with no gain in happiness. That doesn’t mean wealthy and ultrawealthy are equally happy. More money does boost people’s life assessment, all the way up the income ladder. People who earned $160,000 a year, for instance, reported more overall satisfaction than people earning $120,000, and so on."

http://blogs.wsj.com/wealth/2010/09/07/the-perfect-salary-for-happiness-75000-a-year/

But not in Fairfax County...
http://www.wtop.com/?nid=25&sid=2075378

The Story Behind the "Stan" Countries

http://www.worldatlas.com/aatlas/infopage/stan.htm

Is "Chinese Restaurant Syndrome" Real?

http://open.salon.com/blog/emagill/2010/06/22/the_facts_behind_msg_plus_a_recipe_for_chicken_broccoli

Also see: Can Food Trigger Migraines?

http://consults.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/07/26/can-foods-trigger-migraines/?ex=1295755200&en=d0c1c5a01c082c9d&ei=5087&WT.mc_id=NYT-E-I-NYT-E-AT-0728-L18

Does Your Language Shape How You Think?

Does Your Language Shape How You Think?
by Guy Deutscher
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/29/magazine/29language-t.html?ex=1298952000&en=2c1293f8a00e0b14&ei=5087&WT.mc_id=NYT-E-I-NYT-E-AT-0901-L13

Too Much Sitting May Hasten Death

Too Much Sitting May Hasten Death
by Linda Searing
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/08/02/AR2010080203868.html

What Food Expiration Dates Really Mean

http://green.yahoo.com/blog/care2/54/food-expiration-dates-what-do-they-really-mean.html

Background on the Rulemaking Process

http://www.ombwatch.org/files/regs/rcenter/backgroundpdfs/I.-V..pdf

and

http://usgovinfo.about.com/od/uscongress/a/fedregulations.htm

How Much Money Does the Average Rapper Make?

"The average rap artist makes under a dollar for every album they sell."

http://musicouch.com/genres/hip-hop/how-much-money-do-rappers-really-earn/

The Decline of the P/E Ratio?

The P/E ration has never been a perfect statistic, but there really is no "perfect" statistic.

http://finance.yahoo.com/banking-budgeting/article/110510/the-decline-of-the-pe-ratio?mod=bb-budgeting&sec=topStories&pos=2&asset=&ccode=

Online Appraisals

A review of online appraisal sites...

Services Spot Hidden Gems Among the Junk
by Alina Dizik
http://topics.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703447004575450170902767324.html?mod=WSJ_article_related

Word of the Day: Sprezzatura

"Sprezzatura is an Italian word originating from Castiglione's The Book of the Courtier, where it is defined by the author as “a certain nonchalance, so as to conceal all art and make whatever one does or says appear to be without effort and almost without any thought about it."

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

Why Do the British Stink at Basketball?

"One of the obstacles to basketball's growth here may be the country's surplus of outdoor greenspace. Even in densely populated London there are enough open patches of ground to throw down a couple of sweatshirts as goalposts and get a soccer game going. The outdoor basketball courts that are common in American cityscapes and suburbs are, in this country, seen as an extravagance. When pickup games do happen here, they are populated with plenty of Lithuanisans, Balkans, Poles, Iberians and Americans, giving them the feel of a secret society."

Why Do The British Stink At Baskbetball?
by Dave Kansas
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704476104575439331669732548.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

What is a Security Clearance Worth?

"Employees with security clearances earn nearly 25% more than those with similar skills and no clearance, according to a survey by ClearanceJobs.com, an online staffing agency."

http://www.allbusiness.com/human-resources/compensation-salary/871059-1.html

Home Values & Crime/Murder

I also recently remember reading about the Wone murder case in DC and how one real estate agent was quoted as saying that a murder in a house decreases the value by something like 25%...

"A sex offender living nearby can make a home take longer to sell and lower its value, according to a study by three Longwood University professors. The presence of a nearby sex offender reduced a home’s value by about 9 percent, the study found. Such houses took up to 10 percent longer to sell."

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/local/blogs/capital-land/crime-sweep-home-edition-98750144.html

Hindenburg Omen

"The Omen has been behind every market crash since 1987, but significant stock-market declines have followed only 25% of the time. So there’s a high likelihood that the Omen could be nothing more than a false signal."

Yes Folks, Hindenburg Omen Tripped Again
by Steven Russolillo
http://blogs.wsj.com/marketbeat/2010/08/23/yes-folks-hindenburg-omen-tripped-again/

A Quarter of the World's People Speak English

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

Measuring True Wealth & Well-Being

http://www.beyond-gdp.eu/

Phone Tap

"Basically, this is like bugging your own phone, for your own (totally legitimate) purposes. So the next time that pesky Wall Street Journal reporter calls you, politely ask if you can call him right back. Make him wait a few minutes, just because you can. Then dial My Phone Tap, which will prompt you for the number you want to call. From there on out, it will record all of your potentially scandalous musings for a mere 15 cents per minute."

http://www.urbandaddy.com/dc/gear/11043/My_Phone_Tap_Never_Get_Misquoted_Again_DC_DC_Website

On Blogging

Perhaps I'm more into paleoblogging or slowblogging, in general...

"Most popular blogs, like most popular media, regardless of genre, spend 99.9% of their time reacting to and arguing about something that's just happened, or is about to (maybe) happen."

http://kottke.org/10/08/summer-reruns

Beloit College Mindset List

"Each August since 1998, Beloit College has released the Beloit College Mindset List. It provides a look at the cultural touchstones that shape the lives of students entering college this fall."

Check out the list for the class of 2014:
http://www.beloit.edu/mindset/

Does More Sugar Lead to More Cavities?

"Small amounts of sugar eaten frequently increase cavities more than large amounts eaten infrequently."

The Claim: More Sugar Leads to More Cavities
by Anahad O'Connor
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/17/health/17real.html?_r=1&nl=health&emc=healthupdateemb3

World Populations Maps by Longitude and Latitude

http://kottke.org/10/08/world-population-maps-by-latitude-and-longitude

What is a Year of Health Living Worth?

"The National Institute for Clinical Excellence uses a system called the Quality Adjusted Life Years measurement, which sets the value of a year of healthy living at between $31,000 and $47,000."

The $8,000 Pill
by Brian Palmer
http://www.slate.com/id/2264116/

Why Are Some Pharmaceuticals So Expensive?

"Because they fill an unmet need in the market. In the United States, the priciest medicines aren't necessarily the ones that cost the most to develop, nor those that save the most lives. The most expensive drugs are those that have no competitors. When a truly novel blockbuster drug hits the market, there is very little to guide manufacturers and insurers in their negotiations. The largest constraint is public perception. Insurers fear that, if they refuse to fork over the dough, their sick customers will be outraged. Manufacturers don't want the public or Congress to view them as price gougers. Negotiators eventually settle on a price between those two poles. Few drug makers are lucky enough to face this problem, though. Most debutant drugs find the market already crowded with similar products, and prices are set by the competition."

The $8,000 Pill
by Brian Palmer
http://www.slate.com/id/2264116/

Fact of the Week: Japan

"The average Japanese is now poorer than the average citizen of Mississippi."

Japan as Number Three, WSJ Opinion Peice

Lobster Shack Chaos

"Traffic near a seafood shack is so infamous, officials approved $100 million to build a bypass around the town."

In Maine Village, Lobster Goes Quickly, Traffic, No
by Abby Goodnough
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/31/us/31lobster.html?th&emc=th

Competition for Mates Shortens Mens Lives

"New research shows that gender imbalance, when men outnumber women, affects male longevity by an average of about three months."

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,598963,00.html

The Case Against Long Commutes

http://www.gallup.com/poll/142142/Wellbeing-Lower-Among-Workers-Long-Commutes.aspx?utm_source=alert&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=syndication&utm_content=morelink&utm_term=USA%20-%20Wellbeing

How Economists Advise the President

http://keithhennessey.com/2010/08/08/economic-roles/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+KeithHennessey+%28Keith+Hennessey%3A+Your+guide+to+American+economic+policy%29&utm_content=Google+Reader

Prediction Tools

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

How to Pour Champagne

The scientists at the University of Reims say pouring bubbly at a slant, as you would a beer, preserves more of the tiny gas bubbles that improve the drink's flavor and aromas. The study — "On the Losses of Dissolved CO2 During Champagne Serving" — appears this week in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, a U.S. publication.

Champagne Fizzincs: Science Backs Pouring Sideways
by Greg Keller
http://www.timesunion.com/news/article/Champagne-fizzics-Science-backs-pouring-sideways-613414.php

How You Spend Impacts Happiness

"One major finding is that spending money for an experience — concert tickets, French lessons, sushi-rolling classes, a hotel room in Monaco — produces longer-lasting satisfaction than spending money on plain old stuff."

But Will It Make You Happy?
by Stephanie Rosenbloom
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/08/business/08consume.html?_r=1&th&emc=th

Video: Wild Moth Sailing

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NCY1EAp9FfY

Can Foods Trigger Migraines?

http://consults.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/07/26/can-foods-trigger-migraines/?ref=health&nl=health&emc=healthupdateemb3

Do Noises Wake You Up at Night?

The researchers discovered that the difference in a sleeper’s reaction to noise could be predicted by the level of brain activity called “sleep spindles.’’

Do Noises Wake You Up at Night?
by Tara Parker-Pope
http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/08/09/do-noises-wake-you-up-at-night/?nl=health&emc=healthupdateemb1

Do Salespeople Make Too Much Money?

"Be happy when your salespeople make money; it means you are making money."

http://boss.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/08/10/do-salespeople-make-too-much-money/?ex=1297051200&en=17d58fcff2de76c4&ei=5087&WT.mc_id=NYT-E-I-NYT-E-AT-0811-L10

How Much Money Do You Need to Feel "Rich"

http://finance.yahoo.com/focus-retirement/article/110295/how-rich-is-rich?mod=fidelity-buildingwealth&cat=fidelity_2010_building_wealth

Is Reiki Quackery?

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/228486/reiki_is_it_spiritual_healing_or_fraud.html

On CIA Lobbying

http://www.fas.org/blog/secrecy/2010/08/oge_cia.html

Are Federal Workers Overpaid?

http://www.wtop.com/?nid=25&sid=2023582

Famous People and the Diseases They Were Afflicted With

Infectious Diseases:
http://www.examiner.com/x-7707-Infectious-Disease-Examiner~y2010m3d4-Famous-people-and-the-infectious-diseases-they-were-afflicted-with

Mental Illnesses:
http://www.mentalhealthministries.net/links_resources/other_resources/famouspeople.pdf

Celebrity Disease Blog:
http://celebritydisease.blogspot.com/

Question of the Day: How Many Days Does It Take to Relax?

I remember hearing something like three to five full days...but I must get a more accurate answer...

Question of the Day: Most Neutral Country

What is the most neutral country in the world?

My initial guesses: Switzerland, Sweden, Monaco, Greenland, Iceland. Any ideas?

Breathing in Humid Weather

http://www.ehow.com/about_6658936_breathing-humid-weather.html

S Corp. vs. C Corp. vs. LLC

Q: Would you be so kind as to compare a limited-liability company to an S corporation, especially in regard to FICA or payroll taxes?

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704717004575268763773483060.html?KEYWORDS=s+corporation+payroll+taxes

and a chart of the differences
http://www.themoneyalert.com/Corp-Entity-Table.html

and another nice article
http://www.obliviousinvestor.com/llc-vs-s-corp-vs-c-corp/

The "Daschle Exemption"

"Tom Daschle, a senior policy adviser at DLA Piper, is part of a new and seemingly growing class of individuals who take an active role in Washington's advocacy trade - but don't register as lobbyists. Currently, the law requires people to register as lobbyists if they make more than one contact, spend more than 20 percent of their time lobbying and have more than $11,500 in expenses or $3,000 in income from lobbying per quarter."

When a Lobbyist Isn't a Lobbyist
by Chris Frates
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0710/40207.html

Mathematics of Terror

"According to 'The Mathematics of Terror,' an article by Andrew Curry in the latest issue of Discover magazine, acts of terrorism aren't random at all - not mathematically speaking, anyway...Terrorist and guerrila killings follow an L-shaped power law curve. The smaller the event governed by the curve, the more likely it is to occur - and the larger it is, the less likely."

Terrorism's Power Curve
by Kate Julian
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/07/23/AR2010072302434.html

Cocktail of the Week: "Half-Smoke Bloody Mary"

"Sure, you can now get omelets, French toast and dim sum on Saturday afternoon at the Source. But the far, far more interesting news: they’re also whipping up three Bloody Marys, all dressed up with either Szechuan chili paste and a pickled chili, Old Bay seasoning and crab, or the coup de grâce, a miniature half-smoke. Because a whole half-smoke would be too much. "

41% Think Jesus Will Return to Earth

http://pewresearch.org/databank/dailynumber/?NumberID=1043

Video: 100 Greatest Movie Insults

http://kottke.org/10/07/100-greatest-movie-insults

Among Primates, Only Humans Masturbate

http://kottke.org/10/06/masturbation-a-singularly-human-pursuit

Thoughts of Infidelity Follow Mother's Day

http://kottke.org/10/07/thoughts-of-infidelity-follow-mothers-day

Why Intelligent People Fail

http://www.acceleratingfuture.com/michael/works/intelligentfailure.htm

Sitting is Bad for You

http://kottke.org/10/07/sitting-is-bad-for-you-even-with-exercise

Pic: Periodic Table of Swearing

http://shop.moderntoss.com/?q=periodic+table

On Picky Eaters

"Picky eaters tend to gravitate to certain foods, including blander products that are often white or pale colored, like plain pasta or cheese pizza. For reasons that aren't clear, almost all adult picky eaters like French fries and often chicken fingers, health experts say."

No Age Limit on Picky Eating
by Shirley Wang
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704699604575343130457388718.html

Top Secret America

"Some 1,271 government organizations and 1,931 private companies work on programs related to counterterrorism, homeland security and intelligence in about 10,000 locations across the United States. An estimated 854,000 people, nearly 1.5 times as many people as live in Washington, D.C., hold top-secret security clearances."

http://projects.washingtonpost.com/top-secret-america/articles/a-hidden-world-growing-beyond-control/

Small Business Deductions

http://www.bankrate.com/finance/money-guides/a-dozen-deductions-for-your-small-business-1.aspx

and

http://www.toolkit.com/small_business_guide/sbg.aspx?nid=P07_2500

Map of the World's Pipelines

http://www.theodora.com/pipelines/world_oil_gas_and_products_pipelines.html

and

http://www.petroleum-economist.com/default.asp?page=19&searchtype=17&productid=5692

and
http://www.businessinsider.com/the-15-oil-and-gas-pipelines-changing-the-worlds-strategic-map-2010-3

Recipe of the Day: Liquid Wasabi

From Sei (a restaurant):

*2 ounces Unfiltered sake
*1 ounces Cap Rock Organic Vodka
*1 ounces Ginger-habanero-infused simple syrup
*3/4 ounces Fresh-squeezed lime juice

What Is Vacation Good For?

"They found that in all three cases, the respondents were least happy about the vacation while they were taking it. Beforehand, they looked forward to it with eager anticipation, and within a few days of returning, they remembered it fondly. But while on it, they found themselves bogged down by the disappointments and logistical headaches of actually going somewhere and doing something, and the pressure they felt to be enjoying themselves. A recent Dutch study had a more striking finding. Looking not at vacation memories, but measuring general happiness level through a simple three-question questionnaire, the researchers found that going on vacation gave a notable boost to pre-vacation mood but had hardly any effect on post-vacation feelings. Anticipation, it seems, can be a more powerful force than memory."

http://www.marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2010/06/what-is-vacation-good-for.html

Do Children Make You Happier?

http://nymag.com/print/?/news/features/67024/

Sexy Food - Orgy

http://www.economist.com/blogs/johnson/2010/07/foreign_phrases

What Do Britain's "Happiest" Earn

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100709/lf_nm_life/us_britain_happiness

Question of the Week: Dining Review Shelf-Life

In the July 4, 2010 edition of the WPost Magazine, a writer asks the food critic what the shelf-life is of a restaurant review. The response: "Restaurants are like people: subject to change. The shelf life for must dining reviews is brief; as a rule of thumb, I'd be skeptical of anything more than a year old."

Recipe of the Day: Fried Coke With Rum Topping

http://www.saveur.com/article/Recipes/Fried-Coke-with-Rum-Topping?cmpid=enews070510

Discover the Meaning of Rap Lyrics

Great idea!

http://rapgenius.com/

Money Buy Happiness? It's a Down Payment

Essentially, money can buy one form of happiness...

"Pulling in the big bucks makes peopel more likely to say they are happy with their lives overall...but the survey also showed that a key element of what many people consider happiness - positive feelings - is much more strongly affected by factors other than cold, hard cash, such as feeling respected, being in control of your life, and having friends and family to rely on in a pinch."

Money Buy Happiness? It's a Down Payment
by Rob Stein
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/07/01/AR2010070100039.html

Death Elasticity

"Academic researchers have known for years that death rates are influenced by major changes in estate-tax law. A 2003 paper published in the prestigious Review of Economics and Statistics looked at 13 major estate-tax changes in teh US - following the creation of the tax in 1916 - and found they had a small but statistically significant effect on death rates. Among those wealthy enough to be affected by the changes, the chance of dying increased slightly in the two weeks before rates went up and decreased in the two weeks after an estate-tax cut, a phenomenon the authors have dubbed death elasticity."

Death or Taxes
by Adam Fisher
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1999426,00.html

Sentence of the Day: Queen of England

"The queen is freezing salaries for royal servants and aides earning more than $73,500 and reviewing all vacant slots with an eye to reducing her staff of 1,400 - which includes a royal piper who plays under her window in the mornings and an official counter of swans."

Still Lving Like a Queen, but Pinching Her Pennies
by Anthony Faiola
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/07/07/AR2010070702255.html

Cool Map: The US Grid

http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2010/07/power-grid/grid-interactive

There is also a cool map as part of that National Geographic article titled "The Grid Today."

Bernie Fowler's Sneaker Index

"Begun in 1988, the annual wade has attracted governors, congressmen, hundreds of people and at least one EPA administrator. The wade results in the 'sneaker index,' an annual measurement from Bernie’s old white high-tops to the high-water mark on his blue overalls. The index reached a shin-high low point in 1989 at eight inches and a waist-high peak in 1997, at forty-four and one-half inches. In 2002, forty-two and three-quarters inches of Bernie—and everyone else—got soaked. The goal is fifty-seven inches."

http://www.baygateways.net/sneakerindex.cfm

Prenup

http://finance.yahoo.com/focus-retirement/article/110002/i-love-you-youre-perfect-now-sign-here?mod=fidelity-managingwealth

Idea of the Week: Trash Smashing Compactors

http://www.wtop.com/?nid=726&sid=1994283

Why Americans Call it Soccer

http://g.sports.yahoo.com/soccer/world-cup/news/its-football-to-you-soccer-to-me--fbintl_ro-soccervsfootball070110.html

How to Hire an Attorney

http://www.expertlaw.com/library/consumer/howtohire.html

Smith Island Cake Among the Nation's Fattest Foods

http://www.wtop.com/?nid=598&sid=1992483

21 Things You Should Never Buy New

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/21-Things-You-Should-Never-usnews-2356162080.html?x=0

On Travel Insurance

http://travel.nytimes.com/2010/06/20/travel/20prac.html?nl=travel&emc=tda3

Does Trimmed Hair Somehow Know to Regrow to Maximum Length?

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/29/science/29qna.html?nl=health&emc=healthupdateemb2

Best Blogs of 2010 - Time Magazine List

http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1999770_1999761,00.html

What Makes a Country Miserable?

I also think that boring currency generally means that a country is more stable...

"Nations with fewer flag colors, infrequent constitutional changes, and small constitutions tend to have higher well-being than others."

http://www.bakadesuyo.com/you-know-why-that-countrys-citizens-are-miser

What Qualities Get Men and Women the Most Respones in Online Dating?

"The traits that appeared to influence the hit rate for advertisements placed by males were, in order of importance, education level, age, height, and resources offered, all of which were positively correlated with the hit rate. In contrast, certain traits advertised by females such as weight, height, education, and stated age were all negatively correlated with the hit rate. Resources offered by men had only a small positive effect and the advertising of general attractiveness by women had no effect at all on the hit rate, suggesting that respondents to personal advertisements rely much more on relatively objective traits, such as achieved education, male height, and female weight, than on those traits which are more open to subjective error or manipulation."

http://www.bakadesuyo.com/what-qualities-get-men-and-women-the-most-res

Is It Better to Give Employees Gifts or Cash?

http://www.bakadesuyo.com/is-it-better-to-give-employees-gifts-or-cash

How Accurate Are Lie Detectors?

http://www.bakadesuyo.com/how-accurate-are-lie-detectors

Are People Remembered By How They Lived Their Entire Lives?

http://www.bakadesuyo.com/are-people-remembered-by-how-they-lived-their

To Look Attractive, Should Guys Be Surrounded by Girls? Should Girls Be Surrounded By Guys?

http://www.bakadesuyo.com/to-look-attractive-should-guys-be-surrounded

What Makes US Happiest: Work, Love, or Leisure?

"Individuals with high levels of flow during leisure reported the highest levels of positive affect, whereas success in the field of work and intimate relationship added little. However, lowest levels of depressive symptoms were found in respondents who fulfilled at least two criteria of success."

http://www.bakadesuyo.com/what-makes-us-happiest-work-love-or-leisure

"How We're Doing" Index

http://www.brookings.edu/papers/2010/0523_recovery_renewal.aspx

Is Making Your Bed Unhealthy?

"Research suggests that while an unmade bed may look scruffy it is also unappealing to house dust mites thought to cause asthma and other allergies."

http://www.bakadesuyo.com/is-making-your-bed-unhealthy

Why Can't Politicians Give a Straight Answer?

"Our data show that, on average, ambiguity does not repel and may, in fact, attract voters."

http://www.bakadesuyo.com/why-cant-a-politician-give-a-straight-answer

Does Money Reduce Your Ability to Enjoy Life?

http://www.bakadesuyo.com/does-money-reduce-your-ability-to-enjoy-life

Does the Size of That Gucci Logo Tell You Something About the Wearer?

"Wealthy consumers low in need for status want to associate with their own kind and pay a premium for quiet goods only they can recognize. Wealthy consumers high in need for status use loud luxury goods to signal to the less affluent that they are not one of them. Those who are high in need for status but cannot afford true luxury use loud counterfeits to emulate those they recognize to be wealthy."

http://www.bakadesuyo.com/does-the-size-of-that-gucci-logo-tell-you-som

Do The Irish Really Drink That Much?

http://www.bakadesuyo.com/do-the-irish-really-drink-that-much

Want to Reduce Drunk Driving? Raise Gas Prices.

http://www.bakadesuyo.com/a-quick-and-easy-way-to-reduce-drunk-driving

Want to Reduce Drunk Driving? Raise Gas Prices.

http://www.bakadesuyo.com/a-quick-and-easy-way-to-reduce-drunk-driving

How Much Do Street Prostitutes Earn?

$25-$30/hour

http://www.bakadesuyo.com/how-much-do-street-prostitutes-earn

Are Extraverts Smarter Than Introverts?

http://www.bakadesuyo.com/are-extraverts-smarter-than-introverts

Pay-What-You-Want Restaurants

http://www.salon.com/food/feature/2010/06/17/pay_what_you_can_restaurants/index.html

One Reason Why Humans Are Special

http://www.scientificamerican.com/blog/post.cfm?id=one-reason-why-humans-are-special-a-2010-06-22

Global Diamond Trade

http://www.duke.edu/web/soc142/team7/index.html

*And from De Beers site...What is global diamond demand by country?

*USA: 41%
*Gulf: 8%
*China: 5%
*Japan: 11%
*India: 8%
*Taiwan: 2%
*Hong Kong: 2%
(Italy: 4%
*Rest of World: 19%

http://www.debeersgroup.com/en/Global/FAQs/#faq-link1Globaldemand

*Also, here is a link to the top diamond producing countries
http://www.cheap-diamond.com/Countries/

How Things We Touch Affect Our Judgement

http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/notrocketscience/2010/06/25/heavy-rough-and-hard-%E2%80%93-how-the-things-we-touch-affect-our-judgments-and-decisions/

Chart: State Median Income by Family Size

http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/ocs/liheap/guidance/SMI75FY09.pdf

FBI's Art Theft Program

It might be very interesting to work for the FBI's art theft unit...

http://www.fbi.gov/hq/cid/arttheft/arttheft.htm

Following is the FBI's current list of the top ten art crimes:

*Iraqi Looted and Stolen Artifacts

*Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum Theft

*Theft of Caravaggio's Nativity with San Lorenzo and San Francesco

*Theft of the Davidoff-Morini Stradivarius

*The Van Gogh Museum Robbery

*Theft of Cezanne's View of Auvers-sur-Oise

*Theft of the Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney Murals, Panels 3-A and 3-B

*Theft from the Museu Chacara do Céu

*Theft of Van Mieris's A Cavalier

*Theft from E.G. Bührle Collection, Zurich

On Lucky Charms

"New research suggests that a belief in good luck can affect performance."

The Power of Lucky Charms
by Carl Bialik
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703648304575212361800043460.html

Map: Spread of the Amish

http://blogs.ngm.com/blog_central/2009/07/spread-of-the-amish.html

Where Americans Are Moving

http://www.forbes.com/2010/06/04/migration-moving-wealthy-interactive-counties-map.html

The Problems With Today's Lawmaking

Some key points:

*Democrats tend to be more itneresting in legislating than in managing.

*Most bills are designed for passage, not implementation. They are stuffed with special provisions inserted by lobbyiss and predatory politicians. They are empretzeled with circuitous funding mechanmisms. It is no major, and even minro, pieces of legislation these days are blast-wall thick, running to thousands of pages.

*Three types of people tend to seek government work: idealists, those looking for sinecures, and those who want to build lucrative private-sector careers based on their knowledge of government regulations. All three types present problems.

Management 101
by Joe Klein
http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1987358,00.html

Where Americans Get the Most Radiation

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100614/ap_on_he_me/us_med_overtreated_radiation

Are Top Athletes Geniuses?

http://discovermagazine.com/2010/apr/16-the-brain-athletes-are-geniuses

Conflict Kitchen

http://offsettingbehaviour.blogspot.com/2010/05/restaurants-in-everything-conflict.html

Which Are the Most Prestigious Diseases?

http://www.mindhacks.com/blog/2010/06/disease_rankings.html

Why Aren't China and India Better at Soccer?

http://drezner.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2010/06/03/why_arent_the_great_powers_dominating_the_pitch

Map: How the Sciences Relate to Each Other

http://www.flickr.com/photos/13964815@N00/3309489428/

Is Any Job Better Than No Job?

http://roomfordebate.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/06/06/is-any-job-better-than-no-job/?ex=1291521600&en=791ccfc1b808d26f&ei=5087&WT.mc_id=NYT-E-I-NYT-E-AT-0609-L11

Science Behind the Penalty Kick

http://g.sports.yahoo.com/soccer/world-cup/news/the-science-behind-a-penalty-kick--fbintl_ap-wcup-penaltykicks.html

Male vs. Female Sushi Chefs

Is it true that you need cold hands to be a top sushi chef? Can the best sushi chefs really keep their blood vessels from expanding? Does male-cooked vs. female-cooked sushi taste any different in a blind taste test?

Question of the Day: Squeamishness

Is a person born squeamish? Can one outgrow squeamishness? Are doctors born with a non-squeamish gene?

Intelligence Essentials for Everyone

http://www.dia.mil/college/pubs/pdf/8342.pdf

Top Ten Beaches in the US

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap_travel/20100528/ap_tr_ge/us_travel_best_beaches

Theory About Kids, Gun Deaths Disputed

"Children in the most rural areas of the US are as likely to die by gunshot as those in the biggest cities, an analysis of nearly 24,000 deaths finds."

Theory About Kids, Gun Deaths Disputed
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/37305279/ns/health-kids_and_parenting/

Why Do Eyes Move During REM

http://www.mindhacks.com/blog/2010/05/the_eyes_are_a_windo.html

World Map of Touristyness

"Great places-to-avoid heatmap using distribution of photos on Panoramio."

http://www.informationisbeautiful.net/2010/world-map-of-touristyness/

Beneficiaries of Federal Spending

Interestingly, "Red States," especially those who voted strongly Republican, recieved the most from the federal government for every dederal tax dollar paid. "Blue States," especially those strongly Democratic, received the least.

http://www.taxfoundation.org/research/show/266.html

Car Shopping Tips

"The true dealer cost is decidely less than the invoice price, although exactly how much a dealer pays a carmaker for a vehicle is an elusive figure."

Knowledge Can Drive a Car Deal
by Jessica Anderson
http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1P2-21960071.html