The Proteus Effect

"These researchers are tapping into what is called the Proteus effect, behavioral alterations in the real world that are triggered by changes in how our bodies appear to us in a virtual world. It can be a powerful tool. Experiments have shown that if you are sent into a virtual-reality environment with a particularly good-looking "avatar," or digital self-image, you are likely to become more sociable. Seeing your avatar exercising in a virtual world can spur you to add an hour a day to your exercise routine in the real world; people whose avatars do the dirty work of sawing down a virtual tree use less real paper later in the day. Given a taller avatar, you will act more confident and negotiate more selfishly."

Want to Retire Wealthier? Start by Scanning Your Photo
by Jason Zweig
http://finance.yahoo.com/focus-retirement/article/112444/retire-wealthier-start-by-scanning-your-photo?mod=fidelity-startingout&cat=fidelity_2010_starting_out

Norway "Plankers"

"He leads a band of 'Plankers,' as they are known in the local jargon, who have pooled the risk by creating a new fund to pay one another's fines."

Freeloaders United to Fight Subway Fares
by Patrick McGroarty http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703580004576180383768578942.html

Why Escalators Bring Out the Best in People

Why Escalators Bring Out the Best in People
by David Schroeder
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=why-escalators-brings-out-best-in-people

Just Relax

1. Take a deep breath or two
2. Think of the good stuff
3. Slow down
4. Change the tape
5. Let it go

Just Relax!
by Frderic Luskin
http://www.parade.com/articles/editions/2006/edition_09-24-2006/Just_Relax

Make Time for Yourself
by Dianne Hales 
http://www.parade.com/health/spring-health-guide/slideshow/how-to-make-time-for-yourself.html

Heart Lock-In Technique

http://www.clherbs.com/TECHNIQUES.htm

Iatrogenic Disease

"I often tell patients that the definition of a well patient is one who hasn't seen enough doctors or had enough tests done."

Heart Valves: Like a Saloon's Swinging Doors
by W. Gifford-Jones, M.D. Iatrogenic Disease
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iatrogenesis

The Shadow Government

"They're the shadow government - the millions of private-sector contractors doing everything from Homeland Security-related IT projects here to interrogations in Iraq. Estimates vary, burt Paul Light of the Brookings Institution puts the number of such workers at 5.6 million - roughly double the size of the federal workforce."

Fortune Magazine, May 30, 2005;
by Peronet Despeignes

Fact of the Day: Foreign Products

13 million = The number of foreign products that entered the US in 2005, up from 8 million in 2002.

Is Something Better Than Nothing?

Q: My friend believes that if you take a single vitamin, you will be just a little healthier than if you never had taken one. Or if you park a car inside a garage only two or three times, its body will be in better condition than if you hadn't, even if the difference is so small you can't see it. His reasoning is that something is always better than nothing. I disagree. What do you think?

A: I think he's wrong. The difference must be large enough to matter in some way - any way - or nothing is "better." Something has been lost: time. Whether your friend is taking a vitamin or parking his car, he is spedning precious time - which is a limited resource - and maybe money. Too many people spend time and money pursuing lots of goals just a little.

-Ask Marilyn

The Claim: Sitting Up Straight is Good For Your Back

"Sitting upright at a 90-degree angle strains your back; leaning back places less pressure on the spine."

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/12/health/12real.html

The Claim: Reading in the Dark Will Damage Your Eyes

"Most experts say reading in the dark is safe, despite circumstantial evidence that constantly straining your eyes can weaken your vision."

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/04/health/04real.html

The Claim: Excercising at Nigh Can Disrupt Your Sleep

"While experts generally recommend not exercising immediatly before bedtime, most studies have found that it has no negative effects on sleep."

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/24/health/24real.html

Brand America Worth USD $18 Trillion

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0EIN/is_2006_Feb_21/ai_n16073548/

World's Most Research-Intensive Places

1. New Mexico
2. Massachusetts
3. Israel
4. Maryland
5. Sweden
6. Japan
7. US
8. South Korea
9. EU
10. China

 http://www.ppionline.org/ppi_ci.cfm?knlgAreaID=108&subsecID=900003&contentID=254145

More on Happiness

Does struggle to obtain something bring the ultimate happiness?

"This cycle of desire and dissatisfaction tends to keep people on an endless treadmill. Why not get off the treadmill and pursue a life with fewer material ambititions? You would probably be happier."

Finding Happiness in the Pursuit
by M.P. Dunleavey
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/08/business/09instincts.html

On the business of happiness...

Happiness Inc.
by Jeffrey Zaslow
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB114263698678301765-search.html

Pew research on happiness...

Are We Happy Yet?
http://pewresearch.org/pubs/301/are-we-happy-yet

A map of happiness in different countries...

A Plateau of Happiness (NY Times)
http://www.nytimes.com/imagepages/2005/10/03/science/20051004_HAPP_GRAPHIC.html

Indulge Your Employees

"A new paper 'Temptation at Work' suggests that forbidding their employees from surfing the net could well be a counter-productive move...In a series of experiments they discovered that participants who had been asked to resist temptation made more errors in later tasks."

Something for the Weekend
by Linda Anderson
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/feefba26-515c-11e0-a9c6-00144feab49a.html#axzz1HZyTmnUa

Nuclear

A Chain Reaction of Proliferation (Nice Map)
http://www.nytimes.com/imagepages/2008/12/09/science/20081209_BOMB_GRAPHIC.html
List of Countries with Nuclear Weapons
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_states_with_nuclear_weapons

The List: The Next Nuclear States
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2006/10/15/the_list_the_next_nuclear_states

Six Arab States Rush to go Nuclear
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/article624855.ece

Who's Next to go Nuclear?
by Andrew Grotto
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/13/AR2006101301398.html

Market-Beaters Are Exceptionally Rare

"If you think you can beat the market, you're probably wrong. And if you think your fund manager can, you're probably wrong again. Roughly two-thirds of professionally managed large-cap equity mutual funds are outperformed by the Standard & Poor's 500-stock index after expenses. The one-third that beat the market in any particular year are just as likely to underperform in the next year, according to a study by Burton G. Malkiel, Chemical Bank chairman's professor of economics at Princeton University and author of the book 'A Random Walk Down Wall Street'."

Ending the Habit of Tilting at Windmills
by Ellen Simon
http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-139949.html

For Smart Stock Picks, Ask a Playmate

"Tradingmarkets.com, a site for short-term traders, asked Playboy to assemble 10 former centerfold Playmates for a 2006 investing contest...As of May 1, four Playmates have matched or beaten the 4.56% return of the S&P 500. Collectively the group has a 7.87% return, topping the results of about 75% of all mutual funds so far this year."

For Smart Picks, Ask a Playmate
by Dean Foust
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/06_20/c3984017.htm

World Bank & Corruption

Cleaning Up The World Bank
by Danielle Knight and Edward Pound
http://www.usnews.com/usnews/biztech/articles/articles/060403/3worldbank_6.htm

First Year Associates at Law Firms

Median salary for first-year associates in big cities:

*2-25 people: $67,000 (median salary)
*26-50: $80,000
*51-100: $85,000
*101-250: $90,000
*251-500: $115,000
*501 or more: $135,000
*All sizes: $105,000

Source: WPost, via National Association for Law Placement

Fact of the Day: Lawyers

"We found these fascinating numbers in Paul Grobman's new book Vital Statistics: There are more than a million lawyers in the US - one for every 274 people. (China has one lawyer for every 12,745 people.) New York has the most lawyers of any state (140,000), North Kakota the fewest (1,297). In Washington, DC, there is one lawyer for every 14 residents."

Parada Intelligence Report
Lyric Wallwork Winik

Cool Maps: US Agriculture Regions

http://www.ers.usda.gov/Data/CostsAndReturns/oldregions.htm

Open Source Intelligence Guide

Open Source Intelligence; FMI 2-22.9 (December 2006)
http://www.fas.org/irp/doddir/army/fmi2-22-9.pdf

Intelligence Essentials for Everyone; Joint Military Intelligence College (June 1999)
http://scip.cms-plus.com/files/Resources/Krizan-Intelligence-Essentials.pdf

How Powerful is the Federal Reserve?

How Powerful is the Federal Reserve?
by Ellen Simon
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10217616/ns/business-eye_on_the_economy/

Embassy Culture

Diplomatic Scofflaws and the Culture of Corruption
by Richard Morin
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/29/AR2006062901925.html

Foreign Affairs
by Larry Van Dyne
http://www.washingtonian.com/articles/people/6319.html

Once Grand, Now Bedraggled
by Paul Schwartzman
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/story/2008/06/07/ST2008060700985.html

State Department Real Estate for Sale
http://www.state.gov/obo/c21629.htm

Wanna Buy an Embassy? 29 Are For Sale
by Matthew Lee
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/30/AR2007043000696.html

Embassies Face Daunting Task of Getting Heard in Washington
by John Shaw
http://www.washingtondiplomat.com/April%202007/a7_04_07.html

How Much Embassy is Too Much?
by Elizabeth Williamson
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/01/AR2007030101497.html

Tariff Conundrums

Tariffs on Care Are 2.5 Percent, But on Pickup Trucks 25 Percent
http://www.ppionline.org/ppi_ci.cfm?knlgAreaID=108&subsecID=900003&contentID=253325

Why One Should Have Lots of Constant Sex

Yes, Sex Can Kill You, US Study Shows
by Julie Steenhuysen
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/03/22/us-heart-exercise-idUSTRE72L6KR20110322

Religion to Become Extinct in Nine Nations

*Australia
*Austria
*Canada
*Czech Republic
*Finland
*Ireland
*Netherlands
*New Zealand
*Switzerland

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-12811197

Rocks, Paper, Scissors

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/science/rock-paper-scissors.html?ref=science

Lawyers Replaced by Software

Armies of Expensive Lawyers, Replaced by Cheaper Software
by John Markoff
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/05/science/05legal.html?_r=1&nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha23

Are the Wealthiest Countries The Smartest Countries?

http://www.psychologicalscience.org/index.php/news/releases/are-the-wealthiest-countries-the-smartest-countries.html

Map: Economic Gravity

"By using the weighted figures, he identified a spot within the Earth as a figurative center of economic activity. Then this point was projected onto Earth's surface. IN 1980 economic gravity was centered in the Atlantic Ocean, 900 miles west of Morocco. By 2008, the centr had moved nearly 3,000 miles to a spot south of Izmir, Turkey. By 2050, the study projects, the center will be in rural China, 400 miles east of Katmandu."

The Global Economy's Shifting Centre of Gravity
by Danny Quah
http://econ.lse.ac.uk/~dquah/p/GE_Shifting_CG-DQ.pdf

The Mighty Houseplant For Air Purification

"Interest in plants as air purifiers - what's called 'phytoremediation' - comes amid mounting concerns about the quality of indoor air. People spend more than 90% of their time inside, where levels of a dozen common organic pollutants can be two to five times higher than outside, according to the EPA."

A Superhero Scrubs The Air: The Mighty Houseplant
by Gwendolyn Bounds
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB20001424052748704893604576200423930895948.html

US Passport Ownership by State

http://blog.cgpgrey.com/how-many-americans-have-a-passport-the-percentages-state-by-state/

North Korean Restaurant

http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/articles/40495/hermit-kitchen/full

The 10 Highest Paid Government Jobs

http://finance.yahoo.com/career-work/article/112283/the-10-highest-paid-government-jobs

Paris Guide - WSJ

Several people give their top pics for Paris...


Paris, France: Modern Romance
by Tina Isaac
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704364004576132101631852020.html

Buy Art From Yale U.

"In a paper for the National Bureau of Economic Research, David W. Galenson, who has made a specialty of the economics of modern art, notes that 25 Yale graduates from 1952 to 1989 have produced works that have sole for $50,000 or more at auction."

The Fine Art of Yale
by Sandra Salmans
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/24/education/edlife/salmans.html

Journalism Sourcing - SAO

What exactly is the definition of a "senior administration official?"

What's a Senior Administration Official? No One Knows (but You Didn't Hear It From Me)
by Mike Allen
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0107/2548.html

On Presidential Earmarks

"The president's earmarks are harder - if not impossible - to tally. Many appear only in closely held supplements separate from the public budget books. Also, as head of the exectuvie brach, the president often doesn't need earmarks: Once federal agencies get funding from Congress, his appointees are fairly free to steer sums to places, programs and vendors as the administration decides."

In Search of Presidential Earmarks
by Jackie Calmes
http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB114048474700578604-1uImGVxZNMwm9RzLyHregMY3Hjk_20070220.html?mod=tff_main_tff_top

Po' Boy Wars

Parasol's vs. Tracey's (oysters)...This is like Pat's vs. Geno's in Phili (cheesesteak)....and Sally's vs. Pepe's (pizza) in New Haven, CT...and Lafayette Coney Island vs. American Coney Island in Detroit, MI (hotdogs).
The Crescent City's Greatest Po' Boys
by Steve Garbarino http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703559604576174883513962972.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

Other food rivalries include:

Busken Bakery vs. Frisch's Big Boy in Cincinatti, Ohio, and Gold Star Chili Inc. vs. Skyline Chili Inc., also in Cincinatti, Ohio.

Visual: The Science of Bad Traffic Jams

http://www.autoblog.com/2011/03/05/the-science-behind-traffic-jams-infographic/#continued

Women & Sushi

"Like sumo and Kabuki, the traditional art of making sushi has long been monopolized by men. Until now. At Nadeshico (translation: ideal woman) Sushi, which opened its doors late last year, young women line up behind a 17-seat counter, meticulously crafting individual pieces of nigiri (or regular) sushi while bantering with the clientele, 90% of which is male. The restaurant's specialty: sushi rolls shaped like cartoon panda and frog heads, adorned with heart-shaped eggs."

Hot Women Serving Cold Fish Make For Raw Feelings in Tokyo
by Mariko Sanchanta
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704254304576117193420193936.html?KEYWORDS=sushi#articleTabs%3Darticle

Top Five Wives Tales on Why Women Can't Cut It As Sushi Chefs
http://blogs.wsj.com/japanrealtime/2011/03/04/top-five-old-wives-tales-why-women-cant-cut-it-as-sushi-chefs/?KEYWORDS=sushi

Brain vs. Budget

"The human brain is more sensitive to losses than to gains. In fact, the pain of a loss is approximately twice as potent as the pleasure generated by a gain. We are biased toward exaggerating bad news...Studies of married couples, for instance, demonstrate that every critical comment made to a spouse requires at least five compliments as compensation. The hurt lingers...Numerous experiments have demonstrated that, once people are endowed with something - that is, given some kind of 'property right' to it - that thing dramatically increases in value. In one classic experiment, subjects who had been given a certain coffee mug believed it was nearly twice as valuabel as subjects who assessed it without having an ownership stake. As a result, losing that possession becomes even more painful...The challenge of entitlement reform is that voters have been paying into these social programs for much of their working lives. They feel entitled to their entitlements, which is why even the smallest proposed changes pack a big emotional wallop."

Balanced Budget vs. The Brain
by Jonah Lehrer
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704506004576174440290134816.html

The Most Typical Face on the Planet

"The researchers conclude that a male, 28-year-old Han Chinese man is the most typical person on the planet."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_thelookout/20110303/us_yblog_thelookout/the-most-typical-face-on-the-planet

Deception 101 - A Primer on Deception

http://www.fas.org/irp/eprint/deception.pdf

The End of Pickpocketing?

Experts offer a few explanations for the gradual disappearance of pickpockets in the United States. Crime nationwide—from pickpocketing to homicide—has been dropping since the mid-1990s. People carry less cash today, and thanks to enhanced security features, it's harder for thieves to use stolen credit or debit cards than it was in the past. And perhaps most important, the centuries-old apprenticeship system underpinning organized pickpocketing has been disrupted. Pickpocketing has always perpetuated itself by having older hooks—nicknamed "Fagins," after the crime boss in Oliver Twist—teach younger ones the art, and then absorbing them into canons. But due to ratcheted-up law enforcement measures, including heftier sentences and better surveillance of hot spots and known pickpockets, that system has been dismantled."

The Lost Art of Pickpocketing
by Joe Keohane
http://www.slate.com/id/2286010/pagenum/all/

Breast Milk Ice Cream

Would you try it?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-12569011