Irrational Behavior & The Fiscal Cliff

I’m a sociobiologist, so whenever I see irrational behavior, I reflexively look to our prehistoric history for an explanation. And when it comes to the fiscal cliff and other cliffs like it, I don’t have to look far.

We are, by virtue of nature’s roll of the dice, an organism at war with itself. The vestiges of ancient genetic imperatives — territoriality, dominance, hoarding, fight and flight — clash with our ability to look ahead and take action to avert calamity. What? You thought our problems were political? Rooted in economics? Caused by inept leadership?

Welcome to the club.

Somewhere along the line, talking heads, politicians and experts decided that every problem we face is caused by politics and economics. So the only solutions we hear about are along these lines. In other words, a kind of narrowing has taken place: We blame our government, we blame the economy, we blame foreign competition, we blame Wall Street and big business.

But consider this: Every country in the world is struggling with a similar list of problems — job creation, wild fluctuations in financial markets, climate change, clean water, terrorism and so on. And yet, they each have their own political and economic systems, as well as vastly different cultures. At some point, a light bulb ought to go off. The reason the cliffs keep looming, one after the other, isn’t just politics or economics. What we have is a species-wide problem.

So, for the sake of science, let’s put what we know on the table.

Long before we developed a frontal cortex — the CEO of our brain, which enables us to generate accurate scenarios, prioritize them in order of likelihood and circumvent dangerous long-term outcomes — we, like other creatures, survived by relying on embedded instincts, such as fight or flight.

As best we can tell, our frontal cortex began expanding 3 to 4 million years ago, around the time we became bipedal. It grew so fast that it now occupies about a third of our gray matter, equipping us with foresight and ingenuity that no other species on Earth comes close to. And it is this remarkable asset — the ability to preempt danger — that has been largely responsible for catapulting humans to the top of the living world.

Yet, time and time again, we surrender to the lowest instruments of our genetic inheritance. Instead of applying rational thinking, which has been millions of years in the making, we surrender to bickering, blaming and boasting as we sail toward the edge of this, or some other, cliff. In the words of famed sociobiologist Edward O. Wilson, “We have Paleolithic emotions, medieval institutions and God-like technology.” He concluded his 2009 Harvard lecture by remarking: “And it is terrifically dangerous.”

Wilson is right.

Based on this simple biological truth, we can predict with some certainty that our leaders will follow the example of the Mayan, Roman and Khmer civilizations, and more recently, Greece and Spain: They will run the clock out. When the cliff is upon us, and our hearts pound and our bodies fill with ancient chemicals, we will spring into action with the same urgency we have when encountering a snake in our path.

A Fiscal Cliffhanger?  Of Course, It's In Our Nature.
by Rebecca Costa
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/of-course-were-at-a-fiscal-cliffhanger-its-in-our-nature/2012/12/14/546bfee2-449a-11e2-8061-253bccfc7532_story.html

Why Is Japan Obsessed With Kentucky Fried Chicken on Christmas?

http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/food/2012/12/why-japan-is-obsessed-with-kentucky-fried-chicken-on-christmas/?utm_source=smithsoniantopic&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=20121216-Weekender

Paul Salopek to Walk 7 Years Around the World

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/2012/12/the-seven-year-sitch-telling-a-story-in-21000-miles.html

10 Questions to Ask the Important People in Your Life

1. What are some of the most important lessons you have learned in your life?
2. What kidn of advice would you have about getting or staying married?
3. What kinds of advice do you have about raising children?
4. What advice can you share about finding fulfilling work and how to succeed in a career?
5. Difficult or stressful experiences can yield important lessons.  Is that true for you? Can you give me examples of what you have learned?
6. Do you see any turning points - key events or experiences - that changed the course of your life?
7. What would you say you know now about living a happy and successful life that you didn't know when you were age 20?
8. What would you say are the major values or principles that you live by?
9. Have you learned any lessons regarding staying in good health?
10. What advice would you give to people about growing older?

Source: 30 Lessons for Living: Tried and True Advice From the Wisest Americans, by Karl Pillemer

The "Platinum Coin Option" & The Debt Crisis

Thanks to an odd loophole in current law, the U.S. Treasury is technically allowed to mint as many coins made of platinum as it wants and can assign them whatever value it pleases.

Under this scenario, the U.S. Mint would produce (say) a pair of trillion-dollar platinum coins. The president orders the coins to be deposited at the Federal Reserve. The Fed then moves this money into Treasury’s accounts. And just like that, Treasury suddenly has an extra $2 trillion to pay off its obligations for the next two years — without needing to issue new debt. The ceiling is no longer an issue.

Could the 'Platinum Coin Option' Sovle the US Debt Crisis?
by Brad Plumer
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2012/12/07/could-two-platinum-coins-solve-the-debt-ceiling-crisis/

US's Total Personal Income (TPI) Approaches $13 Trillion

http://www.bizjournals.com/bizjournals/on-numbers/scott-thomas/2012/12/nations-total-personal-income.html?ana=e_du_nat&s=article_du&ed=2012-12-04

The Perfect Income for Happiness: $161,000?

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/perfect-income-happiness-try-161-175833476.html

Sharing is For Chumps

Financial experts argue for a great variety of investment strategies, but these approaches all have one thing in common: Once the word is out about them, their returns shrink.

That's the finding of a couple of finance professors who looked at 82 market strategies—differences in valuations that gave investors a chance to profit and were then described in academic papers. In a working paper, the authors estimate that the average return decays after publication by about 35%.

This seems to happen mostly because investors learn about the strategy from the academic papers and trade on it, thereby diminishing the advantage (in keeping with the way markets are supposed to work). The effect is most pronounced, the professors write, with strategies focusing on stocks with large market capitalization, high-dollar-volume trading and dividends.

"Does Academic Research Destroy Stock Return Predictability?" R. David McLean and Jeffrey Pontiff, Social Science Research Network (October)

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324439804578105080245336950.html    

Sailing Around the World in a 10-Foot Boat?

Armed with a stack of books and 880 pounds of mainly sardines and granola, the 73-year-old seasoned boat builder plans to wedge inside what he affectionately calls a "survival capsule," and spend up to a year-and-a-half reading, writing, thinking and soaking up the wonders of nature. Mr. Yrvind is knee deep in the building of his boat.

Thinking Small, Sailor Hopes to Cruise Globe in 10-Foot Boat
by Anna Molin
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390444799904578053023649693516.html

On the "Sourtoe Cocktail" in Alaska

A drink with a severed big toe...mmmm

No Way to Tiptoe Around It: This Drink Can Be Hard to Swallow
by Ryan Sager
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204349404578098803097975398.html

There is also another WSJ article on another rather unappealing drink called Malort, which is made from wormood.  People have described it as tasting like earwax, Band-Aids, and burnt hair.

A Spirit Rises in Chicago Despite Bitter Reviews
by Mark Peters
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303296604577454872180605752.html

Could Boehner Really Become President?

The Blaze fact-checks that scenario laid out by some in the media:

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/blaze-fact-check-rachel-maddow-laments-election-scenario-where-boehner-becomes-president-but-thats-impossible/

The Atlantic's 2012 Brave Thinkers List

http://www.theatlantic.com/special-report/brave-thinkers-2012/

On Cloaking Home Purchases in LLCs and Trusts

Psst.  Wanna Buy a House?
By Alyssa Abkowitz
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390443684104578066880677842280.html

On Buying Houses Near Mt. Fuji in Japan

Selling a Piece of Old Japan, to Save It
by Lucy Alexander
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390443982904578046372023157536.html

Five Guys = Seven Minutes?

I saw a show on TV interviewing a manager of Five Guys saying it takes exactly seven minutes from the time your order is placed until you get your food.  I need to confirm that...

Regional Integration Overdose?

http://siteresources.worldbank.org/BRAZILINPOREXTN/Resources/3817166-1185895645304/4044168-1186324101142/12RegionalIntegrationFull.pdf

Video: What's Really in Candy Corn?

http://screen.yahoo.com/episode-5-candy-corn-made-080000657.html

Chart: How the Government Spends Your Tax Dollars

http://www.businessinsider.com/chart-where-your-tax-dollars-go-2012-10

"Tobin's q"

Stocks, too, seem pricey. Over the past 130 years, U.S. stocks on average have traded at about 17 times mean earnings for the previous 10 years—a measure known as the "Shiller Price/Earnings Ratio" after Yale economics professor Robert Shiller, who tracks the data. Today the market is about 22 times those earnings, a level associated with frothy markets such as 1929, the mid-1960s, and most of the period from 1995 to 2008.

Another measure, "Tobin's q," also suggests stocks might be in dangerous territory. Tobin's q, named for the late Nobel economics laureate James Tobin, measures stock valuations against the cost of replacing companies' assets. Right now the reading is 0.92, about 50% above the long-term historical average. Stock returns from these levels have usually been subpar.

It's Time to Time the Market
by Brett Arends
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390443624204578060550181314438.html

Before you even consider changing your portfolio based on the expected—or actual—results of the election, it's vital to analyze the conventional wisdom first.

Is gridlock good—that is, should investors root against having the same political party control both Congress and the White House? Who is better for stock and bond returns: Republicans or Democrats?

Most of the answers you are likely to find are propaganda or wishful thinking; many are flat-out wrong. What matters are changes in interest rates, not which party passes through the White House gates.

The Winner for Investors Is...
by Jason Zweig
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390444592704578066683295046230.html

Crowdfunding College Costs

Is a college education a good investment? Warren Buffett has often quipped, before audiences of business-school students, that he would pay $100,000 for 10% of a student's future earnings.

One new website, Upstart (www.upstart.com), allows some of us to make a similar move. "Accredited investors"—generally, those who earned $200,000 or more in each of the last two years, or have a net worth of more than $1 million, not including a primary residence—can loan money to a specific recent graduate in exchange for a portion of his or her income for the next 10 years. The money can be used for any purpose, and some of the initial graduates have used it to help with student debt.

The service, which launched in August, is offered at Stanford University, the Rhode Island School of Design and 28 other schools.

'Crowdfunding' College Costs
by Rachel Louise Ensign
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390444657804578048461063769132.html

Stress and Inflammation

http://www.thehealthymind.com/2012/04/06/how-stress-causes-illness-its-all-about-inflammation/

What happens in a 269 vs. 269 Tie?

Video of Chuck Todd explaining what happens in a 269 to 269 tie in the electoral college.
http://video.msnbc.msn.com/the-daily-rundown/49462313/#49462313

Salaries in the Washington Area for 2012

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/business/capitalbusiness/compensation-2012/index.html

Sen. Coburn's "Wastebook 2012"

http://www.coburn.senate.gov/public//index.cfm?a=Files.Serve&File_id=b7b23f66-2d60-4d5a-8bc5-8522c7e1a40e

There is also Coburn's "Department of Everything" in which it outlines suggestions to eliminate waste at the Department of Defense.
http://www.coburn.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/pressreleases?ContentRecord_id=e3ace3df-25a9-47c4-8c43-1403e134ce11

Hispanic, Latino, or Other?

“Hispanic” or “Latino”? Most don’t care—but among those who do, “Hispanic” is preferred. Half (51%) say they have no preference for either term. When a preference is expressed, “Hispanic” is preferred over “Latino” by more than a two-to-one margin—33% versus 14%.

http://www.pewhispanic.org/2012/04/04/when-labels-dont-fit-hispanics-and-their-views-of-identity/

Selling a Home - Phrase it Correctly

Houses that real-estate agents describe as "move-in condition" sell 12% faster than homes listed without those words. "Starter homes" sell 9% faster. But be careful: A house called a "handyman special" sells about 50% faster, but the final price is 30% lower than listings that lack those words.
For the past decade, Paul Anglin, associate professor of real estate at the University of Guelph in Ontario, has been studying the effect of certain words in house descriptions.

A Motivated Seller by Any Other Name...
by Sanette Tanaka
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390444180004578018353491734558.html

The Halloumi Cheese Battle

In Cyprus, New Cheese Edict Gets the Goat of Dairy Farmers
by Gabriele Steinhauser
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390443862604578032543426910614.html

Rules of Investing

From Barry Ritholtz

Part I:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/ritholtzs-rules-of-investing/2012/09/27/7c662e48-08c4-11e2-a10c-fa5a255a9258_story.html

Part II:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/ritholtzs-rules-of-investing-part-ii/2012/10/12/0dc5965c-119a-11e2-ba83-a7a396e6b2a7_story.html

Baumol's Cost Disease

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baumol's_cost_disease

Olympic Rowers = The Best Businessmen?

New research by Bain & Co. shows that rowers have the best track record of breaking into the corporate world after their Olympic careers.

About 8% of the U.S. and U.K. rowers who medaled at the Olympics between 1972 and 2000 went on to excel in business, landing top jobs at public companies, investment banks, law firms and consulting practices, or starting their own companies, the study found.

Bain partner Patrick Manning, who was a member of the 1992 U.S. silver-medal rowing team, analyzed the post-Olympic careers of 840 U.S. and U.K. medalists from seven categories during the Summer Games: rowing, swimming, sailing, basketball, boxing, gymnastics, and track and field. (He opted to track the more popular sports and get a good mix—individual, team, indoor and outdoor.)

Of those who demonstrated strong business success—defined as becoming a C-suite executive, board member, partner, managing director or above—rowers came out on top, but swimmers and sailors also showed some success, with about 1% of each group holding comparable roles.

Rowers may be more likely to succeed in the business world for several reasons, Mr. Manning says. First, many of the rowing medalists in the study attended elite colleges and universities. Second, unlike other sports, there is a dearth of professional rowing opportunities, forcing rowers to pursue other careers.

Rowing also requires intense teamwork, which often means sacrificing personal glory and adapting to the style of others in order to achieve a final goal.

At Work
by Leslie Kwoh
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390444130304577561323747446982.html

How Do Blind People Picture Reality?

http://news.yahoo.com/blind-people-picture-reality-163132352.html

Peking Duck in Beijing

In Search Of: Beijing's Most Exquisite Peking Duck
by John Krich
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390444620104578008480705669240.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

On Gua Sha (Back Scraping)

Feeling Ill?  Maybe your back needs a scraping
by Justin Moyer
http://www.fyibehealthy.com/2012/09/26/feeling-ill-maybe-your-back-needs-a-scraping/

"Aporkalypse"

On the bacon shortage:

http://news.yahoo.com/aporkalypse-not-now-bacon-shortage-exaggerated-experts-160739385.html

On the Bloomberg's Speed Desk

http://www.businessinsider.com/kevin-reynolds-bloomberg-2012-9

Will Humans All Eventually Look Like Brazilians?

http://news.yahoo.com/humans-eventually-look-brazilians-140349518.html

Why Aren't Mortgage Rates Lower?

Why are mortage rates so high?

An Enigma in the Mortgage Market That Elevates Rates
by Peter Eavis
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/enigma-mortgage-market-elevates-rates-161206290.html

Eurasia Group: Top Global Risks for 2012

http://eurasiagroup.net/pages/top-risks-2012

Quote of the Day: Living

The proper function of man is to live, not to exist.  I shall not waste my days tryingto prolong them.  I shall use my time.

-Jack London

How Our Lives Are Subsized

One Nation on Welfare.  Living Your Life on the Dole
by Michael Grunwald
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2123809,00.html

Which Presidential Polls Were Most Accurate in 2008?

http://blog.chron.com/txpotomac/2008/11/the-list-which-presidential-polls-were-most-accurate/

Apple's iPhone 5 to Grow GDP by .25% or More?

The Latest iPhone 5 Rumor is That it is Going to Save the US Economy
by Nicholas Carlson
http://www.sfgate.com/technology/businessinsider/article/The-Latest-iPhone-5-Rumor-Is-That-It-Is-Going-To-3855845.php

The US Financial Burden Barometer

http://keepingamericagreat.org/10-million-a-minute-tour/

The New Food Ambassadors

[Mike] Isabella is one of the first chefs to be tapped by the State Department to serve as a culinary ambassador abroad, part of an ambitious new undertaking to use food as a diplomatic tool. Initiated by the U.S. Chief of Protocol Capricia Penavic Marshall and blessed by her boss, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, the Diplomatic Culinary Partnership aims to “elevate the role of culinary engagement in America’s formal and public diplomacy efforts,” according to a mission statement.

The initiative, in partnership with the James Beard Foundation, named for the late dean of American cooking, will be officially announced at the State Department on Sept. 7 at a reception featuring some of the nation’s premiere chefs and pedigreed products.

 

One Mission, Many Courses
by Tom Tietsema
http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/food/chefs-are-the-new-diplomats/2012/08/31/d67b5714-ead3-11e1-b811-09036bcb182b_story.html

Are There Tricks to Being Luckier?

http://www.bakadesuyo.com/be-lucky-its-an-easy-skill-to-learn-8

On Surstromming

"The way surströmming is made explains why it smells so bad. Fish caught in the spring off the Gulf of Bothnia coast are packed into a barrel with salty brine that prevents them from rotting entirely. The fish ferment in the barrel for a month or so, aging in a stew of lactic acid bacteria and enzymes.
Surströmming is then sealed in big round cans, with pressure building up so aggressively inside that they bulge at both ends—and sometimes burst."

Sweden Has Champagne Aspirations for Its Smelly Fermented Herring
by Sven Grundberg
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390444914904577617300957144354.html

On "Diminishing Sensitivity"

Q: In your answer last week about splitting checks at restaurants, you noted that there is a "diminishing sensitivity as the amount of money paid increases." I've noticed this in my own spending. I'll go out of my way to save a buck and then spend an ungodly sum on some purse. Why is that? And how can I control it?

A: Diminishing sensitivity is a very basic way that our minds work across many domains of life. For example, imagine that you light up one candle in the middle of the night. This small amount of light will dramatically change your ability to see your surroundings. But what if you already have 10 lit candles and you add one more? Now it would not have much of an effect. The basic idea of diminished sensitivity is that our minds tend to register relative increase; we take any additional amount of stuff as if it were a percentage gain, not an absolute one.

Now, when it comes to money, we should think about it in absolute terms ($10 is $10 regardless of whether we are saving it from a dinner bill or from the price of a new car), but we don't. We think about money in terms of percentages, too.

What can we do about it? It's not easy, but we should try to fight this natural tendency. One method that I use from time to time is to take the amount of money that I am thinking about spending and ask myself what else I could get with it. For example, since I like going to the movies (and let's say that the price of two tickets and popcorn is $25), I ask myself whether a given $25 of spending on a prospective purchase is worth more or less than the pleasure of going to the movies.

When framed this way, it doesn't matter if the savings come from a dinner bill or a new computer—and it helps me to ask the question "What would I enjoy more?" in a more concrete way. So, the next time you are shopping for a new purse, try to measure its price in terms of another use for that money that you might value more.

Is That Purse Really Worth It?
by Dan Ariely
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390443864204577619733551273416.html

Cool Class of the Week: Harvard

David Edwards, a professor at Harvard, teaches a class called "How to Create Things and Have Them Matter."

http://www.businessinsider.com/harvard-professor-invents-the-wikicell-food-packaging-you-can-eat-2012-8

Mirror Images vs. Photo Images

Q: What I see in the mirror and what I see when I view a photo of myself are so different.  Generally, I'm satisfied with the "live" version, but I usually dislike that same face in a photo.  Why?

A:  Because your photographed face looks fackward to you.  What you see in a mirror is your imaged reversed from left to right, and you're familiar with that look.  A photo, however, shows you what others see.  When you see your face thta way, it looks strange to you - you notice every asymmetry (no face is symmetrical) and imperfection.  For example, say one eye is slightly smaller than the other, which is common.  Because you've seen your eyes that way in teh mirror all your life, you don't perceive any difference.  But when you view a photo, something about your eyes looks wrong.

-Ask Marilyn

Graphic: Everything You Need to Know About E-Commerce

http://www.businessinsider.com/this-shockingly-intricate-graphic-tells-you-everything-you-need-to-know-2012-8

Surfonomics

How much is an ocean wave worth?

Surfonomics
by Gregory Thomas
http://www.washingtonpost.com/surfonomics-quantifies-the-worth-of-waves/2012/08/23/86e335ca-ea2c-11e1-a80b-9f898562d010_story.html

36 Weird Economic Indicators You've Never Heard Of

http://www.businessinsider.com/bizarre-economic-indicators-2012-8#

List of Numbers

I love numbers and facts and have always wanted to put together a massive list of number/percentage-facts I thought were interesting.  I plan to continue adding to this list.

*UPS moves 2% - 3% of global GDP annually (August 20, 2012; Time)
*Producing a pair of jeans can take up to 1,000 gallons of water. (August 20, 2012; Time)
*After reviewing videos of stranger's conversations, 60% of participants [in the study] admitted they had told 2 or 3 lies in the first 10 minutes. (Sept./Oct. edition; Dan Ariely in Foreign Policy Magazine)

Washington Internships Are A Serious Business

Who says that interning is for beginners?

In 2000, after his first, brief tenure as Mongolia's youngest Prime Minister was foiled by inexperience and political turbulence, Elbegdorj decided he needed a break.  "I had been trained in one superpower," he says, "but it was the wrong one."  So off went Elbegdorj to the US, where he studied English in Colorado and then completed a master's in public administration at Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government.  He then interned at Radio Free Asia, the Washington-based service that broadcasts news in native languages to repressed societies.  His job was to provide broadcasts to Inner Mongolia, the Chinese region where tensions have simmered between Mongolian and ethnic-Han Chinese populations.  Elbegdorj was probably the only intern in Washington with "Prime Minister" on his CV.

Hesitant Steppes
by Hannah Beech & Oyu Tolgoi
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2121648,00.html

Easterlin Paradox

"The truth is that happiness is relative: It largely depends not on your own good fortune, but on how much richer people around you are.
Economist Richard Easterlin, now at the University of Southern California, has been trying to crack the happiness code for decades. In the 1970s, he developed the theory that has become known as the "Easterlin paradox," which argues that although people with higher incomes tend to report higher levels of life satisfaction, countries don't become generally more satisfied as they become richer."

The Renminbi Blues
by Joshua Keating
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2012/08/13/the_renminbi_blues

Why Jobs Data Say One Thing - And Another

This article from the WSJ explains why there is a discrepancy in the jobs data.  In other words, how the unemployment rate can increase while the number of jobs added to the economy also increased.

The U.S. unemployment rate rose to 8.3% in July, even as the economy added 163,000 jobs. The contradictory result has a relatively simple explanation. The two numbers come from separate surveys.

Though they are reported at the same time, the two data points are derived from different places. The number of jobs added comes from a poll of businesses, called the establishment survey, while the unemployment rate comes from a survey of U.S. households. 

Over time, the two reports generally follow the same pattern, but they can move in opposite directions from month to month.

Part of the issue can be related to seasonal distortions. July sees a large number of layoffs every year.

In order to smooth that out, the Labor Department makes a large adjustment so we can better compare movements with the prior month. The larger the adjustment, the higher the chance of distortion.

The two surveys also count people in different ways.

The establishment survey counts jobs, not people. So one person holding two jobs is counted twice.

But the household survey also counts people, such as those who are self-employed in unincorporated businesses, family employees who aren't paid and farm workers, who aren't picked up in the establishment survey.

That likely played a role this month, with many farm workers affected by droughts.

Generally, the establishment survey gives a better picture of the labor market as a whole because it has a much larger sample size—486,000 establishments compared to 60,000 households in the other survey. But it isn't able to tell us anything about the unemployed. And by that measure, the household survey told a darker story in July.

The unemployment rate is calculated based on people who are without jobs, who are available to work and who have actively sought work in the prior four weeks, and that number rose in July—by 45,000 to 12.8 million.

The rate is calculated by dividing that figure by the total number of people in the labor force.

This month 150,000 people departed the labor force, lowering what is known as the participation rate.

People often leave the labor force when they become discouraged, so a rise in the number of unemployed, even as the participation rate drops is a worrying sign.

The labor force is usually increasing through simple population growth.

Economists estimate that the U.S. economy needs to add about 100,000 to 120,000 jobs a month just to make up for new entrants to the job market.

When discouraged workers start coming back into the labor market that threshold becomes even higher.

Over the past three months the U.S. economy has added an average of only 105,000 jobs per month, according to the establishment survey.

Why Jobs Data Say One Thing - And Another
by Phil Izzo
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390444320704577567393783200160.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

How to Answer "What Are Your Salary Requirements"

http://www.bizjournals.com/washington/blog/2012/08/how-to-answer-what-are-your-salary.html?ed=2012-08-06&s=article_du

Excellent GQ Article on the Hottest New Porn Star: James Deen

http://www.gq.com/entertainment/celebrities/201207/james-deen-porn-star-gq-june-2012-interview

Chart of the Week: Popularity of Congress

Great chart showing how popular Congress is compared to things/people such as banks, lawyers, etc...

https://philebersole.wordpress.com/tag/congress-approval-rating/

Secrets to Cheap Flights

*Book on a Tuesday at 3pm EST.
*Search everyone: Expedia, Travelocity, Orbitz, Kayak, AirFareWatchdog, Yapta, and Hipmunk.
*Book six weeks in advance.
*Search the actual airline sites.

http://www.businessinsider.com/23-secrets-to-booking-cheap-flights-2012-7#book-on-tuesday-at-3-pm-eastern-time-5

Duckeasies

Article on clandestine restaurants in California that have been cropping up since July 1, 2012, when the state banned the production and sale of foie gras.

Foie Gras Goes Underground in 'Duckeasies'
by Alison Vekshin and James Nash
http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-07-17/foie-gras-goes-underground-at-california-duckeasies

How Can You Make Yourself Luckier?

http://www.bakadesuyo.com/how-can-you-make-yourself-luckier

Does One Orgasm = Two Cheeseburgers

Approximately. When you measure the release of dopamine that food, sex and drugs cause you can roughly quantify the amount of pleasure each delivers.

http://www.bakadesuyo.com/does-one-orgasm-equal-two-cheeseburgers

Crude Oil Prices & Gas Prices

It's worth noting that the general rule of thumb is every $1 change in crude oil prices results in a 2.5-cent change in gasoline prices.
The Gas Price Disaster That Didn't Materialize
by Bob King & Darren Goode
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0712/78575.html

How Much Gold Can You Safely Eat?

Conspicuous Consumption
by L.V. Anderson
http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/explainer/2012/07/the_666_gold_wrapped_douche_burger_is_it_safe_to_eat_gold_.html

On Outsourcing & Worker Discretion

It is these systems — the rules, the procedures, in effect the operational software — that allow companies to take relatively low-skilled, low-paid workers with relatively little experience and have them do tasks that were once done by people with higher skills, higher pay and more experience. And it is the very nature of these systems that workers are discouraged, if not prohibited, from exercising their own discretion. Their only job is to follow rules, stick to the script and leverage the experience and expertise that are embedded in the system.

That’s why the person in the airline call center in Bangalore can’t do what is necessary to help you catch your honeymoon cruise after your flight has been canceled because a co-pilot failed to show up on time. Her computer simply won’t allow her.

It’s why the person from the credit card company can’t speak to you about your account until you put the cardholder — your recently deceased husband — on the line to give the authorization.

It’s why your company cafeteria won’t serve an Ethiopian option even if half the staff is Ethiopian.

It’s why the security guard won’t let you into the building you’ve worked in for 25 years because your identification card has expired — not even to go to the security office to renew your card.

It’s why, when you call the utility company to tell them your service is down for the third time that week, the person at the call center is completely uninterested in what you learned from the last two repairmen, assuring you that somebody will be out to check the problem and asking if there is anything else he can do for you today.

It’s why, when you call the 800 number for tech services while working at home over the weekend on a crucial project, they tell you they don’t support the application you are using and can’t find somebody who does.

Lifeguard's Ordeal is Parable About Outsourcing
by Steven Pearlstein
http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/lifeguards-ordeal-is-parable-about-outsourcing/2012/07/13/gJQAN6TtkW_story_1.html

Business Idea of the Week: Cuddling

This woman charges $1 per minute to cuddle.  If she works full-time (as in more or less nonstop Mon-Fri) for eight hours a day, that means she can pull in $120,000/year.

http://www.businessinsider.com/this-woman-is-charging-1-a-minute-to-cuddle-2012-7

Kinsey Institute Sex FAQ

http://www.kinseyinstitute.org/resources/FAQ.html

White House Salaries

View salaries at the White House:

http://www.whitehouse.gov/21stcenturygov/tools/salaries

Real World Middle Class Tax Rates: 75%?

*Social Security and Medicare: 15.3%
*Federal income tax: 25%
*State income tax: 5%
*Healthcare insurance: 15%
*Property tax: 15%

http://www.businessinsider.com/the-real-world-middle-class-tax-rate-75-2012-7

Quote of the Week: Millionaires

The person who minds nobody's business but his own is probably a millionaire.

-Anonymous (found on Forbes.com website)

Drive A Tank

There are several options for the Drive-A-Tank experience. The basic package, which costs $399, includes driving one tank with an open hatch and the opportunity to shoot one machine gun. For $549, drivers can navigate two different tanks and shoot three machine guns. For an additional $549, you can drive a tank over a car and for $749, you can smash two cars. And for the extra adventurous, customers can drive a tank through a trailer home for $3,500.

http://news.yahoo.com/drive-tank-crush-car-minn-firm-153648120--abc-news-topstories.html

The Best Chinese Restaurants in America

This list was put together by David Chan, an LA-based accountant and attorney who has eaten at 6,000+ Chinese restaurants across the US.  Do you think it is a California-centric list?

http://asiasociety.org/blog/asia/best-chinese-restaurants-america-are-they-all-california?utm_source=Asia+Society+eNews&utm_campaign=03dcf1fca5-eNews_120626&utm_medium=email

Why The Smartest People Talk The Least

http://www.businessinsider.com/why-geniuses-are-quietly-brilliant-2012-6

Never Watch Porn While Trading Stocks

A recent study shows that men who watched sexy videos or handled lingerie sought immediate gratification—even when they were making decisions about money, soda, and candy.
 
http://www.bakadesuyo.com/why-you-should-never-watch-porn-while-you-tra

But you should watch before going to the gym:
http://www.bakadesuyo.com/should-you-watch-porn-and-action-movies-befor

Smarter = More Affairs?

Higher IQ means more cheating. The result was stronger for women than men. Oddly, intelligence increased infidelity in women while education reduced it.

http://www.bakadesuyo.com/are-smarter-people-more-likely-to-have-affair

$100 Graduate Degrees?

http://www.forbes.com/sites/georgeanders/2012/06/05/udacity-sebastian-thrun-disrupting-higher-education/

What Its Billionaires Tell Us About a Nation

After nearly two decades of investing in emerging markets, much of it traveling from the gritty alleys of Bihar to the rooftop helipads of Sao Paulo in search of opportunity, I’ve developed an unusual rule of the road: watch the changes in the list of top billionaires, learn how they made their billions, and note how many billions they made. Changes in the list, and the size and source of the fortunes, can provide a quick indicator of how well positioned emerging nations are to compete in the global economy.

By Ruchir Sharma
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezra-klein/wp/2012/06/24/the-billionaires-list/

How Gullible Are We About Seeking Tips From "Experts"?

 Researchers gave nearly 400 people in Bangkok and Singapore tokens representing money and invited them to bet on random coin flips. Before each flip, participants got the chance to pay to read a prediction of what the result of the next toss would be. After the coin toss, those who hadn't paid also learned what the expert had predicted.

The odds of any one tip being right were, of course, 50%. Still, when the advice proved correct after the first coin toss, roughly 12% of players paid for a tip in the second round, compared with 4% if the prediction was wrong. And the proportion rose each time the advice was correct: If four tips in a row were right, purely the result of chance, more than 40% of players paid for advice for round five.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304898704577480922086289892.html

The 15 Maps That Explain The Entire World

http://www.businessinsider.com/the-15-maps-that-explain-the-world-in-2012-2012-6

Sexual Peak for Men & Women

Based on this one poll, the sexual peak for women is 28 and the sexual peak for men is 33.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/29/sexual-peak-women-28-men-33-myth_n_1554011.html?utm_hp_ref=sex

Quirky: Open Source Invention & Product Development

Watch the video here:

http://news.yahoo.com/ben-kaufman-s--crazy-journey--to-success.html

World's Highest Paid Models: 2012

1. Gisele Bundchen: $45 million
2. Kate Moss: $9.2 million
3. Natalia Vodianova: $8.6 million
4. Adriana Lima: $7.3 million
5. Doutzen Kroes: $6.9 million

See the full list here:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/briansolomon/2012/06/14/the-worlds-highest-paid-models/

Also see this article for the most influential models of all time:
http://www.businessinsider.com/most-influential-models-of-all-time-2012-6

Travel Ideas: American Seaside Escapes

http://travel.yahoo.com/ideas/american-seaside-escapes.html?page=1

Taxing Email & The "Rebound Effect"

"Mike Berners-Lee has a proposal for saving the world: he wants to start charging people a penny for every e-mail they send.  Doing so, he argues, would dramatically cut down the number of messages and eliminate the spam industry in one fell swoop.  More importantly, such a tax would be great for the environment because it woudl conserve the resources being used to process the large volumes of e-mail...The e-mail conundrum is the result of what Berners-Lee and others call the "rebound effect," where the creation of a more efficient manner of doing something causes people to do more of it, thereby offsetting some or all of the efficiency gains.  Installing energy-efficient light bulbs in the home, for example, often results in people leaving their lights on at all hours.  Building a more gas-efficient car, meanwhile, causes people to drive more."

The article notes that some think that the growth of emissions can more likely be explained by the Kaya identity, a theory developed in the 1990s by Japanese energy economist Yoichi Kaya.  Kaya suggested humanity's effect on the environment could be calculated using four factors: population growth, gross domestic product per person, energy use per unit of GDP, and carbon emissions per energy unit.

Beware the Rebound Effect
by Peter Nowak
Corporate Knights Magazine (Spring 2012; Page 29)

Cool Product: Japan's "Mini Noah's Ark"

This yellow ball is meant to save people in disasters.  Check it out.  It is an escape-pod called Noah.

http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/technology/2011/09/japanese-build-escape-pod-noah/

The other product I like is a "green" garbage can called BigBelly which has a solar panel that powers the compactor and when the bin in full, a sensor wirelessly calls for pickup.

http://bigbellysolar.com/

Study: It's Suprisingly Tough for Foreign College Students to Make American Friends

http://www.businessinsider.com/college-foreign-exchange-students-dont-have-any-friends-in-america-2012-6

Is Lobbying Bad for Business?

In a surprising finding, a new study shows that massive lobbying in D.C. and campaign donations by corporations are linked with worse market performance.

The Rice University study looked at the amount of money spent on lobbying and campaigning donations by 943 S&P 1500 firms between 1998 and 2008 and found that so-called political investments lead to weaker performance in terms of stock value and return on assets.

Further, the report showed that firms that placed former public officials on their boards were worse off than those without these kinds of board members.

“The view of corporations meddling in politics to the downfall of public interests is nothing new… This study simply demonstrates that it might not be quite the return on investment that corporate America or the public at large believes it to be,” said Doug Schuler, a study co-author and professor at Rice.

The report suggested several reasons for what it called “largely unexpected results,” including that businesspeople who support corporate political giving may generally take more risky business decisions; that corporate political giving is a poor investment; that this kind of spending is difficult for shareholders to monitor; and that ideological beliefs and other such pressures may influence corporate political activity.

But there’s a catch - when the study looked only at highly regulated industries, corporate political giving was connected to better market performance.

“If you’re regulated and for many years you keep repeatedly investing in (political activity), then you’ll realize some return on your investments. Then and only then it makes financial sense,” Michael Hadani, another co-author of the study, told Reuters.

The study is titled “In Search of El Dorado: The Elusive Financial Returns on Corporate Political Investments.” It is expected to be published in a forthcoming issue of the Strategic Management Journal.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0612/77318.html

Why Are High Heels Considered Sexy?

http://www.bakadesuyo.com/why-are-high-heels-sexy

Cost of Traveling The World For a Year

http://www.businessinsider.com/this-graph-breaks-down-the-cost-of-traveling-the-world-for-a-year-2012-6

39 New Scientific Concepts That Everyone Should Understand

http://www.businessinsider.com/scientific-concepts-from-this-will-make-you-smarter-2012-6#

Why Do So Many Prices End in .99?

http://timharford.com/2012/06/pound-for-pound-99p-is-worth-every-penny/

What Are The Odds of Being Alive?

http://www.businessinsider.com/infographic-the-odds-of-being-alive-2012-6

Quote of the Week: Cars & Women

Q: How do you like to spend your Sundays

A: Working at my garage.  I have about 135 cars and 90 motorcycles.  It's a little silly, but my thing has always been one woman and 200 vehicles.  It's cheaper than one car and 200 girlfriends.

-Parade Magazine asking Jay Leno about how he spends his Sundays.

The Global 20: The Big Trends That Are Changing The World

http://www.businessinsider.com/the-global-20-2012-5#

What I Won't Be Eating for Dinner

http://www.france24.com/en/20120525-japanese-man-cooks-serves-own-genitals

Question of the Day: Reading While Walking

I wonder what percent of people read while walking.  I also wonder what city (in the US and outside of the US) has the most reader-walkers.  Is it as distracting as texting while walking?

Ben & Jerry's Lock

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/23/ben-jerrys-euphori-lock_n_1539346.html

What Percentage of 7-Footers Are in the NBA?

http://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2012/05/what-percentage-of-7-footers-are-in-the-nba.html

Cool Video Map: Time Lapse of Europe 1000-2005

http://kottke.org/12/05/fantastic-time-lapse-map-of-europe

On How To Blog Anonymously

http://sexonomics-uk.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/how-to-blog-anonymously-and-how-not-to.html

On Maximizing Experiences: Slow Down

"People rush through experiences because they don't realize that slowing down consumption leads to more pleasure, a study finds."

Stop and Taste the Candies
by Christopher Shea
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304203604577396212278727638.html?mod=WSJ_LifeStyle_Lifestyle_5

World's Smuttiest Cities

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

How Much Does Kate Upton Make on Her Videos?

Kate Upton doing the Cat Daddy:
http://www.tmz.com/2012/05/01/kate-upton-cat-daddy-dance-bikini/?adid=hero2

Kate Upton doing the Dougie:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FcJScBLIEX4

Pay Goes Nowhere After 40

http://blogs.payscale.com/ask_dr_salary/2011/03/pay-goes-nowhere-after-40.html

10 Things Your Commencement Speaker Won't Tell You

I like these ones: (The full list of 10 can be found at the link below)

6. Read obituaries. They are just like biographies, only shorter. They remind us that interesting, successful people rarely lead orderly, linear lives.

9. It's all borrowed time. You shouldn't take anything for granted, not even tomorrow. I offer you the "hit by a bus" rule. Would I regret spending my life this way if I were to get hit by a bus next week or next year? And the important corollary: Does this path lead to a life I will be happy with and proud of in 10 or 20 years if I don't get hit by a bus.

10. Don't try to be great. Being great involves luck and other circumstances beyond your control. The less you think about being great, the more likely it is to happen. And if it doesn't, there is absolutely nothing wrong with being solid.

10 Things Your Commencement Speaker Won't Tell You
by Charles Wheelan
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304811304577366332400453796.html?mod=e2fb

Map: Biggest Breasts in the World

http://www.businessinsider.com/bild-breast-map-atlas-der-korbchengrossen-2012-4

Also:

Map: Penis Size by Country:
http://translate.google.com/translate?act=url&hl=en&ie=UTF8&prev=_t&rurl=translate.google.com&sl=de&tl=en&twu=1&u=http://www.bild.de/ratgeber/gesund-fit/penis/weltkarte-der-penis-laengen-16975756.bild.html

Map: The 10 Companies That Control Everything

http://www.businessinsider.com/these-10-corporations-control-almost-everything-you-buy-2012-4

Law of the Day: Pareto Principle

It states that for many events, roughly 80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pareto_principle

"Four Seasons Index"

An economic indicator which notes how much it costs to stay at various Four Seasons Hotels around the world.

http://pricesignals.blogspot.com/2012/04/ruchir-sharma-brics-story-is-played-out.html

Porn Jobs

I've always wondered how many people are in the porn industry around the world.

A porn lobbyist was quoted in 2003 as saying that the porn industry in California employs an excess of 12,000 people in California.
http://www.blazinggrace.org/cms/bg/pornstats

Here are some cool porn statistics:
http://www.familysafemedia.com/pornography_statistics.html

Is The "Seven Year Itch" Real?

It has been theorized that people go through a period of dissatisfaction with their lives, relationships, job, etc., about every seven years, which is how this expression originated.

 http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_the_seven_year_itch

According to this article, it should now be called the three-year itch.

From The Seven Year Itch to the Three Year Ditch: Why Couples Are Breaking Up Earlier Than Ever
by Robert Lefever
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-2132073/From-seven-year-itch-year-ditch-Why-couples-breaking-earlier-ever.html?ito=feeds-newsxml

Infographic: The World's Religions

http://www.businessinsider.com/infographic-map-world-religions-2012-4

Cool Product of the Week: SushiBot

It apparently rolls out 3,600 peices per hour...
http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2012/04/sushibot/

Average Faculty Salaries

See what professors, associate professors, assistant professors, instructors, etc... are making.

http://chronicle.com/article/Interactive-Table-Average/131433/

Happiness May be Overrated

Cheer Up: Happiness May be Overrated
by Marta Zaraska
http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/too-much-happiness-can-make-you-unhappy-studies-show/2012/04/02/gIQACELLrS_story.html

Cool Map: Taxes

This article has a bunch of really cool charts tracking each states corporate/individual/property/sales taxes...

The State of State Taxes
by Andrea Ford
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2111244,00.html

Why Does Democracy Have Such a Hard Time Taking Root in the Arab World?

 As it happens, a Harvard economics professor, Eric Chaney, recently presented a rigorous paper that helps unravel that knot. Chaney asks why there is a "democracy deficit" in the Arab world and systematically tests various hypotheses against the data. He notes that such majority-Muslim nations as Turkey, Indonesia, Albania, Bangladesh and Malaysia have functioning democratic systems, so the mere presence of Islam or Islamic culture cannot be to blame. He looks at oil-rich states and finds that some with vast energy reserves lack democracy (Saudi Arabia), but so do some without (Syria). He asks whether Arab culture is the culprit, but this does not provide much clarity. Chaney points out that many countries in the Arab neighborhood seem to share in the democracy deficit — Chad, Iran, Azerbaijan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan — yet they are not Arab.


Then Chaney constructs a persuasive hypothesis based in ancient history — and modern economics. He notes that the democracy deficit today exists in lands that were conquered by Arab armies after the death in A.D. 632 of the Prophet Muhammad. Lands that the Arabs controlled in the 12th century remain economically stunted today. This correlation is not simply a coincidence. Scholars from Montesquieu to Bernard Lewis suggest that there was something in the political development of the Arab imperial system that seemed to poison the ground against economic pluralism. Arab imperial control tended to mean centralized political authority, weak civil society, a dependent merchant class and a large role for the state in the economy. Chaney documents the latter, showing that the government's share of GDP is 7% higher on average in countries that were conquered by Arab armies than in those that were not. He also finds that countries in the first group have fewer trade unions and less access to credit, features of a vibrant civil society.

A Region at War With Its History
by Fareed Zakaria
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2111248,00.html

Quote of the Day: Humanity's Problems

"All of humanity's problems stem from a man's inability to sit quietly in a room alone."

-Blaise Pascal

Cool Map of the Week: Wind Map

Two research scientists have created an animated map of wind patterns across the continental US that changes with hourly forecasts.

http://hint.fm/wind/

Cool Pic of the Week: Kayaks

This image is from National Geographic (April 2012 edition) and is described like this:

On Fourth Lake in New York's Adirondacks, a crush of 1,902 canoes and kayaks attempts to break a 'largest raft' world record.  Rules dictate that the mega-structure float freely for at least 30 seconds, held together only by hands.

http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/visions-of-earth/visions-earth-2012

Quote of the Day: On Succeeding in Life

"No man is a failure who enjoys life."

-William Feather

Why Finish Books?

http://www.nybooks.com/blogs/nyrblog/2012/mar/13/why-finish-books/

On Culinary Intelligence

"The best tip in the book is that you get most of the value of a dessert from the first bite or two. I believe also — for most but not all meals — that 80 percent of the value of a soft drink comes in the first 10 percent of your consumption of that drink."

http://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2012/03/culinary-intelligence.html

US Government Getting on the Happiness Bandwagon

The federal government is seeking ways to measure gross national happiness...

"Funded by the Department of Health and Human Services, a panel of experts in psychology and economics, including Nobel laureate Daniel Kahneman, began convening in December to try to define reliable measures of 'subjective well-being.'  If successful, these could become official statistics."

More Than a Feeling
by Peter Whoriskey
http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/if-youre-happy-and-you-know-it--let-the-----government-know/2012/03/29/gIQAlSL2jS_story.html

On the Runner's High

"In both canines and humans, a high-intensity treadmill workout triggered the release of neurotransmitters known as endocannabinoids that ease pain, cause pleasure and create a desire for more exercise.  But walking on a treadmill, despite its health benefits, didn't raise endocannabinoid levels in either species."

Running With Rover
by Christopher Shea
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303404704577309801852465304.html

What is America's Biggest National Security Threat?

According to the Council on Foreign Relations, it is the US debt.  But even that is not the real root of the problem - overpopulation...

America's Biggest National Security Threat: US Debt
by Morgan Korn
http://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/daily-ticker/biggest-threats-u-national-security-142943020.html

Foreign Spies Stealing US Economic Secrets

A report from the Office of The National Counterintelligence Executie:http://www.ncix.gov/publications/reports/fecie_all/Foreign_Economic_Collection_2011.pdf

The 12 Most Common Ethnicities in the US

http://www.businessinsider.com/the-12-most-common-ethnicities-in-america-2012-3#12-swedish-4088555-million-1

The Real Leadership Lessons of Steve Jobs

An article in the Harvard Business Review by Walter Isaacson...
http://hbr.org/2012/04/the-real-leadership-lessons-of-steve-jobs/ar/1

Are Facebook Users Nacissists?

How Many Facebook Friends Do You Have? Study Links Narcissism and Facebook Activity
by Suzan Clarke
http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/abc-blogs/many-facebook-friends-study-links-narcissism-facebook-activity-120546746--abc-news.html

The Ten Most Influential Financial Journalists in America

http://www.businessinsider.com/the-most-influential-financial-journalists-2012-3

On Charity & Pressure

Once people open their front door to someone seeking money for charity, the "social-pressure cost" of saying no is $1.40 to $3.80, a study concludes. More than half of all face-to-face donations are basically payments to avoid social embarrassment, researchers say.

I Gave at the Office
by Christopher Shea
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203370604577263320286138892.html

How To Be Creative

Perhaps this is why Stephen Hawking goes to strip clubs (http://www.inquisitr.com/198893/stephen-hawking-loves-strip-clubs-and-the-universe/)

"It isn't until we're soothed in the shower or distracted by teh stand-up comic that we're able to turn the spotlight of attention inward, eavesdropping on all those random associations unfolding in the far reaches of the brain's right hemisphre...This research also explains why so many major breakthroughs happen in the unlikeliest of places, whether it's Archimedes in the bathtub or the physicist Richard Feynman scribbling equations in a strip club, as he was known to do.  It reveals the wisdom of Google putting ping-pong tables in the lobby and confirms the practical benefits of daydreaming."

How to be Creative
by Jonah Lehrer
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203370604577265632205015846.html

On Spies & Divorce

On CIA divorces...

Under Cover, Under Stress: When It's Spy vs. Spouse
by Ian Shapira
http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/cia-divorces-the-secrecy-when-spies-split/2012/03/05/gIQAPpBZAS_story.html

Boats Sold Per Year

I wonder how many boats are sold per year in the US (and the world).  Does the yacht industry have something like the auto industry does - the Seasonally Adjusted Annual Rate (SAAR)?

Some statistics, although none too recent, can be found here: http://www.rbbi.com/desks/mkt/stats/stats.htm

The Eight Most Expensive Dishes in the US

http://blog.zagat.com/2012/03/8-most-expensive-dishes-in-us.html

Japan Wants Cuisine Listed as UNESCO Heritage

Should food be listed as a global cultural treasure by the United Nations?  I'd go for it...

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5ju3-Wa_ZsfixTb-4IsSun8euC7Xw?docId=CNG.ed3fc3e016a720a3286d8f3516f0c011.161

Question of the Day: Winning the Lottery

What would you do if you won $10 million?  How about $50 million, or $100 million?

My first inclination would be to set up a comfortable life (house, cars, insurance) and then live a relatively normal life (except maybe some travel plurges)...The big choices would be about continuing to work and possible donations.  Also choosing a good lawyer, accountant, and financial advisor would be a priority...

Who would you tell?  Family?  Friends?  Colleagues?  Clients?  Who would you never tell?

Bloomberg Billionaire Index

Goodbye Forbes, hello Bloomberg...

http://topics.bloomberg.com/bloomberg-billionaires-index/

Fugu Licenses To Become Obsolete?

Tokyo To Drop Fuge License Ordinance Amid Decline in Fatal Diner Poisonings
http://newsonjapan.com/html/newsdesk/article/95083.php

Graphing the Future of the Porn Industry

http://www.businessinsider.com/how-execs-in-the-adult-entertainment-biz-think-3d-and-web-tv-will-shape-the-future-2012-3#3d-porn-is-not-expected-to-be-big-1

The Stratfor Glossary of Useful, Baffling and Strange Intelligence Terms

This Stratfor document was uncovered by Wikileaks...
http://wikileaks.org/IMG/pdf/The_Stratfor_Glossary_of_Useful_Baffling_and_Strange_Intelligence_Terms.pdf

Does Your Body Clock Determine When You Get Sick?

"Immunity to infection, research suggests, varies with daily circadian rhythms."

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/02/27/really-the-claim-your-body-clock-can-determine-when-you-get-sick/?nl=health&emc=healthupdateemb3

Which Countries Were Never Colonized?

http://neuroskeptic.blogspot.com/2012/02/unconquered-world.html

Are Rich People Unethical?

"Scientists at the University of California at Berkeley analyzed a person's rank in society (measured by wealth, occupational prestige and education) and found that those who were richer were more likely to cheat, lie and break the law than those who were poorer."

Are Rich People Unethical?
by Mikaela Conley
http://news.yahoo.com/rich-people-unethical-224915381--abc-news.html

Quote of the Day: Work

"There's no honest work that a man does that ain't noble."

-Jim Vance of New 4 quoting his grandfather

Question of the Day: Best Sport for Loners

What is the best sport for loners?  Kayaking?  Running? Biking? Sailing? Swimming? Windsuring?  Water sports in general

Golf's Biggest Delusions

Golf's Biggest Delusions
by John Paul Newport
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203918304577241550813907764.html

Most Adulterous City

Guess which city has the most members on adultery dating website Ashley Madison...
http://www.businessinsider.com/most-popular-city-cheating-ashley-madison-2012-2

Chart of the Day: A Breakdown of America's 131.8 Million Homes

http://www.businessinsider.com/a-quick-breakdown-of-americas-1318-million-homes-2012-2

Nomophobic

"Nomophobia is the fear of being out of mobile phone contact.  The term, an abbreviation for 'no-mobile-phone phobia,' was coined during a study by the UK Post Office who commissioned YouGov, a UK-based research organisation to look at anxieties suffered by mobile phone users. The study found that nearly 53 percent of mobile phone users in Britain tend to be anxious when they "lose their mobile phone, run out of battery or credit, or have no network coverag'"..The study found that about 58 percent of men and 48 percent of women suffer from the phobia, and an additional 9 percent feel stressed when their mobile phones are off."

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

Can Long Work Hours Cause Depression?

"Routinely working long hours is associated with a greater risk of depression, studies show."

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/02/06/really-the-claim-long-work-hours-can-cause-depression/?nl=health&emc=healthupdateemb3

Yahoo's Signal Predicts Obama Win

This is at least consistent with the online prediction markets...
http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/signal/obama-poised-win-2012-election-303-electoral-votes-202543583.html

Simple Names = More Profitable

"Having an easy-to-pronounce name boosts one's chances of winning favor in the workplace, personal life and even political elections, according to new research...Attorneys with simpler surnames were more likely to hold a higher position at their firm, the findings showed...Adam Alter conducted a similar study in 2006 showing that copanies with pronounceable ticker symbols - such as RAD for Rite Aid Corp. - performed better in the stock market following an initial public offering."

Name Game: Simple Is Better, Study Says
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204642604577215372010543642.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

Map: Where Americans Most Depend on Government Benefits

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2012/02/12/us/entitlement-map.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=thab1

Plan B Vending Machines

Are we catching up with the Japanese on cool vending machines?

FDA Investigates Vending Machine for Morning-After Pills
by Dave Warner
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46327534/ns/health/

Top 10 Foreign Buyers of US Weapons

This list is apparently from a recent Congressional Research Service (CRS) report:

1. Saudi Arabia
2. UAE
3. Egypt
4. Taiwan
5. Australia
6. Iraq
7. Pakistan
8. UK
9. Turkey
10. South Korea

http://www.bizjournals.com/washington/news/2012/02/02/top-10-foreign-buyers-of-us-weapons.html

It contradicts a bit with this news clip:
http://www.mid-day.com/news/2011/dec/091211-India-is-third-largest-buyer-of-US-arms.htm

Here is a list of the top 10 weapons manufactuers (by company):
http://realitypod.com/2010/08/top-10-weapons-manufacturers/

Here is a list/map of the top 10 weapons exporting countries:
http://www.mapsofworld.com/world-top-ten/world-top-ten-weapons-exporting-map.html

Here is a list of the top 100 weapons-manufacturing companies
http://www.sipri.org/research/armaments/production/Top100

On Obsessive Business Card Collecting

When does business card collecting become obsessive?  Is it harmful?  (It's not like you're killing anyone...).  Is it a release?  Is it a drug?  Is collecting business cards for the sake of networking any "healtheir" than for any other sake?  Is it a survival technique?

"Since at least 1982, Mr. Ziegler has tracked down thousands of people whose last name is Smith and mailed them handwritten letters.  His simple request: Send back a business card.  He includes a self-addressed stamped envelope and has been suprised by the response.  Of the estimated 2,500 letters sent, he has received 1,014 cards from Smtihs in all 50 states and seven countries...Collecting business cards of people with particular names isn't completely unique, says American Business Card Club President James L. Thompson, owner of 2,800 cards of people and businesses named Thompson.  But Mr. Thompson - who recently boasted of about 5,500 cards from tattoo and piercing shops; 4,035 from Chinese restaurants; and 1,666 from microbreweries in Washington state - says he hasn't heard of any collectors who limit themselves to a single name."

Smitten by Smiths: Bob Ziegler Collects Cards of a Different Name
by Anton Troianovski
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204136404577208961027241298.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

On Valentine's Day & Cheating Women

" AshleyMadison.com, a dating website for married people, sees a record number of female sign-ups after Valentine's Day founder and president Noel Biderman told Momlogic last year.  In fact, ten times more women sign up to the website on Feb. 15.  The second biggest day of the year for female sign-ups is the day after Mother's Day.  Biderman links increased female sign-up rates to a lack of appreciation felt after specific holidays."

http://articles.businessinsider.com/2012-02-13/news/31054226_1_vili-fualaau-mary-kay-letourneau-answer

On Why Teachers Have Sex With Their Students

http://articles.businessinsider.com/2012-02-13/news/31054226_1_vili-fualaau-mary-kay-letourneau-answer

The Seven Equations That Rule The World

Seven Equations That Rule Your World
by Ian Stewart
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21328516.600-seven-equations-that-rule-your-world

Stealing a Glacier

Will this be a popular crime in the future?  As ice cubes become more "fancy," I can see how it would be easy to market glacial ice at fancy bars and restaurants...

"Police have arrested a man in Patagonia who was stealing a massive chunk of ice to sell as designer cubes for cocktails. How the hell do you steal a glacier, anyway?"

Man Arrested For Stealing a Glacier
http://gizmodo.com/5881552/man-arrested-for-stealing-a-glacier

Peak Everything - Why Things Are Costing More

On peaking and pricing...

*Peak Oil
*Peak Uranium
*Peak Population
*Peak Tuna
*Peak Water
*Peak Iron
*Peak Coffee
*Peak Coal
*Peak Food
*Peak Phosphorus
*Peak Spectrum
*Peak Rare Earths
*Peak Fracking

Peak Everything -- Why Everything Costs More
by Tom Randall and Eric Roston
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/in-demand.html

15 Ways Your Desk Job is Destoying Your Body

http://www.businessinsider.com/15-ways-your-desk-job-is-destroying-your-body-2012-2

On Introverts

It is important to distinguish between shy and introverted...

What if introverts ruled the world?  What is women ruled the world?

The Upside of Being an Introvert (And Why Extroverts Are Overrated)
by Bryan Walsh
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2105432,00.html

Chart: Three Decades of Panic & Euphoria

From Credit Suisse's Global Risk Appetite Index (GRAI):
http://www.businessinsider.com/a-beautiful-chart-showing-3-decades-worth-of-panic-and-euphoria-2012-2

Silicon Valley Top 100

http://www.businessinsider.com/the-silicon-valley-100-2012-1#100-jason-shellen-1

Hamamatsu Is the New Gyoza (Dumpling) Capital of the World

http://newsonjapan.com/html/newsdesk/article/94480.php

How Doctors Die

http://zocalopublicsquare.org/thepublicsquare/2011/11/30/how-doctors-die/read/nexus/

Are We Stagnating Aesthetically?

http://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2011/12/are-we-stagnating-aesthetically.html

How Much Do Top Chess Players Earn?

http://www.chess.com/article/view/making-money-in-chess

Why Aren't The Chinese Better at Soccer?

"The first problem is the method of identifying young talent. The sport system selects children with particular attributes, such as long limbs, which could pay off in athletics, rowing, swimming, diving or gymnastics. These youngsters are the genetic wheat. But football’s legends can emerge from the seeming chaff of human physiques: think of stocky Diego Maradona, perhaps the greatest ever player, or his Argentine successor, the tiny genius Lionel Messi...Then there is the matter of gold medals and opportunity costs. China pursues gold by funnelling athletes into obscure individual sports that can reap multiple medals in competitions. Football can only yield one medal or World Cup...But the contradictions and weaknesses of Chinese capitalism have also played a part in the country’s footballing ignominy."

http://www.economist.com/node/21541716

Map of the Day: Where US Terrorist Attacks Occur

http://www.businessinsider.com/map-of-the-day-hot-spots-of-terrorist-attacks-in-america-2012-2

On Fugu in Washington

"Only one known Washington-area restaurant currently serves fugu: Kaz Sushi Bistro in DC's Foggy Bottom.  Kazukhiro 'Kaz' Okochi orders the fish from Wako International Corp. in New York City, the only fugu importer approved by the Food and Drug Administration.  Only a select group of restaurnats are certified by Wako to buy the fish, and Wako lobbied for years to get approval; all of the company's fish comes from Shimonoseki, Japan...the fish doesn't come cheap: Okochi paid Wako $90 a pound for farm-raised fugu in 2011."

February 2012 Washingtonina

Which Celebrity Chef-Branded Restaurants Are Better Than Others?

http://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2012/01/which-celebrity-chef-branded-restaurants-are-better-than-others.html

Is It Counterproductive to Recommend Restaurants in Tokyo?

http://blog.sethroberts.net/2012/01/07/tokyo-restaurant-recommendations-and-why-they-might-be-a-bad-idea/

Do We Become More Conservative As We Age?

"In fact, research shows that seniors become more tolerant and more open-minded in their later years."

Do People Become More Conservative As They Age?
by Emily Sohn
http://news.discovery.com/human/voter-conservative-aging-liberal-120119.html#mkcpgn=rssnws1

Drink of the Day: Chicha

"...A batch of chicha, a traditional Latin American corn beer...In order to follow an authentic Peruvian method as closely as possible, the corn would be milled and moistened in the chicha maker's mouth.  In other words, they spit in the beer."

Chew It Up, Spit It Out, Then Brew It.  Cheers!
by Joyce Wadler
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/09/dining/09beer.html?pagewanted=all

Chart:: Top 1% - What Jobs Do They Have?

http://www.nytimes.com/packages/html/newsgraphics/2012/0115-one-percent-occupations/index.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=thab1

Don't Mess With Food in Hong Kong

"In the city that created the dim sum bond, where food and money are two overriding passions, the biggest battle in the financial community isn't about job cuts or billion-dollar IPOs.  It's about lunch...at issue is the length of the lunch hour at the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.  The exchange...wants to reduce its lunchtime trading break from 90 minutes to one hour..."

For Brokers in Hong Kong, This New Policy Is Out to Lunch
by Kate O'Keefe & Isabella Steger
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203735304577166561256968008.html

21 Facts About the Corrupt Olive Oil Industry

http://www.businessinsider.com/fake-olive-oil-2012-1

Analysis of the Week: Stress

"Takeaway 1: Life involves money, work and relationships.
Takeaway 2: Money, work and relationships cause stress.
Takeaway 3: Stress causes chronic illness
Takeaway 4: Chronic illness causes death

Therefore, one might conclude, life causes death."

Too much Stress? See, That is What Worries US
by Dan Zak
http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/in-american-psychological-association-survey-22-percent-report-extreme-stress/2012/01/11/gIQAooatrP_story.html

Also, read about "Broken Heart Syndrome"
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/broken-heart-syndrome/DS01135

Is Stradivarius Overrated?

"In short head-to-head tests, five instruments were preferred at roughly equal rates and one wad distinctly disfavored: a Stradivarius.  In a more unstructured comparison, the same Stradivarius was again voted the worst, and four got equal ratings."

Is Stradivarius Overrated?
by Christopher Shea
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203471004577141042369472890.html

Question of the Day: Biking

Q: We all know that one should work or run in the opposite direction of street traffic.  But can you explain the rationale for riding a bicycle with the traffic instead of against it?  It feels wrong to me.

A:  A bicycle is a vehicle, and if all vehicles did not abide by the same rules, conflicts and confusion would occur too often, resulting in accidents.  To convince yourself, look at it this way: Would you ask the same question about riding a motorcycle?  Of course not.  Well, all of the underlying reasons for motorcycles to follow vehicle rules also apply to bicycles.  Still a holdout?  Studies do show that wrong-way cyclists are much more likely to get hit by cars.

Update:

Q: When you wrote about why bicyclists should ride with traffic (and not against it), you neglected to mention the main reason: decreased impact speed in an accident.  For example, if you're riding a bike at 15 mph and you're struck head-on by a car traveling at 35 mph, you're exposed to a 50mph (35 plus 15) impact.  But if you're struck from behind, you get a 20 mph (35 minus 15) impact.

A: Many readers wrote to express the same idea, but it's not quite correct.  First, the main reason that all types of vehicles (including bikes) travel in the same direction is not decreased impact speed in an accident.  It's the avoidance of accidents in the first place.  That's a basic rule for any kind of traffic.  Then there's this physics error: In a head-on collision the sum of the vehicles' speeds does not equal the force of the impact.  This is a common misconception, sometimes propagated by news reports.  Say two identical cars are traveling at 50mph and they collide head-on.  Each car sustains a 50 mph impact, not a 100 mph impact.  A cyclist will fare much worse than a motorist in nearly all collisions, of course, but the first one you describe, a head-on collision between a 15 mph bike and a 35 mph car, will not deliver a 50 mph impact to either party.

-Ask Marilyn

Food of the Day: Casu Marzu

This cheese from Sardinia contains live insect larvae.

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

On Anxiety

"If you find you have a fear, how can you cope?  Accept the anxiety.  Tell yourself that this is a normal reaction and it will go away shortly.  Don't bury the thought.  That will only make it worse, thanks to a phenomenon called 'ironic processes.'  Your emotional brain is programmed to resist when you try to suppress an emotional thought, particularly about a danger."

Insight Into Recent Elevator Anxiety
by Elizabeth Bernstein