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