Washington's Sex Scandals

T.W. Farnam of WSJ has put this list of Washington sex scandals together...

http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2008/03/10/washingtons-sex-scandals/

When is a Massage More Than a Massage?

"Specific laws vary from state to state, but in general, the distinction between paid-for physical contact and 'prostitution' comes down to the purpose of the touching."

Eliot's Erotic Games
by Michelle Tsai
http://www.slate.com/id/2186241/

How Do You Go Off The Record?

There is no exact definition, but here is the general consensus:

"Ask to go off the record, discuss what that means, and don't reveal any secrets until the journalist has agreed to the understanding."

How Do You Go Off The Record?
by Michelle Tsai
http://www.slate.com/id/2186210/

Why is Prostitution Illegal?

"Martha Nussbaum, a law and philosophy professor at the University of Chicago, argues that lots of work involves the sale of bodily services and that lots of the work that poor women do involves bad working conditions. For her, it's all about context—there's a big difference between a street worker controlled by a pimp and a high-end call girl who picks her own clients, and the real question is how to increase poor women's access to decent and safe work in general. Legalizing prostitution 'is likely to make things a little better for women who have too few options to begin with,' Nussbaum writes."

Why Is Prostitution Illegal
by Emily Bazelon
http://www.slate.com/id/2186243/

Derivatives Bubble

A thought-provoking peice but I'm not sure if the numbers add up...

Facts:

*U.S. annual gross domestic product is about $15 trillion

*U.S. money supply is also about $15 trillion

*Current proposed U.S. federal budget is $3 trillion

*U.S. government's maximum legal debt is $9 trillion

*U.S. mutual fund companies manage about $12 trillion

*World's GDPs for all nations is approximately $50 trillion

*Unfunded Social Security and Medicare benefits $50 trillion to $65 trillion

*Total value of the world's real estate is estimated at about $75 trillion

*Total value of world's stock and bond markets is more than $100 trillion

*BIS valuation of world's derivatives back in 2002 was about $100 trillion

*BIS 2007 valuation of the world's derivatives is now a whopping $516 trillion

Derivatives the New "Ticking Timebomb"
by Paul Ferrell
http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/derivatives-new-ticking-time-bomb/story.aspx?guid=%7BB9E54A5D%2D4796%2D4D0D%2DAC9E%2DD9124B59D436%7D

Cost of War

"In 2008, the war's sixth year, the [Iraq] war will cost approximately $12 billion a month, triple the 'burn' rate of its earliest years, Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph E. Stiglitz and co-author Linda J. Bilmes report in a new book. "

Studies: Iraq Costs US $12 billion Per Month
by Charles Hanley
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080310/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_war_costs;_ylt=ArlXHItzldeOFzAXDQXOaw6s0NUE

Video: How Traffic Jams Occur

A 40 second video on how traffic jams occur...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Suugn-p5C1M

Top 50 Restaurants

Restaurant magazine produces an annual list of the 50 best restaurants in the world based on a poll of international chefs and critics. One cannot deny that the list is very "western-centric"...

2007 List:

1. El Bulli
2. The Fat Duck
3. Pierre Gagnaire
4. The French Laundry
5. Tetsuya's
6. Bras
7. Mugaritz
8. Le Louis XV
9. Per Se
10. Arzak

http://www.theworlds50best.com/default.aspx

Why Female Voices?

Q: Of the disembodied voices I hear during the day, most are female (on Metro; on automated answering systems at utilities, banks, etc...). Can you explain this?

A: I feel as though all those soulless prerecorded woman's voices are looking out for me. A man's voice would sound less nurturing, too orderly...I want a relationship with the faceless bureaucracy that is imposing order on my daily routine.

Source: Three Wise Guys, WPost (3/9/08)

Fashionomics

Another reason to go buy stuff...

"Fashion fulfills a similar role in the consumer economy, by providing a mechanism to periodically liquidate certain elements of a consumer lifestyle, triggering the incentive to learn about new things and to demand new goods."

Fashionomics
by Jason Potts
http://www.cis.org.au/Policy/summer%2007-08/potts_summer07.html

Altruism & The Selfish Gene

Is altruism merely a survival technique?

Evolutionary psychologists have come up with four plausible Darwinian reasons for altruism:

1. There is “kinship selection,” which is supposed to lurk behind the sacrifices you make for your biological family. It’s based on the percentage of genetic overlap.

2. There is “reciprocal altruism,” which doesn’t depend on shared genes. Here, the basic idea is: You scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours.

3. The Darwinian advantage of having a reputation for generosity.

4. The aim of bankrupting one’s rivals? This is sometimes called the Potlatch Effect, after the competitive feasts (“potlatch” in Chinook) of a Pacific Northwest tribe whose rival chieftains try to humiliate one another by unmatchable displays of generosity.

Good Instincts

by Jim Holt

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/09/magazine/09wwln-lede-t.html

Best & Worst Countries for Women

Measures of well-being include life expectancy, education, purchasing power and standard of living. Source: UNDP Gender-related Development Index.

Best:

1. Iceland
2. Norway
3. Australia
4. Canada
5. Ireland
6. Sweden
7. Switzerland
8. Japan
9. Netherlands
10. France

Worst:

*Afghanistan
*Congo
*Iraq
*Nepal
*Sudan
*Guatemala
*Mali
*Pakistan
*Saudi Arabia
*Somalia

http://www.thestar.com/News/World/article/326354

Video: 99 Words for Boobs

I always wondered what word has the most nicknames...For some reason, genitals and breasts seem to have lots of nicknames. Perhaps it is because they are fairly unique body parts, and/or maybe it is because people are embarrased to say the actual word.

http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/3b1e3750e2 (Warning: Slightly NSFW)

Nyotaimori with Men?

Not only is nyotaimori moving to Minnesota (it was previously found only in big/progressive areas like LA/NY), but it is using men. Not a bad idea to attract a larger customer base...

"Only a handful of U.S. restaurants -- in Los Angeles, New York and Chicago -- have adopted the custom on a regular basis. Minneapolis' health and licensing officials signed off on Pham's venture after witnessing a mock trial, he said. A Seattle restaurant tried it in 2003 but was met with a minor uproar from feminist groups."

http://www.startribune.com/entertainment/dining/16432456.html

Chart: Most Powerful Senators

Do you agree?

http://www.themonkeycage.org/2008/03/who_is_the_most_powerful_membe.html

America's Most & Least Favored Nations

Following is the percentage of US adults with a very or mostly favorable view of each country. Note that only 22 countries were on the survey.

Favorites
1. Canada: 92%
2. Great Britain: 89%
3. Germany: 82%
4. Japan: 80%

Least Favorites
1. Iran: 8%
2. North Korea: 12%
3. The Palestinian Authority: 14%
4. Iraq: 20%

http://www.gallup.com/poll/104734/Americans-Most-Least-Favored-Nations.aspx (Feb. 11-14, 2008)

MSG: Still Going Strong

"Cooks around the world have remained dedicated to MSG, even though they may not know it by that name. As hydrolyzed soy protein or autolyzed yeast, it adds flavor to the canned chicken broth and to the packs of onion soup mix used by American home cooks, and to the cheese Goldfish crackers and the low-fat yogurts in many lunchboxes."

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/05/dining/05glute.html?em&ex=1205038800&en=b5452745be2b6c86&ei=5087%0A

Japan's Haircut Indicator

This is a bit of a stretch, but good try...

"In a report last month, the Nikkei paper conjured up stats to show that Japanese women start wearing their hair short when the economy is worsening and let it grow longer when times are getting better... One theory is that women adopted shorter hairstyles because in harder times they have less money to spend on hair care products, such as hairsprays and gels, which women tend to use more heavily for longer hair."

Japan's Haircut Indicator
by Ian Rowley
http://www.businessweek.com/globalbiz/content/mar2008/gb2008036_605726.htm?campaign_id=rss_daily

World's Richest People

This comes to show that a slow, boring investment strategy truly pays off.

"US financier Warren Buffett has overtaken Bill Gates as the world's richest man, according to Forbes annual billionaire's list, which this year saw Russia, China and India making increasing inroads."

Facts from 2008:

*1,125 people from around the world made the list (946 in 2007).

*Their total net worth stands at $4.4 trillion (up from $3.5 trillion in 2007) .

*The US easily led the rankings with 469 billionaires or 42% (up from 415 in 2007).

*Russia replaced Germany for 2nd place with 87 billionaires.

*Japan, the 2nd largest economy in the world, has "only" 24 billionaires.

*Moscow (74 billionaires) overtook New York City (71 billionaires) as home of the most billionaires.

http://www.forbes.com/home/billionaires/2008/03/05/richest-billionaires-people-billionaires08-cx_lk_0305intro.html

Quote of the Day

The best way to be boring is to leave nothing out.

-Voltaire

US's Fastest Growing Faiths: Islam & Buddhism

"As the Census Bureau is barred from asking Americans about their religious affiliations, the best data comes from the Pew Center's recent Religious Landscape of the United States survey. Pew finds that 78.4 percent of Americans are Christian, among which 52 percent are Protestants, 24 percent Catholic, 1.7 percent Mormon, and 0.6 percent Orthodox). Two percent are atheist and another 2 percent agnostic; 1.7 percent are Jewish; 0.7 percent are Buddhist, 0.7 percent Muslim, and 0.6 percent Hindu. By comparison, the world is more Muslim, less Protestant, and more Buddhist and Hindu."

http://www.ppionline.org/ppi_ci.cfm?knlgAreaID=108&subsecID=900003&contentID=254590

Now Endangered: Snow Eating

"To the list of simple childhood pleasures whose safety has been questioned, add this: eating snow. A recent study found that snow — even in relatively pristine spots like Montana and the Yukon — contains large amounts of bacteria."

Snow Eating Now Endangered Kid Pleasure
by Melissa Rayworth
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080304/ap_on_re_us/eating_snow

Why American Sommeliers are Better than French

"Condescension and humorlessness have long been defining features of French wine service, which can probably be attributed to two factors: Many French sommeliers came to the job not by choice but by conscription, and the position has usually been a life sentence. In France, the sommelier was often someone who entered the restaurant trade as a barely pubescent teen with dreams of becoming a chef (and no prospect of attending university). Then, deemed unworthy of a place at the stove, our man (and it was always a man) got shunted off to the wine cellar, where he was condemned to spend the rest of his working days in the shadow of the egomaniacal prick who beat him out in the kitchen. This was not a recipe for service with a smile."

A Turn of the Corkscrew
by Mike Steinberger
http://www.slate.com/id/2180456/

The Return of Mead?

"...The recent interest in fermented honey has morphed it from an esoteric item that only a few bearded Dungeons & Dragons players indulged in to a small yet legitimate commercial enterprise. There are now more than 100 meaderies in the United States..."

A Taste of Honey
by Nicholas Day
http://www.slate.com/id/2184361/

Emergency! Who Wakes Up the President?

"It varies from president to president, but the task usually falls to the national security adviser or the chief of staff. In the White House, a small team of "watch officers"—drawn from the CIA, the military, and the State Department—keeps an eye on incoming news and intelligence reports 24 hours a day...This procedure has been in place only since 1961, when John F. Kennedy ordered the construction of a permanent monitoring station on the site of what was once the West Wing bowling alley."


Calling the President at 3 A.M.
by Daniel Engber
http://www.slate.com/id/2185612/

Election Year & Natural Disasters

Why are there so many disasters during Presidential election years? It all comes down to economics...

Landslide!
by Daniel Gross
http://www.slate.com/id/2185371/

The Claim: Caffeince Causus Dehydration

"Most studies have found that in moderate amounts, caffeine has only mild diuretic effects — much like water."

The Claim: Caffeine Causes Dehydration
by Ahahad O'Conner
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/04/health/nutrition/04real.html?em&ex=1204779600&en=5d335c36f8c08f70&ei=5087%0A

Wikipedia Success = Due to Vandalism?

"Wikipedians see vandalism as a problem, and it certainly can be, but a Diogenes-minded observer would submit that Wikipedia would never have been the prodigious success it has been without its demons...Not only does Wikipedia need its vandals—up to a point—the vandals need an orderly Wikipedia, too. Without order, their culture-jamming lacks a context."

The Charms of Wikipedia
by Nicholson Baker
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/21131

Chinese Food: US National Cuisine?

"There are about 40,000 Chinese restaurants in the US, more than the number of McDonald's, Burger Kings, and KFCs combined. Chinese food might be our national cuisine."

West Eats East
by Bich Minh Nguyen
http://www.chicagotribune.com/services/newspaper/printedition/saturday/books/chi-fortunebw01mar01,0,5693720.story

Most Stolen Book List

"There's an underground economy of boosted books. These values are commonly understood and roundly agreed upon through word of mouth, and the values always seem to be true."

Flying Off the Shelves
by Paul Constant
http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Content?oid=520472

Morning Person vs. Night Person

"Night owls are more creative, more flexible and more caffeinated, studies have found. Morning people are healthier, more conscientious and more emotionally stable. They're not as much fun at parties, but morning people run the world. "

Learning to Live Like an Early Bird
by Melinda Beck
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120457323625608259.html?mod=todays_us_personal_journal

Thought of the Day

If you were hit and killed by a car while crossing the street today, what are the things that you wished wouldn't have bothered you while you were alive? Perhaps something you always think will happen but never does? And, what would be your regrets?

World's 25 Dirtiest Cities

Forbes Magazine used Mercer Human Resource Consulting for the "2007 Health and Sanitation Rankings"...

1. Baku, Azerbaijan
2. Dhaka, Bangladesh
3. Antananarivo, Madagascar
4. Port au Prince, Haiti
5. Mexico City

http://www.forbes.com/2008/02/26/pollution-baku-oil-biz-logistics-cx_tl_0226dirtycities.html

The Last Lecture

This professor is about to die (seriously) and this is a video of the last lecture he gave his students. He is performing this last lecture (as he delivered it to his students) on Oprah. It is supposed to be inspirational and it may make you cry...How would you give your last lecture?

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8577255250907450469&hl=en

America's Sex Life

The 2007/2008 Durex Sexual Wellbeing Global Survey results are in and the US has nothing to be smiling about...

"Americans spend nearly three hours every week grooming themselves, but less than one hour on foreplay and sexual intercourse. It’s no wonder that only 46% of us describe our love lives as exciting, or existent for that matter. On average, Americans spend 35 minutes on foreplay and sexual intercourse each session. And since we have sex once every 4.3 days, that averages out to about 57 minutes per week – 14 minutes below the global average."

http://www.coedmagazine.com/sex/6217