Recently a friend and I discussed the possibility of returning to the gold standard, but having currency backed by stock certificates instead. His reasoning was that stocks go up in value and companies are productive, whereas gold just sits in a...
p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; line-height: 16.0px; font: 11.0px 'Lucida Grande'; color: #333233}span.s1 {letter-spacing: 0.0px} My visions and knowledge have been growing stronger over the years and it is finally time to share with the...
1) Being gay is not natural. Real Americans always reject unnatural things like eyeglasses, polyester, and air conditioning.2) Gay marriage will encourage people to be gay, in the same way that hanging around tall people will make you tall.3) Legalizing...
Economist Paul Rubin writing in today's Wall Street Journal explains why our "caveman heritage" makes us resistant to clear thinking about international trade:"There are two aspects of our evolved psychology that help explain beliefs about trade....
p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; line-height: 16.0px; font: 11.0px 'Lucida Grande'; color: #333233} This map is a visualization of the contiguous United States, colored by distance to the nearest McDonald’s. The McFarthest spot is...
We could take the entire world population and move it to the state of Texas, and the population density there would still be less than New York City. (The world living in Texas would have a pop density of 24,500 people per square mile, NYC currently...
Today we promote the idea that people are responsible (and to blame) for their health problems and have significant control over their health and disease risk. These beliefs, including the belief in an ideal way of eating, tend not to match...
Calories are a measure of energy stored in the food we eat. It can also be used to measure the stored energy in other fuels, like gasoline. Our bodies use fuel in the same basic way as an automobile. It is burned and the by-products of combustion...
When researchers put the following three problems to 3400 students in the US, only 17 per cent got all three right. Can you do any better?1) A bat and a ball cost $1.10 in total. The bat costs $1 more than the ball. How much does the ball cost?2)...
According to The Economist: "Over 170 countries now impose drink-driving limits, according to a new report by the World Health Organisation, although the amount of alcohol allowed varies considerably. Only 88 countries have a legal limit of...
Before I left for Las Vegas I pulled up into the drive-through at Iowa State Bank. Without showing ID, I was able to withdraw tens of thousands of dollars in the form of cash and a money order made out to Wynn Las Vegas. They can't see my face from...
Onions are the only commodity for which futures trading is prohibited by law. In 1958, onion farmers were convinced that speculators were responsible for the falling price of onions, and lobbied to ban traders from attempting to buy low and sell...
"There have been many experiments running rats through all kinds of mazes, and so on — with little clear result. But in 1937 a man named Young did a very interesting one. He had a long corridor with doors all along one side where the rats came in,...
When you buy a tomato, you are estimating its value to you personally; its use value. You can't realistically re-sell the tomato, and you are willing to buy only if its value is close to the asking price. Now imagine buying a piece of farm equipment....
The first air-breathing fish and amphibians extracted oxygen using gills when in the water and primitive lungs when on land—and to do so, they had to be able to close the glottis, or entryway to the lungs, when underwater. Importantly, the entryway...
I've seen some ridiculous stuff on the web about how to remove onion and garlic odors from your hands or from your breath, including a salt paste, vinegar, rubbing them on stainless steel, tomato juice, lemon juice, parsley, mint, and peanut butter,...
p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; line-height: 16.0px; font: 11.0px 'Lucida Grande'; color: #333233} Have you ever wondered how to keep an avocado fresh and green and stop it from turning brown within a few hours? I've read many pieces...
There should be regulations on the candy you can give out. Candy isn't healthy and we don't want kids getting too much unhealthy stuff. Plus you'll make your poor neighbors feels bad if you give out better candy, so I think anyone giving...
