THE BEST Super Bowl spots ever, by genre.

100 YEARS OF AIRE TRAVEL: How planes shrank the globe.

IDENTIFICAN EL ÁREA DEL CEREBRO que nos hace humanos: “Científicos de la Universidad de Oxford observaron un área relacionada con la toma de decisiones o la multitarea que no estaba presente en los órganos de los simios estudiados”.

ALL THE PRESIDENT'S MEN: “Women paid significantly less in Obama White House than their male counterparts.”

THE GRIM TRUTH BEHIND THE 'SCANDINAVIAN MIRACLE': “Television in Denmark is rubbish, Finnish men like a drink – and Sweden is not exactly a model of democracy. Why, asks one expert, does everybody think the Nordic region is a utopia?”

Keep reading.

HOW NSA is tracking people right now. A sad, yet cool, infographic.

SEEMS PRETTE CLEAR TO ME: he's a fierce Obama critic. NYT: “It is not clear from the court documents what led investigators to Mr. D’Souza in a fund-raising case involving relatively small donations, in a race that ended in a blowout win for Ms. Gillibrand”.

BITCOIN: The Future of Money or Flash in the Pan?

WHY walking through a doorway makes you forget.

IF YOU FEEL a tingle of nostalgia while reading this, it's because you're old: Modems, wArEz, and ANSI art: Remembering BBS life at 2400bps.

If you're young, read it too so you don't take always-on bandwidth for granted.

BUT— BUT— wasn't that supposed to happen only in dirty capitalists countries? Leaked Records Reveal Offshore Holdings of China’s Elite.

A MAP SHOWING where the U.S.'s millionaires live:

There were approximately 53,000 more millionaire households in the U.S. last year than in 2012, according to Phoenix, a market research firm based in Rhinebeck, N.Y. About 6.15 million millionaire households are spread across the U.S., according to the report. That means 1 in every 20 households in the U.S. has more than $1 million in investable assets. Those figures don’t include the value of real estate.

Large movements for many states made the latest millionaire rankings unusual. Maine climbed 11 spots over a single year to No. 25 in 2013. Louisiana jumped 10 to No. 32. Meanwhile, Nevada fell 20 spots to No. 39. Arizona, Florida, Idaho and Michigan all fell by more than 10 positions. From 2011 to 2012, no state changed its rank by more than two positions.

The big swings may suggest economic recovery may have become more uneven last year, said David Thompson, a managing director at Phoenix. “Maine and Louisiana are two states that have seen big turnarounds in their economies,” he said. “In Nevada, the data suggests the state is still feeling the effects of the downturn.”

WHY WON'T E-CIGARETTES EVER CATCH ON? Because they're not sexy:

There’s a reason why the movie The Big Sleep opens with Bogey and Bacall in silhouette puffing away on fags. There’s something romantic about intimately huddling together to light up and then share in the nicotine fog. Used well, the cigarette is like an extension of one’s personality. Some wave it about like a magic wand; others dangle it from the corner of the mouth as they impart secrets; rum coves stick it between middle and fourth finger and pontificate like Noel Coward trying to seduce a busboy. And what’s hotter than standing behind the bike sheds during playtime with the girl of your dreams to share a cigarette? So long as you’re the same age – it’s seriously not cool if you’re her English teacher.

E-cigarettes have none of this. They’re thick, lumpy, plasticky. They glow at the end, like ET’s finger – something between a joke shop cigar and a children’s toy. They are not a good sex aid. Imagine post coital the two of you unplugging your e-cigarettes and lying there in the dark tugging in short breaths as it lets out that insipid puff of steam and a light whirr. They sound like a kazoo, and there’s nothing seductive about blowing a kazoo in someone’s face.

THE DARK SIDE of emotional intelligence:

Emotional intelligence is important, but the unbridled enthusiasm has obscured a dark side. New evidence shows that when people hone their emotional skills, they become better at manipulating others. When you’re good at controlling your own emotions, you can disguise your true feelings. When you know what others are feeling, you can tug at their heartstrings and motivate them to act against their own best interests.

SCARY: Is China's Historic Credit Bubble About to Pop? “In five years, China's shadow banks have increased credit from 120 to 190 percent of GDP—a bigger run-up than the U.S. housing bubble.”

VIA GLENN REYNOLDS:

A professor stood before his philosophy class and had some items in front of him. When the class began, he wordlessly picked up a very large and empty mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it with golf balls. He then asked the students if the jar was full. They agreed that it was. The professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the jar. He shook the jar lightly. The pebbles roll ed into the open areas between the golf balls. He then asked the students again if the jar was full. They agreed it was. The professor next picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar. Of course, the sand filled up everything else. He asked once more if the jar was full.. The students responded with a unanimous ‘yes.’ The professor then produced two Beers from under the table and poured the entire contents into the jar effectively filling the empty space between the sand.The students laughed..

‘Now,’ said the professor as the laughter subsided, ‘I want you to recognize that this jar represents your life. The golf balls are the important things—-your family, your children, your health, your friends and your favorite passions—-and if everything else was lost and only they remained, your life would still be full. The pebbles are the other things that matter like your job, your house and your car.. The sand is everything else—-the small stuff. ‘If you put the sand into the jar first,’ he continued, ‘there is no room for the pebbles or the golf balls. The same goes for life. If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff you will never have room for the things that are important to you. Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness. Spend time with your children. Spend time with your parents. Visit with grandparents. Take your spouse out to dinner. Play another 18. There will always be time to clean the house and mow the lawn. Take care of the golf balls first—-the things that really matter. Set your priorities. The rest is just sand.

One of the students raised her hand and inquired what the Beer represented. The professor smiled and said, ‘I’m glad you asked.’ The Beer just shows you that no matter how full your life may seem, there’s always room for a couple of Beers with a friend.

LIONS AND MONKEYS: 10 big myths about World War One debunked.

MUST-READ OF THE DAY: Most of you have no idea what Martin Luther King actually did.

THE CORRUPTION OF BRITAIN: UK’s key institutions infiltrated by criminals.

VISUALIZED: the world's taste for whiskey.

40 MORE MAPS that explain the world.

THE RISE and fall—and rise—of facial hair.

19 HARD THINGS you need to do to be successful.

MOODY'S ANALYTICS: Spain Outlook — A Weak Recovery.

CLEARLY COLORADANS ARE ON TO SOMETHING: Study: Marijuana May Lower Alcohol’s Impact On Liver.

WHY You Make Bad Decisions When You're Attracted to Someone. I always wondered.

NOT GONNA SAY 'And I should know': The Financial Benefits of Being Beautiful.

THEY'RE TOTALLY NUTS: Iranian news agency says the U.S. is secretly run by Nazi space aliens. Really.

ALCOHOL MIGHT KILL THE WHOLE YOU AND OTHERS if you drink and drive, but if you just drink —not heavily, mind you— it won't kill your brain cells, as commonly thought.

A toast to that!

NYT: Bailed-Out Bankia Is Symbol of Spain's Financial Revival.

15 SUNDANCE SHORT FILMS you can watch on YouTube.

BAD JOB NUMBERS:

U.S. employers added a scant 74,000 jobs in December, the fewest in three years. The disappointing figure ends 2013 on a weak note and raises questions about whether the job market can sustain its recent gains.

The Labor Department said Friday that the unemployment rate fell from 7 percent in November to 6.7 percent, the lowest level since October 2008. But the drop occurred mostly because many Americans stopped looking for jobs. Once people without jobs stop looking for one, the government no longer counts them as unemployed.

THIS STORY ABOUT a Satanic abuse panic is absolutely mind-boggling.

AS HE SHOULD BE: “Pakistani boy who died trying to stop suicide bomber is hailed as hero”

A 15-year-old who died while tried to defend his school in Pakistan's troubled north-west from a suicide bomber has been hailed as a hero for saving the lives of many of his classmates.
 
Aitizaz Hasan tackled the bomber as he stood outside as a punishment for being late to school in Hangu, a town in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, on Monday.
 
His two companions fled the scene after spotting the bomb being carried by the man, who was trying to gain access to the school, but Aitizaz grabbed the bomber.
 
Unable to stop him from detonating his bomb, Aitizaz later died of his wounds in hospital.

IT'LL BE A MUST-SEE: Alfred Hitchcock's unseen Holocaust documentary to be screened.

I DON'T AGREE WITH ALL OF THEM, but there you go: 27 Unspoken Suit Rules Every Man Should Know.

Plus it contains some glaring errors: they say that when wearing a vest leave the lower button unbuttoned —right— then the next picture, explaining why wearing a vest is a good idea it shows... a guy with the vest's lower button buttoned…

PRACTICAL INDEED: Practical Math Shortcuts For Everyday Life.

WOW: If You Used Yahoo This Week, You Might Have Malware.

A scan with a good antivirus won't hurt, just in case.

NEWSWEEK on the fall of France. Oh là là!

DEAR VEGETARIANS: look what you're eating. “The Intelligence of Plants”

UPDATE. I can't believe I wroten “what your eating”, one of the most basic mistakes I always laugh at when someone else does it. It's as if I was a foreigner!

WHY a third of all engagements happen between Thanksgiving and New Year's Day.

My explanation is better: it's booze season.

A SMALL LESSON for those who mix correlation and causation.

FASCINATING: 1942 ‘Time Capsule’ Apartment Discovered In Paris.

EUROPE'S RULES on freedom of information and hate speech: “Freedom of information is an important aspect of the right to freedom of expression. Without the ability to access information held by states, individuals cannot make informed democratic choices. Many EU member states have failed to adequately protect freedom of information and the Commission has been criticised for its failure to adequately promote transparency and uphold its commitment to freedom of information.”

Keep reading.

HOW NOBEL-WINNING ECONOMIC THEORIES can help your online dating. If youre into that kind of thing, that is.

I AGREE that this typo on The Guardian may have ended the Best Typo of the Year contest — and it's only the beginning of January:

DAVID BRIN: What If the 21st Century Begins in 2014?