Monday, March 31, 2014

MUST-READ: The inflated world of Internet traffic.

IT'S NOT the 1%, it's the 0.01%.

Friday, March 28, 2014

WHEN we lose antibiotics, here’s everything else we’ll lose too.

Have a nice weekend.

Thursday, March 27, 2014

HOW MUCH would it cost to live a New York Times lifestyle? “There are many reasons to be annoyed with the trend pieces the New York Times runs (not the least of which is that most of these stories are apparently knowingly fabricated[1]), but chief among them is the fact that—even if these trends were actual things that actually existed in the real world, rather than just being things that some Times intern had dreamed up after a night of hard partying at the McKibbin Lofts—the lifestyle that the Times is trying to sell is really, really expensive and therefore out of the reach of most New Yorkers. But just how expensive is it? Just how rich would you need to be to live the Times lifestyle? Well, we decided to do a little bit of math and find out.”

Wednesday, March 26, 2014

REALITY CHECK: Mao invented traditional Chinese medicine in the 50s, because he couldn't pay the Western kind to so many people, but he personally wasn't a believer and never used it. And he got away with it, as you see.

MICHAEL BARONE: “What's the proper size of government? Here's an article from American Enterprise Institute's The American website citing a study by Canadian economist Livio De Matteo of the free-market Fraser Institute. The bottom line: The optimal government size of maximizing economic growth is 26 percent of gross domestic product. Below that, you miss out on useful services; above that, you start to plunder the private sector economy. The bad news: The current share in the United States, counting state and local as well as federal spending, is 40 percent. The good news: You can ratchet back spending quite sharply, as Canada did in the mid-1990s.”

DOG. Magician playing the 'disappearing cookie' trick. Puzzlement ensues.


NOT even security:
Three Secret Service agents responsible for protecting President Obama in Amsterdam this week were sent home and put on administrative leave Sunday after going out for a night of drinking, according to three people familiar with the incident. One of the agents was found drunk and passed out in a hotel hallway, the people said.

[…] The alleged behavior would violate Secret Service rules ­adopted in the wake of a damaging scandal in Cartagena, Colombia, in April 2012, when a dozen agents and officers had been drinking heavily and had brought prostitutes back to their hotel rooms before the president’s arrival for an economic summit.

Under the requirements, anyone on an official trip is forbidden to drink alcohol in the 10 hours leading up to an assignment. As members of the advance team for a presidential trip, the CAT members would have been called to duty sometime Sunday for a classified briefing ahead of the president’s arrival on Monday. Drinking late into the night Saturday evening and Sunday morning would have violated that rule.
Imagine the scene: one of the hulk-sized guys protecting the president (I've seen then in person and they're HUGE and intimidating), on the floor, passed away, totally waster. I'd say that's unthinkable in previous modern-era presidents.

ELEVEN nutrition lies that vegans will tell you.

Tuesday, March 25, 2014

100% SPOT ON: 11 Awkward Things About Email.

Friday, March 21, 2014

WHICH PROFESSIONS have the most psychopaths? And the fewest? “But first off, psychopath doesn’t just mean someone who cuts you up with a chainsaw”.

Glad you cleared that up…

Thursday, March 20, 2014

TEN of the maddest scientists who ever lived.

HOW THE TRUTH IS MADE at Russia Today.

Wednesday, March 19, 2014

“CLEOPATRA LIVED closer to the invention of the iPhone than she did to the building of the Great Pyramid” and other of the 77 Facts That Sound Like Huge Lies But Are Actually Completely True.

Amazing, check 'em out.

Tuesday, March 18, 2014

MIRACLE CURE NOT SO MIRACULOUS AFTER ALL: Abenomics Crucified With Lowest GDP Since Abe, Worst Current Account Deficit On Record.

NSA SURVEILLANCE PROGRAM reaches ‘into the past’ to retrieve, replay phone calls.

THE 17 EQUATIONS that changed the course of history.

KEYWORDS: EFFORT MAXIMIZATION. “Why Clever And Lazy People Make The Best Leaders

Monday, March 17, 2014

25 THINGS you didn't know about The Godfather.

Friday, March 14, 2014

FIVE THINGS Neil deGrasse Tyson's "Cosmos" gets wrong.

ROLLS-ROYCE considers building a plug-in hybrid.

Thursday, March 13, 2014

GOOD THING it's the Obama, not the Bush administration, or we'd be deaf by the shouting by now: How CIA snooped on Senate Intel Committee’s files.

Tuesday, March 11, 2014

NEWS YOU CAN USE: I'm a Telemarketer. Here's How to Get Rid of Me.

I have my own techniques: one, I just leave the phone unhung on a table without saying a word. I keep on with my life, and after a few minutes they loose patience and hang up. This worsens their time spent / effectivity ratio and they generally write it on their logs so that their colleagues know my number is not a good one to call. Since I'm doing it, telemarketing calls have gone down perhaps 60 or 70 percent.

Two, taken from Seinfield, and only if it's a nice, feminine voice: I reply, “sorry, I'm having dinner right now, why don't you give me your home or cell number and I'll return your call later?”

And three, when I'm fed up or in a bad mood: I reply, “sorry, can't talk right now: I'm cutting  my grandma into pieces with a seesaw” or something like that. 9 out of 10 times they hang out immediately with no other word. The other one time, they hang up after saying “oh, sorry” embarrassedly.

MURDER MACHINES: Why Cars Will Kill 30,000 Americans This Year. The tone and angle are a bit off, though. To wit: “'Motordom,' as the collective of special interests including oil companies, auto makers, auto dealers, and auto clubs dubbed itself, launched a multi-pronged campaign to make city streets more welcoming to drivers, though not necessarily safer. Through a series of social, legal, and physical transformations, these groups reframed arguments about vehicle safety by placing blame on reckless drivers and careless pedestrians, rather than the mere presence of cars.”

Well, the mere presence of cars doesn't kill (I bet the author is pro gun control also). Nevertheless it's still a fascinating read, with great graphic art.



Eva Belén Abad Quijada, Spain, 30 years old
Óscar Abril Alegre, Spain, 19 years old
Liliana Guillermina Acero Ushiña, Ecuador, 26 years old
Florencio Aguado Rojano, Spain, 60 years old
Juan Alberto Alonso Rodríguez, Spain, 38 years old
María Joséfa Alvarez González, Spain, 48 years old
Juan Carlos Del Amo Aguado, Spain, 28 years old
Andriyan Asenov Andrianov, Bulgaria, 22 years old
María Nuria Aparicio Somolinos, Spain, 40 years old
Alberto Arenas Barroso, Spain, 24 years old
Neil Hebe Astocondor Masgo, Peru, 34 years old
Ana Isabel Avila Jiménez, Spain, 43 years old
Miguel Ángel Badajoz Cano, Spain, 34 years old
Susana Ballesteros Ibarra, Spain, 42 years old
Francisco Javier Barahona Imedio, Spain, 34 years old
Gonzalo Barajas Díaz, Spain, 32 years old
Gloria Inés Bedoya, Colombia, 40 years old
Sanaa Ben Salah Imadaquan, Spain, 13 years old
Esteban Martín De Benito Caboblanco, Spain, 39 years old
Rodolfo Benito Samaniego, Spain, 27 years old
Anka Valeria Bodea, Romania, 26 years old
Livia Bogdan, Romania, 27 years old
Florencio Brasero Murga, Spain, 50 years old
Trinidad Bravo Segovia, Spain, 40 years old
Alina Maria Bryk, Poland, 39 years old
Stefan Budai, Romania, 37 years old
Tibor Budi, Romania, 37 years old
María Pilar Cabrejas Burillo, Spain, 37 years old
Rodrigo Cabrero Pérez, Spain, 20 years old
Milagros Calvo García, Spain, 39 years old
Sonia Cano Campos, Spain, 24 years old
Alicia Cano Martínez, Spain, 63 years old
José María Carrilero Baeza, Spain, 39 years old
Álvaro Carrion Franco, Spain, 17 years old
Francisco Javier Casas Torresano, Spain, 28 years old
Cipriano Castillo Muñoz, Spain, 55 years old
María Inmaculada Castillo Sevillano, Spain, 39 years old
Sara Centenera Montalvo, Spain, 19 years old
Oswaldo Manuel Cisneros Villacís, Ecuador, 34 years old
Eugenia María Ciudad-Real Díaz, Spain, 26 years old
Jacqueline Contreras Ortiz, Peru, 22 years old
María Soledad Contreras Sánchez, Spain, 51 years old
María Paz Criado Pleiter, Spain, 52 years old
Nicoleta Diac, Romania, 27 years old
Beatriz Díaz Hernandez, Spain, 30 years old
Georgeta Gabriela Dima, Romania, 35 years old
Tinka Dimitrova Paunova, Bulgaria, 31 years old
Kalina Dimitrova Vasileva, Bulgaria, 31 years old
Sam Djoco, Senegal, 42 years old
María Dolores Durán Santiago, Spain, 34 years old
Osama El Amrati, Morocco, 23 years old
Sara Encinas Soriano, Spain, 26 years old
Carlos Marino Fernández Dávila, Peru, 39 years old
María Fernández del Amo, Spain, 25 years old
Rex Ferrer Reynado, Phillipines, 20 years old
Héctor Manuel Figueroa Bravo, Chile, 33 years old
Julia Frutos Rosique, Spain, 44 years old
María Dolores Fuentes Fernández, Spain, 29 years old
José Gallardo Olmo, Spain, 33 years old
José Raúl Gallego Triguero, Spain, 39 years old
María Pilar Gamiz Torres, Spain, 40 years old
Abel García Alfageme, Spain, 27 years old
Juan Luis García Arnaiz, Spain, 17 years old
Beatriz García Fernández, Spain, 27 years old
María de las Nieves García García-Moñino, Spain, 46 years old
Enrique García González, Dominican Republic, 28 years old
Cristina Aurelia García Martínez, Spain, 34 years old
Carlos Alberto García Presa, Spain, 24 years old
José García Sánchez, Spain, 45 years old
José María García Sánchez, Spain, 47 years old
Javier Garrote Plaza, Spain, 26 years old
Petrica Geneva, Romania, 34 years old
Ana Isabel Gil Pérez, Spain, 29 years old
Óscar Gómez Gudiña, Spain, 24 years old
Felix González Gago, Spain, 52 years old
Ángelica González García, Spain, 19 years old
Teresa González Grande, Spain, 38 years old
Elías González Roque, Spain, 30 years old
Juan Miguel Gracia García, Spain, 53 years old
Javier Guerrero Cabrera, Spain, 25 years old
Berta María Gutiérrez García, Spain, 39 years old
Sergio de las Heras Correa, Spain, 29 years old
Pedro Hermida Martín, Spain, 51 years old
Alejandra Iglesias López, Spain, 28 years old
Mohamed Itaiben, Morocco, 27 years old
Pablo Izquierdo Asanza, Spain, 42 years old
María Teresa Jaro Narrillos, Spain, 32 years old
Oleksandr Kladkovoy, Ukraine, 56 years old
Laura Isabel Laforga Bajón, Spain, 28 years old
María Victoria León Moyano, Spain, 30 years old
María Carmen Lominchar Alonso, Spain, 34 years old
Myriam López Díaz, Spain, 31 years old
María Carmen López Pardo, Spain, 50 years old
María Cristina López Ramos, Spain, 38 years old
José María López-Menchero Moraga, Spain, 44 years old
Miguel de Luna Ocaña, Spain, 36 years old
María Jesús Macías Rodríguez, Spain, 30 years old
Francisco Javier Mancebo Záforas, Spain, 38 years old
Ángel Manzano Pérez, Ecuador, 42 years old
Vicente Marín Chiva, Spain, 37 years old
Antonio Marín Mora, Spain, 43 years old
Begoña Martín Baeza, Spain, 25 years old
Ana Martín Fernández, Spain, 43 years old
Luis Andrés Martín Pacheco, Spain, 54 years old
María Pilar Martín Rejas, Spain, 50 years old
Alois Martinas, Romania, 27 years old
Carmen Mónica Martínez Rodríguez, Spain, 31 years old
Míriam Melguizo Martínez, Spain, 28 years old
Javier Mengíbar Jiménez, Spain, 43 years old
Álvaro de Miguel Jiménez, Spain, 26 years old
Michael Mitchell Rodríguez, Cuba, 28 years old
Stefan Modol, Romania, 45 years old
Segundo Víctor Mopocita Mopocita, Ecuador, 37 years old
Encarnación Mora Donoso, Spain, 64 years old
María Teresa Mora Valero, Spain, 37 years old
Julita Moral García, Spain, 53 years old
Francisco Moreno Aragonés, Spain, 56 years old
José Ramón Moreno Isarch, Spain, 37 years old
Eugenio Moreno Santiago, Spain, 56 years old
Juan Pablo Moris Crespo, Spain, 32 years old
Juan Muñoz Lara, Spain, 33 years old
Francisco José Narváez de la Rosa, Spain, 28 years old
Mariana Negru, Romania, 40 years old
Ismael Nogales Guerrero, Spain, 31 years old
Inés Novellón Martínez, Spain, 30 years old
Miguel Ángel Orgaz Orgaz, Spain, 34 years old
Ángel Pardillos Checa, Spain, 62 years old
Sonia Parrondo Antón, Spain, 28 years old
Juan Francisco Pastor Férez, Spain, 51 years old
Daniel Paz Manjón, Spain, 20 years old
Josefa Pedraza Pino, Spain, 41 years old
Miryam Pedraza Rivero, Spain, 25 years old
Roberto Pellicari Lopezosa, Spain, 31 years old
María del Pilar Pérez Mateo, Spain, 28 years old
Felipe Pinel Alonso, Spain, 51 years old
Martha Scarlett Plasencia Hernandez, Dominican Republic, 27 years old
Elena Ples, Romania, 33 years old
María Luisa Polo Remartinez, Spain, 50 years old
Ionut Popa, Romania, 23 years old
Emilian Popescu, Romania, 44 years old
Miguel Ángel Prieto Humanes, Spain, 37 years old
Francisco Antonio Quesada Bueno, Spain, 44 years old
John Jairo Ramírez Bedoya, Colombia, 37 years old
Laura Ramos Lozano, Honduras, 37 years old
Miguel Reyes Mateos, Spain, 37 years old
Marta del Río Menéndez, Spain, 40 years old
Nuria del Río Menéndez, Spain, 38 years old
Jorge Rodríguez Casanova, Spain, 22 years old
Luis Rodríguez Castell, Spain, 40 years old
María de la Soledad Rodríguez de la Torre, Spain, 42 years old
Ángel Luis Rodríguez Rodríguez, Spain, 34 years old
Francisco Javier Rodríguez Sánchez, Spain, 52 years old
Ambrosio Rogado Escribano, Spain, 56 years old
Cristina Romero Sánchez, Spain, 34 years old
Patricia Rzaca, Poland, 7 meses
Wieslaw Rzaca, Poland, 34 years old
Antonio Sabalete Sánchez, Spain, 36 years old
Sergio Sánchez López, Spain, 17 years old
María Isabel Sánchez Mamajón, Spain, 37 years old
Juan Antonio Sánchez Quispe, Peru, 45 years old
Balbina Sánchez-Dehesa France, Spain, 47 years old
David Santamaría García, Spain, 23 years old
Sergio dos Santos Silva, Brazil, 28 years old
Juan Carlos Sanz Morales, Spain, 33 years old
Eduardo Sanz Pérez, Spain, 31 years old
Guillermo Senent Pallarola, Spain, 23 years old
Miguel Antonio Serrano Lastra, Spain, 28 years old
Rafael Serrano López, Spain, 66 years old
Paula Mihaela Sfeatcu, Romania, 27 years old
Federico Miguel Sierra Serón, Spain, 37 years old
Domnino Simón González, Spain, 45 years old
María Susana Soler Iniesta, Spain, 46 years old
Carlos Soto Arranz, Spain, 34 years old
Mariya Ivanova Staykova, Bulgaria, 38 years old
Marion Cintia Subervielle, France, 30 years old
Alexandru Horatiu Suciu, Romania, 18 years old
Danuta Teresa Szpila, Poland, 28 years old
José Luis Tenesaca Betancourt, Ecuador, 17 years old
Iris Toribio Pascual, Spain, 20 years old
Neil Torres Mendoza, Ecuador, 38 years old
Carlos Tortosa García, Spain, 31 years old
María Teresa Tudanca Hernández, Spain, 49 years old
Jesús Utrilla Escribano, Spain, 44 years old
José Miguel Valderrama López, Spain, 25 years old
Saúl Valdez Ruiz, Honduras, 44 years old
Mercedes Vega Mingo, Spain, 45 years old
David Vilela Fernández, Spain, 23 years old
Juan Ramón Zamora Gutiérrez, Spain, 29 years old
Yaroslav Zojniuk, Ukraine, 48 years old
Csaba Olimpiu Zsigovski, Romania, 26 years old

Monday, March 10, 2014

WHY TIME feels like it passes quicker as you get older.

Perhaps, but I have another theory that seems plausible to me, though I'm no expert: as years pass, every day is proportionally bigger as compared with the expected time you've got left. For example, when you're 10, one year is only 1/70th of the time you have left (assuming an perceived life expectancy of 80 years, year more, year less). When it passes it's a relatively small piece of time. But when you're 50, 1 year is 1/3oth so, being a bigger chunk passing, it seems much faster.

I think this is plausible because it works for vacations too; for example, that'd be why you feel the 2nd of a two-week vacation going faster than the 1st one. You may say my theory works only when the duration is determined 100%, and lifespan is not determined that way. But —accidents or illnesses notwithstanding— what counts for this is perception, and we generally perceive we have a life expectancy of 80 years give or take, and we tend to live accordingly.

THE DEMISE of the American dream, in two charts.

Saturday, March 08, 2014

IT'S A BIT SCARY TOO: This HD Video From Space Is Going To Change The World.

Friday, March 07, 2014

LIFE among Venezuela’s have-nots.

HOW TO CULTIVATE THE ART OF ASKING GOOD QUESTIONS:
Everyone knows about the mobile messaging app that sold for $19 billion. But have you heard about another amazing app—the one that helps you figure out what to do whenever you’re faced with a problem or a challenge? Doesn’t matter if it’s a business issue, a career decision, or a family dilemma: if you’ve mastered this app, you’re ready to tackle the problem. Did I mention it can also help you come up with brilliant ideas? Which increases your chances of success? And may lead to wealth and happiness?

Here’s the best news about this app: you don’t have to acquire it, because you were born with it. The “app” in question is our aptitude for asking questions.
You can see this natural ability on full display in the average 4-year-old—for whom questioning is as normal as breathing, and almost as important. Constant inquiry helps young kids make sense of, and successfully navigate, the strange new world around them.


Studies show we tend to hit our questioning peak around age 4 or 5, and then ask fewer questions as we get older. Not that we’ve lost the ability to question—we just don’t exercise it as much. Teachers and bosses generally want answers, not questions.

But it’s a mistake to let that inquiry “app” go unused. Questioning can do as much for adults as for kids—helping us to explore, discover, and innovate. It’s no accident that many innovators and entrepreneurs are great questioners who use thoughtful inquiry to navigate uncertainty and find their way to breakthrough ideas and big payoffs. A number of the billion dollar tech start-ups, from Instagram to Nest, sprang from insightful questions raised and tackled by the founders.

So how do you get better at questioning?
Keep reading at the link.

GOOD TO KNOW: “John Aziz: Don't worry: World War III will almost certainly never happen.

AT LAST SOMEONE SAID IT: No, Deflation is Not a ‘Danger’.

Thursday, March 06, 2014

GREAT PIECE by Marcia Angell: a review of Alison Wolf's book The XX Factor: How the Rise of Working Women Has Created a Far Less Equal World.

Make sure you read it.

PERHAPS A BIT TOO HARSH, but he's got a point: The Doomsday Cult of Bitcoin.

UPDATE. Related: The Face Behind Bitcoin. Fascinating reading.

THE ECONOMIST EXPLAINS: How North Korea's elections work.

I'M OFFICIALLY OLD: Adorably Perplexed Kids React to Rotary Phones.

Tuesday, March 04, 2014

GREAT PIECE BY MEGAN McARDLE: Seven Easy Steps for the Downwardly Mobile.

IT TOOK FIVE YEARS to dawn on them: “President Obama’s foreign policy is based on fantasy”.

Monday, March 03, 2014

PLEASE TAKE NOTE: How to Avoid Spreading Myths and Misinformation Online.

Saturday, March 01, 2014

IMPORTANT NEWS! How To Supercharge Your Coffee To Give You Even More Energy In The Morning.

It's for brewed coffee; I wonder how this works with espresso, which is the one I usually drink. Experimenting away!