The US has 5% of the world’s population and 50% of the world's guns (Washington Post)

Coffee is "stress in a cup" (Dr David Posen)

Coming soon to Facebook - video ads on your news feed.

According to Adam Bryant, who interviewed 200+ CEOs, there are 5 key traits of world-class leaders: passion, confidence, team smarts, simple mindset, and bias toward action.

JWTIntelligence - 10 Trends for 2013 in 2 minutes

According to Google, 17% of US shoppers will visit a store and then buy online.  51% who buy in-store researched online first.

30 years ago the average person in China had never spoken on a telephone. 

Happy Diwali! Diwali celebrates the return of Rama from 14 years of exile. By coincidence, I’ve been living in the US for 13 years and next year I’ll return to living in Asia.

The average round-trip domestic airfare this Thanksgiving is $386, which is up 9% from last year according to Travelocity.

Ryanair CEO: 'Seat Belts Don't Matter'

Climate change is like steroids for weather (paraphrasing Jonathan Foley, director of the Institute of the Environment). Try to reduce your carbon footprint.

Over half a billion people on the planet play online games.  They spend over 3 billion hours a week playing.

It can take up to seven pounds of fish meal for a farmed specimen like salmon to put on one pound of body weight.

Sometimes Daniel Craig goes to hotel bars in the mornings for interviews. In spite of the time of day people send martinis over to him!

The best way to predict the future is to invent it 
- Alan Kay

Very happy with the soymilk I made this morning.  I soaked a small handful of organic soybeans yesterday.  Today I blended them and added a bit of raw sugar.  I didn't filter it but you may want to.

"All of human consciousness is five years old emotionally. It’s not a requirement to eat animals, we just choose to do it, so it becomes a moral choice and one that is having a huge impact on the planet, using up resources and destroying the biosphere."


- James Cameron

So this is how the zombie apocalypse all starts... get your guns ready!  First ‘zombie bees’ reported in Washington state: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/zombie-bees-reported-washington-state-article-1.1168298

Commercial fish stocks in the UAE have fallen by 80% since 1978. Nearly 50% of the local population order hammour (an endangered species) at restaurants. It's fished at more than 7 times the quantity that is sustainable.
- Time Out Dubai

I'm in disbelief that the hotel I'm in (Marriott Copenhagen) told me that everything in the minibar is free and they'll replenish it daily.

The original LED deadmau5 head weighed 12lbs and cost US$100K.  The new one weighs 5 lbs and is wireless.

"People say I can’t be a vegan. But all Mario ate was flowers and mushrooms and look how big & strong he was. Plus he could spit fireballs."
- Arian Foster, considered the favorite this season to lead NFL in rushing yards

"Hello I'm Dr Pain, your new dentist"

My dentist for the last 4 years, Dr Hussein, has left the dental practice I go to in my neighborhood.  I went for a checkup and cleaning today and met my new dentist.  After hearing her name once when she told it to me and after reading it once on my file I still can't remember it.  Even if I could remember it, in my mind her name is Dr Pain.  She pressed the cleaning tool hard along my gumlines, on my gums, and even in the gaps between teeth where I thought only floss could fit.  Maybe it's because I was her last appointment before her lunch break and she was rushing.  I hope she's not always going to be like this.

It's better to come over willingly than wait till it's too late.  http://www.guardian.co.uk/global-development/2012/aug/26/food-shortages-world-vegetarianism

How James Bond books a hotel room: http://youtu.be/Q7eHinI95rc

In the past 4 years around30 chateaux in Bordeaux have been bought by Chinese businesses and investors, and an estimated 20 deals are in the pipeline. - CNBC

Many of the qualities that define millennials are simply signs of youth.  Young people in the 1970s were also disloyal and rebellious. -- Kevin Coyne

The True Cost of Hamburgers (Video).  Uploaded this month. http://youtu.be/ut3URdEzlKQ

Have you wondered what has happened to your grip strength?  See this article on how antibacterial soaps can weaken muscle function: http://healthland.time.com/2012/08/15/freaky-clean-chemical-in-antibacterial-soap-weakens-muscle-function/?iid=hl-article-mostpop1

Carrots were originally grown in Afghanistan and were violet for centuries. On arrival in the Netherlands in the 17th century they were cultivated to be bright orange - an emblem for the struggle for Dutch Independence.

If urban and suburban households in the US, UK, Spain and Brazil swap beef for lentils once a week the emissions reductions is the equivalent of taking 3.7 million cars off the road for a year (Oxfam)

If a family of 4 swaps beef for lentils just 1 meal a week, they would save about 12½ Olympic-size swimming pools of fresh water over the course of a year (Oxfam)

To make one pound of honey, a bee colony must visit over two million flowers, flying over 55,000 miles, at up to 15 miles per hour to do so. 

Got Milk?  You don't need it.
http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/07/07/got-milk-you-dont-need-it/

Marketing Versus Reality: The Myth of the Organic Happy Cow
http://freefromharm.org/food-and-culture/marketing-versus-reality-the-myth-of-the-organic-happy-cow/
"Everybody says they want to know where their food comes from these days. But we won’t get it from product marketing."

A million cups of tea are drunk every minute of every day.
- from "Tea: A history of the drink that changed the world" by John Griffiths

The best predictor for whether a female answers yes to "would you consider sleeping with someone on the first date?" is whether they like the taste of beer (Psychology Today)

Dubstep is the very legitimate child of the three-way mating of Drum&Bass, Grime, and Triphop.

Sold! Airlines Begin Auctioning Upgrade Seats

When ewe are righting a letter, yew may wont to deep end on yore come pewter’s billed-in tool, the spell-checker. Butt four awl that it helps ketch miss spelt longer words, it mite think a mistyped short won is just grate (ultimatespelling.com)

30% of creativity is inborn and 70% is learned, according to a study of 117 pairs of twins by Jeff Dyer and Hal Gregersen.

New logo/identity for DC Comics

Rock concert audience evolution

When I can't spar any more I'll need good hand-to-hand combat games that involve more than button mashing. http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-18395724

The average American drank slightly under two sodas a day in 2011, a drop in per capita consumption of about 16% since the peak in 1998, according to Beverage Digest.

You will never have time for everything but you will almost always have time for the most important things.

Want a 9% Raise? Hit the Gym: http://blogs.smartmoney.com/advice/2012/06/06/want-a-9-raise-hit-the-gym/

Beyond Meat: US per capita consumption of all red meat and poultry is expected to be down by 10% this year compared to 2007 according to Steiner & Company, an economic consultant to the food industry.

Staff at the new Virgin Money branches won't be wearing ties.  Richard Branson on company dress codes:  http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/223670

Only 2 flies per toilet are allowed in public toilets in Beijing.  Makes me think of the FDAs allowance of 2 rat hairs per 100g of peanut butter.

Iron Man 3: May 3, 2013.  Thor 2: November 15, 2013.  Captain America 2: April 4, 2014.  Avengers 2: in development.

Sketchers will pay $40M for the false advertising claims of their "toning" shoes.  Reebok agreed to pay $25M.  There are no shortcuts to good health and physique.

Obama told Barnard College graduates today:

1)      Don’t just get involved, fight for your seat at the table.

2)      Never underestimate the power of your example.

3)      Persevere.  Small victories help you win the big victories.

People prefer to do business with a person they like & trust rather than someone they don’t, even if the likeable person is offering a lower quality product/service at a higher price (Daniel Kahneman, Nobel Prize Winner)

The median salary for a class of 2012 bachelor's degree graduate is $42,569, up 4.5% from the previous year, according to the National Association of Colleges and Employers.

Empty vessels make the most sound.

Every occasion to perform is different.

Woodpeckers can easily slam their beaks against wood with a force of 1000 times that of gravity.  They don't get concussions because of thick skulls.

There is already an average of  1 tablet per household in the US.  This is remarkable considering the ipad was launched just 2 years ago.  It took a lot longer for PCs and laptops to reach one per household.

Arsenic, which is added to chicken feed to promote unnaturally rapid growth, runs off into local waterways and leaches into groundwater.

What are the worst jobs in America?  According to a Careercast.com survey, journalist, disc jockey, mail carrier, lumberjack, and soldier.

The number of internships in the US soared in the recession.  In 2008, 50 percent of graduating students had held internships compared with 17 percent in 1992.

The United Nations declared Internet access a human right in June 2011.

Why, in other words, use the poor chicken as a machine to produce meat when you can use a machine to produce “meat” that seems like chicken?


- Mark Bittman

43% of people say social media has amplified their FOMO or ‘Fear Of Missing Out’.  To learn more see:
http://youtu.be/gH65v8MNBZ4

The NY Lottery jackpot is $540 million!  They're selling $1 million worth of tickets an hour.  If you win and take the lump-sum payment, after taxes you'd have about $219 million. 

The "Wrath of the Titans" posters make me think of the Sony "God of War" games.

Do more faster.