Persons
UNICEF
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rA930U2ruGk] (thanks Rowan)
Odds and Ends
Persons
Building a windmill from spare parts and scrap
When he was 14, he built an electricity-producing windmill from spare parts and scrap, working from rough plans he found in a library book called "Using Energy" and modifying them to fit his needs. The windmill he built powers four lights and two radios in his family
CEO
Can Gates, Soros and Branson create a better world?
Spiegel Magazine tries to answer the question.
Odds and Ends
Writing strategy - Harlan Coben
From the author of the Myron Bolitar novels (one of my favorite form of airport/airplane entertainment) I don’t outline. I usually know the ending before I start. I know very little about what happens in between. It’s like driving from New Jersey to California. I may go
Odds and Ends
Several thousand words not necessary
The 4th Annual Smithsonian Magazine Photo Contest
Odds and Ends
Intriguing website
No one belongs [t]here more than you
intangible
Beauty in the eye of the beholder?
HE EMERGED FROM THE METRO AT THE L'ENFANT PLAZA STATION AND POSITIONED HIMSELF AGAINST A WALL BESIDE A TRASH BASKET. By most measures, he was nondescript: a youngish white man in jeans, a long-sleeved T-shirt and a Washington Nationals baseball cap. From a small case, he
Odds and Ends
How Americans pay
[N]ear the top of the public's list of regular expenses are cable or satellite television service (78% of adults say they pay such bills every month); cell phone service (74%) and internet connections (65%). These information age staples either didn't exist or were in their
Comic relief
Wind chill and the winter blues
Daniel Engber over at Slate Magazine wants to dump the wind chill factor. He is bitter over the "paternalistic impulse" of weather reporters "to explain not just how cold it is, but how cold we'll feel." The best algorithm we'll ever have
Alitalia
High school teacher bids for airline
A high school aviation teacher earning 1,200 euros ($1,500) a month became a celebrity by making a fake bid to buy Alitalia [an international airline] as a protest against years of mismanagement. (New York Times) The Treasury Department receiving the bids did not check his credentials...
Credit card fraud
Identity theft top consumer fraud of 2006
Of the more than 670,000 consumer fraud complaints made to the Federal Trade Commission in 2006, identity theft was the biggest category of reported cases, accounting for 36 percent of calls.There are several types of ID theft, the most common and most easily fixed being credit card fraud,
Odds and Ends
Procrastination problem solved
The formula is: Utility = E x V/(ΓD), where Utility means your desire to perform a task; E is the expectation of completing a task; V is the value of finishing; the Greek letter gamma, Γ, is sensitivity to delay; and D is delay, or time until finish and rewards