Random links
- Ford plans to offer fuel-saving 'start-stop' system in 2012
- Apparently this is becoming fairly standard for new cars in Europe, whereas stopping the engine when idle is something typically found only in hybrids in North America. However, in the U.S. it seems as though the EPA is one of the factors that may have slowed the adoption of this down. "Automakers have been reluctant to add the feature to cars in the U.S. because the testing method that the Environmental Protection Agency uses to determine fuel efficiency ratings doesn't include many stops and thus doesn't recognize the technology's effectiveness."
- You Don't Need A Good Therapist, You Need a Good Story
- Something worth thinking about on the importance of a narrative for life.
- In a Tale That Wags Dog Owners, They Rent Flocks for Bored Collies
- I'm rather amused by this paragraph: "Once upon a time, Americans got dogs for their sheep. Now they get sheep for their dogs. 'I never dreamed it would go this far,' says Ms. Foster, 56 years old." (via Freakonomics)
- Do We Drink Because We’re Monogamous, or Are We Monogamous Because We Drink?
- "Historically, we find a correlation between the shift from polygyny to monogamy and the growth of alcohol consumption. Cross-culturally we also find that monogamous societies consume more alcohol than polygynous societies in the preindustrial world."