Rotundus.com

To Stay Thin, Eat Like the Cultural Elite

"A scale that measures interest in ideas, art, and knowledge—by surveying the amount of time spent reading, attending cultural events, going to movies, and using the Internet—is associated as strongly as exercise with a lower body-mass index."

British Prime Minister Cameron leaves daughter, 8, in pub

Oops. "It's every parent's nightmare: To get home from an event and realize that a child is missing. But it can turn out to be a political minefield as well if you happen to be the prime minister."

Did these ex-slaves catch your lunch?

Slavery in the Thai fishing fleet... "The majority of Thailand’s two largest seafood exports to the US — tuna and shrimp — are sourced differently." Other things like fish sauce may be more vulnerable to this - the article argues that "many Thai factory bosses have no idea who caught the seafood they process for foreign consumers." How prevalent this is in practice I'm not sure.

Italy Aims to Tax Catholic Church Property

"Under Italian law, most buildings owned by the Catholic Church are tax-exempt, even if used for commercial purposes." Don't see why changing this one should be a particularly big deal.

The Patent Wars: The Convoluted Battle of Tech IP

A infographic of who's been suing who recently.

Bookstore apologizes after man claims he was ejected for being alone in children's section

"a senior citizen said staff at one of the retail giant's Arizona stores ejected him because he was on his own in the children's area. Omar Amin claimed a store worker told him a female shopper had complained he was in the children's area … The 73-year-old, who was alone at the time, said he was in the store to buy books for his two grandchildren, who live in Wisconsin."

Firing Aversion: A Cross-Cultural Study

The options seem to vary depending on the country in which people were asked.

Excess exercise 'hurts the heart' and cause dangerous long-term harm, say scientists

"They say the safe ‘upper limit’ for heart health is a maximum of an hour a day - after which there is little benefit to the individual."

Are Healthy Foods Really More Expensive? It Depends on How You Measure the Price

"the authors compare prices of healthy and less healthy foods using three different price metrics: the price of food energy ($/calorie), the price of edible weight ($/100 edible grams), and the price of an average portion ($/average portion). … For all metrics except the price of food energy, the authors find that healthy foods cost less than less healthy foods."

The Credible Hulk

Seen this a few times over the last few days but I still find it amusing

Campaigning prince embarrassed at toilet throwing contest

How the crown prince of the Netherlands spends his time

Rogers looks to steal the puck from CBC

Will Hockey Night in Canada disappear from CBC? The CFL disappeared from free-to-air a few years ago - other places like Italy actually have laws mandating that certain sporting events must be on free-to-air TV - the competitors for this hockey contract should all have free-to-air cross-country networks I think. Doubt that Harper would consider such legislation though.

Poll: Record low are 'pro-choice'

"The percentage of Americans who identify themselves as 'pro-choice' is at the lowest point ever measured by Gallup, according to a new survey released Wednesday. ... Meanwhile, 50 percent of Americans now consider themselves 'pro-life'"

Black Gold from the Lausitz - The renaissance of lignite

"The German parliament has decided to phase out nuclear power. And that means a notoriously dirty fuel is making a comeback: lignite, or brown coal."

There are only three Indiana Jones movies, but will the Bourne series consist of more?

I think that the thing that sold me on the first Bourne movie was the point at which they began a chase scene with him driving a very crappy car instead of the usual overly flashy sports cars you normally see in such things.