Rotundus.com

What’s The Best Time of Day to be Creative?

The answer seems to be: evenings for morning people, mornings for evening people. Does this mean I need to get up earlier?

A Majority of Americans Opposed Funding Moon Trips—During Apollo

"A majority of Americans opposed the government funding human trips to the moon both before (July 1967) and after (April 1970) Neil Armstrong took a giant leap for mankind. It was only in the months surrounding Apollo 11 that support for funding the program ever reached above 50 percent."

The Incidence of Mandated Maternity Benefits

A study of the impact of government-mandated maternity leave. Not surprisingly, if you raise the average cost to employers to hire members of a particular group they may be willing to pay members of that group only lower salaries.

Daylight Savings Time and “Cyberloafing”

Yet another reason to dislike daylight savings time transition - this one with some business merit. You're more likely to be slacking off on Monday it seems...

U.S. Warns Apple, Publishers

"The Justice Department believes that Apple and the publishers acted in concert to raise prices across the industry, and is prepared to sue them for violating federal antitrust laws, the people familiar with the matter said." The fairly farcical bit: "They have told investigators that the shift to agency pricing enhanced competition" - to quote a later bit of the article "Government lawyers have questioned how competition could have increased when prices went up."

"Interface scaffolds" could wire prosthetics directly into amputees' nervous systems

"The scientists have developed a new interface consisting of a porous, flexible, conductive, biocompatible material through which nerve fibers can grow and act as a sort of junction through which nerve impulses can pass to the prosthesis and data from the prosthesis back to the nerve."

Bootstrapping My Way Into the Ivory Tower

Can a tenured professor be poor? The answer seems to be yes - if you decide to combine the three incredibly lucrative pursuits of (liberal) theology, film studies, and women'sfeminist studies while simultaneously being a single mother. She notes that her parents were kinda broke and states that they saw her "academic ambitions as a judgment of their frugal lives" - I'd tend to guess that there may be an element of seeing the focus of her studies as a condemnation of their lives, not just her expenses as an academic.

Putting a face on underfunding of reserve schools

"... the Conservatives supported an NDP motion calling for funding to put reserve schools on par with provincial schools."

A man of two halves: Practical joker shaves off half his hair and beard on opposite sides of his head for unique driving licence photo

From somewhere in British Columbia...

Personal Best: Workouts Have Their Limits, Recognized or Not

The importance of recovery time after a workout...

Take a look at Exxon Mobil's blog post Gas prices and industry earnings: A few things to think about the next time you fill up:

For every gallon of gasoline, diesel or finished products we manufactured and sold in the United States in the last three months of 2010, we earned a little more than 2 cents per gallon. That’s not a typo. Two cents. ... The main component of the price at the pump is the cost of a barrel of crude oil. Another major component of the price of gas is state and federal taxes, which range from a high of 66 cents per gallon in California to a low of 26 cents per gallon in Alaska, according to January 2011 data.

Compare Exxon revenue per unit of gas sold to fuel taxes. Look as well at their claims about taxes paid:

Over the past five years, we incurred a total U.S. tax expense of almost $59 billion, which is $18 billion more than we earned in the United States during the same period.

I tend to think they're write about the so-called subsidies largely being them allowed to write off their purchases in a similar manner to other industries' ability to do so.

Exxon Mobil mentions that they don't really own a lot of oil reserves - ergo they need to pay for crude oil. I'm guessing in most places even if private companies are doing the extraction, they probably don't own the reserves and/or must pay substantial taxes on what they extract.

Whole wheat still not all that whole

"Lacks the germ, bran of nutritious whole grain; proposed label change stalled" - as I understand it the shelf life of actual whole grain flour is pretty terrible compared to the "whole wheat flour" you typically get to buy in stores... 3-5 days at room temp; maybe a month in the freezer.

A Modest Proposal to Reduce Unnecessary Divorce

A look at how to reduce divorce rates through things like cooling off periods... and means to try to promote reconciation. "These requirements would be waived in cases of domestic violence. ...". Waiving the waiting period for allegations of domestic seems to negate the whole proposal given that allegations seem to suffice under the existing system. (In case of allegations of violence separation without allowing immediate divorce would seem to be a workable solution).

Sin bins for worst families

The article is dated July 2009 and it sounds as those they were trying this in a number of cases before then: "The Children’s Secretary set out £400million plans to put 20,000 problem families under 24-hour CCTV super-vision in their own homes. They will be monitored to ensure that children attend school, go to bed on time and eat proper meals. Private security guards will also be sent round to carry out home checks, while parents will be given help to combat drug and alcohol addiction." That seems a little disturbing.

Meghalaya, India: Where women rule, and men are suffragettes

"In the small hilly Indian state of Meghalaya, a matrilineal system operates with property names and wealth passing from mother to daughter rather than father to son - but some men are campaigning for change."

How the Potato Changed the World

The history of the potato, its agricultural efficiency, and its susceptibility to problems like blight.