Rotundus.com

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."

Via: Z

A Merry Christmas to all Bankers

As some of you may know the chip you may have on your debit and/or credit card isn't really secure... although that may be improving. It seems that the banker's response was to attempt censorship of this, but the it seems that Cambridge University where this research was done is striking back and refusing to drop publication of this information.

I'm confused. On one hand, according to a TSA spokesperson, there's ""no information related to any specific or imminent threat." On the other hand, this is described as based on "based on intelligence." Given this is airport security, "intelligence" can't refer to anything smart, non-idiotic, etc... you need to look to other defitions of the word. Thus, is this based on a specific threat or not?

How Critical Thinking Saves Faith

"Fuller Seminary recently conducted a study on teens who become leavers in college. ... the most decisive factor is whether students had a safe place to work through their doubts and questions before leaving home."

Many High Schools Offering “Computer Science” Really Aren’t

No kidding...

Try this story about the military in Columbia:

The Colombian army says it has installed a giant Christmas tree in Farc rebel territory, to encourage guerrilla fighters to demobilize. Special forces infiltrated the remote Macarena mountain range to dress a 25m (82ft) high tree with 2,000 lights. Movement sensors will make the tree light up when guerrillas approach. ... "Operation Christmas," as it was code named, was carried out by elite troops using Blackhawk helicopters.