The Man Who Said No to Hitler

His life was not in danger under the Nazis, but his soul was. He chose exile over a devil's bargain
By TERRY TEACHOUT

Wall Street Journal

Adolf Busch, the greatest German violinist of the 20th century, is now known only to classical-record collectors who treasure the searchingly eloquent 78s that he cut with Rudolf Serkin, his son-in-law and recital partner, and the Busch Quartet, the ensemble that he led for three decades. But there is another reason to remember him, one that in the long run may well count for as much as the music that he made: Mr. Busch's name is at the very top of the short list of German musicians who refused to kowtow to Adolf Hitler. This latter aspect of his life is described in detail in Tully Potter's "Adolf Busch: The Life of a Honest Musician" (Toccata Press), the first full-length biography of the violinist ever to be published. It is at once a stirring tale and a disturbing one.

Send a Personalized Call from Santa

Google

Netflix Streaming: Convenience or Quality?

By Eric A. Taub

New York Times

Netflix made big news recently, when it announced that it would offer a streaming-only plan in the United States. As Reed Hastings, the chief executive of Netflix, said in a press release, “We are now primarily a streaming video company delivering a wide selection of TV shows and films over the Internet.”

What he didn’t mention is that consumers who prefer to stream their content will learn that just as with cellphones, they’ll often have to sacrifice quality to get convenience.

"Own Your Space--Keep Yourself and Your Stuff Safe Online" Digital Book for Teens by Linda McCarthy

By Microsoft

Brief Description: "Own Your Space" was written by Linda McCarthy, for Internet savvy "tweens" & teens, and their parents or educators.

Top Test Scores From Shanghai Stun Educators

By SAM DILLON

New York Times

With China’s debut in international standardized testing, students in Shanghai have surprised experts by outscoring their counterparts in dozens of other countries, in reading as well as in math and science, according to the results of a respected exam.

Social Science Palooza

By DAVID BROOKS

New York Times

Every day, hundreds of thousands of scholars study human behavior. Every day, a few of their studies are bundled and distributed via e-mail by Kevin Lewis, who covers the social sciences for The Boston Globe and National Affairs. And every day, I file away these studies because I find them bizarrely interesting.

Math Puzzles’ Oldest Ancestors Took Form on Egyptian Papyrus

By PAM BELLUCK

“As I was going to St. Ives

I met a man with seven wives. ...”

You may know this singsong quiz,

But what you might not know is this:

That it began with ancient Egypt’s

Early math-filled manuscripts.

It’s true. That very British-sounding St. Ives conundrum (the one where the seven wives each have seven sacks containing seven cats who each have seven kits, and you have to figure out how many are going to St. Ives) has a decidedly archaic antecedent.

On a Hunt for What Makes Gamers Keep Gaming

By JOHN TIERNEY

New York Times

By the age of 21, the typical American has spent 10,000 hours playing computer games, and endured a smaller but much drearier chunk of time listening to sermons about this sinful habit. Why, the experts wail, are so many people wasting their lives solving meaningless puzzles in virtual worlds?

Is your office going to the dogs? Five top dog-friendly employers.

Only 17 percent of US employers allow pets, even though researchers find that dogs make employees happier, more productive, and encourage teamwork. Plus, having your Pekinese or chocolate Lab begging for a walk is a perfect way to break up a routine workday. Here are five top dog-friendly companies:

By Sara Afzal

Christian Science Monitor

In Kentucky, Noah’s Ark Theme Park Is Planned

By LAURIE GOODSTEIN

Wall Street Journal

Facing a rising tide of joblessness, the governor of Kentucky has found one solution: build an ark.

The state has promised generous tax incentives to a group of entrepreneurs who plan to construct a full-size replica of Noah’s ark, load it with animals and actors, and make it the centerpiece of a Bible-based tourist attraction called Ark Encounter.

Google Opens Online Bookstore

By JEFFREY A. TRACHTENBERG And AMIR EFRATI

Wall Street Journal

Google Inc. launched Google eBooks, its long-anticipated digital bookselling enterprise, on Monday.

The venture, now rolling out across the Web with hundreds of thousands of popular titles for sale and millions more free, will compete for a slice of the digital books business, which is valued at close to $1 billion and is expected to grow in the coming years.

Segway Laws

December 2010
Governors Highway Safety Association

Segway LLC manufactures electronically propelled two-wheeled devices designed to transport one person with a maximum speed of less than 20 mph. In most states, Segways must follow the rules pertaining to pedestrians while on roads and sidewalks, such as traveling on the left side of the road, facing traffic.

Basic Facts About Low-income Children, 2009 Children Under Age 18

National Center for Children in Poverty

Authors: Michelle Chau, Kalyani Thampi, and Vanessa R. Wight
Publication Date: October 2010

Children represent 25 percent of the population. Yet, they comprise 36 percent of all people in poverty. Among children, 42 percent live in low-income families and approximately one in every five live in poor families. Winding up in a low-income or poor family does not happen by chance. There are significant factors related to children’s experiences with economic insecurity, such as race/ethnicity and parents’ education and employment. This fact sheet describes the demographic, socio-economic, and geographic characteristics of children and their parents – highlighting the important factors that appear to distinguish low-income and poor children from their less disadvantaged counterparts.

Married men are nicer, and here's why

By Alison McCook

Reuters

(Reuters Health) - Men tend to behave better when they're married - both because marriage likely helps improve their behavior, and nicer men are more likely to be married in the first place, a new study reports.

Doctor's diagnosis drew laughs, but it saved woman's life

By Sandra G. Boodman

Washington Post

As the all-too-familiar number flashed on his cellphone shortly before 9 p.m., Dan Landri-gan reflexively braced himself for bad news. The caller was one of the doctors treating his wife, Donna, who had been in a coma for four months. "She sounded pretty choked up," Landrigan recalled.

USA.gov Happy Holidays

NORAD Tracks Santa

Welcome to NORAD Tracks Santa

All the preparations for this year are in place! Choose a language to receive updates from the North Pole and discover surprises in the Kid's Countdown Village.

Lead thieves use Google Earth to target churches

Reuters

(Reuters) - Thieves in Britain are using Google Earth to target lead roofs on Church of England buildings to sell on the lucrative metals market, a Church spokesman said.

About 8,000 churches have made insurance claims for lead theft worth about 23 million pounds during the past three years, the Church's estate commissioner Tony Baldry said during a debate in Westminster Hall.

Cyber Monday 2010: Tips for finding deals and avoiding mishaps

Cyber Monday features many good deals, from discounted prices to free shipping. Here are tips for shopping online efficiently and securely, from your desktop computer or your smart phone.
By Mark Trumbull

Christian Science Monitor

Eager to chase down Cyber Monday deals, or just doing some online shopping before Christmas week arrives?

Here are some tips that some shopping gurus and consumer experts say you might want to consider. They might help you find a good deal, protect you from an unhappy experience, or just streamline your search.

Masters of Math, From Old Babylon

By EDWARD ROTHSTEIN

New York Times

If the cost of digging a trench is 9 gin, and the trench has a length of 5 ninda and is one-half ninda deep, and if a worker’s daily load of earth costs 10 gin to move, and his daily wages are 6 se of silver, then how wide is the canal?

War Machines: Recruiting Robots for Combat

By JOHN MARKOFF

New York Times

FORT BENNING, Ga. — War would be a lot safer, the Army says, if only more of it were fought by robots. [Interactive Graphic]

Al Gore's Ethanol Epiphany

He concedes the industry he promoted serves no useful purpose.

Wall Street Journal

Anyone who opposes ethanol subsidies, as these columns have for decades, comes to appreciate the wisdom of St. Jude. But now that a modern-day patron saint—St. Al of Green—has come out against the fuel made from corn and your tax dollars, maybe this isn't such a lost cause.

Channeling the Web: How to plug your TV into the Internet

Just as we've finally sorted out the digital TV transition, another wave of technology is about to remake the lowly set once again. This time it's a flood of new gadgets for connecting TVs to the Internet and tapping the river of online content.
By Brier Dudley
Seattle Times

TV isn't supposed to be complicated. [Printable PDF of Graphic]

A Bully Finds a Pulpit on the Web

By DAVID SEGAL

New York Times

SHOPPING online in late July, Clarabelle Rodriguez typed the name of her favorite eyeglass brand into Google’s search bar.

In California, Carports That Can Generate Electricity

By FELICITY BARRINGER

New York Times

SAN JOSE, Calif. — And California begat cars, and the cars begat asphalt parking lots. And the lots spawned electricity, transforming the hills and the deserts.

Black Friday 2010

Black Friday 2010
By: Ginger | November 26, 2010 | Category: Mone

GovGab: Your U. S. Government Blog


I actually have some Facebookfriends who have posted that they are finished with Christmas shopping already! Are they kidding? If I posted that sort of thing, my sisters would definitely be duct taping me to a chair, asking “What have you done with our sister?” and checking to see if there is an empty, already-hatched, alien pod in my back yard. My sisters consider my whole approach to the Christmas shopping process to be something akin to a “chicken with its head cut off.” I tend to put off Christmas shopping because I don’t enjoy it. I end up in a mad scramble (get it chicken… egg… scramble? OK, bad pun!) at the last minute, making purchases willy-nilly. If I would pay attention to the sales and do a little planning, I would pay a lot less for those last-minute purchases.

The Pacifier Gets an Upgrade: Apps and Gadgets to Soothe the Baby

By FARHAD MANJOO

New York Times

I ACQUIRED my first piece of baby-related technology two months ago, just a few hours after the birth of my son. My wife, baby and I were all still in the hospital, and the baby — who looked a bit less confused than my wife and I about this new state of affairs — seemed to need help getting to sleep. After a bit of trial and error, I found that he appeared to be comforted by a gentle, continuous shushing sound near his ear. But how long could I keep shushing? Wasn’t there some easier way?

Squinkies Maker Savors Demand for Holiday’s Hot Toy

By STEPHANIE CLIFFORD

New York Times

Midway through last year, as analysts tried to predict where the economy was going, the toy maker Bill Nichols decided he had the answer. He bet that the economy would still be so shaky this holiday season that a bargain-priced plastic toy would take off.

The Incredible Flying Nonagenarian

By BRUCE GRIERSON

New York Times

On the third floor of the Montreal Chest Institute, at McGill University, Olga Kotelko stood before a treadmill in the center of a stuffy room that was filling up with people who had come just for her. They were there to run physical tests, or to extract blood from her earlobe, or just to observe and take notes. Kotelko removed her glasses. She wore white New Balance sneakers and black running tights, and over her silver hair, a plastic crown that held in place a breathing tube.

Description Is Prescription

By DAVID BROOKS

New York Times

One hundred years ago, Leo Tolstoy lay dying at a train station in southern Russia. Journalists, acolytes and newsreel photographers gathered for the passing of the great prophet. Between 3:30 and 5:30 on that freezing November morning, Tolstoy’s wife stood on the porch outside his death chamber because his acolytes would not let her in. At one point she begged them to at least admit her into an anteroom so that the photographers would get the impression she was being allowed to see her husband on his final day.

The National Archives Celebrates Thanksgiving

National Archives

Washington, DC…On October 3, 1789, President George Washington issued a proclamation naming Thursday, November 26, 1789, as an official holiday of "sincere and humble thanks." The nation then celebrated its first Thanksgiving under its new Constitution. On October 3, 1863, President Lincoln made the traditional Thanksgiving celebration a nationwide holiday to be commemorated each year on the fourth Thursday of November. In the midst of a bloody Civil War, President Lincoln issued a Presidential Proclamation in which he enumerated the blessings of the American people and called upon his countrymen to "set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise."

Thanksgiving Day: Nov. 25, 2010

U. S. Census Bureau

In the fall of 1621, the Pilgrims, early settlers of Plymouth Colony, held a three-day feast to celebrate a bountiful harvest, an event many regard as the nation's first Thanksgiving. Historians have also recorded ceremonies of thanks among other groups of European settlers in North America, including British colonists in Virginia in 1619. The legacy of thanks and the feast have survived the centuries, as the event became a national holiday in 1863 when President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed the last Thursday of November as a national day of thanksgiving. Later, President Franklin Roosevelt clarified that Thanksgiving should always be celebrated on the fourth Thursday of the month to encourage earlier holiday shopping, never on the occasional fifth Thursday.

Helpful Holiday Hints for Holiday Travelers

Transportation Security Administration

Every holiday travel season, TSA prepares its workforce of 50,000 Transportation Security Officers to ensure we provide a smooth holiday travel experience for travelers.Since this is during the busiest travel time of the year, TSA wants to remind passengers of the security procedures in place and help travelers be prepared for security, before they leave home. [Access link above for video]

10 Riskiest Places to Give Your Social Security Number

Here's how to lower the chances of your number falling into the wrong hands -- and what to do if it does.
By Cameron Huddleston

Kiplinger.com

McAfee, the antivirus software company, recently released a list of the most dangerous places to give your Social Security number. Many of the places on the list might surprise you:

Enjoy all the trimmings without carving your Thanksgiving budget

By Consumer Reports

Assuming you’re not from a family of competitive eaters, this year’s Thanksgiving meal will cost you $43.47 to prepare, a 56-cent increase over the 2009 total. That’s according to the American Farm Bureau Federation’s (AFBF) annual price survey of a classic Thanksgiving dinner-for-10, which includes turkey, bread stuffing, sweet potatoes, peas, cranberries, rolls with butter, relish, pumpkin pie and drinks.

Finding a Trustworthy Kennel to Board Your Pets

Better Business Bureau

As much as pet owners may want to take their furry or feathered friends with them where ever they go, sometimes you can’t take them with you and finding a kennel or pet care service you can trust is paramount. That’s why the Better Business Bureau has created a checklist to help pet owners choose a safe and reliable home-away-from-home for their pets.

20 Things I Learned About Browsers and the Web

By Google

TSA-blocking briefs keep your privates private

by Matt Hickey

CNET News

I just had a harrowing incident on a flight from New Orleans to Seattle. Due to a small electrical fire, my plane had to be diverted to Memphis; it then took another day and a half to get home.

Cyber Monday: Beware the malware

by Elinor Mills

CNET News

It's the Monday after Thanksgiving and you're sitting at your work computer suffering from food coma. Too bloated to get any real work done, you decide to do something that doesn't occupy too much of the brain--online Christmas shopping.

For real education reform, take a cue from the Adventists

By Elissa Kido

Christian Science Monitor

Education reform has taken center stage lately as Americans struggle to close the oft-condemned achievement gap. But quietly in our midst, the second largest Christian school system in the world has been steadily outperforming the national average – across all demographics.

Investors Put Money on Lawsuits to Get Payouts

By BINYAMIN APPELBAUM

New York Times

Large banks, hedge funds and private investors hungry for new and lucrative opportunities are bankrolling other people’s lawsuits, pumping hundreds of millions of dollars into medical malpractice claims, divorce battles and class actions against corporations — all in the hope of sharing in the potential winnings. [Interactive Graphic] [Graphic]

The Lionfish Creates an Uproar, Bringing Out the Hunters

Voracious Intruders Stalked With Spears; Doing Your Part by Eating Them
By PAUL GLADER

Wall Street Journal

KEY LARGO, Fla.—Fluctuations in the fish population are flummoxing marine scientists the world over. But few species elicit the solution served up for the lionfish.

Are you a wimpy parent? Check for these 7 signs

A child psychologist shares seven questions to ask yourself to determine if you are a wimpy parent.
By Gregory Ramey
(Cox Newspapers)

Seattle Times

DAYTON, Ohio — I have evaluated numerous children whose only problems are that they live with loving and dedicated parents who are wimps.

Should You Be Snuggling With Your Cellphone?

By RANDALL STROSS

New York Times

WARNING: Holding a cellphone against your ear may be hazardous to your health. So may stuffing it in a pocket against your body.

Making Ads That Whisper to the Brain

By NATASHA SINGER

New York Times

WHAT happens in our brains when we watch a compelling TV commercial?

The Defiant Ones

In her new book, the author of 'Seabiscuit' turns to the unimaginable ordeal of an Olympic athlete and WW II hero. Because of her own debilitating illness, they struck a special bond.
By STEVE ONEY

Wall Street Journal

With a fringe of white hair poking out from under a University of Southern California baseball cap and blue eyes sharp behind bifocals, 93-year-old Louis Zamperini refuses to concede much to old age. He still works a couple of hours each day in the yard of his Hollywood Hills home, bagging leaves, climbing stairs and, on occasion, trimming trees with a chainsaw. His outlook is upbeat, even rambunctious. "I have a cheerful countenance at all times," he says. "When you have a good attitude your immune system is fortified." But as he plunged into "Unbroken," Laura Hillenbrand's 496-page story of his life, the happy trappings of his current existence fell away. [Interactive Graphics]

What's the Latest Move in Sports? Doing the 'Dougie'

Dance Moves Into New Arenas, and There's a Bow-Tie Version

By BEN COHEN

Wall Street Journal

Across the sports world, from college pep rallies to the gridirons of the NFL, it's becoming the year of the Dougie.

This celebratory dance— based on a series of moves described in the hit song "Teach Me How To Dougie," by the hip-hop group Cali Swag District—generally consists of shimmying and then gliding one's hand through one's hair. In a long line of Ickey Shuffles and Dirty Birds, it is just the latest example of athletes using work as an excuse to boogie.

Israel's Ultra-Orthodox Welfare Kings

There is no precedent in Jewish history for a whole community devoting itself to Torah scholarship.
By EVAN R. GOLDSTEIN

Wall Street Journal

In Israel, where modernity coexists uneasily with tradition, hand-wringing about the country's ultra-Orthodox Jewish minority is a national pastime. Cloistered in poor towns and neighborhoods, exempted from conscription into the military and surviving largely off government handouts, the black-hatted ultra-Orthodox, known as Haredim, have long vexed more secular Israelis. Now, in the wake of an Israeli Supreme Court decision, this perennial tension has escalated to new heights.

Man makes record $335,000 in Entropia Universe virtual real estate deal

By Chris Richardson,

Christian Science Monitor

While real estate prices are down across America, there is one place that's booming. Just don't count on the bank giving you a mortgage for these properties. They are completely fictional.

Qing Dynasty Relic Yields Record Price at Auction

By JOHN F. BURNS

New York Times

LONDON — As treasure-in-the-attic stories go, the 18th-century Chinese vase sold at a suburban auction house in outer London on Thursday night will be hard to beat.

The delicate, decorative 16-inch vase started at a not-inconsequential $800,000, but after a half-hour of unexpectedly spirited bidding, the gavel fell at $69.5 million. It was the highest price ever paid at auction for a Chinese antiquity. [picture]

For Catholics, Interest in Exorcism Is Revived

By LAURIE GOODSTEIN

New York Times

The rite of exorcism, rendered gory by Hollywood and ridiculed by many modern believers, has largely fallen out of favor in the Roman Catholic Church in the United States.

Pertussis (Whooping Cough)

Kid-friendly Fact Sheet: The Pertussis Disease Villain
Meet pertussis, a disease villain from BAM! Body and Mind, that leaves its victims literally gasping for air.

Real name: Pertussis
Also Known as (AKA): Whoopie Doopies
Known aliases: Bordetella pertussis (the bacteria that causes pertussis illness); whooping cough (for the "whoop" sound of someone gasping for air after a coughing spell)
Microbe type: bacterium

The Rise of the Lazy Locavore

Why grow your own food when you can kick your feet up and watch somebody else farm your backyard?
By KATY MCLAUGHLIN

Wall Street Journal

There could hardly be a loftier culinary class than that of the locavore, a movement whose members eschew food grown outside a 100-mile radius of their homes. With copious outputs of money and labor, locavores earn bragging rights (we put up 50 jars of beets!), complaining rights (we went without wheat all winter!) and the right to believe they are doing their part to save the planet (we support local farms by paying $10 a pound for cherries!).

For Cats, a Big Gulp With a Touch of the Tongue

By NICHOLAS WADE

New York Times

It has taken four highly qualified engineers and a bunch of integral equations to figure it out, but we now know how cats drink. The answer is: very elegantly, and not at all the way you might suppose. [Graphic] [Video]

‘Cool’ Climate Film Takes On ‘Truth’

By ANDREW C. REVKIN

New York Times

An earnest non-scientist probing the relationship of people, climate and energy travels the globe describing his menu for avoiding dangerous global warming.

Doubts Rise on Bedbug-Sniffing Dogs

By CARA BUCKLEY

New York Times

If any heroes have emerged in the bedbug epidemic sweeping households, movie theaters, retailers, schools, offices, you-name-it nationwide, it is surely bedbug-sniffing dogs.

Stress-Free Holiday Travel

By: Jess | November 10, 2010 | Category: Travel

GovGab: You U.S. Government Blog

With Thanksgivingjust a few weeks away, holiday travel season is upon us. That tends to make for a lot of stressed out travelers trying to get to and from their families' houses or vacation spots as quickly as possible.

The Cost of Driving Away With the Gas Pump

By JENNIFER SARANOW SCHULTZ
New York Times

After filling up her car’s tank with gas, a friend of Bucks recently started to drive away with the gas nozzle still in the car.

Resisting the Online Tracking Programs

By RIVA RICHMOND

New York Times

If you have ever worried about specifically aimed ads that seem aware of your private moments on the Web, such as looking at sites for kitten-heel pumps, eczema medications or how to get out of debt, here is something else to fret about.

'Fake Marijuana' Users Showing Up in Emergency Rooms

Called 'K2' or 'Spice,' the drug is legal in many states.

By Jenifer Goodwin
HealthDay

THURSDAY, Nov. 11 --(HealthDay News) -- A form of synthetic marijuana known as "K2" is sending young people to the hospital with racing heart beats, extreme anxiety and hallucinations, toxicologists warn.

FDA Wants Your Input on Cigarette Warnings

Food & Drug Administration (FDA)

Federal regulators are testing the waters with the first proposed changes to cigarette packaging and advertisements in more than 25 years—bold health warnings with color images that show the tragic consequences of smoking.

CDC Releases Two Reports on Excessive Alcohol Use and Related Harms

Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)

CDC's Guide to Community Preventive Services has released two reports on "Maintaining Limits on Days and Hours of Sale of Alcoholic Beverages to Prevent Excessive Alcohol Consumption and Related Harms". These reports were posted online today by the American Journal of Preventive Medicine and will be published in their December 2010 issue.

The reports show that increasing the number of hours and days when alcohol can be sold in bars, restaurants, and liquor stores leads to greater alcohol use and related harms, especially motor-vehicle crashes. National, state, and local policies that remove previously banned alcohol sales on weekend days (usually Sundays) or that increase the hours of sale by 2 or more hours contribute to excessive drinking and many dangerous outcomes, including driving after drinking and alcohol-related assault and injury.

America Recycles Day - November 15th

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

PHILADELPHIA (November 9, 2010) - - Everyday Americans recycle their trash because they know it’s an important activity that can have a positive impact on the environment.

But once a year the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency sets aside November 15 to remind everyone that recycling plays a dramatic role in reducing pollution. It’s a great day to recommit to recycling, and to consider adding some additional recycling activities to our daily routines.

'Old fogies' obsession: Turning waves into power

While many of their buddies were golfing or winding down in other ways, four former Boeing engineers — ranging in age from 74 to 92 — threw themselves into one of the holy grails of green energy: how to tap the unceasing power of ocean waves.
Danny Westneat
Seattle Times

Recently a group of Boeing engineers created a little buzz at a scientific conference, when they unveiled their invention for harvesting energy from the ocean.

Cold remedies: What works, what doesn't, what can't hurt

There's no cure for the common cold. But what about cold remedies that claim to make you feel better faster? Find out what's effective — and what's not.

By Mayo Clinic staff

Cold remedies are almost as common as the common cold, and many are nearly as ancient. The use of chicken soup as a congestion cure dates back centuries. But is longevity any guarantee that a cold remedy works? Do effective cold remedies even exist? Here's a look at some common cold remedies and what's known about them.

Passengers enjoy free Wi-Fi for the holidays

November 20, 2010 through January 2, 2011

This holiday season, Google Chrome has teamed up with AirTran Airways, Delta, and Virgin Americato offer free Gogo Inflight Wi-Fi on every domestic flight from November 20, 2010 through January 2, 2011. These participating airlines have outfitted their entire domestic fleet with Gogo Inflight Wi-Fi, and we expect more connected passengers this holiday season than ever before!

At Legal Fringe, Empty Houses Go to the Needy

By CATHARINE SKIPP and DAMIEN CAVE

New York Times

NORTH LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Save Florida Homes Inc. and its owner, Mark Guerette, have found foreclosed homes for several needy families here in Broward County, and his tenants could not be more pleased. Fabian Ferguson, his wife and two children now live a two-bedroom home they have transformed from damaged and abandoned to full and cozy.

Study Says Drowsy Drivers Are Involved in 17% of Fatal Car Crashes

By JIM SCHEMBARI

New York Times

Driving while drowsy and falling asleep at the wheel are responsible for more deadly crashes than previously thought, according to a new study released on Monday.

For Those Who Can't Decide on Dessert, Here's the Dish

Cherpumple' Bakes Three Pies Inside Cakes; 'Total Spectacle' or Deadly Sin?

By GEOFFREY A. FOWLER
Wall Street Journal

Turduckens are now American holiday fixtures, those Frankenstein fowl featuring a turkey stuffed with duck stuffed with chicken. Last Thanksgiving, Charles Phoenix created the turducken of desserts. [Slide Show]

New Ways Bankers Are Spying on You

By KAREN BLUMENTHAL

Wall Street Journal

Big Banker is watching you—more closely than ever.

With lenders still skittish about making new loans, credit bureaus and others are hawking services that help banks probe deeply into your financial closet. The new offerings include ways to look at your rent and utility payments, figure out your income, gauge your home's value and even rate your banking habits based on details like whether your direct deposits have stopped.

Iowa's Total Recall

Voters give activist judges the boot. Lawyers are shocked.
Wall Street Journal

Iowans made a clean sweep of the state Supreme Court on Tuesday, voting to recall all three justices who were up for a retention election. The rout is being played as an unprecedented politicization of state courts. Maybe if judges behaved less like politicians, they'd have less reason to fear recall votes.

Exporting Our Way to Stability

By BARACK OBAMA

New York Times

AS the United States recovers from this recession, the biggest mistake we could make would be to rebuild our economy on the same pile of debt or the paper profits of financial speculation. We need to rebuild on a new, stronger foundation for economic growth. And part of that foundation involves doing what Americans have always done best: discovering, creating and building products that are sold all over the world.

An ‘ARE YOU SMARTER THAN AL GORE?’ energy quiz

Christian Science Monitor

Everyone has been conditioned to flick off lights when they leave a room – or, if they forget, to tromp dutifully back to turn them off. Many such energy-saving actions have become routines that make us feel very green, very much the global good citizens helping to reduce dependence on fossil fuels. We don't really know how Al Gore would do on this quiz. But if you take it and ace it, you might feel a little competitive with the man who won the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to counter climate change by reconsidering the energy choices behind the problem. Take our quiz and find out how much you really know about your energy use:

Would Law School Warning Labels Help?

Ari L. Kaplan
The National Law Journal

People smoke. People speed. They don't exercise or get enough sleep. They go to law school. By now, everyone is aware of the consequences of these actions. In fact, they have known them for some time. The question is: who is responsible?

World Freedom Day

Answers.USA.Gov

World Freedom Day is a United States federal observance to commemorate the fall of the Berlin Wall. It started in 2001 and is celebrated every November 9.