Mark Twain once said, “Giving up smoking is the easiest thing in the world. I know because I’ve done it thousands of times.”  If that’s true, then maybe there is hope for China.  The world’s most populous nation is also the world’s largest cigarette producer.  While they export some, most of that is for the [...]

After sitting in a traffic jam for five hours due to a suicide threat on the Haizhu bridge in Guangzhou China, retired soldier Lian Jiansheng, 66, broke through the police barricades and pushed the would-be jumper Chen Fuchao off the bridge. “I pushed him off because jumpers like Chen are very selfish. Their action violates [...]

Six German states have ordered retailers to stop selling Red Bull Cola after an analysis found .4 micrograms (1/2500 of a milligram) of cocaine in one liter of the drink. Well, sort of cocaine. It does come from the cocoa plant but it’s a “non-active degradation product” according to Fritz Soergel of the Institute for Biomedical and [...]

A study in contrasts… last week in Kansas a man was sentenced to 122 months in prison for driving his car through the Wichita City Hall.  While halfway around the world, the French are preparing to stage a penal version of the Tour de France with 196 convicts. In Kansas, Marcus Johnson pleaded no contest [...]

Everyone owes Michael Phelps an apology. I think that Michael Phelps was psychic, when he was partying down in South Carolina those many months ago. He was just getting ready for 2010 with some 420. Its come to the media’s attention that next year’s Winter Olympic Games have a rather odd symbol in the Official [...]

The City Council of Leister (that’s in the U.K. for the geographically challenged), in an effort to curb teen pregnancy has produced and posted a viral video. The spot ends with,“Not what you expected?… Being a teenage parent might not be either.” I think this would have a bit more credibility if it didn’t take [...]

So a few weeks back in Shine, Yahoo’s lifestyle section (imagine a Parade Magazine for the online masses), writer Gretchen Rubin suggested ways to make a good impression and not bore others in conversation.  She said: Unless you get a truly enthusiastic response from your interlocutor—which is possible—be very wary of recounting… 1. A dream. [...]

Occasionally Saturday Night Live is funny.  Not as funny as it was in the 1970s or 1980s or early 1990s.  Back then you could count on three or four funny skits in a show.  Now its more likely you’re lucky to see one funny skit every month or so.  Somehow they can tap into the [...]

Economics textbooks will tell you that one of the best products a retailer can have is an “inelastic” good or service.  Meaning that there aren’t a lot of substitutes for the product and that customers are going to pay for it regardless of a price increase.  UK retailer Marks & Spencer had such a product [...]