Do you remember how you acted, thought, and behaved as a teenager at King, and how, looking back now, you can see how all of this could be explained by your background and your experiences, i.e. your wish to make more friends that were white, your need to be athletic? What if your behavior and thoughts and philosophy continue to be a product of experience only, and you continue to fulfill some predetermined archetype?

Ideas from wired

1. Create a prize for medicine (or sustainability apps) => similar to X Prize for space
2. Beer markets: "crash" the market so that prices change.
3. Nate Silver: Play poker to deal with luck, uncertainty, and accounting for new information.
4. Make lists: Folders and subfolders on your PC.
5. Short vigorous workouts over 30 minutes (e.g. 60 seconds on 10 seconds off) are just as effective as longer workouts

China's high speed rail

This is a phenomenal article: http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2012/10/22/121022fa_fact_osnos?currentPage=1

Equality is as American as freedom and liberty - what happened to "Equality University?"

http://www.economist.com/node/21564413

'There was little social mobility except, as Elizabeth found, through marriage. Colonial America was an exception to this feudal sclerosis. Research by Peter Lindert and Jeffrey Williamson shows that on the eve of the American revolution incomes in the 13 colonies that formed the United States were more equal than in virtually “any other place on the planet”.'

More ed reform

http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2012/10/why-kids-should-grade-teachers/309088/3/

Two articles on ed reform:

1. Kids can't write because they haven't been taught the basics of how writing flows, i.e. the tools for constructing a sentence, a paragraph, and an essay - words like "if, but, although": New Dorp
2. Student evaluation of teachers is most correlated with improvements on standardized testing. Student surveys only cost $5 compared to other measures. Also, most teachers can't be evaluated on  standardized testing subject because they don't teach the subject.

Sleep and exercise

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/09/26/how-exercise-can-help-you-master-new-skills/

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/23/opinion/sunday/rethinking-sleep.html

Aluminium cans

Used beverage cans usually trade at around 20% less—currently at about 81.5 cents a pound versus $1.04 a pound—than the value of primary aluminum.


It takes about 25 cans to make a pound. By comparison, recovered paper is currently trading for between five and 20 cents a pound, and the plastic used in beverage containers for between 15 and 30 cents a pound, according to the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries.

Wayne Baker delivers three bags of cans every Monday. The 41-year-old father of two says he's diabetic and receives $900 of disability payments a month.

On a recent day, he collects $6. Mr. Castriota is currently paying 55 cents per pound. The $6 "will go toward milk, eggs and bread," says Mr. Baker.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390443589304577633410750041328.html