Tag Archives: culture

Don’t Tip

Why tip? People say that it gives the waiter an economic incentive to do his job better. Because of this incentive, the meal will get to the table faster and the experience is generally more enjoyable. Makes sense, no? A waitress who takes your food 10 meters from the bench to your table deserves a [...]
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Artificial Virginity Kit

The Chinese company Gigimo advertises its Artificial Hymen Virginity kit across the Arab world. The kit, which allows women to fake sexual purity on their wedding night, is the sort of product one might find in a novelty store or sex shop in America. But in Egypt, nuptial night virginity is deadly serious business. Women [...]
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Literature Publishing of the Future

I forsee the publishing house of the future offering, for instance, a poet’s latest work in multiple formats simultaneously, each at a different price: an e-text version with links to all current reviews, related scholarly and popular comment, and bundled with its own discussion forum that links owners of each of the books; a hard-copy [...]
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Stop Working in the Private Sector

From a new Cato Institute report on “Employee Compensation in State and Local Governments“: The study’s author, Chris Edwards, found that the wage premium for public sector employees was about 34 percent and for benefits about 70 percent. Lineage: Reason <- Cato
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Osama bin Laden Not Involved in 9/11 Attacks

Is it possible that Osama bin Laden was not involved in the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center? It is curious that Osama bin Laden initially denied involvement. From CNN, dated September 17, 2001: In a statement issued to the Arabic satellite channel Al Jazeera, based in Qatar, bin Laden said, “The U.S. government [...]
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The Dangerous Kit

“The Dangerous Kit” teaches kids at a young age not to be afraid of the world around them and to be critical thinkers by providing hands-on experience with items at different times in culture have been seen as shockingly dangerous when the true scale of their deleterious effects is between zilch and inane. A booklet [...]
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End Airborne Terrorism

When Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab attempted to detonate plastic explosives concealed in his underwear on Northwest Airlines Flight 253, I saw public outcry for greater airport security. People saw yet another terrorist show airport security ineffective. They asked, “How could this have happened?” People paid to make solutions came up with ideas like ramping up airport security, and [...]
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Citrus History

Oranges are often said to be a wholesome, natural, and tasty thing to eat. But just what is “natural?” The history of the orange and it’s acidic friends is a scientific adventure through prehistoric genetic engineering and cultural trade. It is commonly accepted that there are four founding species of the citrus genus: Lime (Citrus [...]
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Pleasing Everybody

I was just reading the GNOME Human Interface Guidelines, which tell computer application developers how to make their applications integrate well into GNOME, and the internationalization section closes with a list of some common things to avoid: Pictures of flags or money Maps showing political boundaries or contentious location names Lists of countries or cities [...]
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