eu-jin’s posterous

Stuff I'm interested in 



August 1, 2008

Never talk to the police

Eric points out two videos by a law prof and a police officer that basically tells you never to talk to the police, ever, for any reason. I think they are worth watching, and keep the number of a good lawyer with you at all times.

http://www.educatedguesswork.org/movabletype/archives/2008/07/dont_talk_to_th.html

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July 31, 2008

Michael Phelps

A fascinating article on Michael Phelp's swimming ability, his training, and what makes him so fast in the water.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/03/sports/playmagazine/803PHELPS-t.html?_r=1&hp=&oref=slogin&pagewanted=all

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July 31, 2008

Endurance Drug

A experimental drug increases the endurance of mice --- "when tested on a treadmill, they could run about 44 percent farther and 23 percent longer than untreated mice". I wonder what its effects are on aerobically trained mice ...

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080731/ap_on_he_me/sci_exercise_pill

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July 30, 2008

Graduate Salaries

A very comprehensive survey of 1.2 million graduates show that "where people go to college can make a big difference in starting pay, and that difference is largely sustained into midcareer".

There are many interesting tidbits in the article, such as

1) "the median starting salary for Ivy Leaguers is 32% higher than that of liberal-arts college graduates -- and at 10 or more years into graduates' working lives, the spread is 34%"

2) the % increase in salary after 10 years is highest for liberal arts school graduates compared to engineering school graduates (but the engineering school graduates make more on an absolute level).

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121746658635199271.html?mod=hps_us_inside_today

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July 30, 2008

Economic Growth and Divorce

An amusing look at the correlation between economic growth and divorce by the Economist. Apparently quite correlated for high and middle income earners. Even comes with a quote from Robin Williams:

"AH, YES, divorce", Robin Williams once mused, "from the Latin word meaning to rip out a man's genitals through his wallet".

http://www.economist.com/world/britain/displaystory.cfm?story_id=11792871

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July 29, 2008

Eggs

When I was young, my parents fed me a couple of soft boiled eggs a day. They stopped when I got older because of potential problems with cholesterol that were starting to get publicized. It turns out that eating lots of eggs might not be bad for your cholesterol after all.

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/07/28/the-sunny-side-of-eggs/

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July 25, 2008

Pole Dancing hits China

Pole Dancing hits China.

Picture says it all.



http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/25/world/asia/25pole.html

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July 25, 2008

Ultra ultra ultra adventure race

WSJ has a great write up of a 10 day adventure race (Primalquest) covering 548 miles. The participants make me feel extremely soft. Choice quotes from the article include

1) The most fanatic [participants] have their toenails surgically removed to head off foot injuries and infection.

2) "Susan Bower, a 38-year-old teacher from Truckee, Calif., was stopped by shooting pains in her leg. A medical volunteer pulled the tape off her heel and found an exposed Achilles tendon."

Hats off to the participants!

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121695015234783463.html?mod=2_1578_topbox

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July 25, 2008

Leopard vs Crocodile

An amazing sequence of photos of a leopard attacking a crocodile in Kruger National Park in South Africa! It's apparently the first known instance of such an event. I can't imagine why the leopard would go for such difficult  prey and also it is probably the case that the crocodile does not taste good with its thick hide.



http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jhtml?xml=/earth/2008/07/18/ealeopard118.xml&CMP=ILC-mostviewedbox

Incidentally, Kruger National Park is also the site of the famous Battle at Kruger video, which is also quite amazing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LU8DDYz68kM

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July 23, 2008

Bottled Water

While travelling and also when outdoors, I noticed that a significant amount of the trash that I would see consisted of plastic water bottles. From then, I tried to avoid consuming or buying bottled water in developed countries. Unfortunately, while travelling in countries where the water is not potable from the tap, bottled water is a must. The following Economist article summarizes a new book discussing bottled water.

http://www.economist.com/books/displaystory.cfm?story_id=11745584

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