Today is Friday the 13th, considered the ultimate day of bad luck in modern culture. While historians have yet to verify the root of the superstition, the Stress Management Center and Phobia Institute estimates that more than 17 million people are affected by fear on this day, causing up to $750 million in lost profits for stores, airlines, and other . . .
Every once in a while I do something really stupid. In this case, it was to accept my friend Jeff Thomas‘ invitation to play in a celebrity-amateur golf tournament. (Just to be clear, I’m the amateur; Emmitt Smith is the celebrity in our foursome.) “It is totally relaxed,” Jeff said. “The celebrities play in a televised NBC tournament on the . . .
July 12 is Different Colored Eyes Day, celebrating both “diversity of eye color” and Heterochromia, a condition in which a person’s eyes are different colors. Should genetic engineering become widely available, traits like eye color could cease to become inherited traits, a development that critics cite as a danger to society.
July 11 is National Cheer Up The Lonely Day, an increasingly necessary task according to the National Science Foundation General Social Survey, which found that Americans are more socially isolated then in previous decades despite (or because of?) the growth of communications technology.
Fortune Small Business reports that a feud is brewing between two companies that provide inflatable torsos to serve as movie extras in crowd scenes. Industry leader Inflatable Crowd is being sued by competitor Crowd in a Box over patent infringement, while the defendant’s owner claims he came up with the idea on his own. (Hat tip: the Wall Street Journal‘s . . .
July 10 is Clerihew Day, marking the birth date in 1875 of Edmund Clerihew Bentley, the British writer who invested a four-line rhyming verse, usually biographical in nature and resembling a limerick, that came to be known as a “clerihew.” Bentley composed the first clerihew about Sir Humphrey Davy, the chemist credited with isolating and naming aluminum.
As enduring fans of the sport, we were glad to hear that ESPN2 broadcast its first coverage of the 2007 USA Rock Paper Scissors League championship, which took place in May at the Las Vegas Mandalay Bay. The single-elimination competition was won by Jamie Langridge from Odessa, Texas, who employed a “complex adaptive” strategy to take home the Bud Light . . .
July 9 marks the start of Nude Recreation Week, during which you are encouraged to do household chores, exercise or telecommute in the buff . Nudist vacation destinations are reportedly the travel industry’s fastest growing niche market, taking in more than $400 million a year.
Bad news for retirees (and others) who want gigantic houses in Boulder, Colo.: local officials may enact home size restrictions. Under the proposal, residents would be allowed to build homes larger than 4,000 square feet only if they agree to invest in the preservation of agricultural or rural land in other regions. (Hat tip: J.C. O’Connell.) Here’s more on the . . .
July 6 is one woman’s self-declared National Fried Chicken Day. If you don’t like her recipes, Chef Jeff has a good one in his book. Do keep in mind that, according to the Center for Disease Control, national obesity rates have more than quadrupled since the 1970s.
Mirroring Levitt’s thoughts on doctors plotting terrorist attacks, the Wall Street Journal takes an in-depth look at Alan Krueger‘s findings that terrorists tend to come from high-income, high-education families. David Pogue of the New York Times points out that, in the midst of last week’s iPhone mania, most of us missed T-Mobile’s announcement of a new plan under which all . . .
July 5 is National Workaholics Day. If you are reading this at a work computer, you know who you are. For those who feel they have a problem, Workaholics Anonymous has been growing throughout the country — though some chapters are foundering, given that so few people will leave work to make it to meetings.
July 4, in addition to being a bona fide national holiday, is also Tom Sawyer Day in Monroe City, Missouri. The festivities include a 10K run – whether the race is considered work or leisure is for Mark Twain to decide.
Via Wired: In addition to providing potential career-building skills, online gaming may be good for teens, according to a three-year study of adolescent gamers by researchers at Brunel University. The findings showed that teens who gamed could “establish their presence, identity and meaning in ways that might not be accessible or permissible in their everyday lives.” Though there’s also the . . .
July 3 is Stay Out of the Sun Day, which is being heartily celebrated by all fourteen Americans who aren’t spending the week at the beach. Given that the FDA has yet to offer consumer guidelines concerning sunscreen use and SPF numbers have been found to be misleading, staying indoors is looking more and more promising. You can also send . . .
New York Times writer Adam Liptak reports (TimesSelect membership required) that Avvo, a user-generated online rating system that allows clients to rate lawyers like Zagats rates restaurants, is being sued by none other than a group of lawyers with low ratings. More on the politics of online dating: Slate writer Seth Stevenson analyzes an ad campaign by Chemistry.com, a dating . . .
Today marks the start of National Fishing Week, conveniently scheduled right after PETA’s “Fish Are Friends Not Food” week.
Here’s a twist in our discussion of specialized online dating: a 26-year-old Australian ad salesman has created a tongue-in-cheek site meant to “weed out” the “ugly, unattractive, desperate fatsos.” Called Darwin Dating, it has since gained popularity and led to several happy matches. Craigslist posters are selling their time this week by offering to stand in line to buy iPhones . . .
June 29 is National Ducks and Wetlands Day, offering yet another chance to celebrate the existence of water creatures headed for likely destruction.
We’ve written about the power of “lucky 8s” to influence stock decisions. Now, with 7/7/07 approaching, LiveScience takes a look at the many people planning major life events for that signal day. In a dose of bad luck, the Japanese man who holds the world record for hot dog eating has severely injured his jaw during a training session for . . .
June 28 is Insurance Awareness Day, which works well with tomorrow’s opening of SiCKO.
June 27 is National Indian Pudding Day, referring to a form of Hasty Pudding made of cornmeal and molasses — offering yet another opportunity to celebrate Christmas in June.
In light of our recent discussion of Internet Addiction Disorder, let it be known that the London Free Press reports that U.S. doctors are lobbying to have video game addiction classified as a psychiatric disorder. Online Gamer’s Anonymous, meanwhile, is packed with postings from gamers seeking control of their habits. Via the Wall Street Journal: Parents-to-be are putting more time . . .
June 26 marks the beginning of PETA’s “Fish Are Friends, Not Food” Week, meant to raise awareness that “fish want to live as much as everyone else does.” But what about deer? In Japan, dwindling tuna stocks have led to venison sushi.
Here’s even more support for Levitt’s theory about the frequency of criminals having the middle name “Wayne”: Australian Christopher Wayne Hudson was arrested outside Melbourne and charged with triple homicide. (Hat Tip: Caty Harris.) Via CNN: Two New Zealand parents have been forbidden by the country’s Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages from naming their son “4real,” under the reasoning . . .
June 22 is Take Your Dog To Work Day, in which dog owners try to encourage the rest of the world to adopt dogs from shelters. As if there weren’t already enough dog poop on the streets.
June 20 is official Ice Cream Soda Day — and for those still in need of a cool beverage after their tasty soda, it’s also National Ice Tea Month. NOTE: Yesterday, June 19, was also the anniversary of the execution of Ethel and Julius Rosenberg. Ethel, whose maiden name was “Greenglass,” was the first cousin of Dubner’s mother, a fact . . .
Today is Flag Day, commemorating the adoption of the United States flag in 1777, as well as the birthday of Donald Trump, who might have made a run at U.S. President if he weren’t so averse to shaking hands.
In their June 10, 2007, column for the New York Times Magazine, Dubner and Levitt present some interesting new research on real estate sales. No, it’s not what you’re thinking: more Realtor bashing! Although it is true that they have written before about the imperfect nature of the Realtor’s commission model, this column takes a somewhat different tack. It’s about a little-known trick known as a cash-back transaction, in which a buyer receives a “rebate” to finance his own down-payment – a rebate that the lending bank never finds out about. This blog post supplies additional research materials.
Nicolas Gueguen, an assistant professor of psychology at the University of Bretagne-Sud, performed a study in which his male research assistants approached 240 women in the street and asked for their phone numbers. Half of the women were asked the question accompanied by a light touch on the arm; the other half received no physical contact. Of those touched, 19% . . .
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