World Military Spending Global Issues The global financial and economic crisis resulted in many nations cutting back on all sorts of public spending, and yet military spending continued to increase. Only in 2012 was a fall in world military expenditure noted — and it was a small fall. How would continued spending be justified in such an era? Before the crisis hit, many nations were enjoying either high economic growth or far easier access to credit without any knowledge of what was to come. A combination of factors explained increased military spending in recent years before the economic crisis as earlier SIPRI reports had also noted, for example: Foreign policy objectivesReal or perceived threatsArmed conflict and policies to contribute to multilateral peacekeeping operationsAvailability of economic resources The last point refers to rapidly developing nations like China and India that have seen their economies boom in recent years. China, for the first time, ranked number 2 in spending in 2008.
An examination of Ty Cobb and Detroit The old liquor store on Trumbull Avenue was abandoned until a handyman turned it into a hip bar about three years ago. Motor City Ghettoblaster is now on tap at Woodbridge Pub, located on the outer edge of the once-crumbling Detroit neighborhood that bears its name. The Woodbridge Community Garden is across the way, home to tomatoes, lettuces, and outdoor art. Not far from here, at the corner of Commonwealth and One hundred years ago, Cobb moved into the north side of the three-story duplex on Commonwealth. The fields of Woodbridge were filling fast with an eclectic collection of Victorian homes, built densely to accommodate the city’s booming population. It was a good year for Cobb, who died 50 years ago this month. The brick duplex on Commonwealth wasn’t Cobb’s only Detroit home, but other structures in which he lived are long gone. The ballclub, however, played its final game at the corner of Michigan and Trumbull in 1999. Bennett Park was in its last year of life in 1911. Indeed.
Mass psychosis in the US Has America become a nation of psychotics? You would certainly think so, based on the explosion in the use of antipsychotic medications. In 2008, with over $14 billion in sales, antipsychotics became the single top-selling therapeutic class of prescription drugs in the United States, surpassing drugs used to treat high cholesterol and acid reflux. Once upon a time, antipsychotics were reserved for a relatively small number of patients with hard-core psychiatric diagnoses - primarily schizophrenia and bipolar disorder - to treat such symptoms as delusions, hallucinations, or formal thought disorder. Today, it seems, everyone is taking antipsychotics. It is anything but a coincidence that the explosion in antipsychotic use coincides with the pharmaceutical industry's development of a new class of medications known as "atypical antipsychotics." Not just for psychotics anymore Cost benefit analysis Making patients worse
Plutocracy: If Corporations and the Rich Paid 1960s Level Taxes, the Debt Would Vanish | Economy July 24, 2011 | Like this article? Join our email list: Stay up to date with the latest headlines via email. Once upon a time in America, back a century ago, our nation's rich paid virtually nothing in taxes to the federal government. But those average Americans would do battle, over the next half century, to rein in the rich and the corporations that made them ever richer. America's wealthy, predictably, counterattacked — and, by the 1980s, they were scoring successes of their own. Today, the rich and their corporations no longer bear anything close to their rightful share of the nation's tax burden. This “debt crisis” in no way had to happen. Some numbers — from an Institute for Policy Studies report released this past spring — can help us better visualize just how monumental this political failure has been. In 2007, Diamond and Saez point out, taxpayers in the nation's top 1 percent actually paid, on average, 22.4 percent of their incomes in federal taxes. No mystery here.
Top 5 History and Government Websites Whether you’re trying to discover the cause of a significant world event, understand the structure of the government, or research the life of an influential person, these history and government links can help you achieve success in your online studies. Check out the amazing charts, documents, and facts that are available to you. www.govspot.com Browse through reviews and hundreds of links to the best government related sites on the web. Contains leader email addresses, national archives, information on relevant issues, and more. www.hyperhistory.com Use this site to explore some of the essentials of history. www.biography.com Need to write a paper about Rosa Parks or interested in reading up on the greatest baseball stars of all time? www.archives.gov View historic documents, check out Congressional records, view online museums and more. www.loc.gov The Library of Congress webpage offers information on United States history, world history, facts, and other essentials.
Squatting to Poop - Is It Healthy? | Mark's Daily Apple Welcome! If you want to lose weight, gain muscle, increase energy levels or just generally look and feel healthier you've come to the right place. Here's where to start: Visit the Start Here and Primal Blueprint 101 pages to learn more about the Primal Lifestyle. Thanks for visiting! A while back, I gave a bit of Link Love to Nature’s Platform (thanks, NeoPaleo), a contraption that fits over regular toilets and allows users to squat instead of sit. I’ve always been one to pull up a stool, have a seat, and ruminate on the past. So where does historical defecation posture fit into all this? If you want to be anal about it, there may actually be some concrete physiological benefits to squatting. Straining For one, squatting opens up the recto-anal angle, allowing the squatter to be a bit more lax when handling business. Hemorrhoids Hemorrhoids are another fixture of Western society that don’t enjoy the same prevalence in “squatting” countries. Other Claims Let me know what you think.
Full List - The 100 Best TV Shows of All-TIME - TIME First, I apologize. I know I left some of your favorite shows off this list. How do I know that? How did I settle on this list? —It’s My List… which means that it’s unavoidably subjective, indefensible and shaped by my experience. —… But It’s Not All About Me. —No Grading on A Curve. —Spread It Around. —It’s Not a Popularity Contest. —Two Shows, One Slot. —The One-Year Rule: I considered only shows that debuted before 2006, to see if they held up beyond one season or (if they lasted a year or less) if they have held up over time. Those are my rules; I took them seriously, and broke most of them at least once. Most of all, lists are about having fun and picking fights. Next The Abbott and Costello Show 29 Semi-Productive Things I Do Online When Im Trying to Avoid Real Work You don’t always have to work hard to be productive. Productivity can simply be the side effect of doing the right things. So here’s a list of 29 semi-productive things I do online when my mind is set on avoiding ‘real work.’ Check delicious popular tags like ‘useful,’ ‘tutorials,’ ‘tips,’ ‘howto,’ ‘advice,’ ‘entrepreneurship,’ etc. for interesting, educational articles to read.Watch one of the thousands of educational videos streaming at TED.com, Academic Earth and Teacher Tube.Read an online book list and find a new book to grab next time I’m at the library. Here’s another list. And another. Oh, and ever since I bought my new (super sexy) Apple iPad , I’ve been enjoying all of these sites on the go and catching looks from almost everyone who passes me while I browse. So what kind of semi-productive things do you do online in your off-time? Photo by: Colorblind Picaso Party Casino Related 30 Life-Enhancing Things You Can Do in 30 Minutes or Less April 19, 2012 In "Happiness" October 4, 2010
20 Best Websites To Download Free EBooks Ebooks have revolutionized the way book enthusiasts engage with literature. With the ability to read on ebook readers or mobile gadgets, the convenience is unmatched. Moreover, the internet is flooded with platforms offering free or discounted ebooks. For those in search of the finest sources to download free ebooks or even market their ebooks online, here’s an exhaustive list detailing their respective formats and downloading procedures. 20 Places to Sell and Publish eBooks 20 Places to Sell and Publish eBooks "If you are good at something, never do it for free" is the most famous dialogue from movie... Project Gutenberg More info: Genre: VariousCompatible with: Kindle, .epub, .htmlSign-in required? Project Gutenberg is an esteemed online library offering complimentary public domain books. Hart’s inspiration for this library sprouted when he discovered the print copy of the Declaration of Independence was priced at $1.50, which he deemed excessive. ManyBooks Free-eBooks eBookLobby Smashwords
The Influence of Fleeting Attraction PsyBlog Compliance to a simple request can be doubled by the most innocent manipulation. There’s little doubt that friends are easier to persuade than strangers. That emotional connection and shared history is often enough to get the poor wretches doing things they’d rather avoid, like helping us move home. Forgive the mercenary language, but friendship is a fantastic lever for persuasion and influence, a lever we happily push on every day. But how much does someone have to like us before we can start to influence them? Mere similarity Jerry Burger and colleagues at Santa Clara University used a sneaky experimental set-up to test this out (Burger et al., 2001). The idea, they were told, was that they would swap lists with another participant in the experiment, then fill out some more questionnaires. The 20 adjectives from the ‘other person’ weren’t really from another person, it was part of the experimental manipulation. Then the moment of truth. Compliance doubled Image credit: Derek
Why Concrete Language Communicates Truth PsyBlog Speak and write using unambiguous language and people will believe you. I’ve just deleted a rather abstract introduction I wrote to this article about truth. The reason? I noticed I wasn’t taking the excellent advice offered in a recent article published in Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin. That advice is simple: if you want people to believe you, speak and write concrete. There are all sorts of ways language can communicate truth. People usually judge that more details mean someone is telling us the truth,We find stories that are more vivid to be more true,We even think more raw facts make unlikely events more likely. But all these involve adding extra details or colour. Just going more concrete can be enough according to a recent study by Hansen and Wanke (2010). Hamburg is the European record holder concerning the number of bridges.In Hamburg, one can count the highest number of bridges in Europe. Verbs as well as nouns can be more or less abstract. Image credit: Lee Huynh
5 Comedy Podcasts That Will Keep You Laughing In Public Then you see the earbuds and realize that no one is crazy. They’re just listening to a great comedy podcast, and having more fun than you. Well, I have good news – with the right podcast, you too can randomly burst into laughter in public spaces. Comedy Bang Bang: The Podcast Once known as Comedy Death-Ray Radio, Comedy Bang Bang is the brainchild of Scott Aukerman, a writer and comedian known for his work on Mr. The show has numerous guests, but it is far from your typical interview podcast. The Mike O’Meara Show This show is a survivor. You don’t have to listen long to recognize the show’s radio roots. The Nerdist Yep, the Nerdist is a podcast that’s aimed at nerds. To be honest, though, the “nerd” label is a net that can be cast quite wide these days, so this podcast is more accessible than you’d think. Pod F. A relatively new podcast, the Pod F. Yet there is something indiscernibly engaging about Paul F. WTF with Marc Maron Okay, I must admit, I’ve saved my favorite for last. Conclusion
How to Vanish with a New Identity Dark Side or not, it's always good to say, "Hey, folks. Don't forget, this is illegal. Do it at your own risk. LH is not responsible for any trouble you may cause/get yourself into!" First of all, Dark Side articles have a completely different vibe than almost every other article. In other words, they rarely "fit" with the feeling you get from Lifehacker, especially if you've been here since before Dark Side articles began popping up regularly. Adam Dachis, however, is spinning it to advocate identity theft. Let me make this final point clear: I am not against these types of articles in general. Presenting both ways to protect yourself from identity theft and then ways to steal another person's identity (with a joking tone or not)? They should probably create a separate site dedicated to Dark Side posts. Amen.