source : http://www.mnn.com/lifestyle/arts-culture/stories/superhero-or-supervillain-which-lurks-inside-you

Power corrupts, but researchers say it can also enhance a person's preexisting goals and moral compass, for better or worse.

There may be a hero in all of us, but there's also a possible supervillain waiting to run amuck if one of us were to acquire superhuman strength or the ability to fly. In a society that reveres superheroes, just how many people could follow the do-gooder's path if they were suddenly bitten by the radioactive spider?

That thought may not weigh heavily on the costumed attendees of New York City's Comic Con that kicked off Oct. 8. Yet the odds for ordinary people becoming superheroes rather than villains don't look great when news headlines frequently tell stories of corruption among those with power – politicians, law enforcement and business leaders. And everyone has witnessed the more petty abuses of power that take place in workplaces and on the playground.

Yes, power does corrupt, researchers say. But they add it can also enhance a person's preexisting goals and moral compass, for better or worse.

Dear All,

Last week, we have done several fruitful and interesting discussions about Mandy's Topic [20100929 Mandy] Reading the mind in the eyes.
Since the test only provide a pair of eyes, one of our conclusion is that "we could tell more about a person by giving a whole FACE."

So here it is, the whole FACE,

http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/retail/2010-05-14-groupbuying14_CV_N.htm

Armed with a $20 coupon from LivingSocial.com for $40 worth of food, Smith and friends had a birthday dinner with drinks for about $80, and for a few hours, reveled in the upscale Manhattan crowd.

Test Instructions

Here is a brief test includes 36 questions.

For each pair of eyes, choose which word best describes what the person in the picture is thinking or feeling.

When you've answered all the questions, press the 'Get score' button at the bottom to see your results.

source: http://www.prosebeforehos.com/anonymous_banker/08/31/don%E2%80%99t-sleep-so-much/

In hindsight, my high school Algebra teacher may have been certifiably insane. The first day of class he wandered off on a tangent about a Medieval prince who loved his sleep. This prince loved his sleep so much he decided to sleep five minutes longer every night: 8 hours, 8 hours 5 minutes, 8 hours 10 minutes … until he slept over 24 hours. Then, he died. Class dismissed, Professor continued. Don’t forget the quiz on polynomial expressions this Thursday.

I asked around, and no one has ever heard of this prince’s cautionary tale. I did, however, find a bizarre news story about 15-year old British girl named Louisa Ball. My friends sleep through half of every class (but still get better grades). And I’ve been known to sleep through flights. But Louisa sleeps through entire family vacations. Louisa is stricken with a rare disease called Kleine-Levin Syndrome, dubbed Sleeping Beauty Disease, that makes her sleep for weeks. Her longest snooze was 13 straight days. Baffled doctors can’t stop it, so Louisa’s parents must her wake up once a day so she can eat and use the bathroom.

In spite of Louisa’s affliction, people today sleep less than ever before. According to an American Cancer Society study, Americans slept 8 hours a night in 1960. Today? 6.7 hours. That’s a groggy 15% drop in sleep within 50 years—despite NBC’s late-night lineup’s best efforts. In our defense, our grandparents/parents didn’t have the following distractions: sensationalized 24-7 news-cycles, Red Bull, the Internet, and late-night SportsCenter reruns. National Geographic pegged the costs of our national “sleep debt” at $15 billion dollars in health care expenses and up to $50 billion in lost productivity (or Syria’s nominal GDP).

As usual, our grandparents were right. Eight is the correct answer for number of sleep hours. Sleep more than that and you are more likely to die sooner. A University of California San Diego psychiatry study found “sleeping more than 7 to 8 hours per day has been consistently associated with increased mortality.” But beware of sample bias here. The guy who sleeps 11 hours a night is more likely to be lazier and/or unhealthier.
 
Sleep less than 8 hours and you are more likely to be a) cranky and b) fat. Scientists observed a hormonal correlation between sleep deprivation and obesity. The hormone ghreline triggers your appetite and is found in higher concentrations in sleep-deprived people. Another hormone, leptin, lets your body know when it’s full and was seen in much lower levels in the under-slept.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-11263869

Glow in cattle's eyes may be a sign of mad cow disease

By Katia Moskvitch Science reporter, BBC News

The eyes of cattle may reveal signs of neurological disorders such as mad cow disease, say scientists.

Noticing the symptoms early may help prevent infected meat from getting into the food supply.

Researchers, led from Iowa State University, US, examined the retinas of sheep infected with scrapie - a disease similar to BSE, or mad cow disease.

source:  http://www.divinecaroline.com/22172/104031--send-back-send-food-restaurants

It’s happened to us all. Each of us has ordered food at a restaurant and gotten something that differs from our expectations to some degree. 

Size Up the Joint
If you are in a fast-food joint or family-oriented chain and order your burger rare, there’s not much the kitchen will be able do (unless the burger is as hard as a hockey puck, that is). Of course, if the cheese is missing from your cheeseburger, that’s a different story. When you’re at a lower-end chain, think of your meal as simply filling your belly, unless the order is outright wrong. If, however, you’re at a nice “tablecloth restaurant,” and the waiter tells you about the osso bucco that is falling off the bone, but you wind up sawing through it with a steak knife, that shank should go back.

One exception: in a business setting, I advise my clients to never send food back. The business meal is not about food—it’s about business.

source: http://monevator.com/2007/09/02/10-reasons-to-retire-early/

10 good reasons to retire early  

by THE INVESTOR on SEPTEMBER 2, 2007

Most of us grow up being taught that work is a healthy, natural thing. And to an extent it is – especially if you’re on the receiving end of someone else’s labour.

It’s also undeniable that periods of high unemployment have blighted generations, leaving entire communities such as Britain’s former industrial heartlands in Wales and the North drifting for generations when the work went away.

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1126746-1,00.html

Ambition: Why Some People Are Most Likely to Succeed

You don't get as successful as Gregg and Drew Shipp by accident. Shake hands with the 36-year-old fraternal twins who co-own the sprawling Hi Fi Personal Fitness club in Chicago, and it's clear you're in the presence of people who thrive on their drive. But that wasn't always the case. The twins' father founded the Jovan perfume company, a glamorous business that spun off the kinds of glamorous profits that made it possible for the Shipps to amble through high school, coast into college and never much worry about getting the rent paid or keeping the fridge filled. But before they graduated, their sense of drift began to trouble them. At about the same time, their father sold off the company, and with it went the cozy billets in adult life that had always served as an emotional backstop for the boys.

source:http://travel.nationalgeographic.com/travel/top-10/beaches/#page=1

The Maldives are a perfect destination whether your dream beach trip consists of spending a few pampered nights in a four-star resort or swimming among tropical fish some 80 feet underwater.