Turnabout Is Fair Play
A Vancouver woman saw the bicycle that was stolen from her put up for sale on Craigslist. She called, met the seller, and asked for a test ride. “And then I just got on it and rode away,” said Kayla Smith.
Read moreCategory: Facts & Trends
Separated at birth
Bao Lulin was always being mistaken for someone else. People would approach her at the restaurant where she worked in Guizho, China, asking why she didn’t recognize them. This October she discovered why: Lulin had an identical twin sister from whom she’d been separated at birth; she was living hundreds of miles away. Each had been adopted and raised with no […]
Read morePutting that degree to use
Jamie Fox, a 22-year-old from Great Britain with a degree in music, was given a job as a human scarecrow on a farm. Fox will make $400 a week scaring off partridges by playing an accordion, ukulele, and cowbell.
Read moreHelping The Homeless in San Francisco
A nonprofit group in San Francisco is helping the city’s homeless population with a former public transit bus that’s been outfitted with two bathrooms, complete with toilets and hot showers. “If you’re living on the streets and you’re filthy, you can’t interview for a job and you can’t apply for housing,” explains the group’s founder, Doniece Sandoval. “You get disconnected […]
Read moreProtecting The World
25%: Share of the world’s population that the U.S. is legally bound to defend thanks to pacts and treaties signed with over 60 countries, according to a report from the Harvard Belfer Center.
Read moreCollapsing Bridges
The odds are 1 in 4 million that you’ll be on a bridge when it collapses at some time during your life.
Read moreCost of War
$6 trillion – Upper estimate of the cost to the U.S. of conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan
Read moreIt’s Not Easy Being Green
City officials in Chengdu, China, have been painting the city’s grass green to make residents think spring is here.The ruse came to light when some residents noticed unpainted patches of yellowish winter grass, and others found the green paint coming off on their shoes. The city was then forced to admit its deception, but an official said the goal was simply […]
Read morePRESS FREEDOM
Reporters Without Borders ranked 180 countries on the basis of conditions for press freedom. A sampling:
Read moreHUMAN VS. MACHINE
44%: Percentage of U.S. firms since 2008 that have reduced their head counts in part because of automation.
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