Link Love: The Catch-Up On Everything Edition

I know I haven’t done one of these in a while, but there were some really GREAT links and cute photos that I’ve been saving up to share.

Click on the titles or images to go to the links

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First, a little picture to make everyone smile in the morning and a great 3-minute brownie recipe

How freaking easy is that!?

Must. Try. If only I could get my hands on some flour.

1. 10 Unexplained Artifacts that are simply amazing (Link) and so is the fact that the Japanese have genetically evolved a certain type of bacteria to break down seaweed! (Link)

So about those awesome artifacts, check out this Greek COMPUTER, the Antikythera.

Yep.

Can you just imagine how far we would be as a civilization now, if we had combined all of our knowledge and advanced ourselves?

They’ve all created and reasoned out things in the past that we still can’t comprehend in this modern day and age.

And seriously? About the bacteria made to break down seaweed in Japanese’ stomachs?

Read all about this discovery.

They have EVOLVED 🙂 How cool is that?

2. My new hero: Guy Kawasaki gives an interview for The New York Times (Link)

It is one of the few times I’ve felt a real connection to the answers and am in total agreement.

Here are some choice answers I liked: (okay, so it’s almost the entire interview!)

Insecure people would rather see the company fail without them than succeed.

It’s because their ego is so large that the thought of a company succeeding without them is incomprehensible. They would rather see it fail.

Another issue is that most people believe they are good interviewers, and that they are good judges of character.

They’re wrong.

That’s why you see clones of the boss in some companies: everybody is white, tall and from an East Coast private school.

They should teach students how to communicate in five-sentence e-mails and with 10-slide PowerPoint presentations.

If they just taught every student that, American business would be much better off.

The issue with consulting is that if you go straight to work for a consultant, you develop this perspective that the hard part is the analysis and the decision.

In reality, that’s not the hard part.

The hard part is implementing the decision, not making it.

You can develop an absolutely incorrect perception of yourself as a great manager when, in fact, you haven’t implemented anything.
All you’ve done is make spreadsheets and PowerPoint presentations.

HEAR HEAR! 🙂 I agree 100% with the above.

Read the entire interview here.

FB’s Note: I am not a business consultant, in case you were wondering. I am IT consultant and I actually have to implement my and others’ analyses and decisions.

3. Some social commentary: For obese people, prejudice is in plain sight (Link)

A great article on how people find it acceptable to mock, tease and otherwise make fun of fat folk, but draw back in horror when a racist, sexist or ageist comment is made.

Over the last few years, fat people have become scapegoats for all manner of cultural ills. “There’s an atmosphere now where it’s O.K. to blame everything on weight,” said Dr. Linda Bacon, a nutrition researcher.

“If we’re worried about climate change, someone comes out with an article about how heavier people weigh more, so they require more fuel, and they blame the climate change crisis on fatter people. We have this strong belief system that it’s their fault, that it’s all about gluttony or lack of exercise.”

I have never heard such ridiculousness in my life — blaming climate change on fatter people.

While I do agree that SOME people who are fat, do NOT make an effort to lose weight, are lazy, don’t exercise, and are gluttonous.. not all of them are like that … just as how not all skinny people are healthy and fit (some truly bone-thin supermodels? hello?).

4. Damn it all, let men be men! (Link)

Guys can’t help it when they involuntarily stare at breasts, legs or butts of other women.

Perhaps the biggest difference between the male and female brain is that men have a sexual pursuit area that is 2.5 times larger than the one in the female brain. Not only that, but beginning in their teens, they produce 20 to 25-fold more testosterone than they did during pre-adolescence.

If testosterone were beer, a 9-year-old boy would be getting the equivalent of a cup a day. But a 15-year-old would be getting the equivalent of nearly two gallons a day. This fuels their sexual engines and makes it impossible for them to stop thinking about female body parts and sex.

5. It’s interesting to check out how these 21 Logo Evolutions of the Worlds’ Well Known Logo Designs have come along so far (Link)

I love how some of these logos have evolved over time.

6. I wish we had these 50 Creative Bag Designs here (Link)

Some of them are truly brilliant.

7. It’s a cool experience for a man who spent 16 years in prison and is in awe of a DVD player (Link)

It’s like a prison twist on Rip Van Winkle.

To see the world through Greg Taylor’s eyes, imagine being stuck in a time machine for 16 years and delivered to 2010.

Facebook, flat screens and DVDs are all new to him. Relationships that used to come with natural ease seem awkward.

8. Check out these Millionaires who have (or will) give all of their fortunes away (Link)

A fascinating overview on a bunch of millionaires who have made their fortunes and have given it away.

Money really isn’t everything. It’s something, but not everything.

Things You Buy = Not life

Austrian businessman Karl Rabeder has all the trappings of wealth: luxury cars, beautiful homes, three-week vacations in Hawaii. But he doesn’t care for any of it.

…told the Daily Telegraph newspaper in the United Kingdom that his five-star lifestyle was “soulless” and that he felt that he was a “a slave for things (he) did not wish for or need.”

So Rabeder decided to raffle off his luxury villa in the Austrian Alps, worth an estimated $2 million, and sell many of his other possessions. Proceeds will go into the microcredit charity he set up to make loans to the needy in Central and South America.

Once everything is gone, Rabeder says, he may move into a modest hut in the Austrian mountains or to an apartment building in Innsbruck.

9. But you know what? Before they were rich, they were rejected (Link)

Love this!

Even though one obstacle and one bad event can get you down, you have nowhere to go but up.

Mr. Buffett regards his rejection at age 19 by Harvard Business School as a pivotal episode in his life. Looking back, he says Harvard wouldn’t have been a good fit.

Exploring other options, he realized that two investing experts he admired, Benjamin Graham and David Dodd, were teaching at Columbia’s graduate business school. He dashed off a late application, where by a stroke of luck it was fielded and accepted by Mr. Dodd.

From these mentors, Mr. Buffett says he learned core principles that guided his investing. The Harvard rejection also benefited his alma mater; the family gave more than $12 million to Columbia in 2008 through the Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation, based on tax filings.

10. This is something I always ask myself: Am I “middle-class”? (Link)

An article on how to gauge where you stand in terms of today’s definition of what “middle-class” is.

For the 50 percent of families in the middle of the scale, household income ranges from $51,000 to $123,000 for a typical four-person, two-parent family. The median is about $81,000.

11. This is pretty cool: Micro-expressions: Can you spot them all? Take the test (Link)

This is a really cool test!

If you have EVER watched one of my favourite shows: “Lie to me”, you will be familiar with what they are talking about.

Micro-expressions are the little subtle hints to what a person is involuntarily thinking or feeling.

I got about 30% of the quiz correct on the first try, but the other ones took me a second or third guess.

12. An insider’s scoop into the store: “Anthropologie” and its success (Link) plus a cute way to bring some Anthropologie-ness into your room..(Link)

One of my favourite stores (that I have never, ever, purchased anything from), has some pretty sophisticated marketing behind it, though it looks effortless and dreamy.

“One of our core philosophies,” explains Anthropologie president Glen Senk, “is that we spend the money that other companies spend on marketing to create a store experience that exceeds people’s expectations.

We don’t spend money on messages — we invest in execution.”

If you want to spice up a room Anthropologie-inspired, check out this wallpaper of 3D silk flowers.

Sure, it might be a pain in the butt to dust all the silk flowers once in a while, but it sure looks cool!

13. All about Dirty Diamonds = A big monopoly and a conspiracy (Link)

I was never a girl in love with diamonds and I don’t own diamond ANYTHING, because I’ve never seen the appeal in it. It’s just a stone to me.

So now, when people ask me: “Wouldn’t you like your BF to buy you a diamond _________?”

I can keep saying: “No. Why bother? It’s such a waste of money.”, and (finally) have this article to back me up.

Selling individual diamonds at a profit, even those held over long periods of time, can be surprisingly difficult.

In 1976, the Dutch Consumer Association also tried to test the price appreciation of diamonds by buying a perfect diamond of over one carat in Amsterdam, holding it for eight months, and then offering it for sale to the twenty leading dealers in Amsterdam. Nineteen refused to buy it, and the twentieth dealer offered only a fraction of the purchase price.

14. Actually, the New Cost of Real Apple Products (Link) is not as expensive as it was before

When Apple really lost its way in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s, the prices of its products were totally insane–for example, almost $1100 for a Newton in 1993. (And the device really didn’t do all that much, in retrospect.)

But since then, Apple products have hovered in the range of $1,000 for a laptop and $500 for a hot-shot portable device, such as the iPod or iPad.

15. I never knew about the Best Stuff NOT to buy in Bulk (Link)

Not all things are great in bulk. Apparently, brown rice doesn’t store well because it has a higher oil content. Who knew?

16. One of these days, I gotta try making these Carolina Shrimp Burgers (Link)

One word: YUM.

17. But be careful because Fatty foods cause a cocaine-like addiction (Link)

Speaking of fatty foods… 🙂

Scientists have finally confirmed what the rest of us have suspected for years: Bacon, cheesecake, and other delicious yet fattening foods may be addictive.

Doing drugs such as cocaine and eating too much junk food both gradually overload the so-called pleasure centers in the brain, according to Paul J. Kenny, Ph.D., an associate professor of molecular therapeutics at the Scripps Research Institute, in Jupiter, Florida.

Eventually the pleasure centers “crash,” and achieving the same pleasure–or even just feeling normal–requires increasing amounts of the drug or food, says Kenny, the lead author of the study.

Kind of like a Hello Kitty obsession that some people (NOT ME!) have…

Speaking of which, check out this cool graphic I found from Hello Kitty Hell (click on the rotating HK for the post)

18. Watch out for this “tears in my eyes” email scam (Link)

When the e-mail arrived the other day, I knew instantly who it was from.

At least I thought I did.

I recognized the e-mail address. It belonged to Kaye Kessler, an old and treasured friend.

So I was startled by the first words of his note:

“I’m writing this with tears in my eyes.”

19. And to end, a seriously cute photo followed by a funny one that won’t let me stop laughing

I am deathly allergic to furry animals (I am talking red eyes, snuffling, sneezing, wheezing… within 15 minutes)… but this makes me want to nuzzle her belly!

I couldn’t stop laughing for a good 5 minutes.

They both look so ridiculous, cute and … perfectly coiffed that it made me lose it.

Have a great week!