What is more valuable, a plastic ring from a Cracker Jacks box or a gold wedding band?An REI tent or a 3-bedroom house?A sweater from the Salvation Army or from Nordstroms?An heirloom rose or a fern?Gold is not valuable in itself. It is valuable because there is so little of it. If sand were found only in small quantities, people would treasure it in their safe-deposit boxes; they would buy sand certificates, on important occasions they would exchange a little sand, and they would have the ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website
Spinach scare: A lesson in disguise for you and meThe recent spinach scare, where E. coli-tainted spinach killed one person and hospitalized hundreds more, brought to the table the importance of food, that is, where it comes from and why we should care... Most of the food we buy travels great distances to reach our plate. A head of lettuce for example, travels about 2,000 miles from farm to market. These distances, measured in “food miles,” reveals how most of us are overly dependent on outside sources for breakfast, lunch and dinner. [No ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website
So who invented toilet paper, anyway?The use of toilet paper dates back to sixth century China, though in most parts of the world, paper was a rare commodity until the 17th or 18th centuries. Before this, people used a variety of devices for the purpose. In ancient Rome, public toilets were equipped with a sponge on a stick, which sat in a bucket of brine... SPECIAL NOTE: You can listen to the 2-minute audio-article by subscribing to my podcast feed (so you can open the attachment below) or just download/listen here to ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website
