As the chart above shows, it seems like donut holes have been shrinking. Phil Edwards looked into some of the potential reasons why:

• Donut holes were originally put in there to make sure the treat was fried evenly. If it didn’t have a hole then the inside would be less well cooked than the outside.
• Improved technology meant that it was possible to get a more even fry without a big hole.
• Smaller holes mean that a donut is less likely to break.
• People may have become used to cream or chocolate filled donuts, making the ring-like large-hole donuts seem like anachronisms.
• Chains each had their own standardized vision of what a donut should look like. We may now expect donuts to have small holes simply because small donut hole chains like Krispy Kreme won the donut chain wars.

Read other theories, and some caveats over here.

Source: Vox

Olga Oksman wrote about where fortune cookie fortunes come from:

• The companies that make fortune cookies have massive databases with tens of thousands of fortunes that are randomly selected and printed.
• They continuously seek to expand this database by paying high schoolers and failed writers to come up with more.
• One company pays about 75 cents a fortune and requires at least 700 of them.
• The fortunes have to be bland because each of the 3 billion cookies that are consumed need to have a fortune that could apply to anybody.
• The lucky numbers that show up on fortunes are computer generated.
• People put a lot of faith in the cookies – 110 people won the Powerball in 2005 because they all played the numbers they got in their fortune cookies.

Read more here.

Source: The Guardian

Whenever a car marker reaches the zenith of the auto industry, a scandal brings it down. Steve LeVine and Jason Karaian looked at the history and pointed to a reason why:

• GM was top dog for 77 years. Then it grew complacent and stopped producing cars that Americans wanted. It was soon overtaken by Toyota and needed a government bailout.
• Toyota created trends with the Prius. But soon safety concerns about stuck accelerator pads brought the carmaker down.
• Volkswagen grabbed the crown but is now plagued by confirmed accusations about software intended to mislead consumers and government about emission standards.
• Automobile manufacturing is a low margin business.
• To increase market share companies need to cut price, which means cutting costs, and carmakers seem to have done that by cutting corners and skimping on safety and regulatory features.

Read more here.

Source: Quartz

The Economist seemingly encouraged bank robberies, pointing out all the benefits they bring:

• After banks are robbed, loan officers sanction the same number of loans, but offer better terms for each loan.
• Interest rates are lower, and borrowers have 70% more time to pay the loans.
• They do require more collateral but for the honest bank thief who truly intends to pay back their loan this isn’t much of a problem.
• The reason seems to be that offering better loans means that nervous or traumatized loan officers have to spend less time haggling over terms with each new customer.
• The higher collateral means that loan officers also have to spend less time vetting customers.
• The effect is only seen when bank robberies are violent. Non-violent ones don’t lead to the same sort of traumatized avoidance behaviour.
• The effect lasts about 90 days.

Read more about the study that found the effect, and other details here.

Source: The Economist

“Netflix and chill” has quickly become a euphemism for people hooking up. One startup idea takes this concept further, wrote G. Clay Whittaker:

• “Netfling” is a dating app idea that matches up romantic partners according to their shared Netflix tastes.
• Netflix can be a window into our wider worlds. It knows, for example, the types of documentaries we enjoy, or our preferred brand of comedy.
• If all of the 65 million people who use Netflix signed up for the app, then it would have more users than Tinder, which is estimated to have 50 million users.

Read more about the changes that Netflix needs to make before Netfling can become a reality, and more over here.

Source: Popular Science

Archaeologists have found written archives from the 1890 B.C. town of Kanesh, in modern-day Iraq. Adam Davidson wrote about what we can glean about economics through those who lived 4,000 years ago:

• Millennia before Adam Smith the ancient town had an advanced economy. It had what were essentially checks and bonds. There were also venture capitalists that invested in groups of risky startups. And there were active debt markets.
• In an echo of the last decade this encouraged financial speculation and eventually led to economic collapse with years of recession and search for effective regulation.
• Evidence indicates that trade obeys a “gravity model”. In most cases trade between two countries is determined by the size of their economies multiplied together, divided by the distance between them.
• The archives suggest that this town, which was around when Mammoths still roamed the world, also obeyed the gravity model.
• This indicates that institutions such as the WTO, and trade deals such as NAFTA and the TPP actually have very little effect on trade.
• Instead there is a ‘natural’ level of trade between countries that doesn’t easily yield to interference or control.

Read more about what a more modern understanding of economics can do to help us deal with some of the negative consequences of trade, and other details about economic life in Kanesh over here.

Source: The New York Times

Via: Marginal Revolution

Andrea Kendall-Taylor, and Erica Frantz wrote about what happens when a dictator dies:

• Many are hopeful that when Robert Mugabe, the 91 year old dictator of Zimbabwe, and Nursultan Nazarbayev, his 75 year old Kazakh counterpart pass away, democracy will finally have a chance to flourish in the countries.
• Others feel that the passing of old dictators could throw a country into chaos as rival factions compete for power.
• Evidence indicates that both are incorrect. Usually after a dictator passes, the status quo just sort of continues. This happened after Chávez’s, passing in Venezuela, and Kim Jong Il’s death in North Korea.
• One reason is that while a dictator may get all the attention, in reality they rule with a wider government that ensures continuity after the head dies.
• This is what happened to Syria’s President, Bashar al-Assad. He took over when his father passed away, and tried to liberalize the country. However figures from his father’s regime thwarted him.
• Another reason is the strength of succession plans. Kuwait and Saudi Arabia are strong monarchies and nobody expects there to be uprisings after their aged leaders pass away.
• Leaders who have the luxury of being able to die in office must have been particularly adept at crushing opposition, eliminating dissent, and corrupting institutions over the decades.
• Therefore the very things that allow a dictator to die in office also ensures that the dictator’s legacy lives on.
• That’s not to say there’s no hope for regime change. Evidence indicates that coups, elections, and term limits are effective ways to end dictatorships.

The full article provides many more details, and explores other fascinating tangents. You should read it here.

Source: Foreign Policy

It’s not what it sounds like, but there’s an Uber for goats. Michelle Martin described it in an article she wrote for, well, Playboy. But really, it’s not what it sounds like:

• Goats like to forage for different types of vegetation to eat. They’ll eat things such as stinging nettles and ivy that other animals such as cows won’t.
• By clearing brush they also reduce the risk of fires, and they fertilize as they go. As mountain climbers they’re particularly good at navigating around difficult terrain.
• Therefore government agencies, and owners of sprawling mountainous lands are increasingly hiring goats to remove weeds and clear vegetation.
• Rent-a-Ruminant has 115 working goats. It costs about $650 to use them for a small project.
• This seems expensive, but it includes the cost of placing electric fencing around poisonous plants, ensuring that workers that escape are quickly captured, and transportation.

Read about how you can ensure that you’re getting the right goat provider, and other uses for the animals here.

Source: Playboy

Via: Marginal Revolution (See? We’re not reading Playboy. Our friend gave it to us.)

Ardberg’s release of a whiskey aged in space made headlines around the world. Ria Misra wrote about why it might just be a scam:

• The whisky doesn’t seem to taste that great, and descriptions such as “antiseptic smoke”, “rubber”, and “beefy” have been used by those who tried it.
• The key to making good whisky is ageing it the right amount. Therefore today’s supply is determined by decisions made in years past.
• Whisky makers seem to have underestimated the demand for whisky and are currently facing a supply shortage.
• They could try selling product that hasn’t aged as long, but that can have an “antiseptic edge” to it.
• Companies thus are trying to get consumers to buy whiskies that don’t taste as good through gimmicks like ageing in space.

Read more about the science behind making whisky and why the industry is facing this problem, here.

Source: io9