The Supreme Court’s decision to uphold the healthcare law mentioned broccoli a dozen times, writes L.V. Anderson. Those opposed to the health care law have often likened it to the government forcing you to eat broccoli. Why is it that of all vegetables broccoli is the one that is used in this way?

• Up until the 1920s broccoli was associated with Italian immigrants who were viewed in a negative light.
• In the 1940s there was a suburban craze for canned foods and it’s basically impossible to can broccoli.
• This meant that it had to be cooked from scratch – thus it became associated with wives and mothers working hard to force something healthy upon you.
• Broccoli has a unique dual texture that is unappealing to kids who anyway dislike bitter foods.
• Moreover, unlike spinach, broccoli never had a Popeye like PR campaign to help its reputation.

To read more including seminal cartoons that show how broccoli has been viewed through the decades, when broccoli first became used as a rhetorical tool by conservatives in America, why there was a special shipment of broccoli to the White House, how Veggie Tales could have helped stopped this association, and what it took to make broccoli a part of the American dinner table click here.

Source: Slate

David Sillito took a look at the battle for dominance in the doll market:

• Sindy was a British rival to Barbie which, in 1985, had 80% of the fashion doll market.
• However with the arrival of TV, children’s tastes changed and they demanded more glamorous dolls like Barbie.
• The makers of Sindy remodeled her to make her thinner, her legs longer and her chest larger, but the makers of Barbie sued, and eventually won the battle for market dominance against Sindy.
• Now however, Barbie is competing with the even more sexualized miniskirt clad Bratz dolls that are popular with children.

To read more including how Sindy is celebrating her 50^th birthday, the choice that parents have to make, the role that fashion plays, the disastrous change, and those that have hope that a more vintage doll can still compete in the market, click here.

Source: BBC

Four researchers decided to test the existence of a “lipstick effect” once proposed by the chairman of Estee Lauder, writes Ben Duronio.

• The proposed “Lipstick Effect” is that during economic downturns, demand for cosmetics actually increases, and evidence suggests that it is a real phenomenon.
• This might be because higher unemployment leads to fewer suitable mates around, and so women invest more in themselves, to attract better quality males.
• This might also explain why L’Oreal’s sales grew 5.3% in 2008 – the lowest point of the recession.

To read more including who conducted the test, and parts of the methodology used, click here.

Source: Business Insider

The perception of companies as soulless creatures might not be entirely accurate writes Bryan Caplan, a study about the firing decisions of employers provides evidence for this:

• In a study, managers from various countries were given a list of four candidates that differed in age, experience, performance and salary.
• Older employees were more likely to be fired in countries where they would suffer the least from being fired – and indeed, might even benefit.
• Other managers would be predisposed to firing younger employees because it would be easier for them to find another job.
• Under-performers are also fired – because the alternative is to fire those who perform well and that seems unfair.
• Overall it suggests there is humanity to the way that these decisions are made – and business profitability isn’t the only, or even the most important, motive.

To read all of the data, as well as how the countries differ in their answers to the questions, why economists are likely to reject the study, the methodology of the study, some fascinating graphs, and what this all means, click here.

Source: Library of Economics and Liberty

Via: Marginal Revolution

In the prisons of Honduras, the administrators have given up on creating a system of law and order. Instead they have staked out their perimeters along the outskirts of the institution and let activity go unregulated within. This has led to the rise of prison-economies. Some truly remarkable highlights include:

• In a prison that is mimicked throughout the country there is a yellow “line of death” that separates the inner sanctum of the prisoners from those of the officers. The inmates understand that if they cross the line, the police officers will shoot them. The police officers, on the other hand, rarely cross the line onto the inmate’s side.
• Within the ‘prison’ there exist a free market where it’s possible to buy consumer electronics and even prostitutes. Some fascinating examples include:
  • New inmates have to choose which living space they can afford. The worst goes for about $50, while the best places can cost as much as $750.
  • For about $3.50 inmates can have their floors cleaned.
  • There are mechanics who can repair air conditioners.
  • One inmate opened a restaurant business with laminated menus that advertise double hamburgers. He has employed two waiters and intends to sell his business once he is released.
  • Prostitutes from the free world are also available for the night.
• The profits from the various enterprises are distributed among the workers, stall owners, and prisoner administrators.
• Administrators say that all of this is necessary. The $6,000 that they make per month is used to buy food or medical services. If they were limited to the state’s budget for food (60 cents a day) the inmates would all starve.
• Journalists gain access to the prison not through the administrators, but with permission from the head inmate who provided eight other prisoners as body guards.

To read the rest of what is a truly fascinating article, and to find out why the prisoners have keys to their own cells, the safety record of these prisons, the issue of overcrowding, the prospects for reform, the role of corruption, some of the other products available, the people who move in and out of the prisons at will, what would happen in a fire, why an inmate was beheaded, the role that ‘elections’ play in these societies, a time when the prisoners took over, what administrators have to say, and what the UN has to say, click here.

Source: Reuters

Via: Marginal Revolution

No. No you shouldn’t.

Not because of ethical reasons mind you, Centives would never presume to know right from wrong, especially since we spend a fair amount of time helping budding evil overlords understand their financial needs. Rather, it’s simply not worth your time to rob them. John Timmer reports on a study that proves this is the case:

• The average haul from a bank robbery is just £20,330.50 for the team and £12,706.60 per person. Since the average annual wage in the UK for a full time worker is ~£26,000 you’d have to rob banks twice a year to make the average.
• The average bank job nets you about £20,000, but the standard deviation on that is £53,510.20 – this makes the returns extremely uncertain. Around a third of all robberies fail entirely.
• In the United States bank robbers do even worse – they can only expect to make $4,330.00
• Every additional member who takes part in an operation raises the expected returns by £9,033.20. Having firearms can increase it by £10 300.50.
• It seems that robbers have some sophisticated econometricians in their midst. They seem to be aware of this and bank robberies have been declining.

To read more fascinating details about the study, including why it was done, how many operators are involved in an average bank robbery, the hunt for patterns in the types of banks that robbers choose to rob, a security measure that – mathematically speaking – would lead you to expect the robbers to hand the bank money, and what successful criminals should do, click here.

Source: Arstechnica

3-D? That’s so passé. Ruth Jamieson explores what may be the next evolution of the cinema going experience: edible movies. Highlights include:

• The Electric Cinema in London tried out a screening of Pan’s Labyrinth where each audience member was given a tray of food with numbered cups and parcels.
• At various points in the movie an usher would hold up a number to indicate that the audience should eat that item on their tray.
• For example in the opening scene the characters are travelling through a forest. Audience members are invited to eat their pine-scented popcorn which has a woody aroma to it, transporting you to the forest.
• People who would have glossed over the line “there is not a single home without fire or bread” in a standard screening of the film are unlikely to ever forget it after they ate the hot chili biscuits that accompanied the line.
• At other times though the link between the food item and the action on-screen is less clear, making the experience distracting.
• The organizers of the event admit that it’s experimental. Next time they want to focus more on aromas and less on food.
• The movie industry is trying out innovative new things to make the theater-going experience impossible to pirate.

Read many more examples of the types of things you’re expected to ingest, what the repulsive menu looked like for a film based on the book Perfume, at what point you’re asked to drink a gin-cocktail and reflections on whether or not it adds to the overall film experience or is just a pointless novelty over here.

Source: The Guardian

Via: Marginal Revolution

Playing loud repetitive music is a common form of ‘torture.’ What kind of music is normally played? Will Oremus reports:

• The music has to be loud and repetitive.
• In the US the music is either aggressive such as Metallica’s “Enter Sandman”, or Jangly such as Barney’s “I Love You”.
• The best strategy is to customize the music for each prisoner. Different people hate and like different things, so to be effective you have to find the music that your specific prisoner hates.
• In reality though the music selection seems to be more about the captor’s personal entertainment. Panama’s Dictator Manuel Noriega was repeatedly blasted with Van Halen’s “Panama”.

To read more about the art of selecting the right torture music, some other famous artists that have the ‘honour’ of being selected by the US military as effective torture musicians, what the Pentagon has to say about it, what a US psychological operations sergeant believes, how music preferences evolve over time, what science has to say about it, how Christmas plays into it, and thoughts on whether or not it’s an effective interrogation technique, click here.

Source: Slate

The US government is implementing new rules that regulate the amount of noise that cars can make. The twist? They’re trying to impose a minimum requirement for the amount of noise they make. Paul Collins explains:

• Hybrid and electric cars are too silent. This means that people can’t hear them coming. Studies suggest that they are 37% more likely to collide with pedestrians and 66% more likely to collide with cyclists.
• Car makers will be asked to add devices that replicate the sound of the engine of a traditional petrol powered car.
• This isn’t as absurd as it sounds. We add a fake scent to natural gas so that we can detect it if it ever leaks.
• In the 18^th century governments required sleighs to have bells so that people heard them coming.

To read more including the perceptive individual who foresaw this problem in 1908, creative ways that car makers have tried to deal with it, why auto-manufacturers don’t want to add fake sounds, why a doorbell is one proposed solution, and why the car industry has been clumsy, click here.

Source: Slate