Extra Second of Time

Don't we all wish we had just a little more time? This New Year's Eve, we all get an extra second of time. According to Discovery News, the second will come between 6:59:59 and 7:00:00 pm EST, making 2008 the longest year since 1992 given the leap year. The earth is slowing down and timekeepers must adjust the official watches, giving my sister a longer birthday than anyone.

This news reminds me of one of my favorite comics by xkcd called Angular Momentum:

Revolving Doors

One eighth the amount of energy is lost by using rotating doors than conventional doors.

Source: Lance.

Discover the world

Been a while since you checked in with Togo? How about Chile? No worries, Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística (IBGE) has your back. Their web program "Países" lays out current(ish) information on population, social indicators, economy, networks and environment all on a handy map. Can it get better? Oh yes, because this application is in English, Portuguese and Spanish. Woot.

Source: http://www.ibge.gov.br/paisesat/

Vitamin C

The human body doesn't produce its own vitamin C.

So take your chewables or eat some limes, you scurvy rouges!

Murder Board

Sounds scarier than it is. The murder board is a group of people questioning a person who is in preparation for an oral examination or a Senate confirmation hearing. The murder board should be as tough if not quite a bit tougher than the committee he is preparing to face.

Larry Tracy explains it pretty well in this article, which also happens to be an excert from his book The Shortcut to Persuasive Presentations.

Source: http://www.theatlantic.com/