When you crack open a fresh copy of Where the Wild Things Are, do you smell rainforests in Indonesia being decimated? Well apparently, that actually happens.
Our friends at the bad-ass Rainforest Action Network just pulled together a shopping guide for the kiddies in your life. Download the 2-page guide here (pdf), or read more about the project at ran.org.
Click to see the whole image.
We wonder if “maths” includes personal finance?
Daily chart: which country has the cleverest kids? Since 2000 the OECD has tested school pupils in rich countries every three years on reading, mathematics and science. This year, students in Shanghai topped the chart in each discipline.
This is probably not what he was going for when he commissioned all these pictures and sculptures of himself.
The Hungarian government is auctioning off a bunch of Lenin memorabilia to help pay for cleanup of the massive wave of toxic waste that flooded Budapest this October.
Some bourgeois bidders are just picking up kitschy decoration for their homes, but others appear to be having a little Communist-bloc nostalgia.
“When I was young, I didn’t really look deeply into the faults of the system,” says Mr. Torok, a real-estate entrepreneur who says that his business is struggling amid the economic downturn. “I lived a calm, secure life where bread cost 3.5 forints and everyone had a job.”
Hmm.
A monopoly is a company that has control over all sales and distribution of a product – to the extent that no other company can compete with it. For example, if your cable or utility companies are the only sellers of their service and you can’t really choose another company to buy from, they hold a monopoly on that particular service. Remember the game Monopoly? The goal was to own EVERYTHING.
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Ever wonder how much five golden rings and a partridge in a pear tree would set you back? No, we haven’t either. But PNC Bank spent a lot of time and money figuring it out and presenting it in an [awesome] online pop-up book for your enjoyment!
To find out how certain prices were calculated, like, say, 12 maids a-milking, check out the USA Today story about the project here.
And for a little retro Twelve Days action, check out John Denver and the Muppets in 1979:
The AP reports that hundreds of Bernard Madoff’s personal items are going up for auction at the Sheraton New York Hotel, courtesy of the U.S. Marshals Service. Madoff is just beginning his 150-year prison sentence for ripping off investors in the biggest Ponzi scheme ever.
Snatch up those limited-edition monogrammed velveteen slippers before they’re gone! Also available: a 10.5 carat diamond ring owned by Bernie’s wife, Ruth, and a “like-new” Steinway piano. (Thanks, msnbc.com)
Weak economy, lots of debt, high unemployment. Up next: fewer universities!
Read the original to see students handing books to riot police in Rome:
BBC News, 12/22/10: Italian students demonstrate against education reforms
