There’s no reason why men couldn’t start wearing high heels (again) writes William Kremer in his history of high heels. Highlights from the article include:

• High heels originally became popular around the 1500s when Persian members of the cavalry wore them.
• If it seems like high heels aren’t designed for day to day activities like walking it’s because they weren’t. They came in handy in the military where archers could use them to balance in the stirrups on their horses to stabilize themselves and aim their bows at the enemy.
• Europe then had a wave of interest in all things Persian and soon European men started sporting high heels as well.
• King Louis XIV of France is famous for his high-heeled shoe collection. He was likely fond of them in part because of the valuable inches in height they added to his short stature.
• In the 1630s women began to adopt the fashion of men, and thus started wearing high heels as well.
• During the Enlightenment function was elevated over style, and men traded in their high heels for flats. 50 years later women followed them.
• The heel came back into fashion during the 1800s when pornographers started photographing their models with them. This is why high heels have erotic connotations to this day.

The entire history is fascinating, extremely well written, and goes into much more detail. You should read it here.

Source: BBC

You might want to think twice before instagramming your next lunch writes Helene Stapinski. Restaurants are increasingly looking down upon the practice:

• Because the flash can distract other diners, and, even the chef, some restaurants are banning the practice of individuals taking photographs of their meals.
• Others are being more creative. One restaurant is offering to send diners professional digital images of their food in the hopes that this will stop people from snapping their own pictures.
• Some are merely upset by the quality of the photographs taken in such environments. One such individual offers classes in iPhone food photography.

Read more about diners who support the ban, those who get around it, and why the restaurants do it over here.

Source: The New York Times

Via: Marginal Revolution

In its latest issue, The Economist looked at the economics of sports insurance:

• Teams now pay hundreds of millions of dollars for key players. They then buy insurance policies on these players so that if the player gets injured, the team gets reimbursed.
• This creates moral hazard – players have no incentive to get back into playing form, and teams might encourage the player to draw out their recovery so that the team continues to get a steady infusion of cash from the insurance company.
• Certain leagues such as the NBA and NHL have set up leaguewide insurance requirements so that risk is pooled, and insurers don’t have to worry about getting stuck insuring only the most injury prone players.
• In contrast several athletes in golf, tennis, and soccer are uninsurable. Those who can be insured have to pay for their own insurance policies.

Read more about the economics of sports insurance, and why insurance companies are underestimating the likelihood of a player getting injured over here.

Source: The Economist

The United Nations once again tightened sanctions against North Korea. Centives favourite Brian Palmer looked at the dynamics of North Korean sanctions:

• Sanctions on North Korea are relatively light. Weapons and luxury goods can’t be sold and about a 100 individuals, companies, and government agencies are blacklisted.
• This is in contrast to countries such as Iran, Cuba, and Syria that have blanket trade restrictions imposed upon them by the United States.
• Even the existing sanctions are easily circumvented. The UN hasn’t defined what it means by ‘luxury’ goods allowing China to send North Korea tobacco and cars. Shell companies set up by the North Korean government allow it to disguise all other economic transactions.
• Yet America doesn’t make it easy to trade with North Korea, even in non-sanctioned industries. Those who want to trade get no support from the various export encouragement programs that the United States has set up.

Read more about how trade with South Korea compares with that of North Korea, and the countries that don’t take the sanctions seriously over here.

Source: Slate

Jeb Boniakowski wants to build a McWorld in Times Square. Here’s what it would look like:

• The McWorld would have all of the items that McDonald’s serves across all locations all over the world. You can see some of the more interesting items over here. They include the McSpicy Paneer, McBeer, and McRice pictured above.
• One section of McWorld would be revamped every month to look like a McDonald’s in some other country with all its local customs. Germany’s McDonald’s charges for condiment packets and in Hong Kong, McDonald’s hosts weddings. You could get those experiences in McWorld.
• This section might also sometimes show what a typical McDonald’s of the past looked like.
• Discontinued menu items could be bought at McWorld. These would include chocolate stick french fries and McPizzas.
• A McDonald’s labs would invite celebrity chefs to make their own dishes using basic McDonald’s ingredients like chicken nuggets and french fries.

Read more about the Cloud Atlas inspired look that it would have and other features of the proposed McWorld over here.

Source: The AWL

Via: Kottke

When it comes to picking between Batman and Iron Man the US military has a clear favourite, writes Sharon Weinberger: the Caped Crusader is the future.

• Defense Contractors attempted to capitalize on the release of the first Iron Man movie by designing Tony Stark-like exoskeleton suits.
• However they require power cords attached to external batteries, severely constraining the use of the suits.
• Instead the military is now focusing on augmenting a soldier’s natural strength through the use of something similar to the Batsuit.
• This suit is worn under the soldier’s clothes and is powered by rechargeable batteries embedded in the suit.
• Musculoskeletal injuries are one of the leading causes of disability in the US army and this new suit would mitigate that problem.

Read more about Stark’s secret, DARPAs batsuit requirements, and early designs of an Iron Man suit that failed over here.

Source: BBC

Centives has previously reported on a group of billionaires who have chosen to use their money to mine asteroids rather than form a secret society with a tacky name such as “League of Evil” which plans to take over the world. (Although comic books haven’t totally misled us – these individuals are at least a little evil.) Matt Smith writes that now they have competition:

• Deep Space Industries wants to send a fleet of “fireflies” to prospect asteroids for minerals, and then later send “dragonflies” to mine them and return to earth.
• Scientists point out that this is unlikely to be cost effective since it costs billions of dollars to bring a few grams of matter back to earth – and gold prices haven’t become that high yet.
• Deep Space Industries responds that by piggy-backing off other space launches, they’ll cut down on the cost of fuel and make things more cost-effective.
• Ultimately the hope is to pioneer technology that could let humans set up a permanent base in space – and mine materials from the surrounding systems to sustain themselves.

Read more about the effort over here.

Source: CNN

The everyday life of Americans is affected by the on-goings in a few key states writes Cracked. Here are some highlights from their article:

• Ohio controls the fast-food you eat. Because its demographics match those of the rest of the United States, and because it’s a college town that uses social media, fast food companies test their products in Columbus, Ohio before deciding if they want to launch them nationally.
• Texas controls the schools. Since Texas demands the most textbooks, textbook companies write their textbooks with Texan requirements in mind. Other states then buy those same books since it’d be too expensive to commission books that meet their own requirements.
• South Dakota and Delaware house all the credit card companies. These two states passed legislation that allowed banks to charge whatever interest rate they wanted. By putting their headquarters there the banks were able to set rates across the country.

Check out the full list over here to see how New Jersey determines what your food tastes like and why Utah produces vitamins.

Source: Cracked

Nobody really reads books these days writes Kevin Kelly. Perhaps authors should pay the people who do. Here’s how it would work:

• Individuals would pay to buy the book on an e-reading device.
• The e-reading device would use algorithms to figure out if you actually read the book. If you do read it, then you’ll be paid back the price of the book, plus a little extra for reading it.
• This would likely incentivize people to buy books because they know that it is possible that it will be free. But few people will actually read the book.
• Authors win since they have higher book sales. Readers win since they get free books.

Read more over here.

Source: The Technium

Via: Marginal Revolution