Visua.ly produced an infographic that examined the economics of girl scout cookies. Highlights include:

• Thin mints are by far the most popular with 50 million boxes sold each year. Caramel deLites and Peanut Butter patties take second and third place.
• Packages of the cookies sometimes taste a little different from one another. This is because two bakeries are licensed to make the cookies and they use slightly different methods.
• Last year 3 million girl scouts sold $714 million worth of cookies. That’s $238 worth of cookies sold per girl scout.
• During World War Two the girl scouts sold calendars instead of cookies due to shortages.
• The record for most cookies ever sold is held by a 15 year old who sold 17,328 boxes.

Read more about the girl scouts, their connection to the government, which of the cookies are the worst for your health and more in the infographic over here.

Source: Visua.ly

Steve Kolenberg dispelled some of the most common myths about the Middle Ages:

• Knights weren’t particularly honourable. As professional warriors they didn’t quite understand the concept of ‘peace-time’ and would slaughter the inhabitants of rival villages.
• Sex was rampant. Most marriages were loveless political agreements between families which meant that extramarital affairs happened relatively often. Prostitution was so common that even the Church licensed some brothels.
• The Church did not hold back science during this period, it actually saved it. Universities such as Oxford and Cambridge were established by the Church and helped it to encourage literacy and progress.
• People didn’t die young. While the average life expectancy was low, this was because of high child mortality rates. Once an individual survived childhood they were expected to see their 70s.

Find the entire list here and see why women didn’t have it too bad then, why life was kind of a party, and why things didn’t smell too bad back then.

Source: Cracked

Ultra-HD Televisions were all the rage at the Consumer Electronics Show. These sets have four times the resolution of 1080p high definition – putting the image quality in IMAX territory. Yet Eric Bangeman believes that they’re not going to be popular anytime soon:

• The price, which can be as high as $20,000 for an individual set, is not the primary concern since prices will decline over time.
• However there’s not much of a value proposition. At reasonable viewing distances there’s no distinguishable difference in picture quality between Ultra-HD and HD.
• There’s also a scarcity of Ultra-HD content and this isn’t going to change anytime soon. Cable providers don’t have the infrastructure in place to provide Ultra-HD content and Ultra-HD movies are too big to realistically be streamed over the internet.
• The fate of 3D televisions is a foreshadowing of what will happen in the market – a year ago manufacturers believed that 3-D televisions would be the next big thing, but consumers haven’t been interested in buying them.
• The featured comment points out that Ultra-HD might be at the point where music was a few years ago. People no longer care about the highest quality music formats because the standard music format we’re exposed to is good enough. Standard HD might have been that point for television.

Read more about the uphill battle that Ultra-HD faces, why people are unlikely to purchase new sets after having bought HD ones, and why the lack of the equivalent of a Blu-Ray player might make things even more difficult for the format over here.

Source: ArsTechnica

“Little Emperors” is the term given to children who were born after China’s one-child policy was enacted as these individuals didn’t have to vie with a sibling for the resources and affection of their elders. But growing up an emperor has developmental consequences according to a study reported on by Steve Connor:

• Children born after the policy was enacted are more risk-adverse. This might mean that China’s current and future generations will be less entrepreneurial than the previous one.
• They also suffer from “sibling deprivation”. This makes them more self-centered and less cooperative.
• The study also found that those born after the legislation was passed are more pessimistic, less trusting, and less trustworthy.

Read more about some of the other effects of being born into the one child only era, why this research contradicts some of the findings from the west, and what the authors of the study have to say over here.

Source: The Independent

In 2014 the FIFA World Cup will draw thousands of tourists to Brazil. The prostitutes have begun preparing for the influx writes Shasta Darlington:

• To work out financial deals and communicate “sensual words and fetishes” it will be important for Brazilian prostitutes to understand English.
• To facilitate this, some English teachers are expected to offer their services for free, in the same way that healthcare workers also offer free services to individuals in the sex trade.
• Prostitution itself is legal in Brazil and the World Cup is expected to draw additional workers from surrounding areas to cope with the demand.

Read more about the phenomenon over here.

Source: CNN

In Las Vegas, at the Consumer Electronics Show, Dr. Dre is shaping the future of how we listen to music writes Matthew Garrahan:

• Beats by Dr. Dre controlled 70% of the premium headphone market, and 40% of the overall headphone market this Christmas.
• The brand is now expanding to other products. Beats technology is being integrated into cars and laptops.
• It is also expanding internationally. Offices have been opened in China and Russia.
• But perhaps the best indicator of its success is the surge of imitators. Simon Cowell, Tim Tebow and even Snooki have started marketing their own headphone brands.

Read more about what Dr. Dre thinks about his competitors, the other rappers trying to enter the market, and why Beats might transform how we listen to music over here.

Source: Financial Times

A single delay in America’s air traffic network has a domino effect that causes flight disruptions for hundreds of other flights according to an article in the MIT Technology Review:

• The thing that propagates across the network the quickest is when crew and passengers are held up on one flight, preventing the next flight from departing.
• On multi-leg flights a delay in one take-off will also cause further disruptions down the chain. This can affect other flights because airports have limited capacity and if more planes arrive than scheduled, then passengers will have to be kept waiting.
• Problems such as weather disruptions generally stay contained in localized areas.
• Congestion problems reset every evening when flight volumes decline.

Read more about the study and its findings over here.

Source: MIT Technology Review

In The Half-Life of Facts Samuel Arabson argues that 50% of what we know is wrong. Ronald Bailey found out what he was talking about:

• Science is always changing. It is estimated that scientific knowledge grows at a rate of 4.7% a year.
• Yet we don’t stay updated with the latest facts. Research suggests that the half-life of truth is 45 years. This means that half of what we learn now will be proven wrong 45 years later.
• Moreover a lot of the things we learn are wrong. Several biases in science lead us to read ‘facts’ that are anything but.
• And of the facts that we are exposed to, we are likely to selectively accept the facts that already fit into our worldview, ignoring those that prove us wrong.
• Perhaps the solution is that we should forget all facts. After all that’s what the internet is for. Every time we need a fact we could just look it up on Wikipedia.

To find out how you can protect yourself from believing things that are wrong, as well as why a lot of published science has little factual basis behind it click here.

Source: Reason

Via: Newmark’s Door

Dan Slater believes that online dating could make marriage obsolete:

• Through online dating individuals can find so many attractive, intelligent, and compatible partners that individuals may no longer be willing to settle down with just one.
• This is because there’s no longer an advantage to commitment. The next great relationship is a mouse-click away.
• Dating sites might themselves be encouraging this trend. After all, their profit models depend on repeat customers, and a permanent relationship means a lost revenue stream.
• For example, dating sites email you, even when you’re in a relationship, to let you know of all the interesting people who would like to meet you. If your current relationship isn’t going that well it’s then easy to jump ship.

Read more about what dating site executives have to say, how our relationships depend on circumstances, the different relationship strategies that one can utilize, and the story of one individual who is finding it impossible to settle down click here.

Source: The Atlantic

Via: Marginal Revolution

Last year Centives posted an article that looked at the Disneyland of the future. There were to be no more lines, and a wristband that acted as a credit card. We wrote then that the system could be put in place as soon as 2013. Well it’s 2013. And it’s here:

• The Disneyland experience is now driven by a website and app called MyMagic+ where visitors can book high priority seating at parades and shows.
• The app allows guests to reserve their spot in a line, and then be alerted when it’s their turn to board, meaning that visitors no longer have to wait in queues.
• Visitors can also register for an RFID bracelet that serves as a park ticket, hotel room key, FastPass, and, even, credit card.
• These bands can store personal information such as your name, so that the next time Princess Jasmine kneels to talk to a child, she can greet him by name, and, if appropriate, wish him a happy birthday.

Read more about this new Disneyland experience, exhibits that can interact with you, security restrictions that are in place, and why Disneyland is doing it over here.

Source: The New York Times