Unless you possess the inimitable confidence of Calvin in the cartoon strip below odds are you’ve made a few New Year’s resolutions.                         After all, lots of us face the prospect of another new year resolved to break some bad habits and take up some good ones. The vast majority of us, however, have given up on our resolutions before the month’s out. But if you truly want to change yourself for the better in 2013, then you’ll do well to pay attention to these three research-driven tips. Pick One The first step in making a dent in your New Year’s...

Okay, so here’s the set-up: three guys who love bluegrass music. Except they’re not just three guys who love bluegrass, they’re three guys from New Jersey, not the first place you think of when you think of bluegrass. Except they’re not just three guys from New Jersey who love bluegrass, they’re three brothers. Except they’re not just three brothers from New Jersey who love bluegrass, they’re three brothers all under the age of fifteen. And there you have it: Brothers Jonny, Robbie and Tommy Mizzone are “The Sleepy Man Banjo Boys,” a trio of virtuoso bluegrass musicians who in just five minutes will share two songs and in...

While I knew that Abraham Lincoln is credited with establishing Thanksgiving Day as a national holiday, I didn’t know it had previously been the custom of presidents and governors and others to declare “a day of Thanksgiving” on a regularly occasional basis. (That is, they did this regularly, but according to no set calendar.) So in addition to the thanksgiving celebration of the pilgrims we know so well, George Washington twice declared days of national thanksgiving (in 1789 and 1795). John Adams and James Madison did the same on several occasions (though Jefferson never did). While often these days of thanksgiving were declared to...

Ever wonder whether your assumptions about the world are accurate? Swedish statistician Hans Rosling is a wizard with data. Really. He uses stats about ecomonic power, health, child mortality, life expectancy and more to tell a story. Actually, to tell a number of stories about the world – the world and how it has changed over the last fifty years and how it might change in the future. If you’re anything like me, you’ll be surprised at some of the changes in recent decades and the causes of the those changes. At the very least, your picture of the world will be both more complex and more accurate. It’s a 19-minute talk that not only...