Thursday, July 31, 2014
Wednesday, July 30, 2014
First world war 100 years on A global guide to the first world war - interactive documentary
Ten historians from 10 countries give a brief history of the first world war through a global lens. Using original news reports, interactive maps and rarely-seen footage, including extraordinary scenes of troops crossing Mesopotamia on camels and Italian soldiers fighting high up in the Alps, the half-hour film explores the war and its effects from many different perspectives.
Why Golfers Buy Hole In One Insurance
The goal of insurance is usually to protect us from life’s least happy circumstances: the loss of a family’s primary breadwinner, the theft of one’s car, the onset of an illness requiring expensive treatment. We buy insurance to protect us from misfortune and the times when lady luck lets us down.
But there is one type of insurance that people buy to protect them from the consequences of unusually good luck: In Japan, the U.K., and, to a lesser extent, around the world, golfers buy insurance to protect themselves from the potentially bankrupting consequences of sinking a hole in one.
Tuesday, July 29, 2014
Tuesday, July 22, 2014
Thursday, July 17, 2014
The First-Ever Expedition to Turkmenistan's "Door to Hell"
More than four decades ago, a gaping, fiery crater opened up in the desert of northern Turkmenistan, likely the result of a drilling mishap.
Wednesday, July 16, 2014
Welcome to the Traffic Capital of the World
I am in a tiny steel cage attached to a motorcycle, stuttering through traffic in Dhaka, Bangladesh. In the last ten minutes, we have moved forward maybe three feet, inch by inch, the driver wrenching the wheel left and right, wriggling deeper into the wedge between a delivery truck and a rickshaw in front of us.
Up ahead, the traffic is jammed so close together that pedestrians are climbing over pickup trucks and through empty rickshaws to cross the street. Two rows to my left is an ambulance, blue light spinning uselessly. The driver is in the road, smoking a cigarette, standing on his tiptoes, looking ahead for where the traffic clears. Every once in awhile he reaches into the open door to honk his horn.
The company that thinks it can finally solve the problem of business cards
People have been predicting the end of the business card for years. Countless startups have popped up promising to make carrying more than one card, or any at all, obsolete.
But in Japan, where the exchange of business cards is still treated with elaborate etiquette and they’re rarely shoved in a pocket and forgotten, a company that has brought technology to business cards thinks it can go global.
But in Japan, where the exchange of business cards is still treated with elaborate etiquette and they’re rarely shoved in a pocket and forgotten, a company that has brought technology to business cards thinks it can go global.
Which fast-food chain makes the worst burger in the U.S.?
The titans of American fast food are in for a supersized reality check. KFC, Taco Bell and McDonald’s were slammed as the worst in their categories—chicken sandwich, burrito and burger, respectively—according to the latest exhaustive survey of American fast-food chains conducted by Consumer Reports.
Tuesday, July 15, 2014
CrossFit's health hazards: From detached retinas to wetting your pants
Sweating, screaming, pumping, pushing: It's no secret that CrossFit is an extreme form of exercise. A combination of rapid-fire bodybuilding, gymnastics, and track and field moves, the workout has attracted a global following, and celebrities like Cameron Diaz and Jessica Alba swear it's a sure way to a hard body.
Alongside the acolytes, though, there are critics: Not just the folks who disliked the fitness regimen enough to start an "I Hate CrossFit" website, but people who say they have been badly injured during CrossFit.
Alongside the acolytes, though, there are critics: Not just the folks who disliked the fitness regimen enough to start an "I Hate CrossFit" website, but people who say they have been badly injured during CrossFit.
Sunday, July 13, 2014
Wednesday, July 09, 2014
Tuesday, July 08, 2014
Monday, July 07, 2014
747: The World’s Airliner
March 31 marked the end of an aviation era in Japan. That day, the last of the country’s passenger-carrying Boeing 747s landed at Tokyo’s Narita airport. Over the previous six months, All Nippon Airways had sent its 747-400s on a series of farewell tours, following by several years the final flights of Japan Airlines’ jumbo jets.
Now at the Movies: Fully Reclining Seats
The nation's second-largest movie theater chain is spending hundreds of millions of dollars outfitting a number of theaters with La-Z-Boy-type seats that fully recline—a conversion that removes up to two-thirds of a given auditorium's seating capacity. It's a less-is-more approach to a business that has long thought bigger was better.
Tuesday, July 01, 2014
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