For most people this may sound like kid’s stuff.  But mind you I have seen people misusing — usually interchanging — these seemingly common abbreviations.  And I’ll bet the house you cannot tell me on the fly what i.e. and e.g. stand for.

I recently found a fun and easy way to remember the proper usage of i.e. and e.g. from theoatmeal.com (thru Guy Kawasaki’s blog).

While we are it let’s dig deeper into the origins of these weird-looking and weird-sounding but widely used abbreviations: Read more »

Have you heard somebody telling you this?  Or maybe it was you telling it to somebody else?

We always see this happening, especially to people we consider experts in their field.  They can solve the most complex problems of others but they seem to fail in solving the same problems when it becomes their own.  Examples abound…

A teacher whose kids are faring poorly in school
A marriage counselor who is separated from his/her spouse
An investment consultant with poorly performing personal investments (or doesn’t own investments at all)

I came across a “mini research” on the Internet looking to find answers to this question. Read more »

Have you heard about a couple in the US who allegedly lost custody of their children simply because they chose Nazi-inspired names for their kids?

How do Adolf Hitler, JoyceLynn Aryan Nation, and Honszlynn Hinler Jeannie for your children’s names sound to you?  Well, this American couple actually likes this unmistakably Nazi-inspired names a lot.  And they went ahead and named their kids as such.

But wait!  Although naming one of their kids after Adolf Hitler may sound really weird to most people, I personally find the idea very frivolous. That is, assuming that the allegations are true that they lost custody of their children because of their name preferences. Read more »

The oldest recorded  and verified age of a person at the time of death is 122 years. Jeanne Calment of France was exactly 122 years and 164 days old when he died on August 4, 1997.

This may seem a very long time to most of us, especially considering that the average life span of humans is only somewhere between 60 and 80 years.

But hold your horses.  When it comes to longevity it appears that humans are way down the list.  Consider the extraordinary staying power of these animals:
Galapagos Tortoise:  177 years old

*****
Bowhead Whale:  211 years old

And no, these aren’t even on top of the list!
Discovery News has the complete list of the Top 10 Longest Living Animals.