Brian Gongol
It turns out that monkeys don't like getting cheated. When pairs of monkeys started getting differential rewards for the same task, the monkeys getting the lesser reward started sandbagging to make up for the difference. Sounds like the exact same result we'd get if you tried cheating different departments in a workplace by raising the prices on their vending-machine food.
Here's a great thing to love about Des Moines: We have a wildly high density of restaurants when measured on a per-capita basis. It doesn't get a lot of attention, but the fact that we have lots and lots of great options -- including a huge number of independent local restaurants -- is a great element of quality of life here.
The US isn't the only country with a retirement-funding problem: The government of Greece could go bankrupt within ten years if they don't fix their social security program.
Santa can't say "Ho, ho, ho" in Sydney because some people are worried that the Christmas exclamation will be confused with derogatory slang for women.
We're right on track for the first snowfall of the year.
They may be expanding the EU over time to include parts of Africa. While that will challenge our sense of geography, if they can expand free trade and market economies to Africa, that would be great news for the world. The EU certainly has its share of dumb socialistic policies, but it's a lot better than most non-free economies.
It's really sad that a couple of Spaniards are being fined about $4,000 each for making fun of a prince in a cartoon. It's probably a little too easy for us to forget here in the US how important it is to keep the right to criticize our leadership.
Keywords in this show:
Africa •
censorship •
Des Moines •
economic development •
European Union •
Greece •
monkeys •
pension underfunding •
quality of life •
restaurants •
rewards •
Santa Claus •
snow •
Social Security •
Spain •
vending machines