The most and least addictive foods

In Researchers reveal the most addictive foods Susie Burrell lists the most and least addictive foods.

Most addictive

Pizza
Chocolate
Potato chips
Cookies
Ice cream

Least addictive

Cucumber
Carrots
Beans
Apples
Brown rice

Sweet potato fries recipe

Jill Dupleix has a recipe for Sweet potato fries.

Taleb on Black Swans

The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable is the first chapter of Nassim Nicholas Taleb's book The Black Swan.

Article on what ISIS really wants

Graeme Wood in What ISIS Really Wants describes the beliefs driving the actions of ISIS.

Is declining union membership driving inequality?

Nicholas Kristof in The Cost of a Decline in Unions writes that up to a third of the increase in inequality in the USA may be due to the decline in private sector unions.

Tips for a lazy baker

GoodFood lists Secrets of a lazy baker.

Things to do with broccoli stems

Goodfood has Seven things to do with broccoli stems.

Chilli choc truffles recipe

Caroline Velik's Chilli choc truffles recipe.

One man's journey from libertarianism to liberalism

Edwin Lyngar in Why I fled libertarianism — and became a liberal explains how seeing the crazies in the libertarian movement, and thinking about the world around him, especially the not so well off, turned him into a registered Democrat.

No Bake Nutella Cheesecake recipe

One Pot Chef has a No Bake Nutella Cheesecake recipe:

Fitness balls, chairs and posture

I’ve heard of people using fitness balls (also called Swiss balls) instead of chairs. So I thought I’d check if they offered any benefits. It seems the consensus is no:
Is Sitting On An Exercise Ball At Work A Bad Idea?
What are you sitting on? Using exercise balls at work
Fitness Ball Is Not Suitable As A Chair
Should I Sit on an Exercise Ball at Work?
Ask Well: Do Ball Chairs Offer Benefits?

If anything they may increase lower back problems.

However, I did come across this:

Researchers have determined that increasing the seat angle produces reduced muscle activity in the back and reduces disc pressure. Leaning back at an angle between 110 and 120 degrees decreases disc pressure to even lower than that in standing. In addition both lumbar support and the use of armrests have been found to always result in reduced disc pressure. Muscle activity is reduced even further with a wider seat/backrest angle.

As a result, chairs have been developed with a variety of back rests and improved adjustability, including seat-to-backrest angles. These features assist the sitter to achieve optimum posture. Modern approaches to chair design reject the concept of a fixed 90 degree sitting posture, in favour of a more dynamic posture centred around an 'open' trunk-thigh angle of 105 degrees or more. A variety of chairs provide this dynamic posture, such as dynamic chairs (adjustable seat/backrest angle), 'sit/stand' chairs and 'sit/kneel' chairs.

And this:

The [United States Army Public] Health Command also explains that sitting in a chair in a reclined position significantly eliminates disc pressure in the back.

Hockey gets it wrong on tax, again

Greg Jericho in Joe Hockey either doesn't understand how tax works or he is deliberately misleading the public finds that Treasurer Hockey's claim that people in Australia pay half their income in tax utterly wrong.

In 2011-12, the richest 10% – those who earn over $110,000 a year – paid on average around 32% in tax. This includes the top 1% who earn on averaged $611,000 a year. But even that minute segment of the population paid just 39.5% of their total income in tax – well below Hockey’s “nearly half” amount.

By contrast the middle income earners in the fifth and sixth deciles paid just 14% and 17% of their income in tax.

In 2011-12, the median taxable income of taxpayers was around $49,700. People earning that amount paid on average 15.6% of their income in tax.

Rather than meaning they had to work “July, August, September, October, November, December” for the government, it meant they had to work just 57 days. Or from 1 July to 26 August in the financial year.

Sautéed Spinach with Garlic and Poached Egg over Toast recipe and video

Nathan Lyon has a Sautéed Spinach with Garlic and Poached Egg over Toast recipe and video.

Our government should be borrowing more

In Low 10-year bond rates are the deal of the century but Abbott's not at the table Peter Martin writes that our Government is basically being offered free money.

The 10-year bond rate is the rate at which the government can borrow for 10 years at a fixed rate of interest. Right now it's just 2.55 per cent, an all-time low.

By way of comparison in the 1970s it exceeded 10 per cent, in the 1980s it passed 16 per cent, in the 1990s it passed 10 per cent, in the 2000s 5 per cent, and until now in this decade it has usually been above 3 per cent. It dived below 3 per cent at the end of last year and is now just 2.55 per cent, the lowest in living memory.

If Australia was to borrow, big time, for important projects that took the best part of a decade to complete, it would have no risk of ever having to fork out more than 2.55 per cent a year in interest. The record low rate would be locked in for 10 years.

Australia's inflation rate is currently 2.3 per cent. Although it will almost certainly fall in the wake of the collapse in oil prices when it is updated next week, the Reserve Bank has a mandate to keep the rate centred at about 2.5 per cent. That means that right now our government is being offered billions for next to nothing, billions for scarcely more than the expected rate of inflation.

Martin goes on to list any number of projects that could be funded this way. Martin does have a warning of us though:

The risk is that bad projects would be chosen over good ones and the money wasted.

...

He says even cheap money should be spent well

Medicare spending is under control

In As Sussan Ley tries to patch the cuts to Medicare, the question is: why? Lenore Taylor shows that Medicare spending is not out of control. She also suggests some alternate savings.

Medicare is not unsustainable

In The facts on Medicare don't lie: it's affordable and effective without a GP tax Catherine King writes that Medicare has become cheaper, not more expensive.

Exercise because inactivity is more dangerous than obesity

This article Lack of exercise deadlier than obesity: study reports on a study that finds that lack of exercise is more dangerous than obesity.

Lack of exercise is twice as likely to lead to an early grave than obesity, research has shown.

A brisk 20-minute walk each day is all it takes to avoid dying prematurely, the findings suggest.

Scientists looked at the effects of obesity and exercise on 334,161 European men and women whose progress was followed for 12 years.

They found that people who engaged in moderate levels of daily exercise - equivalent to taking an energetic 20-minute walk - were 16 per cent to 30 per cent less likely to die than those classified as inactive.

Although the impact of exercise was greatest among normal weight individuals, even those with high Body Mass Index levels saw a benefit.

Unconscious Bias

Howard Ross in How Unconscious Bias Affects Everything You Do explores the question of how our hidden biases affect our decisions.

Apple Slice

Clare from The Life of Clare has published her Grandma's Apple Slice.

I first found it via Johanna GGG who explains the recipe a little more.

Nick Hanauer on "middle-out" economics

In Why capitalism has nothing to do with supply and demand Nick Hanauer explains his concept of "middle-out" economics (as opposed to tickle-down economics).