Books on the Shelf Still Worth Something

Kids who grow up with 500+ books in the house go to school 3.2 years longer than kids who don't, even after adjusting for dad's occupation and income. That's nearly a bachelor's degree, right there, or a master's if a bachelor's is the standard.

Health Inventory and Goal-Planner from American Heart Association

My Life Check: painless and helpful in suggesting, quantitatively, what you could be doing better for your health, without being puritanical about the salt, sugar, and fat.

Ode to the Cast Iron Skillet

In an essay that would make Strunk & White proud, Salt & Fat lays out the virtues of cast iron in the kitchen.

A Plea for Pragmatism Over Ideology on Earth Day

A little practice often upsets a lot of theory. 

Funniest Thing We've Read in Months

A restaurant review. No, it's not fiction.

The New Non-Profit Journalism

This may be the only way investigative journalism will continue to get done: ProPublica, which is funded by a non-profit and by individual donations, not subjected to focus-groups or concerns about news-stand sales. Of course, that is what NPR is supposed to do, but they aren't exactly investigative, are they?