Amanda Mull's father was a smoker for 20 years. When he became convinced that cigarettes were harmful, he simply quit smoking them. Later, when he decided he should take up running, he got up at 4:30 AM to get in five miles before work. And has continued this practice every day for more than 30 years. Mull, writing in The Atlantic, says that her dad's ability to adopt life-changing habits (or quit bad ones) was seen by her as the norm. For years she struggled to exercise [...]

A long time ago, when Woody Allen was known for writing funny books, he described a character named Weinstein who lay in bed feeling depressed about his age. “Next year I will be fifty-one. Then fifty-two.” Allen adds, “Using this reasoning, he could figure out his age as much as five years in the future.” While some of us have the advanced math skills to figure out our age 10 or even 15 years into the future, it’s one of the few things we can predict [...]

You've just been seated at a restaurant and while you're waiting for your server, you see a little sticker on the tabletop that says, "Scan me for today's lunch specials." It would be great to save a few bucks. So you pull out your phone and point the camera at the little square. What could go wrong? According to mobile security experts, plenty.Even if you're not familiar with the term QR code, you've certainly seen lots of them. They're the square, maze-like graphic that businesses put [...]