For the past two years, we have enjoyed using Bubba Bohack’s jokes in our shows, and we hope you have gotten a few laughs too. If you’d like to learn more about Bubba, visit him here.

A belief in the paranormal seems quite popular. There are even people who claim you can see ghosts in photographs.

Check these ghost pics out and tell us what you think. Do you think they portray real ghosts, or is it simply lighting and atmospheric effects that are tricking our brains into seeing things?

~Bob

This post is a week late, but better late than never.

Yet another great thing about the internet is it makes it easy to learn and play poker for free. There are numerous websites that allow you to join online poker games where you compete against other players. Most of these websites have practice games, where you can use play money (not real money). Once you feel comfortable, then perhaps you can join a poker group in your community.

Of course, I don’t recommend gambling for money. In many places it’s illegal, plus there are more prudent ways to entertain yourself. However, if you have a healthy attitude, it can be a fun way to socialize with others - with or without the cigars!

We discussed investing in this week’s show, and a key part to being a successful investor is saving your money. In order to do this, you must be able to delay gratification, which is the ability to wait patiently for something that you want in the future. People who have poor impulse control have trouble delaying gratification. For example, if they see a car they like, rather than save the necessary money to buy it with cash, instead they will get a car loan, which will make the car more expensive in the long run (overall).

Of course, life is short, so you have to find a balance between living for the moment and living for the future.

Is there anything that you want to save for, such as a house, car or computer? See how long it will take with this savings calculator.

~Bob

If our Black Death show left you wanting to learn more about the topic, it just so happens that this week the fabulous In Our Time radio program also has a show on the black death. This show, aired weekly by the BBC, explores a variety of historical, scientific and philosophical topics with experts in the field. You can listen at the website or via podcast.

Be prepared, however: while the discussions are both fascinating and enlightening, they will most definitely challenge your listening skills.

~Bob

This week we talked a bit about taxis. Rob asked me a few questions about New York taxis, but I had to admit my ignorance. Well, to make up for my not knowing, I give you some interesting facts about NYC cabs (taxis):

• In 1933 there were 19,000 taxicabs in New York.

• Today there are 12,187 taxicabs in New York.

• The average number of rides per 12 hour shift is 30.

• The average fare is approximately $6.

• Percentage of people applying for taxicab licenses who were from Bangladesh, Pakistan or India in 1991: 43%

• In the late 1960s more than 10% of taxicab drivers were women, now there are less than 1%.

• The cab gets its name from its predecessor, the horse-driven carriage called the cabriolet

~Bob

On this week’s show we started a new segment called “Word Power”. I got the idea from this wonderful little application called Visual Thesaurus, which lets you create “word webs” of related terms and concepts. It seems much more intuitive than a traditional thesaurus, because it allows you to visually explore words through their semantic relationship with other words and meanings. And because you can see how words are used in different parts of speech, it will help you to use words more precisely - and give you a larger, richer vocabulary.

Give it a try and let us know what you think. We’ll be using it for another Word Power segment in our upcoming “Electricity” show.

~Bob

In this week’s show about France we mentioned that famous American actor Johnny Depp lives part of the year in southern France, with his girlfriend Vanessa Paradis, a French actress and singer, and their three kids.

About his life in France, he says:

…it’s wonderful to get back to France and be living in a tiny village with nothing around. There is still the possibility to live a simple life. You can go to the market, walk about, buy fruits and vegetables — the things they did 100 and 200 years ago.

Sounds good to me.

One of the things that attracts me about Europe is that there seems to be more of a balance between tradition and modernity. Also, generally speaking, there seems to be more emphasis on quality of life, rather than material possessions.

Things are changing for the better in many areas of America, however. In the past few years, for example, farmers markets have become more popular, where growers can sell their goods locally. Eating locally supports more traditional communities and sustainable economies. Of course, prices might be a little higher when compared with the industrial food system, but efficiency and low-cost are not necessarily the most important things in life. Research shows, for example, that people shopping at farmers’ markets have 10 times the number of conversations than they do at a conventional supermarkets.

~Bob

Since we talked about honey this week, we also touched on (mentioned briefly) bees and beekeepers. As I mentioned in our show, my family kept a beehive for a short time in order to try to raise our own honey.

Some insane beekeepers apparently like to use their bees for other things: making bee beards. This Irish beekeeper attempted to break the world record for attracting the most bees to his body. Apparently, if you smear the scent of the queen bee on your body, all the other bees will swarm to you. (I’m sure you can hardly wait to try this yourself.)

On a more serious note, last year many of the world’s honey bees mysteriously started dying off, leaving many beekeepers with empty hives and without beards. Just in case you didn’t know, honey bees pollinate (help flowers have sex) a lot of the world’s food crops, so if the honey bees vanish, things like berries and almonds - not to mention honey - will become quite scarce in the supermarket.

~Bob

In last week’s show, I mentioned that I had just eaten some onion ramen. (I think I still have it on my breath!)

When most people think of Japanese food, sushi comes to mind. However, when you live in Japan, you quickly notice all the ramen shops everywhere. In fact, I’d say ramen is the most popular food in Japan, not sushi.

Ramen is essentially noodles served in hot broth, and it probably originated in China. I’ve eaten ramen all over Asia, and I think I like the Japanese version the best. It has a thicker, oiler taste, without any of the overpowering spices which are so common in China (such as fennel and cloves).

With its tremendous variety and zealous adherents, I consider ramen an art form in Japan, much like wine is in France. Besides the geographic differences, every local ramen shop uses their own special recipe, combining ingredients such as mushrooms, sardines, miso and soy sauce, to name just a few.

Interestingly enough, when I was a “poor” college student in America, my diet consisted of an American version of ramen, sold in supermarkets under the brand Top Ramen. Aside from its salty, oily taste, the most appealing thing about it was you could buy 10 packs for a dollar - dirt cheap - and all you had to do was add some hot water and you had a meal. Perfect for someone who had no time and money - and for someone who hadn’t yet learned the pleasures of eating “real” ramen.

~Bob