The popularity of PIN numbers
“How easy would it be for a thief to guess your four-digit PIN?” asks The Australian Financial Review, citing Bloomberg News. “If he were forced to guess randomly, his odds of getting the correct number would be one in 10,000.” However, researchers at the data analysis firm DataGenetics have found that the three most popular combinations – “1234,” “1111” and “0000” – account for close to 20 per cent of all four-digit passwords. “Every four-digit combination that starts with “19” ranks above the 80th percentile in popularity. “The least popular combination – 8068 – appears less than 0.001 per cent of the time (although you probably shouldn’t go out and choose ‘8068’ now that this is public information). Others that are nearly as rare include ‘8093,’ ‘9629,’ ‘8835’ and ‘7637.’ ”
It’s lovely at the top
“Individuals in powerful leadership roles are less stressed than their minions, a new study shows,” says The Independent. “The reason is that leadership brings a greater sense of being in control, scientists at Harvard University believe. The finding overturns the popular notion that captains of industry, heads of government and military chiefs pay a high price for their success.”
Is longevity worth it?
“Researchers have shown that eunuchs living in Korea centuries ago outlived other men by a significant margin,” reports The Daily Telegraph. “They say their findings suggest that male sex hormones are responsible for shortening the lives of men. The evidence comes after study of genealogy records of noble members of the Imperial Court of the Korean Chosun dynasty (AD 1392-1910).” People in those days kept careful genealogy records as proof they were of the noble class. Kyung-Jin Min of Inha University and his colleague Cheol-Koo Lee of Korea University, found that eunuchs lived 14 to 19 years longer than other men did. “The castrated boys in Korea lost their reproductive organs in accidents, usually after being bitten by dogs, or underwent castration purposefully to gain early access to the palace.”
Dead dolphin had poor diet
“A dolphin known as ‘Beggar’ for his tendency to approach boaters for food has been found dead, possibly as a result of his poor diet,” says NBCNews.com. “Beggar was found floating in the water near Albee Road Bridge on the Intracoastal Waterway in Sarasota, Fla., on Friday. His body was partly decomposed, making it impossible to determine the exact cause of death. …According to the Mote Marine Laboratory, for the past 20 years Beggar has been hanging out in the area where he was found dead. He
was known to approach boats looking for food. During 100 hours of observations over several months in 2011, researchers observed Beggar interacting with humans 3,600 times. People tried 169 times to feed Beggar an impressive range of 520 foods, including beer and hot dogs. … Over the years, the dolphin became a poster child for why feeding marine life is illegal. The behaviour put Beggar at risk of getting hit by a boat, Mote reported, and other dolphins seemed to learn his bad behaviour by watching him.”
So we think we can dance
“Organizers of a Swedish demonstration said people danced in Stockholm’s streets to protest a law requiring bars to obtain licences to host dancing,” reports United Press International. “Anders Varveus of the group Dance, Nonsense & Acceptance said more than 1,000 people gathered Saturday in Humlegarden park and listened to speeches from activists before dancing through the city streets toward Tanto park, The Local.se reported Monday.” The demonstrators had signs with messages like “live, love, dance” and “dance or die.”
Thought du jour
The morning is wiser than the evening.
Russian saying
