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How Anyone Can Learn Anything in 20 Hours

Filed under: Employment & Careers, Entrepreneurship, Weird & Wonderful

Josh KaufmanBy Erik Sherman
AOL Jobs

Better-paying jobs need better skills. Rather than plunking down thousands of dollars for, say, a degree in computer science, what if you could learn much of what you needed in 20 hours? What if you could stay ahead of the competition by learning every new gadget, software and technical skill in just 20 hours?
Author Josh Kaufman, right, says it is possible, and that he taught himself how to code -- as well as windsurf, play the ukulele and many other things -- in less than 20 hours each.

"A 14-year-old could learn to do this," says Kaufman, who chronicled his experiences in his best-seller, The First 20 Hours: How to Learn Anything ... Fast. "Once you get into it, it's really not as difficult as it seems."

Writer Malcolm Gladwell has famously said it takes 10,000 hours of practice to fully master a skill. But Kaufman cites research showing that most skill improvement happens early on when you go from incapable to "developing the capacity to perform." In his experience, that can happen in 20 hours.

Filthy Lucre! Just the Thought of Money Makes Us Unethical, Says Study

Filed under: Fraud, Weird & Wonderful

Just the thought of money makes us unethical, study says
By Eamon Murphy
Daily Finance

The money (left) and control/neutral (right) pictures used to "prime" participants in one study of how money influences moral outcomes. The mere thought of money can trigger a subconscious mindset that predisposes people towards unethical actions, according to recent research by professors at Harvard and the University of Utah.

Earlier work suggested that subtle exposure to money can influence behavior and decisions in self-centered ways, making people in studies more likely to choose an individual activity over a group one, for instance. This new research set out to to determine how such exposure might impact "morally relevant outcomes," in light of money's enormous importance to society in general and business organizations in particular.

Which Factory Made That Shirt? Even the Retailers Don't Know

Filed under: Buyer Beware, Consumer Complaints, Shopping

Walmart store
By Matt Brownell
Daily Finance

In April, a garment factory in Bangladesh collapsed, killing more than a thousand people. The factory had been making apparel for numerous American fashion brands and retailers.

In the wake of the tragedy, Walmart (WMT) -- which had previously sourced clothes from the factory -- touted its commitment to worker safety by releasing an extensive list of factories it had stopped doing business with out of safety concerns. But a ProPublica report released last week found that at least two of those factories were still making clothes sold in Walmart stores.

In one case, the company told ProPublica that it had simply accepted clothing shipments that had already been produced. The other factory was making clothes for Fruit of the Loom that were subsequently sold in Walmart stores, and the company says that there was confusion about which company's standards should apply.

Gold and Oil: The Two Most Popular Investments Are Back

Filed under: Investing

By Chris Vermeulen
Minyanville.com

The two most popular investments a few years ago have been lying dormant and out of the spotlight. But a look at the price charts of both gold and oil suggest their time to shine may be returning.

Seasonal charts allow us to look at what the average price for an investment does during a specific time of year. The gold and oil seasonal charts below clearly show that we are entering a time in which price tends to drift higher.

Where Americans Shop (and Eat) the Most

Filed under: Family Finances, Shopping


Unbelievably, one in two Americans walk through the doors of some fast food outlets and shops each month. Wonder who the top retailers are? Find out which shops command the most loyalty in our slideshow of most popular shops in America:

SLIDESHOW: America's Most Popular Stores

10. Target9. Taco Bell8. CVS7. Walgreens6. Wendy's5. Starbucks4. Burger King3. Subway

The Case Against Credit Cards: Overspending and Obesity

Filed under: Budgeting & Planning, Credit Cards, Debt, Health


By Eamon Murphy
Daily Finance

I just bought a movie ticket online. It cost me $16, and the truth is that I really shouldn't have spent that money. I'm behind on rent, unsure of my checking account balance 36 hours ahead of payday, and still suffering from recent expenditures connected to my five-year college reunion. But I want to see the movie very badly, as infantile as that desire is, and the price of admission isn't going to get cheaper. The sooner I see it, I tell myself, the sooner I'll stop thinking about it. Then I can move on to other, less consumption-based concerns.

What enabled me to make that purchase was a credit card. I could have gone debit, but I'd rather not involve my checking account at this time of the month; I needed to be able to put off the reckoning of my overpriced ticket. (At least I didn't "upgrade" to 3D.) Which goes to show what Derek Thompson argues at the Atlantic: "Yes, Credit Cards Are Making You a Bad Person" -- "dumber, fatter, poorer," like some nightmarish Daft Punk song.

New Type Of Whistle-Blower: Young, Internet Savvy And Headed For Jail

Filed under: Fraud, Weird & Wonderful

virtual whistle-blowers, man in Guy Fawkes maskBy Claire Gordon
AOL Jobs

When NSA contractor Edward Snowden reportedly blew the whistle on two enormous government surveillance programs, he did it old-school, leaking documents to two esteemed reporters. But a recent report finds that more whistle-blowers are publishing the secrets themselves -- online (like the infamous hackers of Anonymous, pictured right). This leaves them vulnerable to employer-retaliation as the laws lag behind the new realities of cyberspace.

Miriam Cherry, a professor at Saint Louis University School of Law and author of the report, calls them "virtual whistle-blowers." Unlike past generations, they're blogging, dropping surreptitious videos onto YouTube or leaking documents to online groups such as WikiLeaks, as Bradley Manning allegedly did. Cherry points to a growing army of "whistle-bloggers," employees who blog -- usually anonymously -- about illegal activities at their places of work. No state so far, she notes, has whistle-blower laws on the books to explicitly protect bloggers -- let alone the people who post YouTube videos or leak to Wikileaks.

SLIDESHOW: Famous Whistleblowers: Where Are They Now?

Mark Felt, Federal Bureau of InvestigationDaniel Ellsberg, U.S. Department of DefenseCynthia Cooper, WorldComJeffrey Wigand, Brown & WilliamsonMordechai Vanunu, Israeli GovernmentHarry Markopolos, Independent Fraud InvestigatorThomas Drake, National Security AgencySherron Watkins, Enron

Rare Superman Comic Sells for $175,000

Filed under: Investing, Shopping, Weird & Wonderful

Action ComicsDaily Finance

On the eve of the latest Superman movie, "Man of Steel," comes news that a comic book featuring the superhero's first-ever appearance just sold on comic book marketplace ComicConnect.com for $175,000 -- and that's considered a bargain for the comic book in question.

Two years ago, another copy of the 1938 Action Comics No. 1 sold for more than $2 million. This one, found by a Minnesota man in the wall of a house he was rebuilding, started off in less than mint condition and suffered further damage when the back cover was ripped off in an argument shortly after its discovery.

The renewed focus on Superman in the run-up to his movie reboot surely played a role in driving up the bidding price, as did the media attention surrounding its unusual provenance. But of course, what really made it so valuable is its utter rarity, with less than a hundred original copies estimated to still exist. So it's unlikely that you'll be finding a copy in your grandma's attic or hidden in a wall (or, for that matter, in a cornfield in Kansas).

How I Hit 'Restart' After Age 50 And Launched A $120 Million Business

Filed under: Entrepreneurship, Shopping

You may not know me, but you might be familiar with my jeans. Not to brag, but they're the top-selling item on the Home Shopping Network, and I created them specifically for women over 40.

To some people, the most fascinating aspect of my story is my dramatic success as a fashion designer. But personally, I'm most proud of the fact that today, in my 60s and after a lifetime of struggles, I am finally attaining everything I ever dreamed of -- professionally, personally and even romantically. To call my early life traumatic is a huge understatement. I grew up with a violent, abusive father and a cold, unprotecting mother. But I overcame my demons and have made it my mission to help others follow their dreams. That's what inspired me to write my first book, "Good Jeans: 10 Simple Truths About Feeling Great, Staying Sexy and Aging Agelessly" -- the desire to teach people how they can not only reinvent themselves, but maximize their fulfillment and happiness at any age.

11 Things That Seem Like Scams But Are Actually Great

Filed under: Shopping, Weird & Wonderful, Television

Oxi Clean
People are always on the lookout for scams. You kind of have to be, these days.

While a website may assure you you're that millionth visitor, you probably don't want to risk it for an iPod. Believe it or not, "male performance enhancements" are probably just playing into people's own self-doubts. And most infomercial products won't revolutionize your life.

The issue with this, of course, is that sometimes awesome products that actually work get written off because people's spam filters just think of them as a scam. These days, how exactly do you sell something that really is "too good to be true?"

Luckily, Reddit recently had a thread where people mentioned things that seem like scams but are actually legitimate.

Here are the 11 most interesting of them:

SLIDESHOW: 11 Things You Thought Were Scams, But Aren't

1. Oxi Clean2. RainX3. Melamine foam cleaning products4. The Magic Bullet5. The Furminator6. The Thundershirt7. Linux8. JunkMyCar.Com

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