Migee:

The first climate-induced migration of modern times?

What’s really making us fat? It might not just be calories.

Eric H:

Bring on the rot gut! Most of us can’t taste fine nuances in high quality wine. Blame your physiology.

The Qwerty keyboard seems innocuous, but is it subtly shifting our language?

Clark:

I had no idea that yoga was actually a competitive sport—I thought that was just a joke in The Onion.

Here’s an interesting take on how demographics—particularly the retirement of baby boomers—might affect the stock market:

The problem in a nutshell: The ratio of retirees to active workers in the U.S. will balloon. As retirees sell stocks and then bonds to support themselves, there will be fewer younger investors to buy those securities, keeping a lid on prices. Meanwhile, strong demand from boomers and a limited supply of workers will boost the prices of goods and services the boomers need.

The aging of the huge baby boom generation—the so-called “pig in the python” that’s slowly moving its way through the population structure—will change an awful lot about our economy. And if this argument is right, one of those changes will be in stock market returns. A huge group of retirees will be dipping into IRAs, 401k’s, and pensions at the same time. And that could increase the number of sellers compared with buyers, potentially driving down market returns–making it harder to fund a cozy retirement with a IRA or 401k!  Yikes!

Alan:

The coolest thing you’ll read this weekend, I’d wager, is this fascinating story from NPR. It starts with a giant shard of ancient volcano that juts out of the South Pacific, continues with a night-time rock-climbing adventure,  and ends as a metaphor for our maladaptive but still hopeful relationship with Creation. Be sure to watch the embedded video, too.

Eric dP:

I loved Michael van Baker’s account of the latest tolling travails for Seattle’s deep bore tunnel.

I liked Mark Hinshaw’s Crosscut piece making a point I’m semi-obsessed with: the old urban/suburban distinction ain’t what it used to be. Many suburbs are nowadays more “urban”—denser and more diverse—than at least some parts of the older center cities, which in the Northwest often have distinctly “suburban” precincts.

Plus, a good infographic: Death Becomes the Phone Book. (N/B, I personally don’t want to kill or ban the phone book. I want decent “opt-in” systems for folks who still like getting a big brick of paper.)