The Daily Dozen

1. Unplggd loves their Kindle.  I love mine too.  The NY Times profiles current and upcoming eBook readers.  The one that has me most excited is Plastic Logic’s Que.  While the thought of replacing bookshelves full of books with an eBook reader (like in this photo) has its share of pros and cons, after helping a friend move this week, it is increasingly appealing.  Having said that, there’s still something wonderful about the feel of paper and the look of a room full of books.
2. Speaking of eBooks, early reviews of Barnes and Noble’s Nook are out and they sound less than impressed.  If you’re shopping for an eReader for someone this Christmas season, you might want to stick with the Kindle.  As and added bonus, unlike the Nook, the Kindle is still in stock.
3. What makes a good law school exam answer?  Law profs weigh in.
4. Megan McArdle takes a look at why so many people hate health care reform.
5. Money fights predict divorce:  “Couples who reported disagreeing about finance once a week were over 30 percent more likely to get divorced than couples who reported disagreeing about finances a few times a month.”  Does this mean you should marry someone you could manage a portfolio with?
6. The declining tax rate on millionaires.  Interesting…
7. Protecting pregnant women in car accidents.  “The car accident fatality rate for unborn children is about four times the rate for infants and children up to age 4. Car safety experts at Virginia Tech University, funded in part by Ford Motor Company, are trying to develop a computerized crash test model to determine how best to protect pregnant women and their unborn children during a collision.”  GO HOKIES!!!
8. A theory of Japanese aesthetics: “The emotional energy of Japanese cooks went into making their food beautiful. Japanese food isn’t just the least-flavored of all major cuisines, it is also by quite a bit the best-looking. That’s how it started. Japanese cooks figured out how to make food beautiful. The lessons they learned and taught (at every meal!) spread to other design. When you grow up surrounded by beautiful things, as Japanese designers do, it helps you make beautiful things.”
9. Speaking of Japan, 42.8% of Japanese see no need to have kids.  As I’ve written before, Japan is becoming the land of disappearing children.
10. iPod Touch usage growing faster than the iPhone?  Either would be good news for Apple.
11. Religious behavior and economic identity: “We identify the marginal effect of religious identity on economic choices by measuring how laboratory subjects‘ choices change when their religious identity is made salient to them. We find that Protestantism increases contributions to public goods. Catholicism decreases contributions to public goods, decreases expectations‘ of others‘ contributions to public goods, and may decrease risk aversion. Judaism increases reciprocity. We find no evidence of religious identity effects on discount rates or generosity in a dictator game.”
12. Creepy or cool?  Google’s web search is getting so personalized, it’s going to freak you out: