Attention Getters

Use an anecdote (tell a SHORT story)

Seventy-nine years ago this week, the New York Stock Exchange experienced the worst financial panic the country had ever seen. There have been more crashes since — with bigger numbers and bigger losses — but nothing quite rivals the terror and devastation of Black Tuesday: October 29, Brief History of the Crash of 1929

Science Says We Really Are What We Drink By HILARY HYLTON Sunday, Oct. 26, 2008 And now for some helpful scientific advice: When that IRS agent comes to your office to conduct an audit, offer him a cup of coffee. And when you're sitting down to do your holiday shopping online, make sure you're cradling a large glass of iced tea. The physical sensation of warmth encourages emotional warmth, while a chilly drink in hand serves as a brake on rash decisions — those are the practical lesson being drawn from recent research by two Yale-educated psychologists, published last week in Science magazine.

Use an interesting statistic

No Dropouts Left Behind: New Rules on Grad Rates By KATHLEEN KINGSBURY Thursday, Oct. 30, 2008 It's a staggering statistic: one in four American teenagers drops out of school before graduation, a rate that rises to one in three among black and Hispanic students. But there's no federal system keeping track of the more than 7,000 American teenagers who drop out of school each day.

Ask an interesting question

Priorities for the New President By JOE KLEIN Friday, Oct. 31, 2008 In the days before the great election of 2008, your nation's capital was consumed by a single question: If Barack Obama wins, what's in it for me? A week before the balloting, I sat in the dining room of one of Washington's finest hotels and, eavesdropping madly, realized that my neighbors at every one of the adjoining tables were consumed by the vagaries of appointive politics — as I was, after my guest arrived. The game of turbocharged, Cabinet-level musical chairs is the autumnal version of the summer speculation about vice- presidential picks: lots of fun, but not very nourishing, and I'm not going to indulge in it here (O.K., maybe a little). There are bigger fish to fry, like what's the new President — Obama is universally, prematurely, assumed the victor — actually going to do?

Which Is Used Here? Meet Dave, the Man Who Never Takes Out the Trash By BRYAN WALSH David Chameides is not your average American. For one thing, the TV cameraman owns two Emmy awards — how many do you have? But more importantly, while the average American throws out around 1,700 lbs. of trash annually, for the past year Chameides has thrown out absolutely nothing. A deep green by nature — he also runs a website called Sustainable Dave — beginning in December Chameides decides he would keep all the garbage he created, at home and on the road, in his house. "We have the concept of throwing something away, but in reality, we're just tossing it over our shoulder and forgetting about it," says Chameides. "It wouldn't be so funny if it was really just in your backyard." (Hear Chameides talk about his trash habits on this week's Greencast.)