Another Reason Cell Phones Are Bad For You

Too much time spent on your cell phone doesn’t mean you’re more connected and happier.

New research from scientists at Kent State University in Kent, Ohio shows that the more time college students spend on their cellphones, the more anxious they were and the more their academic performance suffered.

Jacob Barkley, Aryn Karpinski and Andrew Lepp studied 500 Kent State University students, each of whom reported their daily cell phone use for the year as well as their level of anxiety and satisfaction with their life.

At the end of the year, the students also permitted the researchers to see their official school records for their cumulative grade point average (GPA). Not only was greater cell phone use negatively correlated with satisfaction and happiness indicators, it was also associated with lower GPAs — presumably because the students were more anxious and unable to concentrate on their studies.

While previous research found that cell phones can improve social interactions and reduce feelings of isolation, the latest findings, published in the journal Computers in Human Behavior, suggest that constant access to information and people may be a double edged-sword. The researchers speculate, for example, that students may feel anxious if they feel obligated to be in constant touch with their friends. Some may have difficulty disconnecting, which only feeds into the stress linked to their phones. Occasional episodes of solitude can be important for well being, but students who are tied to their phones aren’t getting these respites.

But since the convenience of mobile phone technology only makes cell phones more ubiquitous and indispensable, the research team says it’s worth exploring some of the less obvious as well as the more transparent ways that the devices might be influencing how we act and even — if you’re a college student — the grades you get.

50 Things You Didn’t Know Your iPhone Could Do

You probably already knew that your iPhone’s virtual assistant, Siri, could send text messages and set alarms. But did you knows that it can also show you pictures of puppies?

This new video by PhoneBuff shows off 50 of Siri’s coolest features, many of which you may not have used before. Did you know your iPhone can translate things into Morse code or flip a coin. Siri is more helpful (and fun) than you may realize.

50 Foods You Should Be Eating

Think popping a multivitamin once per day is good enough to cover all of the bases your diet is missing? Think again. Your body doesn’t absorb nearly as many minerals and vitamins from that pill as you might believe. Instead, give your body a powerful boost by adding some natural superfoods to your diet.

1. Kale
If Popeye knew about kale, he’d never have bothered with spinach. This robust, dark leafy green is chock-full of nutrients like iron, vitamins A, C and K, fiber, antioxidants and is a great detoxifier (particularly for your liver).

2. Chia Seeds
Prized by the Mayans and Aztecs, this superfood is once again becoming a star in the modern-day diet. Add these to your diet to get a boost of fiber, omega fatty acids, calcium — and it’s also a complete protein that’s easy to add to salads and smoothies.

3. Spinach
Your mother always told you to eat this vibrant, leafy green if you want to grow up big and strong. What she didn’t mention is that it’s also great for preventing prostate cancer, is an excellent source of vitamins A, C and K, is loaded with antioxidants and is a good source of protein.

4. Swiss Chard
Swiss chard grades highly among the ranks of nutrient-packed leafy greens, but the best part might be the taste. Kale can be tough, collards are heavy and some people hate spinach, Swiss chard tastes similar to the very neutral romaine lettuce. Best of all, it has all of the same nutrients as its brethren.

5. Collard Greens
Collard greens don’t get the type of love that kale does, but they still bring the same nutrients to the table, like vitamins C and K. Collards also give you vitamin E, folate and manganese, and similarly, are known as a cancer-fighter.

6. Bee Pollen
Bee pollen is an incredible superfood that is considered to be one of the most complete foods you can eat. It is a richer source of protein than any animal source (percentage-wise) and it contains all of the essential amino acids as well. Throw in massive amount of enzymes (over 5,000), phytonutrients, vitamins (A, B, C and E), and a ton of minerals, and you’ll be giving your body a big boost. Some of those benefits include increased energy, muscle growth, a stronger immune system, and an enhanced sex drive.

7. Moringa Leaf
Moringa leaf is still a well-kept secret, but those who are up on it are aware that this is one of the most nutrient-packed plants ever found. You’ll get a good dose of iron, calcium, fiber, magnesium, potassium, protein, and amino acids. And all of this from a leaf!

8. Cacao Beans
Chocolate lovers can indulge all they want in cacao beans without feeling guilty. Although the chocolate that is near and dear to us all is made from this wonderful ingredient, the truth is that after heating, processing, adding a ton of dairy and sugar, and putting it in candy-bar wrapping, this superfood turns super unhealthy. Stick with the beans — either as a snack or by adding them to smoothies, and you’ll be giving your body one of the highest antioxidant-rich foods around.

9. Blueberries
Blueberries are great for the brain, as they help improve your memory, as well as prevent the onset of any cognitive problems that tend to come with age. The best part is that this popular fruit is commonly available in the frozen section, and most of its important antioxidants are preserved even through freezing.

10. Turmeric
Turmeric powder is a spice that’s often found in curries that has plenty of health benefits. It’s not only known for its yellow pigment; it also helps combat free radicals, is great for inflammation and protects against memory loss. Although it’s better recognized in its powder form, nowadays, a number of markets will carry the turmeric root as well, which looks very similar to ginger root.

11. Garlic
Sure, it’ll make your breath stink, but otherwise, it’s worth it. This age-old superfood is renowned for giving your immune system a boost and warding off many types of cancer.

12. Acai
This tiny purple berry is packed with antioxidants that’ll help fend off cancer, heart disease and even aging. It’s one of the rare fruits that contains oleic acid, which is the same healthy fat that’s found in olive oil, and even has the ideal essential amino acid complex, which is integral to muscle regeneration.

13. Lingonberries
Meet one of the newest berry superfoods on the block: lingonberries. They’re loaded with plant polyphenols, which means these tart little red berries contribute in a number of fashions. They can lower inflammation, fight staph infections, replace antioxidants, add red blood cells and increase liver enzymes.

14. Beets
Beets can be messy to work with, but those who go through pain get the gain at the end. Beets are a unique source of betalains, which is a phytonutrient that can combat tumors. Make sure you don’t throw away the beet greens, as they are high in lutein, which is related to and has similar benefits as vitamin A.

15. Black Beans
Black beans make this list because they’re a very underrated source of protein. One cup provides around 15 grams of protein, and the best part is that you don’t have to deal with any of the saturated fats that you might get from animal protein sources, like red meat.

16. Oats
Oats might seem like a boring breakfast option, but they’re a great choice for those who need to lower their cholesterol. Whole grain oats help do exactly that, and help with the maintenance of your blood-sugar levels. Just add some blueberries, cinnamon or honey to liven up the oats.

17. Avocado
Avocado is another one of those paradoxical high-fat foods that’s still good for your body. That’s because it contains good fats, as well as oleic acid, lutein, folate, vitamin E and glutathione. All of those assist in deflecting heart disease and cancer.

18. Cod Liver Oil
Cod liver oil may not be the most delicious of items you’ll pull out of your fridge, but among health nuts, it’s a delicacy. Taking daily doses of cod liver oil is known to prevent arthritis and reduce muscle and joint pain. It also has the healthy fats, which means it’s good for lowering cholesterol, maintaining mental health and preventing heart disease.

19. Broccoli
Maybe mom wasn’t completely accurate when she said broccoli makes you smart — but you’d be smart to eat it. The superfood we’ve loved to hate as a kid helps detoxify the body and is a vegetable with one of the highest vitamin C concentrations. It’s also developing into a game-changer in the role of cancer prevention.

20. Green Tea
Green tea gives your metabolism a kick in the butt by speeding it up. People who drink it burn more calories throughout the day (roughly 50 to 100 more). It also helps regulate glucose levels in the body (good for those battling diabetes), helps reduce bad cholesterol and slows the brain’s aging process.

21. Walnuts
Boost your mood by adding more walnuts to your diet. Not only do these guys have a healthy amount of zinc, manganese and copper, they’re also loaded with serotonin, which is a chemical in our brain directly tied to happiness and feeling good. As a matter of fact, walnuts have among the highest values of serotonin you can find.

22. Almonds
Almonds are one of the most popular superfoods on this list that most people already consume. What could possibly be bad about a high-fat food that’s good for your heart? These guys are loaded with good fats which promote heart health and lower bad cholesterol. Almonds are also a quality source of manganese, vitamin E, magnesium and tryptophan.

23. Pine Nuts
This tiny-but-tasty nut sometimes gets lots in the shuffle, but it’s a super contributor all across the board. From vitamin A and lutein, which help improve eyesight, to vitamin D (stronger bones), to vitamin C (robust immune system) to iron, protein and magnesium, make sure you take your dose.24. Quinoa
Vegetarians and vegans have been up on quinoa for years, but now everyone else is catching up. It offers a great source of non-animal protein with about eight grams in one cup. It’s also a good source of fiber and iron.25. Yogurt/Kefir
Not all bacteria is bad for you. Your body needs some of the good kind to help the digestive tract and yogurt has those. Your colon will be happy (and function better) if you add more of these intestine-friendly bacteria to your diet.

26. Coconut Oil
Coconut oil is a hot commodity these days, as bakers and fryers have been reaching for this fat rather than butter, margarine or processed oils. It’s lauded for its lauric acid, which helps prevent some heart problems like high cholesterol and high blood pressure. In short, the saturated fats in coconut oil are not as harmful to you as the ones in commercially processed oils.

27. Coconut Water
Coconut water is an excellent alternative to a sports drink. Many people champion its hydrating powers, as it does a good job replacing lost fluids. It’s also a great source of potassium (more than four bananas).

28. Ginger Root
Ginger root is a staple in Indian and Chinese cuisine. It’s been known to do wonders for the stomach, namely easing stomach aches, eliminating gas and soothing the intestinal tract. Don’t just use it in stir fries, though; throw a little knob into your morning smoothie to give it some kick.

29. Cayenne
Cayenne does more than just spice things up. It adds vitamins A, C and K, and is best known for its high amounts of capsaicin, which is good for fighting inflammation. Those trying to trim down a bit might want to add some more cayenne to their diet, as it can curb appetite and raises your body temperature, which will help you burn some extra calories.

30. Apple Cider Vinegar
Some people swear by the detoxifying effects of apple cider vinegar. It helps balance your body’s alkaline pH levels and can stimulate cardiovascular circulation.

31. Bulgur

Eating whole-grain foods is believed to reduce a number of cardiovascular risks. That’s why this 100% whole-wheat grain is a good addition to your diet. It’s a sound source of fiber, protein, iron, and vitamin B-6.

32. Pistachios
Looking to lower your cholesterol? Here’s one option that’s not in pill form: pistachios. They’re stocked with phytosterols and soluble fiber, both of which have been shown to lower LDL (bad cholesterol).

33. Red Peppers
Red bell peppers often get overlooked as a superfood, but they’re loaded in their own right. There’s more than three times the daily recommended vitamin C intake per pepper, plus vitamin A, antioxidants and lycopene, which reduces the risk of prostate cancer.

34. Papaya
If you’re feeling the onset of a cold, reach for this tropical fruit instead of an orange next time. One papaya has more than three times the daily recommended intake of vitamin C and is also stocked with flavonoids, vitamin B, potassium, magnesium and fiber. All in all, it’s good for the cardiovascular system and reduces the risk of colon cancer.

35. Black Garlic
Black garlic is made by treating regular garlic with heat and humidity for about a month. Because of the gentle aging process, its health benefits are maintained, but its flavor is much more palatable than regular garlic. This version is sweet with hints of balsamic, tamarind and molasses.

36. Cinnamon
Seeing this one on the list isn’t an excuse to go scarf down multiple cinnamon buns. However, this age-old spice has been known to reduce the risk of cancer, cholesterol and also helps regulate blood-sugar levels.

37. Flax Seeds
Small in size but large in returns, flax seeds are easy to add to salads, cereals and soups. They are best known for being a good source of fiber, which helps keep your exits smooth. But they’re also a good source for omega-3 fatty acid and lignans, which reduce breast cancer in women and prostate cancer in men.

38. Goji Berries
Typically, we associate oranges with vitamin C, but Goji have nearly 500 times more (per ounce) than those round orange guys. They also pack a vitamin B-complex punch, as well as vitamin E and a slew of antioxidants.

39. Spirulina
Spirulina is an algae that’s loaded with all sorts of super benefits. It’s a high-quality source of protein, gives you the Omegas (3, 6 and 9), a slew of vitamins (A, B-2, B-3, B-6, B-9, C, D, E) and has 26 times the calcium of milk. It has a rank taste, though, so it’s best to try to hide it in smoothies.

40. Maca Root/Powder
No, it’s not just a running gag from the fourth season of Arrested Development. Maca is typically found in powder form these days, as juice bars use it to give their smoothies a boost. This nutrient-rich root has been used by Native Americans for thousands of years, and it helps out your endocrine system, which should — among many other things — increase your energy, boost your sex drive and balance your hormones.

41. Pumpkin Seeds
Don’t throw these guys out when you’re scooping them out of squashes or pumpkins; they’re a gold mine when it comes to nutritional value. These edible seeds are rich in magnesium, zinc, and even tryptophan, which helps you sleep.

42. Wheatgrass
While the taste is sometimes hard to swallow, the juice extracted from wheatgrass has wonderful effects on the body. It does everything — stimulating the thyroid, boosting the red blood cell count, detoxifying the blood and gastrointestinal tract, fending off cancer and providing beneficial enzymes to the body.

43. Camu Camu
Camu Camu is a trendy superfood that’s making the rounds in North America. That’s because we love our vitamin C — the most used supplement in North America — and camu camu is loaded with it. One teaspoon is 1,180 times your recommended daily intake.

44. Chlorella
Those looking to detoxify/remove some of those heavy metals in the body might want to try chlorella. This single-cell algae is one of the best detoxifiers you’ll find. Inside your body, it binds to metals, chemicals and pesticides in your digestive tract and pulls them out.

45. Lucuma
This tropical South American fruit is packed with antioxidants and B vitamins. It’s been known to boost your immune system and prevent a number of ailments — including cancer. It’s a sweet fruit, so it’s an easy add to smoothies if you’re using the powder form.

46. Maqui Berry
Most berries are high in antioxidants, but this Chilean berry is one of the richest sources you’ll find. It also offers a healthy dose of vitamin C, calcium, iron, potassium and anti-inflammatory properties.

47. Hemp
We’re not talking about the kind you smoke; that’s hemp’s seedier cousin, marijuana. Hemp seeds are great for your body, as they help with digestion. With its protein and fiber contents, hemp is more filling than you’d think. It also contains Omega-3 and 6 fatty acids, as well as essential amino acids.

48. Sacha Inchi
We’re a little slow on the Inca peanut: Amazon rainforest inhabitants have been using this superfood to boost their bodies for centuries. It’s one of the richest sources of Omega fatty acids you can find, and it’s also filled with fiber, antioxidants and protein — plus it contains every amino acid.

49. Makuna Honey
Manuka honey is prized for its antibacterial properties. As odd as that sounds, this rare form of honey — produced from the Manuka trees in Australia and New Zealand — is known for its healing powers. The best part is that, unlike Buckley’s Mixture, this stuff tastes pretty good.

50. Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Extra virgin olive oil has long been considered a healthy oil because it helps decrease the risk of heart disease. Studies have shown that people who regularly consume olive oil have lower levels of cancer than those who instead opt for butter or other high-saturated fats. Just make sure that you don’t use olive oil on high heats, as it breaks down and then flips into a very unhealthy choice for your body.

How To Keep Your Employees Happy

A recent survey found that 70% of people are more likely to look for a new job after vacation. Realistically speaking, with the holidays and the accompanying vacation days just around the corner, there’s a chance a few of your employees are looking to jump ship. And that’s bad news for two reasons. First, if they’re unhappy, that could reflect poorly on the company culture, morale and/or management. Second, it costs 20% of an annual salary to replace a mid-level employee, and it could cost 213% of a year’s salary to replace a C-suiter, according to a study by CAP [PDF].

Odds are, you lack the time, money and patience to recruit a new slew of hires, so we’ve done you a favor and rounded up tips and tactics for building employee retention and fostering a happy workplace that makes people want to stick with you.

“We don’t say we have a great culture because we have a keg, or do fun events as a company,” says Alexis Lamster, director of people and culture at Carrot Creative, which has a maximum turnover rate of 3% in an industry that averages 30%. “Culture is about the shared values of a group of people … By supporting our culture in hiring and in the brands we choose to work with, our employees have a stronger sense of loyalty and, in return, are more invested in their jobs.”

Read on for eight essential tips for employee retention for your small business. You’ll notice that there tends to be some overlap between several of these tactics; that’s because cultivating a strong company culture is complex, and it requires a holistic approach and a lot of dedication. But it’s worth it — just ask your employees.

1. Have a Mission

Millennials, in particular, want to feel like their work is making a difference — they don’t want to be just another cog in the machine. They’re drawn to innovative young companies helmed by social entrepreneurs — think TOMS, Pencils of Promise and Warby Parker — that are simultaneously cool and impactful.

“Have a purpose that’s bigger than your company,” says Moon Kim, VP at M Booth, adding that your company should “make a difference in the world.” But even if your business isn’t built around an altruistic mission, you can bake social good into your business plan — you just need to be “mindful of others and seek to do good whenever possible,” says Kim. Method brings water to impoverished areas, Chalkfly invests profits in teachers, Privy helps small businesses master web marketing and Greatist helps people be healthier. You don’t need to be Mother Theresa, but you should show you care about other people and your community, not just your profits.

2. Give Employees Ownership

Has anyone ever enjoyed being micromanaged? People work best — and are happiest — when they have ownership, when they can solve problems their way and express their individuality. (By “ownership,” we don’t necessarily mean equity.)

“Benefits and perks are important, but from our perspective, it’s all about empowering employees,” says Zohar Dayan, CEO of Wibbitz. Especially in a small business, every person counts, and everyone’s contribution should be both obvious and valued. “Whether it be an open-door policy on ways to improve everything from marketing to the product to the office atmosphere, or regular team brainstorms,

when your employees feel that they can tangibly impact the direction of the company, they’re more likely to throw themselves fully behind the cause.”

ZenPayroll CEO Josh Reeves recently wrote a blog post aboutbuilding a team of owners and the importance of letting employees know their work and opinions are heard and valued. Employees should have a stake in the company — they’re not just working for The Man. “The #1 way we boost morale is by empowering people to do their best work and letting everyone act as owners, not just employees,” says Reeves. “That can mean any number of things, from sharing extremely detailed information about the company’s finances and future plans, to letting people choose paint colors and decorations for our new office.”

At Hire Space in London, teammates design their own workspace — a decision based on a study that found employees who had control over the layout of their workspace were 32% more productive. Whether they want a stand-up desk, some plants or a stability ball, these employees feel more comfortable (physically and mentally) and efficient in their space. “It’s a really simple change, and we’ve seen a real effect on our staff’s ownership of their workplace and a measurable improvement on productivity,” says Reuben Sagar, marketing manager at Hire Space.

It’s also essential that the person have a path of growth within your company and gain increasing ownership. “When hiring, we actively think about what new employees’ careers will look like with us — not just what they’ll do day to day, but how they’ll fit into our structure, and whether we can create management or leadership opportunities for them in the future,” says Kathryn Minshew, co-founder and CEO of The Muse. Periodically, the team then revisits those conversations to determine how the teammates can evolve, take on more responsibility and own more projects. “Helping employees grow within your company lets them know you’re committed for the long haul,” says Minshew.

3. Get People Talking to Each Other

It’s easy to fall into a silo and only talk to and work with people within your own department. If your company is growing quickly or has several offices or remote workers, some employees might not even recognize each other — but it’s essential that they know and engage with one another. Whether you’re using Skype, HipChat, Campfire, Slack or Honey, encouraging teammates to interact will make employees feel more connected to and informed about their company and one another. In fact, Honey was born out of necessity — it was built to meet parent company Huge’sinternal communications needs and saw great success, so it spun it off into a separate company in June and is now used by ShopKeep, EMyth, Lyft and Fueled.

Even a weekly videoconference can go a long way. Sure, it might temporarily dampen productivity to have the whole team in one big meeting, but on the upside, they get a chance to see what other departments are working on and how everyone’s contributing to the overall mission (which also feeds the sense of ownership).

Formstack has company-wide video-conferences weekly and recently did an all-hands conference in Indianapolis for a week of face-to-face team-building and planning. “It was a great way to spend time with our remote employees and make sure everyone is working toward a common vision,” says Chris Byers, Formstack’s CEO. Two heads are better than one, especially when they have different backgrounds — your data scientist might have an interesting idea for the marketing team, and your business development team might suggest something cool for the tech team, so you should foster cross-departmental conversations, both IRL and online.

“By creating a culture where employees know and respect each other, small businesses can boost employee morale, create better communication and collaboration and improve long-term results,” says Jené Kapela, principal and founder of Jené Kapela Leadership Solutions.

4. Provide (and Ask for) Regular Feedback

Mashable composite, image via iStockphoto, lepro

People dread yearly reviews because it’s often the only time they get feedback — and what if they’ve been unknowingly doing something wrong in the 364 days since last year’s review? Reviews are the exact opposite of ripping a Band-Aid off — a little tug here and there actually saves pain (and frustration!) in the long run.

“When it comes to retaining talent, one tactic I’ve often found crucial is implementing informal weekly and formal quarterly check-ins prevents disconnects,” says Maynard Webb, author ofRebooting Work: Transform How You Work in the Age of Entrepreneurship. “Don’t wait till the end of the year to inform employees they weren’t doing well, or not as well as their perception led them to believe.”

And don’t forget that feedback is a two-way street. Fred Bateman, founder and CEO of Bateman Group is proud of his company’s 5% or less turnover over the past 10 years, and he attributes this retention rate to his company’s “10 Rules for Maintaining Low Employee Turnover.” One of the standout ones is to make sure everyone understands they have a voice, regardless of title, and that their voice is heard loud and clear by senior management at all times.

Plated, a Techstars food-delivery service, has quarterly employee happiness surveys that enable employees to provide feedback related to perks, onboarding, morale and benefits, says Rachel Karten, Plated’s manager of people operations.

“I think a leader’s willingness to have difficult conversations is the single-most underrated management skill out there — but only those conversations will give you a true read on your employees’ morale,” says Allyson Downey, co-founder and CEO of weeSpring. “It starts with an environment that encourages everyone to speak up, but also requires pushing for truly candid feedback on your own performance … and then accepting it!”

One way to build trust and enable these honest conversations is to make a commitment to transparency — it’ll open the lines of communication. At HubSpot, every employee at every level has access to every board deck, and can ask questions of the founders and management team at monthly SpotLight meetings, says HubSpot’s Katie Burke.

5. Have a Culture Committee

It’s hard to make sure your employees are engaged and having fun, so you should task a team to own “people operations” and culture. “We aim to make Carrot a home more than an office and a family more than a staff, with welcome drinks for new employees, large gatherings (i.e. Thanksgiving potluck dinner), a softball team, committees and subsidized perks,” says Lamster, who adds that Carrot’s committees aren’t your typical corporate groups. “We fund people’s passions to help make the company better,” she says. Bitches Be Bakin’ makes delicious treats to celebrate everyone’s carrotversary, the Brew Crew Committee ensures the keg is always full, and the Carrot Cares Committee finds opportunities for the company to give back to the community. “These committees create a ground-up way for every person at Carrot to contribute to and be a part of making this the place they want to be.”

Similarly, the spirit committee at M Booth encourages bonding across the agency and helps to make office life fun, whether it’s a wheel of fortune at staff meetings (previous prize: a Zombie Makeup 101 class) or a group outing to a Nets Game. “Our spirit committee keeps people happy because it shows that we want to foster community, we value each employee and are thinking about them,” says Lauren Martiello, creative strategist and chair of the spirit committee.

Cashmere Agency in L.A. has a five-person culture club but also encourages the whole team to step up. “We have a very diverse range of employees with different backgrounds, so we create activities (inside and outside the office) that allow everyone to learn and understand the cultures their colleagues come from,” says agency VP Ryan Ford. This includes an annual cook-off that requires ethnic dishes, as well as field trips to cultural events around L.A.

6. Encourage The Team to Live the Brand

Image: sweetgreen

Your employees need to be passionate about the brand and your mission; thusly, your job is to encourage them to live the brand. This creates twofold results: It reminds them why they work for your company, and it ignites passions that can be shared with your customers.

“People are our most valuable asset, and the more we take care of them, the more they will take care of our guests,” says Jonathan Neman, co-founder and CEO of sweetgreen, a lifestyle brand that purveys salads and rallies around a healthy, passionate living and sustainability. “We want to build a company that creates unusual combinations that inspire, a company full of employeesthat truly live the sweetlife.” The employees have access to free salads, a concert and speaker series, community service opportunities, a running club, free fitness classes and a gym subsidy to help them embody the brand.

Likewise, Fancred, a social network geared toward sports fans, offers employees $200 per month for two tickets to any sporting event. “It reinforces our mission and sends a loud message that things are different here and we really believe in what we are doing,” says Fancred CEO Kash Razzaghi.

At Plated, each teammate gets four plates per week — yes, it’s free food, but it also helps the team become familiar with the service’s offerings and recipes, so they can make knowledgeable recommendations and provide the operations team with direct feedback. They’re always immersed in Plated and become even stronger brand ambassadors because of it.

7. Place a Premium on Employee Health

Image: Flickr, will ockenden

It’s not healthy to work like a dog.

The companies with superior retention rates are the ones that recognize that wellness is essential to productivity. Messaging platform imo offers a housing stipend for employees who live within walking or biking distance of work, has treadmill desks to keep the team active and subsidizes a free membership to Equinox.

“We have created an atmosphere focused on wellness within the workplace,” says CEO Ralph Harik. “Finding time outside of work to exercise is often tough, and we’ve found that these benefits have helped increase productivity and boost company morale.”

Wellness isn’t just physical, it’s mental, too. If you notice someone starting to burn out, nip it in the bud. Minshew recommends setting a cut-off time, when the person should turn off their computer and cellphone, in addition to encouraging vacation days and taking a lunch hour. “They’re all small things, but they can help prevent burnout in the long run,” says Minshew.

8. Recognize That Perks Are Nice, But They’re Not the Ticket to Retention

Yes, perks make people happy. You can’t beat free lunch, free health insurance, unlimited vacation days or flexible hours. But people mistake culture with perks.

“People think culture translates to parties, vacation, and non-business-y policies. I disagree — culture is the personality of the business, and you have to mean it and stick to it inside and outside of the company,” says Brandon Kessler, founder and CEO of ChallengePost. He says that there’s not one magic formula for culture; in fact, he cites three examples of different cultures. Companies with a cutthroat culture (Wall Street), an open, transparent, and highly productive culture (many startups), and a highly secretive culture (Apple) have all managed to find success. “Studies show successful companies that actually have a culture and stick to it are the ones who win. If you are starting a company, you should be as focused on the culture you want to have as you are on your product. It’s much easier and more authentic to define it at the beginning than later on.”

At the end of the day, you need to value your employees and, importantly, let them know they’re valued. If you’re looking for more insights, check out Tony Hsieh’s Delivering Happiness as well as HubSpot founder Dharmesh Shah’s SlideShare about company culture, which has amassed more than 1 million views to date

How Chinese Censorship Works

For almost a year, four journalists at Bloomberg News were investigating the political connections of China’s richest man, Wang Jianlin. In October, according to The New York Times, Bloomberg editor-in-chief Matthew Winkler told them the story wouldn’t run because if it did, Bloomberg News would lose reporting access in China.

A few days later, Winkler reportedly spiked a second story, on the children of Chinese officials employed by foreign banks, presumably for the same reasons. Winkler reportedly defended his decision by “comparing it to the self-censorship by foreign news bureaus trying to preserve their ability to report inside Nazi-era Germany.” Chinese officials responded last week by conduct unannounced investigations of Bloomberg‘s Chinese bureaus.

What’s most surprising about these revelations is not that Winkler allegedly spiked the stories to preserve access, but that he didn’t opt to publish the articles under what Bloomberg calls Code 204, which keeps stories from appearing on its financial data terminals in China. Since Code 204 was created in 2011, Bloomberg has used it to block access to its 2011 report on Chinese censorship of “Jasmine Revolution” protests and its 2012 article on Chinese millionaire Xi Jinping, the Times reports. Bloomberg maintains that it is merely holding the Jianlin investigation because it’s not yet ready for publication. But its hasty call to withhold both October stories suggests that Bloomberg, like many Chinese media outlets and Internet companies, has but a tenuous grasp on how Chinese censorship operates, and has resorted to self-censorship to stay in business.

As Chinese social media analyst Jason Q. Ng pointed out in a talk at Google last month, China has come to depend upon the subtle “self-censorship by private companies” to maintain theGreat Firewall, the government’s online censorship and surveillance shield that prevents Chinese citizens from accessing sites like Twitter and the Times. Ng has argued that part of the reason the Great Firewall is so effective is because it encourages self-censorship of two varieties: “the self-censorship by content providers, who must make judgment calls on what needs to be censored in order to stay in the government’s good graces, and self-censorship by users, who face the threat of being detained and punished for anti-government posts.” The Bloombergincident obviously falls into the former category, and it is not dissimilar from the practices of the more than 1,400 Chinese social media sites that are required to filter their own content to continue doing business in the country.

These sites rely on human censors to manually process all of the content uploaded to the Chinese Internet. The censors are responsible for manually ensuring that all content complies withChinese Internet regulations and the Public Pledge of Self-Regulation and Professional Ethics, but the exact methods they use are kept under wraps. Over the past few months, however, two new academic studies have exposed the capricious apparatus of Chinese censorship, whose many inconsistencies make incidents like the Bloomberg debacle more likely to occur.

The first installment of an ongoing University of Toronto study of Chinese Internet controls, published last month, exposed the censorship of private communications on several instant messaging services in the country. The report found that censorship of Chinese instant messages varies from region to region, and that on at least one service “millions of chat records were being collected and stored on a publicly accessible, unsecured server based in China.” The researchers (of which Ng is one) also compiled a list of known keywords that, if used in an instant message or social media post, would automatically cause the communication to be blocked. Writing in The Atlantic last week, Ng claimed that what’s especially worrisome about the study is that these companies “engaged in pre-emptive self-censorship” in order to continue operating in China. Social media users internalize this self-censorship, Ng writes, citing China scholar Perry Link’s “metaphor of an ‘anaconda in the chandelier’ to describe how the Chinese state cajoles individuals to censor their own thoughts and words, an example that applies neatly to companies like LINE [an instant messaging service] and Bloomberg.”

But according to an October report from Harvard political scientist Gary King, the Chinese government is more concerned with censoring groups of people rather than individuals. In the first large-scale randomized study of Chinese censorship, King and his team attempted to document China’s censorship system. They authored 1,200 posts on 200 social networks throughout China to see which ones would be blocked, and drew up the following map to explain how it works:

Slide from Reverse Engineering Chinese Censorship, by Gary King, Jennifer Pan and Molly Roberts. institute for Quantitative Social Science, Harvard University.

Chinese companies have to employ their own censors to make sure they stay in line with the Public Pledge of Self-Regulation. So after analyzing all the posts, King and his team went one step further and built their own social network to test how companies internally interact with censors. “We’d call them up and we’d say, “Hey, how do we stay out of trouble with the Chinese government?” And they’d say “Well, let me tell you,” King explained.

King’s research found that calls for collective action or any kind of large gathering are far more likely to be blocked than political dissent, but also uncovered the “highly inexact” nature of the algorithms that censors use to detect banned keywords. “Automated methods of text analysis that work based upon keyword algorithms, they work really badly,” King said. In practice, this means that a lot of the time even pro-government posts are blocked and, more broadly, that the apparatus of Chinese censorship is highly variable and subject to human error. Based on their conversations with censors, King’s team concludes that there is “a great deal of uncertainty over the exact censorship requirements and the precise rules for which the government would interfere with the operation of social media sites, especially for smaller sites with limited government connections.”

If there is uncertainty about censorship requirements even among China’s censors, then one might assume there is uncertainty in the Chinese bureaus of traditional media outlets. “The complexity of the censorship system makes ‘censor’ itself hard to define,” says Isaac Mao, a social media researcher who was one of China’s first bloggers. After years of perplexing censorship, media outlets operating in China have learned “how to define the red lines spontaneously.” For Bloomberg News, that spontaneity has come at a cost to its reputation — both in the West and with the Chinese government.

At 400,000 Years, Oldest Human DNA Yet Found Raises New Mysteries

Scientists have found the oldest DNA evidence yet of humans’ biological history. But instead of neatly clarifying human evolution, the finding is adding new mysteries.

In a paper in the journal Nature, scientists reported Wednesday that they had retrieved ancient human DNA from a fossil dating back about 400,000 years, shattering the previous record of 100,000 years.

The fossil, a thigh bone found in Spain, had previously seemed to many experts to belong to a forerunner of Neanderthals. But its DNA tells a very different story. It most closely resembles DNA from an enigmatic lineage of humans known as Denisovans. Until now, Denisovans were known only from DNA retrieved from 80,000-year-old remains in Siberia, 4,000 miles east of where the new DNA was found.

The mismatch between the anatomical and genetic evidence surprised the scientists, who are now rethinking human evolution over the past few hundred thousand years. It is possible, for example, that there are many extinct human populations that scientists have yet to discover. They might have interbred, swapping DNA. Scientists hope that further studies of extremely ancient human DNA will clarify the mystery.

“Right now, we’ve basically generated a big question mark,” said Matthias Meyer, a geneticist at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, and a co-author of the new study.

Hints at new hidden complexities in the human story came from a 400,000-year-old femur found in a cave in Spain called Sima de los Huesos (“the pit of bones” in Spanish). The scientific team used new methods to extract the ancient DNA from the fossil.

“This would not have been possible even a year ago,” said Juan Luis Arsuaga, a paleoanthropologist at Universidad Complutense de Madrid and a co-author of the paper.

Finding such ancient human DNA was a major advance, said David Reich, a geneticist at Harvard Medical School who was not involved in the research. “That’s an amazing, game-changing thing,” he said.

Since the 1970s, Spanish scientists have brought out a wealth of fossils from the cave dating back hundreds of thousands of years. “The place is very special,” said Dr. Arsuaga, who has found 28 nearly complete skeletons of humans during three decades of excavations.

Based on the anatomy of the fossils, Dr. Arsuaga has argued that they belonged to ancestors of Neanderthals, which lived in western Asia and Europe from about 200,000 to 30,000 years ago.

When Dr. Meyer and his colleagues drilled into the femur, they found ancient human DNA inside, just as they had hoped.

“Our expectation was that it would be a very early Neanderthal,” Dr. Meyer said.

But the DNA did not match that of Neanderthals. Dr. Meyer then compared it to the DNA of the Denisovans, the ancient human lineage that he and his colleagues had discovered in Siberia in 2010. He was shocked to find that it was similar.

“Everybody had a hard time believing it at first,” Dr. Meyer said. “So we generated more and more data to nail it down.”

The extra research confirmed that the DNA belonged on the Denisovan branch of the human family tree.

The new finding is hard to reconcile with the picture of human evolution that has been emerging in recent years based on fossils and ancient DNA. Denisovans were believed to be limited to East Asia, and they were not thought to look so Neanderthal-like.

Based on previously discovered ancient DNA and fossil evidence, scientists generally agreed that humans’ direct ancestors shared a common ancestor with Neanderthals and Denisovans that lived about half a million years ago in Africa.

Their shared ancestors split off from humans’ lineage and left Africa, then split further into the Denisovans and Neanderthals about 300,000 years ago. The evidence suggested that Neanderthals headed west, toward Europe, and that the Denisovans moved east.

Humans’ ancestors, meanwhile, stayed in Africa, giving rise to Homo sapiens about 200,000 years ago. Humans then expanded from Africa into Asia and Europe about 60,000 years ago. They then interbred not only with Neanderthals, but with Denisovans, too. Later, both the Denisovans and Neanderthals became extinct.

“Now we have to rethink the whole story,” Dr. Arsuaga said.

Dr. Arsuaga doubts that Denisovans were spread out across so much of the Old World, from Spain to Siberia, masquerading as Neanderthals.

One alternative explanation is that the humans of Sima de los Huesos were not true Neanderthals, but belonged to the ancestors of both Denisovans and Neanderthals.

It is also possible that the newly discovered DNA was passed to both Neanderthals and Denisovans, but eventually disappeared from Neanderthals, replaced by other variants.

“It got lost in one lineage but made its way in the other,” suggested Jean-Jacques Hublin, a Max Planck paleoanthropologist who was not involved in the research.

Beth Shapiro, an expert on ancient DNA at the University of California, Santa Cruz, favors an even more radical possibility: that the humans of Sima de los Huesos belong to yet another branch of humans. They might have been a species called Homo erectus, which originated about 1.8 million years ago and became extinct within the last few hundred thousand years.

“The more we learn from the DNA extracted from these fossils, the more complicated the story becomes,” Dr. Shapiro said.

This complicated story has come to light only because of advances over the past 20 years in retrieving ancient DNA.

When an organism dies, its DNA breaks down into smaller and smaller fragments, while also becoming contaminated with the DNA of other species like soil bacteria. So piecing the fossil DNA together is a bit like putting together a jigsaw puzzle created by a sadist.

In 1997, Svante Paabo of the Max Planck Institute and his colleagues, who had pioneered the techniques for retrieving DNA fragments, published a snippet of DNA from a Neanderthal fossil dating back about 40,000 years. They and other scientists then built on this success by searching for bits of DNA from other Neanderthals.

In 2006, a team of French and Belgian researchers obtained a fragment of Neanderthal DNA dating back 100,000 years, which until now held the record for the oldest human DNA ever found.

Meanwhile, using improved methods, Dr. Paabo, Dr. Meyer and their colleaguesassembled a rough draft of the entire Neanderthal genome in 2010.

That discovery shed light on how Neanderthals and humans’ ancestors split from a common ancestor hundreds of thousands of years ago. It also revealed that Neanderthals and humans interbred about 50,000 years ago.

At about the same time as that discovery, Russian collaborators sent the Max Planck team 80,000-year-old fossils they had found in a cave in Siberia called Denisova. When the German scientists sequenced the entire genome from the finger bone of a girl, it turned out to be neither human nor Neanderthal, but from a separate lineage, which Dr. Paabo and his colleagues named Denisovans.

Dr. Meyer is hopeful that he and his colleagues will be able to get more DNA from the Spanish fossil, as well as other fossils from the site, to help solve the puzzle they have now stumbled across. “It’s extremely hard to make sense of,” Dr. Meyer said. “We still are a bit lost here.”

Tips For Cold-Weather Exercise

Nose dripping. Eyes watering. Cold air freezing your throat, filling your lungs and drifting from your mouth in the form of an exhausted little cloud. Exercise outside in the wintertime, and you’ll enjoy these sensations. Consider them points of pride for braving the cold as most others pack into stuffy gyms.

Suspicious of anyone who’d voluntarily go outside – let alone exercise! – in 30-degree weather? You’ll probably warm up to the idea if you go about cold-weather exercise the right way and let your body adjust to the low temperatures. Follow these tips from John Honerkamp, chief coach of the New York Road Runners organization, and the Mayo Clinic, for safely (and even enjoyably) working out in the winter.

Acclimate. That first workout in the winter air might have seemed like a cruel joke – with your legs feeling stuck in the mud and the cold air icing your lungs and throat. But chin up: Although it may be hard to believe now, your body will get used to the cold weather. In order for your body to adjust, however, you’ll have to continue braving the outdoors for your workouts.

When you first start exercising in frigid temperatures, curb your expectations. You probably won’t reach your personal records because your body isn’t as naturally warmed up as it was in June, and because it’s yet to acclimate. Throw in wind or snow, and your results are even more likely to be affected. “It’s key to focus on effort versus actual pace,” Honerkamp says.

It may take longer for your body to reach your typical speed, so leave more time to warm up. And tweak your workouts to be a little lighter at first, to help your body adjust. “Baby step it, and let your body get used to running in the cold just like it needs to acclimate to heat,” Honerkamp says. After a few weeks of consistent outdoor workouts, your body will likely adapt. And in a few months, these 35-degree workouts will seem like dream as you lace up for a 10-degree run.

Find a buddy. Now that you know you must resign to a few uncomfortable outdoor workouts before your body adjusts, you may want to find someone to hold you accountable for getting out there. “The toughest part is sometimes just lacing up the shoes and getting out the door,” Honerkamp says. “And that’s even tougher if it’s snowing or 10 degrees versus a nicer day.” Find a running group, coach or friend who will count on you to brave the elements with them.

Hydrate. Even if it’s not as obvious as in the summer, you’re still sweating during cold-weather workouts and pushing yourself, so stay hydrated. Mayo Clinic suggests drinking water before, after and during your runs, even if you don’t feel thirsty.

Dress the part. Honerkamp describes running in frigid temperatures as a “badge of courage” for tough athletes who aren’t scared of the elements. But, he says, “if you’re going to be tough, make sure you’re smart about it and that you’re dressed appropriately.”

Honerkamp suggests wearing layers, which help manage the combination of cold air, body heat and sweat. Remove a layer when you start to perspire; put it back on when you’re cold again. Mayo Clinic specifies what materials your layers should (and shouldn’t) be, and in which order to wear them on its website. The clinic also stresses the importance of covering your hands, feet and ears, as these parts are particularly vulnerable to frostbite.

Curved LG G Flex Arrives in Singapore, Hong Kong in December

LG has announced the global rollout of its curved smartphone, the G Flex, starting in Singapore and Hong Kong in December.

More precisely, customers in Singapore will be able to preorder the device starting on Dec. 8, while those in Hong Kong will be able to buy it from “major carriers” and “leading electronic retailers” on Dec. 13, according to LG.

The G Flex should be available in other Asian regions before the end of the year, followed by other regions “soon.” LG provided no details about the launch date in the United States or the price.

The LG G Flex is curved vertically, making it quite a different beast than Samsung’s Galaxy Round, which has a horizontally curved screen. It sports a 6-inch, 720p OLED display, a Snapdragon 800 processor, 2GB of RAM and a 13-megapixel camera.

Have something to add to this story? Share it in the comments.

Energy Drinks Affect Heart Function

Although trips to the emergency room linked to energy drinks almost doubled between 2007 and 2011, little was known about how the highly caffeinated beverages affected the heart.

Now, researchers say that healthy adults who downed the drinks, which are also high in the amino acid taurine, had increased heart contraction rates an hour later, according to a study presented Monday at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America.

“We don’t know exactly how or if this greater contractility of the heart impacts daily activities or athletic performance,” said researcher and radiology resident Jonas Dörner, M.D., of the University of Bonn, Germany, in a news release. There are concerns about the products’ potential adverse side effects on heart function, especially in adolescents and young adults, but there is little or no regulation of energy drink sales.”

The researchers did a cardiac MRI on 18 healthy adults before and after consuming a caffeinated energy drink with taurine. The MRI revealed more peak strain in the heart’s left ventricle, where oxygenated blood flows from the lungs and is pumped to the aorta. There were no differences in heart rate or blood pressure.

“We’ve shown that energy drink consumption has a short-term impact on cardiac contractility,” Dörner said. “Further studies are needed to evaluate the impact of long-term energy drink consumption and the effect of such drinks on individuals with heart disease.”

The study is ongoing, but for now, researchers advise people with known cardiac arrhythmias to avoid energy drinks, hypothesizing that changes in contractility could provoke arrhythmias.

Have something to add to this story? Share it in the comments.

Our IQs Are Climbing, But We’re Not Getting Smarter

Does the rise in IQ scores over the past century mean people are getting smarter? Since the beginning of the 20th century, IQ scores around the world have been increasing at a rate of around three points per decade, leaving intelligence researchers puzzling over whether historical gains in IQ — known as the “Flynn effect” — reflect an increase in general intelligence or something else, be it better education, better nutrition or even bigger brains.

A new paper published in the journal Learning and Individual Differences may have the answer:

We’re getting better at taking tests.

People today are not only staying in school longer, the authors point out, but are more than ever taught to the test: Students are trained in test-taking strategies and heuristics that, according to the paper, can be applied to IQ-type problems. “People are exposed to the formats of tests all the time — they are able to detect certain regularities, and they are able to exploit those regularities,” said Michael Woodley, one of the paper’s co-authors, in an interview. “You were probably taught in school, for instance, to guess on multiple choice tests.” Even outside the classroom, increasing exposure — often online — to cognitive games like Sudoku, Bridge and Go mean that people are more familiar with IQ-type problems when they sit down to an IQ test. “We live in a more cognitively intense environment than ever,” said Woodley.

Woodley and his co-author, Elijah Armstrong, ranked 14 IQ tests according to the extent to which they could be solved by applying and re-applying rules. Some tests, like Raven’s Progressive Matrices, ask test-takers to detect complex patterns — but figuring out and reapplying a few simple rules can result in a substantial boost in scores. Other tests, like vocabulary tests, depend on recalled knowledge; they cannot be solved by using rules. (Determining the rule-dependence of tests is the most subjective part of this paper.) When Armstrong and Woodley compared data on the Flynn effect for each of the 14 different IQ tests, their results were striking: The more rule-dependent a test, the more pronounced the Flynn effect — suggesting that the Flynn effect is not due to increases in general intelligence, but to a better ability to short-circuit the test by detecting and applying certain rules.

Playing Sudoku, then, probably doesn’t increase your general mental ability — but it could improve a specific, if narrow, cognitive function. Getting better at applying rules to new test questions is another skill that might not reflect general intelligence but could still have specific applications. “The gains in IQ are not meaningless,” Woodley explained. “The Flynn effect does not mean people are getting smarter, but it does reflect people developing a huge range of narrow cognitive specializations.”

Have something to add to this story? Share it in the comments.

Apple Buys Topsy

Apple has acquired the social media analytics startup Topsy.

The acquisition was first reported by The Wall Street Journal, which says the deal was worth more than $200 million.

Topsy is one of the few services that has access to Twitter’s data firehose. It offers users a way to analyze tweets, gather sentiment and measure the reach of a campaign, hashtag or message. In September, the company rolled out the ability to search Twitter’s entire archive.

Topsy is an interesting acquisition for Apple because unlike its past purchases of startups, such as HopStop and Locationary, there isn’t a clear product application.

The same could be said for Apple’s acquisition last month of PrimeSense, the company responsible for the original 3D sensor in the first Xbox Kinect. But at least with PrimeSense, it stands to reason that Apple would be interested in implementing those sensors in future products.

With Topsy, the purpose is less clear. The Journal posits that it could be useful for iTunes Radio — a product that already has direct integration with Twitter Music — or its flailing iAd product. Still, the purpose of acquiring an analytics firm that is so focused on one specific social network is, in a word, odd.

An Apple spokesperson has not responded to our request for comment but told the Journal that “Apple buys smaller technology companies from time to time, and we generally do not discuss our purpose or plans.” We have reached out to Topsy for further comment.

Being Vegetarian Is Harder For Men

I do not mind people asking me why I am a vegetarian. More often than not I happy to answer their questions providing they are thoughtful ones. I even put up with “don’t you ever miss meat” without bringing up the science of digestion.

But what I am concerned with is the volume of questioning as well as the need for such questions, no matter how nicely it is asked.

Much of this has led me to the idea that being a male vegetarian carries with it a different set of identity issues from female vegetarians, for which this piece attempts to set out the case.

I have a number of arguments that I use on a highly random rotation when asked the question about my non-meat eating life choice.

1. I never liked meat that much in the first place.
2. I’ve been much healthier since I made the switch.
3. I feel vindicated given the spike in the price of meat.
4. I currently enjoy a much more varied and interesting diet.
5. Multiple environmental reasons (they change with the seasons).
6. The idea of eating an animal is highly unappealing.
7. The smell — was always off-putting (except bacon for some reason).
8. Ethical reasons, which would often result in me going off on one.
9. The human digestive system was not designed to deal with modern meat intakes.
10. Turn the question on them — why do you choose to eat meat?
11. Meaty breath is very unattractive.

None of these, however, offer the definitive answer as to why certain people (myself included) opt for vegetarianism. And here’s the kicker — there is no definitive reason for vegetarianism. Every veggie is different. Some may have similar motives, especially the animal rights argument, but the priority of this position depends on the personal choice of those who are making it.

And the asking of the question often provides an insight to me of the person asking the question. A recent comment by an antipodean (Australia/NZ) was that “I don’t look like a vegetarian,” meaning that vegetarian is a stepping stone to a particular lifestyle or fashion sense and that we all feel part of a global veggie community that exists above the level of the nation-state.

As a (relatively) young man, people consider me to be an unusual choice for a vegetarian. They are more surprised when I tell them the length of time I have been vegetarian which is now just over eight years. I know several other vegetarians but only two of these are male. The stats in the UK suggest that non-religious vegetarians are mostly women so what does this tell us about men and their diet? Men in the UK have lower life expectancy, they smoke more (mostly in old age), drink more (expect for the 20′s demographic which is roughly equal), have more risk of heart disease, cancer, cholesterol and blood pressure than women do.

A fairly grim picture which raises the question as to why men are opting to take so many health risks. These were not the reasons why I choose to give up meat and the diet that surrounds it (nearly everything comes with potatoes or pasta, veggie choices tend to come with rice or salad, strange huh?) but have come to feel vindicated about my decision. I have noticed men my own age begin to show the signs of heavy meat uptake, slow, sluggish, bloated, pot-bellied, and while I’m not in perfect shape I am active and healthy. But the main challenge is and probably always be is how do you persuade men to eat less or no meat without having to deal with the issue of meat and manliness going hand in hand.

A change of approach is to ask the question in reverse. What makes you a carnivore? Common answers range from the jovial — because “animals are tasty,” to the mundane — “it’s what I’ve always done,” “most places serve more meat than veggie choices,” “lack of choices in shops,” “where do you get protein from” (personal favourite) — but rarely does someone admit “I don’t mind eating an animal for food.”

This might be why we call pig pork, sheep is lamb, cow is beef, deer is venison, calf is veal (but surprisingly birds are the same name, perhaps due to being non-mammals). Does this suggest we have the ability to distinguish between animals we see in farms and fields and the meat that people eat? Do men approach this differently or dismissively?

So, you will not get a straight answer from me about my vegetarianism — because I don’t have one. What you will get is a cross-section of my current thought process about my eating habits at this moment. But was that really the question you wanted to ask? I would appreciate a personalized question — perhaps you could ask me, what would you eat at a barbecue, or does it annoy you when an airline runs out of veggie options (every meat eater will have heard this when traveling) and you are left with the cheese and crackers.

Yes, vegetarianism has many downsides. Yes, vegetarianism has some health problems that need to be addressed — particularly iron deficiencies. But being a man is compatible with being vegetarian and doesn’t make me any less masculine despite what some people may think.

I am glad I choose this diet. And yes I regard it as a superior to meat eating — or otherwise I wouldn’t do it! Once carnivores realise that vegetarian is considered a step-up for those who choose it, then perhaps rather than dumb-founded confusion we might be able to have a productive conversation about dietary choices, health, well-being and leading the good life.

I have no problem sitting down to dinner with people who eat meat. I recently got to witness the successful demolition of the aptly named “Devastator” burger on a night out. Not once did I raise the issue of the amount of food that would need to be digested, as the carnivore involved realized the stupidity of his decision when he finished stuffing the last piece into his mouth. He almost had to be carried out of the restaurant.

The depth of questions I have received about why we choose to eat (or not eat) different things has been an overall positive experience for me. I try not to be too sarcastic and engage people in an informed discussion about how our dietary choices can impact our overall well-being in both the present and the future. I also know enough vegetarians and we discuss this amongst ourselves (amongst half of my social circle).

But what I would like to know is how often women get asked as to why they are vegetarians? Is this only a man thing? Or do women get curious questions? Is there such a thing as male or female exclusive reason for vegetarianism? I would like to know.

New And More Aggressive HIV Strain Causes AIDS Faster

How America Learned To Love Sushi

Fifty years ago, few Americans possessed what we would now consider “refined” palates.

The average American family of the 60s, if not chowing down on a T.V. dinner, was probably celebrating the evening repast with Wonder Years-esque meals involving large cuts of meat slathered with viscous brown sauce, a side of mashed potatoes and, if we’re getting fancy, a fried onion-topped green bean casserole.

Heavy French food in all its cream-sauced glory still remained in vogue among the elite, and fondue became a popular dinner-party activity (combining three indisputably great things: Bread, melted cheese, and the recovery of lost treasure). Experimentation with Americanized Chinese food like Lo Mein and “Oriental Shrimp” was increasing, but the concept of raw fish would have still been utterly perplexing.

Sushi (which actually refers to the seasoned rice on which raw fish is served, not the fish itself) was originally sold as street food in Japan starting around the 8th century. It is said to have arrived in the U.S. in the late 1960s, with the opening of Kawafuku Restaurant in Los Angeles’ Little Tokyo.

Some claim that sushi restaurants opened in America as early as 1950, but Kawafuku put the cuisine on the map, catering to Japanese businessmen and their American colleagues. A small number of sushi restaurants began to open outside the confines of Little Tokyo, and the cuisine gained popularity, especially with Hollywood celebrities.

The creation of the now ubiquitous California roll helped to propel sushi forward, as crab and avocado were more palatable to Americans than slabs of glistening raw fish. Cosmopolitan cities like New York and Chicago soon followed suit with sushi spots of their own, and by the late 1980s, sushi was a full-on craze, with an enormous rise in the number of Japanese restaurants towards the end of the decade and into the 1990s.

Thought to be healthy and nutritious, sushi has achieved permanence and immense popularity in America and is sold at both Japanese restaurants and grocery stores. Of course, though, we’ve all seen the bastardization of the concept, notably with creations like the Philadelphia Roll — which combines decidedly un-Japanese ingredients like Philadelphia cream cheese and smoked salmon into a “maki,” or seaweed-rolled sushi.

We may deep fry our sushi, adorn it with spicy mayonnaise, and shape it like a dragon, but we Americans can also appreciate the less-is-more aspect of sushi, and shell out hundreds for Omakase (chef’s choice) at exclusive spots around the country.

Optimize Your Referral Traffic

Between SEO, social media, email marketing, blogger outreach and paid media, getting people to your site isn’t just a balancing act — it’s a lesson in time management and attention to detail.

But spreading yourself — and your budget — thin on platforms that aren’t actually converting is a waste of time. You need to know where your best customers are coming from and then spend dollars to earn more eyeballs on these sites where you know you already have fans.

Analyzing and optimizing your referral traffic is how you’ll squeeze the most out of your marketing strategy and ad dollars, build a dedicated fan base and find partners that will help develop your audience. We spoke with a handful of marketers who’ve mastered referral optimization to boost their bottom line; below, they let you in on how it was done.

1. Understand the Different Kinds of Referrers

There are two types of referrals in a referrals report — referring domains and individual referrals — and both are important. You’ll want to analyze both metrics to get a complete understanding of your referral sources.

“Referring domains focus on which websites in aggregate are sending you visitors, and is useful for informing things like paid advertising efforts,” says Christopher Penn, vice president of marketing technology at SHIFT Communications. “If you see, for example, Mashable.com sending lots of traffic to you already, you may want to take out a campaign to advertise onMashable to take advantage of an audience that is already interested in you.” On the flipside, individual referrers point out what specific pages are driving traffic. “It’s a useful way of measuring things like public relations efforts to see if an article that references your brand is bringing you a new audience,” says Penn.

Referral reports are “the first place we look when we encounter unexpected spikes in traffic, as they allows us to quickly identify the source and the context for the spike,” says Cathy Gribble, associate director of digital strategy at Team One. With that knowledge in hand, you can optimize traffic and continue to grow that audience.

2. Track Everything

Measuring your referrals isn’t just about setting up campaigns, watching the numbers roll in, then deciding where to spend money to gain a bigger audience. You need to do some grunt work, or else your data might be vague and you won’t know where to invest for your next campaign.

“There is often a measurement ‘blind spot’ when tracing the saliency of your digital paid media and your website,” says Tony Clement, strategy director and head of data and analytics at Big Spaceship. Whether there’s a lack of measurement planning or the tracking tags are stripped from the assets, there are several causes for cloudy referral information. “Not being able to identify which paid digital executions are working hardest from click-to-site conversion (vs. click-thru only) is potential revenue gone astray. Making sure that tracking codes are in place, and are firing under live testing is not a glamorous task, but well worth it.”

3. Optimize for Social

The numbers are out and, unfortunately for most online retailers, social media isn’t a huge driver of sales. But while social media isn’t likely to convert customers, it still offers great value for brands.

Social media is an excellent way to increase quality visits, develop brand affinity and stay top of mind, which can eventually lead to conversion. That might seem like a lot of work and delayed gratification to get that one user to your end goal, but the payoff is well worth it. And in the meantime, you can optimize the channels that are most effective.

“With social media budgets increasing and more pressure to increase ‘earned’ value, understanding what type of social activity is acting as a traffic source can [help you] find opportunities for innovation,” says Clement. “And through re-allocating small amounts of budget from your least effective source, you can enrich the social content that intentionally delivers quality visits.”

“We pay close attention to referring domains. Like many women’s lifestyle publishers, Pinterest has vaulted in the last two years from a top-20 traffic source to a top-5 traffic source. But, unlike some other lifestyle publishers, PureWow sees incredible visitor quality from Pinterest, in terms of depth of visit, engagement and consistently low bounce rates,” says Alexis Anderson, PureWow’s director of marketing and partnerships. To cater to the Pinterest audience, PureWow has redesigned image specs to be more Pinterest-friendly (“balanced, squarish images over very tall and narrow”) and placed “Pin It” buttons on every image or idea that might be shared.

4. Discover Partner Opportunities

Tracking your referrals doesn’t just provide insight to your core audience and valuable ad spending channels, it can also help to discover potential partners who are aligned with your mission and overall goals.

“Cross-checking site referrals can be a worthwhile exercise, especially during campaign periods. You may be surprised by not only the type of sites that are referring traffic, but also the page context in which your site is referenced,” says Clement. “This data can be useful to management, especially if you are looking for prospects for potential partnerships for media placements, sponsorships, events or even SEO authority.”

Over time, as new platforms emerge, your referrals are bound to change. Monitoring these new referrers and amplifying them on your own channels can help your site traffic, brand awareness and conversion rates stay strong.

“We look at changes in referrers as we watch for new sources of traffic that we may want to leverage, such as an increase in referrers from a blog that has a positive posting about our products,” says Gribble. “We would want to help boost that blog to amplify the positive references.”

In all, keeping tabs on your referrals, both big and small, will point you in the right direction when it comes to efficient ad spend and time management as you cultivate an engaged digital audience and convert them into customers.

How does your company use referral metrics? Tell us in the comments.