Every day Americans use -- and almost immediately discard -- up to half a billion plastic beverage straws. At least, that’s the figure widely used by environmental activists to explain why people should embrace going straw-less.　It’s not clear where that number came from, but it seems credible considering how many takeout sodas, frappuccinos, smoothies, cold-press juices, boba teas and other beverages Americans buy every day, most of which are accompanied by a complimentary plastic straw. Lately

Do yourself a favor: stop buying bitcoin. Yes, I can read charts too. I can see how the graph has gone up from $800 per coin in January 2017 to a little over $15,000 this January. But seriously, do yourself a favor and stop buying. This is the most obvious bubble ever.As the first century BC Latin author famously wrote, “Everything is worth what its purchaser will pay for it.” No other quote seems to more perfectly encapsulate the irrational absurdity of bitcoin’s surging value, especially when

North Korea is feared to be trying to turn the PyeongChang Winter Olympics in South Korea into a stage for the regime’s propaganda.It made an unacceptable counteroffer to a South Korean offer of humanitarian exchanges, became infuriated at the South mentioning dialogue on its nuclear arms program, spoke ill of South Korea and even tried to intimidate the South by saying that talks could be broken off any time.However, the South Korean government did not take issue with the North, leading to crit