Super Prices for Superheroes

"Kapow! Comic books are no longer just kiddy lit. Far from it. The numbers speak for themselves. In March 2010, Action Comics #1—the first appearance of Superman—sold for $1.5 million on an online auction site, making it the most expensive and valuable comic book of all time." -- Jonathan Shipley

STTA. Based on your own experience, what's your sense of the appeal of comic books? What did you collect as a kid? What would you like to collect now, if you could afford to?

What Makes a Song Sad?

 The popular belief is that, "at least for Western music, songs written in a major key (like "Happy Birthday") are generally upbeat, while those in a minor key (think of The Beatles' "Eleanor Rigby") tend towards the doleful." -- What Makes a Song Sad

STTA. An interesting sidebar to this piece in The Atlantic lists songs that make folks cry. Take a look and see if you agree -- or, better yet, list some of your own favorite sad songs, and tell us what makes them so special.

Apple vs Google

"One is a gadget-maker, the other a search engine—but now they are at odds. Robert Lane Greene on a clash of cultures . . ." From INTELLIGENT LIFE Magazine (Winter 2010)

STTA. Here's a fascinating look at two companies fighting, not just our business, but for our souls -- or maybe, even more, for our cellphones. In the past the companies have been quite different: For starters, the one-of-a-kind iPhone versus the multi-version android phone. What's your experience with these two Silicon Valley behemoths?

Puzzler

"Puzzle-solving is such an ancient, universal practice, scholars say, precisely because it depends on creative insight, on the primitive spark that ignited the first campfires." - from Benedict Carey's "Tracing the Spark of Creative Problem-Solving"

STTA. The contention here is that there's something especially important in puzzle-solving to the trajectory of human culture. It all starts with a mental state about to play. Based on your experience solving puzzles, what do you think?