Read this and you'll look smart. You don't have to be intelligent to impress people -- you just have to fake it. Here's a daily list of fascinating articles that will wow your friends, surprise your co-workers and make you seem sharp at a cocktail party or over the lunch counter....
- Airbus is preparing to offer Prez-elect Obama the world's biggest plane. The company may offer Obama a special A380 superjumbo jet to replace the Air Force One Boeing 747 jumbo jet. The superjumbo jet can carry 840 passengers and the aircraft is 25 percent more fuel efficient than a 747.
- A psychiatrist took a year to knit a wool brain. The anatomically correct human brain is one-and-a-half times life size and is color-coded to show the different parts of the brain.
- Pepsi is encouraging the comparisons between the company's new optimistic smiley-face logo campaign and Obama's mantra. The soft-drink giant plans to have a significant presence in Washington, D.C. during the inauguration and is plastering slogans like "All for One" and "Yes We Can" on billboards, buses and buildings throughout the city.
- Chew on this: bubble gum art. Artists Maurizio Savini creates sculptures out of chewed gum. He's created a life-size buffalo, a bear and a businessman. The Rome-based artist warms gum then smooths it with a knife as if he were working with clay and then applies formaldehyde and antibiotic material to keep the gum in place.
- Sommeliers, take heart. A change in the White House could mean a change in the wine cellar. Bush's White House served really bad wine. That said, it is unlikely that the number of bottles in the White House -- 500 to 600 -- will ever be restored to the heady days when Thomas Jefferson kept 20,000 bottles there.
