Earliest record of tattoos date back to ancient Egypt, Polynesia, and Japan when tattoos were used as a mark of social status, tribal identity, and sexual lure. With the creation of monotheism, tattoos became a pagan rite. Prohibition against idol worship and the notion that man is made in the image of god outlawed self mutilization or the use of the skin as a medium of graphic expression. In Western civilization, tattooing was removed from the mainstream culture but continued as a form of expression that marked the wearer as a member of a subculture.

As gas approaches $4 a gallon, it becomes appropriate to think about how Americans would respond to a $10 price at the pump. At $10, Americans would be spending about $0.50 to drive a mile at today’s level of fuel efficiency. If fuel efficiency doubled by the time the price of fuel reached $10, the cost per mile would be $0.25.

The size of market for residential housing is now fluctuating so rapidly that decisions based on forecasts – assuming that what was will be – are no longer trustworthy. Given the convulsive market moves, we are launching a periodic report on the state of the housing market, based on over thirty years of monthly consumer tracking by Leo J. Shapiro & Associates. The U.S. housing situation in June 2007 is explained in this report.

Most American adults are in an ongoing struggle to control their weight. Their struggle is associated with a profusion of information delivered almost continuously over the media, in newly published books, on food packages, and by the government advising the nation on what to eat and on the risks of obesity. If you are overweight, you are vulnerable to information overload.

Between 2006 and 2007, households buying organic foods remained virtually unchanged at just over one-third of households. Although sales of organic foods have grown, many still feel tentative about their purchasing of organic food. Only 7% of households are strongly committed to the purchase of organic food.