Winter Weather

• You're likely most creative when you're groggy: It's thought that problem-solving comes most naturally when you're unfocused and you allow your brain to wander. In a study published in 2011 in the journal Thinking and Reasoning, researchers found that people were more likely to come up with creative solutions to problems when they were tired. For some, this meant in the morning, for others it was the afternoon or evening. Obviously it depends on your body.

A GOOD “INVESTMENT”

Stand in front of a new luxury car, high-end HDTV or pricey piece of jewelry in a showroom these days, and a salesperson is likely to assure you that the item is “a good investment” or “an investment you can enjoy.” The salesperson is likely to avoid entirely words such as “purchase, “spend” and “cost.”

Fewer shoppers will splurge on pricey products in this economy, but retailers have discovered that shoppers’ minds become less resistant to forking over large amounts of cash when the word “investment” is used. Trouble is, consumer products are not investments. Investments are things likely to increase in value—virtually all consumer products decline in value.

What to do: When you hear the word “investment” from a retail salesperson, mentally replace it with the word “purchase.”

More sneaky tricks here:

The Right Way to Test-Drive a New Car

• Dark drinks, such as coffee, tea, cola and red wine, and dark juices, such as grape juice and cranberry juice. If you can't live without some of these, sip them through a straw so the liquid doesn't directly hit your teeth.
• Certain brightly or deeply colored foods -- these include blueberries, blackberries, cherries, pomegranates, popsicles and hard candies, soy sauce, balsamic vinegar, tomato sauce, beets and curry. "These foods contain chromagens, which are pigmented molecules that latch onto the enamel and result in staining," said Dr. Breiner.

• Apples, pears, celery, carrots, cauliflower and cucumbers. These fruits and vegetables have enough fiber to act as natural scrubbing agents.
• Lettuce, spinach and broccoli. These vegetables contain a compound that produces a light film that helps protect your teeth from stains… yet another reason to start dinner with a salad!
• Cheese. All cheeses (especially cheddar) contain fats and proteins that counter the acids contained in many foods. Cheese stimulates saliva production and also contains calcium and phosphorous, both of which help to protect teeth by remineralizing enamel.

• Rub orange peel on your teeth. The white inside of an orange peel -- called the pith -- contains chemicals that help whiten your teeth. Rub it onto your teeth for a few minutes and then brush a half-hour later.
• Apply a paste of strawberries and baking soda. Strawberries contain a compound that acts as a natural bleaching agent, which is especially effective when mixed with baking soda. Mash a just-ripe strawberry, and mix it with some baking soda until it has the consistency of paste. (The strawberries are acidic, but the baking soda neutralizes the acid.) Apply it to your teeth, leave it on for 20 minutes and then rinse. Wait a half-hour and then brush your teeth well to rid your mouth of the natural sugar that strawberries contain.

No. 2
Coran Capshaw
Founder Partner
Red Light Management, Star Hill Presents; ATO Records, TBD Records
Twitter: @atorecords
The Quiet Revolution...

Coran Capshaw founded Red Light Management in 1991 with the Dave Matthews Band and a plan to connect artists and fans like never before. DMB built its loyal foundation gradually, on its way to becoming one of the biggest touring bands on the planet. But for Capshaw, a defining moment for the shape of things to come occurred more than a decade later, when the Bonnaroo festival launched in 2002, completely under the mainstream radar--until it sold out in 11 days, solely through the Internet. Behind that success was Capshaw, who pioneered direct-to-fan marketing at MusicToday (sold to Live Nation in 2007) and changed the model for the way fans discover events, buy tickets and experience live music.