It differs greatly between wanting to become a great magician and actually doing it. In high school, I staged a show and my entire world came out to watch—friends and family members, everyone I want to impress. The audience all looked on in horror, fascination and pity, sitting there mute, enduring the spectacle and waiting for the show to end.

A few years later, I staged a Harry Houdini-style underwater escape in the river that flowed through the middle of the campus of the University of Iowa, where I went to school. I stood on a boat in the middle of the river wearing nothing but biking shorts and weights around my wrists and ankles. The sky was dead and gray, and the water was dead and gray, and a freezing breeze blew across its surface.

Technically, I succeeded. I jumped into the water, sank to the bottom, and escaped from the locks and the chains before swimming to the surface. But it didn't feel like a success. When Houdini did it, thousands of people turned up to watch, I had about a dozen who stopped on their way to class, and the police showed up because someone thought I was going to kill myself.

I am living proof, though, that if you throw enough time and effort at something—maybe even anything—you can become good at it. I found inspiration in Houdini's words: "The real secret to my success is simple: I work from seven in the morning to midnight and I like it." This quote lived on a piece of paper stuck to the wall by my bed for ten years. I had hit Malcolm Gladwell's 10,000 hours of practice by the time I turned 22, and he's right—I got pretty good.

The week after I finished school, I drove to Los Angeles to begin my career as a professional magician. I have never held another job.

You're stuck in a sea of standstill traffic when it begins: hunger pangs, the kind that release a steady stream of fast food fantasizing. With your grumbling stomach growing louder, your options are limited: You can wait a few hours for the roadways to clear or pull a Michael Douglas in the movie Falling Down, leaving your car idling on the freeway while you set off on foot (please don't do this).

Now Burger King, is betting that hungry drivers will welcome a third option: a direct-to-driver; delivery concept the company has labeled the "Traffic, Jam Whoopper."

Reached by email, Gustavo Lauria, co-founder of the advertising agency We Believers, which developed the vehicle delivery concept, said the new approach allows the burger chain to capitalize on a time of day in which the city's terrible traffic typically slows business. "This was an opportunity for Burger King to generate new profits out of those hungry drivers," Lauria added.

Lauria claims Burger King is the first fast food brand to deliver food to people in the middle of a traffic jam. In Mexico City, the company said, delivery drivers are already receiving an average of 7,000 orders per day, mostly to homes and offices. To make the traffic jam delivery process possible. Burger King's Mexico app activities the service after identifying crowded areas in Mexico City during periods of high traffic. Customers can only place an order if the app determines that the driver will be locked in traffic for at least 30 minutes and they are within a 1.8-mile distance of a Burger King restaurant, the company said.

Early on, Lauria wrote, the initiative was met with skepticism. The challenges were complex: making sure real-time geolocation data was accurate enough, and the creation of a hands-free way to take orders on cellphones in a country that has adopted serious punishment for drivers who use cellphones behind the wheel.

Though the company did not offer a timeline, Burger King says it expects to roll out the Traffic Jam Whopper in other overcrowded cities, such as Los Angeles, Sao Paulo and Shanghai.

Our carbon footprint is the estimated amount of carbon dioxide given off as we go about our daily lives. While the global average carbon footprint is about 4 tons per person each year, Americans contribute approximately 20 tons of greenhouse gas per person each year. Compared to other countries, even those who use the least amount of energy in the US still contribute double the carbon emissions than the global average per person. And, not surprisingly, a person's carbon footprint increases in size as his or her income increases.

How is it possible that people in the US who live simple lifestyles, e.g., children or the homeless, make such large contributions to greenhouse gas emissions? The answer is simple: Each US citizen has access to various basic government services such as firefighting and police departments, road and bridge repair, libraries, prisons, the military, etc. When these public services are divided equally among the entire US population, it significantly raises the carbon footprint per person.

While it is admirable to make changes in lifestyle to reduce a carbon footprint, in reality, it is very difficult to do. The MIT study revealed that a "rebound effect" occurred when someone made an effort to reduce his carbon footprint. Take the example of a person who made the deliberate choice to buy a hybrid(混合动力的)car instead of a large SUV to save money on gas costs. Very often that person would use the money he saved to do something else, e.g., take a long airplane trip. In this case, just one long airplane trip produces more CO₂ emissions than driving the large SUV for a year. This ends up having a negative impact on a person's carbon footprint by making it bigger!

Can Americans reduce their carbon footprints? According to the study, it is possible, but it would require lifestyle changes such as giving up long distance travel and buying fewer smartphones and tablets that have large energy cost to produce and deliver. Another way is to add a CO₂ tax on food, housing, and transportation. Unless we can find a way to reduce our carbon footprints, the price we may ultimately have to pay is much higher than the amount Americans will ever have to pay in taxes.

Exercise for a Better Brain

Most of the time, your brain is the boss of your muscle—directing how you hit a ball, play the piano, or open a cereal box.    11    When you're active, they send chemical signals telling your brain, "Hey, it's time to grow!" Recent research suggests physical activity is good for your brain and encourages the birth and growth of new brain cells.

In a study, people who ran for 45 minutes three days a week boosted their levels of a brain-derived neurotrophic（神经营养的）factor, a chemical that acts like fertilizer for new brain cells.    12    

Studies suggest that in younger adults, exercise can add to the overall number of cell in the hippocampus（海马体）.    13    It's a good deal because these new brain cells are very active and get involved in more memory circuits than older cells do. At any age, you might notice that you have an easier time remembering things after you start a new exercise.

    14    If you're inactive, walking around the block may be the only way to encourage neuroplasticity. People who don't like to move but tried to walk daily by 7500 steps or more had bigger brains than those who didn't exercise—the same to 1.4 to 2.2 fewer years of brain aging. So it is advisable for people at any age to get involved in light activity, such as doing housework, shopping, gardening, or walking the dog.    15