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Pennsylvania, like 26 other states, is now requiring "exit exams" in order for students to receive an high school diploma. However, because it's government, many of the original proposed standards have been watered down to ensure passage.

The FDA says its new guidelines would make the food Americans eat safer and help prevent the kinds of food borne disease outbreaks that sicken or kill thousands of consumers each year. The rules could cost manufacturers up to $475 million annually. The bill also authorized more surprise inspections by the FDA and gave the agency additional powers to shut down food facilities. In addition, the law required stricter standards on imported foods.

Three economists — including one rejected by the Senate as too inexperienced to work at the Federal Reserve — have won the Nobel prize in economics for their work in explaining why markets sometimes don’t work so well. The problem with unemployment is that, theoretically, it shouldn’t exist. Efficient market theory says unemployed workers should always be able to find a job if they just lower their standards enough, just as all employers should be able to find workers if they just lower theirs. By this theory, all unemployment is voluntary. (Maybe it would be in a free market.)

Books such as JD Salinger's Catcher in the Rye and Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird will be replaced by "informational texts" approved by the Common Core State Standards. Suggested non-fiction texts include Recommended Levels of Insulation by the the US Environmental Protection Agency, and the Invasive Plant Inventory, by California's Invasive Plant Council.

In each of five experiments the method of inducing a powerful feeling, and the method of determining moral double standards was different, but in every one the results were the same. Powerful people judge others more harshly but cheat more themselves. But what’s especially interesting is his last experiment where distinguishing between legitimate power and illegitimate power garnered the opposite results.

Toshiba may team up with Bill Gates to develop small nuclear reactors. The reactors could work for about 100 years without refueling. They could be launched fairly easily by states and cities. They provide emission-free energy. You probably remember the disaster at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant.

From the "when all else fails, lower your standards" department: Average reading and writing SAT scores for high school students declined to their lowest levels (dropping 1 point to 496, while math remained the same at 514). The article does note that more lower-income students with less access to high-quality education are taking the test, possibly providing an explanation for the lower test scores.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is investigating a radioactive release into the Mississippi River from the Grand Gulf Nuclear Plant in Port Gibson.

"We've all looked longingly and lovingly at the auto shows in Europe and Japan and wondered how we might drive some of the awesome cars that don't make it to the states. Turns out, a passport, plane ticket and rental agreement might be the only way. Sure, some lustworthy Euro-spec cars can make it in. Witness the list of Show and Display cars the overlords at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration OK'd despite the fact that not one of them meets government safety standards."