What You Need to Know

Newsweek is doing s series of articles on what Americans know and don't know. Following are links to three of these stories which I think you will find interesting.

Things Americans Should Know

To whom much is given, however, much is expected. Americans remain rich beyond most of the world's imagination—rich in property, in liberty, in security. None of these things is free, and all are vulnerable, either to market reversals, to grasping leaders, to terrorists. But we cannot survive and thrive if we do not know what that world is like—what it loves, what it hates, and why.

Things Americans Don't Know

... more Americans are able to name Jordin Sparks as the winner of the most recent season of American Idol (18 percent) than can identify John Roberts as the Supreme Court’s chief justice (11 percent).

Things That Are Not Essential to Know But May Prove Useful

When dining in a restaurant, signal your server that you have finished eating by placing your utensils across the dish horizontally and face down. If you need to momentarily leave the table and do not want your plate taken away, place both utensils diagonally on the plate, such that they are leaning off the side and touching the table.