Diaper Snatchers

Enterprising individuals from eastern Europe took advantage of sales of “nappies,” or diapers, sold by retail chains such as Rema 1000 in southern Norway. Some bought as much as 50,000 Norwegian crowns, or $9,100, worth of diapers to sell back in eastern European countries.There’s only one problem, the stores have sold out, leaving no diapers for the locals.

Chic Homesteaders

More 30- to 50-year-old Americans have gone back to the land and become homesteaders. These individuals say they want to lead simpler and environmentally friendlier lives, except they want to make it chic and will pay for it. Now Urban Outfitters’ (NASDAQ:URBN) Terrain stores and Williams-Sonoma (NYSE:WSM) are offering expensive products, such as a $258 bronze-and-lime-wood spade and a $1,300 chicken coop, to capitalize on this trend and grab a piece of the $200 billion homesteader market.

Is Eating Fruits and Vegetables Unhealthy?

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention, or CDC, released a study stating that fruits, nuts, and vegetables accounted for 46.1% of foodborne illnesses from 1998 to 2008, with leafy greens accounting for 22.1% of sicknesses. Don’t get frustrated, though, if you eat healthy. The report says sick food handlers usually caused the leafy greens to become tainted, and the food itself was originally fine.

Upgrading Watson

IBM’s (NYSE:IBM) Watson computer, which understands natural spoken language and defeated Jeopardy’s all-time champions, will find a new home at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in New York. The private research university will work on finding new uses for the computer and expand Watson's computing abilities.

Iran’s Latest Hit Movie

Argo has become a hit in one of its main plot settings. Warner Bros. (NYSE:TWX), the distributor of the popular movie in the US, will not see money from the movie’s popularity in Iran, though. Instead, underground DVD sellers with national distribution networks have sold hundreds of thousands of copies with Persian subtitles. The movie has been highest grossing film in years, and everyone from parliamentarians to young hipsters have seen it.

Twitter: @ChrisWitrak