We checked out 'Zero Dark Thirty' yesterday hoping to learn more about the 11-year hunt for Osama bin Laden (OBL). (Read our review here.)

The filmmakers had considerable access to people with knowledge of the manhunt, and their goal was to "be as accurate as we possibly could" without having been there.

Unfortunately, it's hard to say what in the movie is fact and what is made up. Most of it seems accurate, and nothing is clearly false — but some parts presumably involve poetic license.

The most controversial aspect of the film is the idea that waterboarding helped find OBL, which is widely considered to be false.

The following slides portray less obvious details that — true or not — caught our eye.

"Maya" tells the SEALs, "You're going to kill the f***er for me," suggesting there never was a plan to capture OBL.

One of the first lines of the movie is, "He has to learn how helpless he is." That's a reference to the Bush-era torture goal of "learned helplessness," or making captives feel that they are physically and psychologically dependent on their captors.

In the movie, CIA higher-ups harp on "protecting the homeland" from new terrorist attacks — as opposed to bringing bin Laden to justice for old ones. This frames the OBL mission as a part of the larger 'War on Terror.'

Please follow Military & Defense on Twitter and Facebook.

If you have family and friends who enjoy reading, why not slip a few books under the Christmas tree?

Given all of the time we spend staring at screens these days, it actually feels good to bury your nose in a book printed on paper.

I know that I love to get—and give—books as gifts.

For the history aficionado

You can pick up a copy of Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln

($11.93 at Books-A-Million) for the history buff on your list. Written by respected presidential historian Doris Kearns Goodwin, who often appears on Sunday morning political shows, the book chronicles Lincoln’s path to the presidency and explores his ability to unite people.

First published in 2005, Team of Rivals is the basis for the recent Steven Spielberg movie, Lincoln, which casts Daniel Day-Lewis in the title role. (Save with Books-A-Million coupons.)

For the dog enthusiast

Inspired by their love for their pooches, friends Robin Layton, Kimi Culp and Lisa Erspamer put together A Letter to My Dog: Notes to Our Best Friends ($16.47 at Amazon), a book full of missives that people have written to their beloved canines.

The tome includes letters from the likes of Tony Bennett, Hilary Duff and Oprah Winfrey.

The dog lover in your life will surely appreciate the heartfelt sentiments. (Get Amazon coupons.)

For the pop culture whiz

You probably know someone who is obsessed with AMC’s zombie fest, The Walking Dead.

And while some fans of the television series have read the comic books on which it’s based, not everyone has, making The Walking Dead Compendium: Volume 1 ($35.99 at Target) an awesome gift.

Written by Robert Kirkman, with illustrations by Charlie Adlard, Tony Moore and Cliff Rathburn, this more than 1,000-page paperback features the first eight volumes of the comic book. (Get Target coupons.)

Please follow Your Money on Twitter and Facebook.

It's another huge week in fantasy football with league semifinals or the finals kicking off on Saturday night.

With your league title on the line, we've assembled a list of the players that we think you push you over the top or could be a liability this week.

As always, the advice is based on standard 10-team leagues.

START: Tony Romo, Dallas Cowboys Quarterback vs. NO

There's a lot of upside in playing Romo against the Saints defense this week. Over the last four weeks, Romo has passed for more than 300 yards in three of those games and is averaging two scores per game.

He'll need a big performance to keep the Cowboys' playoff hopes alive, and there's no better matchup for that than the Saints.

SIT: Eli Manning, New York Giants Quarterback at BAL

The Ravens have been a tough matchup for fantasy quarterbacks this season, never conceding more than one throwing touchdown in a week.

Manning will probably have a better game than he did against Atlanta last week, but the difficult task at hand outweighs his potential this week.

START: Reggie Bush, Miami Dolphins Running Back vs BUF

Bush got 20 carries for the first time since Week 2 last weekend, and made the most of them, running for 102 yards. With Daniel Thomas sidelined, Bush should continue to get consistent touches for the Dolphins.

And the matchup is there for continued success, with Buffalo giving up the most touchdowns (16) to opposing running backs this year.

Please follow Sports Page on Twitter and Facebook.

Activist investor Bill Ackman, the CEO of Pershing Square Capital Management, gave an epic presentation on his latest short — Herbalife. 

Ackman, whose hedge fund has an "enormous" short position, believes the multi-level marketing company that sells weight management and nutritional supplements is a pyramid scheme.  

He also has a price target of $0 and believes the company is going to fail.

The Pershing Square team spent the last year doing research on Herbalife.

It definitely shows because Pershing Square put together an extremely in-depth 342-slide presentation. The presentation was given at a special Sohn Conference event in Midtown Manhattan on Thursday and it lasted for three hours.

Following the news that Ackman was short, shares of Herbalife fell $5.16, or 12.14%, to close at $37.34 a share yesterday. That was before he gave the thesis.  

After his presentation today, the stock fell $3.64, or 9.75%, to close at $33.70 a share.

What's more is Ackman pledged that 100% of the personal profits he makes from this short will go to charity. 

"I don't want to make any money from this, 100% will go to the Pershing Square Foundation." 

We've included Ackman's tremendous presentation in the slides that follow. (Note: The video clips do not play in this presentation)

Please follow Clusterstock on Twitter and Facebook.

The Mayan calendar predicts that the world will end December 21, which happens to be tomorrow.

While there's good evidence that there is no impending apocalypse, why take your chances?

Might as well maximize your credit card and go out in style with a meal at one of the 30 best restaurants in the world, according to the uber-prestigious World's 50 Best ranking, organized by Restaurants magazine.

#30 Schloss Schauenstein

Frstenau, Switzerland

Last year's ranking: 23

Years on list: 3

Source: World's 50 Best

#29 Quay

Sydney, Australia

Last year's ranking: 4

Years on list: 26

Source: World's 50 Best

#28 Nihonryori RyuGin

Tokyo, Japan

Last year's ranking: 3

Years on list: 20

Source: World's 50 Best

Please follow The Life on Twitter and Facebook.

Remember when Sandra Bullock was feted as the Best Actress (an Oscar for "The Blind Side") and the Worst Actress (a Razzie for "All About Steve") of the year? 

Consistency is a tricky business for screen actors, and more often than not, movie stars find themselves careening from notable work to terrible. 2012 offered no shortage of such yin-and-yangs, with five actors in particular meriting notice for giving some of the year’s best and worst performances.

Anne Hathaway's Best: "The Dark Knight Rises"

The Catwoman's transition from sultry siren to woman-on-top badass can lead to success (Michelle Pfeiffer) or ignominy (Halle Berry). Hathaway scored with a sexy, dangerous Selina Kyle, whether channeling Audrey Hepburn in a series of slinky gamine-about-town outfits or credibly battling Christian Bale’s Caped Crusader.

Anne Hathaway's Worst: "Les Miserables"

Will Hathaway win an Academy Award as the long-suffering Fantine? Quite possibly. Does she embarrass herself with a hammy, grimacing, oxygen-sucking, back-balcony-playing, self-serving, eyelid-fluttering, oh-so-noble death scene as she belts out “I Dreamed a Dream”? You betcha.

Robert De Niro's Best: "Silver Linings Playbook"

After decades of this venerable legend phoning it in, it's a treat to get such a rich and hilarious performance as the shaky patriarch of a deeply dysfunctional Philadelphia family. De Niro never smooths out the rough edges or takes cheap shortcuts to audience likability.

Please follow The Wire on Twitter and Facebook.

Given the oppressive fans, the creepy stalkers, and — all too often — the deranged death threats that the famous endure, abject anonymity has its charms.

John Lennon may be the biggest celebrity to die at the hands of an obsessed fan, but dozens of stars have been the targets of elaborate extortion, kidnapping, and even murder plots — most of which are, thankfully, thwarted by police before they can be carried out.

Here's a rundown of stars who have allegedly been the target of psychotic conspiracies.

1. Justin Bieber

New Mexico police revealed on Dec. 13 the grisly details behind an alleged plot to kidnap and murder Canadian teen star Justin Bieber.

The plan was reportedly conceived behind bars by 45-year-old fan Dana Martin, who has a tattoo of Bieber on his leg and had grown embittered that his letters to the star went unanswered.

Martin, who was convicted of the rape and murder of a 15-year-old girl in Vermont in 2000, allegedly coerced Mark Staake, 41, who was released on parole in October, to be his hit man.

Staake, with the help of his nephew, allegedly intended to capture Bieber and his bodyguard between Bieber's Nov. 28 and 29 Madison Square Garden concerts in New York City.

They were then going to strangle the victims with a paisley tie — Martin's signature murder weapon — and then castrate the men with garden clippers.

The elaborate plot, however, was foiled when the would-be assassins got lost in Vermont and were stopped by a U.S. border agent who arrested Staake due to his outstanding warrants in New Mexico.

2. Joss Stone

In 2011, neighbors of British singer Joss Stone spotted a dubious-looking car driving around her English country estate's narrow lanes and reported it.

Police found the car, which reportedly contained a selection of maps and aerial shots of the area as well as swords, rope, and a body bag.

The two men connected with the car were apprehended and charged with conspiracy to rob and commit grievous bodily harm in a suspected plot against the 24-year-old singer.

3. Shawn Johnson

Olympic gold medalist Shawn Johnson had a frighteningly close encounter with an obsessed fan in 2010.

While the retired gymnast was practicing for her Dancing with the Stars stint on the ABC studio lot, 36-year-old Robert O'Ryan allegedly jumped a fence and broke into the building in an alleged attempt to kidnap Johnson.

He was apprehended before making it to the star, but his car was found nearby loaded with a handgun, shotgun, and bulletproof vest.

O'Ryan claimed that Johnson communicated with him telepathically during the 2008 Beijing Olympics and that he was just fulfilling her wish to be with him and bear his child.

In June 2010, O'Ryan pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity to felony stalking and burglary charges.

Please follow The Wire on Twitter and Facebook.

One of the last major products Steve Jobs worked on wasn't for Apple. It was for himself.

He designed a yacht with French designer Philippe Starck. The yacht was built by Dutch company Feadship.

It was completed at the end of October.

The Jobs family has not been able to bring the yacht home because there is a billing dispute, the FT reports.

The yacht is sitting in the Port of Amsterdam under a court order because Starck says the Jobs' owe him more money for his design work.

Starck says the Jobs family owes him $3.96 million (€3 million). He says the family owes him six percent of the cost of the yacht, which he says is worth $198 million (€150 million). The Jobs family say the yacht is worth $139 million (€105 million), according to the FT.

Until the dispute is resolved, the yacht will sit in Amsterdam's port.

Please follow SAI on Twitter and Facebook.

Facebook has finally found a way to recycle one of its oldest features—the once-famous Poke.

Pokes, once one of the main ways you'd get friends' attention on the site, are all but buried now. But Facebook has now reimagined the feature as a mobile app.

Unlike the old Poke, the new mobile Poke app lets you do a lot more, like send photos and videos. In that way, it reminds us of Snapchat, an app which lets you take a photo which self-destructs so it's harder for friends to store and embarrass you with later.

Facebook Poke allows users to send a classic poke—basically an alert; a text message; or a  video or photo. You can poke one friend or multiple friends at once. 

The messages automatically expire after a certain amount of time—1, 3, 5, or 10 seconds. In that way, the Poke app is also similar to Wickr, a super-secure messaging app.

The self-destructing feature common to Snapchat and Poke makes us think that both are inevitably going to be used for sexting, or sending racy photos, since there's less risk that the photos will end up posted on the Internet. (Snapchat's creators have denied that that's a major reason why people use the app.)

When we attempted to download we had a tough time finding it in Apple's App Store. If you're having trouble too try to download it through this link on your iPhone.

We couldn't find the app by searching Apple's App Store so we emailed the link to our phone and opened it that way.

Here's the icon.

Since we were already signed into our Facebook account on our iPhone, the app recognized us. We tapped our name to continue.

Please follow SAI: Tools on Twitter and Facebook.

Back in August, conservationists were fighting to declare this David and Gladys Wright House in Arizona a landmark before it was destroyed by developer 8081 Meridian.

The Phoenix residence was bought in June by the company for $1.8 million with plans to build two brand new mansions in the Arcadia neighborhood.

But the Frank Lloyd Wright Preservation Trust wouldn't let that happen, and after petitioning the city of Phoenix to grant historic preservation and landmark designation to the 1950s home, it has finally succeeded in saving the building.

The Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy was able to purchase the house through an LLC owned by an anonymous benefactor. The next step will be to have the home declared a landmark so there is no chance this will happen again.

“This purchase is a magnificent and generous action,” said Larry Woodin, president of the Chicago-based Conservancy, in a press release. “It is a gift to the people of Phoenix, a gift to the worldwide architectural community and to everyone that cares about the history of modern architecture. We are enormously grateful to this benefactor for making sure there will be a new chapter in the life of this important and unique Frank Lloyd Wright building.”

If it had been demolished, it would have been the first intact Wright building to be torn down in almost 40 years.

The David and Gladys Wright House was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright and built between 1950 and 1952.

The two-story home is situated at the foot of Camelback Mountain in Phoenix, AZ.

It is the only Frank Lloyd Wright residence based on the circular spiral plan of the Guggenheim Museum.

Please follow The Life on Twitter and Facebook.

We just got accustomed to the bizarrely unnecessary, yet incredibly profitable, sexy Halloween costume market— shilling everything from sexy Oscar the Grouch to barely there Chewbacca. Christmas is revealing costume vendors' latest victim.

Sexy Santa, elf, and even gingerbread house costumes are on the rise.

"Last year, we ran out of Santa costumes, and I had more than 200 for sale, and 85 for rent, and we rent each of those out five times," Debbie Easley, co-owner of Easley's Fun Shop, told The Republic.

These are the strangest skimpy Christmas costumes that your great aunt Edna hopefully won't be wearing to your Christmas dinner.

(Warning, these photos have partial nudity.)

If you're wondering why people would buy a skimpy Christmas costume, TotallyCostumes.com explains that the light up Christmas present skirt "is an ideal for for holiday rave wear or Christmas clubwear." It's on sale for $78.95. Candy cane fur leg warmers are an additional $54.95.

See it here>

Sexy Santa costumes are on the rise. This $69 number is called "Santa's Little Helper."

But costumes aren't limited to Santa. There are also plenty of sexy snowmen ...

Please follow Advertising on Twitter and Facebook.

After last week's horrific mass shooting left 20 first-graders and seven adults dead, everyone is taking a hard look at guns in America.

Obama has called for a gun control task force. Many have called for the reinstatement of the assault weapons ban that expired in 2004. The NRA controversially repeated its claim that more guns are the answer.

But what no one can deny is that America is obsessed with guns more than any other nation — and that too many Americans are killed by guns each year.

Gun ownership in America has actually declined pretty drastically since the 1970s.

Source: SaintPetersBlog

And with it, so has violence in America.

Source: The Atlantic Cities

But America still has way more guns than other countries.

Source: The Washington Post

Please follow Law & Order on Twitter and Facebook.

This was a year to remember for the U.S. Military.

After years of combat, some 23,000 troops serving in Afghanistan were pulled out in 2012, with plans to withdraw the rest by 2014.

The U.S. Military also carried out countless of military and rescue operations, and continued to improve its forces through rigorous training.

We found some absolutely stunning photos taken by U.S. Army staff over this year that captured close-ups of military missions, trainings and the life of the American soldier.

Soldiers from the 2nd Squadron, 38th Cavalry Regiment, 504th Battlefield Surveillance Brigade, lean against a mud wall during a break from combat operations in Spin Boldak district, Afghanistan. From Fort Hood, Texas, the Soldiers have been in Afghanistan since July in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. (January 9, 2012 - Photo by Spc. Crystal Davis)

Army Reserve Soldiers render final honors at a Fallen Warrior ceremony at Fort Bragg, N.C., Jan. 10, 2012. The command's Soldiers and civilian employees honored seven Army Reserve Soldiers who paid the ultimate sacrifice in Iraq and Afghanistan. (January 10, 2012 - Photo by Timothy Hale)

Spc. Gerald Schumacher, of 2nd Battalion, 35th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, climbs a mountain, Jan. 11, 2012, in Watapur district, Kunar Province, Afghanistan. (January 10, 2012 - Photo by Sgt. Trey Harvey)

Please follow Military & Defense on Twitter and Facebook.

Movies like "Batman Begins,""Jurassic Park" and "Mean Girls" enthralled audiences worldwide and gained huge fan followings. 

But they also have notable plot holes. While most movies are supposed to be fantasies, some of the events just don't make sense. 

A recent Reddit thread explored some of the worst oversights. 

The one in "Armageddon" was pointed out by star Ben Affleck, while another might change your view on the "Santa Claus" series. 

"In Jurassic Park, they restart the Park's systems in an attempt to get the fences back online"

"It works but they have to restart the power. Samuel L. Jackson leaves to go do that. He is gone for too long, so Laura Dern decides she needs to go do it. Muldoon gets a shotgun and goes with her. Why didn't you take a gun and go with Samuel L. Jackson?! They just let him get eaten."

Source: Reddit

"In 'Toy Story," Buzz believed he was a space ranger and not a toy."

"So how did he know how to freeze when humans were around?" 

Source: Reddit

"In Mean Girls, everyone thinks Cady made the Burn Book."

"But how did she get all those pictures of everyone if she was a new student?"

Source: Reddit

Please follow The Wire on Twitter and Facebook.

In the U.S.-centric world most Americans live in, all the greatest and most valuable brands were created here. Several studies by brand valuation experts show that to be true.

But some of the world’s most valuable brands are not only owned by companies outside the United States, they are brands that many Americans know nothing about and may never have heard of. 24/7 Wall St. has taken a look at some of these brands and found that the U.S. is not the only brand capital.

See the biggest brands Americans know nothing about >

U.S. brands that dominate the top spots of most brand valuation lists include Apple, Google, Microsoft, Marlboro, Coca-Cola, McDonald’s and IBM. These top brands fall into one of two categories. They are either technology or consumer products brands. They are also all global. Apple, Microsoft and IBM have tremendous overseas sales. McDonald’s has restaurants around the world.

The most valuable brands owned by companies outside the U.S. fall into two different categories. The first is financial services and banks. The most widely known and highly valued of these brands have also been around for some time. RBS, the largest bank in Canada, is more than a century old. So is Sberbank in Russia.

The second set of famous overseas brands are cellular phone companies. By their nature they are relatively new, because the wireless revolution is barely 20 years old. China Mobile was incorporated in 1997. Japan’s NTT DoCoMo was formed in 1992.

To pick the most valuable brands that Americans have not heard of, 24/7 Wall St. relied on the BrandZ Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands 2012. We ranked the brands that made the list based on gross domestic product of country of origin, and then picked the most valuable brands from the eleven largest countries based on that GDP measurement. In order to exclude well-known brands in America, those with very large market share in the U.S were excluded. That meant Toyota, BMW and Louis Vuitton did not make the cut.

These are the most famous brands Americans don’t know.

11. Movistar

Brand value: $17.1 billion
Country: Spain
National GDP: $1.5 trillion
Industry: Telecom

Movistar is the mobile phone operation of Spain’s primary telecom company Telefónica S.A. Its parent company currently has nearly 314 million customers. Like other European nations that once had colonies in Latin America, Movistar does business in Argentina and Mexico. Movistar has business units that market wireless broadband; Internet TV, which includes the new Google TV product; software, which includes Microsoft Windows powered portable devices; and hardware devices, including Apple’s iPad.

10. RBC

Brand value: $17.2 billion
Country: Canada
National GDP: $1.7 trillion
Industry: Financial services

RBC, originally called the Royal Bank of Canada, has been in business since 1864. Forbes lists it as the largest company in the Canada. Like most extremely big financial services firms in the largest countries by GDP, RBC provides services ranging from consumer savings to underwriting for public companies.

One of the major ways that RBC promotes its presence as a global firm is via a comparison with banks around the world as measured by market cap. Based on this measure, RBC statistics put it in 12th place globally, just behind Citigroup, and Bank of America. RBC, which has more than 80,000 employees, reports its financial results in Canadian dollars. In the quarter that ended July 31, RBC had record net income of $2.2 billion, up from $1.7 billion the year before.

9. ICICI Bank

Brand value: $12.7 billion
Country: India
National GDP: $1.8 trillion
Industry: Financial services

Other than the State Bank of India, ICICI is the largest financial services firm in the world’s second most populous country. It had consolidated total assets of more than $91 billion as of March 31. ICICI operates similar to the way J.P. Morgan or Citigroup do in the U.S. All have large consumer banking, business banking, investment bank, wealth management, and underwriting operations.  ICICI has driven part of its growth through joint ventures with companies based outside India. ICICI Prudential Life Insurance is a joint venture between ICICI Bank and U.K. insurance giant Prudential plc. ICICI Lombard General Insurance Company is a joint venture with Canada-based Fairfax Financial Holdings Limited.

Please follow Retail on Twitter and Facebook.

What a year it's been.

In 2012, the United States saw Hurricane Sandy ravage the East Coast and a divisive presidential election that kept President Obama in office. London hosted the 2012 Summer Olympics while the rest of Europe has been struggling to preserve the euro. There have been explosive political revolutions around the world, including Russia and the Middle East. Meanwhile, mankind has gotten closer to space than ever before with a mobile science lab on Mars, the rise of commercial space flights, and a record-breaking skydive from space.

In the midst of all this, some incredible people have emerged.

From politics to sports, entertainment, finance, and more, people have done extraordinary things this year. These are the people who impressed us the most.

Felix Baumgartner

Austrian skydiver Felix Baumgartner set an aviation milestone on Oct. 14, when he jumped from more than 128,000 feet above Earth and became the first man to break the speed of sound in a free-fall.

The 43-year-old thrill-seeker topped out at 833.9 mph, or mach 1.24, before landing safely on the ground in New Mexico.

The mission, sponsored by Austrian energy drink maker Red Bull, was also a breakthrough for science. It delivered valuable information about an astronaut's chances for survival at extreme altitudes, which is important for future space travel.

Click here to read more about Felix Baumgartner's record-breaking plunge >

Chris Christie

Since declining multiple entreaties to run for the Republican Party nomination in 2012, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie has continued his rise to national political prominence.

Thanks to his expert handling of Hurricane Sandy aftermath, Christie's approval ratings have soared to unthinkable levels, defying odds in a deep-blue state to become New Jersey’s most popular governor ever.

Christie has already announced his intention to run for re-election in 2013. If his consideration as Mitt Romney’s potential running mate and his keynote speech at the Republican National Convention are any indication, he will likely play a major role in the GOP as 2016 rolls around. 

Click here to read more on Chris Christie's breakout year >

Hillary Clinton

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had a remarkable year.

She traveled to 42 countries in 2012 alone, responding to crises in Syria, Libya, and North Korea, while navigating America's changing role in the Middle East. 

As she winds down her final year as Secretary of State, Clinton leaves the administration immensely more popular than she was when she started. Her approval ratings are the highest of her career, hovering around 70 percent. She even went viral this year, inspiring the popular Texts From Hillary meme.

While Clinton remains coy about her future political plans, polls shows that she would have a good shot at the White House, should she choose to run again in 2016.

Click here to see photos of Hillary Clinton's incredible year >

Please follow Business Insider on Twitter and Facebook.

Chances are you've done all of your Christmas shopping already.

But if you're still looking for something, we've got 15 great options for you.

From desktop essentials and wall art to trading tools and a couple ultra premium items, we’ve got all the bases covered when it comes to shopping for an investor.

Some are cheap, and some are expensive.

But if you took the risk-on trade this year, then you can probably afford all of it.

Edison Model Stock Ticker with Glass Dome

Before Yahoo Finance, people got there stock quotes from ticker tape machines.  And the biggest players like JP Morgan had these in their homes.

These days, one of these will run you at least $2,500 at auction.

Source: LiveAuctioneers.com

The Intelligent Investor

Warren Buffett swears by this book, which was written by his favorite finance professor Ben Graham.  This edition includes a preface by non other than Warren Buffett himself.

Don't get the electronic version. Get a hardcopy on Amazon for $14.

Source: Amazon

Money Tree

In the east, nothing brings good fortune like a 'money tree.'  Also, it's always nice to have a plant  to help spruce up the office.

This money tree comes with a base and costs $34.

Source: Gifts.com

Please follow Money Game on Twitter and Facebook.

Williams College students Hayley Brooks and Kaison Tanabe analyzed the careers of 15,000+ graduates, and used CIRCOS visualization software to plot out the data.

Professor Satyan Devadoss then published it online. They've given us permission to reproduce the data here.

It's a pretty remarkable presentation – one that helpfully explodes lots of myths about what careers certain majors can enter and which they cannot. (Here's looking at you, Marc Andreessen.)

This is all the majors

The "language" majors go on to be teachers, join the healthcare field, and work in law

English/literature majors work in health/medicine, teach, write for a living, and become lawyers

Please follow Careers on Twitter and Facebook.

Since its debut in 1990,"Home Alone" has become as much a part of the Christmas cinematic ritual as "It's a Wonderful Life."

But unlike that uplifting tale about the good of mankind, "Home Alone" tells a rather unsettling Christmas story of a precocious 8-year-old who, accidentally abandoned by his family, is forced to defend his home from two dimwitted burglars.

The doctor weighs in >

Kevin McCallister (Macaulay Culkin) turns his family's home into a veritable funhouse of torturous booby traps that so-called Wet Bandits Marv (Daniel Stern) and Harry (Joe Pesci) hilariously stumble through, and the transformation of a suburban Chicago home into a relentless injury machine is nothing short of spectacular. 

But it does require quite a suspension of disbelief.

Can a man really be hit square in the face with a steam iron and walk away unfazed? What kind of permanent physical damage would a blow torch to the head really do?

To answer these questions and officially dissolve "Home Alone"'s Hollywood magic, I spoke with my friend Dr. Ryan St. Clair of the Weill Cornell Medical College. Enjoy.

The injury: BB gun to the forehead

The set-up: Marv and Harry try to sneak into the McCallister home by sweet talking Kevin from the back door. Kevin, meanwhile, points his BB gun through the doggie door and directly at Harry's groin — and shoots. When Marv goes to investigate the source of Harry's pain, he is met by the same BB gun, which is fired at extremely close range to his forehead. 

The doctor's diagnosis: "Classic air-powered projectile weapons typically have muzzle velocities of 350 feet per second or less. A BB fired at close range from such a weapon could break the skin, but will not penetrate the skull, and is unlikely to penetrate Harry's scrotum, especially through fabric."

The injury: Iron to the face

The set-up: Thwarted by the BB gun at the back door, Marv runs around to the basement stairwell — which Kevin has deliberately iced. Once he has stumbled his way down into the dark basement, Marv grabs for what he thinks is the light bulb cord. It's actually a rope attached to a steam iron that is propped up on the laundry chute door. The heavy iron comes plummeting down and smacks Marv in the face.

The doctor's diagnosis: "Let's estimate the distance from the first floor to the basement at 15 feet, and assume the steam iron weighs 4 pounds. And note that the iron strikes Marv squarely in the mid-face. This is a serious impact, with enough force to fracture the bones surrounding the eyes. This is also known as a 'blowout fracture,' and can lead to serious disfigurement and debilitating double vision if not repaired properly."

The injury: Handling a burning-hot doorknob

The set-up: While Marv is getting an iron to the face, Harry tries to enter the home through the front door. The first attempt doesn't go well, as the stocky burglar slips on the icy steps and falls to the ground, landing with a thud on his back. Easing up a second time with the help of the railing, Harry makes it to the front door, reaches for the doorknob — which we see is literally burning red — and grasps the searing handle, the pain of which forces him once again down the icy steps.

The doctor's diagnosis: "If this doorknob is glowing visibly red in the dark, it has been heated to about 751 degrees Fahrenheit, and Harry gives it a nice, strong, one- to two-second grip. By comparison, one second of contact with 155 degree water is enough to cause third degree burns. The temperature of that doorknob is not quite hot enough to cause Harry's hand to burst into flames, but it is not that far off... Assuming Harry doesn't lose the hand completely, he will almost certainly have other serious complications, including a high risk for infection and 'contracture' in which resulting scar tissue seriously limits the flexibility and movement of the hand, rendering it less than 100 percent useful. Kevin has moved from 'defending his house' into sheer malice, in my opinion." 

Please follow Science on Twitter and Facebook.

In 2012, the funding pendulum swung away from consumer Internet companies and back toward startups that serve businesses—enterprise technology, as it's known in the business.

The focus will stay there in 2013, say four venture capitalists from Kleiner Perkins Caufield Byers, the storied firm that backed Amazon and Google, among other world-changing companies. But that's only as long as startups can tap into some crucial shifts in what businesses are spending moeny on.

KP made investments in almost 20 new enterprise companies in 2011 and 2012, to the tune of more than $300 million. As with other tech investors, the emphasis has been on companies working in the areas of cloud, big data, software-as-a-service, mobile, security, and networking. The portfolio includes investment in companies like Nebula, Jive, Datameer, PuppetLabs, Egnyte, Aerohive, AppDynamics, Clearstory.

We gathered four partners together to tell us what's hot and what's not in the enterprise startup world and where they see their money going in the upcoming year. They are:

• Security guru Ted Schlein

• Former Amazon Web Services exec Ray Bradford

• Mobile app guru Matt Murphy

• Twitter's former head of engineering Mike Abbott

How will enterprise startups fare with funding in 2013?

Ted Schlein: Venture funds are going to continue to allocate more to the enterprise space than they have, if we are an indication of where venture funds are going.

In the last two and half years or so, we've probably invested close to $300 million or more across 20-something companies.

That is up. I wouldn't say it's up significantly but it's certainly higher than it was in previous years. 

That coupled with the few major trends in the area of cloud,  mobile, big data all hitting at the same time, will lead to greater investments.

Beyond Apple and Android, is there room for a third smartphone player?

Matt Murphy: You've got Android and iOS as the kings and BlackBerry and Symbian disappearing — no one really cares about them.

But I do think you'll start to see Windows get a wedge into the market. I'm not predicting it will be huge, but I think they'll be a player. Certainly carriers will distribute devices and there will be enterprise interest.

So I think you'll see them emerge in 2013 from not-on-the-map to 10%–15% market share.

Enterprise will be important to all of them. Windows will be more successful in the enterprise than 10%–15% but maybe not much more given [the bring-your-own-device trend] that individuals are making those decisions.

In 2012, big data was a big buzzword—which meant CIOs had to learn to speak Hadoop, NoSQL, and social media. What's next?

Ray Bradford: Enterprises all get they need to have a big-data strategy as a core technology. 

They know they need Hadoop, but don't know how to deploy it and to get value out of it. So there's an opportunity in things that make it easy to deploy without a lot of expertise in-house because there's a big talent shortage on these kinds of new technologies. We're believers in that with our investment in Clearstory.

An interesting trend is more in-memory analytics. There's a lot of large, commercial proprietary vendors like SAP with Hana and now there's a lot popping in the open source communities like Shark and Spark.

Please follow SAI: Enterprise on Twitter and Facebook.