There are certain traits that the world’s most successful people share. Successful individuals are creative and hardworking. They pay attention to details and are highly sociable creatures. But there is another skill that I am willing to bet that they possess.

Last month, our Congress passed a bill with significant ramifications for the future of our country, and almost no one has heard of it. In order to understand what it does, we need to go back a few years to the big bank bailout. A key reason banks were failing was that they were making increasingly risky maneuvers with their customers’ money.

This week, it came to light that Earl Sampson, a convenience store worker, had been stopped and questioned by police officers in Miami Gardens, Fla., more than 250 times over the past four years and was arrested following more than a fifth of those stops. Even more egregious, he was also arrested for trespassing while inside his place of work more than 10 times.

The Affordable Care Act isn’t turning out well. Since Oct. 1, the initial day of the ACA’s rollout, the website Healthcare.gov has been rife with technical problems, and only about 50,000 people have signed up for the exchanges (a small proportion of the number the Obama administration was hoping for).

Eight days ago, on Nov. 13, the always controversial website WikiLeaks leaked government documents concerning the Intellectual Property Rights Chapter of the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement.

Last Wednesday, the New York City Council voted by overwhelming majority to increase the smoking age in the city to 21. This was done as part of an initiative to stop the smoking epidemic and to increase health among the citizens of New York. But the problem of tobacco use cannot be stopped by something as crude as a ban.

“Washington University in St. Louis is a national leader in sustainability, a core priority that runs through all aspects of our campus community, our operations and our work as a leading research and teaching institution.” These are the words that greet me when I click on “Energy, Environment & Sustainability,” one of the most prominent tabs on the wustl.

The dawn of the 21st century has marked a key moment in the development of China’s role in global affairs as it begins to increase its global status and power. Outlandish and irrational myths, however, have surfaced about China’s growth due to a largely uniformed constituency.

It was a chilly, lethargic morning. There I stood, facing an enemy I knew I couldn’t beat: a dirty trash can. I could tell it hadn’t been cleaned in weeks, possibly months. Layers upon layers of filth covered both the inside and outside of the 3-foot tall gray cylinder.

The worst part of the government shutdown was something that very few people even knew was happening. While Congress bickered and CNN displayed a flashy countdown, thousands of people were sent home from their government jobs. A number of these people belonged to NASA, and while they sat at home, twiddling their thumbs, the Curiosity rover sat on the surface of Mars.