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Each year Transparency International releases its Corruption Perception Index, and this year, like most, the Scandinavian countries and New Zealand were at one end of the spectrum as the least-corrupt nations in the world.

In the category of most-corrupt, there was a three-way tie: Afghanistan, North Korea and Somalia.

The index by the watchdog group measures the perception of corruption in a country's public sector. It ranks nations on a scale from 0 (highly corrupt) to 100 (squeaky clean). Two-thirds of the 177 countries on the list scored below 50.

The U.S. was among the least corrupt at No. 19 on the list, with a score of 73.

Other takeaways:

— Corruption in Spain, reeling from the effects of the economic crisis, worsened. It dropped six points to 59, and was 40th on the list. Greece, by contrast, was 80th, with a score of 40 — an improvement over its score last year. Reuters reports:

"Spain's five-year economic slump, which has forced it to adopt tight austerity laws, exposed how cozy relations between politicians and construction magnates fed a disastrous housing bubble. The former treasurer of the governing People's Party (PP) told a judge that he had channeled cash donations from construction magnates into leaders' pockets, and he was found to have 48 million euros in Swiss bank accounts. The king's son-in-law, Inaki Urdangarin, was also charged this year with embezzling six million euros in public funds."

Imagine how Robbie Travis felt. He waits tables at Libertine, a high-end restaurant just outside St. Louis, and his ex insisted on coming in just a few days after they'd broken up.

Like everyone else, waiters and waitresses have to show up for work on days they'd rather be anywhere else. But it's especially tough to shrug off a bad mood in a job where people expect you to greet them gladly.

"You have to fake it a little bit," Travis says. "That's what pays the bills."

When I've asked servers lately how they were doing, the answers ranged from "hanging in there" to "excellent — no, great!" No one has come out and said they were lousy.

But when I asked what it's like to have to wait on people when they've been distracted by bad news, every one of them had a story.

"I've had plenty of bad days. I've had deaths in the family," says Emily Nevius, a waitress at Longfellow Grill in Minneapolis. "But it's work and you put your work face on."

Similarly, Laura Abusager, who has waited tables in Bloomington, Ill., for the past five years, says she tries to put on a "poker face" when she's dealing with issues in the rest of her life. She feels like her work doesn't suffer, but she says her coworkers can always tell when things are going wrong at home or in relationships.

The customers, too. "I feel like I get better tips when I'm in a good mood," Abusager says, "and when I'm in a bad mood, it's like they can sense it."

Restaurant owners and managers know servers who can be fun and flirty or at least chatty and attentive not only get better tips, but add to the quality of the dining out experience in a way that's crucial to the bottom line. (Indeed, psychological research supports the idea that friendlier waiters get better tips.)

Except for real regulars, customers don't know about their waiter's life and don't want to know about it, says Meredith Berkowitz, Travis' coworker at Libertine.

"We do meetings here where they tell us to leave our problems at home," says Davee Crain, a waiter at Geno's East pizzeria in Chicago.

Performance matters. There's an old cliche about people who wait tables all being aspiring actors, but it's clear that acting is a big part of their day jobs.

"It's an acting job," Crain says. "It's a mask."

Waiters who are having a really bad day can always borrow a trick from Ann Patchett.

"Even if you make mistakes — you forget to put in their orders or your put in the wrong order or you drop their drinks on their heads, which I did once — you can tell them it's your first day," the novelist told a St. Louis audience during her current book tour. "Even if you've been doing it a long time, if you tell them it's your first day, they'll give you a 50 percent tip."

The term Cyber Monday wasn't established until 2005, but online shopping was popular even in the early days of the Internet.

Analysts questioned how business models would have to change. Retail stores came up with new partnerships to help lure buyers into an online shopping world. A little company called Amazon helped us feel comfortable buying items online. And the simple perk of "free shipping" tried to make a dent in holiday sales.

These five stories on online shopping and Cyber Monday are taken from NPR's archives. They were curated by Janel Kinlaw on our Tumblr page.

It's trial balloon season in presidential politics.

Not for the headline-devouring, top-tier prospects like Hillary Clinton and Chris Christie, but rather for the long shots and lesser-knowns who are floating their names for 2016.

On Sunday, former Montana Democratic Gov. Brian Schweitzer reiterated his interest in a White House run.

"I'll just say that there's around 100 counties in Iowa, and on my bucket list is to try to and make it to all the counties in Iowa someday," Schweitzer said on MSNBC, in a flattering reference to the state that hosts the first presidential caucuses.

Two Vermont liberals have signaled a similar interest. One of them, Sen. Bernie Sanders, an independent and self-described socialist, recently said he's open to a presidential bid if no other progressive candidate steps up.

"Under normal times, it's fine, you have a moderate Democrat running, a moderate Republican running," Sanders told the Burlington Free Press. "These are not normal times. The United States right now is in the middle of a severe crisis and you have to call it what it is."

Former Vermont Democratic Gov. Howard Dean, who ran for president in 2004, told Buzzfeed last week that people have tried to persuade him to take another shot in 2016.

"We'll see. As I say, you never say never in politics," he said.

A few former Republican presidential candidates are also openly considering another run — or hoping to remain in the presidential spotlight.

Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum said last week that he will make a decision about launching a second bid for the presidency next year. He added that the GOP needs to nominate an "authentic conservative" in 2016 who can "lay out a positive vision for America based on the principles that made our country great" — presumably someone like him.

A month earlier, it was former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee who insisted he is still in the mix: The 2008 GOP presidential candidate told the Christian Broadcasting Network he is "absolutely" thinking about running for the White House again.

It's not just those with a presidential campaign under their belt who've sought to float themselves as prospective 2016 candidates.

After visiting the Iowa State Fair in August, former Massachusetts Sen. Scott Brown said he was "curious" about pursuing a presidential bid "if there's room for a bipartisan problem solver" in the race. He's also considering running for the U.S. Senate again in 2014, but in New Hampshire.

Then there's former GOP Florida Rep. Allen West, who like Brown lost his bid for re-election last year. The one-term ex-congressman said in October he is looking at running for several different offices down the road, including the presidency.

Even real estate mogul Donald Trump and Jesse Ventura, a former professional wrestler and governor of Minnesota, have raised the possibility of running for president next time around.

All of these candidates have one thing in common: They aren't frequently mentioned on lists of the top 2016 contenders.

Dante Scala, a political science professor at the University of New Hampshire, said many of these potential candidates are after one thing: free publicity.

"Politicians and public figures are taking advantage of the vacuum in presidential electoral politics right now," Scala said. "When there's a name floated, and if they're at all prominent, it will get some coverage."

As for those on opposing ends of the political spectrum, like Sanders and Santorum, declaring an interest in running for president can also be a way to influence the conversation within their respective parties.

"They want to make sure their agenda gets some publicity," Scala said. "It is marketing to some degree."