Southern States Are the Happiest

Southern States Are the Happiest:

"New York ranked dead last at number 51"

While likely dominated by NYC, the results are still surprising given they showed such a weak link with income at least at first glance.

Bathroom scale tweets your weight - Holy Kaw!

Talk about a Nudge (or should I say a Pudge?)

Bathroom scale tweets your weight - Holy Kaw!:

"...motivation to back away from the gingerbread men and brandy-spiked eggnog this food-filled holiday season? How about public humiliation? A French company developed a wifi-equipped bathroom scale that sends out your weight and body fat info directly to your blog, iPhone and Twitter account."

Everything you always wanted to know about: WPA - Big League Stew - MLB Blog - Yahoo! Sports

Everything you always wanted to know about: WPA - Big League Stew - MLB Blog - Yahoo! Sports:

"What it stands for: Win Probability Added. As Hardball Times's Dave Studeman has written, it's gone by a lot of different names. 'Player Win Averages,' 'Player Game Percentage,' 'Win Expectancy,' 'Player's Win Value,' etc. But WPA is the the most common name for it these days.

How they calculate WPA: Though the arithmetic can be a mother, Win Probability Added is one of the easiest of all the advanced stats to explain. Put simply, it's a measure of how much any game event contributes to the eventual outcome of the game, win or loss."

BBC News - Pro-Iranian hackers hit Twitter and opposition websites

BBC News - Pro-Iranian hackers hit Twitter and opposition websites:

"Reporting on the hack, technology website techcruch.com recommended that Twitter users who have the same password for other websites like Facebook or their email should change them.

Twitter posted a blog on their website saying the micro-blogging service had been restored an hour and a quarter after the hack was first noticed.

The post said the hackers had gained access to the inner workings of the site and redirected visitors to their own website"

21 Things That Became Obsolete This Decade

21 Things That Became Obsolete This Decade

I miss CDs and Maps...and maybe newspapers (but that is not listed).

Personalities accurately judged by physical appearance alone

So you can judge a book by its cover?

Personalities accurately judged by physical appearance alone:

"Observers were able to accurately judge some aspects of a stranger's personality from looking at photographs, according to a study in the current issue of Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin (PSBP), the official monthly journal of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology. Self-esteem, ratings of extraversion and religiosity were correctly judged from physical appearance."

YouTube - Applying Economics to American History

YouTube - Applying Economics to American History: "Presented by Thomas E. Woods, Jr. at the 'Economics for High School Students' seminar. Recorded at the Mises Institute in Auburn, Alabama; 20 November 2009."

history podcast directory, Historical podcast, Alexander the great, Napoleon - ABRAHAM LINCOLN

history podcast directory, Historical podcast, Alexander the great, Napoleon - ABRAHAM LINCOLN:

"On this page you can find historical podcasts about Abraham Lincoln"

Brain Doctor has stroke and lives to tell.

I bought the book about a month ago, but confess I have not yet read it, after watching this, it just moved up my "to read" list!

From Denny Coates' blog:
http://www.buildingpersonalstrength.com/2009/12/jill-bolte-taylors-stroke-of-insight.html:

"I urge you to listen to Dr. Taylor's personal account of what it feels like to have a stroke,. Because she's a brain scientist, you'll probably never again hear a story quite like hers. Her presentation was for TED, which shares videos of enlightening speakers online, so the talk lasts about 20 minutes. If you take the time to watch it all the way through, you'll be glad you did."

Deloitte 2009 Education Survey | Barry Salzberg | Secondary Education Reform

It is done by a Big Four accounting firm, but interesting:

Deloitte 2009 Education Survey | Barry Salzberg | Secondary Education Reform:

"The results revealed a major disconnect on the role of high school and that the current education system does not do enough to encourage teachers and administrators to take a long-term view of student achievement.

When asked to identify the most important mission of high school, only nine percent of teachers chose preparing students for college. But low-income parents and students overwhelmingly rank preparing students for college as the most important purpose of high school."

No PM tobacco contracts for Georgia, Florida

No PM tobacco contracts for Georgia, Florida:

"Growers were informed of the decision by Philip Morris USA to “no longer offer contracts for the purchase of tobacco in Georgia after the 2009 season.”"

No PM tobacco contracts for Georgia, Florida

No PM tobacco contracts for Georgia, Florida:

"Growers were informed of the decision by Philip Morris USA to “no longer offer contracts for the purchase of tobacco in Georgia after the 2009 season.”"

USC Draws Inspiration From No. 1 Fan - ESPN Video - ESPN

USC Draws Inspiration From No. 1 Fan - ESPN Video - ESPN:

"USC fan Jake Olson, who lost his eyesight to cancer, has become an inspirational figure for the USC football team"

YouTube - Images from The Fourth Part of the World

YouTube - Images from The Fourth Part of the World

Watch the first ~1:45 if nothing else! Wow. Rest fascinating/interesting too!!

Resurgence • Article - SIESTA

Resurgence • Article - SIESTA:

"Dali was a big fan....of sitting in a comfortable armchair and letting an arm fall down one side. The hand of the fallen arm must have a key in it (heavy, iron, old-fashioned kind) and under this hand must lie a china plate. When a delicious loss of consciousness occurs the hand drops the key which then hits the plate briefly, cracking the silence enough to wake the practitioner, who has been able to enjoy for a few seconds the benefit of siesta."

Book TV

One of my favorite TC channels/Shows. Give it a try.

Podcasts - Book TV:

"Book TV's After Words features the author of a recently published hardback non-fiction book interviewed by a guest host with some knowledge, background, or connection to the subject matter of the book. After Words airs on Book TV every Sunday, at 6pm ET."

Other favorite channels? Anything showing sports, History Channel, Discovery, and Bloomberg.

Muscle confusion: Hey biceps, you'll never guess what's next - The Globe and Mail

Does it work or not? Research is mixed.

Muscle confusion: Hey biceps, you'll never guess what's next - The Globe and Mail:

There's plenty of science to support muscle confusion's claims, says Matt Heath, a neuroscientist in the school of kinesiology at the University of Western Ontario.

“It's very, very well established in the cognitive sciences, this idea that practice” he says. “It's not just about muscle strength when you're lifting a weight. It's about the strategy you employ in order to recruit all the different … motor neurons that ultimately go on to fire off and tell the muscle to contract. You tell those motor neurons more efficiently how to fire and that's just communicated to the muscle, and so therefore the muscle can produce more force allowing you to lift more weight.”"

and on the other side:

"You probably have to do the same thing over and over again for probably six to eight weeks before you actually adapt really well to that fitness regimen,” says Robert Vigars, a professor of sports biomechanics at the University of Western Ontario. “If I keep mixing up my routines, so much that I'm only blitzing one particular muscle group periodically, that muscle group's not going to develop that much.”"

Can Ants Count? : NPR

Can Ants Count? : NPR:

"It turns out that all the ants had walked the same number of steps, but because their gaits had been changed (the stilty ants, like Monty Python creatures, walked with giant steps; the stumpy ants walked in baby steps) they went exactly the distances you'd predict if their brains counted the number of steps out to the food and then reversed direction and counted the same number of steps back. In other words, all the ants counted the same number of steps back!

Does that mean ants have something like pedometers that do something like counting?

Says professor James Gould of Princeton, commenting on the experiment: 'These animals are fooled exactly the way you'd expect if they were counting steps.'"

The Roving Runner: Running in the Dark - Well Blog - NYTimes.com

The Roving Runner: Running in the Dark - Well Blog - NYTimes.com:

"Of all the physical changes in New York City over recent decades, few are as dramatic as the transformation of the lower Hudson. Once lined with rotting piers and a crumbling elevated highway, the shoreline is now home to Hudson River Park, a five-mile strip of parkland from the Battery to 59th Street.

The park is only about halfway done, with each section opening as it’s completed, so this year’s construction site is next year’s oasis. (To see what the Greenwich Village section looked like in the mid-1990s, go to the two-minute point in this Alanis Morissette video. Ms. Morissette, by the way, ran two marathons this fall, the Bizz Johnson Trail Marathon in Susanville, Calif., and then New York three weeks later.)"

SSRN-Ultimate 100M World Records through Extreme-Value Theory by John H. J. Einmahl, Sander Smeets

SSRN-Ultimate 100M World Records through Extreme-Value Theory by John H. J. Einmahl, Sander Smeets:

"Using the thus obtained estimate for the extreme-value index, the right endpoint of the speed distribution is estimated. The corresponding time can be interpreted as the estimated ultimate world record: the best possible time that could be run in the near future. We find 9.51 seconds for the 100m men and 10.33 seconds for the women.

"

Real-life rolling stones creep across Death Valley in California - Telegraph

Real-life rolling stones creep across Death Valley in California - Telegraph:

"The rocks...move unaided in bizarre straight line patterns across the ultra-flat surface of the valley.

Scientists believe the pebbly phenomenon is caused by a melting-pot of specific weather conditions.

Studies suggest a combination of 90mph winds, ice formations at night and thin layers of wet clay on the surface of the desert all combine to push them along"

Turning history into art | Charlottesville Daily Progress

Turning history into art | Charlottesville Daily Progress:

"The tulip poplar was considered to be an original tree to Monticello, although the base of the tree was hollow so dating could not be done. Over the years, arborists worked to preserve the tree by cabling it to other large trees.

But once it was determined the tree had to come down, Monticello officials decided to preserve what they could of it. They kept part of the tree to be displayed at a later time and gave the rest of it out to be used to make various items."

Contact lenses to get built-in virtual graphics - tech - 12 November 2009 - New Scientist

Contact lenses to get built-in virtual graphics - tech - 12 November 2009 - New Scientist:

"A contact lens that harvests radio waves to power an LED is paving the way for a new kind of display. The lens is a prototype of a device that could display information beamed from a mobile device.

Realising that display size is increasingly a constraint in mobile devices, Babak Parviz at the University of Washington, in Seattle, hit on the idea of projecting images into the eye from a contact lens."

WOW!!!

YouTube - Feisty Play Mars BYU vs. New Mexico Womens Soccer

WOW. Sad that anyone could "lose it" like this.
YouTube - Feisty Play Mars BYU vs. New Mexico Womens Soccer: "BYU advances in MWC tournament despite multiple dirty plays from New Mexico's Elizabeth Lambert.
BYU advances in MWC tournament despite multiple dirty plays from New Mexico's Elizabeth Lambert."

Will the World End in 2012? - ABC News

ABC News: Will the World End in 2012? - ABC News:

"Thousands of people worldwide seem to be preparing, in one way or another, for the end of days in 2012. Survival groups exist in Europe, Canada and the United States. A simple Google search for '2012' and 'the end of the world' brings up nearly 300,000 hits. And the video-sharing Web site YouTube hosts more than 65,000 clips informing and warning viewers about their fate in 2012."

The guy quit his job over this. Well hats off to him. I sure hope (and think) he is wrong, but I guess time will tell.

Op-Ed Columnist - Trucks, Trains and Trees - NYTimes.com

Op-Ed Columnist - Trucks, Trains and Trees - NYTimes.com:

"To save an ecosystem of nature, you need an ecosystem of markets and governance.

“You need a new model of economic development — one that is based on raising people’s standards of living by maintaining their natural capital, not just by converting that natural capital to ranching or industrial farming or logging,” said José María Silva, vice president for South America of Conservation International.

Right now people protecting the rainforest are paid a pittance — compared with those who strip it — even though we now know that the rainforest provides everything from keeping CO2 out of the atmosphere to maintaining the flow of freshwater into rivers."

Appalachian Trail | National Geographic Channel

Appalachian Trail | National Geographic Channel:

"The 2,175 mile journey along the Appalachian Trail offers 'the best of humanity, but also the best in nature'."

New York City Election Results - The Vote for Mayor, Block by Block - Interactive Graphic - NYTimes.com

New York City Election Results - The Vote for Mayor, Block by Block - Interactive Graphic - NYTimes.com:

"Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg won re-election Tuesday, but voters were less enthusiastic about him than the last time he ran in 2005. The mayor did well in high-income white areas of Manhattan and Queens, and also in election districts dominated by immigrants, like Flushing and Brighton Beach. But his vote fell sharply in black
neighborhoods, especially southeast Queens, where the black middle class has been hard-hit by foreclosure."

Fascinating, but how do they have this detailed of data? If I live on one block and vote across the street, how do they know? Clearly section by section (by polling stations) makes sense, but block by block?

Volunteering for Individuals and Society | Newsletter

Volunteering for Individuals and Society | Newsletter: "Volunteering for Individuals and Society"

YouTube - Making Brain Cells: ScienCentral News Video

uh, I am in trouble! (for those of you who do not know me, I am bald)

YouTube - Making Brain Cells: ScienCentral News Video: "Scientists have announced they've found a way to coax adult hair follicle stem cells into becoming brain cells. The research means these potentially precious cells may be everywhere there's hair."

Cellphone Users Risk Brain Tumors: Study -- InformationWeek

Cellphone Users Risk Brain Tumors: Study -- InformationWeek:

"The study, which surveyed the cell phone habits of 12,8000 people in 13 countries, found a 'significantly increased risk' of brain tumors among people who had used cell phones for 10 years or longer, Elisabeth Cardis, the head of the study told the Telegraph."

Howard refused to eat away career - MLB - Yahoo! Sports

Howard refused to eat away career - MLB - Yahoo! Sports:

"In early January, he went to Tampa for a full-bore evaluation: a biomechanical assessment, a body-composition analysis, joint manipulation, conditioning tests and a nutritional breakdown. In the last category, Howard failed spectacularly. His heft wasn’t because he was lazy and didn’t work out. He just ate like any 29-year-old bachelor: poorly.

So he stayed in Tampa until spring training. He let the facility cook his meals. He ate organic for the first time. He cut out fat. He feasted on lean meats and whole grains. He ate chicken covered with an almond crust instead of bread. It was a million miles from Subway.

“I’m trying to play as long as I can,” Howard said. “To do that, I need to be in shape. I can’t be getting fat. It won’t work that way. And if I don’t start now, then by the time I’m supposed to go downhill, I will. I want to be able to maintain this shape. If I tackle it now, stay in front of it, I can beat it.”"

World Series Forecast « mathletics

World Series Forecast « mathletics:

"Using a logistic regression model and adjusting for the fact that Yankees and Phillies will not use some of their regular season pitchers the Yankees have a 65% chance to win series and Phillies a 35% chance. Here are more details:"

H1N1's Links to Pneumonia Appear Clearer - CBS News

H1N1's Links to Pneumonia Appear Clearer - CBS News:

"Experts stress that most people who get the H1N1 virus either never get sick or recover easily. But some young adults, possibly especially women, are falling seriously ill at an unexpectedly rapid pace and are showing up in intensive care units and dying in unusually high numbers, they say.

Although why a minority of patients become so sick remains a mystery, new research indicates that H1N1 is different from typical seasonal flu viruses in crucial ways -- most notably in its ability to penetrate deep into the lungs and cause viral pneumonia."

BBC NEWS | Science & Environment | What happened to global warming?

BBC NEWS | Science & Environment | What happened to global warming?:

"...so too might that fact that the warmest year recorded globally was not in 2008 or 2007, but in 1998.

But it is true. For the last 11 years we have not observed any increase in global temperatures.

And our climate models did not forecast it, even though man-made carbon dioxide, the gas thought to be responsible for warming our planet, has continued to rise."

Donn Esmonde: Bills are run like General Motors was : Donn Esmonde : The Buffalo News

Donn Esmonde: Bills are run like General Motors was : Donn Esmonde : The Buffalo News:

"Despite a salary cap and shared revenue that largely level the playing field among 32 NFL teams, Buffalo has not made the playoffs in nine seasons. It has not won a playoff game since Bill Clinton’s first term. It has, in corporate terminology, consistently underperformed.

“Other teams obviously are doing a better job of allocating capital to the right people and in replenishing the talent pool,” Ogorek said."

Shhh, I’m Trying to Listen to My Heartbeat Here

Shhh, I’m Trying to Listen to My Heartbeat Here:

"...new study showing that people more aware of their own heartbeat make better risk decisions:

Enhanced cardiac perception is associated with benefits in decision-making"

The Fleeting Benefits of Marathon Running - WSJ.com

The Fleeting Benefits of Marathon Running - WSJ.com:

"Fitness and dietary experts say marathons increasingly are the exercise equivalent of crash diets, with similarly disappointing results. There's no evidence that running a marathon leads to lasting weight loss, marathon researchers say. And it's unknown how often such runs initiate or perpetuate a lifetime of steady exercise. Indeed, in a long-term fitness sense, marathons are really sprints; the true marathon is the exercise program that lasts for decades, fitness experts say."

Surprising facts about national parks | Green Environment News

Surprising facts about national parks | Green Environment News:

"Our national parks have been around for more than a century, but there is still much to learn. Below are just a few surprising facts about some of the most spectacular spots in the U.S."

Next book I am definitely getting!

mathletics:

"For over 40 years baseball experts have realized that when an average batter is up, bunting is a bad idea....

Suppose there is a runner on first on none out. How many runs does an average MLB team score in an inning is this situation? The answer is 0.93 runs. Now let’s bunt and suppose the bunt succeeds. Now we have a runner on second base and one out. How many runs does an average major league team score in an inning with this situation? The answer is 0.71 runs. Therefore the “success” of the bunt has cost our team ) 0.22 runs. This should make it clear why the bunt is usually a bad idea.

Of course, if the batter is a poor hitter (like a pitcher) the bunt might make sense or if the score is tied and our goal is to simply score a single run the bunt might be a good idea.

"

Swine Flu Strikes Pandemic Expert Laurie Garrett | Newsweek Health | Newsweek.com

Swine Flu Strikes Pandemic Expert Laurie Garrett | Newsweek Health | Newsweek.com:

"According to the World Health Organization, about 1 billion doses of H1N1 vaccine have been ordered worldwide. But more than 6½ billion people live on Earth. From the get-go, some 85 percent of the world's population will be excluded from what, were this a virulent influenza, would be the primary life-sparing medicine."

SU - Swine Flu Vaccine Production Hits Snags - NPR Health Blog : NPR

SU - Swine Flu Vaccine Production Hits Snags - NPR Health Blog : NPR:

"The crash program to make vaccine against the pandemic strain will produce 'substantially less' than the 4.9 billion doses that had been expected by the World Health Organization....The bottom line: weekly production of swine flu will be less than 94 million doses, Reuters reports."

So I guess we should stress the "substantially less"

Next: An Internet Revolution in Higher Education - BusinessWeek

Next: An Internet Revolution in Higher Education - BusinessWeek:

"McNealy made it clear that possibilities in open-source education go far beyond textbooks. Before long, he claimed, the whole bloated, expensive, lecture-based higher education system will face the first challenge to its very existence: open-source, online higher education that costs a fraction of four years at Harvard—but is good enough for employers who want a college graduate. 'Universities will be forced to decide what they are. You know, are they going to be football teams with libraries attached?' McNealy asked. 'That's what a lot of them are now.'"

Mind - Sleep May Be Nature’s Time Management Tool - NYTimes.com

Mind - Sleep May Be Nature’s Time Management Tool - NYTimes.com:

"...according to a new paper in the August issue of the journal Nature Reviews Neuroscience. In the paper, Jerome Siegel, a professor of psychiatry at the University of California, Los Angeles, argues that sleep evolved to optimize animals’ use of time, keeping them safe and hidden when the hunting, fishing or scavenging was scarce and perhaps risky. In that view, differences in sleep quality, up to and including periods of insomnia, need not be seen as problems but as adaptations to the demands of the environment."

Fascinating stuff. I always enjoy it when I read things that present new looks at the same old thing.

Yoga Classes Help Chronic Lower Back Pain - ABC News

Yoga Classes Help Chronic Lower Back Pain - ABC News:

"Yoga classes helped people with chronic lower back pain improve their mood and ability to function, and it eased their pain more than conventional treatment alone, according to a new study funded by the National Institutes of Health."

New York Citys Wild Past Life - The Picture Show Blog : NPR

New York Citys Wild Past Life - The Picture Show Blog : NPR:

"Although Hudson will never see today's Manhattan, we can now get an idea of what he saw that September of 1609 -- thanks to The Manhatta Project (no, there's no N), the brainchild of ecologist Eric Sanderson. His project, featured in National Geographic's September issue, shows New York like we've never seen it before: rural enough to make any Manhattanite shudder."

Mosquito Bites: The Real Reason Some People Are Immune - WSJ.com

Mosquito Bites: The Real Reason Some People Are Immune - WSJ.com:

"...scientists at Rothamsted Research in the U.K. have been making headway at understanding why some people can end up with dozens of bites after a backyard barbecue, while others remain unscathed. The researchers have identified a handful of the body's chemical odors—some of which may be related to stress—that are present in significantly larger concentrations in people that the bugs are happier to leave alone"

How the Mets' season broke down and fell apart

How the Mets' season broke down and fell apart:

"The Mets have had 19 players on the DL this season (tied for the most in the majors with the Reds) and the baker's dozen now on the list is costing them roughly $87 million. That staggering sum alone is more than the entire payroll of 16 teams

"

Why Rich People Really Aren’t Happier | MintLife Blog | Personal Finance News & Advice

Why Rich People Really Aren’t Happier | MintLife Blog | Personal Finance News & Advice:

"The ability to imagine — to try to predict our future state of mind — is what sets us apart from less-evolved species. It’s also the very thing that stunts our shot at true happiness.

We assume that a sportier car, a bigger house, a better-paying job, or that dress will bring us joy because, well, they did in the past, right?

Not really, says Daniel Gilbert, a Harvard psychology professor and the author of Stumbling on Happiness. “Research reveals that memory is less like a collection of photographs than it is like a collection of impressionist paintings rendered by an artist who takes considerable license with his subject,” Gilbert writes. We forget that the new-car high deflated well before our first trip to the mechanic, and the raise came with stressful late nights at the office and a steeper tax tab."

Phys Ed: Does Exercise Reduce Your Cancer Risk? - Well Blog - NYTimes.com

Phys Ed: Does Exercise Reduce Your Cancer Risk? - Well Blog - NYTimes.com:

"...after controlling for cigarette smoking, fiber and fat intake, age, and other variables, the most physically active men were the least likely to develop cancer, particularly of the gastrointestinal tract or the lung. Even more striking, the intensity of the exercise was key. The more arduous it was, the more protective it proved. Jogging was the most strenuous activity studied, fishing among the least. The men who jogged or otherwise exercised fairly intensely for at least 30 minutes a day had “a 50 percent reduction in the risk of dying prematurely from cancer,” says Sudhir Kurl, medical director of the School of Public Health and Clinical Nutrition at the University of Kuopio in Finland and one of the study’s authors"

Basics - Brain Is a Co-Conspirator in a Vicious Stress Loop - NYTimes.com

Basics - Brain Is a Co-Conspirator in a Vicious Stress Loop - NYTimes.com:

"In other words, the rodents were now cognitively predisposed to keep doing the same things over and over, to run laps in the same dead-ended rat race rather than seek a pipeline to greener sewers. “Behaviors become habitual faster in stressed animals than in the controls, and worse, the stressed animals can’t shift back to goal-directed behaviors when that would be the better approach,” Dr. Sousa said. “I call this a vicious circle.”"

Simoleon Sense » Blog Archive » Asset Mispricing Due to Cognitive Dissonance

Simoleon Sense » Blog Archive » Asset Mispricing Due to Cognitive Dissonance:

"My favorite concept from this paper: “To alleviate cognitive dissonance, investors endogenously choose to ignore information that conflicts too much with their ex ante expectations.”"

We see what we want to see.

IBDeditorials.com: Editorials, Political Cartoons, and Polls from Investor's Business Daily -- Shovel-Ready Health Care

Wow, I did not realize how much difference there is!

IBDeditorials.com: Editorials, Political Cartoons, and Polls from Investor's Business Daily -- Shovel-Ready Health Care:

"...in the United Kingdom, where the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence ruled against the use of two drugs, Lapatinib and Sutent, that prolong the life of those with certain forms of breast and stomach cancer. It's no surprise, then, to discover that while breast cancer in America has a 25% mortality rate, in Britain it's almost double at 46%. Prostate cancer is fatal to 19% of American men who get it. In Britain, it kills 57% of those it strikes.

The health care bureaucracy is just as ugly in North America. Sally Pipes, a Canadian who heads the Pacific Research Institute, wrote in these pages on July 2 that in 2008, 'the average Canadian waited 17.3 weeks from the time his general practitioner referred him to a specialist until he actually received treatment.'"

Beware: Happiness is Contagious | Psychology Today

Beware: Happiness is Contagious | Psychology Today:

"Nicholas Christakis,... a physician and sociologist at Harvard University....he suggests that happiness, like the flu, can spread from person to person. When people who are close to us, both in terms of social ties (friends or relatives) and physical proximity, become happier, we do too. For example, when a person who lives within a mile of a good friend becomes happier, the probability that this person's good friend will also become happier increases 15%. More surprising is that the effect can transcend direct links and reach a third degree of separation: when a friend of a friend becomes happier, we become happier, even when we don't know that third person directly."

So smile. Or else! ;)

Your tools are as good as you think they are

Your tools are as good as you think they are:

"More important than the tools themselves is the belief in their effectiveness, says leading management specialist Prof. Dov Eden of TAU's Faculty of Management. His advice may spare a vulnerable company the costs of expensive technology upgrades in these tough economic times or help companies smoothly transition through mergers. His study will soon be published in the Journal of Management."

MetsBlog.com: things don't look good

MetsBlog.com:

"According to Cool Standings, a team will likely need 90 wins to take the National League Wild Card this season.

The Mets must go 40–18 in their next 58 games to win 90 games.

Cool Standings determines there is less than a one-percent chance the Mets win the Wild Card, based on pace, schedule, etc…"

msnbc.com:Paralyzed swimmer goes for gold

msnbc.com:Paralyzed swimmer goes for gold

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

StumbleUpon WebToolbar - Florida Looks at New Ideas for Battling Hurricanes - TIME

StumbleUpon WebToolbar - Florida Looks at New Ideas for Battling Hurricanes - TIME:

"Since hurricanes gather strength over tropical waters such as the Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico, cooling them would weaken the storms before they made landfall. The plan calls for huge ocean-going tubs that would use waves and turbines to push down the hotter surface water while sucking up the cooler water from below."

U.S. ‘Clunkers’ Program Said to Be Out of Money (Update1) - Bloomberg.com

U.S. ‘Clunkers’ Program Said to Be Out of Money (Update1) - Bloomberg.com:

"July 30 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. government’s $1 billion “cash for clunkers” program is being closed because it is almost out of money six days after it began, a person familiar with the matter said.

The effort to get older, less fuel-efficient vehicles off the road, for which rules were published on July 24, will be halted at midnight New York time tonight because demand proved greater than expected, said the person, a congressional official. Funds are close to running out or have run out, the official said.

....

The program was to continue until Nov. 1 or when the money runs out. Jill Zuckman, a Transportation Department spokeswoman, and Nick Shapiro, a White House spokesman, declined to comment."

Scientists Worry Machines May Outsmart Man - NYTimes.com

Scientists Worry Machines May Outsmart Man - NYTimes.com:

"While the computer scientists agreed that we are a long way from Hal, the computer that took over the spaceship in “2001: A Space Odyssey,” they said there was legitimate concern that technological progress would transform the work force by destroying a widening range of jobs, as well as force humans to learn to live with machines that increasingly copy human behaviors.

The researchers — leading computer scientists, artificial intelligence researchers and roboticists who met at the Asilomar Conference Grounds on Monterey Bay in California — generally discounted the possibility of highly centralized superintelligences and the idea that intelligence might spring spontaneously from the Internet. But they agreed that robots that can kill autonomously are either already here or will be soon."

Bears in the Adirondacks Defeat BearVault Food-Protection Container - NYTimes.com

Smarter than your average bear!

Bears in the Adirondacks Defeat BearVault Food-Protection Container - NYTimes.com:

"The BearVault 500 withstood the ravages of the test bears at the Folsom City Zoo in California. It has stymied mighty grizzlies weighing up to 1,000 pounds in the backcountry of Yellowstone National Park.

But in one corner of the Adirondacks, campers started to notice that the BearVault, a popular canister designed to keep food and other necessities safe, was being compromised.....it became clear that in most cases, the conqueror was a relatively tiny, extremely shy middle-aged black bear named Yellow-Yellow.

....But wildlife officials say that Yellow-Yellow, a 125-pound bear named for two yellow ear tags that help wildlife officials keep tabs on her, has managed to systematically decipher a complex locking system that confounds even some campers.

In the process, she has emerged as a near-mythical creature in the High Peaks region of the northeastern Adirondacks."

Yogi would be so proud!

Teacher, Can We Leave Now? No. - NYTimes.com

Friedman and Mortenson, two of my favorite authors:

Op-Ed Columnist - Teacher, Can We Leave Now? No. - NYTimes.com:

"I watched Greg Mortenson, the famed author of “Three Cups of Tea,” open one of his schools for girls in this remote Afghan village in the Hindu Kush mountains. I must say, after witnessing the delight in the faces of those little Afghan girls crowded three to a desk waiting to learn, I found it very hard to write, “Let’s just get out of here.”

Indeed, Mortenson’s efforts remind us what the essence of the “war on terrorism” is about. It’s about the war of ideas within Islam — a war between religious zealots who glorify martyrdom and want to keep Islam untouched by modernity and isolated from other faiths, with its women disempowered, and those who want to embrace modernity, open Islam to new ideas and empower Muslim women as much as men."

'Lollipop' Device Helps Reveal Shapes To the Blind - washingtonpost.com

Don't even know what to say about this, except WOW! Amazing technology.

'Lollipop' Device Helps Reveal Shapes To the Blind - washingtonpost.com:

Blinded by a roadside bomb in Iraq, technology is helping Marine Cpl. Mike Jernigan to at least make out shapes. From the WashingtonPost.com

"He has been given a special "lollipop," a device that uses his tongue to stimulate his visual cortex and send sensory information to his brain. ...called the intra-oral device, or IOD, the lollipop is an inch-square grid with 625 small round metal pieces. It is connected by a wire to a small camera mounted on a pair of sunglasses and to a hand-held controller about the size of a BlackBerry. The camera sends an image to the lollipop, which transmits a low-voltage pulse to Jernigan's tongue. With training, Jernigan has learned to translate that pulse into pictures. He can now identify the shapes of what is in front of him, even though both of his eyes have been removed.

'It's kind of like Braille that you use with your fingers,' said Amy Nau, an optometrist who is researching the effectiveness of the device at the University of Pittsburgh. 'Instead of symbols, it's a picture, and instead of your fingertips, it's your tongue.'"

BBC NEWS | Europe | Barcelona gets new water supply

Look for more of these in coming years.

BBC NEWS | Europe | Barcelona gets new water supply:

"A drought last year forced Barcelona to import drinking water by tanker. It was one of Spain's driest years on record.

The new plant at El Prat del Llobregat will provide 24% of the water consumed in the Barcelona area, officials say. It went into operation on Monday.

Two more desalination plants are being built in the Catalonia region.

The new plant near Barcelona will provide 200m litres (44m gallons) of drinking water daily for the city's 4.5 million people....The plant cost 230m euros (£198m) to build. It produces 45 litres of drinking water from each 100 litres of salt water. "

Subliminal messaging may not qualify as an Thaler-Sunstein approved nudge, but it can nudge you « Nudge blog

Subliminal messaging may not qualify as an Thaler-Sunstein approved nudge, but it can nudge you « Nudge blog:

"But for those who are just trying to manipulate behavior, there is recent evidence that split-second images will have a stronger impact than 30-second television commercials. Why would that be? Because when a television commercial airs, your guard is up, and you are ready to thwart any advertiser’s persuasive messaging. Split-second images hit you when your guard is down, and are more easily absorbed without you realizing it."

CNN-GPS

Video - CNN -GPS from CNN.com: "Fifteen years after genocide, Rwanda's president speaks about a tragic past and a hopeful future."





Very quickly CNN-GPS is becoming my favorite non-sports show on TV. (Other than Man vs Wild, Family Guy, and Book TV--now not having TV limits how much I watch, but...lol)

YouTube - BJ Jumps out of the Pool

YouTube - BJ Jumps out of the Pool: "3ft Vertical jump out of pool"

Wow.



Reminds me of this by Adrian Wilson.

Favorites on Flickr

About 300 of my favorite pictures I have seen on Flickr

Talk about bad word of mouth!

When I was in school I remember something to the effect of a happy customer may tell 2 people but an unhappy customer will tell 10? (Numbers may be off). Well, this one is going to skew the averages a bit!

Funny stuff however.

YouTube - United Breaks Guitars:

"In the spring of 2008, Sons of Maxwell were traveling to Nebraska for a one-week tour and my Taylor guitar was witnessed being thrown by United Airlines.."

You are what you eat!

wow.

Wow! I guess we better watch what we eat!

Mice Run Faster On High-grade Oil:

"...research, to be presented on the 29th of June 2009 at the Society for Experimental Biology Annual Meeting, has shown that mice fed for two weeks on a diet high in sunflower oil, which contains n-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids, ran on average 0.19m/s faster than mice fed a diet rich in linseed oil, which is high in n-3 fatty acids.

This means that, over a 2 second sprint, a mouse fed on a high n-6 fatty acid diet would have a 0.4m advantage. This represents a 6.3% improvement which equals that achieved in the 100m world records over more than 75 years"

So important that I cross-posted it to several of my blogs.

Does High Self-Esteem Cause Better Performance, Interpersonal Success, Happiness, Or Healthier Lifestyles? | Simoleon Sense

Does High Self-Esteem Cause Better Performance, Interpersonal Success, Happiness, Or Healthier Lifestyles? | Simoleon Sense:

"Overall, the benefits of high self-esteem fall into two categories:enhanced initiative and pleasant feelings. We have not found evidence that boosting self-esteem (by therapeutic interventions or school programs) causes benefits. Our findings do not support continued widespread efforts to boost self esteem in the hope that it will by itself foster improved outcomes. In view of the heterogeneity of high self-esteem, indiscriminate praise might just as easily promote narcissism, with its less desirable consequences. Instead, we recommend using praise to boost self-esteem as a reward for socially desirable behavior and self-improvement."

Can You Be Too Perfect? (Understanding Perfectionism) | Simoleon Sense

Can You Be Too Perfect? (Understanding Perfectionism) | Simoleon Sense:

"Perfectionists, research shows, can become easily discouraged by failing to meet impossibly high standards, making them reluctant to take on new challenges or even complete agreed-upon tasks. The insistence on dotting all the i’s can also breed inefficiency, causing delays, work overload and even poor results. Perfectionism can hurt health and re­lationships, too."

PopModal The Conservative Alternative to YouTube - Ayn Rand - Simpsons Fountainhead

PopModal The Conservative Alternative to YouTube - Ayn Rand - Simpsons Fountainhead: "

The Simpsons take on Ayn Rand's Fountainhead"

The Battle of Gettysburg - The United States Army

The Battle of Gettysburg - The United States Army :
On this anniversary of Gettysburg, this is 143rd (7 score and three) anniversary, an interesting look at various Civil War Battles from the US Army.

Ideas that Stick

One of those "everyone should read books". I am ristening to it again after about 2 years and it is just as good.

FORA.tv: "Chip Heath is a Professor of Organizational Behavior in the Graduate School of Business at Stanford University. His research examines why certain ideas - ranging from urban legends to folk medical cures, from Chicken Soup for the Soul stories to business strategy myths - survive and prosper in the social marketplace of ideas. These 'naturally sticky' ideas spread without external help in the form of marketing dollars, PR assistance, or the attention of leaders."

Hulu's Overrated Web Design (NWS, DIS, GE)

Of course this is the case. If they don't like the show, they are not going to watch it. So, the even a little thought would suggest that this would be true: (From Clusterstock)

Hulu's Overrated Web Design (NWS, DIS, GE):

"Almost every show on Hulu that's been watched much at all has a rating between four and five stars. The user-ratings are a pointless, cluttering feature."

1984 at Sixty

PatriotPost.US:

"George Orwell’s brilliant, bitter novel turns 60 this month, but after all these years it has lost none of its nightmarish chill.....“Nineteen Eighty-Four’’ was Orwell’s warning of what unchecked state power can become - a warning informed by the horrors of Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union, with their contempt for human life and conscience, their cult of personality, their unremitting cruelty and deceit. “I do not believe that the kind of society I describe necessarily will arrive, but I believe . . . that something resembling it could arrive,’’ Orwell wrote after the book was published. “I believe also that totalitarian ideas have taken root in the minds of intellectuals everywhere, and I have tried to draw these ideas out to their logical consequences."

Freeways Without Futures | Congress for the New Urbanism

Sometimes deconstruction may be more economical than construction. Here is a list of 10 highways that we may be better off without. (of local interest? the Skyway in Buffalo made the list).

Freeways Without Futures | Congress for the New Urbanism:

"The “Freeways Without Futures” list recognizes the top-ten locations in North America where the opportunity is greatest to stimulate valuable revitalization by replacing aging urban highways with boulevards and other cost-saving urban alternatives. The list was generated from an open call for nominations and prioritized based on factors including the age of the structure, redevelopment potential, potential cost savings, ability to improve both overall mobility and local access, existence of pending infrastructure decisions, and local support."

HT to Clusterstock's Business Insider.

Interesting local history article

The Olean Times Herald has an interesting piece on Hinsdale. BE sure to check it out

"In the mid-1800s, Hinsdale was bigger than Olean,” Mrs. Dutton said.

According to the 1850 census, Hinsdale had a population of 1,302, a total of 403 more people than Olean.....The 1860 census indicated Hinsdale had a population of 1,708 people, a town still on the rise, Mrs. Dutton said."

and later:

"DUTCH HILL WAR: In June 1844, the only agrarian war to be fought in the history of Cattaraugus County was waged within the borders of Hinsdale, Mrs. Dutton said.

Agents of Holland Land Co. were looking to evict Jacob and George Learns, brothers who lived in Hinsdale, for defaulting on land payments, an undated news article from the time reported.

“The sheriff (George W. White) and six deputies began to remove the brothers’ belongings,” Mrs. Dutton said.

The seven men were surrounded by a mob of 150 farmers, some dressed as Indians, the article reads. The sheriff and his men retreated and Mr. White was beaten by the mob."

Cross-posted on ParkandShop.Blogspot.com and RandomTopics2.blogspot.com

German authorities warn of swine flu mutation risk | Health | Reuters

This could be really bad:

German authorities warn of swine flu mutation risk | Health | Reuters:

"Germany's federal agency for infectious diseases said on Tuesday there were signs the H1N1 swine flu virus had started to mutate and warned it could spread in the coming months in a more aggressive form.

Experts were concerned about how the flu was developing in Australia and South America, said Joerg Hacker, head of the Robert Koch Institute for infectious diseases."

Isolated Forest Patches Lose Species, Diversity

Isolated Forest Patches Lose Species, Diversity:

"A new study is revealing that decades of fragmentation of Wisconsin's forests have taken a largely unseen toll on the sustainability of these natural ecosystems.

The long generation times of trees and other plants have masked many of the ecological changes already under way in the patches of forest that remain, says study co-author Don Waller, a professor in the Department of Botany and Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies at UW-Madison. 'Things may look healthy, but over time we see an erosion of biodiversity,' he says."

Jury rules against Minn. woman in download case - Yahoo! Finance

Wow...$80,000 per song?

Jury rules against Minn. woman in download case - Yahoo! Finance:

"A replay of the nation's only file-sharing case to go to trial has ended with the same result -- a Minnesota woman was found to have violated music copyrights and must pay huge damages to the recording industry.

A federal jury ruled Thursday that Jammie Thomas-Rasset willfully violated the copyrights on 24 songs, and awarded recording companies $1.92 million, or $80,000 per song."

Wish Fulfillment? No. But Dreams (and Sleep) Have Meaning - TIME

Wish Fulfillment? No. But Dreams (and Sleep) Have Meaning - TIME:

"REM sleep appears to not only improve our ability to identify positive emotions in others; it may also round out the sharp angles of our own emotional experiences. Walker suggests that one function of REM sleep — dreaming, in particular — is to allow the brain to sift through that day's events, process any negative emotion attached to them, then strip it away from the memories. He likens the process to applying a 'nocturnal soothing balm.' REM sleep, he says, 'tries to ameliorate the sharp emotional chips and dents that life gives you along the way.'"

Richard St. John: "Success is a continuous journey" | Video on TED.com

Richard St. John: "Success is a continuous journey" | Video on TED.com:

"Richard St. John reminds us that success is not a one-way street, but a constant journey. He uses the story of his business' rise and fall to illustrate a valuable lesson -- when we stop trying, we fail."

Interview: Nate Hagens

This video has been around for a while, but definitely worth watching... fascinating and horrifying.

Interview: Nate Hagens: "Nate Hagens from The Oil Drum answers questions on people's acceptance of peak oil, its seriousness, EROEI, the credibility of biofuels and the role of the market."

Iran Post election fighting

Tehran 24 blog:

"Police forces attack to people that protested the re-election of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Angry people in many points of Tehran fired buses and police motorcycles and cars and fall into conflict with Special Police Forces."

Twitter is again changing how we learn of the world and I was up late last night watching TwitterFall on it. It was/is beyond fascinating (although the speed of new information seems to have slowed). Try it for just #iranelections here: twitterfall.

Actually pretty amazing. Yes you get much garbage and repetition as it is unfiltered and unedited, but very impressive on sheer information.

Some of the better people to follow for information on Iran on Twitter seem to be (again it is hard to verify)

• IranNewsNow
• Gita (who is supposedly in Iran and dealing with censor issues etc)
• Change_forIran
• IranVote
• LilyMazahery
• StopAhmadi,
• twitpersia
• Haaretzonline :news of the Middle East
  

Although these change regularly. If you have a good one, let me know

My favorite line from last night has to be : from @ravenb

"We're watching democracy in action & history in the making,which is at once inspiring yet heartbreaking."

A video:




Another UNEDITED Video: from an Iranian Neighborhood.

Andrew Sullivan writing for the Atlantic has also been absolutely on top of this with a good mix of "currentness" and
BTW if you want background on the elections from before the election, try here from MSNBC.

The 10 Most Common Failures of Bad Leaders :: The Daily Stat :: June 4, 2009 :: HarvardBusiness.org

The 10 Most Common Failures of Bad Leaders :: The Daily Stat :: June 4, 2009 :: HarvardBusiness.org:

"JUNE 4, 2009 The 10 Most Common Failures of Bad Leaders: After scrutinizing 360-degree feedback data on over 11,000 leaders and evaluating the 10% considered the least effective, Jack Zenger and Joseph Folkman found the 10 most common leadership shortcomings"

Can Small Changes Save Your Business, and the Planet? - Andrew Winston - HarvardBusiness.org

Can Small Changes Save Your Business, and the Planet? - Andrew Winston - HarvardBusiness.org:

"So go after disruptive innovations that radically change how you do things and leapfrog the competition. But at the same time, pursue the quick incremental wins — they may add up to something much more."

Was There Really a Hawthorne Effect in the Original Hawthorne Studies? - Freakonomics Blog - NYTimes.com

Was There Really a Hawthorne Effect in the Original Hawthorne Studies? - Freakonomics Blog - NYTimes.com:

"We find that there actually wasn’t a Hawthorne Effect in the original data, at least not of the sort that you read about in virtually every introductory psychology textbook, where it is claimed that the workers’ output went up every time the lighting was changed, whether the change was to make the lights brighter or dimmer.

The Economist magazine has a nice piece on it."

Not totally sure why this is new. I know my professors (Kevin Murphy who then taught at the Simon School of the University of Rochester specifically) taught us that it never existed.

The New Presumption of Transparency - WSJ.com

The New Presumption of Transparency - WSJ.com:

"We live in a new era, as seen in such varied efforts to suppress information as expense fiddling by British parliamentarians, Beijing's censorship of Tiananmen Square, and libel laws that deter reporting on terrorism. A growing list of institutions and countries find themselves on the wrong side of this shift in expectations. Information that was once locked away is fair game, and anyone who refuses to play by the new rules is presumed guilty of having something to hide.....This trend against secrecy is in stark contrast to countries such as China, which censored coverage of the 20th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre last week. Beijing has done such a good job of erasing history that most young Chinese people know nothing about the 1989 crackdown. The PBS documentary "The Tank Man" made clear that the best and brightest interviewed at Beijing University had never seen the iconic photograph of a citizen facing down the tanks."

Web 3.0 is about taming the deluge of data.: The Social Path

Web 3.0 is about taming the deluge of data.: The Social Path:

"So what will define Web 3.0?

The best explanation I've heard was from Andrew Keen, author of 'The Cult of the Amateur.' In a recent Social Media Club presentation here in Birmingham, Andrew broke out the Web's history like this:

Web 1.0: Mainstream media and retailers dominate, using traditional approaches to broadcasting and sales.

Web 2.0: Blogging, peer-to-peer sharing and Google empower the masses to communicate openly. The old guard struggles to remain relevant.

Web 3.0: Mainstreaming of social media creates a constant flow of information. Challenge for users and businesses alike is to harness the flood without drowning."

SSRN-Uninsured Americans vs. Insured Canadians: Who is More Satisfied with Their Health Care? by John Lott

SSRN-Uninsured Americans vs. Insured Canadians: Who is More Satisfied with Their Health Care? by John Lott:

"This paper finds that the vast majority of uninsured Americans are satisfied with their health care. Indeed, only 2.3 percent of Americans are both uninsured and very dissatisfied with the quality of the medical care that they receive. The paper finds that Canadians are much closer to uninsured Americans than to insured Americans in their satisfaction with their health care"

Test My Brain

VERY cool site!
Test My Brain:

"Test yourself and help us learn more about the mind and brain."

Stem Cells Cultured On Contact Lens Restore Sight In Patients With Blinding Corneal Disease

WOW. Talk about an exciting break-through!

Stem Cells Cultured On Contact Lens Restore Sight In Patients With Blinding Corneal Disease:

"In a world-first breakthrough, University of New South Wales (UNSW) medical researchers have used stem cells cultured on a simple contact lens to restore sight to sufferers of blinding corneal disease."

EverymanTri: News Views and Interviews of Great Enduranc: Steve Larsen died of a heart attack caused by atherosclerosis

EverymanTri: News Views and Interviews of Great Enduranc: Steve Larsen died of a heart attack caused by atherosclerosis:

"Retired professional mountain biker, road biker and triathlete Steve Larsen, 39, died of a heart attack caused by atherosclerosis.

Steve Cross, the medical examiner who conducted the autopsy, said tests showed that Larsen had coronary heart disease, that resulted in a heart attack.

"

Psychologists Now Know What Makes People Happy | Simoleon Sense

Psychologists Now Know What Makes People Happy | Simoleon Sense:

"“Materialism is toxic for happiness,” says University of Illinois psychologist Ed Diener. Even rich materialists aren’t as happy as those who care less about getting and spending.

Life satisfaction occurs most often when people are engaged in absorbing activities that cause them to forget themselves, lose track of time and stop worrying. “Flow” is the term Claremont Graduate University psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (pronounced cheeks-sent-mee-hi) coined to describe this phenomenon."

How Oxidative Stress May Help Prolong Life

How Oxidative Stress May Help Prolong Life:

"...study suggests why humans may actually be able to prolong the aging process by regularly exposing our bodies to minimal amounts of oxidants."....

This finding may explain recent studies suggesting that eating less may, in fact, raise ROS levels – and, in doing so, provide protection from acute doses of oxidants. This is counter to the hypothesis that caloric restriction extends lifespan in some species because it reduces ROS produced as a by-product of the energy regenerated by mitochondria.

'It may be that adaption to oxidative stress is the main factor responsible for the lifespan-expanding effects of caloric restriction,' said Ideker.

On my FinanceProfessorblog I have a category of papers called I^3. It stands for Important, Informative, and Interesting. This one would definitely fit! Really makes us think about what we know on many levels. READ THE ARTICLE!

Crossposted on RandomTopics2 and ParkandShop.

Google Waves Goodbye to E - Webmonkey

Amazing. BUT do I want people to see what I am typing as I type it? So much for error correction, etc.

Google Waves Goodbye to E - Webmonkey:

"Google Wave is an attempt to replace not one but all of these methods, rolling threaded conversations, real-time chat, nested comments, media sharing, link sharing and wiki-style collaboration into a familiar interface that looks and behaves like an e-mail inbox, complete with folders for keeping things organized and a search box for digging up older threads"

U.S. Cancer Death Rates Continue to Fall - ABC News

GREAT NEWS!

U.S. Cancer Death Rates Continue to Fall - ABC News:

"(HealthDay News) -- Some 650,000 people are alive today who wouldn't be were it not for advances in cancer prevention, detection and treatment over the past 15 years, new statistics show.

The American Cancer Society's Cancer Statistics 2009 report finds an encouraging 19.2 percent drop in cancer death rates among men from 1990 to 2005, as well as an 11.4 percent drop in women's cancer death rates during the same time period. "

We continue to see a decrease in death rates from cancer in both men and women and this is mainly because of prevention - mostly a reduction in smoking rates; detection which includes screening for colorectal cancer, for breast cancer and for cervical cancer; and also improved treatment," said report author Ahmedin Jemal, strategic director for cancer surveillance at the American Cancer Society"

Rock City travel, from Albany's Capital News

Capital News 9 | 24 Hour Local News | LIVING | Rock City Park getaway:

"For a trip back in time millions of years, you only have to take a few hour drive to Olean, New York. This where you'll find the most fascinating natural wonder called Rock City Park. This getaway is an easy hike through unusual rock formations along trails that take you in between, around and underneath giant boulders!"

Sometimes we can't see the forest for the trees

Part Behavioral finance, part cycling, and part a study in how the brain works, the following "Test" is eye opening at least.

We all get so caught up in seeing what we want to see that we sometimes miss the obvious. This effects us in many ways: In finance, if bullish (optimistic), we are more apt to see the good news, if bearish (pessimistic) you see only bad news.

That is one reason why big break throughs happen from those outside the field. It is one reason why sabbaticals and vacations are important. But it can also have important implications in many other ways.




Go ahead, take the test. It takes about a minute.

Cross posted on FinanceProfessor.com's blog, Olean Cycling club's blog (which is currently almost inactive :( ), and RandomTopics2.


thanks to the Tour of the Gila for pointing this one out.

Manhattanhenge | Hayden Planetarium

Manhattanhenge | Hayden Planetarium:

"For Manhattan, a place where evening matters more than morning, that special day comes on Saturday, May 30th this year, one of only two occasions when the Sun sets in exact alignment with the Manhattan grid, fully illuminating every single cross-street for the last fifteen minutes of daylight. The other day is Sunday, July 12th. These two days give you a photogenic view with half the Sun above and half the Sun below the horizon—on the grid. The day after May 30th (Sunday, May 31), and the day before July 12 (Saturday, July 11) will also give you Manhattanhenge moments, but instead you will see the entire ball of the Sun on the horizon—on the grid."

Former Mets pitcher Jerry Koosman pleads guilty to tax evasion

Former Mets pitcher Jerry Koosman pleads guilty to tax evasion:

"Former major league pitcher Jerry Koosman pleaded guilty to federal tax evasion on Friday and could face up to one year in prison.

Koosman, an All-Star who helped the New York Mets win the 1969 World Series, failed to pay federal income taxes for 2002, 2003 and 2004, defrauding the government out of as much as $90,000, assistant U.S. attorney John Vaudreuil said. He also faces $25,000 in fines.

The 66-year-old Koosman makes his home in Osceola. He told investigators he researched federal tax laws and concluded they applied only to federal workers, corporate employees and District of Columbia residents, court documents said.

'I guess it's a combination of being naive and not being able to understand law as I read it or was told,' Koosman told U.S. District Judge Barbara Crabb during Friday's hearing."

So wait, he really believed that? Really? uh, ok.

Protecting Athletes -- Microbiologists Invent Coating To Protect Athletes From Infection

Exciting news :)

Protecting Athletes -- Microbiologists Invent Coating To Protect Athletes From Infection:

"Microbiologists have devised an anti-microbial coating to protect athletes from potentially deadly infections. When applied to a surface, the coating bonds to it, then inhibits growth of bacteria, fungi, mold, and viruses. The coating can be applied to surfaces in locker rooms, equipment, and athletic fields."

Study Finds Reduction in Turbine Bat Kills - Green Inc. Blog - NYTimes.com

I have nothing against bats (the flying variety not the baseball kind), but I do have problems with many of the studies that find bird deaths around wind turbines. If pollution is bad (which I would assume it is), how many animals (birds, bats, skunks, people, or whatever) are dying from other sources of power generation? The problem is that they don't just fall at the base of the gas pump and hence are not measured. So much for true comparisons.

Study Finds Reduction in Turbine Bat Kills - Green Inc. Blog - NYTimes.com:

". Twenty-one dead bats were found when turbines were fully operational, while 11 were found when turbines were turned off during low-wind phases....

The bat-saving measure came with a cost. Given the wind farm’s generating capacity, that one percent could theoretically translate to as much as 1,000 megawatt hours per year.

Using the going rate of $70.00 to $90.00 per megawatt hour of wind energy, that’s a potential $70,000 to $90,000 annual hit to the bottom line."

BTW this is also an example of how framing (context) matters. For instance. What if the following were the headline? "Would you pay $9,000 to save a single bat?"

High Blood Pressure Could Be Caused By A Common Virus, Study Suggests

High Blood Pressure Could Be Caused By A Common Virus, Study Suggests:

"A new study suggests for the first time that cytomegalovirus (CMV), a common viral infection affecting between 60 and 99 percent of adults worldwide, is a cause of high blood pressure, a leading risk factor for heart disease, stroke and kidney disease."

From Genes To Growls, Decoding 'The Modern Dog' : NPR

From Genes To Growls, Decoding 'The Modern Dog' : NPR:

"Talk of the Nation, May 15, 2009 · Stanley Coren, author of The Modern Dog, joins other experts to discuss the latest in canine science — including how dogs influence child development, what the canine genome reveals about human cancer and a new device that allows dogs to bark at their masters over a cell phone."

Google's Wonder Wheel Experiment, and More

They've done it again! another very cool feature.

Google's Wonder Wheel Experiment, and More:

"One of the most interesting experiment features is the “wonder wheel.” This will show a Flash-based interactive mini app which starts with your keyword in the center, and related terms around it. Clicking on a related term creates a new, connected circle with more related terms. And whenever you click on a term, to the very right, the web results change to reflect your current topic of focus."

YouTube - uchannel's Channel

How does network TV have any viewers for non sports events? American Idol? What is that?

YouTube - uchannel's Channel:

"UChannel presents public affairs events from academic institutions all over the world.

Here you can see the full-length presentations of faculty, policy-makers, and researchers who have been invited by member universities to discuss the problems of the world -- and how to solve them.

These events are put online as a public service, brought to you by the institutions which support UChannel.

The UChannel consortium is led by Princeton University's Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs.

The other Charter Members are:
- Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA)
- Middlebury College's Rohatyn Center for International Affairs
- The LBJ School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin.

These lectures are distributed under the Creative Commons 'Attribution, NonCommercial, NoDerivatives' Deed.

For more programs (including many audio-only presentations not available here), go to: http://uc.princeton.edu"

State of the Art - With a Private MiFi Hot Spot, Be Online Wherever You Like - NYTimes.com

State of the Art - With a Private MiFi Hot Spot, Be Online Wherever You Like - NYTimes.com: "

Novatel MiFi 2200, available from Verizon starting in mid-May ($100 with two-year contract, after rebate). It’s a little wisp of a thing, like a triple-thick credit card. It has one power button, one status light and a swappable battery that looks like the one in a cellphone. When you turn on your MiFi and wait 30 seconds, it provides a personal, portable, powerful, password-protected wireless hot spot."

Multiple users are cool! I really like by USB modem, but this is really cool.

Yoga Journal - Yoga Buzz - Yoga Blog

Yoga Journal - Yoga Buzz - Yoga Blog:

"83-year-old yoga teacher Bette Calman defies all the stereotypes when it comes to seniors and yoga. She practices many advanced postures that even experienced yoga students half her age don't have the strength to hold, including this impressive Peacock Pose."

And from the Daily Mail:

"Mrs Calman teaches up to 11 classes a week with no sign of stopping and she keeps the 'corpse' posture strictly for her classes.

'Yoga keeps you young,' she said.

'Never have I gone to a yoga class and wished I was somewhere else, because I know I'm going to come out feeling on the top of the world. There'll always be yoga.'"

Google advertising in Olean! (from Washington Post)

Google Uses YouTube Clips To Hype Chrome - washingtonpost.com:

Now why would anyone think this is unusual? lol....and BTW I did see the billboard.

"Google doesn't really advertise its products?its business is to get other people to advertise theirs. So when the company takes the time and money to heavily promote something (in this case, Google has turned to YouTube to hype its browser, Chrome) people tend to notice. The last product Google (NSDQ: GOOG) went out of its way to promote was its free phone directory service, GOOG-411. People spotted billboards for the service in random places like relatively rural Olean, N.Y. and downtown San Francisco (via SEL)."

sciencefriday.com - making science user-friendly

One of the few shows on Radio or TV that is always worth the time!

sciencefriday.com - making science user-friendly
from the "about" page:

"Science Friday is a weekly science talk show, broadcast live over public radio stations nationwide from 2-4pm Eastern time as part of NPR's 'Talk of the Nation' programming. Each week, we focus on science topics that are in the news and try to bring an educated, balanced discussion to bear on the scientific issues at hand. Panels of expert guests join Science Friday's host, Ira Flatow, a veteran science journalist, to discuss science"

Hard work (practice) makes the difference

Op-Ed Columnist - Genius - The Modern View - NYTimes.com:

"The latest research suggests a more prosaic, democratic, even puritanical view of the world. The key factor separating geniuses from the merely accomplished is not a divine spark. It’s not I.Q., a generally bad predictor of success, even in realms like chess. Instead, it’s deliberate practice. Top performers spend more hours (many more hours) rigorously practicing their craft."

and later:

"The mind wants to turn deliberate, newly learned skills into unconscious, automatically performed skills. But the mind is sloppy and will settle for good enough. By practicing slowly, by breaking skills down into tiny parts and repeating, the strenuous student forces the brain to internalize a better pattern of performance."

thanks to Lura_Forcum

Follow Joe D's 2,000-mile bike trek for charity - Pro Football Hall of Fame

TRAVEL LOG - Follow Joe D's 2,000-mile bike trek for charity - Pro Football Hall of Fame:

"Pro Football Hall of Fame guard Joe DeLamielleure was a passionate player during his career with the Buffalo Bills and Cleveland Browns from 1973-1985. He was...voted to six Pro Bowls, named All-Pro and All-AFC six straight seasons and is a member of the NFL’s All-Decade Team of the 1970s. In 2003, he earned the highest honor in football when he was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

So, it comes as little surprise that Joe would ride a bicycle 2,000 miles to raise money for an orphanage. That’s exactly what DeLamielleure and two former Michigan State teammates John Shinsky and Eljay Bowron, are doing from April 25 through May 12.

SUPPORT JOE AND WIN - Joe is offering prizes to those who support his cause. Anyone who donates $100 or more will automatically be entered into a drawing. Thanks to the genorosity of the Buffalo Bills, the first and second place prizes are both a pair of Super Bowl tickets. Third place is Joe D! He'll come and barbeque at your house. "

Among the swine flu mysteries: Why only deaths in Mexico? - CNN.com

Among the swine flu mysteries: Why only deaths in Mexico? - CNN.com:

"'Do we really know all of the cases that existed in Mexico or is this just the tip of the iceberg?' asked Louis Sullivan, a physician and former head of Health and Human Services under President George H.W. Bush.

McKenna said it's possible 'there is much more flu in Mexico than we know because it hasn't been counted. That would mean that there are mild cases there as well, but that you have to get to a certain number of cases before, statistically, you start to see the very serious ones, and the U.S. hasn't had that many cases yet.'"

Teams Are Not Innovative When Under Constant Time Pressure

Teams Are Not Innovative When Under Constant Time Pressure:

"At first, Putkonen explains, mental workload, time pressure, and deadlines can have a positive effect on productivity. This is the conventional wisdom encapsulated in the phrase: 'I work best under pressure' often uttered by creative individuals and members of terms working in design and related areas where timing is often critical to success. However, this benefit usually only has a positive impact in the short term, Putkonen's study shows.

There are, he has demonstrated potentially negative effects in the long term because time pressure eventually leads to delayed mental fatigue, which affects quality and productivity detrimentally in the long term. Moreover, he says, mental fatigue decreases work engagement, which in turn reduces the innovativeness of a design group."

Long Tails

Good ten minute video of Long Tails. Definitely recommended!

20th Anniversary of Tiananmen Square Protests - Yahoo! News Photos

20th Anniversary of Tiananmen Square Protests - Yahoo! News Photos:

"Police pass the People's Heroes Monument in Tiananmen Square in Beijing. Stricter monitoring measures are being introduced in all Chinese jails after at least 15 people died in unusual circumstances this year alone, state media has reported."

Google News Timeline: A Glorious, Intriguing Time Sink - PC World

Google News Timeline: A Glorious, Intriguing Time Sink - PC World:

"This new Google Labs feature, which organizes news stories and other information by date, looks to be the biggest, funnest time waster since we all spent hours exploring the globe with Google Earth....News Timeline is mostly a new way to look at the same material that you can find through Google News Search. The Google engineer who built it, Andy Hertzfeld, says he was inspired by Google Maps, but instead of letting people navigate through space, he wanted to let them navigate through time"

Williams and Stone: The Twitter Revolution - WSJ.com

Williams and Stone: The Twitter Revolution - WSJ.com:

"Regional emergency preparedness organizations are looking at Twitter as a way to reach millions of people during a disaster. NASA is using it to regularly update interested parties about the status of space shuttle flights. And one journalist solicited help from fellow Twitterers to get himself out of an Egyptian jail. (It worked.)

The real Twitter revolution may prove to be much more everyday. When I stop for a latte at Peet's Coffee on the way to the interview, the manager tells me that he plans to start sending out tweets to let regular customers know when a table is open. He isn't alone. A Manhattan bakery twitters when warm cookies come out of the oven. 'It's those small stories that really inspire us,' says Mr. Stone. 'Those are the things that transform people's lives.'"

How to Raise Our I.Q. - NYTimes.com

Op-Ed Columnist - How to Raise Our I.Q. - NYTimes.com:

"...while this view of I.Q. as overwhelmingly inherited has been widely held, the evidence is growing that it is, at a practical level, profoundly wrong. Richard Nisbett, a professor of psychology at the University of Michigan, has just demolished this view in a superb new book, “Intelligence and How to Get It,” which also offers terrific advice for addressing poverty and inequality in America.

Professor Nisbett provides suggestions for transforming your own urchins into geniuses — praise effort more than achievement, teach delayed gratification, limit reprimands and use praise to stimulate curiosity — but focuses on how to raise America’s collective I.Q. That’s important, because while I.Q. doesn’t measure pure intellect — we’re not certain exactly what it does measure — differences do matter, and a higher I.Q. correlates to greater success in life."

Tracking CO2 -- Biogeochemists Map Out Carbon Dioxide Emissions In The U.S.

Tracking CO2 -- Biogeochemists Map Out Carbon Dioxide Emissions In The U.S.:

"Biogeochemists located where the most carbon dioxide emissions occur in the U.S. using a new mapping system. With this program-available to anyone on the Web-researchers were able to extract information about carbon dioxide emissions by transforming data on local air pollution and combining it with geographic information systems (GIS) data to layer the emissions onto infrastructures at the Earth's surface."

Watch the video. Pretty amazing.

The Free-Versus-Paid Debate for Online Web News Heats Up - NYTimes.com

It will be very interesting to see the future internet landscape.

The Free-Versus-Paid Debate for Online Web News Heats Up - NYTimes.com:

"Publishers like Hearst Newspapers, The New York Times and Time Inc.are drawing up plans for possible Internet fees....

“People reading news for free on the Web, that’s got to change,” Mr. Murdoch said last week at a cable industry conference in Washington.

The Associated Press said on Monday that it intended to police the use of news articles linked on countless Web sites, where many consumers read them free, to make sure the sites shared advertising revenue with those who created the material."

Calorie-Burning Fat? Studies Say You Have It - NYTimes.com

Calorie-Burning Fat? Studies Say You Have It - NYTimes.com:

".....appearing Thursday in The New England Journal of Medicine, indicate that nearly every adult has little blobs of brown fat that can burn huge numbers of calories when activated by the cold, like sitting in a chilly room that is between 61 and 66 degrees.

Thinner people appeared to have more brown fat than heavier people, younger people more than older people; people with higher metabolic rates had more than those whose metabolisms were more sluggish, and women had more than men.....

“The thing about this brown fat is that it takes a very small amount to burn a lot of energy,” said Dr. C. Ronald Kahn, head of the section on obesity and hormone action at the Joslin Diabetes Center in Boston.

The fat really is brown, researchers say, because it is filled with mitochondria, cells’ tiny energy factories. Mitochondria contain iron, giving the tissue a reddish brown color.

The hope is that scientists may find safe ways to turn peoples’ brown fat on"

Maybe vegetarians are just high volatility people

From Science Daily:

Young Vegetarians May Have Healthier Diets But Could Be At Risk For Disordered Eating Behaviors:

"In a study published in the April 2009 issue of the Journal of the American Dietetic Association, researchers observed that adolescent and young adult vegetarians may experience the health benefits associated with increased fruit and vegetable intake and young adults my experience the added benefit of decreased risk for overweight and obesity.

However, current vegetarians may be at increased risk for binge eating, while former vegetarians may be at increased risk for extreme unhealthful weight control behaviors."

To which I would suggest that the people (i.e. the vegetarians) studied, may be high volatility people in the sense they go to extremes. As such, they are more apt to become vegetarians but also more likely to have eating problems later on if they give up the vegetarianism.


Cross posted at ParkandShop's blog too. (I had intended it for there, but messed up so might as well leave it here as well).

Privately-repaired potholes: a good start - Mises Economics Blog

The article starts off saying KFC offered to fix some of the roads in Chicago if they could paint an advertisement on them, BUT WERE TURNED DOWN! Huh?

Privately-repaired potholes: a good start - Mises Economics Blog:

"..why are potholes and road maintenance even an issue? Governments have been telling us for centuries that they must own the roads, that no one else can do it, and that road-building and maintenance is one of the reasons we must have government.

Yet, governments are terrible at this. Daily now, we are inundated with reports of how bridges are falling down, roads are in disrepair, and the infrastructure in general is a nightmare. And this caught government by surprise? The life span of roads and bridges isn't a big mystery. If roads are the government's specialty, why are they so lousy at it, and why did they not even notice that their bridges are in lousy shape? It's not as if this problem couldn't be anticipated.

So now, everywhere across America, at local, state and federal levels, Americans are being told that taxes must be increased to pay for road and bridge repair. But why? There are already taxes in place for this. The tax revenues for this are generally based on vehicle registration fee revenues, gas taxes, and income taxes. All of these taxes increase either with the number of cars on the road, or with miles driven, or with population growth, or with economic growth. In other words, tax revenues have increased many times over, yet we're now being told 'oops we forgot about the roads, so give us more money."

Mises has a really good article!