Lovaglia’s Law and Open Office Plans - Bob Sutton: "Also, administrators and accountants usually like open offices because they cost less to build, furnish, heat, and cool – so they are motivated to make arguments that people will like open designs better and work more effectively in them.
BUT the best evidence I can find tells a much different story. It turns out that although there is a lot of hype from companies that sell open office furniture and related goods about how fantastic open offices are, and all that, research published in peer review journals clashes with the hype. In every study that I can find that has survived the peer review process, people in open settings are found to be less satisfied, less productive, and experience more stress than people who work in closed offices. And when people move from closed to open offices, they like them less, report being less productive, and report more stress. So long as people are doing work that is largely “individual” and that requires thinking and intense individual concentration, these findings make a lot of sense to me."
MAYDAY.US - A Crowdfunded, Kickstarted SuperPAC to end all SuperPACs
MAYDAY.US - A Crowdfunded, Kickstarted SuperPAC to end all SuperPACs: "Help U.S. kickstart fundamental reform,
by reducing the influence of money in politics."
by reducing the influence of money in politics."
The science of sex and transgenderism.
The science of sex and transgenderism.: "Even those of us who distinguish between sex and gender, who understand that gender is a cultural construct, too often reduce sex to a binary. But when we dig into the science of sex, it turns out that the fundamental categorizations we take for granted—male and female—are not fundamental at all."
Neil deGrasse Tyson Explains the Differences Between Weather and Climate Change
Neil deGrasse Tyson Explains the Differences Between Weather and Climate Change: "Keep your eye on the man, not the dog."
Why You're Bad At Understanding Irony
Why You're Bad At Understanding Irony: "Morissette famously flubbed the concept in her hit, largely singing about coincidence or bad timing rather than actual irony."
With an excellent video that fixes things up.
With an excellent video that fixes things up.
Unambitious Loser With Happy, Fulfilling Life Still Lives In Hometown
Unambitious Loser With Happy, Fulfilling Life Still Lives In Hometown: "sources close to Husmer reported that the man, who has meaningful, lasting personal relationships and a healthy work-life balance, is an unmotivated washout who’s perfectly comfortable being a nobody for the rest of his life."
Bottled water is the marketing trick of the century
Bottled water is the marketing trick of the century: "According to Richard Wilk, professor of anthropology at Indiana University, bottled water is the most revealing substance for showing us how the global capitalist market works today."
It’s Adventure Time
It’s Adventure Time: "Adventure Time is a smash hit cartoon aimed primarily at kids age six to eleven. It’s also a deeply serious work of moral philosophy, a rip-roaring comic masterpiece, and a meditation on gender politics and love in the modern world."
I’ll Finish the Dishes When I’m Dead
I’ll Finish the Dishes When I’m Dead: "Caught up in what I've come to call the Overwhelm, the thought kept nagging me: Was I not just bad at time, was I squandering my one and only life?"
Reminder: If you smell gas, leave your house
Reminder: If you smell gas, leave your house: "There's a reason — a really, really good reason — that natural gas companies add a rotten-egg smell to their otherwise odorless product: Gas leaks are dangerous, and the best way to find them is with your nose."
What Research Tells Us About the Most Successful Relationships
What Research Tells Us About the Most Successful Relationships: "There's no single "formula" to a perfect relationship. However, we've studied an awful lot about what successful couples do. Everyone's relationships are a bit different, but we can take away a lot from what we know works."
The steps you should take when job hunting: Insights from the person who receives your resumes
The steps you should take when job hunting: Insights from the person who receives your resumes: "I'd like to offer some general advice from a management perspective for getting your resume seen and getting an interview."
New Top 10 Reasons Why Libraries are still Important
New Top 10 Reasons Why Libraries are still Important: "Most of people predict that the digital age will wipe public bookshelves clean and permanently end the centuries-old era of libraries. Despite their perceived obsolescence in the digital age both libraries and librarians are irreplaceable for many reasons."
6 Habits of Highly Grateful People
6 Habits of Highly Grateful People: "Gratitude (and its sibling, appreciation) is the mental tool we use to remind ourselves of the good stuff. It’s a lens that helps us to see the things that don’t make it onto our lists of problems to be solved. It’s a spotlight that we shine on the people who give us the good things in life. It’s a bright red paintbrush we apply to otherwise-invisible blessings, like clean streets or health or enough food to eat."
Don't Help Your Kids With Their Homework
Don't Help Your Kids With Their Homework: "And other insights from a ground- breaking study of how parents impact children’s academic achievement"
The Overprotected Kid
The Overprotected Kid: "A preoccupation with safety has stripped childhood of independence, risk taking, and discovery—without making it safer. A new kind of playground points to a better solution."
Details of a Bad Day
I just found the below, which I wrote in 1999.
A Bad Day
9:00am
At work, I open a newly-refilled prescription of pain pills
(for recent throat surgery) to discover that the pills in this bottle are
different in size, shape, and identifying letters.
9:01am
Phone pharmacy (Rite Aid), to find
out that they had indeed given me the wrong medication, and they ask me to
bring it back in. As I am at work, I hunt around and find some regular Tylenol.
12:30pm
Receive phone call from wife, who is in her broken down car
at a rest stop on I-75 between Bay City and Saginaw. She has both of our sons
with her (4 months, and 4 years). I leave work to assist.
12:50pm
Arrive at rest stop. Wife, due to being flustered by
barely-working car, has parked in the “truck” side instead of the “car” side.
She says that a giant tractor-trailer
pulled up behind her and honked until she told the brute her car was broken. So
he stopped honking, and just parked behind her. I attempt to jump-start the
car. The noise of the surrounding semis idling (does it really take that much
work to shut these down and start them up again?) is of such intensity that I
cannot hear if the car is starting, but must watch the timid flicker of the
dash lights to know that it is not even turning over.
12:55pm
Discard first set of cheap jumper cables from wife's car, get slightly less
cheap set out of my trunk. Several truckers and RV-drivers attempt to help, but
succeed only in pinching everything under the hood into sharp little metal
furrows. Perhaps the brand name of the jumper cables should have tipped me off:
Death-Pinch Yet Slippy Non-Conductors ™. Still won’t turn over, even after we
let it sit for a while whilst hooked up.
1:10pm
Send wife and kids packing in my car to finish errands,
while I phone the motor club for a tow.
11 hours later (1:30 pm, actually)
Tow truck arrives, and he hooks on his Meaty Claws of
Superconductance ™ (note to self: buy those
jumper cables), and in the time it takes to fill out the paperwork (about two
weeks), I've enough electricity to start the car, as judged by happy dash
lights, and activity from tailpipe (the car, not the tow-truck driver). The tow
truck driver’s a friendly fellow, and follows me back to Bay City, letting me
use the sacred Emergency Vehicles Only passage from southbound to northbound
I-75 (flashing lights and all). I notice looks of admiration from
one-direction-only drivers. Car runs poorly, but makes it.
2:00pm
Arrive at Gary’s All-Car Care, my usual mechanic. The throw
on a tester (my fourth set of clampy things so far in the day, I’m gonna have
some bad dreams), and announce that the alternator is bad. Cost: $258, will be done in a couple of
hours. I walk home, having no car, nor even enough money for public
transportation. On my way I kill a grizzly bear, fashion a wide-brim hat out of
tumbleweeds, and learn to drink water from a cactus. Just kidding, it only
takes me 15 minutes.
2:30pm
Walk in front door to find phone ringing. Publisher’s
Clearinghouse Sweepstakes Winner Notification Board? Nope. Wife. My car has broken down in Saginaw. In the middle lane of
Tittabawassee Road in the heart of the shopping district. She called the motor
club again, and waited an hour in that lane. With giant hunks of screaming
metal whizzing by constantly. Tittabawassee Road is not for the faint of heart.
In fact, Tittabawassee actually means “Long strip of
land where many die”. It was not specified whether that was from an accident,
or from old age while waiting to make a left. And of course our four month old
decided it was a jolly time to move his bowels, and ask for a snack. Nobody
stopped to help her for the first 50 minutes, a scathing indictment of our
society, or else maybe there was a really good sale at Circuit City. When the
wrecker finally arrived, it took her, having no idea where to go, to the
Goodyear tire and repair shop a few blocks down, and never was there a more
wretched hive of scum and villainy. Anyway, she says frantically “you've got to come pick me up, I’m out of
formula and diapers!” (she had packed for only a one hour tour, not foreseeing
she’d end up trying to build a rescue beacon out of a coconut). I assured her I
would be there as soon as possible, reviewing our fridge door list of People To Call and obtaining from it
the much, much shorter list of People You Can Call In An Emergency. None of
them are home. As I stand there, imagining Karen using old oily garage rags as
a makeshift diaper for Ben while feeding him a creamer and water paste, my
mother-in-law drops in for a visit. Yes Pat! I briefly explain the situation,
and we’re off. She uses the excuse to drive like a coke addict with diarrhea.
2:50pm
The Goodyear garage guys inform me that I need a new
alternator. I should have ordered some in bulk. They want $260-some dollars to
do the job, plus they say that I need a new battery as well, as the old one has been
discharged too greatly to be reliable. Another $70. I’m surprised they don’t
also say I need to have the air in my tires rotated. I ask them if I can think
it over, and they say I can leave the car there for 24 hours. I've so far only
racked up $17.50 in evaluation charges. We head home, and I get dropped off at
the garage where the wife’s car is now fixed and purring like a big white V-6
kitten. I price out the alternator job for my car, and even with $45 in towing
to get it from there to hear, I’d still save $50, and feel a lot better about
who did the job. I arrange that (by asking my garage to arrange the tow), and
drive the wife's car home. I immediately call Goodyear, and tell them my car
will be picked up within the hour, and as such I’d like to settle up for the
$17.50 over the phone. They take my credit card number and promise to run it
through.
3:45pm
I decide to take care of the medication issue, so I drive
over to the drugstore (Rite Aid on Midland Street, Bay City, MI). They have my
actual medication ready, and just switch it like nothing was wrong. I comment
(very politely, that being my nature) that I hoped this sort of thing wouldn't
happen again, and the pharmacist completely
blows me off, actually saying something along the lines of “everyone makes
mistakes” as I am walking away. I stop short, bedazzled by this lack of
concern. I step back (still very polite) and talk to him about the danger of
what just happened, and the broken trust between pharmacy and client, and how
it would seem that in such an important role there would be safeguards in place
to prevent “everyone making a mistake” from turning into a fatality. He said
that is usually the case, but that on Sundays, when I had the refill done,
there was no one to perform the backup verification. He was obviously very
bored with his job, and with the rest of the human race in general. I informed
him that it wouldn't be a problem in the future, as I would never buy anything
from there again. I didn't see him shrug, but I knew he was thinking one. On
the way out I calmly detailed the entire scenario to the manager on duty, who
either cared deeply or was a good actress.
4:00pm
Arrive home to discover that Goodyear had called back
because my charge was rejected. I called the bank, who referred me to the fraud
detection company because there was a stop flag on my account, and they said it
was because the Goodyear people swiped my card 4 times (for 2 different amounts
varying by 20 cents)(??!!), and this set of an automated process of fraud-stoppage
that locks the account until someone tells the computer to release the
choke hold. I call Goodyear back, to find out they won’t release my car until I
pay that massive $17.50, so the tow truck
driver from my garage takes off without my car.
4:05pm
Drive back to
Saginaw to pay the $17.50 and wave to my car. I act cheerful and thankful to
the staff so they won't punk my car, and it is the hardest front I've ever put
up. So many nice pointy things within reach. I have to force them to take my
car key so the doors can be locked overnight (note to self: be sure to look
for valuables in unlocked cars at service stations after hours).
5:00 pm
Come back home and call the tow truck place and set up
another attempt tomorrow. Have to tell
them a ridiculous amount of the day’s story just so I won’t seem like a loon
(and it happens anyway).
5:05 pm
Consider taking a double dose of pain med to stop the
twitching in my eye and the thoughts of weaponry, but am unsure if the
prescription is now a pain med, or, say, menopause hormones, and decide to hold
off.
The End (and all true).
College isn’t for everyone. Let’s stop pretending it is.
College isn’t for everyone. Let’s stop pretending it is.: "
“Kid, I’m Sorry, but You’re Just Not College Material”
Is exactly what we should be telling a lot of high school students."
How we were fooled into thinking that sexual predators lurk everywhere
How we were fooled into thinking that sexual predators lurk everywhere: "Creating a moral panic about social media didn’t protect teens—it left them vulnerable"
The surprising reason Americans might be obese, anxious and depressed
The surprising reason Americans might be obese, anxious and depressed: "New research suggests the answer to a number of modern ailments may reside in our gut"
One of the best habits for happy living may also be the least practiced
One of the best habits for happy living may also be the least practiced: "A recently conducted survey of 5,000 people identifies a strong link between self-acceptance and happiness. The problem? Self-acceptance is not something most of us are in the habit of practicing."
The obesity era
David Berreby – The obesity era: "As the American people got fatter, so did marmosets, vervet monkeys and mice. The problem may be bigger than any of us."
The Scary New Evidence on BPA-Free Plastics
The Scary New Evidence on BPA-Free Plastics: "And the Big Tobacco-style campaign to bury it."
'via Blog this'
'via Blog this'
5 reasons why you shouldn’t work too hard
5 reasons why you shouldn’t work too hard: "Was he about to say – we should be more like that? Because Americans work among the most hours of any advanced country in the world, save South Korea and Japan, where they’ve had to invent a word for dying at your desk. (Karoshi. Death from Overwork.) "
Identity Theft | Consumer Information
Identity Theft | Consumer Information: "Identity theft happens when someone steals your personal information and uses it without your permission. It’s a serious crime that can wreak havoc with your finances, credit history, and reputation — and can take time, money, and patience to resolve."
How Fast-Growing Startups Can Avoid 'Big Dumb Company' Disease
How Fast-Growing Startups Can Avoid 'Big Dumb Company' Disease: "In the worst cases, the result is “BDC” or “Big Dumb Company” disease, as venture capitalist John Greathouse calls it. But can BDC be avoided?"
How to cope when someone you love is dying, and nothing makes sense
How to cope when someone you love is dying, and nothing makes sense: "When someone you love dies it's like being dropped into a foreign world. Everything looks vaguely familiar but nothing makes sense.
Here are some pieces of advice to help you find your way…"
Here are some pieces of advice to help you find your way…"
Garbage In, Garbage Out
Garbage In, Garbage Out — Editor's Picks — Medium: "I would argue that some of the most egregious statistical mistakes involve lying with data; the statistical analysis is fine, but the data on which the calculations are performed are bogus or inappropriate. "
Does Being Cold Make You Sick?
Does Being Cold Make You Sick?: "Nearly everyone who has ever lived in a colder climate region has been told that being outside in the cold without the proper amount of clothing will make you sick. But is that actually true or just a myth?"
Research: Cubicles Are the Absolute Worst
Research: Cubicles Are the Absolute Worst - Sarah Green - Harvard Business Review: "The worst part, according to the data, is that these office workers can’t control what they hear — or who hears them. Lack of sound privacy was far and away the most despised issue in the survey, with 60% of cubicle workers and half of all partitionless people indicating it as a frustration."
Policy: Twenty tips for interpreting scientific claims
"To this end, we suggest 20 concepts that should be part of the education of civil servants, politicians, policy advisers and journalists — and anyone else who may have to interact with science or scientists. "
How to navigate a medical crisis
"Getting the best treatment, though, isn't the only critical task ahead. You'll have to master the nuances of your health insurance coverage, arrange for time away from the office, and find slack in your budget for the inevitable out-of-pocket costs. "
Headlines from a Mathematically Literate World
"Our World: One Dead in Shark Attack; See Tips for Shark Safety Inside
Mathematically Literate World: One Dead in Tragic, Highly Unlikely Event; See Tips for Something Useful Inside"
Mathematically Literate World: One Dead in Tragic, Highly Unlikely Event; See Tips for Something Useful Inside"
Secrets of Black Friday and Cyber Monday - get it now (before it's gone!)
"I know my strings are being pulled. I know how they are being pulled. Because of this, I've been able to temper my actions a bit."
'via Blog this'
'via Blog this'
3 easy ways to trick people with numbers
"Numbers can be dry and boring for many of us, but they do have a way of making things seem factual even when they aren't"
Inside The Staged Normalcy Of Breakthrough Alzheimer's Village
"At the same location, there used to be an ordinary six-floor retirement home whose staff, one day, asked themselves the right question: “If our own parents suffered from dementia, would we want them to live here?”"
The Fist Bump Manifesto
"We surmise that the fist bump is an effective alternative to the handshake in the hospital setting," McClellan et al. wrote in the journal. "[Bumping] may lead to decreased transmission of bacteria and improved health and safety of patients and healthcare workers alike."
Going Gently Into That Good Night
"I believe that the power to make choices about how and when we die, when terminally ill, should be a basic human right. "
An Ex-Cop's Guide to Not Getting Arrested
"Law enforcement officers now are part of the revenue gathering system," Carson tells me in a phone interview. "The ranks of cops are young and competitive, they’re in competition with one another and intra-departmentally. It becomes a game. Policing isn’t about keeping streets safe, it’s about statistical success. The question for them is, Who can put the most people in jail?"
My 83-Year-Old Dad Was Swindled: 7 Financial Scams
"When everything unraveled and the police and I talked, a detective said, “It’ll take a while for us to get this criminal charged. We have so many of these cases a day to deal with. This is going on everywhere.”"
10 Things Every High School Graduate Should Know About Money
"It raises the question, in a nation founded on capitalist ideals and driven by consumer activity, of why we don’t do a better job educating our kids about money. Shouldn’t personal finance be part of a core curriculum that helps students avoid some of the more common pitfalls and promotes strategies for success?"
The 12 cognitive biases that prevent you from being rational
"Here are a dozen of the most common and pernicious cognitive biases that you need to know about."
40-hour work-week as a tool of emiserating economic growth
40-hour work-week as a tool of emiserating economic growth: "In Cain's view, the 40-hour office week leaves us "tired, hungry for indulgence, willing to pay a lot for convenience and entertainment, and most importantly, vaguely dissatisfied with our lives so that we continue wanting things we don’t have.""
Waterpik Water Flosser
Cool Tools – Waterpik Water Flosser: "The key is adequate water pressure delivered through the small, needle-like plastic tip that you direct around the inside of your mouth, like a miniature fire-hose, aiming at every gum line and inter-tooth space."
Peak soil: Why nutrition is disappearing from our food
Peak soil: Why nutrition is disappearing from our food: "Agriculture, by nature, is designed to reap the maximum yield of crops, a process that has been honed and perfected over the centuries. It's quantity at the expense of quality, in other words."
Privacy Primer
Privacy Primer: "Privacy doesn’t need any more justification. It’s a quality-of-life thing and needs no further defense."
This Is The Best Takedown Of The 'Speed Kills' Myth You'll Ever See
"One refrain you hear frequently from insurance companies, police, and the media is that 'speed kills.' It doesn't, and this is the best debunking of that myth that we've ever seen."
What Your Neighborhood List-Serv Tells You About The Demise of America
"When everything is a safety crisis, nothing is. So it should be little surprise that older children are less likely to heed warnings against smoking, drinking and having, in the parlance of modern educators, “unsafe” sex."
My Daughter’s Homework Is Killing Me
"What happens when a father, alarmed by his 13-year-old daughter's nightly workload, tries to do her homework for a week"
“Forcing” my kids to be vegetarian
"I’m uneasy with the idea of animals being killed to fulfill a need of mine I know can be fulfilled other ways. In the interests of sharing a world with more than 7 billion other people, and doing so without being a jerk, I’d rather reduce my toll on our shared resources. "
Fighting back against talkers and texters at the movies
"There is a larger question: Why is this an epidemic? My hunch is that our culture has become SO private -- meaning people spend so much time watching things on computers and interacting via so-called social media -- they've forgotten how to act in public."
Gut feelings: the future of psychiatry may be inside your stomach
"But now, a new understanding of the trillions of microbes living in our guts reveals that this communication process is more like a multi-lane superhighway than a one-way street. By showing that changing bacteria in the gut can change behavior, this new research might one day transform the way we understand — and treat — a variety of mental health disorders."
Three Things White Americans Must Do Today for Black Americans
"Hold open doors. Carry bags. Stand so others can sit. Ask if you can give a hand. Remember we’re naturally biased to behave like everyone else when we’re in a crowd. Fight that bias and do the thing that is gracious and kind, even if everyone else around you is doing nothing. You will feel self-conscious and potentially idiotic. This is normal. It is also a small price to pay for kindness."
Your Ancestors Didn’t Sleep Like You
"Your ancestors slept in a way that modern sleepers would find bizarre – they slept twice. And so can you."
Why Do Mosquitoes Bite Some People More Than Others?
"An estimated 20 percent of people, it turns out, are especially delicious for mosquitoes, and get bit more often on a consistent basis. And while scientists don’t yet have a cure for the ailment, other than preventing bites with insect repellent (which, we’ve recently discovered, some mosquitoes can become immune to over time), they do have a number of ideas regarding why some of us are more prone to bites than others. "
Are we making ourselves miserable trying to live longer?
"But delve a little deeper into those numbers, and you'll discover that while Americans may be living longer, they are certainly not living better. For one, we're slipping behind our international peers. The U.S. is 27th, down from 20th, in life expectancy among the 34 member nations of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. More importantly, our quality of life has also fallen relative to the rest of the industrialized world."
No One is Innocent
"I broke the law yesterday and again today and I will probably break the law tomorrow. Don’t mistake me, I have done nothing wrong. I don’t even know what laws I have broken. Nevertheless, I am reasonably confident that I have broken some laws, rules, or regulations recently because its hard for anyone to live today without breaking the law. "
Confirmation Bias « You Are Not So Smart
"The Misconception: Your opinions are the result of years of rational, objective analysis.
The Truth: Your opinions are the result of years of paying attention to information which confirmed what you believed while ignoring information which challenged your preconceived notions."
The Truth: Your opinions are the result of years of paying attention to information which confirmed what you believed while ignoring information which challenged your preconceived notions."
Why Randomness May Not Mean What You Think It Means
"Randomness is an often misunderstood concept. Unlike a lot of precise math, randomness deals with ineffable concepts like odds and probabilities — concepts that our brains simply haven't evolved to fully process and grasp; indeed, our brains are actually wired to find patterns and meaning in things that aren’t really there."
The new warrior cop is out of control
"SWAT teams raiding poker games and trying to stop underage drinking? Overwhelming paramilitary force is on the rise"
David Edelstein on Texting and Talking at Movies
"When you go to the movies nowadays, is it hard to concentrate on what’s onscreen because people are texting or talking all around you, as if they were in their own living rooms? I hear you. I hear them, too."
Depression/anxiety/mental illness: you are not alone in this fight
"There is help available, including talking therapy and safe, effective medications to help balance the chemicals in your brain so you can feel normal again. To borrow a phrase from my friend Jenny Lawson: Since I got treatment for my particular flavor of mental illness, I may have Depression, but Depression doesn't have me."
Is the obesity crisis hiding a bigger problem? | Video on TED.com
"So what if we're fighting the wrong war, fighting obesity rather than insulin resistance? Even worse, what if blaming the obese means we're blaming the victims? What if some of our fundamental ideas about obesity are just wrong?"
Transcript available there for those who would rather read than listen.
Transcript available there for those who would rather read than listen.
A Nation of Wimps
"Messing up, however, even in the playground, is wildly out of style. Although error and experimentation are the true mothers of success, parents are taking pains to remove failure from the equation."
Advice for Grads from Two Sociologists
“Happy Graduation, Seniors! Congratulations! What’s next? Below is some sociologically-inspired, out-of-the-box advice on work, love, family, friendship, and the meaning of life. “
This is intended for college graduates, but I think it’s great stuff for any adult (and besides, not everyone goes to college).
This is intended for college graduates, but I think it’s great stuff for any adult (and besides, not everyone goes to college).
The Zen of floating
"After just 20 minutes in a sensory-deprivation tank, you can reach a state of zero thought"
“But there is glitter on your boobs!” | the flip side of modesty culture
"It’s a poor view of both men and women to assume that a lack of modesty leads to loss of control, and it also perpetuates a rape culture in which the victim is held responsible instead of the perpetrator. If we want our boys to be more respectful of women, WE SHOULD ADDRESS IT WITH THE BOYS. But it does prompt the question: what responsibility do women have when it comes to modesty? "
“If the Sex Offender List Saves One Child…”
"... this guest post addresses a sentiment that really disturbs me — the “one child” idea that is used to justify everything from not allowing kids to walk to school to never letting folks who’ve served their time return to the community as anonymous citizens, same as anyone else."
A Nation of Wimps
"Parents are going to ludicrous lengths to take the bumps out of life for their children. However, parental hyperconcern has the net effect of making kids more fragile; that may be why they're breaking down in record numbers"
The ecosystem inside you
"Your body harbors trillions of bacteria that have profound effects on your health, your weight, and even your mood"
How conspiracists think
"New research helps explain why some see elaborate government plots behind events like 9/11 or the Boston bombings"
What BP Doesn’t Want You to Know About the 2010 Gulf Spill
"That BP lied about the amount of oil it discharged into the gulf is already established. Lying to Congress about that was one of 14 felonies to which BP pleaded guilty last year in a legal settlement with the Justice Department that included a $4.5 billion fine, the largest fine ever levied against a corporation in the U.S."
The psychology of hating food (and how we learn to love it)
The psychology of hating food (and how we learn to love it): "Kids who hate stinky cheese and greens often grow into adults who can't get enough of them. Why do our tastes seem to transform in our teens? And can we change our tastes deliberately as adults? Here's what scientists know so far."
The Boston Marathon Bombing: Keep Calm and Carry On
The Boston Marathon Bombing: Keep Calm and Carry On - Bruce Schneier - The Atlantic: "If it's hard for us to keep this in perspective, it will be even harder for our leaders. They'll be afraid that by speaking honestly about the impossibility of attaining absolute security or the inevitability of terrorism -- or that some American ideals are worth maintaining even in the face of adversity -- they will be branded as "soft on terror." And they'll be afraid that Americans might vote them out of office. Perhaps they're right, but where are the leaders who aren't afraid? What has happened to "the only thing we have to fear is fear itself"?
Terrorism, even the terrorism of radical Islamists and right-wing extremists and lone actors all put together, is not an "existential threat" against our nation. Even the events of 9/11, as horrific as they were, didn't do existential damage to our nation. Our society is more robust than it might seem from watching the news. We need to start acting that way. "
'via Blog this'
Terrorism, even the terrorism of radical Islamists and right-wing extremists and lone actors all put together, is not an "existential threat" against our nation. Even the events of 9/11, as horrific as they were, didn't do existential damage to our nation. Our society is more robust than it might seem from watching the news. We need to start acting that way. "
'via Blog this'
In Which The City of Portland Makes Me Seriously Consider Becoming a Registered Libertarian
"I was working from home last August when I glanced out my front window and noticed a man walking through our front yard, taking measurements. I went out and introduced myself; the man turned out to be an Urban Forestry Inspector from the City of Portland’s Parks and Recreation Department. He was there, he said, to investigate illegal tree removal on my part."
Congress Quickly And Quietly Rolls Back Insider Trading Rules For Itself
"From the can't-mess-with-the-profits dept"
How Food Companies Exploit Americans
"And that’s the problem – the food industry is the one leading our conversation in this country about food and nutrition, educating the mass public about what to eat and what not to eat. "
Why does my kid freak out? The science behind toddler tantrums. - Slate Magazine
"The totally legitimate reasons your animal child just threw spaghetti in your face."
The Rules of Good Nutrition (That Absolutely Everybody Agrees On)
"Fewer things can generate more controversy and disagreement than discussions about food and nutrition. It often seems that people will never reach any kind of consensus on what we should and shouldn't eat. But there may actually be a few exceptions to this. Here are 10 nutrition facts that everyone actually agrees on — well, perhaps almost everyone."
White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack
White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack: "Through work to bring materials from women's studies into the rest of the curriculum, I have often noticed men's unwillingness to grant that they are overprivileged, even though they may grant that women are disadvantaged. They may say they will work to women's status, in the society, the university, or the curriculum, but they can't or won't support the idea of lessening men's. "
Sources of Free Images
"I am always on the lookout for free imagery for blog posts and powerpoints presentations. Here’s some sources."
Bitter Pill: Why Medical Bills Are Killing Us
"When you look behind the bills that Sean Recchi and other patients receive, you see nothing rational — no rhyme or reason — about the costs they faced in a marketplace they enter through no choice of their own. The only constant is the sticker shock for the patients who are asked to pay."
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