Top 10 Common Faults In Human Thought
A list everyone should be aware of.
Top 10 Common Faults In Human Thought
Kissing Ass works!
Good to know, whether you’re the kisser or the kissee, even if you know you are deliberately being buttered up. Also applies to ads — just watching them will affect your attitudes and decisions. And the more down-on-yourself you are, the better it works.
From Scientific American Mind Matters, January 12, 2010:
Flattery Will Get You Far
Even obviously manipulative compliments are remarkably effective
Driveway sealant toxic
Not only does the black coal tar sealant used for driveways produce carcinogenic dust, but there is no proof that it increases the longevity of the asphalt underneath. Vacuuming habits seem to make no difference in the concentration of toxic dust inside the house. Already banned in some US cities.
From nature.com news, 11 January 2010:
Driveways could spread toxins into the home
Carcinogens in coal tar–sealed pavements cause worry.
How Birth Order Affects Your Personality
For one, the more older siblings one has, the lower one’s IQ. Also, firstborns are more likely to associate with firstborns, middle-borns with middle-borns, last-borns with last-borns, and only children with only children.
Article from the January 2010 Scientific American Mind (also see The secrets of birth order):
How Birth Order Affects Your Personality
For decades the evidence has been inconclusive, but new studies show that family position may truly affect intelligence and personality
The Neuroscience of Screwing Up
Failure can be good for you, if you let it. This article explains the why and the how. An illuminating quote:
“…we carefully edit our reality, searching for evidence that confirms what we already believe. Although we pretend we’re empiricists — our views dictated by nothing but the facts — we’re actually blinkered, especially when it comes to information that contradicts our theories.”
Check out the “How to learn from failure” part at the end of the article. From Wired, Jan 2010:
Accept Defeat: The Neuroscience of Screwing Up
Do your balls hang low?
Do they wobble to and fro? Hilarious follow-up to the Secrets of the Phallus, explaining all that’s hangin’…
From Scientific American, November 19, 2009:
Why do human testicles hang like that?
Pros of being sad
Happy moods promote creativity and flexibility — but also gullability. Sad moods make you more critical, improve your ability to judge and remember.
From Smart Planet, Nov 5, 2009:
A bad mood can help you think more clearly
By Andrew Nusca
Bad moods can be good for you, according to a new study.
Pinker on Gladwell
An eye-opening review of Malcolm Gladwell’s book “What the dog saw” by Steven Pinker – I will be much more careful of accepting Gladwell’s conclusions from here on. From the New York Times:
Malcolm Gladwell, Eclectic Detective
Placebo effect is real
Spinal-cord neural activity found when individuals were convinced that their pain would be alleviated by a cream treatment, irrespective of whether the cream was real or a placebo. From Smartplanet.com:
Placebo effect not all in your head
By Dana Blankenhorn | Oct 16, 2009
About
Although it started out as a means of practising expressing myself, this blog is turning out to be more of a compendium of interesting information I come across. One of these days I’ll have to actually write something as opposed to cut and paste. 
