Learning From Our Scars

So . . . we have a habit of making the same mistakes over and over.  An important lesson that we try to teach our kids is that you can learn from your mistakes, but it seems we don't necessarily incorporate that into our behaviour.  Either through blindness to the mistake or wishful thinking that things will turn out differently next time, we fail to adjust our behaviour in light of evidence that something isn't working.  And all of this is on my mind because of a movie I re-watched last night.  The film, and the lesson, after the jump.

Update Time!

So . . . once again the topics I have written about have reemerged in the news, and that means it's update time.  I don't know if it's just that news stories don't tie up neatly at the time they're reported and require follow-up in general, or if I'm just so incredible prescient that I tend to write about things that will have future consequences.  I'll leave that up to you.  The updates after the jump.

The Price is Right But We're Often Wrong

So . . . we all deal with prices all the time.  It's usually one of the first things we look at when evaluating purchases, it's how we judge the quality of a lot of items, and it's believed to be the primary usage that most of us have for math.  It's also the basis for a lot of my academic research and a topic I find profoundly interesting.  And yet most people don't really understand how prices are set, why they are at the level they are, and what a "fair" price is.  A couple of anecdotes about pricing after the jump.

All About the Benjamins: Blog Entry 100

So . . . this is my one-hundredth blog entry.  If you're into base-10 numbers, as most of us are, that's exciting news!  I for one am very pleased with myself for getting to this point.  I wasn't sure that I would be able to, worrying that I might run out of topics before then, but it seems not - there is always the opportunity to write about what constitutes a pizza, or offhand comments heard in  hallways, or bees.  Today I'm going to mention some of the lessons obtained through my experience thus far.  What I've learned after the jump.

Honey Is the Root of All Evil

So . . . I read a fascinating article in the paper a few weeks ago.  It was all about honey and bees.  And it was indeed fascinating.  It seems that the honey trade is not so sweet - there is major fraud, money laundering, forgery, and bribery going on to keep the golden flow moving.  Truly a sticky situation.  More on this story, and some more bad puns, after the jump.

Parenting Fallacy: Roaring Back at the Tiger Mother

So . . . parenting is tricky business (I know, and water is wet).  It seems as though the more information out there, the more opportunity to screw it up.  We all want the best for our children (well, other than maybe Michael Lohan and the Golden Voiced Homeless Guy) and try to raise them right.  Of course, we all have a different definition of what "right" is - one person's parenting is another's irresponsible neglect or overstrict bullying.  But a new book is claiming to have the answer when it comes to rearing your child.  More on so-called "Chinese Parenting," and why it's probably not all it's cracked up to be, after the jump.

Star-Gazing

So . . . in the past twelve hours I have seen a furor erupt on news sites and facebook and blogs, as people's very identities are being torn from them.  It seems that (brace yourself) we have gotten astrology wrong, we aren't the signs we think we are, and there is a new, thirteenth sign with a funny name.  I feel so betrayed.  Here I thought for my whole life that I was a Gemini, and it seems that instead I am a Taurus.  I guess I'll have to stop being two-faced and start being stubborn.  More sarcasm and derision after the jump.

Supernatural Science Storm

So . . . as it happens, three interesting items came to attention this past weekend, all having to do with science and the pursuit of knowledge.  They actually make quite an unexpectedly matched set, coming from different sources (the Journal of  Personality and Social Psychology, the science desk of the New Yorker, and a comedian's clip on Youtube) and having slightly different perspectives (one using scientific method to prove the supernatural, one looking critically at the execution of scientific discovery and one looking critically at the denial of science's validity).  The links, and my input, after the jump.

Right Decision/Best Decision - NBA Edition

So . . . you read that right - not even fully back on posting schedule and I'm already combining my two passions, the ones that most of you aren't interested in: decision-making and basketball.  I've had this one in my head for about a couple of months now, ever since Greg Oden of the Portland Trailblazers had yet another season-ending surgery (that makes for a total of 82 games in the four seasons since he was drafted first overall, with two seasons missed entirely).  Drafting Oden was clearly the "wrong" decision for Portland.  But was it the "worst" decision too?  The answer after the jump.

Resolving to Be a Bigger Man

So . . . happy new year!  I'm back.  Long break, I know, but now I'm back in the swing of things and should be posting more regularly again.  It's one of my new year's resolutions, and if you think I believe in making new year's resolutions, then you haven't been really getting what I've been writing in this blog.  But I do enjoy writing these posts and am looking forward to getting back into it.  Of course, that isn't what this post is about - today I'm writing about my ever-expanding gut.  More on my girth after the jump.