In his great book Range, David Epstein talks about how he had a chemistry professor who would throw in some oddball questions on an exam such as, "How many piano tuners are there in New York?" Epstein notes that the ultimate lesson behind using such questions was to show that detailed prior knowledge was less … Continue reading How Many Times Did You Blink Your Eyes Today?
It's been a few months since my last attempt at a few six-word stories, so I thought I'd give it another shot. I figure that once I have 100 of them, I can market all the stories as a collection of "some of the worst writing found on the internet". Here we go: Warm classroom. … Continue reading Six, 6-word stories
When Lasse Rheingans acquired a small tech consulting firm in Bielefeld, Germany in late 2017, he introduced a radical idea: Reduce the workday to five hours, from the standard eight, while leaving worker salaries and vacation time at the same levels. Rheingans, the firm's managing director, says employees can deliver the same output during a focused … Continue reading Could These Companies Be the Start of the 5-Hour Workday?
According to the latest Pinkcast, there is a lot of evidence to suggest that rhymes are an incredibly persuasive tool. In a study titled, “Birds of a Feather Flock Conjointly: Rhyme as Reason in Aphorisms,” researchers found that participants who were given rhymes found the message more accurate and more insightful. The reason was that … Continue reading Beware of Ads That Rhyme, They’ll Get You Every Time
I just refinished reading Range by David Epstein and one section of the book talks about the value of self-learning on a wide range of musical instruments, particularly in the fields of jazz and folk music. Epstein offered several examples of successful jazz musicians who followed unconventional paths on the road to success: Jack Cecchini, … Continue reading Music Monday: The Quintessential Jazz Tune of All Time
A local youth (5-7-year-olds) football coach is facing the possibility of a $500 fine and a two-game suspension. What did he do you may ask? Did he hurt one of his players? Did he use inappropriate language? Did he get into an argument with a ref? No, no, and no. The coach had the nerve … Continue reading Five-Year Old Scores a Touchdown; Coach Facing a $500 Fine and Possible Two-Game Suspension
I wasn't sure what I should write about tonight. And then the murders began. That second line comes courtesy of sci-fi writer Staci Troilo, who linked to writer Jessica Bakkers's blog, which had a reference to a very popular meme from 2017, which of course I am just discovering now. The meme was started by … Continue reading The Murder Meme
I had some school work I had to get done today, so I decided to go to our local library instead of working at home. This way I wouldn't be tempted to visit the fridge or snack closet every 15 minutes... It turned out to be a fairly productive day (I was there from 10:15-3:45) … Continue reading Did I Just Get a Glimpse into My Future?
Let's face it, toilet paper math is hard. How is anyone supposed to make sense of all those numbers that appear on toilet paper packages? But apparently there's something even more troubling than toilet paper math. I guess you would call it toilet paper etiquette. The Wall Street Journal has a cover story (that's right, … Continue reading Coming Soon to a Bathroom Near You – the Forever Roll XXXL?
They say you should write about what you know. Well, here goes. I've been eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for over 50 years. According to Wikipedia, a 2002 survey showed the average American will have eaten 1,500 PB&J sandwiches before graduating from high school. (I wonder if it's just as popular outside the U.S. … Continue reading Peanut Butter and Jelly – a Marriage Made in Heaven
Borden's Blather 