Going out to eat is usually a festive occasion, as it should be. However, some people, many of whom may be quite disciplined with their eating habits at home, lose their self-control at a restaurant. I recently came across two tips that may help people in such situations. The first tip relates to something I … Continue reading Two Tips for Not Overeating at a Restaurant →

"What's in a name? That which we call a rose By any other name would smell as sweet." While that may have been true in Shakespeare's time, do we need to add a new type of discrimination today based on a person's first name? Researchers at Harvard Business School found that online marketplaces that choose … Continue reading Age, Gender, Race, Religion, Ethnicity, First Name →

I enjoy the Farmers Insurance commercials, and when I heard the company had a web site that detailed some of its more unusual insurance claims, I had to check it out. Here are some of the more interesting ones, with some humorous animations: Hot Dog: While it’s true that dogs are man’s best friend, it’s also … Continue reading The Fire Started How??!! →

What do you say when someone sneezes? In the U.S., the common responses are "God bless you", "bless you", or the occasional "gesundheit". But what about in China, or Spain, or the Philippines? Well to find the answer to that, we turn to good old Wikipedia. In non-English-speaking cultures, words referencing good health or a … Continue reading Achoo! →

I remember hearing about the following anecdote several years ago, and here is a web version retelling of it: A new college campus was being built, and the question arose, "Where should we put the walkways?" Some felt the walkways should be around the edges, to leave the center green and untouched. Some felt the walkways … Continue reading To Pave the Cow Path or Not →

I was driving my car the other day and I heard a commercial for the great Please Touch Museum, and it mentioned that it had an exhibit featuring Clifford the Big Red Dog. The commercial noted that the exhibit features a hands-on, activity-filled play space that focuses on “Clifford’s Big Ideas”— 10 simple, tangible life lessons designed … Continue reading Everything You Need to Know You Can Learn from a Big Red Dog →

I've often heard what a powerful effect music can have on people, but this raises it to a whole new level. I first read about this psychological warfare tactic back in August, when South Korea successfully used loudspeakers to blast messages critical of North Korea across the most heavily armed border in the world. The … Continue reading This Is How All Conflicts Should Be Settled →

Maybe it's because I grew up exercising in the Stone Age, before Walkmans, iPods, iPhones, iPads, and Kindles. Maybe it's because the sport I pursued competitively for 12 years had me in the water for my entire workout. Maybe it's because I can only do one thing at a time. Whatever the reason might be, … Continue reading Embracing the Boredom of Exercise →

"... it’s better to buy appreciating assets than depreciating. No yachts, no sports cars.” That's an idea I try to impress upon my students every year; in fact I even wrote a blog about it. So imagine my surprise, and excitement, when I read the above quote in a recent Wall Street Journal story,  especially when … Continue reading Frugality in the NFL? Yes, If You Play for the Redskins →

If you needed to come up with $1,000 cash within a week, could you do it? How you answer such a question apparently plays a key role in measuring one's life satisfaction, a bigger role than even income or marriage/cohabitation. A recent paper in the Journal of Happiness Studies by Martin Berlin and Niklas Kaunitz of the Swedish Institute for … Continue reading Access to Cash, Not Income, Key to Life Satisfaction →