It's Saturday, which means there's a decent chance I'll be sharing one of Dan Ariely's responses to an email he received from a Wall Street Journal reader. And today is one of those lucky Saturdays. Here was the question: Dear Dan, When I host friends for dinner, can I ask them to help with cleaning … Continue reading Hmmm… I’m Not So Sure About This One
It's one of the all-time great songs of summer, "Under the Boardwalk". https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yKmKezVBdOQ Now I have never personally experienced the romantic overtones suggested by the lyrics, but nonetheless, it's still one of my favorites because of all the other wonderful imagery contained in the lyrics. The song came back to me as I reading a … Continue reading Would You Rather Be Thrown “Under the Boardwalk” or “Under the Bus”?
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?
As soon as I saw the headline, the first thing I did was check the date, to make sure it wasn't an old story from April 1. But no, it was from this week. Toymaker Hasbro announced it was rolling out a new version of its classic Monopoly board game, naming this one Ms. Monopoly. In … Continue reading Ms. Monopoly – Seems Destined to be a Ms., Not a Hit
I remember 30 plus years ago when my wife and I were looking for our first home my wife had a couple of basic features she wanted in a home. One of those items was a front porch. And I'll admit I wanted one as well. Well, we are still living in the first house … Continue reading Porches = Eyebrows. Let Me Explain.
Today was one of my favorite Saturdays - Dan Ariely's column was in the Wall Street Journal! I'll offer my perspective on his advice in a later post, but what I want to focus on in this post is a phrase which Ariely used that I had not heard of before, the veil of ignorance. … Continue reading Using the Veil of Ignorance to Create a Just Society
It's my favorite part of the Wall Street Journal - the A-hed story. It appears on the front page of the newspaper, prime real estate. And I've heard that for reporters, it is the most coveted place for their work to appear. Barry Kilgore, the modern Journal's first managing editor, knowing that into the world … Continue reading The A-Hed – the Quirky Side of the Wall Street Journal
I still remember it from 40 years ago. A bunch of guys in our dorm had t-shirts made that said in big letters "Disco Sucks", and we all decided to wear them around campus the same day. I can recall before even going into my first classroom that day and my face was already bright … Continue reading The Spotlight Effect (also known as “no one is paying attention to you”)
It's not because there is anything earth-shattering in the paragraphs that follow. It's not because something might happen to you if you don't. And it's not because I'm trying to trick you into reading it. Well, maybe that last statement is not quite true. But blame Dan Ariely, not me. One of the letters Dan … Continue reading You Must Read This Blog Post Within the Next 15 Minutes
I started this blog on January 1, 2015 (here's that first post), and haven't missed a day since. The original intent was to see if I was up to the challenge of posting every day for 31 days. When I got to 31 days I said to myself why not try for 50 days, which … Continue reading A Look Back at My First Attempts at Blogging
Borden's Blather 