For more than 80 years, pollsters have been asking Americans from all walks of life to share their opinions and experiences on pretty much every imaginable topic. Thousands of those surveys are archived by the Roper Center for Public Opinion Research at Cornell University. As the end of 2018, HuffPost wanted to see how things have ― and … Continue reading American Attitudes, Then and Now
Sorry to make you wait three days, but you can blame good old Dan Ariely. Dan recently received the following email: Dear Dan, I enjoy giving gifts to my best friend, and I was wondering which approach would be better for strengthening our friendship: giving her big gifts twice a year, on her birthday and … Continue reading Don’t Read This Post Now – Wait Three Days to Do So
I was at IKEA today, and ended up buying just one very small item, a $5 shelf. When I got to the checkout, I was startled to see that there were only two registers open, and there were about 8-12 people in each line. I was surprised because it was 11:30 on a Thursday morning. … Continue reading Dear Rude People: Quit Cutting in Line
Last year I wrote the following about the famous Marshmallow Experiment: You may be familiar with the famous Stanford Marshmallow Experiment, which was a series of studies on delayed gratification in the late 1960s and early 1970s led by psychologist Walter Mischel, then a professor at Stanford University. In these studies, a child was offered a choice between one small … Continue reading Eating That Marshmallow Won’t Ruin Your Life After All
I've glanced at the Screen Time notices (shown above) I've been getting every week for a while now, but until just a few minutes ago I had never looked at the details of my weekly report. And when I finally did take a look, it was kind of eye-opening, disappointing, embarrassing, and frankly, kind of sad. … Continue reading A Sneak Peek at How I Wasted My Week, Courtesy of Screen Time
It's that time of the year for "best of 2018" lists, and since it's Music Monday, I thought I'd share this "Favorite Songs of 2018" list that Barack Obama put together (and my wife made me aware of). I have to admit that I am not familiar with a single song on this list, and I've … Continue reading Music Monday: Barack Obama’s Favorite Songs of 2018 (AKA songs I’ve never heard of)
Ageism: prejudice or discrimination on the basis of a person's age. For 50 years, it has been illegal under the federal Age Discrimination in Employment Act, or ADEA, for employers to treat older workers differently than younger ones with only a few exceptions, such as when a job requires great stamina or quick reflexes. But … Continue reading Call It What You Want – Seems Like Ageism to Me
Yesterday I wrote about a phrase I had never heard of before, "dead cat bounce". Today I came across another new word/phrase that I was unfamiliar with - "ratioed". According to Merriam Webster, the term refers to the negative response that a tweet gets. In particular, it is used in situations where a tweet gets more replies … Continue reading Another Day, Another New Word
I saw the phrase in a Yahoo Finance headline, "At Some Point, Stocks Are Due for a Dead-Cat Bounce", and I have to admit that not only did I have no idea what it meant, I had never heard the phrase before. So I decided to ask Google Home: For those of you who would … Continue reading Are We Experiencing a Dead Cat Bounce?
If it were up to one reader of the Wall Street Journal, I'd have to give up my man card. Why? Because I voluntarily chose to watch a Hallmark Christmas movie. Earlier this month, the Wall Street Journal had a front-page story about how popular Hallmark Christmas movies are, and not just among women. Some fans … Continue reading Am I in Danger of Losing My Man Card?
Borden's Blather 