My wife, son and I rented a great documentary last night, "Three Identical Strangers". The movie looked at a set of identical triplets who had been separated at birth, adopted by three different families, and miraculously found each other 20 years later. It starts off as a feel-good movie, but then its tone changes. Enough … Continue reading The Fascinating (and Troubling) World of Research on Twins
While wasting some time doing some research on Twitter today, I came across an entry that suggested that the terms snap, crackle, and pop have meanings in the world of physics. And then I found out it's true. According to Wikipedia, the terms are used for the fourth, fifth and sixth time derivatives of position. The first … Continue reading I Guess Physicists Must Really Love Rice Krispies
Every year, the MacArthur Foundation selects between 20 and 30 individuals as MacArthur Fellows, commonly referred to as Genius Grant winners. The MacArthur Fellows Program is intended to encourage people of outstanding talent to pursue their own creative, intellectual, and professional inclinations. In keeping with this purpose, the Foundation awards fellowships directly to individuals rather … Continue reading This Is What Genius Looks Like
According to the website Marketing Blender, a "vision statement should be an audacious dream of a future reality based on the work you do. It should be bursting-at-the-seams with possibility. It’s where “begin with the end in mind” lives. It’s the heart and DNA construct of your organization. Your vision should be so big, it feels nearly … Continue reading Can You Guess the Company by Its Vision Statement?
A survey released today by the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation found that only one in three Americans (36 percent) can actually pass a multiple choice test consisting of items taken from the U.S. Citizenship Test, which has a passing score of 60. Here are some of the highlights (lowlights?) from the survey: Only 13 percent of … Continue reading Most Americans Can’t Pass the Civics Test Required of immigrants. Could You?
It's Advertising Week in New York City (hopefully you were aware of that, otherwise you'd have to wonder about the advertising capability of the people running the conference.) Anyway, one of the panel sessions was "Driving the Future of Voice Activation" and one of the panel members, Barrak Moffitt, executive VP of content strategies and partnerships … Continue reading Is Your Streaming Music Playlist Guilty of Recency Bias?
Tonight was the annual talk by Coach Jay Wright to our business school freshmen. As always, Coach Wright was inspirational, sharing his thoughts on leadership, teamwork, hard work, and positive attitude. I thought one story he told was particularly powerful, that of the stonecutter. When I came home later I looked to see if I … Continue reading Coach Jay Wright and the Stonecutter
The Village Voice ceased online operations last month, a year after ending its print edition. It was the end of the line for the laborious, gritty investigative reporting that was the heart and soul of the paper. The muckraking for which the Voice was known has become an endangered species. According to an article in the … Continue reading This Is Why We Need a Free Press
I think at this point the statute of limitations has expired. So it's time to come clean. When I was about 18 years old a friend and I went to Zern's Farmers Market in Gilbertsville, PA just for something to do one Saturday night. As we were walking past the record store, I caught a … Continue reading Returning to the Scene of My (One and Only) Crime
Here is one of the questions Dan Ariely was posed in this week's Wall Street Journal: Hi, Dan. My son Joey is turning one year old, and we’re throwing a birthday party for him. People usually give toys on such occasions, but I’d like to ask them to give him money instead. How can I … Continue reading I’m Not Sure How I Would Answer This Question
Borden's Blather 