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Problem Solving in a Doggy Age
San Francisco Chronicle: Allow me to quote from the first paragraph of an article on the site Science Daily: "Stuck solving a problem? Seek the obscure, says Tony McCaffrey, a psychology PhD from the University of Massachusetts. 'There's a classic obstacle to innovation called "functional fixedness," which is the tendency to fixate on the common use of an object or its parts.
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What Happened to the Girls in Le Roy
The New York Times: Before the media vans took over Main Street, before the environmental testers came to dig at the soil, before the doctor came to take blood, before strangers started knocking on doors and asking question after question, Katie Krautwurst, a high-school cheerleader from Le Roy, N.Y., woke up from a nap. Instantly, she knew something was wrong. Her chin was jutting forward uncontrollably and her face was contracting into spasms. She was still twitching a few weeks later when her best friend, Thera Sanchez, captain of one of the school’s cheerleading squads, awoke from a nap stuttering and then later started twitching, her arms flailing and head jerking.
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When Today’s Deal Is Tomorrow’s Regret
The New York Times: HOW much is a $150 coupon worth? For Matt Sumell, the cost turned out to be one new relationship, as well as a little bit of pride. In January 2011, Mr. Sumell bought a $150 coupon for a romantic overnight stay in a hotel from LivingSocial, the daily deal site (a savings of about 50 percent). He planned to use it with a woman he had been dating for five years, until that relationship ended. But Mr. Sumell, an English teacher and fiction writer from Los Angeles, is not one to throw away money. So 11 months later, with the coupon unused and an expiration date looming, he set aside his better judgment and invited a woman he had been dating for only a month.
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Two Heads Are Not Better Than One
The Huffington Post: Once we saw the house, we knew that it would be just perfect for our recently blended family. Room for three not quite adult but definitely not young children. Great kitchen. A basement where one could fantasize about happy adolescents (first fantasy) playing pool and ping-pong (second fantasy) while engaging in wholesome evening activities (third fantasy). And office space for two. After all, we had been looking for a new home for months in what felt like a Bataan march through too many other homes. Once we walked through this one, we came, we saw, we put in a contract.
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How to Gain Self Control
Scientific American: We’ve all had that moment: you wanna punch some jerk right in the face. So, what stops us? Well, simply put, self-control. But it turns out each of us has a limited quantity of self-control. Past studies have shown, for example, that stopping yourself from taking a cookie for about an hour is likely to increase your aggression later that day. And there are tricks to increase our stash of control. A new study shows you can practice it, as one would practice any new skill, Read the whole story: Scientific American
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Get Me Out of this Slump! Visual Illusions Improve Sports Performance
One way players might be able to improve their chances at making key shots is by tricking themselves into thinking the goal, the basket, or the target is bigger than it really is.
