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Where the empty calories just keep on coming
The Washington Post: In a game obsessed with numbers — home runs, earned run averages, stolen bases, Derek Jeter hookups — it should come as little surprise, that, given half a chance, baseball fans can rattle off exactly how many hot dogs they’ve wolfed down during the course of a nine-inning game. Case in point: Before the first pitch at Oriole Park at Camden Yards in Baltimore last week, Mark Mirchandani casually announced that he already had gobbled three Esskay dogs.
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Mental Health Minute: Never Forget a Name Again
Glamour: Are you suffer from chronic name forgetfulness? Maybe you're not doing this... If you've ever faced someone and completely spaced out on her name, it could be because you didn't focus on a single feature of a person's face. In a new study published in the journal Psychological Science, researchers learned that people are more likely to remember someone's name if they remember a key feature on their face (their beautiful eyes, or great smile, for instance), rather than just the overall picture of their face. Read the whole story: Glamour
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The Gifts We Keep On Giving
With so many holidays and celebrations, who can blame someone for doing a little recycling, or as it is commonly known, regifting? Not the person who actually gave the original gift, despite what a regifter may think.
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Let Us Eat Cake: The Paradox of Scarcity
Huffington Post: Everyone knows by now that the U.S. is in the midst of an obesity epidemic, but for all the hand wringing, nobody really knows why. Experts have offered many theories about why Americans eat too much, especially too much fattening food, but these remain theories. It's because Americans are ill-informed about diet and nutrition and simply do not understand that double cheeseburgers are loaded with fat and calories. Or it's because we're constantly bombarded with stimulating ads for tempting but unhealthful snacks. Or it's because we simply lack the self-discipline of earlier generations. Or all of the above. Or perhaps something else entirely.
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How Protective Parents Imperil Kids at the Playground
ABC News: For parents who hover, a playground can look like a very dangerous place for their kids. But medical experts warn that parental efforts to keep their young children safe often backfire -- and end up harming them instead. Nora Abularach of New York keeps her impulses in check. On Wednesday she watched as her 2-year-old son, Sam, scurried up the ladder to a big yellow slide at a Central Park playground. Abularach remained a few feet away near the foot of the slide. Sam paused at the top for a moment, looking to his mom for reassurance. A few encouraging words later, Sam was zipping down the slide, all by himself.
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‘Weapons of persuasion’ from Robert Cialdini
Los Angeles Times: Mitt Romney on the stump, singles at the bar, car salesmen on the lot: All sorts of people are practicing the art of persuasion, with varying degrees of success. We like to think that we make our own decisions, that we're in control. But we're all open to persuasion by others, says Robert Cialdini, professor emeritus of psychology at Arizona State University and author of "Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion." Humans have been testing their own trial-and-error persuasion techniques forever, Cialdini says. Now, for better or worse, the professionals are moving in.