Joel E Lewis

The most talked about issue of the year,  it’s been dissected more than the captured alien in Independance Day – it’s gotten to the point where you don’t want to hear more about it but can’t stand to not talk about it.  I’m by no means a basketball expert, but I think I know enough [...]

Absolutely amazing: The scientists had volunteers move a cursor horizontally across a screen by pinching a device called a force transducer between thumb and index finger. The harder each subject squeezed, the faster the cursor moved. Each player was asked to move the cursor back and forth between a series of targets, trying to travel [...]

The internet has opened a torrent of information sources to us.  Over the course of the week I read selected articles from several newspapers, pipe posts form about 50 different blogs on topics ranging form finance to marketing, to what my friends did last week , not to mention all the linking and Wikipedia reading [...]

Expect to get a call the week before the election: A new study shows that phone calls to encourage people to vote can be made more effective by a simple strategy – that is, by asking the would-be voter to spell out what time they plan to vote, where they will be coming from prior [...]

…bad presenters do. PowerPoint gets a lot of hate – but usually not in the NY Times.  Sure, alcohol is probably the only thing abused more than power point, but just like alcohol, we keep it around for a reason. Powerpoint lets you quickly and easily make a visual companion to a talk.  It adds [...]

“Three men can keep if a secret, if two are dead” – Benjamin Franklin Privacy has always been difficult to achieve, even during the time of our founding fathers.  Now, the war is over; privacy lost. In order to live in the modern world, you have no choice but to give up a traditional understanding [...]

When you hit a road block, you can either stop and come back to your task later or power through it.  As a profligate procrastinator, the temptation to “come back to it later” is as dangerous as it is useful.  I’m always on the prowl for a rule, something firm enough to make me push [...]

I was reading an interview of the always entertaining Anthony Bourdain.  When asked about the appeal of the simple foods, he responded: It’s true of wine also.  I respond to blunt objects more than a subtle wine. Rough neighborhood wines in Italy or Sardinia or Cotes du Rhone make me happier. Cruder, messier things where [...]

“Humans have some sort of hardwired sense of rightness, and stealing something that’s too much of a hassle to purchase legally feels okay to most people.” via Scott Adams Blog: the creator of Dilbert, Wally, Catbert, the Pointy Haired Boss and all your favorite cubicle companions..

An example of correlation, not causation: A desire for smaller government is particularly evident since Barack Obama took office. via Andrew Kohut: Americans Are More Skeptical of Washington Than Ever – WSJ.com. Was Barack Obama’s election and subsequent behaivor the reason more Americans desire small government, or is that just the explanation the author wants [...]