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From Bitter to Wrong: Conscience of a Conservative
Fans of the old sitcom Seinfeld will recall Mr. Bookman, the well-named New York Public Library investigator who relentlessly pursues Jerry for failing to return a library book that he checked out two decades before. Jerry borrowed the book, Tropic of Cancer, in 1971, and when Mr. Bookman finally tracks him down, the mere mention of that year sends the library cop off on a sweeping moral tirade on the degradation of civilized culture: “Yeah, ’71 . . . bad year for libraries. Bad year for America. Hippies burning library cards. Abby Hoffman telling everybody to steal books. I don’t judge a man by the length of his hair or the kind of music he listens to. . . .
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More Americans Believe in Climate Change than in Global Warming
Reuters: A new study conducted by researchers from the University of Michigan, show that more Americans believe in "climate change" than in "global warming." The study, which will see its results published in an upcoming issure of the journal Public Opinion Quarterly, surveyed 2,267 adult Americans asking them a simple question regarding the issue of climate change/global warming. Read the whole story: Reuters
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Abstract Art Isn’t So Inscrutable, Study Finds
The New York Times: Do the canvases of Cy Twombly look like finger-painting to you? No matter how you answer, you’re probably more an of aesthete than you think. Building on a put-down commonly directed at abstract art – “my kid (or a monkey/elephant) could do that” – researchers at Boston College tested whether laypeople and art students could distinguish between abstract paintings by professional artists and those made by schoolchildren and animals. As they report in the journal Psychological Science, even non-experts could tell the difference between finger (or trunk) painting and the real deal. Read the whole story: The New York Times
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Pitchers Bean More Batters in the Heat of the Summer
Pitchers’ temperatures — and tempers — seem to flare when the thermometer tops 90 degrees, research shows.
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Sleep Deprivation May Encourage Risky Decisions
Bloomberg (HealthDay): Sleep deprivation may lead to overly optimistic thinking that fails to properly consider the potential consequences of financial risks, a new study suggests. Duke University researchers assessed the effects of sleep deprivation on 29 adult volunteers who were asked to take part in several economic decision-making tasks in the morning after a normal night of sleep and again one morning after a night of sleep deprivation. Read the whole story: Bloomberg (HealthDay)
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The Visual Side of Pain
The Wall Street Journal: Perceptions of pain can be changed by distorting the view of the affected body part, a new study finds, opening a fresh window onto the psychological side of pain. Researchers affixed a heat-producing device to the left index fingers of 18 volunteers. A mirror was set up so that when the subjects looked toward their left hand what they saw was really a reflection of their right hand. (To complete the effect, the right index finger got its own non-functioning thermode.) Then they started turning up the heat, slowly. Read the whole story: The Wall Street Journal
