Brown Motion

It is titled - Improving decisions about health, wealth and happiness, which almost reads Jeffersonian in its ambition. Written by a couple of Chicago based professors, the book is part about brain architecture and part about some empirical observations/guilt trips, that can help us in our day to day. It distinguishes the basic brain performance as being automated (or gut based) and calculated (or more rational).  Many of these ideas are also discussed by other essayists like Malcolm Gladwell in his book 'Blink' and each offers additional anecdotes to message the point. One of the funny ones in this book is about Marriage and Divorce, where it says a second marriage is the triumph of hope over experience.  It also cites a toy that was developed as an alarm clock that each time you hit snooze would roll off and run away from the bed side thereby making the person who perpetually procrastinated waking up to get up and chase it to shut up. The book discusses a lot of c...

While Latin is not my forte I got to thinking if the origin of certain words had to do with the date in history when Julius Caesar was a victim of Homicide. This month - specifically around the Ides  (perhaps it happens each month - just that I happen to have time to watch the idiot box) I noticed we have quite a collection of and conversations about - Homicides  - someone murders someone else Suicides - someone murders themselves Infanticides - someone kills an infant Genocides - large group killings While I think these phrases are used by the media to sensationalize stories I think our human brain has still not evolved beyond basic hunting and gathering across the board or globe. The human brain weighs in at less than 2% of total body weight but is capable of doing amazing things.  Murdering others included. The size of the human brain in contrast to a chimp's which weighs five times more seems to be adapted to doing things smarter, what with ANOT...