Here's a conversation between the author of "Singled Out", Bella DePaulo, and Taxi driver she chanced to meet in Chicago:"So, you're single?""Um-hmm.""Have you ever been married?""No, never.""Why not?""I love being single.""Some guy treat you badly? They're not all like that, you know.""No, no, nothing like that.""Maybe it's not guys you like. Nothing wrong with that.""What I like is being single.""I ...

It's not self-deception, it's the search for coherency.God, reincarnation, religion, these were attempts at comprehending,or more accurately creating a "coherent story" for the intimidating vastness of the universe.Holding onto these constructs in the age of science however, is idiocy.Not because Science is "right", but because it gives a more probable Coherent Story of the universe, life and even morality.Creating coherent ...

Apparently the group Anonymous have started their own leak site. And rather than concentrating on political leaks, they seem to be focused on investigating financial frauds. Their first leak comes from the major Chinese agricultural company Chaoda. The report exposes how Chaoda's management has deceived shareholders, how several high level executives have resigned due to "personal reasons" through the past ...

The bridge near near Schenley Plaza, Pittsburgh. All rights reserved"Love will not betray you, dismay or enslave you,It will set you freeBe more like the man you were meant to be." -Mumford and SonsYet reading up on the Disposable Male, The Surrendered Wife model, and the Domestication of the Human male, I'm not quite sure what to think of love now. Especially the last one.

David Foster Wallace is always a breath of fresh air. The only thing I've preached, if ever, was that "You have a choice."You have the freedom to choose what matters.You don't have to believe in the religion, advertisers, or your parents.You don't have to go with the trend, follow your friends, or that spiritual guru across the street.The transition from ...

Stumbled upon this noteworthy study from 1976 [1]. A group of nursing home residents were given a plant to take care of, and they were divided in to two groups. The low-control group was told by the staff when they could water the plant and tend to it's care. The high-control group was given the freedom to choose when they ...

And this year's Nobel Prize in Chemistry goes to a Materials Scientist! Yay! (*Does a small inappropriate dance*) Dan Shechtman at the Israel Institute of Technology was credited today for his discovery of Quasi-crystals in 1982. To appreciate the significance of Quasi-crystals, you really need to know a bit about the mathematics of symmetry. Indeed most scientists rejected Shechtman's idea ...

So I've been toying with the idea of 3D printing for almost an year now. Last October, after much research I went for the ultra-low budget printrbot. It was a complete disaster from shipping to installing to printing, every step of the process was slow and painstaking. Right now, 3D printing is still much of an enthusiast movement, and it ...

1.) Death cab for Cutie - You are a TouristI went to see them live at Nashville, and they were outstanding. But this song strikes a chord personally due to the lyrics. I felt like a tourist that doesn't belong the last time I went to Sri Lanka, and this is exactly what I needed. 2.) Loreena Mckennit - The ...

From a gallery at MoMA, NYC (2010)1.) Blaming everything on the "Patriachy""OMG Patriarchy!" One of the most common things that you would hear a feminist say. Apparently everything in her life, all her trails and tribunals, all the unsuccessful endeavors she started but couldn't complete, and everything she didn't start because of her irrational fears, is due to Patriarchy. Patriarchy, ...

This was quite the gem hidden behind the DeYoung art museum. If you are going to visit the Golden Gate park in San Francisco, I highly recommend a visit.

Being sick has it's perks. Haven't gone to work for the past 3 days. Life has slowed down considerably, and I've just discovered Bored to Death and Tudors. Bored to death is simply hilarious. I don't know how I've ever lived without knowing about this. It's kind of like an American Peepshow with a Hangover vibe.Also Time Enough for Love. ...

It's still cold out, but I'm glad the sun is making an appearance. You know this more than I do oh Lord of light, "When faced with an unfamiliar choice, always.. always choose Love over Fear. It is the only way to live."

It's a curious thing, our preferences. We tend to like somethings and tend to dislike others. And sometimes we don't know why that exactly is. For me, Science Fiction is one of those things. I love it terribly, but I'm still not sure why.At first, I thought it was a form of escapism. But then I'm not a huge fan ...

Lately there have been some really insidous TEDtalks. First there was Justin-Hall Tipping (a journalist by profession) talking about how we should take energy off the grid. If his dramatic self-assured tone isn't enough to tell you that something is fishy, let me enlighten you about the current state of power generation: the bottleneck we have now is in the ...

Personal is political. We live in an era of economy of scale, where large corporations control the opinions of masses and alternatively the masses control the profits of large corporations. But the freedom that an individual has is greater than any time in human history. You have the freedom to have an opinion, to live the way you want to, ...

1.) Add mum and dad to your network.Most of us have good relationships with our parents. And as children we share a lot of lives (even some of the most intimate details, our greatest fears and immeasurable joys) with our parents. But when you give such a person the ability to comment on every status you post, link you share ...

Out of all the friends and family I met, I don't think anyone sincerely wanted to know what life in Pittsburgh is like. Instead they had their own preconceptions and prejudices and held a moral high ground which I'm not sure was due to denial or ignorance. I neither had the time nor patience to retaliate and bring things to ...

As first discovered by Baumeister, ego-depletion leads to less self-control. Which means that if you do not think highly of yourself, your ability to control yourself from over-eating/over-drinking becomes surprisingly low.This doesn't necessarily mean that self-control or willpower cannot be cultivated. Perhaps those of us with seemingly higher willpower may have an intuitive understanding that self-deprecation is not good for ...