I’m not going to be able to write anything substantial until next week, thanks to being swamped at work. But that doesn’t mean I won’t leave you with something to entertain you. In celebration of Mother’s Day, which was this past Sunday:
Um, yeah. And here’s something else to entertain you in case that wasn’t enough. A classic Rocky 3 scene, except with Superman standing in for Rocky:
I ended up with an extra, brand-new copy of this book, Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions
This is how Publisher’s Weekly describes the book:
Irrational behavior is a part of human nature, but as MIT professor Ariely has discovered in 20 years of researching behavioral economics, people tend to behave irrationally in a predictable fashion. Drawing on psychology and economics, behavioral economics can show us why cautious people make poor decisions about sex when aroused, why patients get greater relief from a more expensive drug over its cheaper counterpart and why honest people may steal office supplies or communal food, but not money. According to Ariely, our understanding of economics, now based on the assumption of a rational subject, should, in fact, be based on our systematic, unsurprising irrationality. Ariely argues that greater understanding of previously ignored or misunderstood forces (emotions, relativity and social norms) that influence our economic behavior brings a variety of opportunities for reexamining individual motivation and consumer choice, as well as economic and educational policy. Ariely’s intelligent, exuberant style and thought-provoking arguments make for a fascinating, eye-opening read.
Sounds cool, doesn’t it? Haven’t read it yet, but I look forward to it.
Since I have this extra copy, I figure I’d have fun with it and do a giveaway. So what I’ll do is have a commenter contest. Starting from today, every comment made for the next two weeks will be an entry into the book giveaway contest. Anywhere in the world is fair game, I will pay to ship the book to you regardless of where you live should you win the contest. The catch? I’m not going to reveal the judging criteria. It could be sheer quantity, it could be intellectual insight, it could be humor, it could be a random drawing, or it could be a combination of one or more of the above. Or maybe I haven’t come up with the criteria yet. I’m not telling. Just comment away and see what happens.
Also, there’s no time limit for the posts you comment on. You can comment as far back as my very first blog post if you want. Hell, you can even comment on the “About” page. If commenter frequency increases during these two weeks I’ll make the giveraway a regular event.
Also, I’m travelling to Sweden and Amsterdam in August. If anyone lives in those places, has lived in those places or has even just travelled there, please share your insights, advice and travel tips with me in the comments section below or via email at t (at) therawness (dot) com.
Bonus Videos from the book author:
Here he talks about online dating and how the less specific you are about yourself, the more likely people are going to be to fill in the gaps with positive, appealing information. Tell me if his logic sounds familiar.
Here he discusses who the best presidential candidate is. Note that he commends Obama for using a lottery system for a one-on-one dinner to raise funds rather than a traditional, large fundraising dinner where everyone who pays gets to attend. Using the lottery system led to a much more passionate response and increased fundraising. And what is a lottery an example of? Click here for a hint.
From Angelo De La Vega in response to the post Some Things You Cannot Explain:
Guidos and Nazis are just about the worst examples of humanity. I will, however, give the Guido some credit for a stream lined approach to women: cockiness, cocktails, and cocaine. These precious commodities assist trashy whores in easing the residual emotional pain from whatever childhood rape trauma they experienced.
Not just funny, but painfully accurate. In fact, I now designate this dating tactic of cockiness, cocktails and cocaine as COC-3. The COC-3 method is allso popular with Hollywood agents and producers, except with bottle service thrown in for good measure.
Check out Angelo’s crass and hilarious blog Bittersweet Amalgam too.
I wanted to do something a little different today. First, this week is pretty busy so I won’t be able to post as often as I’d like. But also, I figure it gives me a good opportunity to satisfy my curiosity.
I track visitors to this site, and I get a fair amount. Many people find this site and read every single post in one sitting. Yet the same handful of people comment or give feedback over and over.
So I’m going to try something different, an open thread. Which is always risky because if you make an open thread and no one comments in it then you look like a dick, but so be it.
Delurk and post a comment about anything you want in this thread. Your feelings about a particular post on this site in general, something interesting you read elsewhere, what you had for breakfast, your questions and concerns about life, why you love this site, why you hate this site, your dog, your chronic halitosis, what you want to see more of on here, what you want to see less of, who you are and where you’re from, the best TV show you’ve seen recently….whatever.
I was over on DC Hero’s blog and he had a great post about how people today are afraid of failure. I commented on his post that I’ve had many of the same thoughts recently, and my way around it was to try to tackle the second most humiliating failure I could think of, stand-up comedy (like most guys, the first most humiliating failure is a limp dick at a critical moment). This was a secret plan of mine, to spend a year learning and studying everything I could about stand-up and then do a set at an open mic. DC Hero suggested I mention this goal on the blog. I thought it was a good idea as it would force me to follow through and be accountable, so here it is. By one year from today the goal should be completed, and I’ll track the progress here, no matter what the result.
Also, next week or the week after I plan to do “Pimp Week.” All about valuable lessons the pimp game can teach you about human nature. No, this is not ironic or tongue in cheek or sanitized. And it’s not a validation of the pimp trade. Pimping is horrible and exploitative. But I do think that few people know human nature better than pimps (and criminals in general for that matter).
There’ll be a mafia week sometime in March too.
