Oh those little white lies

While browsing Google scolar this evening I found a few gems. One is a paper from 1992 by Jennifer Epstein, Bella DePaulo, Susan Kirkendol, Deborah Kashy and Melissa Wyer, whimsically titled “Lying in Everyday Life”

They found some interesting results of the daily lying of college students, generally they produce about 2 little lies a day.
Here is a brief review of some of the interesting results:

1. Participants told more lies about themselves than other people; except when you got a group of women together than they told as many lies about others as themselves.

2. Participants told more lies about themselves to men and lies about others to women.

3. Little lies are common but do not seem to relieve distress in social situations.

4. The most common lie is the removal of facts or absence of truth.

5. Lying serves the function of “impression management, emotional regulation and social support”. For impression management people fashion new and untrue selves.

6. Lying may have long-term emotional effects but ‘many people may prefer not to hear that their muffins are grainy or that they look like a blimp.”



the funny final statement

Are you a summer rain or a clean and clear?

The feeling of being overwhelmed by too many choices is more common than I supposed. The toothpaste isle alone is a marketing train wreck. Interestingly in the article Iyengar and Lepper found that contray to what seems to be the trend, complexity in choice tends to drive people away from the product, either to another less choice-laden product or to not choose at all.

When Choice is Demotivating: Can One Desire Too Much of a Good Thing? Iyengar, S. S., & Lepper, M. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 79, 995-1006. (2000

Your codex just got schooled

A codex by definition is a book in the format of modern books, considered those with binding. But it seems that most codices come to us as epic works, historical documents and often marviously illuminated. Many codices are so magnificent they are named for the town or the library in which they have lived.

Nothing could be finer than the
codex seraphinianus, except well the Dresden Codex or the Book of Kells.

seudo-Seneca, and others from the British Library Catalogue

Codex Seraphinianus

Such a classic

The Beckman Model JR-21 needs no introduction. Bit frightening sounding on the inside, sort of a demons from hell listen.

mp3

Another good shaker

Unfortunately I do not remember the exact make and model of this old standby. He would easily boogie a 1000ml Erlenmeyer flask all night. Have a listen

Best lab sounds

Attachment to inanimate objects is not uncommon, particularly if you work with 'it' every day. Computers commonly have names.

Its a bit less common for a vortex to find a special place in the hearts but to those who have grown to rely on him he is one of a kind.

Let me introduce Fred the Fisher Vortex Genie 2. Although only a shaker for single micro centrifuge tubes he really could boogie

mp3 of Fred in action

Tree octopus

humm oh really?