a few reMarks

So I hate discussing politics but this story is just to awesome.  In the mail yesterday came 6, yes 6 postcards of Ron Paul "Campaigning Propaganda".  On the front was a picture of RP and some schpeal about why he is the right choice.  On the back was a personal handwritten note reminding me to vote.  The note, however, was to Carol.  Yet the address label on it was to me.  Mind you there were 6 of these made out to 6 different people Carol, Joshua..., but all addressed to me.  On closer inspection my address label was stuck over another label.  After peeling back the top label another was revealed addressed to Carol in Iowa (I'm in California). All the others were like this also.  So I know that its towards the end of campaigning and budgets are tight but this was just a little tacky.

Throwing a party on a budget?  Put back that expensive wine and grab some boxed wine or maybe some 2 buck chuck.  According to a new study a higher price made wine taste better.  In the study individuals were asked to rate 5 different wines at different price points.

What the volunteers didn't know was that there were only three different wines, and two of them were tasted twice. One one occasion it was described as costing $90 a bottle, on another as costing $10 a bottle.

The volunteers rated the 'more expensive' wine as significantly more likeable despite being identical to the 'cheaper' wine.

In addition, the brain scans showed when the volunteers tasted the wine they thought was more expensive, their brains showed increased activity in the medial orbitofrontal cortex (mOFC) and its surrounding area, the rostral anterior cingulate cortex (rACC), both areas of the frontal lobes.

 

Basically what we can learn from this is buy cheap wine and pour it before your guests arrive and hide the bottle.  On the other hand buy an expensive wine first and then just reuse the bottle.  Although I don't think he scientists how preformed the study had this in mind.  Once again the power of suggestion shows itself.

The Research Digest Blog reported on a fascinating study that ones name and initials can influence our success and failure.  As it turns out our initials my subconsciously influence our decisions in such away that the outcome of our actions will in some way reflect our initials.  The report states that it is our underlying like of out initials that results in this "implicit egotism".  The article goes on to show some interesting examples:

First off, an analysis of strike outs (failing to hit the ball three times in a row) in American baseball from 1913 to 2006 showed that players whose first or last names began with K suffered significantly more strikeouts than other players. Why? Because in baseball scoring, K is used to denote a strikeout - "For players with this initial, the explicitly negative performance outcome may feel implicitly less aversive," the researchers said.
Next, an analysis of 15 years of MBA students' grades at a large American University showed that students with the initials C or D achieved significantly lower grades than students whose initials were unrelated to grade scores, and students with the initials A or B.

The article is a pretty interesting read I recommend you check it out.   So apparently now we have to think of what rhymes with your child's names and also what his/her initials are.  I think I will just name my kid something like Amazing or maybe Brilliant...

Discovery Channel originally aired the history of the iPod entitled The iPod Revolution in December 2006.  It is a fascinating documentary (not presented in a boring format at all) about Steve Jobs and his return to Apple, the turn around of the company, the introduction of iTunes and the iPod.  I accidentally caught this on TV about 2 years ago.  It was so interesting I tried finding it to buy and couldn't find it anywhere.  I recently stumbled across it on Google video.  About 40min in length is a must watch for anyone in the business world.  It is very interesting to see Jobs way of thinking and his drive that turned a company around.  The video is below or follow this link to watch.

I just got back from Europe.  I spent the last week and a half in Spain and Italy.  Hence the complete silence on my end.  I really spent the time trying to immerse my self into the culture and not stand out as the "tourist".  Like in Spain there isn't a person on the street until 9am.  They take an hour and a half to two hour lunch and stay out till 2am every night.

It was a very enjoyable trip and convinced me I need to do more international travel.

I have realized that we Americans have it all wrong as my good friend on the trip put it "we live to work, while they work to live". 60 hr work week...back to the grind (well soon anyway).

So I have been checking out some of the CES Award Winners and here are a few of my favorites:

First is the UbiCell by Samsung.  This is for everyone who has poor cell phone reception.  Its a plugin and play device that you connect to your home network.  It uses this connection to connect your cell phone to the cell network.  Those allows high quality secure "5 Bar" cell phone reception in your home or office.  Basically you are putting a cell phone tower in your home although its the size of a small book.  The cell companies love this because you are expanding there infrastructure for them and decreasing the load on the tower.

Next is the Wildcharger.   This little device is a pad you set on your desk and with their technology installed on your mobile device (or using an adapter); charging your mobile device is as simple as setting it on the pad.  This technology would be great installed in cars and in desks in the future.  Look forward for more to come from Wildcharger.

Finally, Responder LE 2-Way Vehicle Security & Remote Start System, from Direct Electronics and Viper.  This device does all of your traditional keychain transponder tasks and more.  This device communicates with your car and signals you via LEDs on the front.  For example press lock and the light will signal you that the car is locked.  But more importantly are the remote start features.  Press the remote start and the keychain transponder will signal you when your car has reached a comfortable temperature.  Pretty clever little device that has a lot of features.  They have also streamlined the instillation process cutting down on the number of wires and connections necessary.

Think Geek has an awesome new product for all you chronic snoozers.  It's an alarm clock that donates money to causes you disagree with every time you hit snooze.  Affectionately dubbed the SnuzNLuz, the alarm clock donates money to a charity of your choosing (that you hate):

Are you a butcher? Set your SnūzNLūz to donate to PETA
Are you a republican? Set your SnūzNLūz to donate to the ACLU!
Are you a land developer? Set your SnūzNLūz to donate to the Wilderness Society!
Enjoy your freedom? (Blue state version) Set your SnūzNLūz to donate to the GOP. or
Enjoy your freedom? (Red state version) Set your SnūzNLūz to donate to MoveOn.Org
Are you a hippie? Set your SnūzNLūz to donate to the American Coal Foundation.

So all you snoozers out there you now can at least be earning a tax write off while you sleep.