I think it's natural to resist the idea that certain parts of our personality are beyond our control. I can't tell you much about whether your brain is a mound of putty, but I can tell you that research into sensation and perception tells us that we don't always see what we think we do - that's how optical illusions…

Well, my main point is that, assuming a representative sample, whatever you can say about the participants you can say about people as a whole. So, if 25% of the participants (a number I made up) produced a false memory of eating popcorn, we can generally assume 25% of the general public would respond the same -…

Yeah, there are two cognitive biases at work there. One is a self-protective bias, wherein people are more likely to assume good things happen to them because of something they did and bad things are the result of external factors over which they have no control. The other, that I find infinitely fascinating, is the…

Can I just say that the Canon 5D Mark II takes some pretty video? Very nice.

Haha... the response to the 9-year-old asking for Hannah Montana tickets says: "I just wanted to give you some music tips ... Have you hear about NoFX?"

There have been other studies that have successfully implanted false memories, though. Elizabeth Loftus, at UC-Irvine, has been something of a pioneer on this front. In one study she was able to change the color people recalled a car being - pretty basic. In another, though, she and Ira Hyman were able to convince…

Except that marketing does have a basis in reality. It's kind of funny. Everyone knows pharmaceutical companies lavish attention on physicians, even paying for them to fly to exotic locations and buying them dinners. When they question physicians whether the prescriptions they write are influenced by these tactics,…

It sounds like there were four groups:

Dude. Have a heart. That man's career may be hosed.

My thought process in the half second it took to read your comment:

Not to be confused with yodel, the iPod of the Alps.

So Tom Clancy wrote a book in which a shuttle called Orion is destroyed by a microwave weapon operated by terrorists out to ruin a business man who is a financial backer of the ISS. Coincidence that this space craft was originally called Orion? I THINK NOT.

Did you click on the images and read the rest of the article? 'Cause it's basically the same type of first impression article they've been doing for years.

That's almost foreign to me. I remember pre-wifi... but in the pacific northwest it seems like everyone offers free wifi. Every coffee shop has free wifi, and we have some of the most abundant coffee shops per capita in the country. But also places like delis, cafes, hospitals, libraries and barber shops offer free…

Yeah, that's really what it comes down to... I've been wanting an e-reader for a long time, but have never bought one because I really, really like books (despite the obvious advantages of being able to carry thousands with me in one device). Unlike you, though, I've never found 3G appealing, simply because of…

I never should have brought up dressings that stay on, they really aren't important to this discussion, but seem to be what everyone is focusing on anyway. I mean, regardless of how frequently you change a bandage (and it's kind of silly to argue about the frequency, since it depends on the wound), having a quick and…

I'm not sure if this is just, "I know something about this topic, so I feel the need to chime in," or not, but I didn't say anything about inpatients. I talked about appy's, but they're typically observation status, not inpatients. Besides that, it really depends on the dressing. PICC dressing changes are qweek, etc,…

The subtitles to that video were really irritating - the guy was speaking English, and the subtitles weren't what he was saying. They sound like impressive people, though... I was actually really impressed by their thoughtfulness with regard to their position in Indian society.

Surgical wounds can be covered for several days at a time, especially if it's an outpatient procedure. Even something like an appendectomy, where the patient goes home the next day, the incision is usually covered for about a week before the dressing is removed.

You know displays aren't OS-dependent... right?