Bird goes fishing

Bird uses bread to go fishing. Good thinking!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uBuPiC3ArL8&feature=player_embedded

Via techcrunch : Study Finds Opinionated Journalism Boosts Civic Engagement

Opinionated journalism is the new trend ...

techcrunch:

Screw Objectivity: Study Finds Opinionated Journalism Boosts Civic Engagement:
Veteran journalists who sing the praises of objective reporting have steadily lost ground to the media’s new guard of proudly opinionated voices, from broadcasters such as MSNBC and Fox News, to the growing menu of online news blogs. There’s been endless theorizing over whether objectivity should dominate reporting in the 21st century, but what does the evidence say? A new experimental study [pdf] finds that opinionated reporting is better at motivating the politically unengaged than objective reporting.
For years, much of the media has assumed that objective education, alone, was enough to promote a healthy democracy. What traditional media failed to realize is that a good chunk of the population needs a reason to care in the first place. “News articles that are written through the eyes of a mere observer, without a perspective or slant, can foster political disaffection among citizens,” explains author Minha Kim of Sungkyunkwan University (note: for the highly politically engaged, objectivity is better, which is explained below).

Ambiguity

"Build great websites with content from anywhere." A new company with a motto that is ambiguous. Not a good start, or is it deliberate?

cognitive bias in marketing

"In his book Priceless, William Poundstone explains what happened when Williams-Sonoma added a $429 breadmaker next to their $279 model: Sales of the cheaper model doubled even though practically nobody bought the $429 machine. Lesson: If you can't sell a product, try putting something nearly identical, but twice as expensive, next to it. It'll make the first product look like a gotta-have-it bargain. One explanation for why this tactic works is that people like stories or justifications. Since it's terribly hard to know the true value of things, we need narratives to explain our decisions to ourselves. Price differences give us a story and a motive: The $279 breadmaker was, like, 40 percent cheaper than the other model — we got a great deal! Good story."  http://lifehacker.com/5925385/how-numbers-affect-your-shopping-habits

Looking at organic food makes people less altruistic?!

http://spp.sagepub.com/content/early/2012/05/14/1948550612447114.abstract

Lower Cognitive Ability Predicts Greater Prejudice

http://pss.sagepub.com/content/23/2/187.abstract

"lower general intelligence in childhood predicts greater racism in adulthood, and this effect was largely mediated via conservative ideology. A secondary analysis of a U.S. data set confirmed a predictive effect of poor abstract-reasoning skills on antihomosexual prejudice, a relation partially mediated by both authoritarianism and low levels of intergroup contact. All analyses controlled for education and socioeconomic status."

energy and decision

A dramatic study on how food and energy affects the decisions of judges. Judges are more likely to grant parole when they are less hungry!