Month: November 2008
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Why We Can’t Imagine Death
Jesse Bering of Scientific American argues that, due to the very nature of our consciousness, almost everyone has a tendency to imagine the mind continuing to exist after the death of the body. People in every culture believe in an afterlife of some kind or, at the very least, are unsure about what happens to…
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A New Dawn for Generation Y?
Something different for this most historic of days: The true measure of a nation’s standing is how well it attends to its children – their health and safety, their material security, their education and socialization, and their sense of being loved, valued, and included in the families and societies into which they are born. UNICEF…
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Top 10 Real Estate Resources
Lifehacker’s list of the top ten real estate search tools is mostly (completely?) US-centric, but useful nonetheless given that I am determined to move across the pond in the near future. Find what a house is really worth at Zillow. Google Maps + Google Base = Google’rific house searching Track housing trends with Trulia. Instantly…
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Recession Winners and Losers
Chris Yeh of Adventures in Capitalism answers the question: “Who are the winners and losers when an economy is in recession?” Losers Conferences Consultants Advertising-driven Companies Angel-funded Companies First-time Entrepreneurs/First-time VCs Anyone looking for money Winners Online Porn/MMOs/Virtual Worlds Low Cost Providers People With Cash Bootstrappers Liquidators As Chris says, “if you have a bootstrapped…
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Beard Chart
As David said; the beard chart is an important resource. One that seems to be absent: ‘The Jesus’, as modelled in The Big Lebowski. via Link Banana
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Why ‘Politics of Fear’ Works
Negative campaigning has been a constant of American elections for as long as I can remember, and is now making its way into mainstream UK politics. Seed looks at how evolution can explain both the appeal and recent failings of negative campaigning. Advertisers, like neuroscientists, started out with a so-called cognitive model of decision making — a…
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Blogging the Bible: A Philosophical Primer
A few years ago I was in a discussion with one of the more intelligent people I have had the pleasure to meet: a Ph.D. philosophy student at the University of Cambridge. Substantial parts of his thesis had to consist of original philosophical ideas, and this meant a large portion of his ‘revision’ consisted of…
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Where a Book’s Cover Price Goes
Ever wondered what we pay for when we buy a book? Ever been interested in how the cover price gets divided between those involved; the author, retailer, publisher, etc.? Based on figures produced by The Observer, BookTwo has produced a wonderfully simple infographic depicting the percentages of the split (for a £20 hardback): Retailer: 55%…
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Stop Searching for Your Passion: Do What You Do
In many self-help and career blogs, people wax lyrical about how you should not cease searching for your ‘passion’; that elusive cause that you would be happy to devote your life to… something that makes ‘work’ feel like ‘play’. Gretchen Rubin of The Happiness Project, however, believes that asking yourself, “What’s my passion” may not…