Astrid’s next book will be out in January, and her next manuscript is at the publisher – a Styrian noir. The protagonist: grumpy Inspector Semper in the violent crime unit of the state police. Astrid’s literary shift gave me reason to reflect on Austria’s crime novel boom. If you were to analyze Austria based on … Continue reading Murder & Mayhem
Death as a Motivator
Yesterday I ran across the following statistic in a back issue of Science: 40%: Boost in performance of college basketball players in back-to-back games who answered questions on how they felt about death in the interim. Players who answered questions about basketball showed no boost. Following up, I learned that the specific study is rooted … Continue reading Death as a Motivator
Pale Blue Pants (with nobody inside them)
Today in an homage to Theodor Geisel (opinions of overly PC librarians be damned) I offer you a photo of my pale blue pants with nobody inside them. Normally, I’m inside them. And, as they're my favorite pants, I’m inside them quite often. So, when they ripped, I patched them. Well, actually my wife did … Continue reading Pale Blue Pants (with nobody inside them)
Vorsicht vor dem Anker
Heute geht es um eine weitere kognitive Verzerrung, den Anker-Effekt. Darunter versteht man die Auffassung, dass der erste, der in Verhandlungen einen Preis nennt, einen Vorteil hat, weil Menschen die Tendenz haben, diesem „Anker“ zu viel Gewicht beizumessen. Dieser Preis wird zum Gravitationszentrum, um das herum Annäherungen vorgenommen werden. Wie willkürlich Anker sein können, zeigt … Continue reading Vorsicht vor dem Anker
Das Kreuz mit Kreuzfahrtschiffen
Bruce hat in Flight Shame über die Umweltbelastung durch Flüge geschrieben. Ich möchte mich heute einer anderen Urlaubs-Reiseform widmen. Während flight shaming in aller Munde ist, schwimmen Kreuzfahrtschiffe noch unter der Bewusstseinsschwelle der breiten Öffentlichkeit dahin. Der Naturschutzbund Deutschland hat die Umweltbilanz von Kreuzfahrtschiffen untersucht. Ein Kreuzfahrtschiff stößt pro Tag so viel CO2 aus wie ca. 84.000 Autos, so viel Stickoxide wie … Continue reading Das Kreuz mit Kreuzfahrtschiffen
Give Us Our Daily Gluten-free Bread
You’ve waded into an emotionally charged debate when your Google search returns 839.000.000 results in 0,62 seconds and the first two are: “The truth about …!” and “The gut-wrenching truth about ...!” What word fills in the blank? Gluten. Most readers probably know someone not diagnosed with celiac disease who has sworn off gluten. As … Continue reading Give Us Our Daily Gluten-free Bread
Buy Local – Save the Planet?
The International Energy Agency has released their 2019 World Energy Outlook report and their prognose for our planet is grim. Executive Director, Dr. Faith Birol states that “the world urgently needs to put a laser-like focus on bringing down global emissions” and calls “for a grand coalition encompassing governments, investors, companies and everyone else who … Continue reading Buy Local – Save the Planet?
