Hikikomori

The Benchwarmers is probably the stupidest movie I have ever watched. A classic in the nerd retribution genre, it has developed a cult following since its release in 2006. If your are unfamiliar with this imbecilic masterpiece, it is a juvenile car wreck of bodily function jokes, offensive humor, and little league baseball. Think of …

To err is human

One of my favorite professors keeps classes lively by interspersing presentations of cognitive biases into his lectures on propositional logic and analytical philosophy. So far this semester he has expounded on: the framing effect – drawing different conclusions from the same information, depending on how that information is presented.the conjunction fallacy – a tendency to …

Hello, I love you, won’t you tell me your name?

In an excellent lecture last week on George Simmel’s essay Die Großstädte und das Geistesleben, my professor presented Simmel’s theory that the meaningful interpersonal relationships found in rural societies cannot be replicated in metropolises. Simmel argues that the sheer number of available relationship options coupled with urban anonymity overwhelm city dwellers. Effects on the individual …

Murder & Mayhem

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 …

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 …