A couple of days ago I ran across an article on Slate.com which asks, “Is Facebook making us sad?“. The answered seemed to be, yes. Basically; people judge their happiness in a relative way, overestimate their own struggles and underestimate the struggles of others.

The thing is; we will always overestimate the happiness of others. The grass will always be greener on the other side of the fence. The reason for both is that we allow our false perceptions to become real beliefs. Grass looks greener when viewed from an angle, people put their big-boy underoos on… Read the rest

It mostly rains in Portland, mostly.

SantaConians did their thing yesterday. Their thing, pretty much, is to dress up as Santa and drink. The more observant Santas also give gifts and address each other as “Santa”. I worked yesterday so I did not participate. I was, however, given a gift (pictured above) from Santa as I waited for my train.

A couple things about that gift:

1. It was very nicely wrapped.

2. I was told it was a “kids” gift as opposed to an “adult” gift.

If somebody dressed as Santa gives me a gift I pretty much thank them and take… Read the rest

Yes, yes it does.

Does the ‘door close’ button in your elevator work? I have no idea. Unlike Nova, I’m not going to assume that the elevator I use daily sets the template for every elevator in the world. That wouldn’t be sciencey at all. Also, in my world, street-crossing buttons work.

Nova took an incorrect fact and ran with it. They succumbed to what I like to call “The New York Fallacy”. Basically, it’s a combination of several informal logical fallacies that come down to this; The world does not revolve around you.