stupidity for dummies

mass suffering

stupidityfordummies — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 05:14:53 +0000

The reason human beings seem to care so little about mass suffering and death is precisely because the suffering is happening on a mass scale. The brain is simply not very good at grasping the implications of mass suffering. Americans would be far more likely to step forward if only a few people were suffering or a single person were in pain. Hokget did not draw our sympathies because we care more about dogs than people; she drew our sympathies because she was a single dog lost on the biggest ocean in the world. Our hidden brain — my term for a host of unconscious mental processes that subtly bias our judgment — shapes our compassion into a telescope. We are best able to respond when we are focused on a single victim. -the Hidden Brain by Shankar Vedantam

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Tags: human nature

down is up, bad is good

stupidityfordummies — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 07:02:04 +0000

from the magazine The Week, 12/25/09 to 1/8/2010:

Feeling down sharpens your attention and makes you less gullible. …happiness…(removes) a layer of skepticism. …sadness “promotes information processing best suited to dealing with more demanding situations,” says psychologist Joseph Forgas.

Recessions may help us all live a little longer. When the economy tanks, people drink and eat less, sleep more, suffer fewer accidents, and live longer. Researchers found that americans were actually healthier during the Great Depression than they were in prosperous times immediately before and after…

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Tags: education, human nature

global salaries & expenses: India

stupidityfordummies — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 04:53:13 +0000

Salary of a 21 yr-old bellhop at the Shangri-La hotel: $274/month
Cost of one night at the Shangri-La hotel: from $255
Average annual salary in India: $1,000
Cell phone service: $2/month
One liter of milk: $0.40
Loaf of bread: $0.20
Cost of a 2-yr MBA program: $6,000 to $10,000

(All amounts in US dollars)

Source: Condé Nast Traveler, Sept 2009

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Tags: economics, personal finances, salaries/expenses

respect

stupidityfordummies — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 18:12:54 +0000

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mob rule

stupidityfordummies — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 06:03:51 +0000

Sometimes…sometimes, mob rule results in something surprisingly positive!

via the Calgary Herald

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car, bus, or bicycle

stupidityfordummies — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 21:49:05 +0000

via treehugger

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the new macbook wheel

stupidityfordummies — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 04:11:27 +0000

“…it remains to be seen if the wheel will catch on in the business world, where people use computers for actual work, and not just d*cking around…” Sign me up!

Onion News via Gizmodo

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Tags: human nature, humor

priorities

stupidityfordummies — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 04:49:33 +0000

Estimated cost of the 2008 presidential campaign and congressional races: $5.3 billion
Estimated amount of money spent in 2008 on Halloween candy, costumes, and decorations: $6 billion

Source: USA Today

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The 3 R’s

stupidityfordummies — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 03:00:05 +0000

This cartoon from Japan for Sustainability succinctly summarizes the importance of “the 3 R’s” in ranking order. Too often people are focused on Recycling. Reducing is much much more important: it doesn’t take much common sense to figure out that you make a much bigger environmental impact by simply using less. What a concept!

via TreeHugger

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Tags: environment

“undecided” voters

stupidityfordummies — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 04:06:54 +0000

“It’s a bit odd that we give the Undecided Voter such a privileged place in American elections. Because from a civic standpoint, few creatures are as contemptible. This election has dominated every form of American news media for the better part of two years. Newspapers, magazines, networks, cable, radio, blogs, people on street corners with signs — it’s really been rather hard to miss. Further, it pits two extremely different candidates against each other. Whether your metric is age, ideology, temperament, race, funding sources, healthcare plans or Iraq strategies, it would be hard to imagine two men presenting a starker contrast.

But despite this, the Undecided Voter wakes up each morning and says, in effect, “I dunno.” And the political system panders to him. Undecided voters are believed to be the decisive slice of the American electorate, so they get the debates and the ads and the focus groups (assuming, that is, that they live in a battleground state).” -Ezra Kelin, L.A. Times

I would go so far as to say that, despite the efforts of the “get out the vote” groups, people who aren’t familiar with the issues and people who don’t quite understand the differences between Obama and McCain and their positions simply should not vote. To leave important political and policy decisions to people who, in effect, wake up on Election Day and decide “hmm…I dunno…I guess I’ll vote for X” is absurd beyond belief.

Yes, it is your civic duty to vote. But even more important is your civic duty to vote responsibly. If you know of any “undecided” voters who couldn’t or wouldn’t learn enough about the issues and candidates to cast an informed vote, please do your civic duty and encourage them not to vote!

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Tags: human nature, politics