The Swamp Blog

MSNBC reports "Kerry's...is smallest"

2004-07-31T16:05:00.000-05:00

Well, well, in the "didn't need to know that department, MSNBC reports that "Kerry’s...is the smallest in...history". I'm just passing on the news, that's all.

Brains, juice, and monkey lust

2004-06-28T23:44:00.000-05:00

Here's a great article on the physiology of decision-making. It's just fantastically interesting, and really funny. Here are a couple of excerpts:

Camerer and his collaborator George Loewenstein of Carnegie Mellon have written, that "the Platonic metaphor of the mind as a charioteer driving twin horses of reason and emotion is on the right track -- except that cognition is a smart pony, and emotion a big elephant."

On the subject of the economic choices of monkeys (using Berry Berry fruit juice as the exchange mechanism), the article notes:

[Duke Researcher Michael] Platt has found they will give up a considerable quantity of fruit juice for the chance just to look at a picture of a higher-ranking individual. It isn't known exactly why monkeys do this, but the finding might help explain the behavior of human beings who pay $1,000 just to sit in a hotel ballroom with the president.

My favorite quote is this one:

You can draw whatever conclusion you choose from Platt's finding that there is no quantity of juice sufficient to get a male monkey to look away from the hindquarters of a female in estrus.

Even a monkey has to have his priorities. :)

Man, I hate the Lakers

2004-05-10T22:25:00.000-05:00

They're not even ON tonight (T-Wolves and Kings at the moment, big defensive struggle, that), but I'm getting started early hating them for tomorrow.

I heard an opinion piece today that (bad as I hate it) made a great point - the Lakers' soap opera is some of the most compelling watching available during the playoffs (particularly during the early rounds).

But then, I hate the Lakers soooooo bad that I don't want to admit it. I disagree that they're "good for basketball" as the doofus opined today, but they are fun to watch when they're losing.

Go Spurs! Drain the Lakers!

Is it only cheese, or is there something more?

2004-05-10T22:00:00.000-05:00

When it comes to Pizza Hut, what's the deal? I mean, is the cheese the thing? Or is there an existentially superior topping?

Or, like the lady said, is it 'Turtles all the way down'?

Swampwater dreams and stranger things

2004-05-10T21:51:00.000-05:00

Welcome to wherever here is. Mind your step; the swamp is occasionally treacherous.