The Awesome Power of Stupidity

You know what they say: Never underestimate the power of stupid people in masses. This is something most of us intuitively know. Now here is some science to prove it. ... This is too good to ignore!

I particularly like No. 4:
“Non-stupid people always underestimate the damaging power of stupid individuals. In particular, non-stupid people constantly forget that at all times and places and under any circumstances to deal and/or associate with stupid people always turns out to be a costly mistake.”

Does that not suggest the “non-stupid” are, in fact, stupid, too ... and, therefor, not really “non-stupid” to begin with?

Waiting for the Worms .. or Not!

I came across several references to the same fascinating article in the past few days. The topic: “earworms” – that is, the commonplace reference for those occasions when you get a song, or a portion of a tune, stuck in your head. You know what I mean, people talk about it all the time.

Well, now apparently there’s some scientific perspective to ... ahhh ... clear the air, as it were ... or not! Check out this article from NPR’s The World on “Earworms: Tunes That Stick in Our Heads,” and the follow up detailing other NPR-staffers’ perspective on the topic.

Ironically, despite the seeming ubiquity of this phenomenon, this is not something I personally experience very often. I’m not sure why. Perhaps it’s because I listen to so much music there’s no space for earworms. Or maybe my head is just thick as a brick!

A Perfect Match

Each month, Wired magazine has an interesting column dissecting the complex contents of some common household item. A couple of  months ago, there was an interesting lab analysis of the closely guarded ingredients in WD-40 (“The Superlube’s Secret Sauce”). In July’s issue, they put Diamond Strike-Anywhere Matches under the microscope. I know this sounds rather esoteric and geeky (it is Wired, after all), but these concise columns are, in fact, very interesting. I always find myself, saying, “Wow! Who knew?” after reading them. In the case of the matches, I bet you never knew how much went into making a simple stick burn ... in a very specific way.