Drunk Tank Pink

… and other unexpected forces that shape how we think, feel and behave.

By Adam Alter

We like to think we are cleared headed beings. That are behavior, our choices, are ground with  good reasons. Alter argues that in ambiguous situations, any little bias can make a difference. Ambiguous situations occur far more often than we'd like to admit.

The presence of other people makes us more competitive.

The absence of other people makes us more reflective.

Labels take on a life of there own. Alter mentions that Russians can describe and identify shades of blue more accurately than Americans. This is because Russia has distinct words for light blue, blue and dark blue. In America identifying the shade of blue is left to judgment. In Russia there is a right and wrong.

The Muler Lyer lines… That illusion only works in WEIRD cultures (Western Educated Industrialized Rich Democratic.) Cultures that don't live around strong hard lines don't see the illusion.

People with easy to remember, fluent to say names are more successful that people with hard to remember or disfluent names.

See the circular effects here? A label, or a quirk of culture, affects my abilities. Not like a placebo, but in a real way. When we use those abilities, depend on them, then they take on a life of there own.

I believe the core of the book. I'm a little worried about the validity of much of the science. I don't know how many of the sited studies have been replicated.

 

Mind over Matter. The Epic Crossing of the Antarctic Continent

By Sir Ranulph Fiennes

Together Sir Ranulph Fiennes & Dr. Mike Stroud  crossed Antarctica unsupported. They towed all their supplies with them, 400lbs each, on sleighs. They were the first to do so. They did so for science and for charity.

I have a lot of respect for them, pushing themselves to their limits on this journey. Ranulph lost 40lbs and was badly frost bitten.

It's difficult to explain my respect.  There had to be better ways to raise money for charity than to risk life and limb. Was the science that important?

Ranulph has done some good thinking on leadership. How democratic should a leader be? Ranulph says you should listen to everyone, but don't hesitate to ignore them if they group chooses a path you disagree with. Ranulph pointed out that many leaders have stocked their teams with people they knew would not challenge them.  I've never thought about team building that way. I've always focused only on skills.

Ranulph also has thoughts on the type of people it takes for extreme endurance journeys in Arctic or Antarctic. One weird qualification-- the team should be physically about the same size. Someone who is too big will need many more calories than someone smaller. In the Arctic, after weeks of traveling, everyone will be very hungry. It's hard to regularly give the bigger guy more food without causing hard feelings. If the bigger guy needs more food, shouldn't he carry more weight too? More hard feelings.

The World's End

Five old friends go for a pub crawl in a town that has been taken over by aliens.

RO called this move unnecessary. I can see his point. It's not funny enough to be a great comedy to watch. The action isn't good enough to be a great action flick. The drama isn't important enough for this to be a good drama. The ending was arbitrary.

Yet, it's a very well done movie. Think of it as a high quality Doctor Who episode.