I am a “wee” bit behind on my stack of New Yorkers. However, on the plane this past weekend, I finally had a chance to read a few.
Jonah Lehrer’s article, “Don’t! The secret of self-control,” about Stanford Prof. Walter Mischel’s Marshmallow Experiment was really interesting.
In a nutshell, Mischel told a bunch of unsuspecting 4 year:
You can eat ONE marshmallow now. Or, if you sit here quietly while I leave the room for a bit, you can eat TWO when I get back.
Turns out, kids only lasted on average 3 minutes before they gave in and ate (the damn) marshmallow. Only 30% of them successfully waited the 15 minutes until the researcher’s return.
Lehrer eventually discovered a “marshmallow resistance correlation” (my term) between those who withstood the treat temptation at 4 years old… and those who had good self-control later in life.
Would your 4 year old self have resisted the initial marshmallow and waited for the larger payout?
Note: I think I probably would have held out for the second marshmallow… but not sure how my current self would do with the “wine + really good cheese” experiment. 
I was in wine country last weekend… Nothing beats wine + sun (unless it’s wine + sun + cheese).
During the campaign, Obama created his own Flickr account. The photos during election night were amazing – and very personal.
Obama now has a new Flickr account: The Official White House Photostream. The first set – Delivering on Change – was just posted. Here are a few of my favorites.
superbowl
briefing on swine flu
Michelle Obama with Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, wife of french president
a day in the office
Just saw this on the NPR Planet Money blog.
It depicts the inter-connectedness of credit default swaps.
Kinda reminds you of a really complicated “who hooked up with who” diagram…
Smashing holiday in London! More soon, long flight - quite zonked. Cheers!
(Look Mom, I can speak British!)
me, in front of parliament
The view from the London Eye at sunset was lovely….
the ferris wheel
thames river
eye from above
parliament
liane and me
attempting to punch policeman outside of buckingham palace.
westminister abbey was closed again. (it was also closed the last time i was in london.) fortunately, i was able to get in early monday before my flight. the poets’ corner was my favorite.
black cabbies in front of buckingham palace
gratuitous tourist shot
eye on the thames
liane, raaj, & patella on millennium bridge
I usually ponder my next trip for a while, before I buy a ticket.
About 3 weeks ago, though, a high school friend IM’ed me at work. I was mid work email, so I was ignoring him. :) And then he wrote something like, “I was talking to Liane last night… and we’re thinking of doing a long weekend in London. Flights are cheap. Wanna come?”
My initial reaction, was… are you guys crazy? But, I checked and there was a direct flight from Seattle for $530. We figured out we could get free hotel on Starwood points. The trip would cost about the same (or less) as a weekend to NYC. Four hours later, I had booked my flight.
I fly out to London tonight and am back on Monday. It’s kinda ridiculous – but you’re only young once, right?
London Fast facts:
- 1 British Pound = 1.44 USD
- Weather: low 50s F & partly sunny
- Time: UTC + 0 (noon in Seattle = 8pm in London)
Robbie just blogged about this, and I thought it was super cool.
ReadWriteWeb created Word Clouds showing the word frequency of recent inaugural speeches. It’s a good insight into these presidents… and the mindset of the country at the time.
President Obama (2009)
President Bush (2005)
President Clinton (1997)
President Reagan (1981)
