Why you should avoid Las Vegas

Having been in the US for both TAM and also some hiking, I thought that it might be fun to spend the last night in a hotel on the strip in Las Vegas before flying out the next day. It was apparently a good deal, so what could possible be wrong with this idea? Well, … Read more

Modifying the lyrics in Nine Million Bicycles … again?

I recall attending a talk by science writer Simon Singh in which amongst other fascinating things, he explained that Katie Melua, the jazz/blues singer and songwriter, had a single “Nine Million Bicycles” where the lyrics were as follows: We are 12 billion light years from the edge, that’s a guess, no one can ever say it’s true, but … Read more

A brief history of cognitive dissonance

Cognitive Dissonance is of course the term used to describe the mental stress that will arise when an existing belief is confronted with information that conflicts with the belief. It is perhaps logical and rational to assume that things should play out like this … For example somebody declares … “The world will end tomorrow“ When tomorrow … Read more

Who will fool you?

Well I’m back from my travels in the wilderness, so let’s begin slowly with an easy question – Who is the one person that is most probably going to fool you? You can most probably guess the right answer, but let me illustrate it anyway. One evening I just happened to by in a town … Read more

On the road and not blogging right now

Sorry folks … I am on the road at the moment with very little or zero online access. I appear to be able to have a small sip here right now in a tiny little town on the edge of death valley but will soon be off the grid once again … slow access makes … Read more