GRIZZLY PEAR

written snapshots

Category: Life

  • Predictably Irrational, Dan Ariely, 2008

    My friend recommended Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions and it turned out to be an absolutely great read.  The basic premise is that people do not act rationally and certainly not as the rational agents that one assumes in classical economics.  Instead, we act in ways that would be considered “irrational” but are often quite consistent (hence the title).

    Mr. Ariely is a professor in Behavioral Economics in MIT so his case studies are tested through experiments conducted on various college campuses.   For example, one of his case studies examined the appeal of “FREE!”.  In the experiment, they put up a concession stand selling chocolates – Hershey’s Kisses at 1¢ and Lindt Truffles at 15¢ a piece (you could only buy one).  73% chose the Truffle over the Hershey’s Kiss, even when they raised the prices a penny.  They then took the prices and dropped them a penny.  With the Hershey’s Kiss as “FREE!”, only 31% of the folks chose the Truffle. According to rational economics, this total reversal in behavior makes no rational sense (the price difference between Kiss and Truffle remained the same), and yet it does make “common sense”.

    The book is filled with other such studies of “common sense” behavior tested empirically through different experiments.  He closes each chapter with takeaway concepts which could be applicable in more substantial situations (i.e. if you want people to get preventative health care, it would be much more effective to make it FREE! instead of “really cheap”).

    Well written and very readable, it is well worth picking up — not a classic that I must have on my bookshelf (I got my copy at the library) but is worth the time for a read.

  • Hmm twiddling around due to election coverage.

    Well, its been an interesting period since I got around to starting this website, (weddings, vacations hurricaines).  Like many of my other hobbies, I guess this will be going through some changes after an initial push.  At $40 its not a big investment so I’m not too concerned if it goes in wierd directions or just stalls out.

    In any case, I’m still messing around with the tone and wasting too much of my time following election coverage as opposed to other more productive activities.   Its fun to watch and follow all the gulf of opinions and information that can bury you alive.  Not much else to say.

  • Something big you did not forsee will happen in the next month

    I was reading David Allen’s book Ready for Anything (which is a good read, though you should read his classic Getting Things Done first), and one of the first articles recommends that the reader should write a note to yourself, “something big you did not anticipate will happen in your life in the next month.”

    I was reading it on my way to my cousin’s wedding. With a busy summer this year (I had another wedding on Labor Day and plenty of work in between) I did not think anything big really could happen this summer.  As it worked out, nothing really big happened by August 16, but I decided to throw it a month forward in my files just for fun.

    Well, I guess that living through a big storm, seeing a major metropolis shut down for several days, and having no electricity for a couple weeks constitutes as “something big”.

  • wow…there goes Ike….

    Hello,

    Just wanted to note the long absence.  As y’all know, I’m in Houston, and Hurricane Ike created a real mess in my schedule.  I just got power today =) and the extended period of not having electricity really just threw everything in a loop more than one would imagine.  Its just weird, and nothing feels really “normal”.

    Hopefully that will start happening now, but just wanted to mention I’m alive and well, I’ve been working the whole time, but just for work – kind of hard to draw in the dark….

  • top o the list!

    RAD! I own a piece of Google now =)

    or should I say that Google owns a piece of me?

    http://www.google.com/search?q=grizzly+pear

  • Well that was that….

    I was hoping that maybe I could legitmately take the day off or something…but the rain came and is still here, but never bad enough for me to not go to work.

    Oh well, excitement is over, back to usual (albeit much cooler and soggier than usual).

  • Tropical Storm Eduoard

    Hehehe, perfect timing for my bosses.  They are out in Calgary avoiding this lovely weather that may slam into us tommorrow.  Apparently, the weather before big events like this are often not really much of anything and its pretty much that — hot sweaty and crowded in your local Krogers supermarket.