B-List

It's been so long I've almost forgotten how to write one of these things :)

1. "'Sleeping on it' best for complex decisions"
   <http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn8732>
"Complex decisions are best left to your unconscious mind to work out,
 according to a new study, and over-thinking a problem could lead to
 expensive mistakes. ... Thinking hard about a complex decision that
 rests on multiple factors appears to bamboozle the conscious mind so
 that people only consider a subset of information, which they weight
 inappropriately, resulting in an unsatisfactory choice. In contrast,
 the unconscious mind appears able to ponder over all the information
 and produce a decision that most people remain satisfied with"

2. "Woman with perfect memory baffles scientists"
   <http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/story?id=1738881&page=1>
"Give her any date, she said, and she could recall the day of the week,
 usually what the weather was like on that day, personal details of her
 life at that time, and major news events that occurred on that date"

3. "Cubicles: The great mistake"
   <http://money.cnn.com/2006/03/09/magazines/fortune/
       cubicle_howiwork_fortune/index.htm>
"Even the designer of the cubicle thinks they were maybe a bad idea, as
 millions of 'Dilberts' would agree"

4. "Bacteria use slime jets to get around"
   <http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn8933>
"The propulsion system used by slime-squirting bacteria could teach
 rocket scientists and nano-engineers some new tricks"

5. "No place like home: Ant navigation skills used in robot navigation"
   <http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2006-04/sfeb-npl033106.php>
"Ants that return from foraging journeys can use landmarks to find their
 way home, but in addition they have an internal backup system that allows
 them to create straight shortcuts back to the nest even when the outbound
 part of the forage run was very winding"

6. "Your taste in music is shaped by the crowd"
   <http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn8702>
"People like a song more when they think other people like it too, a new
 study suggests. But the interactions between individual and group opinions
 are so complex that it is impossible to predict whether a good song will
 be a hit or a flop, according to researchers who asked people to rate the
 quality of music by unknown bands"

7. "Anger boiling? Smash plates at Philippine eatery"
   <http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200603/s1604172.htm>
"At the Isdaan restaurant in Gerona, about three hours north of Manila in
 the Philippines, Vescara and other patrons work out their stress for about
 40 cents Australian a go, by hurling plates at the 'wall of fury'
 emblazoned with words such as ex-wife, boss and lover"

I hope you all have a happy and safe break over Easter.