The Grilled Cheese

As you can see, the app succeeded in recognizing that there was some variation in my movements throughout the night. And it works. Each morning I have awoken pleasantly, which is not my norm (as my parents know from trying to get me out the door to school).

Or does it? I can't help but wonder if I'm waking up well because I expect to wake up well. In other words, is it simply a placebo effect? I've thought a bit about this, and I've come to a pretty confident answer: no. It is not a placebo because it works even now when I'm doubting its efficacy. 

But my doubt isn't out of the Negative Nancy Woods just yet. I could be waking up well because I want the app to work. I have a vested interest in the app working. Namely, I don't want to look like a fool for paying 99 cents for something that doesn't work. I'm not sure what this bias might be called, but it seems to be related to cognitive dissonance, demand characteristics in psychological research, and most closely to choice-supporting bias. It's not quite the latter because I'm not ascribing positive attributes to the app, I'm actually feeling the results of those positive attributes. Does somebody have a name for this?

Of course, I may very well be over-thinking this one, so lets try something. I'll buy the app for the first 5 people who ask me*, as long as they promise to test it out and tell me what they've found.

*You must have an iPhone to get into this cool club.

You can always count on Dan Ariely to explain difficult or vague concepts simply, succinctly, and so that everybody will understand. I read just about anything of his I come across. The world needs more thinkers like him. Here are his thoughts on his own field (and mine), behavioral economics:

In general, both standard and behavioral economics are interested in the same questions and topics.  The choices people make, the effects on incentives, the role of information etc. However, unlike standard economics, behavioral economics does not assume that people are rational. Instead, behavioral economists start by figuring out how people actually behave, often in a controlled lab environment in which we can understand behavior better, and use this as a starting point for building our understanding of human nature. As a consequence of this different starting point, behavioral economists usually come to different conclusions about the logic and efficacy of almost anything, ranging from mortgages to savings to healthcare in both the personal and business realms.

Click here to download:

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I am always somewhat disappointed by fireworks shows. It's not that they aren't spectacular (check out the finale of St. Louis' 4th of July show above), it's that they are all the same. Why hasn't there been the same type of innovation in fireworks as there has been in almost every other technological product? I'm not even asking for Gandalf or Fred and George awesomeness. Just something more creative than heart shapes and twirly white things.

But that's fireworks shows, when some unseen person on a barge or a computer is setting them off. It's a whole different story when you do them yourself. Then even the smallest shells are thrilling and unbelievably cool.

Doing something yourself carries a lot more weight than watching others do it. This is especially true when experts are involved. We expect so much out of experts of all sorts that we can often be disappointed. On the flip side, our lower expectations for friends and other normal people lets us revel in even their smallest accomplishments. For instance, art in museums doesn't excite me unless it's really crazy, but if a friend paints something with any sort of skill I'm really impressed. The same goes for sports, photography, writing (friends, isn't my so so writing really awesome?), cooking, and much more.

PS: The best place to set off fireworks is by a lake. My suggestion is to fire them horizontally over the water. You'll get awesome reflections and some great photo opps. This is one I took on spring break of my freshman year down in Georgia: