bicoastal March 5th, 2007
“Low rank induces misery. The physiological routes have been followed in several studies of primates in the wild. Serotonin is a brain chemical which is associated with positive well-being. Among vervet monkeys, dominant males have much higher levels of serotonin than subordinate ones, and this is an effect, not a cause of high rank. These findings were replicated in (admittedly limited) studies in humans. Another study has shown that in rhesus macaques, the furring of coronary arteries (’atherosclerosis’–the main cause of heart attacks) is inversely related to social rank. A study of baboons in the wild has found that all the biological stress markers follow the social hierarchy, rather like British civil servants. This provides a physiological basis for a type of behaviour observed in both animals and humans, the phenomenon of ‘Learned Helplessness’: the experience of being boxed in a corner, and faced with intractable dilemmas or choices with no obvious escape. Numerous studies in both animals and humans show a consistent set of responses: depressed mood, loss of interest, loss of appetite, insomnia, slow thoughts, loss of energy, feelings of worthlessness and guilt, diminished ability to think, and poor concentration.”
–Avner Offer, The Challenge of Affluence (2006) (citations omitted)
bicoastal March 4th, 2007
“The popular notion that law school is an exceptionally stressful experience for
many students has been substantiated by longitudinal studies (Benjamin, Kazniak, Sales, & Shanfield, 1986; Shanfield & Benjamin, 1985; Sheldon & Krieger, 2004). Indeed, the emotional distress of law students appears to significantly exceed that of medical students and at times to approach that of psychiatric populations (Dammeyer & Nunez, 1999).”
– Sheldon, Kennon M. and Krieger, Lawrence S., “Understanding the Negative Effects of Legal Education on Law Students: A Longitudinal Test and Extension of Self-Determination Theory” (July 2006). FSU College of Law, Public Law Research Paper No. 206 Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=913824
bicoastal March 3rd, 2007
Ira Glass tells how to tell it, here. I especially like the third clip, on how long it takes before creative output meets the expectations of the people who create it (years).
bicoastal March 3rd, 2007
Yesterday a group of lawyers and law students at an eastern law school sat down to talk about working and living on the west coast. The lawyers all worked in California, and the students were planning to move out west for work. One student asked whether it was difficult for students raised or trained on the east coast to move out west. The lawyers made some interesting observations:
- It’s not that different to work as a lawyer on the west coast, particularly in a large firm. People work just about as much, and the amount of work depends far more on whether the lawyers are unionized (as they apparently are in some legal aid offices).
- Eastern aggression turns into western passive aggression. Which is preferable?
- If you’re a plaintiff side attorney then you’d rather deal with defense counsel based in San Francisco than with counsel based in LA. As one participant said “You can just hear in their voice right away if they’re not based in San Francisco.”
bicoastal March 2nd, 2007
I haven’t tried this yet but it looks delicious (from TUAW):
Do you like the way that radio introduces music before you listen to a song? Do you miss that kind of personalized introduction in iTunes? SpotDJ offers a new way to bring the human warmth and information richness of radio intro spots into your iTunes listening experience.
To get started, you’ll need to sign up for a SpotDJ account and then download either the Mac or Windows client. After installation, you launch the client and log into your SpotDJ account. The software automatically detects when you’re listening to music in iTunes, and adds “spots” between tracks.
If the mood so takes you, you can join in the DJ club by recording your own spots and uploading them to SpotDJ. I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the available spots I listened to. SpotDJ offers a star rating system for spots to help promote the better spots and DJs and to put limits on the bad ones.
This is Web 2.0 in all its glory. Social computing applied to iTunes.
