I am reassured the world will be the way it is for a long, long time to come.
stonesl
stonesl
The provost of Gulf Isthmus University has been forced to resign and three professors affiliated with its marketing and psychology departments are under investigation after a scandal involving a source of research funding. Allegations were first raised in an anonymous letter to the university’s student newspaper stating that the researchers—Heather Intsunds, Derrick Elbium, and C. E. Klydde—received money from celestial beings to fund a series of psychological studies. The researchers never disclosed the source of funding, as required by university policy.
The studies in question looked at what is known as the “framing effect.” Previous research in this field had demonstrated that people tend to make very different choices based on how information is presented to them. For instance, in one study, surgeons overwhelmingly chose to go ahead with a procedure when told there was an 80% chance the patient would survive, but almost universally held back when told there was a 20% chance the patient would die. Although the framing effect has obvious implications for marketing and information design, the Gulf Isthmus University studies were the first to apply the ideas to spiritual decision making. [Read more…]
stonesl
is a little imagination.
stonesl
Feeling particularly boisterous? Feeling confident or otherwise good about yourself? Beware. You’re on a track to serious letdown. Let us help you.
Go to the Rejection Generator Project and send yourself the letter called “Up in Flames.” This scorching missive was fed into the Rejection Generator by our first guest editor. It was so mean-spirited and devoid of any inkling of human sympathy that it came out of the machine almost unaltered. It’ll burn the positivity out of your heart.
This week’s guest editor is an editor of young adult fiction, but has chosen to remain anonymous in order to be able to pounce without warning in the future.
If you think you could be a guest editor and would like to feed a rejection into The Generator, send us a note: editors@stoneslidecorrective.com. We want to encourage rejection in all its forms. We seek to democratize the art of no.
stonesl
The presidential election season is heating up. Partisan emotions are reaching a boil, and many of us are filled with a passionate intensity. The comment cannot hear the commenter.
Yet the election is more than three months away. You need to do something with all that energy. You want to make a difference in this contest of 300 million voices, each shouting as loud as it can. That din is the beautiful tone of democracy, and you just want to be sure it’s tuned in the right key, since you have the vision, intelligence, and experience to know better. This is a noble impulse. You should follow it. How, though, can you be a difference-maker with so many people already shrieking?
The Stoneslide Corrective would like to offer some advice based on our vast experience reading political blogs and talking with our cousin who was once in politics. If you are an ardent supporter of one candidate, the best possible thing you can do is visibly, vocally, and aggressively support the opposing candidate. Yes, the other one.
The best research in voting behavior shows that people decide which candidate to vote for largely based on cultural affiliation. This makes perfect sense. Can you read the 1,000+-page health care bill and understand how it is likely to affect your monthly premium payment? Have you, with all your analytical acumen, done that? No. So, it makes sense for you to trust people you feel comfortable around, people who think like you. How can you upset this cultural affiliation in the other camp? Well, you already know there’s nothing they hate more than you. Get thyself into their community. That will make them doubt their existing convictions.
Imagine that a Texas oilman wearing $5,000 cowboy boots, gold belt buckle, etc., walks into a meeting of Literature Professors for Obama and loudly announces that he supports Obama. [Read more…]
stonesl
by Jonathan T.F. Weisberg
The wind must have been howling outside. The crescent of ocean that Tanya could see was froth over a color as dark as shadow. The grasses that were drizzled over the dunes bent and twisted. The few trees she could see nearer the isolation unit whipped free from the pushing hand of the wind from time to time, only to be bent back. But Tanya heard nothing. The large window she was looking through was thick enough to stifle all sound.
She felt a tremor—almost fear—at the hint of isolation, but she quickly suppressed the feeling as inconsistent with her current duty.
She looked down at the detainee. [Read more…]
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