Bring it All Together

A couple of weeks ago, I had a go at Joel Spolsky for effectively blaming bad corporate policies on MBA graduates. As a Melbourne Business School student myself, this struck a nerve.

Well it looks like he sorta acknowledges that he often makes claims without any good basis, but that it does make for entertaining reading. I wholeheartedly agree!

Of course, he does that just after he trashes another of my favourite minds, Thomas Friedman. Still, I have to grudgingly accept that he is probably right.

Something Very Interesting About Speed Dating

I've been thinking of doing speed dating for a while now, if only as a social experiment.

I'm currently reading The Logic of Life by Tim Harford (who I happened to miss when he was in Melbourne Business School last month). He has a very interesting chapter on dating and marriage. A few interesting bits:

• men will usually pick 1 in 5 women to date in speed dating. Women: 1 in 10
• men will select 1 in 5 regardless of the actual talent pool, i.e. we will lower our standards
• young, single women tend to congregate where men earn the most money, i.e. in the cities. This creates an abundance of single women.
• the high incarceration rate of young black males is one reason why African-American females are more likely to go to college.

Don't Worry. Be Happier.

After hearing about Tal Ben-Shahar's positive psychology class and book from my usual media outlets (NPR podcast and The Daily Show), I decided to buy his book and have a read. The book is called Happier and if you're having trouble finding it in Melbourne, it's because I bought most of the copies and gave them to my friends. It won't change you're life, but it does offer some good insights on what can make someone happy, and is a gentle reminder where we should focus our efforts in like (hint: not money). Tal stresses that all decisions and activities in your life should be measured in terms of the happiness they create; happiness, in the end, is the ultimate currency. I highly recommend it to everyone.

My mom sent me an e-mail this week that there was a full piece on happiness on 60 minutes last weekend. Here's the clip. Tal speaks at the end.