Power of the dark side

From today's Globe and Mail Social Studies:

 

"In a new study, Harvard University researchers suggest moral actions may increase our capacity for willpower and physical endurance," Rick Nauert reports for Psych Central News. "Study participants who did good deeds – or even just imagined themselves helping others – were better able to perform a subsequent task of physical endurance. However, the research also shows a similar or even greater boost in physical strength following dastardly deeds. Researcher Kurt Gray, a doctoral student in psychology at Harvard, explains these effects as a self-fulfilling prophecy in morality. 'People perceive those who do good and evil to have more efficacy, more willpower and less sensitivity to discomfort,' Gray says. 'By perceiving themselves as good or evil, people embody these perceptions, actually becoming more capable of physical endurance.' "

Thought du jour

"There is no reason why good cannot triumph as often as evil. The triumph of anything is a matter of organization. If there are such things as angels, I hope they are organized along the lines of the Mafia."

– Kurt Vonnegut

Gravity

The bug and I were racing to fall the fastest from a park bench.

I think she won.

Energy inefficiency

Snippets of dry verbiage that leave an interesting aftertaste...

 

Topic: Energy efficiency and consumption (taken directly from Wikipedia)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jevons_paradox

 

...attempts to reduce energy consumption by increasing energy efficiency would simply raise demand for energy in the economy as a whole.
...that improvements in energy efficiency work to increase, rather than decrease, energy consumption – the Khazzoom-Brookes Postulate

 

First, increased energy efficiency makes the use of energy relatively cheaper, thus encouraging increased use (the rebound effect).

Second, increased energy efficiency leads to increased economic growth, which pulls up energy use for the whole economy.

At the microeconomic level (looking at an individual market), even with the rebound effect, improvements in energy efficiency usually result in reduced energy consumption.[4] That is, the rebound effect is usually less than 100%. However, at the macroeconomic level, more efficient (and hence comparatively cheaper) energy use leads to faster economic growth, that in turn increases energy use throughout the economy. Taking into account both the microeconomic and the macroeconomic effects, technological progress that improves energy efficiency will tend to increase overall energy use.

 

~~  I can almost hear the evil laughter.