Brazil nut effect Jan 4, 2011
The Brazil nut effect is what makes the largest objects in a mixture of variously-sized objects end up on top, so named because of the tendency of Brazil nuts to always float to the top of a standard container of mixed nuts.  I just experienced this firsthand the other day! #science
Faraway parkers Jan 4, 2011
Some people drive nice cars, and when they enter a parking lot, they look for the spot farthest from the nearest car to minimize the chance of incidental impact.  This is actually a fairly wise decision, albeit ultimately futile.  It's wise because, like the last few Cheerios in a bowl of milk, objects in close proximity have a tendency to run into each other even when there is ample space (this is actually called collision cross section, as mentioned several years ago by Rich).  But it's futile because, simply put, people are stupider than Cheerios and will find a way to accidentally dent your nice new car.  Oftentimes, this behavior requires that faraway parkers walk a longer distance to get to their destination.  I have to respect this level of commitment to futility.  Most people instead value laziness over luxury. 

There's a guy who does this in the parking lot at work, and I'm forced to laugh at him on a daily basis.  When he arrives at around 8 a.m., the parking lot is relatively empty, but by midday it's completely full.  So the effort he takes to park far away from everyone else is completely nullified.  It's always fun to watch someone put a lot of effort into failure. #travel
Be a better person Jan 4, 2011
I heard someone say that their New Year's resolution is "to be a better person."  There are probably people who legitimately use that as one of their resolutions and might actually have some success with it, but to me -- and this will sound pretty mean coming from a fairly negative, crotchety, realistic misanthrope -- it's one of the stupidest things I've ever heard.  From a practical, objective standpoint, how would one measure the success or failure of this goal?  It's too vague to even quantify.  If you said, "My resolution is to let cars go ahead of me when merging," at least you could look back on your behavior and decide whether or not you succeeded.  Or maybe you could say, "I plan to be nice to the checkout people at the supermarket."  Then at least you'd have a legitimate, concrete model to which you could attempt adherence.  But "to be a better person"?  Seriously?  Why not say, "My resolution is to live." #psychology
Description vs. reality Jan 4, 2011
From a recent On the Media episode concerning descriptions of reality versus actual reality: 
And I would start out by asking you is anybody ever not making stuff up? When you pick up the newspaper and read about a news conference, let's say, somebody went to that news conference. You are not reading the entire transcript.

Something I often think about is Borges, the great Argentinean writer, who says that there are two universes. There is the universe of material reality, of bodies, of places, and there is the universe of words, and any attempt to shape a representation, of one in terms of the other is provisional at best. It is falling apart as we speak. It is something which he calls a fiction.
#entertainment