andrewducker: (Default)
andrewducker ([personal profile] andrewducker) wrote2018-09-27 12:00 pm

Interesting Links for 27-09-2018

momentsmusicaux: (Default)

[personal profile] momentsmusicaux 2018-09-27 11:31 am (UTC)(link)
> Instead, you should say something like, “Oh, go ahead – you choose a seat”, and the odds are that she or he will not only leave the better seat for you, but also think that you’re generous.

Um, no, leaving the other person realizing that you've manipulated their instinct to act politely and silently cursing you for it.
xenophanean: (Default)

[personal profile] xenophanean 2018-09-27 12:08 pm (UTC)(link)
This is exactly what I thought. Putting someone where they're in a position where they have to make a social-value laden choice isn't normally a nice thing to do.

E.g.
2 people sitting in a restaurant:
Person A: "What a lovely meal, shall we split the bill"
Person B: "We could, or I could pay for it all, entirely up to you"

Unless it's couched very carefully, I think Person A would find any answer like this slightly hostile. It's Person B suggesting that they act in a manner which would lose face, an outcome which hadn't been on the table before. It can be mitigated if other meals had been paid for, or there were other social bonds, but for two strangers, this'd be very odd.
Edited 2018-09-27 12:13 (UTC)
danieldwilliam: (Default)

[personal profile] danieldwilliam 2018-09-27 12:10 pm (UTC)(link)
On principle when put in the that situation I take the best seat and then ask the other person to go to the bar for me.
calimac: (Default)

[personal profile] calimac 2018-09-27 03:46 pm (UTC)(link)
"the odds are that she or he will not only leave the better seat for you"

That's because the people in this scenario are British, and consequently self-effacing. Americans are far less likely to make the offer postulated.

But if a Brit makes that offer to a visiting American, the American is likely to give a slightly surprised look, say "well, thanks," and take the better seat.

I know, because this situation has happened to me. I am an American.
doug: (Default)

How to look generous and get more, in one simple step

[personal profile] doug 2018-09-27 12:15 pm (UTC)(link)
"abdication provides a unique opportunity for people to give up their cake and eat it too"

This is underexplored as the UK's Brexit negotiating strategy.
danieldwilliam: (Default)

Electricity

[personal profile] danieldwilliam 2018-09-27 12:21 pm (UTC)(link)
When I was an accountant for a power station we obviously made most of our money turning natural gas in to electricity but the balancing services (smoothing very short term over or under supplies) and ancillary services (frequency response - smoothing out the frequency of the electricty) was quite lucrative.
jack: (Default)

After century of removing appendixes, docs find antibiotics can be enough

[personal profile] jack 2018-09-27 12:42 pm (UTC)(link)
I love the stock image of a surgical team facepalming :)
adrian_turtle: (Default)

[personal profile] adrian_turtle 2018-09-27 02:54 pm (UTC)(link)
The study of screen time and cognition is about "recreational screen time," among children 8-11. There's a brief mention at the end that the children may have had difficulty answering the questions. I am not even slightly surprised! Reading an ebook for school isn't recreational, is it? What if you like the book? Does skype or email count as recreational all the time, or only when you do it with your friends?