Best Research Tool Ever.

...And I do emphasize tool.

Apparently researchers at Duke's Fuqua School of Business (a great GSB name, by the way) have done a study on the connection between seeing corporate logos for intervals short enough so that they make a subliminal impression, and creativity. The Cult of Mac blog reports:

The researchers conducted a number of experiments, one of which was showing the logos for fractions of a second to create a subliminal impression, and in all cases those who’d seen the Apple logo scored higher on standardized creativity tests than those who’d seen the IBM logo or no logos at all.

Let me just repeat this. People who see an Apple logo do better on standardized tests of creativity. Standardized tests of creativity. If anyone can explain to me how you quantify creativity, push those quantities into a bell curve, and do a standard deviation analysis of those quantified creativities please let me know.

----------------
Now playing: Thomas Dolby - She Blinded Me With Science
via FoxyTunes

Operation Smile and Hope

No, the title of this post is not Barack Obama's campaign slogan for next week. Al Jazeera is reporting that it the actual military codename for deployment of Palestinian national security forces in Jenin.

You know you're dealing with a brutal occupation when the deployment of national guardsmen is a cause for smile and hope. But of course:

Israel has emphasised that "ultimate security responsibility will remain in Israel's hands"