To Get Smarter, Take a Nap

Taking a nap after lunch helps the brain “reset” and prepare to assimilate new information, researchers say. “It’s as though the e-mail inbox in your hippocampus is full and, until you sleep and clear out those fact e-mails, you’re not going to receive any more mail,” says the author of a new study. “It’s just going to bounce until you sleep and move it into another folder.”

Humans naturally sleep twice or more in 24 hours, and napping fits that pattern. In a study of 39 subjects, half took a 90-minute nap at 2pm while the rest stayed awake. The groups performed comparably on a test administered at noon, but the nappers significantly outscored the non-nappers on a 6pm exam. Next up: determining the link between changing sleep patterns related to age and the concurrent drop in the ability to absorb new information.

10am

"I don’t know what it means to be a New Yorker anymore. I guess if you work for a giant corporation and you’ve lived here for more than six weeks, you’re a New Yorker now. I think I used to know what it meant to be a New Yorker. I guess if you don’t eat at Cosi sandwich shop you’re a real New Yorker. If you don’t go to Hopstop.com to find your way around the city, you’re a real New Yorker. If you make too much noise on the sidewalk at night and bother people living in overpriced apartments, you’re a real New Yorker. If you get mugged, and then immediately go eat a slice with the money hidden in your sock that they did not steal from you, you’re a real New Yorker. If you cross the street wherever and whenever you want, you’re a New Yorker. And if you walk fast, you’re a New Yorker. Nobody walks fast in this city anymore. Everyone walks slow, and then goes to Equinox."

Via BlackBook

6pm

Interviews

I just interviewed two students for an internship, one of which had just finished interviewing another student for his current company. I have another student to interview on Monday. And tomorrow, another company is interviewing me for a position.

This is getting confusing.

5pm

"

Dorito’s was a big winner in a measurement of interest in the commercials played during the Super Bowl. TiVo Inc. said the snack company’s ad featuring a boy telling a man to keep his hands off his chips and his mom was stopped and played back in 15 percent of homes with the digital video recorder.

The secretly filmed CBS promo with David Letterman, Jay Leno and Oprah Winfrey came in second, followed by the Snicker’s ad with Betty White and Abe Vigoda flattened in a football game.

In general, however, TiVo found less interest in the commercials than it has in previous years, judged by how many people paused live action to see them, said Todd Juenger, general manager of TiVo’s research department.

Via Evan's Blog. Meh.

6pm

maleydaily:

The current leader of the Brand Bowl, Google’s Super Bowl ad was a nice departure from the content and tone of the rest of last night’s offerings.  It’s quiet, it shows you what Google actually does, and above all else, it’s a simple story that’s succinctly told.  It makes you feel something.  And that’s powerful stuff.

Via The Maley Daily

2pm