Rowley Associates

A personal take on some recent news items.

For caffeine addicts everywhere – yes, yes, yes. Caffeine has been found to improve short-term memory, and keep us going longer (who needs the lame Energizer bunny) oh, they do say it makes us more open to persuasion.

Do you work in Bursts? A new book by the author of Linked, Albert-Laszlo Barabasi, reckons he has found a way to predict human behavior using ‘power laws’. The upshot is that from answering email to random walks, our behavior is predictable. After reading the book I’m not sure I agree with Barabasi’s thesis, the evidence is a bit thin, but its an entertaining read nonetheless including quite a cast of characters from Einstein, to Cardinal Bakocz, internet routers to the flight path of the albatross.

Leeds United, my home team, was promoted to the Championship in the English Football (soccer) League. The World Cup taking place in South Africa starts on June.

Other headlines that caught my eye:

• Steve Jobs saving us from Porn
• The afterlife of Steig Larsson – the man behind Lisbeth Salander, the ‘Girl with the Dragon Tattoo’