The perception that women are scarce leads men to become impulsive, save less, and increase borrowing, according to new research from the University of Minnesota’s Carlson School of Management.

Guess I am bucking the trend by living in environments where women are plentiful (though averaging at least ten years younger) yet acting impulsive.

It was okay. The book seemed more about the philosophy of religion and politics and their intermixing than I expected and without a clear point. It was more Xenocide than Ender’s game. Scarily, the coworker who loaned me it said this was the best book of the series.

This book is a fantastic draw for the attention of cute early to mid 20 year old women. Not just the theatre geeks came to talk about it. Five women in places I regularly go who ignored me with other books just had to ask. Three total strangers who had never seen me asked. Three women and two guys I am acquainted with also were excited to ask. Most had seen the musical. The rest were disappointed to have missed it. Only a couple had read the book. The cover like the musical posted is best for this.

I wonder… Is there a book a woman could be reading say at a restaurant that would make a guy just have to ask if she had seen the movie, play, or similar?

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Middle age widower marries a girl a year after the death of his statuesque wife. This girl struggles in the shadow of this woman whose standard up to which she cannot possible live. Only it all falls apart.

I like the last ~50 pages best. Everyone starts getting past the obfuscation of trying to act like who they think others want them to be. It shifts from an accounting of boring diary days to drama, risk, and events.

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I understand the Swedish title translates into the The Men Who Hate Women. That is a more appropriate title. Though, I would imagine such a title would hurt sales in England and the USA. Each part has a statistic regarding violence against women in Sweden. I was not quite prepared for this. A very faithful to the book movie would be NC-17.

Reading the graphic violence made me feel sad. Also difficult is the intertwining of attraction and love with hurt and anger. The hero and heroine are tragic-ish. The villains are sadistic. No character has an easy to understand relationship with another. Everything is complicated by something. Well, okay not Vanger and his right hand man Frode. That was only simple boss and employee.

Salander is a goth, hacker, perceived sociopath. (She acts more sociopath than she is.) My adolescent reading was perhaps too much TSR novels about D&D settings. Women were strong. Salander evokes a toughness she would rip those other women apart.

I am glad to have read the book. Now. Can I take the movie?

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Reblogged from The DarkHorse Guide to Practical Happiness:

I saw this picture a year or two ago thanks to a friend of mine who was a computer geek back then and it has stayed with me until this very day: It’s not just funny but it is painfully true! Most men (including me) picture this nightmare before trying to approach a woman that caught their eye which triggers an anxiety cycle and leads to nothing happening. The ironic part is that sometimes the girl will be watching, and I mean really watching the guy and giving slight hints of her attraction but …

XKCD all too often describes my life.

• Technological: Almost all of my dating started through some form of technology: chat rooms, online games, online dating. Face-to-face only proves disastrous as my command of language evaporates.
• Mysterious: Few people know anything about my dating. I used to blog about it to friends-only years ago. I lack that outlet anymore. Occasionally I tell one of my horror stories.

I have come to the conclusion online dating probably is not the best approach for me. Profiles seem either a resume or a job description. The most honest ones are a list of all the undesirables leaving one to wonder what deity could possible meet the standard. Too many are just a photo. If I had any clue what really would work for me, then I could write an algorithm to find her. Instead I initiate conversations that seem to stagnate sooner rather than go anywhere.

Face-to-face lets me down too. So.

Meh.

Reading the replies to my comments should be part of the blog reading process. Completely separate places means I forget to read the comments. So months can go by before I remember to read them. Ugh.

Address-wise, I understand. The “Comments I’ve Made” address is a WordPress admin page for the first blog I made here: /wp-admin/index.php?page=my-comments. The “Read Blogs” is a base address: /read/. UX-wise, I really would like same near same.

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Blogs were once the outlet of choice for people who wanted to express themselves online. But with the rise of sites like Facebook and Twitter, they are losing their allure for many people — particularly the younger generation.The Internet and American Life Project at the Pew Research Center found that from 2006 to 2009, blogging among children ages 12 to 17 fell by half; now 14 percent of children those ages who use the Internet have blogs. Among 18-to-33-year-olds, the project said in a report last year, blogging dropped two percentage points in 2010 from two years earlier.

I get it. No one reads blogs anymore. I seek better ways to hook up Rants, Raves, and Rhetoric to social networks to help attract traffic. Occasionally I do get some comments from friends. Otherwise I probably would kill off the b

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