"consumption activates the neurotransmitters dopamine which rewards us with pleasure, traveling along the same brain pathways as do drogs like caffeine and cocaine" (NY Times article, "The Pleasure of Greed Haunts the US")
So good old (C6H3(OH)2-CH2-CH2-NH2) gets us pumped up when we shop - or when we get a good shot of espresso - or something a bit stronger. Or is it when we think about it - desire rather than actual pleasure. No mention of shopping on the Wikipedia as of yet - or rather consumption in general. As the actual buying is sometimes only the first step. But for certain items it is the most rewarding.
Which links nicely to the bankrupcy issue; 1.1 million "fresh-start" (personal) bankruptcy filings in the US in 2004. Doubled since 1994. With credit crads on every corner - and some people getting up to 20 different ones, it is (sadly) understandable. All to easy to run up the debt, cover parts of it with another card and so on.
[filling my head with the beats of: DSC-2005-03-18 - Adam Curry ] this time at the BBC, and running around London recording everything
Work work work
Read an interesting essay by Francis Fukuyama [personal or Wikipedia] on Weber and globalization. 100 years have passed since the Protestant Ethic, using culture as one variable to explain economic growth and development. Today there is a lot of religious drive - both from Islam and various Evangelical movements (still Protestants, but maybe not quite like the ones Weber discussed?) How does that reflect in the world of commerce and trade?
A lot of previously Christian values have "evolved" into "humanitarian" values - such as human rights and dignity - but we don't want to acknowledge the link (or the constraints) of mixing religion and democray... or do we? Was religion in the "old days" a fixed set of rules, an explanation to everything - literally - or mainly a set of tales to help remember and guide us? Parables that reminded you to prepare for winter, sow your seeds and tend the land in spring?
[filling my head with the beats of: Alley Cuts - 2 - PodcastNYC.net ] cool mix of unknow/small acts, but with a lot of four-letter words to describe them. Bastardo was hot and hard
Nice day for it?
Today, some 86 years ago an unassuming italian named Benito set up a party. Three years later he ruled Italy and Fascism was off on a rocky path that led to a rather nasty relationship with Germany and being on the loosing side in the big-one (WWII). And on this day - this year - a Swedish "right winger" named Klas Lund was arrested in southern Norway.
Just updated to v4 of my local editor -
, check it out if you blog, it supports a wide variety of systemts/API (but currently only on the PC)...and the sun is back behind a soft layer of clouds - melting the snow bit by bit
