So we meet again, Daniel Pink ...

The activity we did last night -- exchanging items and then making comics about the owners -- reminded me of a Flickr group dedicated to "What's In Your Bag?". The point is for group members to post photos of their bags' contents and include copious amounts of notes about each item. It's a popular group with 9,251 members and 5,999 photos as of this post. There's a certain element of voyeurism/exhibitionism, but I think empathy plays a huge role in why people find pleasure in displaying and/or observing each other's stuff laid out. It's not quite displaying the content of one's heart to the general public (complete with visual annotations!), but rifling through one another's bags in a virtual manner can metaphorically provide the same effect. (In case anyone's curious, I've added photos a couple times.)

A Whole New Mind

I'm starting to see Daniel Pink everywhere I look, including this article about how a psychologist is currently beating most groups of mathematicians working on an algorithm for Netflix that'll earn a million dollar prize. Alternate headlines include "Guy uses Right and Left Hemispheres to Beat L-Brained GroupThinkers" and "Soft Science Melded with Hard Math, Consumerism Wins."