Which of these strawberries tasted better?

The sweetest strawberry is not always the largest, the smallest, or even the reddest. Sweetness has little to do with size or ripeness. There are much more reliable ways to tell which strawberry will taste the best than its color or size AND I have an insider secret that will give you the power to select the sweetest strawberry every time. What I'm about to tell you will revolutionize the way you pick strawberries.

But why should you believe the writer of Frequently Alyssa Questions? You probably shouldn't. For all you know, she's just a random American that knows nothing about strawberries. Well, why do we believe anyone? Teachers, doctors, and Home Depot employees all have implied credibility. They have knowledge and experience in their area of expertise.

Before you hear my strawberry secret, I've got to establish my own credibility or else you won't believe me. To give a strawberry expert credibility, it would help if she worked at a you-pick strawberry farm for four years. She should also eat at least a quart of strawberries a week, and have off-season experience. A real strawberry expert would have only driven to Wegmans eight times total without purchasing strawberries.

Here it is...You can see on the left strawberry, the distance from the bottom of the stem to the first seed (the neck) is longer that on the strawberry on the right.  You'll also notice that the leaves on the left strawberry's stem point upwards (a wide leaf angle) instead of being flush against the strawberry like on the right.

A longer neck and a wider leaf angle = A sweeter strawberry

• Teachers went to school for years to learn all about the subject they teach. I am not questioning the intelligence of my friends that are teachers, but they are just people that aren't always right. And they learned what they know from other teachers who are also people that aren't always right.
• Doctors have refused to take x-rays on broken bones only to discover later that the bones were broken.
• I'm not even going to get into Home Depot employees.

The writer of this blog might be a credible strawberry expert, but like teachers, doctors, and Home Depot employees, she's also still a person that isn't always right. So, the best way to know if she's right is to use your own logic to prove it. I say the strawberry on the left is sweeter, but don't take my word for it...go test it for yourself!

What didn't you do this weekend?

I did not climb down into a dam and kiss a rotting fish, unfortunately. I honestly regret that I missed out. Not because I think smelling the stench of a rotting fish would be particularly enjoyable, but because it is an experience I would like to have had.

Photo credit: blog,travelpod.com

 
However, people never ask "What didn't you do this weekend?" It's not interesting to respond:

• I didn't go on a treasure hike with twenty-one people.
• I didn't split a log with an ax (...shout-out to some patient friends for helping make that one happen safely).
• I didn't swim in very cold water.
• I didn't choreograph a dance sequence on the porch.

You don't look back and fondly remember the time that:

• Nobody threw a ping-pong ball at the ceiling fan and double-bounced it.
• Nobody ate a piece of charcoal that was previously a hamburger roll.
  
• Nobody found out what was in that hard-to-reach cabinet.
• Nobody participated in a group cheer.

Photo credit: Morgan Elizabeth

Experiences like these, whether they end up being enjoyable or not, are what compose our lives. Some experiences are pleasant, exhilarating, or enjoyable, while others are disgusting, uncomfortable, or silly, but they are all memorable experiences so we might as well do them and enjoy them. Next time the opportunity arises, I will smell the dam fish.

This weekend's camping trip was a success because the crew was willing to try anything. These are people that make everything fun and fully embrace the fact that you only live once.

If you could read minds, would you?

What's the most hurtful comment someone has ever said to you? Now imagine hearing that insult once a week. Now imagine hearing an insult worse than anybody has even had the guts to say to you out loud. Now imagine hearing those insults regularly.

A lot of people say that they wouldn't want to have the super power to read minds because they think they wouldn't be able to handle the truth. Some people's thoughts would strike you right where you're the most sensitive, confirming your fears and bringing you to tears. Electing to read minds means willingly bombarding your own mind with truths that others purposefully keep to themselves.

While it is true that it would initially hurt to hear what people honestly think about you, it's important to consider the human ability to adapt in the long-term. Some examples:

• Acquaintances and strangers think, "Take a bath, hippie." (I Googled "insults" to think of that). Knowing that a stranger/acquaintance rejects your lifestyle choice, you could elect not to pursue their friendship. You could also learn to stop caring about what random people think. In this case, reading people's minds might open your eyes to the fact that you actually do smell, inspiring you to take a bath. Regardless of your adaptation method, you will be happier in the long-term knowing the truth.
• You thought your hair looked natural, but people wonder if you bleach your hair yourself. Knowing the truth that your bleached tips don't look as cool as Lance Bass's, you would either do a better job dying them, or stop being sensitive about it. You needed a reality check. Sorry Mr. [name has been removed for his protection].
• A friend that you consider platonic thinks about having sex with you. Now that you know, you can either make it happen (if that's what you want too) or take measures to make him/her stop thinking about it (such as bleaching your hair's tips or ending your personal hygiene routines).
• Your roommate finds you annoying when you leave dirty sponges in the sink. (Dishes are the most common argument topic in America.) Now that you know, you can stop leaving those sponges in the sink. It's better than your roommate building up anger inside every time they see the sponges.
• A guy you're dating thinks, "I'm not necessarily smitten, but she's the type of girl I would hook up with now and then." (That one's from Ashley's season of The Bachelorette.") While hurtful, knowing the truth allows you to make an informed decision to either go with it or keep your distance and devote your time to more satisfying relationships.

Knowing the truth provides you with the opportunity to change behaviors that otherwise wouldn't have been called to your attention, cut out the toxic people in your life, or grow a tough skin. The moral of the examples is that the truth hurts, but it also allows you to make adjustments in the long-term.  For this reason, if I was presented with the choice of whether or not to read minds, I would absolutely want this ability. But there are other things to consider.

I may want to read minds, but is it ethical? Most things that you would hear if you were reading minds would be things that others intentionally did not tell you. They probably have a reason for not telling you. For example, your friend refrains from saying that he wants to have sex with you because he wants to build the friendship first and he knows it would scare you off. The sponge thing is only a little annoying to your roommate, so she would rather not say anything and keep peace in the kitchen. People don't say every insult out loud because they're trying not to be mean. Finding out exactly what people are thinking but not saying is a violation of their privacy!

I would also need to consider other super powers. In a fantastical world where reading minds is possible, apparating, flying, and invisibility are probably also options. Is reading minds better than apparating, flying, and invisibility? I've never experienced having any of these, so I really have no way of knowing for sure which is the coolest. This hypothetical question poses quite a debacle!

Would you ever use Match.com or eHarmony?

Some people think that only "desperate weirdos" use online dating. Others have seen their perfectly normal cousins find great success with it. The goal of this post is not to tell you the creepy horror stories and adorable love stories that I have heard, because you've already heard enough of those that cloud your ability to view online dating objectively. I'm going to take a different approach to illustrate the debatable effectiveness of online dating sites.

One store has a digital camera for $49 with a close-up portrait feature that will be perfect for taking close-up pictures with heads touching. Another store has a digital camera that is not as great for $299. If you are rational and you know about both cameras, you would obviously buy the $49 dollar one because it better meets your photography needs and is cheaper.

However, if you only go to the store that sells the $299 digital camera without knowing about the better camera at the other store, you miss out. You might get ripped off, or worse, not buy a digital camera at all when you really wanted one. You don't have all of the information you need to make the rational decision. Fancy economists would say that perfect information is not present.

Some people that may or may not be rational would go to every store searching for the best deal. While these people save money on the digital camera, they pay for it dearly in time and gas spent searching for it. The time, money, resources, etcetera wasted on driving around town when there might not even be a better deal out there are appropriately called search costs.

The most rational consumer would find the best camera in a few minutes by searching for digital cameras online. It's no secret that the internet is revolutionizing the way we shop. The internet tells you the features and prices of the available digital cameras so that you can make the right decision without even leaving your home. It virtually (virtually as in "almost wholly" and virtually as in "through the internet") eliminates these barriers to rational decision making: lack of perfect information and search costs.

The concepts of search costs and perfect information can be applied to other stuff too, like dating. You don't even get the opportunity to meet every possible dating partner, let alone get to know each person enough to know whether or not his/her personality is what you want and need. Lack of perfect information prevails, and search costs are virtually (virtually as in "almost wholly" not "through the internet") infinite.

Just like the rational consumer can cut search costs by using the internet to find a digital camera, the rational dater can cut search costs by using the internet to find a partner. Sites like Match.com and eHarmony quickly sift through thousands of users and show you which ones have the features you're looking for. In this case, instead of a close-up portrait feature that will be perfect for taking pictures with heads touching, the "features" are sense of humor, religious beliefs, activity level, life outlook, and whether or not they are a Harry Potter fan.

If using online dating sites is a rational approach to dating, why doesn't everyone do it? Well, we aren't rational. When it comes to online dating there is another barrier to rationality: the network effect. Our online dating success depends on whether or not other people do it, so you won't do it unless other people do. If only a few "desperate weirdos" sign up for online dating, then you are less likely to find a match, whereas you can buy a quality digital camera regardless of whether or not other people do.

Since enrolling in online dating is only a rational choice if enough people do it, then other people have to do it. In order to make it a rational choice, enough people have to do it, but they won't do it since it's not a rational choice unless enough people do it. This is a bit of a debacle. How will people be convinced to break the catch 22? Maybe this blog post will help, or maybe viral parodies depicting "desperate weirdos" like this one:

What are your resolutions for the new year?

88% of all New Year's resolutions fail.

Three common New Year's resolutions are: lose weight, get a new job, and save money. These resolutions are classic examples of things that we work hard to achieve because we think that life will be great once we do. But if we actually achieve them, we already have our minds set on achieving what's next. And if we're part of the 88% that fail, we're less happy than we were in the first place because not only didn't we achieve the resolution that was supposed to make us happier, but we're also disappointed in ourselves for not achieving our resolution. Working so hard to become happy, we forget to just be happy.

New Year's resolutions still rank highly on my list of the most wonderfully important non-human nouns in the world. Like most people, I want to be as happy as possible. But, instead of choosing resolutions that I think  will make me happier once I achieve them, I selected resolutions designed to be enjoyable while I'm working towards them.

• Taste 15 fruits I have never eaten before. This was originally going to be "try every fruit," but upon further research, I discovered that not all fruits are edible or available in North America, so that would have gotten dangerous and too expensive. Also, I ran into the dilemma of differentiating between varieties of fruits. For example, are concord grapes and grapes the same thing? They are both called grapes, but I am very glad that I have tried concord grapes specifically because they taste even better than Swedish Fish. These dilemmas would suck the fun out of working towards the resolution, so I altered it accordingly.
• Learn to snowboard. In high school, I made a bucket list. On it was: learn to use a pottery wheel, pole dance properly, ice skate balancing on one foot, and snowboard. I have done all of them except snowboard. 2012 is the year.
• Study survival techniques. Freshman year of college, I added "go on a bike ride to a remote natural location" to my bucket list. For the full effect, the location must have a waterfall and I would camp there alone. Hence the need to learn survival techniques. It also seems fun to read books about living in the woods.
• Be more decisive. I feel that this is an admirable quality and also will make life less stressful because I won't be thinking about silly decisions too much.
• Don't beat myself up about it if I don't accomplish my resolutions. These resolutions are designed to make me happy when they are achieved and while I'm achieving them. If they don't end up making me happy, I'm going to stop doing them and I'm not going to feel unhappy about it.