Michael Jordan always wore his old North Carolina College practice shorts under his Chicago Bulls uniform. NASCAR race drivers and their crews are afraid of peanut shells. Not washing, and just wearing the same clothing when on a winning streak; talking to the ball or the goal post; and even drinking one's own urine (as how Mexican boxing legend Juan Manuel Marquez does), could just be some of the weird things athletes do for the win.

Interestingly, scientists also have a FTW measure: WEAR RED.

NewScientist reports about a study conducted by researchers at the University of Munster in Germany. 42 professional referees were shown video clips of Taekwondo matches of competitors wearing blue against red. The referees, without their knowledge, were shown the same matches with the colors blue and red digitally manipulated to be swapped between fighters.

The result was interesting: fighters who wore red (digitally manipulated) were given an average of 13 more points than when they were wearing blue.

While the findings could send athletes competing for the red color, and, (gasp!) not the game anymore, Norbert Hagemann, team leader of the research, says that wearing red would not change the outcome if one competitor is strong and the other weak. "But the closer the levels, the easier it is for the color to tip the scale."

Joanna Setchell of Durham University found that the mandrills monkeys use color as a means of conflict management. "The brighter red a male is, the higher his testosterone level and the more aggressive he is." In comparison, paler males were more likely to shy away.

You might ask, "If this were true, how come the Red Sox suck against the New York Yankees despite the, er, red socks? England wear red sometimes but they have only won-one World Cup."

Evolutionary anthropologists Russell Hill and Robert Barton of Durham University, UK, who first conducted this research on color's influence in sports success, have an explanation. "Skill and strength may be the main factors - if you're rubbish, a red shirt won't stop you from losing, but when fights were relatively symmetrical, color tipped the balance."

This study just demonstrated how colors influence our behavior in some of the most important aspects of our lives. However, wearing a red jersey does not make you score goals without the skills, talent, discipline and practice worthy of a champion.

 

 

While this technology targets the video gaming industry - for starters- it actually is leading towards making it possible for paralyzed persons to drive their wheelchairs or control and move prosthetic limbs using nothing but their thoughts. Gamers are a demanding lot. We can say that there's no better group of people who can really fast-track a product's fine-tune and upgrade, than the millions of computer geeks on the gaming console.

Check this clip from the popular CBS tv newsmagazine "60 Seconds" after the break:

Brain-controlled prosthetic arms are also helping more people with disabilities cope.

And lately, a wheel chair controlled by the user's mind can help persons with disability become less dependent on others.

It is heartening to know that while we enjoy kicking ass in Mortal Combat and Grand Theft Auto, we are actually helping in the development of technology that will benefit the physically handicapped. FTW!

OK.  You may be the smartest dude in the office.  But why does your boss ignore you and heads straight to Chuck Bartowski's cubicle instead? Laggard, your to-do-list is longer than the lyrics of Don McLean's "American Pie" and is as old as Mount Rushmore.

We sure hope you won't feel alluded to when you check out this timetable that Nescafe' posted  (which we modified a little) on their website:

* 5 minutes - Sort out desk, sharpen pencils

* 5 minutes - Decide on what to do (check/revise/update to-do-list)

* 5 minutes - Arrange files, and table clutter 

* 10 minutes - Look out the window, daydream

* 5 minutes - check/send text messages, make a phone call

* 20 minutes - Open e-mail, click on links, open myYahoo!/Facebook/etc.

* 10 minutes - Open work file and do some tasks. 

* TOTAL OF 1 HOUR! 

Procrastination is not your inability to manage time or the result of your lack of planning.  It is about your lack of self-regulation.  A procrastinator's failure to deliver on time is not limited to the workplace alone.  Procrastinators also tend to fail to pay their bills on time, miss buses or flights, they file their income tax returns late, etc. 

Procrastinators lie to themselves by saying things like, "I work better under pressure," or "It's ok to submit it late," when, in truth, they usually fail due to pressure.  And they know so well their necks are headed to the chopping block, for not finishing the task on time. 

Psychology Today lists 10 things you need to know about procrastination.  It also says procrastinators can change, and it suggests a highly structured cognitive behavioral therapy as a means to a cure. 

Anyone needs to see his shrink?

We often hear people claim they are right-brained (or left-brained). You, yourself, may wonder if you are right-brained because you are intuitive, creative, sensitive, or an artist, a dreamer; or someone who can easily see things from a bigger perspective. Yes, you may be right-brained. But you wonder.

On the other hand, if you dwell more on "hard" facts rather than intuition, is more efficient and more disciplined, likes numbers and "structured thinking", and is generally intelligent (or so you'd like to believe), you may be a left-brained person.

Why don't you stop making assumptions (is that a left-brained person's strength or a right-brainer's gift?) and take the Art Institute of Vancouver Right-brain vs. Left-brain Creativity Test here?