I really really like Edge
I know I've said it before, and I'll likely say it again, but Edge is one of my favorite web sites. Edge 182 came out today. I particularly liked Daniel Gilbert's article "The Science of Happiness". Give yourself 10-15 minutes and go read it.
I also felt Gilbert's article justifies some of my borderline compulsive behaviour. He writes:
We're all told that variety is the spice of life. But variety is not just over-rated, it may actually have a cost. Research shows that people do tend to seek more variety than they should. We all think we should try a different doughnut every time we go to the shop, but the fact is that people are measurably happier when they have their favorite on every visit — provided the visits are sufficiently separated in time.Those last four words are the important ones. If you had to eat 4 donuts in rapid succession, variety would indeed spice up your experience and you'd be wise to seek it. But if you had to eat 4 donuts on 4 separate Mondays, variety would lower your overall enjoyment. The human brain has tremendous difficulty reasoning about time, and thus we tend to seek variety whether the doughnuts are separated by minutes or months.
This explains, more eloquently than I could, why it is I stick with the things I love. It isn't that I'm frightened of trying new things. I'm certainly not. I'll try most things at least once. It's just that there are some things out there that I know I really love. Whether they be food, places, people or what-have-you, I know I will keep going back for more.