Starting at 11 am today, you can help choose the path of this New Orleans adventure with your tweets. Read the rest

http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/FjzQnM6xUtI/jeanne-thorton-twitter-fiction.html

What can thinking like musicians teach us about game-making? Read the rest

http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/E8yfgJEm1zo/writing-music-coding.html

"Would you go to a toddler’s birthday party and kick over their cake to announce that you, too, have birthdays? The answer should be 'no.'"

Read the rest

http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/mOSa5Tu95JU/akilah-hughes-explains-that-wh.html

San Francisco's City Attorney Dennis Herrera sent a letter informing McDonald's that they are “legally on the hook” for the drug dealing, fisticuffs, car break-ins, and other illegal activity at its Haight-Ashbury location. Read the rest

http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/vjHDJ3pQYXY/san-francisco-to-mcdonalds.html

Italian astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti made the Internet happy by wearing a Star Trek uniform on board the International Space Station and showing us how to use the toilet in her orbital home.

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http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/sxiV0iFtyjM/astronaut-samantha-cristoforet.html

BB pals Death Cab for Cutie brought their musical extravaganza to The Tonight Show this week with a groovy rendition of "The Ghost of Beverly Drive" from their new album Kintsugi.

Read the rest

http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/eicYxzv1Glw/watch-death-cab-for-cutie-play.html

To play B-Social, you turn the app on, and choose how long you want to ignore your phone. Unlock the screen before your time's up and you lose that round. Read the rest

http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/z5cqKTMI5ao/iphone-game-that-challenges-yo.html

John Legend succinctly explained the burden of structural racism (more…)

http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/cqp4HJbOSfw/john-legend-stops-by-the-daily.html

Buzzfeed invited a diverse set of models to represent the ideal female shape throughout history (more…)

http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/XYrRt0MN8tc/video-charts-womens-ideal-b.html

As part of its Upfront presentation, CBS released this extended trailer for its upcoming series Read the rest

http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/5y8ImoKcIZs/first-look-at-cbs-supergirl.html

Read the rest

http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/f70vWoI-nB4/bojack-horseman-creator-argues.html

What if you could give yourself a superpower  not Hulk-level strength, not telekinesis, but something realistic, something that added a superhuman ability by taking away a normal human limitation?

Thats what Jia Jiang wondered when he began a quest to remove the fear of rejection from his brain.

Download – iTunes – Stitcher – RSS – Soundcloud

This episode is sponsored by the excellent and mind-bending movie Ex Machina  in theaters now. Seriously, its really good. Go see it.

This episode is also sponsored by Wealthfront, the automated investment service that makes it easy to invest your money the right way. Visit this link to to get your first $10,000 managed for free.

Support the show directly by becoming a patron! Get episodes one-day-early and ad-free. Head over to the YANSS Patreon Page for more details.

In this episode of the You Are Not So Smart Podcast you’ll hear how Jiang wanted to become an entrepreneur ever since he was 14-years-old and Bill Gates visited his hometown. Two-years later, he traveled to the United States. He eventually got a degree, got married, got a job, and at 30, right after having his first child, decided to finally take the plunge and start his own business. But four months into the adventure, a crucial investor rejected him. Jia was crushed. He became worried that his business would fail not because he needed funding, but because his fear of rejection was now magnified to stasis-inducing proportions.

To rid himself of that irrational emotion, Jiang created his own fear-elimination course  100 days of rejection-based exposure therapy. In the episode you’ll hear how he reframed his outlook by actively seeking to be rejected, counting each “no” as a success instead of a failure and eventually learned how to pivot, to negotiate, to connect, and more than half of the time, get a “yes.”

Today, Jiang feels like he he earned the same superpower that people like Bill Gates enjoy naturally, and he did it by slogging through the pain and fear that keeps so many of us stuck in neutral  the fear of rejection. He’s written a book about it titled “Rejection Proof.”

After the interview, I discuss a new study that suggests shared laughter, even in a comedy club or movie theater, brings people closer, fosters intimacy, and can lead to disclosure.

In every episode, after I read a bit of self delusion news, I taste a cookie baked from a recipe sent in by a listener/reader. That listener/reader wins a signed copy of one of my books, and I post the recipe on the YANSS Pinterest page. This episode’s winner is Carly Alter who submitted a recipe for Swedish cookies. Send your own recipes to david {at} youarenotsosmart.com.

Links and Sources

Download – iTunes – Stitcher – RSS – Soundcloud

Previous Episodes

Boing Boing Podcasts

Cookie Recipes

Jia Jiangs Website

Acetaminophen reduces social pain: behavioral and neural evidence.

After laughing, people are more willing to share personal details about themselves

Laughter’s Influence on the Intimacy of Self-Disclosure

Laughter in Conversation: Features of Occurrence and Acoustic Structure

http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/6DkwrXDqBeU/listen-overcoming-our-irratio.html

San Francisco artist Andy Stattmiller created this wonderful set of Russian nesting dolls as a tribute to Robin Williams. Read the rest

http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/D0NR3_KDxhs/robin-williams-nesting-dolls.html

Lindy West of GQ profiles Nathalie Emmanuel, the scene stealing actress who plays Missandei, the consigliere to Daenerys Targaryen in Game of Thrones.

Photo credit: David Burton/GQ

http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/v-dWeAoDCPc/meet-nathalie-emmanuel-game-o.html

Many more posted to Imgur by Boogerfuker: Read the rest

http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/VThgXyPY5Cg/very-funny-signs-from-the-simp.html

Amazon has released their list of 100 Young Adult books not to miss. It includes some of my favorites, including Maus and Cory's renowned Little Brother!

http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/8WrCbE6nGD0/100-young-adult-books-to-read.html

A clever cat owner took footage of their cat playing with a toy, slowed it down, ran it backwards, and added some dramatic music. (more…)

http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/Hd5EDWl71w8/slow-motion-cat-is-mesmerizing.html

John Deere freaked out over a a petition to the Copyright Office to let tractor owners break the DRM on their vehicles in order to diagnose and fix them. Read the rest

http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/jy44ZRU35nY/john-deere-of-course-you-ow.html

Stormchaser group Basehunters posted this incredible photo of a rainbow meeting a tornado on the plains of Colorado on Saturday. Yes, it's real. Cue Judy Garland. Video below. (more…)

http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/kSdjnbak39E/astounding-image-of-rainbow-in.html

Probably not because it tastes good, although that's subjective. National Geographic asked several scientists for the straight dope on coprophagy. Read the rest

http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/FznYEDRTM_M/why-do-animals-eat-poop.html