I thought it was just me and my bad posture, but now science is proving that sitting at a 90-degree angle is not what humans were made for.

“Researchers at Woodend Hospital in Aberdeen, Scotland used a new form of magnetic resonance imaging to collect images from 22 healthy volunteers, who assumed three different sitting positions: slouching posture in which the body is hunched forward, an upright 90-degree sitting position, and a relaxed position where the subject reclined backward 135 degrees. They concluded that the reclined position is the best, and the forward slouch the worst.”

So, hoteliers, will we get backward-leaning chairs for the meeting space any time soon?

Via Slashdot.

We had bagpipers and kilts, the mayor of San Diego and Shamoo, then awards, awards, awards at the opening session of Expo! Expo! show. Congratulations to all who received an award tonight, but that sure is one way to slow things down right at the start. Emcee Sue Hershkowitz did a great job trying to keep it exciting, but it was asking a bit much from the crowd right up front. Or maybe that’s just me. The 60-second showcase, where four exhibitors got to give a spiel for a minute, actually was pretty fun, especially the last guy, MapYourShow.com’s sales manager Jerry Gildea, who did an aria dressed in castaway clothes about getting lost and found at shows.

My favorite part was the Evolution of Dance guy, Judson Laipply, who I posted about last spring after seeing a YouTube video of his act. He’s even better in person, and rumor has it we attendees get a chance to dance with him at the expo tomorrow. Maybe I’ll challenge him to a Deadhead tunnel dance (I tried to find a link for the unique style of dancing Grateful Dead fans indulged in, but even YouTube failed me on this one. Trust me, it’s worthy of the Evolution of Dance guy).

Heading down to the reception for a bit, but I have a feeling I won’t last too long tonight…

I’m here (finally!) in beautiful San Diego—my first time here since I was a teenager, and the weather alone is knocking me out. With a little time to kill before the opening session of the International Association for Exhibition Management’s annual meeting, I should be out grabbing some lunch and enjoying the scenery instead of catching up on e-mail and f2f! And I will. Just a couple of notes about today’s travels from Boston to Calif., via Phoenix:

I hate getting up at 3 a.m. (midnight Calif. time) for a flight! ‘Nuff said. Wait until Friday when I’m sure I’ll whine even more about my red-eye home…

Why oh why does America West have two flights leaving from Phoenix to San Diego within 10 minutes of each other at neighboring gates? If my husband hadn’t warned me about this, I likely would have gotten on the wrong flight in my befuddled state.

Hurray for CeeJay, the guy at the front desk of the Manchester Grand Hyatt, who checked me in. I have never had a smoother time or nicer, more professional check-in than I did today. I haven’t had a chance to wander around the hotel much yet, but the view of the marina from my window is spectacular! So far, two thumbs up for this place.

P.S. Please bear with me if I take a while to approve comments—I’m not sure how often I’ll be able to check in. I promise to try to get to it as quickly as I can, but it’s tougher when I’m on the road.

Not the baby and the blanket kind—the kind Kathy Sierra talks about in this post. The learner’s mind wants, and likely needs, to have something to figure out, not to have all the answers laid out for it. From her post:

In learning, the more you fill things in and hold the learner’s hand, the less their brain will engage. If they don’t need to fire a single neuron to walk through the tutorial, lesson, lecture, etc., they’re getting a shallow, surface-level, non-memorable exposure of “covered” material, but… what’s the point? Obviously this doesn’t mean you just never tell them anything period. This is about graduated hints, mental teasing, cognitive treasure hunts, sparking curiosity, etc. Things that engage the brain.

This makes so much sense to me. And when I think about it, my best learning experiences have been taught through this, to use her fabulous phrase, “cognitive seduction.”