Did you know that the first New Year's celebration dates back 4,000 years? It was none other than Julius Caesar, the emperor of Rome, who was the first to declare January 1st a national holiday. He named the month after Janus, the Roman god of gates and doors. Janus had two faces: one looking forward, and the other looking back. Caesar felt that a month named after this god would be appropriate, and that's how "January" came to be. There's no denying that when it comes to holidays celebrated the same day in many parts of the world, New Year's is high on the list. It must mean something that we get the day off (at least in the U.S.), right? No matter where you are, here's to a Happy New Year for all!

A recent study on the psychology of trademarks finds that people perceive brands in the same way as they do faces. Researchers compared the reactions of viewers to 16 renowned brands -- Cola-Cola and Apple among them -- and 18 computer-generated faces. The subjects were asked to evaluate the pictures according to various attributes including trustworthiness and assertiveness. Two basic dimensions dictated how a large proportion of how both trademarks and faces are perceived: (1) Overall assessment, which represents the observer's assessment of how trustworthy brands or people are and how favorable they find them to be, and (2) The impression of strength, which involves acting on the ability to correctly detect intentions -- whether they be good or bad. Most of us can identify with the results of the study. For example, after the BP oil spill that took place a few years ago, resulting in extensive damage to wildlife habitats and fishing and tourism industries, most consumers w...