At Least Someone is Studying It
Found in an abstract: The medial PFC, as well as the ventral tegmental area, also seem to participate in the generation of pelvic thrusting....Posted on July 7, 2008 11:19 AM • 1 Comments •
Profile
Jake Young is a MD/PhD student at Mount Sinai School of Medicine focusing in Neuroscience. He is due to graduate in 2032. He received a BS and a MS in Biological Sciences from Stanford University -- where he spent most of his time drinking heavily and building vegetable catapults instead of learning information that would now be eminently useful. When he is not failing terrifically to perform his sworn duties, he enjoys watching bad movies, ethnic food, and running.
Pure Pedantry is a blog about science -- social sciences and otherwise -- as well as academic and scientific culture. No one can live on science alone, so I also like to dwell on pop culture, periodically explore the humanities, and indulge in other types of geeky goodness.
Jake is joined periodically by two wonderful guest bloggers: Kara Contreary and Kate Seip. See the About Page.
DISCLAIMERS: 1) Jake Young is not a licensed physician (yet). He is merely a medical student. The information published on this site is not intended for use in medical decision making. Please seek advice from a licensed, medical professional before making any health decisions. 2) The opinions expressed are my own or those of my co-bloggers. They do not represent the views of SEED magazine or the educational establishments we currently attend.
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Haha, a funny:
George Carlin RIP
George Carlin died yesterday. I always loved his comedy, but more important to me Carlin affirmed my atheism at a time in my life when I didn't really know anyone else who felt that way. He poked fun at religion,...Posted on June 23, 2008 7:35 AM • 40 Comments •
God and Tenure Joke
This is pretty funny: Why God Never Received Tenure at the University 1. He had only one major publication. 2. And it was in Hebrew. 3. And it had no cited references. 4. And it wasn't published in a refereed...Posted on June 18, 2008 9:13 AM • 0 Comments •
Ways to Screw with the Cell Phone Company
1) Send you payment check in with the dollar value listed only as a complex limit. Hat-tip: Zeitgeist...Posted on June 3, 2008 5:20 PM • 4 Comments •
Daniel Drezner on the Benefits of Full Professor
This is funny. Daniel Drezner, having received the full professor status, lists the benefits: 6) Something better than that stupid f@#%ing pen ceremony. As this site observes, "The scene in the movie A Beautiful Mind in which mathematics professors ritualistically...Posted on May 9, 2008 3:39 PM • 0 Comments •
Stephen Colbert on Gas Tax Holiday
Stephen Colbert skewers as per usual......Posted on May 8, 2008 2:03 PM • 5 Comments •
Funny Psychology Dictionary
This is pretty funny. Check out Dr. Mezmer's Dictionary of Bad Psychology. Some of my favorites: Evolutionary Psychology: A branch of psychology, unwittingly inspired by Charles Darwin and Rudyard Kipling, that describes how we behave through made up stores that...Posted on April 28, 2008 2:53 PM • 2 Comments •
Damn you mouse!
This is from the Onion: University of Iowa neuroscientists studying spatial learning and the effects of stress on memory announced Tuesday that a little son-of-a-bitch mouse ruined an experiment on cognitive performance by effortlessly navigating a maze that researchers spent...Posted on April 21, 2008 1:37 PM • 2 Comments •
Funny Quote of the Day
This is Megan McArdle on Cindy McCain's gaffe. She passed recipes from the Food Network off as her own: The honorable thing to do is attribute, of course, but the McCain team still seems to be intent on pretending that...Posted on April 17, 2008 5:12 PM • 4 Comments •
Incredible Medical Donation
Despite the stacks of research that I've had wonderful intentions of blogging on for a while now (one dealing with the origins of elephant testes, to Jake's delight), a brief post today will have to suffice. You see things like...Posted on April 8, 2008 12:09 PM • 1 Comments •
Definition of Irony: Plagiarism Edition
From NPR this morning: Students at the University of Texas at San Antonio were determined to uphold standards at their school. They wrote an honor code that discouraged both cheating and plagiarizing. But they weren't going to waste a lot...Posted on March 31, 2008 2:14 PM • 2 Comments •
xkcd confirms my "biggest toy" theory of science
The Biggest Toy Theory of Scientific endeavor: Science is not driven by curiosity or the desire for fame. Rather it is driven by the desire to accumulate bigger and more complex scientific gadgets. By this standard, particle physicists are gods...Posted on March 27, 2008 1:02 PM • 1 Comments •
Conferences: Now with more Nuts and Flakes!
I got this flier from the American Academy of Neurology in the mail, and it cracked me up....Posted on March 5, 2008 1:28 PM • 0 Comments •
Farcically Bad Orange Juice Commercial
I don't know if you have seen these, but Florida Orange Juice started a new ad campaign featuring commercials with the voice of Tom Selleck. (Magnum PI does like his orange juice.) Anyway, the commercials show a beaker into which...Posted on March 3, 2008 10:23 AM • 2 Comments •
10 Principles of Economics, Translated
This is just for Kara. A really common textbook for introductory economics classes is Greg Mankiw's. In the first chapter, he lists 10 principles of economics. This guy has translated them into terms lay people can understand. Heads up: people...Posted on February 28, 2008 9:47 AM • 0 Comments •
So Good: Kids Discuss Doug Bruce
This is too funny. My Mom sent this to me. I don't know if people outside Colorado know who Doug Bruce is. He is this anti-tax activist from Colorado Springs who championed what is called the TABOR amendment -- an...Posted on January 16, 2008 4:09 PM • 2 Comments •
Nerd sniping: sadly I am susceptible
Sadly we are all susceptible. I spent like thirty minutes trying to ponder the answer to the question in this cartoon. Thanks xkcd. (Click to enlarge.) This is a real issue for me. In order to get any work done,...Posted on December 14, 2007 12:39 PM • 0 Comments •
How to waste time at work? Step 1: Read your friend's blog
What does Jake do when he has nothing to do? (Actually Jake has quite a bit to do, but he is desperately avoiding writing a manual for the use of MATLAB for his labmates, and for this purpose nearly anything...Posted on December 11, 2007 5:13 PM • 1 Comments •
I guess you would call that a LOLrat
They have oh so many more. Hat-tip: PZ...Posted on December 7, 2007 12:24 PM • 1 Comments •
Quote of the Day
Daniel Drezner in reference to the altered US position towards Iran: Tomorrow in Bizarro world politics -- Dick Cheney buys Mahmoud Ahmadinejad a flower. UPDATE: Quote of the Day, Part 2 from Christopher Preble at Cato@Liberty Were that question to...Posted on December 5, 2007 1:47 PM • 1 Comments •
Would you like a ball pit?
Having a ball pit in your living room may be expensive, but it is still totally awesome. Comic from xkcd....Posted on November 26, 2007 11:56 AM • 2 Comments •
Women should know their limits
Someone who really should know better sent me the video below the fold. The best thing about this video is the content. The second best thing about it is the horrifically bad British accents the actors are putting on....Posted on November 13, 2007 3:44 PM • 3 Comments •
I get emails from crazy people
Working on for scienceblogs.com, I would say that I receive more interesting emails than the average person. Most of these emails are legitimate such as offers to send me books to read, and those are always appreciated. Some of the...Posted on November 8, 2007 12:57 PM • 16 Comments •
Bizarre Experiments
Times Online details 10 of the most bizarre experiments ever devised. I rather doubt some of these would have made it past institutional review today: 7) Turkey turn-ons Martin Schein and Edgar Hale, of Pennsylvania State University, devoted themselves to...Posted on November 5, 2007 4:07 PM • 0 Comments •
Colbert on Gore's Nobel
This is just priceless. Stephen Colbert talks about the vanishing awards that he can win now that Gore has the Nobel. (Sorry about the ads.)...Posted on October 17, 2007 2:22 PM • 1 Comments •
When did the Onion get so funny?
I don't remember the last time I found two Onion articles funny in the same calendar year. Here is another one: "If you're looking for some button-down traditionalist who relies on so-called induction, conventional logic, and verification to arrive at...Posted on October 10, 2007 4:12 PM • 4 Comments •
Onion: Congress to Fund Expensive Science Thing
I don't catch the Onion much anymore, but this is just priceless: Top physicists from several major American universities appeared before a Congressional committee Monday to request $50 billion for a science thing that would further U.S. advancement science-wise and...Posted on September 28, 2007 4:43 PM • 2 Comments •
Now that's funny
Here's a quote of the day for you by Katie Glasrud, writing at Pharyngula: That fumble in the fourth quarter? You just dropped it didn't you. It looks like you've had a lot of testosterone-dropping moments this season, and I...Posted on September 26, 2007 2:41 PM • 1 Comments •
Salmon give birth to trout, suspect paternity
Why must scientists play with salmons' heads like this: Researchers have succeeded in making salmon couples give birth to trout -- using a technique that they argue could help to preserve rare species of fish. Goro Yoshizaki and his colleagues...Posted on September 14, 2007 12:37 PM • 2 Comments •
Somewhere out there is a woman who loves my graphs
From the always excellent xkcd (click to enlarge): Someday, someday I will meet a woman who loves the fact that I like to graph. There is important stuff out there that needs to be correlated -- like the amount of...Posted on September 11, 2007 3:27 PM • 14 Comments •
That is either a very small monkey or a very large ponytail
This dude got arrested because he tried to smuggle a monkey on an airplane in his ponytail: A passenger who originally departed from Lima, Peru, and connected in Fort Lauderdale had been hiding the small monkey in his ponytail, under...Posted on August 8, 2007 12:05 PM • 0 Comments •
Priceless XKCD
Entitled Wikipedian Protestor Priceless......Posted on July 5, 2007 9:12 AM • 2 Comments •
XKCD Rocks My World
I love the comic XKCD. This comic is just exquisite geekiness:...Posted on June 27, 2007 12:57 PM • 2 Comments •
Powdered booze
Yes! Dutch students have found a loophole that they argue should allow alcohol to be sold to minors: Dutch students have invented powdered alcohol which they say can be sold legally to minors. The latest innovation in inebriation, called Booz2Go,...Posted on June 6, 2007 12:28 PM • 5 Comments •
Accidental porn-cartoon substitution on the Disney Channel
Oops: Children here got more than they bargained for when they tuned in to "Handy Manny" on the Disney Channel this week -- hard-core pornography. Cable giant Comcast is investigating how the porn was broadcast during the popular cartoon, which...Posted on May 3, 2007 1:59 PM • 7 Comments •
Geeky Goodness for Redheads
As I indicated in my previous post (also related to Lindsay Lohan), being a redhead derives from a recessive allele in the Melanocortin Receptor 1 -- a receptor from Melanocyte Stimulating Hormone. MC1R mutations also result in the phenotype of...Posted on April 20, 2007 10:11 AM • 1 Comments •
Best site ever: Peep experiments
Hat-tip: Shelley. This site is awesome!!! They did all these experiments with Peeps like what it takes to dissolve a peep or what happens to a peep in a vacuum. I am so going to do some of this stuff...Posted on April 19, 2007 11:01 AM • 1 Comments •
Electric bidet catches fire
Now that is unfortunate: Japan's leading toilet maker Toto Ltd. is offering free repairs for 180,000 bidet toilets after wiring problems caused several to catch fire, the company said Monday. The electric bidet accessory of Toto's Z series caught fire...Posted on April 16, 2007 12:20 PM • 0 Comments •
Keith Richards snorted his father!
Not to be outdone in ridiculousness by the younger generation, Keith Richards has admitted to inhaling his father's ashes: Keith Richards has acknowledged consuming a raft of illegal substances in his time, but this may top them all. In comments...Posted on April 5, 2007 11:09 AM • 6 Comments •
Top Ten Best April Fool's Day hoaxes
From AFP: -- Discover Magazine announced in 1995 that a highly respected biologist, Aprile Pazzo (Italian for April Fool), had discovered a new species in Antarctica: the hotheaded naked ice borer. The creatures were described as having bony plates on...Posted on April 2, 2007 1:46 PM • 0 Comments •
Bill Bailey is my hero
I was just in London, and a friend of mine clued me into this British comic named Bill Bailey. Priceless. Anyway, this is not even vaguely science-related, but there is a clip below the fold that is too funny....Posted on April 2, 2007 11:05 AM • 4 Comments •
Eddie Izzard on E=mc^2 and Pavlov's Cat
I love the comedian Eddie Izzard. This is primarily because he is one of the few I have ever seen that even tries to make relatively intellectual jokes about history and science. Anyway, enjoy this video about physics and Pavlov's...Posted on March 13, 2007 4:06 PM • 8 Comments •
More interesting news from Germany
First a German man sues three teenagers for making his ostrich impotent, now another is quite literally dividing the possessions in his divorce: A 43-year-old German decided to settle his imminent divorce by chainsawing a family home in two and...Posted on March 9, 2007 10:27 AM • 1 Comments •
Varmint delays plane
A squirrel running around the innards of the plane grounded a Dallas-Tokyo flight: An American Airlines flight made an unscheduled landing after pilots heard something skittering about in the wire-laden space over the cockpit. The airline blamed the emergency landing...Posted on February 19, 2007 9:40 AM • 5 Comments •
I need to date more in the West Village
Hat-tip: Gawker....Posted on February 14, 2007 9:52 AM • 0 Comments •
Muhaha! What kind of supervillain are you?
Take that PZ, I'm Magneto. What kind of supervillain are you? Your results:You are Magneto Magneto 64% The Joker 63% Apocalypse 63% Mr. Freeze 56% Dr. Doom 55% Lex Luthor 50% Riddler 49% Green Goblin 44% Venom 42% Poison Ivy...Posted on February 12, 2007 10:51 AM • 0 Comments •
Don't eat the squirrels (regularly)
Residents of New Jersey must be warned not to eat too many toxic squirrels: New Jersey has warned squirrel hunters near a toxic waste dump about consuming the critters because they could be contaminated with lead. It is the first...Posted on January 29, 2007 10:38 AM • 3 Comments •
British people descend like locusts on lost shipping containers
Not to suggest that Americans wouldn't: Ignoring health warnings and threats of prosecution, hundreds of people foraged among containers washed from a stricken cargo vessel on the southern English coast on Monday, hauling off booty that included BMW motorcycles, shoes,...Posted on January 29, 2007 10:28 AM • 0 Comments •
Throw the child from the plane (update in which Jake tells his critics where they can stick it)
Anyone who has ever had an annoying child sit behind them in the plane will crack up at this: AirTran Airways on Tuesday defended its decision to remove a Massachusetts couple from a flight after their crying 3-year-old daughter refused...Posted on January 23, 2007 7:40 PM • 25 Comments •
A Ninja Pays Half My Rent
Hahaha!!! You have to see this short film. Hat-tip: Crooked Timber....Posted on January 4, 2007 8:04 PM • 0 Comments •
Of toilet seats and trembling hands
Falling under the broad category of "papers I never thought I'd see written" comes this article by Hammad Siddiqi about the social norm of leaving the toilet seat down and whether or not it represents a Nash Equilibrium. He models...Posted on December 8, 2006 7:15 AM • 5 Comments •
Fart forces airplane to land
CNN's headline reads Flatulence on plane sparks emergency landing: It is considered polite to light a match after passing gas. Not while on a plane. An American Airlines flight was forced to make an emergency landing Monday morning after a...Posted on December 6, 2006 5:00 PM • 1 Comments •
Unauthorized Dam Builders Must Be Stopped!
This was forwarded to me in an email, and it is just too "dam" funny for me not to post. It is a letter that was sent to a man named Ryan DeVries by the Pennslyvania Department of Environmental Quality...Posted on November 26, 2006 6:11 PM • 2 Comments •
Why do I find this funny?
From Toothpaste for Dinner....Posted on November 16, 2006 11:48 PM • 5 Comments •
Stephen Colbert on the Dude Uterus
On The Colbert Report last night, Stephen Colbert talked about an article about uterine transplants for The Word. Scientists now claim that there is nothing technically to prevent us from performing a womb transplant, even to the point that you...Posted on November 15, 2006 11:09 AM • 1 Comments •
Seen in Front of a Wine Store in New York...
Click to enlarge: (The photo references this article.)...Posted on November 10, 2006 1:04 PM • 0 Comments •
Partisan Squirrels
Not to have too much levity about electoral irregularities, but this is just funny: In some areas of Indiana and Ohio, computer problems meant polling stations did not open on time, with voters being turned away, or given paper ballots....Posted on November 7, 2006 9:21 PM • 0 Comments •
Daily Show Schmevolution
Here is your YouTube fun of the day. It is compilation of the Daily Show series Evolution Schmevolution from about a year ago I think. Hilarious....Posted on October 6, 2006 2:47 PM • 0 Comments •
I wish I was this funny
Memoirs of a Skepchick dramatizes the researchers who determined men and women are aroused at the same rate -- talking to a grade school class: "So you watch the men and women get hotter with the night vision goggles?" "It's...Posted on October 5, 2006 9:27 AM • 0 Comments •
What Kind of Nerd/Geek/Dork are you?
Hells yeah: Modern, Cool Nerd 86 % Nerd, 56% Geek, 30% Dork You scored better than half in Nerd and Geek, earning you the title of: Modern, Cool Nerd. Nerds didn't use to be cool, but in the 90's that...Posted on September 21, 2006 11:41 PM • 3 Comments •
The Ultimate Blog Post
Wired Magazine describes the Ultimate Blog Post from a variety of popular sites: "Blog" itself is short for "weblog," which is short for "we blog because we weren't very popular in high school and we're trying to gain respect and...Posted on September 14, 2006 9:32 AM • 3 Comments •
UCS contest and Jake's feeble attempt at global warming cartoons
The Union of Concerned Scientists is running a cartoon contest for the best global warming related cartoon. Check them out here. See, humor is cathartic. Here is my feeble attempt at a global warming cartoon. Certainly not as witty as...Posted on September 7, 2006 10:30 AM • 0 Comments •
Kevin Smith on the "new" Superman movie
So back in college, Kevin Smith came to talk to us. It has to be one of the funniest things I have ever seen. He came with no prepared material and spoke expositorily for about 4 hours, just telling stories....Posted on July 14, 2006 5:36 PM • 3 Comments •
Best Paper Ever: Diplomatic Parking Ticket Edition
I think this paper sounds fascinating but we don't have access to NBER papers here. Anyway, check out this abstract:...Posted on July 10, 2006 12:17 AM • 1 Comments •
Shatner Honors Lucas
A clip of Shatner honoring George Lucas. Hilarious. Video below the fold....Posted on July 3, 2006 3:50 AM • 0 Comments •
Family Guy on Evolution
The Family Guy has a great spoof on the religious interpretation of evolution....Posted on July 3, 2006 3:06 AM • 0 Comments •
A Cappella Must Be Stopped
If you have gone to college in the past 20 years, odds are you went to about a thousand more A Cappella concerts than you bargained for. I was an RA in college, and frankly by the end I started...Posted on June 30, 2006 6:59 AM • 5 Comments •
