j7uy5 | November 14, 2007The Department of Defense appears to be making a real effort
to
determine the scope of the problem. They now have published
the results of a second screening of 88,235 returning soldiers.
In their most recent study, they acknowledge that the prior
study missed a lot. Moreover, they now worry that even the
second study is missing some. In a nice gesture, the
style="font-style: italic;">Journal of the American Medical
Association has made the results openly accessible. (The
results of the first study also are openly accessible,
href="http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/full/295/9/…
j7uy5 | November 14, 2007
href="http://scienceblogs.com/corpuscallosum/images/dilbert2033334071113.gif">
Click for full-sized version
From:
href="http://www.dilbert.com/comics/dilbert/archive/dilbert-20071113.html"
rel="tag">Dilbert Internet Archive
There is elitism, and anti-elitism. In pure form,
both are bad. I recommend, as an alternative, something
called mutual respect.
In politics, there is a long history of us-versus-them-ism.
In the 2004 elections, this was used effectively, when
certain persons got everyone all riled up about the spectre of gay
marriage, which was sold to the public as a threat…
j7uy5 | November 13, 2007In his article about
href="http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2704,2209837,00.asp">what
is wrong with Windows Vista, PC Mag's John Dvorak
unintentionally disrespects northern Michigan:
Until now, Microsoft could sell code
better than anyone, but it seems the company would rather sell
services: software as a service, ads, search engine
results—you name it. This is like the local storefront that
opens as a knife-sharpening business and is soon selling junk jewelry,
moose heads, toaster repair, and cheap chocolate. In the meantime, the
knife-sharpening business goes by the wayside.
There are…
j7uy5 | November 13, 2007Remember, this guy ran for office claiming that he was going
to "
href="http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9507E3DC153FF931A2575BC0A9669C8B63&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all">restore
dignity" to the office. Now, 64% of persons
surveyed think "has abused his powers as president." 55%
think he has committed impeachable offenses, although they are split on
the issue of whether he should be removed from office.
For Dick
Cheney, the numbers are worse. 70% think he has
abused his powers. 63% of Democrats think he should be
impeached and convicted. 43% of all voters…
j7uy5 | November 13, 2007Tilly is an eagle that has been trained to fly with a pair
of video
cameras. The cameras weigh less than 30 grams and can
transmit video signals more than a mile.
I gather this was shown on Aminal Planet, but you can see it on the
Internet
href="http://animal.discovery.com/convergence/spyonthewild/birdtech/birdtech.html">here.
j7uy5 | November 13, 2007The Norman
Lear Center recently commissioned a Zogby poll regarding the
relative media preferences of liberals, moderates, and conservatives:
href="http://www.learcenter.org/html/projects/?cm=zogby">The
Zogby/Lear Center Survey On Politics And Entertainment.
The typology revealed three significant
clusters of respondents: "conservatives," as we decided to
call them, make up 37% of the national sample, while "liberals"
comprise 39% and "moderates" 24%. The same respondents were asked about
their entertainment preferences, including their consumption of the
most highly-rated TV shows and…
j7uy5 | November 13, 2007The Chinese pistache,
href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pistacia_chinensis">Pistacia
chinenesis, is the most frost-tolerant of the Pistacia,
and is relatively drought-tolerant as well. It is prized for
the vivid autumn color of the leaves.
j7uy5 | November 11, 2007
href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/"
title="Click this link to find out details of the Creative Commons license associated with this image.">
src="http://creativecommons.org/images/public/somerights20.gif"
alt="There is a Creative Commons license attached to this image."
style="border: medium none ;" height="31" width="88">
class="ccIcn ccIcnSmall">
href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/">
src="http://l.yimg.com/www.flickr.com/images/cc_icon_attribution_small.gif"
alt="Attribution" title="Attribution" border="0">
src="http://l…
j7uy5 | November 11, 2007This is a neat project; I hope more people participate.
The
map below shows the USA divided into regions, based upon their
emotional ties to particular areas. Thus it is not based upon
borders or any other typical geographic boundary.
I had to shrink it to fit, so it is hard to read.
The original, full size version is
href="http://www.commoncensus.org/maps/national_1280.gif">here.
The map is the result of a survey being conducted by the
href="http://www.commoncensus.org/index.php">CommonCensus
Map Project.
At this point, they do not consider it to be very accurate.
That is…
j7uy5 | November 10, 2007Is it just me, or do others find this article to be
offensive?
href="http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1681838,00.html?xid=feed-yahoo-healthsci">When
the Patient Is a Googler
By SCOTT HAIG
Thursday, Nov. 08, 2007 We had never met, but as we talked on the phone I knew she
was Googling me. The way she drew out her conjunctions, just a little,
that was the tip off — stalling for time as new pages loaded.
It was barely audible, but the soft click-click of the keyboard in the
background confirmed it. Oh, well, it's the information age. Normally,
she'd have to go through my staff…
j7uy5 | November 10, 2007People who advocate alternative energy (i.e. not oil or
natural gas)
often fail to appreciate the true cost of developing the necessary
technology. Courtesy of
href="http://cryptogon.com/?p=1597">Cryptogon, I
now present a chart that
illustrates these true costs, in proper perspective.
As you can see, development of alternative fuels costs
almost nothing, compared to fighting a war against even a third-rate
opponent.
Imagine what a real war would cost.
And you want to vote for a pro-war candidate? Please explain.
j7uy5 | November 10, 2007A Nobel-winning economist has some comments about our
current fiscal situation:
href="http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2007/12/bush200712?currentPage=1">The
Economic Consequences of Mr. BushThe next president will have to deal with yet another
crippling legacy of George W. Bush: the economy. A Nobel laureate,
Joseph E. Stiglitz, sees a generation-long struggle to recoup.
by
rel="tag">Joseph E. Stiglitz December 2007When we look back someday at the catastrophe that was the
Bush administration, we will think of many things: the tragedy of the
Iraq war, the shame of…
j7uy5 | November 9, 2007O excellent! I love corpus callosum better than figs.
Which work of Shakespeare was the original quote from?
Get your own quotes:
j7uy5 | November 9, 2007
href="http://quirkynomads.com/wp/2007/11/05/podcast-genetink/">This
is a highly amusing podcast, for nerds anyway. Tweaking a few
genes here and there will not alter our fundamental humanness.
But is this what we really want?
Go to the page and click on the Listen: MP3 format
link.
j7uy5 | November 9, 2007
rel="tag">Fife Symington III, former governor of
Arizona, is planning a press conference to discuss UFOs. He
plans to discuss the
href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phoenix_Lights">Phoenix
Lights incident. Symington is a former Air Force
pilot, which he feels lends him some credibility.
href="http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/science/11/09/simington.ufocommentary/index.html">Symington:
I saw a UFO in the Arizona sky
By Fife Symington
Special to CNN
11/9/2007
(CNN) -- In 1997, during my second term as governor of Arizona, I saw
something that defied logic and challenged my…
j7uy5 | November 9, 2007I was thrilled to note that the
href="http://sciencepolicy.colorado.edu/prometheus/archives/climate_change/001258sokal_revisited_i_.html">Journal
of Geoclimatic Studies offered open access to their
papers. But as of today, the
href="http://www.geoclimaticstudies.info/">website
is down, with no explanation.
Whois
href="http://www.networksolutions.com/whois/results.jsp?domain=geoclimaticstudies.info">shows
that their site was created on 11/2/2007. Pity, it last just
one week. Funny thing is, most of the authors of their papers
are, likewise,
href="http://www.theregister.co…
j7uy5 | November 8, 2007Athletic regulatory bodies have a new headache.
This time, the pain is being caused by placebos (an
unexpected side effect!)
As
href="http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg19626285.400-placebo-boost-is-a-conundrum-for-sports-regulators.html">reported
in New Scientist, athletes have found
that they can exert themselves to a greater extent, while under the
influence of opioid pain killers. That is not permitted in
competition, of course, but there is a wrinkle. If they train
while under the influence, then get a placebo prior to competition,
their brains react to the placebo as if it…
j7uy5 | November 8, 2007This story
href="http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F00F16FD3A5E147B93CAA9178AD95F438685F9">originally
ran in the New York Times, 40 years ago.
It is behind a pay wall now, but it is
href="http://harpers.org/archive/2007/11/hbc-90001600">reprinted
in Harper's; I found it from a link at
href="http://www.oldamericancentury.org/index.htm">Project
for an Old American Century:
"We Do Not
Torture": The Lies Started in 1967
DEPARTMENT: No Comment
BY: Scott Horton
PUBLISHED: November 5, 2007
New York Times, “Branding Rite
Laid to Yale University,” Nov. 8, 1967
NEW…
j7uy5 | November 8, 2007Neil Bush's "COW" is probably the
closest the
Bush family ever has come
to real ranching. Now the COW may be going the way of the
href="http://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/expeditions/treasure_fossil/Treasures/Dodo/dodo.html?dinos"
rel="tag">Dodo This may turn out to be one of the
best things that could happen to public education in the USA.
The COW, for those of you not familiar, is the
href="http://www.ignitelearning.com/COW/index.html">Curriculum
on Wheels. It is a proprietary computer designed
for instructional use.
Of course, it uses proprietary
software. The machine
href="…