gregladen | June 7, 2009Sorry, this has to stay below the fold. Comments are closed.
The Garfunkel and Oates, "F**k You" Video:
gregladen | June 7, 2009Note: First Woman Michele Obama confirms my suspicion
Who is smarter, men or women?
Any college teacher (at least in the social sciences and life sciences) who has ever paid attention to their own stats know that women do better than men in college classes.
OK, women are smarter. But why?
There are all kinds of post hoc explanations given for this like "Girls get better grades because professors are men, nod nod wink wink" and so on. What a load of crap. Women are smarter than men on average, among the smartest people there is no emperical evidence that women are underrepresented, and…
gregladen | June 6, 2009 Drori encourages us to save biodiversity -- one seed at a time. Reminding us that plants support human life, he shares the vision of the Millennium Seed Bank, which has stored over 3 billion seeds to date from dwindling yet essential plant species.
Jonathan Drori has dedicated his career to media and learning. As the Head of Commissioning for BBC Online, he led the effort to create bbc.co.uk, the online face of the BBC (an effort he recalls fondly). He came to the web from the TV side of the BBC, where as an editor and producer he headed up dozens of television series on science, education…
gregladen | June 5, 2009 Jay Walker explains why two billion people around the world are trying to learn English. He shares photos and spine-tingling audio of Chinese students rehearsing English -- "the world's second language" -- by the thousands.
It's befitting that an entrepreneur and inventor so prolific and acclaimed would curate a library devoted, as he says, to the astonishing capabilities of the human imagination. TIME twice named him one of the "50 most influential business leaders in the digital age," and he holds more than 200 patents. Jay Walker's companies -- under Walker Digital -- have alone served…
gregladen | June 4, 2009There is an interesting post on The Intersection called Civility and the New Atheists, by Chris Mooney. In the post, Chris reviews Barbara Forrest's statements that in engaging int he cross-world-view debate (scientists vs. creationists, atheists, vs religion, etc.) one should maintian etiquette, respect and understand diversity, and practice humility.
Atheist and pro-science writer Mooney notes in speaking of a talk by Forrest:
Forrest therefore concluded her talk by saying that we need are "epistemological and civic humility"-providing the groundwork for "civic friendship." To which I…
gregladen | June 4, 2009.....I am really a humorist at heart, and I like feminism and humor together, but some things just aren't funny. Like misogyny. Like murdering doctors and trying to deprive women of their right to health care. Racism, sexism, discrimination, and idiocy in the name of religion are not funny to me either. Although I may at times have something funny to say about them....
Here!
gregladen | June 4, 2009
Totally stolen from Effect Measure where you can see another Michele Bachmann bit as well.
gregladen | June 4, 2009This is for all you nascent researchers about to head off to remote places to engage in your very first fieldwork and for all you eco-tourists or educational travelers about to embark on a trip through strange lands afar....
Here at Quiche Moraine
gregladen | June 4, 2009PZ's Minions are almost there. Go here to get the specs, then click through. The target site is under a lot of stress, so be gentle.
gregladen | June 4, 2009Legal experts are largely undivided in the opinion that Norm Coleman's Minnesota Supreme Court bid to overturn a lower judicial panel's decisions regarding the vote count in the Minnesota Senate race is senseless and has no chance whatsoever of winning.
This opinion was widely held prior to the presentation of arguments by Coleman, but now, with some real face time in the high court behind us, in which we see the arguments for real, and see the reaction by the judges, it is confirmed and certain that Coleman's fate is sealed.
But what is not known at this time is the fate of Governor Pawlenty…
gregladen | June 4, 2009Kill Bill and Kung Fu star David Carradine has been found dead in a Bangkok hotel room on Thursday.
Thai police told the BBC the 72-year-old was found by a hotel maid sitting in a wardrobe with a cord around his neck and other parts of his body.
There is no official determination, but the word is that he committed suicide.
Details as BBC
gregladen | June 4, 2009I would like to go into a little more detail about the rape switch which is being discussed here as well as the statistical trend in rape rates in the US being discussed here
.
It has been shown again and again that large numbers of males will carry out what by anyone's definition is rape, under certain circumstances. Yet at the same time, it seems that in most societies it is impossible to imagine that such a large percentage of men would carry out this heinous act.
It is difficult to have much faith in the data for rape frequency, for two reasons. One is definitional and the other is…
gregladen | June 4, 2009 In this short talk from TED U, Joachim de Posada shares a landmark experiment on delayed gratification -- and how it can predict future success. With priceless video of kids trying their hardest not to eat the marshmallow.
Joachim de Posada's infectious energy and humor have turned him into a popular motivational coach. Working in Spanish and English, he helps companies and teams find deep and lasting reasons to succeed. His books include How to Survive Among the Piranhas and his latest, No te comas el marshmallow ... todavia, or Don't Eat the Marshmallow ... Yet. (He's recently updated the…