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Psycho Killer Not Psycho Enough

Back in June I posted a translation of a remarkable opinion piece written by two senior psychiatrists, commenting on their examination of a mentally ill man who had just committed his second murder. Today the papers report that Socialstyrelsens Rättsliga råd ("The judicial council of the social directorate") has found the man insufficiently crazy to qualify for forced psychiatric treatment. This is bad news, because it means that he will likely be sentenced to jail, and Swedish jail terms for murder being surprisingly brief, he will probably be out again before long. As I've written before,…

Mutating Genre Meme

A blogging and scientific experiment. There are a set of questions below that are all of the form, "The best [subgenre] [medium] in [genre] is ...". Copy the questions, and before answering them, you may modify them in a limited way, carrying out no more than two of these operations: You can leave them exactly as is. You can delete any one question. You can mutate either the genre, medium, or subgenre of any one question. For instance, you could change "The best time travel novel in SF/Fantasy is..." to "The best time travel novel in Westerns is...", or "The best time travel movie in SF/…

Mats P. Malmer 1921-2007

My number one archaeological hero, professor Mats Peterson Malmer, died on 3 October aged 86 minus 15 days. I knew him a little starting in the mid-90s, read most of what he ever wrote with avidity, sent him most of what I wrote, tweaked bits of some work of his in a paper published only months ago. When I was a green PhD student feeling miserable under the post-modernist orthodoxy at the Stockholm archaeology department, his 1984 Fornvännen paper "Arkeologisk positivism" came as a revelation to me. Leif Gren took the above pic at Mats's 80th birthday party: Mats is showing myself and my…

Karl Hauck 1916-2007

An old sorcerer has passed away. Karl Hauck was the single most influential contributor to the iconology, the interpretation of mythological imagery, of 1st Millennium AD Northern Europe. Hauck's interpretations built upon solid knowledge of later written sources, most importantly the Icelandic literature of the High Middle Ages. They were sometimes fanciful, always creative, and quite impossible to ignore for anyone working in that field. Writes Hagen Keller (and I translate): "On 8 May Karl Hauck died, aged 90. He was the founder of the Institute for Early Medieval Studies and former…

Letting It All Hang Out

Many senior Swedish archaeologists are afraid of metal detectors and uncomfortable with the idea that the public might have access to such machines. Likewise with information about the locations, or even the existence, of newly made metal detector finds. "Keep it quiet or you'll attract looters." To some extent I agree: telling the press you have discovered a ploughed-out silver coin hoard before you're reasonably sure you have collected everything you can of it would just be stupid. But as often shown in my blogging, I don't agree when it comes to copper-alloy finds. In fact, I favour easing…

Four Stone Hearth 11

It's a posthole! It's a rubbish pit! It's an elk-trapping pit with the remains of a wooden catch box at the bottom! No -- it's a hearth. A Four Stone Hearth! The eleventh carnival in the series, to be precise. And it's all about humans. As the poet put it, "Now I'm the king of the swingers Oh, the jungle VIP I've reached the top and had to stop And that's what's botherin' me I wanna be a man, mancub And stroll right into town And be just like the other men I'm tired of monkeyin' around!" This is where we all pretend to be human. MC at Neurophilosophy digs into a racist neurology paper by…

15 misconceptions about evolution

Take a look at this excellent list of evolution misconceptions. The entries are very brief, but mostly correct and very common: in particular, #12, "Natural selection involves organisms 'trying' to adapt" is one of the most common mistakes in creationist thinking — they completely miss one of the most important insights that Darwin had. But I have to nitpick a little bit. #6, "The theory is flawed," gives the wrong answer — it basically tries to argue that the theory of evolution is not flawed. Of course it is! If it were perfect and complete we'd be done with it, and it wouldn't be a…

Who were those masked men?

Or, as John Abraham puts it in the Graun, Just who are these 300 'scientists' telling Trump to burn the climate? It appears that long-term union man Lindzen has been organising again, buoyed perhaps by the prospect of some kind of reward from the Trump admistration. It seems rather notable to me, however, that none of those who might have hoped for some baubles to be tossed their way have got anything; but it's still early. This has shades of the 2007 official nutter's list. That was "100 prominent scientists"many of whom were neither prominent nor scientists. This bumps the number up to 300…

Links for 2012-10-19

In which we look at commemorating an important anniversary, an unusual way to publish more articles, one of the best discussions of fraternities and sororities I've seen, an article calling for more flexibility in academia, and a bit of political silliness. ------------ Emilio Segrè Visual Archives "Niels Bohr’s atomic model has had an immense impact on the history of physics and is an icon of the scientific revolutions of the 20th century. The History Programs of the American Institute of Physics and the Niels Bohr Archive, Denmark, celebrate the model’s 100th anniversary with this calendar…

Links for 2012-05-11

Next Time, Fail Better - Commentary - The Chronicle of Higher Education Humanities students should be more like computer-science students. I decided that as I sat in on a colleague's computer-science course during the beginning of this, my last, semester in the classroom. I am moving into administration full time, and I figured that this was my last chance to learn some of the cool new digital-humanities stuff I've been reading about. What eventually drove me out of the class (which I was enjoying tremendously) was the time commitment: The work of coding, I discovered, was an endless round…

Chasing after the Wind

I was brought up to believe that I am special. I was told that I am unusually smart and gifted. Whether or not this is true, it has given me a deep-seated expectation of myself to do great(ish) things, to achieve a bit more than the average Joe, to stand out from the crowd, to gain recognition. Most people of course achieve very little that is noteworthy beyond the solid humble everyday victories of a quiet life. I'm sure that most people do not have a sense that this is in any way insufficient. I'm also sure that many of these average achievers have talent and potential far beyond that…

No Meaning to Life

Why are we here? Why do we live? What is the meaning of life? These questions are poorly phrased as neither "why" nor "meaning" has a distinct definition. To begin with "why", it can refer either to the cause of something happening or the purpose for which something was done by an agent. Causality vs. teleology, to use big words. And in the present context, the question "why" can be dismissed for both senses of the word. Teleology: humans/animals/plants/protists are not given life for any particular purpose and there is no agency involved. Causality: the answer to the question "Why am I here…

Notice Board Screed

For decades, Stockholm has been the turf of photocopy artist Renate Bauer. She paints too, but her main mode of expression is hand-written prose-poetic screeds covering every square centimeter of the paper. These she photocopies and fixes with sticky tape to notice boards, bus stops and other convenient surfaces all around the Swedish capital, as a kind of analog local blog. I pocketed an entry dated Friday near the NW corner of the HumlegÃ¥rden park yesterday. Here are two excerpts, translated by yours truly. "26/9 '08. You can really tell that the Minister of Culture in Sweden is a talent-…

Florida's big problem

A poll by the St Petersburg Times reveals that the people in Florida are ignorant. 21% want creationism only taught in the schools, and 29% want both evolution and creationism taught. It's a horrendous result, and it's also strikingly different from the results we've see in similar polls, which usually aren't quite so lop-sided. Wesley makes a good point, that one reason is the form of the questions asked, which set up an adversarial relationship between religion and science and lead people to make a choice between the two, increasing the likelihood that people will break to support their…

Huckabee not insane enough for Ann Coulter

Ann Coulter is unhappy with Huckabee, but not for his many failings that rational people see as an obstacle—but because he is insufficently critical of evolution. She really wants a presidential candidate to not just deny modern science, but to advocate a platform that proposes to take action in the schools against it. Asked on CNN's "Larry King Live" Monday night about his beliefs on evolution, Huckabee rushed to assure King that he has no interest in altering textbooks that foist this fraud on innocent schoolchildren. It's very strange. We've recently seen big-mouthed conservative…

Sunday Chess Problem

Helpmates occupy a curious position in the world of chess problems. On the one hand, they seem to be the most popular form nowadays for composers. There are just so many possibilities for original content, especially when fairy pieces or conditions are added to the mix. On the other hand, they are sometimes sneered at by other composers. You sometimes encounter the attitude that direct mates and studies are serious compositions, while everything else is just candy. Whatever. Personally, I sometimes find modern direct mates a little too dense to be enjoyable, while helpmates usually bring…

Floridians: if you're not busy tonight, why not Do The Math?

(these are of course NA dates) Event Title: Do the Math ... If you Love this Planet// Earth Night Gathering Venue: Country Park {Mobile Home} Community Clubhouse Location: Clearwater, FL Start Time: Sunday, April 21, 7:00 PM You can RSVP here: http://act.350.org/event/do_the_math_movie_attend/4678/signup/?t=2&akid=3034.683317.zTETWN     Event Title: "Do the Math" sustainability tour movie at Eckerd College. Venue: Eckerd College Campus at Fox Hall Location: St Petersburg, FL, FL Start Time: Sunday, April 21, 7:00 PM You can RSVP here: http://act.350.org/event/do_the_math_movie_attend/…

Sandefur and Kuznicki on Terri Schiavo

Timothy Sandefur returns from his temporary exile to write a long and thoughtful post about the Schiavo situation. And congratulations to him for closing on a new home with his lovely Erin. Jason Kuznicki, meanwhile, has also written a good post on the subject. He concludes with this: For the record, my wishes for the end of my own life are as follows: I trust my lifelong companion, my husband under the laws of Canada, Scott R. Starin, to make all medical decisions for me whatsoever. I do not trust anyone else with this capacity, no matter who they are. I expect Scott's decisions to be…

This is Fiscal Responsibility?

Am I the only one who finds press reports like this amusingly ridiculous? President Bush sent Congress a $2.57 trillion budget plan Monday that seeks deep spending cuts across a wide swath of government from reducing subsidies paid to the nation's farmers, cutting health care payments for poor people and veterans and trimming spending on the environment and education. The budget - the most austere of Bush's presidency - would eliminate or vastly scale back 150 government programs. It will spark months of contentious debate in Congress, where lawmakers will fight to protect their favored…

Canada Paves the Way for Gay Marriage

Bloomberg reports: Canada's Supreme Court ruled that the federal government can proceed with a plan to legalize same-sex marriage, saying the rights of gays and lesbians to formalize their bonds is protected by the constitution. ``Canada is a pluralistic society,'' the Supreme Court said in the ruling, which was released in Ottawa. ``Marriage from the perspective of the state is a civil institution.''... In its ruling, the Supreme Court said religious officials can't be forced to perform same-sex marriages, as their beliefs also are protected by Canada's Charter of Rights and Freedoms. This…

To sir with much foaming at the mouth

Salman Rushdie has been awarded a knighthood—it's well deserved, I say, as he is an excellent writer—but some people have reacted insanely. (Warning: Irony rich environment ahead.) The award of a knighthood to the author Salman Rushdie justifies suicide attacks, a Pakistani government minister said today. "This is an occasion for the 1.5 billion Muslims to look at the seriousness of this decision," Mohammed Ijaz ul-Haq, religious affairs minister, told the Pakistani parliament in Islamabad. "The west is accusing Muslims of extremism and terrorism. If someone exploded a bomb on his body he…

Those savage Humboldt Squid

These stories about the Humboldt squid invasion off the California coast keep turning up — the latest from the San Jose Mercury News is broadly informative, and even cites a fresh new paper in PNAS. The work correlates the depth range of the squid with that of the Pacific hake, and also shows a rough correlation between the squid population and hake declines over a number of years. This suggests that maybe "invasion" isn't the right word anymore: the Humboldts are new California residents. The present situation off central California appears to be that a physiologically tolerant species with…

PZ Eviscerates a Moron

If PZ Myers gave out a version of the Robert O'Brien Trophy, he would no doubt award it to Timothy Birdnow, the author of a delightfully idiotic anti-evolution screed in, of all places, a webmag called The American Thinker. PZ shredded the poor sap in a post, prompting the guy to start a separate weblog for the sole purpose of defending himself against those criticisms. Now PZ has taken aim at him again, and rightfully so. In his initial post, PZ had focused particular attention on this absolutely stunning passage from Birdnow's article: Furthermore, we don`t even see crossovers between the 5…

Bad Reporting on the Roberts Case

One really has to wonder why an organization as large as the Associated Press can't at least get someone with a legal background to write their reports on the confirmation hearings. It would help them avoid simple mistakes like this: Early in his testimony on Wednesday, Roberts' second day of answering senators' questions, the nominee told Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan., that Congress has the right to counter Supreme Court rulings including a divisive decision giving cities broad power to seize and raze people's homes for private development. The difference may be subtle, but it's important. He…

Spain Legalizes Gay Marriage

Fast on the heels of Canada, Spain has given final approval to the legalization of gay marriage: "Today, Spanish society is responding to a group of people who have been humiliated, whose rights have been ignored, their dignity offended, their identity denied and their freedom restricted," Prime Minister José Luis RodÃguez Zapatero told Parliament. There is opposition to this idea within Spain, of course. And some of their ideas are absolutely stunning: The mayor of Valladolid, Francisco Javier León de la Riva, has said that he will not carry out the new law, and Catholic leaders have…

Rowe on Titus

Jon Rowe has written a retraction of his charge that Herb Titus, former head of the Regent University law school, is a Christian reconstructionist. Titus took the time to write him directly and dispute that those are his views. The post caught my eye because I had conversations with Perry Willis, a frequent commenter here, and Jim Babka, the talk show host whose show I was on recently, about Titus. Both are friends with Titus, and his name came up in conversation with each of them, quite unconnected with each other and months apart. I told Perry months ago that I was under the same impression…

Bob Jones Lets the Theocratic Agenda Slip Out

Bob Jones III, the heir to and president of the loathsome Bob Jones University, has written a letter to President Bush congratulating him on his victory. And this letter, folks, is a real gem: In your re-election, God has graciously granted America--though she doesn't deserve it--a reprieve from the agenda of paganism. You have been given a mandate. We the people expect your voice to be like the clear and certain sound of a trumpet. Because you seek the Lord daily, we who know the Lord will follow that kind of voice eagerly... It is easy to rejoice today, because Christ has allowed you to be…

Hewitt on Specter

Finally, a voice of sanity in the Republican Party and of all people, it's Hugh Hewitt. In the Weekly Standard, he issues a warning to his fellow Republicans: Fast forward four years. The Democrats have convened in late summer in Cleveland to nominate former Virginia governor Mark Warner and Senator Barack Obama. It is the third night of the convention, and the Democrats have chosen as their keynote speaker...Arlen Specter. Or Olympia Snowe. Or Chuck Hagel. Or some other GOP big who has grown disgusted with his or her inability to have any influence on Republican deliberations. So they have…

Robert Novak on Specter

Robert Novak has joined the chorus of dishonesty against Arlen Specter, emphatically repeating the outright lie that Specter said he would impose a litmus test on future judicial nominees that they must be pro-choice and that he said he would block potential appointments. Novak says: Sen. Arlen Specter, the canny old fox of Pennsylvania politics, got carried away last Wednesday in the flush of an easy fifth-term victory and revealed too much of what he really thinks. He clearly imposed a litmus test requiring support of the Roe vs. Wade abortion decision for Supreme Court nominees at a time…

This Acorn Fell Far from the Tree

Okay, I'm back in the office and I just had to join in the chorus against one Alec Rawls. I first encountered him when Brian Leiter wrote about his screed against Eric Muller's debunking of Michelle Malkin's book on Japanese internment camps during WW2. Then PZ Myers posted some of his absolutely ridiculous (not to mention misogynistic and sexist beyond belief) ruminations on evolutionary psychology. Just look at this bit of mental dystrophy: European males and females both see the world in the instinctive female way, as the Spanish displayed last month. By choosing not to fight for their…

WorldNutDaily Weirdness

Sometimes one has to wonder if there are any editors at the WorldNutDaily at all, given the number of what can only be described as bizarre and incoherent screeds they publish on a regular basis. Here's the latest one, by Craige McMillan. It's an absolutely incoherent mishmash that leads from what appears to be a defense of Lynndie England, the American soldier being court-martialed for abusing prisoners at Abu Ghraib (she's the female soldier seen with an Iraqi prisoner on a dog leash in the photos) to something about the feminization of the media to the just plain idiotic claim that "Big…

Happy Birthday, Miles Davis

Thanks to Timothy Sandefur for reminding me that today would have been Miles Davis' 78th birthday. Miles is in my second tier of jazz icons. I never cared for the tone of his trumpet playing all that much, it always sounded a bit tinny to me (I prefer the deeper tones of, say, Wynton Marsalis or Clifford Brown), but he was a virtuoso talent and a legendary composer. Like Timothy, I prefer his early and middle work. Birth of the Cool, Sketches of Spain (which, unlike Timothy, I don't consider overrated), Porgy and Bess, Miles Smiles, and Kind of Blue are all wonderful. And I certainly agree…

A Disagreement with Randy Barnett

After reading Randy Barnett's latest post on the ongoing debate between he and Stephen Bainbridge (and by proxy, between Jonathan Rowe, Tim Sandefur, Larry Solum and myself against Clayton Cramer and Owen Courreges), I was planning to finally write something in disagreement with a position he has taken. Alas, Rowe beat me to it, so I'll keep this short and sweet. Barnett had written that the Establishment Clause of the first amendment did not describe either a natural liberty right nor a positive right, as opposed to the free exercise clause, which did. In this, I believe he is incorrect.…

Global Warming Is Nothing New

This is just one of dozens of responses to common climate change denial arguments, which can all be found at How to Talk to a Climate Sceptic. Objection: Global Warming has been going on for the last 20,000 years. Answer: It is quite true that 20Kyr ago the temperature was some 8 to 10oC colder than it is today, but it is highly arbitrary and dubious to simply draw a line from that point to today and say "Look! 20K years of Global Warming!". If you have look at this nice graph of temperature starting at a point when we were finishing the climb out of deep glaciation, you can clearly see…

Israeli Anti-Gay Riots Worsen

The violence is escalating, with more than 2000 nuts protesting in Jerusalem. Police were pelted with stones and bottles Thursday night as members of the Haredi ultra Orthodox Jewish sect engaged in a third night of rioting over next week's planned gay pride march in Jerusalem. More than two thousand members of the sect jammed into streets in an Orthodox neighborhood in a show of force aimed at pressuring authorities into canceling the parade. As in the past two nights the protestors rolled garbage cans into intersections to block mounted police from getting to the demonstrators. The…

Hovind Trial, Day 3

The local paper reports that the prosecution put on an administrator from Pensacola Christian College to talk about her past dealings with Hovind regarding his refusal to pay taxes. Horton first heard of Hovind's beliefs about taxes in the mid 1990s. A woman gave Horton a videotape. The woman received it when she worked for Hovind. The video featured another evangelist advocating tax evasion, Horton said. The woman told Horton of Hovind's philosophy on paying his employees. "She said, 'You were giving a gift with your work, and they were giving a gift back to you,' " Horton said. Horton said…

Residential Academia

While I was out of town, there was a nice article in the New York Times Education section about the Minerva House system that Union has set up recently.in an attempt to (among other things) reduce the dominance of fraternities over the campus social scene: "You'd see that these were very prominent places, and a lot of social activity was concentrated around them, day or night," says Thomas D. McEvoy, Union's dean of residential and campus life. Today, the houses convey a decidedly different message. The fraternity brothers have moved, and their former homes, together with several other newly…

Crucial Harry Potter Links

If you'd like to know what hapens in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows without having to read two hundred pages worth of camping-related program activities, there's a slightly snarky scene-by-scene summary at Gibberish in Neutral: Yaxley: HAI I IZ DEATHEATER NOT APPEARING IN PREVIOUS BOOKS. YOU HAS NEWS? Snape: Of course I have news. I'm an evil genius of unaccountable intelligence. YAXLEY: THAT IZ GOOD. WE B FRENDS? Snape: Come on, Lord Voldiething is waiting. YAXLEY: LOOK MALFOY BE HAVING ALBINO PEACOCKS LOLOLOLOLZ! Also, and here is a sentence I thought I'd never type, I basically…

Perceptions of Science Funding

There have been a couple of science funding items in Inside Higher Ed in the last few days, one suggestiong prizes to spur research, and the other reporting that most people aren't convinced there's a crisis: Generally, the public appreciates some of the message of the reports going out -- that the United States is likely to face heightened competition from other countries. And the public generally thinks those who do go into science and math deserve support and more scholarships. But as to whether more students should be encouraged to do so, and whether non-science students should graduate…

Helping Others Help Themselves

I don't normally do blog carnival announcements. I'm not really organized enough to remember the deadlines, and most of the carnivals out there don't interest me all that much. The first edition of a new one has just been posted, though, and it's definitely worth publicizing: "Help Us Help Ourselves" (or "HUHO," if you like acronyms). Lauren explains some of the rationale: I don't need an economist to tell me what it's like to be poor, I don't have to read about it in a book that is more suited for a grad student than for me in my free time between jobs. I'm not stupid, I don't live in a…

That, My Liege, Is How We Know the Earth to Be Banana Shaped

The AIP news feed features a story about a paper suggesting that the universe is ellipsoidal. Or at least, that it was, back in the early days. The work is based on the famous WMAP picture of the microwave background (and no, it's not because the picture is oblong): As you know, Bob, the picture shows the distribution of temperature fluctuations in the early universe. These temperature correlations correspond to slight variations in the density of matter at that time, density fluctuations that eventually evolved into galaxies and galaxy clusters. (Explanation after the cut.) We can't…

New Tunes Follow-Up

Some time back, I asked people to pimp me new tunes, and got a wealth of recommendations. I put in a big iTunes order not long after, and now I've had a chance to listen to most of those tracks, so I thought I should post a follow-up summary of what I bought and what I think of it (below the fold): Andrew Bird, The Mysterious Production of Eggs. Very strange album, with odd song structures, strange lyrics, and some vocals barely above a whisper. Good, though. Key tracks: "Sovay," "Masterfade." Chris Knight, Enough Rope. Bought after a plug on jefitoblog. Pretty much straight-up country,…

American Sports Round-Up

A busy sporting weekend for Chateau Steelypips: First, there were two NFL wild card games on Saturday, as a sort of appetizer for the real action on Sunday. The Colts borrowed a defense from somewhere, and despite Peyton Manning deciding to play like his little brother for the first half or so, Indianapolis moved on in convincing fashion. I liked Manning's offer to do Ty Law's Hall of Fame induction, after lobbing another two easy picks in his direction. Then there was the ignominious Cowboys loss, about which all I can say is: BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAAH!!!! And, really, that's all I can say, because…

Many-World vs. Multiverse

In the recent discussion of Many-Worlds and making universes, Jonathan Vos Post asked what science fiction treatments of the idea I like. The answer is pretty much "none," because most SF treatments are distractingly bad. For example, last night I finished Neal Stephenson's Anathem, a whopping huge brick of a book setting up an incredibly imaginative alternate Earth, with a detailed intellectual history paralleling our own. It's got all sorts of great stuff, but it lost me when it started talking about parallel worlds, because it munges together the Many-Worlds Interpretation of quantum…

Student Report: Why do we still talk about the heart

We are about to finish Soul Made Flesh by Carl Zimmer in class this week and I've been reflecting on how, despite science's deep impact on how we think and act, we still have subconscious belief in superficial myths that slip out despite our common knowledge of biology and the world around us. For instance, Zimmer illustrates the battle that people like Thomas Willis went through in trying to draw attention to the superiority of the brain over the heart in its control over all our emotional and reasoning faculties. After dissecting thousands of brains, comparing and contrasting the anatomies…

Longitude by Dava Sobel

Jennifer Ouellette's pop-science book project post and the discussionaround it reminded me that I'm really shockingly ill-read in this area. If I'm going to be writing pop-science books, I ought to have read more of them, so I've been trying to correct that. Hence, Longitude, which I actually read a few weeks ago at the Science21 meeting, but am just getting around to blogging. Longitude is Dava Sobel's bestselling book about English clockmaker John Harrison and his forty-year sturggle to win 20,000 pounds for making a clock capable of keeping time at sea well enough to allow navigation. This…

Dorky Poll: Scientific Fears

The questions posed in yesterday's posts about hopes for 2008 were half of what we were asked by the Powers That Be. The other half: What scientific development do you fear you'll be blogging or reading about in 2008? As with yesterday's posts, the original question was more general, but I restricted my answer (below the fold) to science stuff, and for the sake of general sanity, I'm going to restrict this post to scientific issues. I'll put up a second post for political fears. But for this post, what are you afraid to be blogging about (if you're a blogger) or reading about (if you're not…

The Cromartie Conundrum, the Foreman Solution, and the Chamberlain Estimate

New York Jets cornerback Antonio Cromartie is getting mocked for a clip where he takes some time to name all his children (the clip isn't as bad as the description makes it sound-- he's slow, but he doesn't struggle all that badly). Cromartie claims that HBO manipulated the footage to make him look bad. Of course, there's an easy way to avoid this kind of mess: simply give all the kids the same name, thereby reducing it to a previously solved problem. In discussion on a mailing list where this came up, someone wondered about how many children Wilt Chamberlain would've fathered, given his…

Academic Poll: Mens Sana in Corpore Sano?

This Slate story on the number of Americans who can't swim was kind of surprising to me: In a 1994 CDC study, 37 percent of American adults said they couldn't swim 24 yards, the length of a typical gymnasium lap pool. A 2008 study conducted by researchers at the University of Memphis found that almost 54 percent of children between 12 and 18 can do no more than splash around the shallow end of a pool. The difference between the two studies is somewhat surprising, as the CDC study suggested that children tend to be better swimmers than adults. Having grown up in a town that features a large-…

Uncomfortable Questions: Time Management

Back in the uncomfortable questions post, crowther asks: This is an excellent blog, but the volume of posts leaves me with a mixture of envy and annoyance (to be unnecessarily honest, perhaps). How in the world do you find the time to do so much blogging and reading of others' blogs? Aren't you supposed to be insanely busy trying to get tenure, changing diapers, guiding excitable but naive undergrads in research projects, etc.? Do you have time management secrets based on how time can be warped in some weird quantum way whose theoretical basis is traceable back to Einstein? Well, one or two…