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The Buzz: Even More Prozac Nation

As David Dobbs reports on Neuron Culture, the use of antidepressants in the US has nearly doubled in the last decade. David agrees with fellow neuroblogger Neuroskeptic in attributing the increase to a broadened definition of depression. But if Americans are becoming more depressed, there is hope on the other side of the coin as scientists turn up new insights into what makes us happy. On The Frontal Cortex, Jonah Lehrer tell us money can buy us happiness—but only if spent properly. Dave Munger of Cognitive Daily discusses a study in Psychological Science that demonstrates how our perception…

Healthcare Survives Supreme Court

Chief Justice John Roberts proved himself an independent thinker last month, siding against his fellow conservatives (and Republican appointees) in upholding the Affordable Care Act of 2010. Roberts agreed that Congress could not force a citizen to buy insurance, but allowed the individual mandate to survive as a tax. In the meantime, the ruling placed limits on federal power to expand Medicaid, leaving 16 million people in the lurch. Liz Borkowski says “the Supreme Court’s decision clouds what should have been a clear distribution of the most beneficial impacts to the most needy.” Kim…

World-wide weirdness

Lest Phelps and the Texas Supreme Court leave the unfortunate impression that the US is the sole repository of lunacy in the world, Ben Goldacre's latest column is about linking mobile phone signals to suicides — there's a bit of hysteria in one of the British newspapers about it. I like his approach; he called the source of the frightening information, a Dr Roger Coghill, to get the data that led to his conclusion. I contacted Dr Coghill, since his work is now a matter of great public concern, and it is vital his evidence can be properly assessed. He was unable to give me the data. No paper…

Atheists Advertise!

I never thought I'd see this. But here it is in all its glory. When I used to live in Georgia and drive past huge billboards that read "I heard that! -- God," or "You're Welcome --God," I imagined the day when atheist billboards would appear. I always wanted to buy a billboard that simply read, "God is Dead." in part, to see whether Clear Channel would put it up, and in part, to hear the standard rejoinder said in Georgia--"Nietzsche is dead!" How profound! Today's Journal covers atheists' efforts in reaching out, and concludes with this astute observation: Still, leading activists say…

iPod iChing - rocketeer to the rescue

Snow? Of course, it is friday. So, we ask the Mighty iPod: will I ever be able to buy a ticket to orbit? Just for laughs? Whoosh goes the randomizer. Whoosh. The Covering: Ofboðslega Frægur - Stuðmenn The Crossing: Menuett F-Dur - Mozart The Crown: Santa Claus if Coming to Town The Root: Heart Like a Wheel - Billy Bragg The Past: Hateful - Clash The Future: Should I Stay or Should I Go - Clash The Questioner: Memories Can't Wait - Talking Heads The House: Spanish Bombs - Clash The Inside: Killy City - Iggy Pop The Outcome: Sumarið Er Tíminn - GCD Wow. Mighty is the iPod. The Covering is…

Les abeilles nouvelles sont arrivees

Although I can't really be sure if they are new this year or overwintered. See one of them has orange legs - this is a good sign - bringing pollen back in. Today was a lovely warm still sunny day in Cambridge and environs, and at this time of year a middle-aged mans thoughts turn to the jungle at the end of the garden, and how he really ought to make some effort to tame it. So I boldly set out and hacked a path through; it is now possible to get down to Bin Brook for the first time in... quite a while. The Cambridge Preservation Society have been busy tidying up on the other side (the lane…

The bookstores have noticed us

Minnesota Atheists notes a new policy at Borders Books — they've put up a small display section dedicated to books about atheism. If you've ever been frustrated in a search for books on nonbelief in your local bookstore or annoyed by their inclusion in the comparative religion section, Borders Books has remedied the situation. "Atheism and Agnosticism" has been added as a new section for the works of Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, Christopher Hitchens, and many others. We hope other bookstores will follow this example, and encourage our members to suggest they do. A reader actually sent me a…

Larry King Live and Stupid

Barbara Forrest was on Larry King Live tonight in one of the most absurd discussions of evolution and intelligent design imaginable. For some reason, they had a huge list of guests - a young earth creationist, Jay Richards of the Discovery Institute, Barbara, two senators (one on each side) and - bizarrely - Deepok Chopra. What the hell Chopra was doing there is beyond me. And just to give you a perfect example of why the media is the last place to look for accurate information on this subject, Larry King introduced Barbara with the question, "How can you reject creationism completely because…

Framing feud flares into furious fight

There is going to be a melee in Minneapolis, a testicle-twister in the Twin Cities, a bloody battle at the Bell — the framing debate is going LIVE, in an event sponsored by the Bell Museum in Minneapolis at the end of September. On one side, Mooney and Nisbet; on the other, Greg Laden and … uh, me, I'm pretty sure. I'm still juggling some travel dates, but I think I should be able to make it. I think the plan, though, is to pretend I can't, so Mooney and Nisbet get all cocky. Then, just when Greg is down, trapped in a headlock by one and the other is doing the dreaded pinky toe pincer, I come…

Is this when the wheels come off?

We (American Liberals/Democrats) all know that the wheels have to come off at some point. Yes, at some point the wheels of the seemingly unstoppable Obama Machine have to come flying off, the tide turns, and McCain/Palin are elected President and Vice President of the Freakin' United States. I'm assuming at the moment that this is going to happen tonight, during, as a result of, or perhaps just after the Obama Half Hour ad buy. Perhaps this is when the October Surprised is planned for. The Obama ad by will be inturrupted by a news story orchistrated by the Republicans. Something about…

Sex for sale

'Tis the season for ridiculous commercialism: I've been seeing these unbelievable commercials that feature some smug guy surprising his wife by giving her a luxury car (with a bow on top) as a present, or popping open a box with a big honkin' diamond in it. The women always clap their hands with glee and lean in for a hot passionate kiss. I see these and I wonder…just how stupid do advertisers think men are? I can tell you exactly what would happen if I spent a month's salary or more on jewelry (or worse, a year's income on a car). My wife would look aghast, and waver between calling the…

New Adventures in Retail

Over at Tor.com, they've unveiled the new Tor.com store, enabling you to buy your books via your favorite SF publisher. It's pretty bare-bones at the moment, so the most worthwhile feature is probably the special picks feature, where they collect together lists of books recommended by their most popular bloggers. Such as, for example, Kate's Lord of the Rings related recommendation list. In a similar vein, something I only noticed today (via an ad on my own blog) that may have been around for a while is the Seed store, collecting all the books reviewed by the Corporate Masters over the past…

Hey! Who let those Rethuglicans into my state government?

It's astonishing how regressive Republicans can be. Would you believe the Minnesota Republicans think women are worth less than men, and are willing to pass legislation legalizing that view? Minnesota Republicans have introduced legislation that would repeal the 1984 Local Government Pay Equity Act (LGPEA), which directs local governments to ensure that women are paid the same as men. While local governments say reporting requirements are costly, equal rights groups say the law needs to stay intact in order to ensure fair pay, especially for women of color. HF7/SF159 would repeal a laundry…

Beasts from the Depths

A new book, "The Deep: The Extraordinary Creatures of the Abyss" by Claire Nouvian, a French journalist and film director, reveals haunting images of some of the most bizarre creatures on the globe, ones that live in the deepest parts of the ocean. In many cases the creatures- some of which were photographed as far down as four miles- have never been recorded on film before, and some are still unidentified. The fantastic book contains 220 photographs and scientific information about the living conditions of life miles below the surface. Speculating in the book, Craig M. Young of the Oregon…

Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) Annual Conference - Intro

You may have noticed a dearth of Zooillogix posts over the last two weeks. This is due in large part to Benny buying a bar, and me buying a puppy. They are the same amount of work. Well I aim to make it up to you today and already I have forced myself out of bed at 5:00 AM and boarded a train to Milwaukee to spend the day covering the Association of Zoos and Aquariums Annual Conference. I'll do my best to make the posts real-time but this might not always be possible, as is the case at the moment, sitting on the train, surrounded by loudly snoring sales guys. They probably think I'm a sales…

Oh, come on, Shermer...

Ugh. John Pieret is right: this effort by Michael Shermer to reconcile evolution with conservative theology is hideous, on multiple levels. It takes a special kind of arrogance to think that Christians are going to consult Shermer, a godless hellbound skeptic, on how to interpret the fine details of the Bible. Either reject it or buy into it—but nobody is going to believe that Shermer accepts the religious premises of the book. He's being a kind of concern troll on a grand scale. It's also nonsense. Because the theory of evolution provides a scientific foundation for the core values shared by…

Chloral Hydrate (Alkyl halide sleep aid)

Chloral hydrate was in the news yesterday because it showed up in the autopsy report for Anna Nicole Smith. Chloral hydrate is what individuals of a certain age (or just aficionados of dated slang) refer to when they mention "slipping someone a Mickey." It is a very simple drug, discovered by von Liebig about 175 years ago. It has largely been supplanted in popularity by the benzodiazepines, which are much better characterized and less toxic (although they're still addictive). Very small, highly chlorinated molecules like this tend to be hard on your liver, much like carbon tetrachloride and…

Yellow Snow and Squidly Gifts

Anyone remember this song? Well... Santa got in the Christmas Spirit (or was that into the Christmas Spirits?) and now he needs your help to play connect the dots. Yup. It's just what you think: (flash required) Ho! Ho! Ho! Yellow Snow! For more Holiday games, check out the Holiday Link Dump over at JayIsGames, written by yours truly. Yes, I've spent a bit more time playing games over the past few days than I have updating my website. (That's still coming.) When you see these adorable treasures, you'll understand how I got distracted. Here is one gift that didn't make it into the holiday…

Feeling Down? Science Says Go Shopping (But Use Credit)

My latest piece for LAist just went up: Retail therapy: It's the answer for almost any problem. Girlfriend broke up with you? Didn't get that promotion? Buy yourself something pretty. People like to shop, especially for high-status items, when they're feeling down. Decades of research has indicated that when a key feature of one's identity is threatened - such as by being passed over for a promotion or being dumped by a former lover - people turn to things. Possessions can allow us to signal our awesomeness to others. And if others think we're awesome, then we just might begin to remember…

As long as I'm feeling sick, let's make everyone miserable

Just a suggestion: don't browse weblogs when you're trying to perk yourself up with a little cheery good news. The woman who chopped off her baby's arms in the name of her god is pleading not guilty by reason of insanity. Another woman was arrested for bringing a human head into the country in her luggage—it was all part of her voodoo religion, you see. She faces 15 years in prison. In the South Pacific, villagers worship an American named John Frum who lives in a volcano and has promised them much cargo. Fundamentalism kills. Well, actually, ignorance and fear kill, but fundamentalism…

Strange things that people get addicted to

Etter JF. Addiction to the nicotine gum in never smokers. BMC Public Health. 2007 Jul 17;7:159. What, got tired of chewing regular gum? Nothing like paying more for nicotine-laced candy that you have to buy at a drug store and follow directions to use properly, no sir. --- DeFuentes-Merillas L, Koeter MW, Bethlehem J, Schippers GM, VanDenBrink W. Are scratchcards addictive? The prevalence of pathological scratchcard gambling among adult scratchcard buyers in the Netherlands. Addiction. 2003 Jun;98(6):725-31. A nation in which marijuana is legal has enough people addicted to playing…

Donors Choose---home stretch

Technically, the Donors Choose challenge to help out needy kids doesn't end until the end of the month. But donations given by Sunday are going to be matched by Hewlett-Packard. There are two great projects I'd love to get funded by Sunday, and I can't see any reason why we can't do it. If enough of us give a couple of bucks, we can get there in no time. Some donors have been freakishly generous, but a whole lot of 2 dollar donations can add up quickly. A Story to Tell will purchase a computer and printer to help kids print up memoirs, helping them learn to construct stories and write.…

What makes a good physics program

This weekend I am off to a SPIN-UP (Strategic Programs for Innovations in Undergraduate Physics) meeting. The basic idea is for physics departments to meet and discuss how they can be better. Note: if you don't have a good acronym, you don't get any funding. In preparation for this meeting, I was thinking - what is the one thing I think could make a difference. Maybe the most important thing is to create a community of learners. The department should be a place where students can be students. It would be awesome if this included space (in whatever form possible) for studying, learning,…

Fake Diamonds Are Real

This will surely rank as one of the major scientific breakthroughs of the 21st century*: This winter, a sparkling diamond landed in front of a technician at the Gemological Institute of America in New York City. He ran tests, noted the stone was man-made, and graded it as he would any diamond. It was the gem industry's strongest acknowledgment yet that lab-grown diamonds are just as real as natural ones. For years, De Beers, the world's largest purveyor of natural diamonds, argued against the acceptance and GIA grading of lab-grown stones. But since 2003, synthetic diamond production has…

Bling

Why do poor people spend so much money on brand-name items and flashy status symbols? The answer is power. Those Calvin Klein boxers are a desperate attempt at compensation. Here's Kevin Lewis of the Globe Ideas section: If people low on the socioeconomic ladder sometimes buy things beyond their means, it may be because of a psychological mechanism that we all share. At Northwestern University, several experiments with students tested the idea that people who feel relatively powerless have a greater desire for high-status goods. The participants were primed to feel either powerful or…

meta-plagiarism

Penn State has a contract with an on-line plagiarism service - Turnitin.com - which allows faculty to check whether papers etc were plagiarised from other sources; it compares text with an impressive range of other sources. Interestingly, the information to faculty about the service comes with a firm admonition to not share the access to the facility with anyone other than other faculty, instructors and TAs. The University finds it necessary to remind faculty not to cheat on the cheating service. The concern is not just depriving the service of licensed income, but to prevent students from…

Notes Toward an Improbable Result: Grade Points per Pound

Inside Higher Ed has an article on grade inflation this morning, which reminds me of my improbable research theory. Academic scolds are always talking about grade inflation, saying that the average grade years ago used to be lower than it is now. Medical scolds are always talking about the obesity epidemic, saying that average weights used to be lower than they are now. Has anyone ever considered that the two might be related? That is, might it be that the grade points per pound has remained constant over the years? Using some government reports on weight, and totally bias free GPA trends…

Rightwingers Need to Stop Claiming Me as an Ally

I just came across this nonsense from something called the Patriot Post, which dubs itself "the conservative journal of record." In the midst of a typical anti-Gore debunking of global warming, we get this: Nonetheless, some of the most ardent global alarmists are starting to change their tune. In 2005, Chris Mooney wrote "The Republican War on Science," a thorough indictment of the GOP's attempt to discredit scientific work on climate change. When he started research for his latest book, "Storm World: Hurricanes, Politics, and the Battle over Global Warming," he assumed it would be more of…

Attila Csordas: doing intriguing things with 23andMe data

Attila Csordas has a post up at Partial Immortalization explaining how to use the application MitoWheel (which Csordas helped develop) to visualise data from the new Haplogroup Tree Mutation Mapper from 23andMe. This might be a fun way for genetic genealogy afficianados to spend a few minutes getting to know their genomes better. This reminded me about a little experiment of Csordas' that I learnt about when I met him in Cambridge a couple of weeks ago, which strikes me as a quintessential expression of the spirit of the personal genomic era - posting his genetic data from 23andMe, one base…

Soufriere Hills continues having a big winter

A pyroclastic flow from the February 5 vulcanian eruption of Soufriere Hills. Image courtesy of the Montserrat Volcano Observatory (MVO). UPDATE: See some amazing images of the recent eruptive activity over on Stromboli Online. {Hat tip to the Volcanism Blog via Eruptions reader CK.} One event that didn't eat much coverage over the weekend, at least here in the U.S., was the large eruption and explosions at Soufriere Hills on Montserrat. The volcano has had a resurgent winter since have a quiet summer of 2009. This weekend's eruption produced an ash plume that reached ~6.1 km / 20,000 feet…

Don't piss on my carpet: the neverending civility debate

Did you hear about the scio10 civility meltdown? More about that in a minute. As you may have heard, it got a bit. . . uncivil. I wasn't there, so you, like me, will have to get your impression from this highly realistic renactment, created by an attendee who witnessed the confrontation between Nature's Henry Gee and our very own Zuska: Whoa. Do I detect some tension? I'm reminded of the classic post 7 reasons the 21st century is making you miserable, according to David Wong: Some of us remember having only three channels on TV. That's right. Three. We're talking about the '80s here. So…

Downloadable Database of Phase Response Curves

This April 16, 2005 post gives you links to further online resources and literature on entrainment and Phase-Response Curves, as well as a link to a database of PRCs so you can play with them yourself. One of the most useful chronobiological databases available online is the PRC Atlas. Compiled by Dr.Carl Johnson of Vanderbilt University, it contains hundreds of published and unpublished Phase-Response Curves. One can sort the Curves by species or by type of stimulus (e.g., light pulses, pulses of varius chemicals, dark pulses on constant-light background, etc.) and one is also able to…

Wikis and web browsers

In our last episode, I wrote about embedding Google forms in my classroom wiki pages. Recently, we've been working on a project where students enter results into a Google Docs spreadsheet, via our classroom wiki. All the students were able to enter their results. Except for one. When other students went to the spreadsheet page, they saw this: When this student went to the same page, he saw this: We tried all kinds of things to see if we could remedy this situation. I checked and rechecked permissions, both in my Google account and in the wiki. We closed and reopened pages, we…

An Early Look at The Future of Science Journalism

One of the reporters I spotted at AAAS was Curtis Brainard of the Columbia Journalism Review. Curtis is CJR's science correspondent and creator of CJR's Observatory, a great new online source for analysis of how the media is covering science. At AAAS, I also saw Bud Ward who runs the Yale Forum on Climate Change & the Media. The site is designed to foster dialogue on climate change among scientists, journalists, policymakers, and the public. And as I mentioned in an earlier post, I appeared on an amazing panel with Andy Revkin of the NY Times, who has launched the ultra-successful Dot…

How a Rabbi Speaks

Here's how. Interview with the Yona Metzger, the Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of Israel. SPIEGEL ONLINE: What is Abraham's function in the Bible? Metzger: The great Jewish philosopher Maimonides explained this very impressively. God created various objects in heaven. The sun, for example, or the moon and the stars -- they are all high above us. This was understood to mean that God wanted us to respect them more than the things which were created on Earth. Gradually things went wrong. Instead of praying directly to God, the people turned the objects into targets of their prayers. This is impressive…

Casual Fridays: Typing quirks

It used to be that everyone who needed to type took typing class in school. I was probably part of the last generation that actually learned on a typewriter rather than a computer: we clacked for 55 minutes a day in Mr. Butler's room full of IBM Selectrics. No correction keys, either: if you made a mistake, you had to retype the whole thing. But even though Mr. Butler drilled us incessantly about proper typing form, I still have a few typing quirks. I don't use the proper finger to type "backspace," and I'm not properly ambidextrous with the space bar. This got me to thinking. Does "proper…

Tracks and Traces 5.8.2010

Written in Stone is now available for pre-sale on Amazon.com (as well as a few other online stores)! The description of the book, author bio, etc. will have to be updated, but otherwise it is good to see it get its own page, and many thanks to the several of you who have already pre-ordered copies. Yet another cool new paleo blog - Crurotarsi: The Forgotten Archosaurs. Looks like I am going to have to update my blogroll again. In the "online first" section of Evolution: Education and Outreach there is a new paper on science communication (which also covers the Darwinius kerfuffle) by…

Online source for hands-on chemistry (for kids).

Since Sandra has posted links to sites with brainy games for kids*, and Karmen is working on her list of science education web sites for children, I thought I'd mention one of my favorite online destinations for kid-strength chemistry. Luddite that I am, what I like best is that the site isn't hypnotizing your child with a virtual chemistry experiment, but actually gives you activities to do with the child in the three-dimensional world. The site is chemistry.org/kids, a portal of the American Chemical Society website aimed specifically at kids, parents, and teachers. For summer (here in…

OA student projects available

Heather Morrison just finished teaching her class on Open Access and the student projects are now all online for you to see.

Science Communication Lecture and Boot Camp at CalTech

Over the past year, I've done well over two dozen talks, with Matthew Nisbet, about science communication. And now we're taking it to the next level. Next week at CalTech, we're unveiling a two-part affair: Our lecture (entitled "Speaking Science 2.0") followed by an all day "Speaking Science" boot camp, which we're describing as follows: ...the full-day workshop will provide a hands-on media primer, focusing on two critical issues: 1) how audiences find, understand, and use scientific information; 2) the knowledge and tools that scientists need to deal with the press. In other words, when…

Are You %&*#ing Kidding Me?

Source. Disagreements can arouse passions. The blogosphere can be a battlefield, with rapid fire blog posts and comments flying to and fro, sometimes helpful and thoughtful, sometimes off point unbridled ranting. There's been a lot of discussion amongst my fellow Sciblings and our sponsors on this topic - dare I say it? It begins with the letter "C" - no, sorry, I can't use it - at least at this moment. Here's a simple test: would you feel comfortable for your spouse or your employer to read what you posted? There is an allure to venting, especially anonymously, because the reader - and…

Stem Cell Enhancers? What a load of bollocks

If my job was to debunk poorly justified herbal remedies, I would eat well for life. Here is the newest one: stem cell enhancers. As covered in the Scientist: A California company is marketing the latest in dietary supplements, an extract from algae they claim will boost the number of circulating stem cells, easing disease and discomfort. Consumers have already spent millions on the "stem cell enhancer," but some stem cell researchers remain unconvinced the product even works -- and warn that the "enhancer" may trigger other problems, including cancer. ... According to STEMTech HealthSciences…

Tangled Bank #115

The latest edition of the Tangled Bank is online at Evolved and Rational. Say hooray for collections of science posts, and go read!

Local Paper

The first issue of Carrboro Citizen is now available both in hardcopy and online. [Background here] Update: Brian is gushing over it....

Drop in preterm births followed Colorado's rise in long-acting contraception use

I've written before about the Colorado Family Planning Initiative, which in 2009 started providing free IUDs and contraceptive implants (the two forms of long-acting reversible contraception, or LARC) to low-income women at family planning clinics in 37 Colorado counties. Between 2008 and 2014, the state's teen birth and abortion rates both dropped by 48% (see this webinar for details). While teen birth rates have been declining nationwide in recent years, Colorado's decline was the largest. LARC methods have become increasingly popular in the US over the past several years. This is likely…

Dichloroacetate (DCA): A scientist's worst nightmare?

Given all the verbiage (see the link list below) about dichloroacetate (DCA) that I've spewed into the blogosphere decrying the hijacking of a promising cancer therapy by conspiracy-mongers (it's the cancer cure "big pharma" is keeping from you because they can't make money on it) and opportunistic entrepreneurs like Jim Tassanno preying on the desperation of terminally ill cancer patients, I had thought that I would be taking a break on the topic for a while. But wouldn't you know it? My blogging colleague Abel at Terra Sigillata unearthed another fascinating article on the effects of this…

Ann Coulter fills me with anticipation

This new book by Ann Coulter is going to be full of delectable idiocy, isn't it? Coulter devotes the last 80 pages to her full-scale attack on the theory of evolution and the utter dishonesty of what she calls the "Darwiniacs" and their refusal to face the fact that evolution is a patent absurdity, according to Coulter, credible only to those who will find any reason to deny the existence of God. Great. Virtually every biologist in the world must be an atheist, then. Good for us! I'm sure this is going to be a bit of a shock to the readers of this weblog who understand and accept the…

Understanding Non-Euclidean Hyperbolic Spaces - With Yarn!

One of my fellow ScienceBloggers, Andrew Bleiman from Zooilogix, sent me an amusing link. If you've done things like study topology, then you'll know about non-euclidean spaces. Non-euclidean spaces are often very strange, and with the exception of a few simple cases (like the surface of a sphere), getting a handle on just what a non-euclidean space looks like can be extremely difficult. One of the simple to define but hard to understand examples is called a hyperbolic space. The simplest definition of a hyperbolic space is a space where if you take open spheres of increasing radius around…

The 'Truth' About Harold 'Fancy' Ford

In the Tennessee Senate race, the Republicans have been viciously playing the race card. They have been referring to Democrat Harold Ford as 'Fancy' Ford because he, a single black man, has dated...white women (note: 'fancy' is an old Southernism for, at best, a lothario, and, at worst, a pimp). Now, the Republicans (the NRCC) have run an ad where they point this out. Even the candidate is publicly protesting the ad (although he's probably loving it in private). So, this week, one of those helpless white female victims of Ford commented on l'affair du Fancy: But all of this - this focus…

Catholic hypocrisy…of course

A Catholic abbot is accusing Disney of corrupting children. It's not because they are transmitting bad ideas, but that they are all tied to Disney's corporate motives. While he acknowledges that Disney stories carry messages showing good triumphing over evil, he argues this is part of a ploy to persuade people that they should buy Disney products in order to be "a good and happy family". He cites films such as Sleeping Beauty and 101 Dalmatians that feature moral battles, but get into children's imaginations and make them greedy for the merchandise that goes with them. Now I can sympathize…