education
evolvingthoughts | April 27, 2009My Synthese essay has finally been published [paywall], in which I argue that on the basis of the more realistic notion of rationality devised by Herbert Simon, called "bounded rationality", certain heuristics are liable to lead people to rationally choose to believe in creationism under the right conditions. It's a conceptual developmentalist perspective. Here's the abstract:
Creationism is usually regarded as an irrational set of beliefs. In this paper I propose that the best way to understand why individual learners settle on any mature set of beliefs is to see that as the developmental…
grrlscientist | April 27, 2009tags: leucistic Red-Winged Blackbird, Agelaius phoeniceus, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] leucistic Red-Winged Blackbird, Agelaius phoeniceus, photographed in Arizona. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]
Image: Richard Ditch, 18 January 2009 [larger view].
Date Time Original: 2009:01:18 08:46:49
Exposure Time: 1/750
F-Number: 8.00
ISO: 320
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Review all mystery birds to date.
drorzel | April 27, 2009Back in the stone ages, when I was a student and walked uphill through the snow to class, if you wanted assistance on a homework assignment, you needed to track the instructor of the class down in person, either by going to their posted office hours, or calling them on the phone to set up an appointment. With the introduction of modern communications technology, it is now possible to interact with your instructor electronically, and get help on your homework at times when you couldn't hope to meet them in person.
While this is a tremendous improvement over the old way of doing things, here…
grrlscientist | April 27, 2009tags: The Beagle Project, science, fund-raising, humor, streaming video
This strange and amusing streaming video features a self-described "fat, bearded chap with a Charles Darwin fixation" whom I know in real life, has an important purpose: Let's help build the HMS Beagle and follow Darwin's journey of discovery! [1:06]
The Beagle Project aims to celebrate Charles Darwin's 200th birthday by building a sailing replica of the HMS Beagle and recreating the Voyage of the Beagle with an international crew of researchers, aspiring scientists and science communicators (perhaps, including me!). The…
grrlscientist | April 26, 2009tags: Northern Parula, Parula americana, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery birds] Northern Parula, Parula americana, photographed at Quintana and Beach, Texas. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 20 March 2009 [larger view].
Nikon D200, Kowa 883 telescope with tsn-pz camera eyepiece 1/1250s f/8.0 at 1000.0mm iso400.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Review all mystery birds to date.
bioephemera | April 25, 2009
Christmas greeting card, school unknown, circa 1920.
Dittrick Medical History Center
from Dissection: Photographs of a Rite of Passage in American Medicine 1880-1930
Slate has an intriguing new review by Barron Lerner of a book called Dissection: Photographs of a Rite of Passage in American Medicine 1880-1930, by John Harley Warner and James M. Edmonson. The book delves into the turn-of-the-century practice of photographing medical students with cadavers - photos that today read as weird, grotesque, even offensive.
The photos unearthed by Warner and Edmonson depict an astonishing variety of…
grrlscientist | April 25, 2009tags: Great-Tailed Grackle, Quiscalus mexicanus, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Great-Tailed Grackle, Quiscalus mexicanus, photographed in Arizona. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]
Image: Richard Ditch, 7 January 2006 [larger view].
Date Time Original: 2006:01:07 15:08:24
Exposure Time: 1/159
F-Number: 13.00
ISO: 200
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Review all mystery birds to date.
grrlscientist | April 24, 2009tags: American Golden-Plover, Pluvialis dominica, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery birds] American Golden-Plover, Pluvialis dominica, photographed in Texas. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 19 March 2009 [larger view].
Nikon D200, Kowa 883 telescope with tsn-pz camera eyepiece 1/500s f/8.0 at 1000.0mm iso400.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Review all mystery birds to date.
grrlscientist | April 23, 2009tags: Brown Creeper, Certhia americana, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Brown Creeper, Certhia americana, photographed at the Big Sioux Recreation Area near Brandon, South Dakota. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]
Image: Terry Sohl, 30 December 2007.
Photo taken with a Canon 20D, 400 5.6L.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Review all mystery birds to date.
gregladen | April 23, 2009Next time I get down on you slack-jawed yokels in Texas, which could be any time, I don't want to hear any flack. No excuses. You can take my critique in the gut and live with it OR you can tell me to stuff it. But the latter is only an option if you get off your bovine Texas asses and do what you need to do.
State Board of Education Chairman Don McLeroy, R-Bryan, faced searing questioning during his uncommonly long confirmation hearing Wednesday at the Senate Nominations Committee.
And Chairman Mike Jackson, R-La Porte, said McLeroy's nomination is on shaky ground because he might not be…
grrlscientist | April 22, 2009tags: Black and White Warbler, Mniotilta varia, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery birds] Black and White Warbler, , photographed in Quintana and Beach, Texas. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 20 March 2009 [larger view].
Nikon D200, Kowa 883 telescope with tsn-pz camera eyepiece 1/320s f/8.0 at 1000.0mm iso400.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Review all mystery birds to date.
drorzel | April 22, 2009No, I'm not talking about students bribing faculty for good grades, but the reverse: faculty bribing students to attend events outside of class. For example, I offered the students in my class five bonus points on tomorrow's mid-term exam if they attended last night's Alan Lightman lecture. I'm fairly certain that 12 of the 16 took me up on it.
My feeling is that this has an almost negligible effect on the final grades, but can make a big difference in the audience for an evening talk. And it's often beneficial for students to attend these events and get some sense of the larger intellectual…
drorzel | April 21, 2009I tagged Geoffrey Pullum's rant against The Elements of Style for del.icio.us a few days back, because it struck me as interesting, but I didn't have time to say more. In the subsequent days, I've seen a bunch of "Preach it, Brother Pullum!" responses, most recently from revere. I've also received the copyedited manuscript of the book-in-production, so I've been thinking a bit about grammar and style in my own writing.
Most of the pro-Pullum responses I've seen seem to me to be missing the point. Or, rather, they're criticizing the book because it's not very good as an absolute and…
grrlscientist | April 21, 2009tags: Black-throated Sparrow, Amphispiza bilineata, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Black-throated Sparrow, Amphispiza bilineata, photographed in Arizona. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]
Image: Richard Ditch, 18 May 2005 [larger view].
Date Time Original: 2005:05:18 08:27:35
Exposure Time: 1/249
F-Number: 16.00
ISO: 400
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Review all mystery birds to date.
grrlscientist | April 20, 2009tags: Black Vulture, Coragyps atratus, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery birds] Black Vulture, Coragyps atratus, photographed in Tom Bass Park, Texas. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 20 March 2009 [larger view].
Nikon D200, Kowa 883 telescope with tsn-pz camera eyepiece 1/400s f/8.0 at 1000.0mm iso400.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Review all mystery birds to date.
bioephemera | April 19, 2009We all know Twitter can be annoying, but is it really evil? During the past week, you may have heard that there is brand-new neuroscientific evidence proving exactly that. But the hype turns out to be just that: hype.
It all started with a press release from USC about an upcoming PNAS paper by Mary Helen Immordino-Yang and Antonio Damasio, entitled "Neural Correlates of Admiration and Compassion." The USC press release, which was picked up by EurekAlert and other outlets, says:
The finding, contained in one of the first brain studies of inspirational emotions in a field dominated by a focus…
grrlscientist | April 19, 2009tags: Gray Jay, Perisoreus canadensis, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Gray Jay, Perisoreus canadensis, photographed in Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]
Image: Terry Sohl, 9 August 2007 [larger view].
Photo taken with a Canon 20D, 400 5.6L.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Review all mystery birds to date.
bioephemera | April 18, 2009
In her recent TED talk, JoAnne Kuchera-Morin described UCSB's AlloSphere, a new project that enables scientists to literally stand inside a three-story projection of their data:
The AlloSphere space consists of a 3-story cube that is treated with extensive sound absorption material making it one of the largest anechoic chambers in the world. Standing inside this chamber are two 5-meter-radius hemispheres constructed of perforated aluminum that are designed to be optically opaque and acoustically transparent. (source)
Scientists and artists can stand on a bridge through the center of this…
grrlscientist | April 18, 2009tags: Muscovy Duckling, Cairina moschata, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery birds] Muscovy Duckling, Cairina moschata, photographed in Hermann Park, Texas. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 22 March 2009 [larger view].
Nikon D200, Kowa 883 telescope with tsn-pz camera eyepiece 1/320s f/8.0 at 1000.0mm iso400.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
The single eyeline is seen only in a small subgroup of the dabbling ducks; the mallards, black ducks and their close relatives. However, a close look at the thicker…
grrlscientist | April 17, 2009tags: Chestnut-backed Chickadee, Poecile rufescens, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Chestnut-backed Chickadee, Poecile rufescens, Photographed near a small Olympic Peninsula lake in Shelton, Washington State. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]
Image: Lee Rentz, 19 February 2009.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Review all mystery birds to date.