humor
oracknows | November 25, 2007I've been very remiss in featuring what has become, from a very early point in this blog's history, its de facto mascot. Maybe it's because he's just been so busy being BEOC (Big Enema on Campus), or maybe it's a bit of laziness on my part. Or maybe having a giant walking Fleet's enema bottle representing this blog hits a little too close to home when it comes to the usual content here. Whatever the reason, it's time to catch up with what the Big E has been doing since August, which, unbelievably, was the last time he made a new appearance here. (Recycling old Thanksgiving pictures doesn't…
evolvingthoughts | November 24, 2007
Unlike PZ Moorsch, I don't get much abusive email, because I'm so much more mild mannered than he is. But I got this gem from an Australian using his cousin's South African email account:
your feedback on the one subject of macroevolution being observed is only
grounded on consumptions and no real evidence. Are you stupid or just
blind
It seems I have multiple infections of tuberculosis, and I'm stupid and blind. Woe!
j7uy5 | November 24, 2007
The treehuggers at
href="http://www.treehugger.com/files/2007/10/are_you_kidding.php">TreeHugger
saw right through this one. Safeway is now selling "organic
water."
I find the last point especially amusing: "No Genetic Modification."
Greenwashing
to the extreme.
HT:
href="http://j-walkblog.com/index.php?/weblog/comments/organic_water/">J-Walk
Blog Beta
mementomori | November 23, 2007Here's a little post-Thanksgiving quiz for the gang to take - try guessing the correct answers regarding this research study from the University of California, San Diego. I'll even make this multiple choice...
"Previous studies have suggested that _____________ increases pain," [said] lead investigator Dr. Mark Wallace.
A. standing while riding "Space Mountain" at Walt Disney World
B. being cruel to be kind
C. suppressing the urge to unleash a salvo of flatulence during the homily of a family wedding
D. smuggling potatoes through customs
"This is the first study using a dose-response method…
j7uy5 | November 23, 2007Turkey is considering adding the letters "Q," "W," and "X"
to their alphabet. The idea is that it would appease the
Kurds.
href="http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/detaylar.do?load=detay&link=127794">
class="detaybaslik-font">Gov’t reform envisages
including X, Q, W in Turkish alphabets
Changing
the Turkish alphabet to include the letters Q, W and X to appease
Turkey's Kurds, who have previously faced prosecution for using these
letters, might be amongst the "surprise reforms," mentioned by Foreign
Minister Ali Babacan earlier this week, says a senior official from the…
pharyngula | November 23, 2007Why, all you have to do is browse the high quality research proposals submitted to the Institute of Applied Creation Science to see what a promising program they've got.
sb admin | November 19, 2007I couldn't wait for Multimedia Friday to post this video, it's just too funny.
I Am the Very Model of a Psychopharmacologist is set to Gilbert and Sullivan's classic song with animation. Created by Stephen M Stahl, MD, PhD, of the Neurosciences Education Institute, Adjunct Professor of Psychiatry at the University of California San Diego, author of Essential Psychopharmacology. Credentials for neuropsychopharmacological hilarity.
j7uy5 | November 17, 2007The term "Freudian Slip" has been the subject of innumerable
puns.
This one is new to me:
It's the perfect holiday gift for shrinks in cold climates.
HT: Mental
Floss
j7uy5 | November 16, 2007The San Antonio Express-News
href="http://www.politicalgateway.com/news/read/114296">reports
that "Reviewers have found 109,263 errors in sample copies of math
textbooks to be used next fall in Texas."
One second-grade math book, for example,
has 4 plus 7 equaling 10.
OK, anybody can make a mistake. But at least own up to it.
Their explanation:
Many of the math book errors resulted in
faulty translations from English- to Spanish-language textbooks...
Uh, I think in Spain, 7+4 still equals 11.
sciencewoman | November 15, 2007I never officially participated in the last World's Fair meme (although if you google "Minnow motherhood insanity" you get this blog), but now Dave Ng has another fun meme for us.
Anyway, this meme asks that you come up with your own scientific eponym. What's that exactly? Well, first read this excellent primer by Samuel Arbesman, which basically provides a step by step description of how to do this effectively. Then have a go at your own blog. If all goes well, I'd like to create a page at the Science Creative Quarterly, that collects (and links to) the good ones.
Thus, I present you with…
pharyngula | November 15, 2007Somehow, this reminds me of my meetup with Phil.
It's an exercise for the reader to decide whether Phil was the meteor or the cat.
oracknows | November 14, 2007...or so sayeth Reason.TV, where a credulous blogger didn't like what Orac laid down and found him oh-so-humorless.
Orac, Killer of Buzz. You know, I sort of like the sound of that. I like the sound and humor of this, too.
Of course, some buzzes deserve to be terminated with extreme prejudice; so just for laughs I'll throw out a few fun links that fellow ScienceBlogger Tim Lambert turned me on to (or led me to through other links) over the last couple of days:
Climate scepticism: The top 10
Skeptic Arguments
Convenient Untruths
Climate science: Sceptical about bias (which fellow…
omnibrain | November 14, 2007David Ng from The World's Fair has decided to start another meme.... Here's the lowdown:
Anyway, this meme asks that you come up with your own scientific eponym. What's that exactly? Well, first read this excellent primer by Samuel Arbesman, which basically provides a step by step description of how to do this effectively. Then have a go at your own blog. If all goes well, I'd like to create a page at the Science Creative Quarterly, that collects (and links to) the good ones.
So onto the Higgins-Levinthal Dictum:
Also known as "the why fat smoking republicans are responsible for 9/11 number…
omnibrain | November 14, 2007An entertaining posting on craigslist:
Survival Of The Fittest
Date: 2007-08-30, 2:03PM EDT
Whenever I get a package of plain M&Ms, I make it my duty to continue the strength and robustness of the candy as a species. To this end, I hold M&M duels.
Taking two candies between my thumb and forefinger, I apply pressure, squeezing them together until one of them cracks and splinters. That is the "loser," and I eat the inferior one immediately. The winner gets to go another round.
I have found that, in general, the brown and red M&Ms are tougher, and the newer blue ones are genetically…
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…
grrlscientist | November 13, 2007
Carry a cool wand;
The unconfirmed rumor is that his boss told him: "You can keep your job if you wear that outfit for the remainder of 2007."
sporte | November 12, 2007A few weeks ago, I asked if you, dear readers would be able to tell the difference between a computer scientist and a serial killer. Now, I've seen the crowds at the UW computational biology seminars and I've also seen pictures of serial killers in the newspaper. I don't think it would be easy to tell the difference if you had to rely on looks alone.
I also wondered if some people might be better at this than others.
A surprisingly large number of people (290!) completed the survey. Most people did pretty well and guessed correctly for 6-8 photos. I think this is a little better than…
sb admin | November 12, 2007There's a revolutionary mental health claim in a hot new article - Therapeutic Efficacy of Cash in the Treatment of Anxiety and Depressive Disorders: Two Case Studies (e-pub ahead of print).
The first case report involves a man who was laid off and lost his pension; after treatment with various SSRIs and sedatives with numerous side effects, the patient came into the office free of depressive symptoms. He claimed to have won the lottery, which fMRI brain scans [shown here] confirmed with evidence of a complete remission. In the second case, a single mother of four found her anxiety and…