Uncategorized
gregladen | December 15, 2009Alternate titles for this post:
"It turns out, it is a little like a priesthood."
"Join us. Join us. Join us. Braaainzzzzz"
"Imma gonna let you finish, but first I think you need to get your Wellies wet."
...
In a library, there is a spatial relationship between knowledge and books or journals, and there is a sense of completeness about it. I'm thinking in particular of the Tozzer library, one I spent a fair amount of time in. I would go to the basement of the library and the entire ancient world (this is an anthropology library) was arrayed in a set of shelves to the left. There were…
cortex | December 15, 2009James Surowiecki has the smartest take I've read on the Woods sex scandal:
Woods's appeal was based, ultimately, not on his physical abilities but on his mental toughness, his extraordinary capacity for focus and discipline. He was the man who always made the key putt, who never cracked under pressure. That's why Gatorade, introducing a new drink with his face on the label, called the drink Tiger Focus. And it's why the most powerful Nike ad about him is the one in which his father, in a voice-over, says, "I'd say, 'Tiger, I promise you that you'll never meet another person as mentally tough…
cortex | December 15, 2009The always fascinating Ed Yong, over at Not Exactly Rocket Science, highlights a recent study on testosterone, aggression and the placebo effect.
If ever a hormone was the subject of clichés and stereotypes, it is testosterone. In pop culture, it has become synonymous with masculinity, although women are subject to its influence too. Injections of testosterone can make lab rats more aggressive, and this link is widely applied to humans. The media portrays "testosterone-charged" people as sex-crazed and financially flippant and the apparent link with violence is so pervasive that the use of…
gregladen | December 14, 2009Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
gregladen | December 14, 2009... On Scienceblogs Dot Com, at least ...
Scale Model of the Solar System
Tiger's Sex Tape Released
Encounters with gigantic orangutans
gregladen | December 14, 2009You've met them. "Oh, those scientists. They get their funding from the government/industry/political think tanks. They're just producing the results needed to keep their money flowing. They'll say anything it takes. Besides, it's not like they don't make mistakes. Even Newton and Einstein had it wrong."
Read the rest by Stephanie Zvan at QM ...
cortex | December 14, 2009I recently learned that many professional graduate schools - law schools, business schools, even medical schools - continue to provide "test accommodations" to students with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD. These accommodations usually take the form of extra time on the exam, when time is a crucial resource.
Of course, it's not just grad schools who are struggling with the question of how to treat students with ADHD. Princeton is currently embroiled in a lawsuit:
A learning-disabled freshman suing Princeton University for refusing to allow her extra time to take exams was…
sastyk | December 14, 2009
The son seems to have taken a prior (and extremely common) teenage interest in "agriculture" and turned it into an actual interest in agriculture. I suppose you could see it as sinister, but I don't - I think anyone who wants to grow things, even pot, bad enough to move out to the desert and live off-grid is doing something worth taking seriously.
What's interesting about this video is the observation by the son that because the black market has set the prices, this is an extremely lucrative project for him and his mother. I've seen estimates that suggest, for example, that the entire…
emjohnson | December 14, 2009Uncensored video below.
Yes, this is juvenile. But then, you're the one who clicked on it.
H/T Max Blumenthal
agelman | December 13, 2009I recently came across some links showing readers how to make their own data analysis and graphics from scratch. This is great stuff--spreading power tools to the masses and all that.
From Nathan Yau: How to Make a US County Thematic Map Using Free Tools and How to Make an Interactive Area Graph with Flare. I don't actually think the interactive area graphs are so great--they work with the Baby Name Wizard but to me they don't do much in the example that Nathan shows--but, that doesn't really matter, what's cool here is that he's showing us all exactly how to do it. This stuff is gonna…
gregladen | December 13, 2009The Brown Cube is not the Rubik Cube. Anybody who thinks they are the same is ... wrong.
My friend Asha, as I write this, is heading out to the bar to watch the end of the game. It would be great to join her, but I've got some other things going right now. But YOU can join Asha, who is a pretty remarkable person, on her blog, and see what this whole Brown Cube thing is. Keep an eye on the Brown Cube. Some day it will be a famous song or something. Sung by Asha.
Here is Asha solving the Brown Cube. I think she's feeling a bit down that no one ever leaves comments on her blog. Go leave a…
gregladen | December 13, 2009There was a certain amount of Christmas shopping over the weekend, and I have to say the music was over the top this year. Or maybe I'm just getting more sensitive. In any event, it was driving me nuts.
So, I decided that I want to be in charge of the music from now on. And here is the playlist for the remainder of the holiday season:
Galileo
This Train Revised
Land Of Canaan
1 2 3
Chickenman
Shame On You
Closer to fine
World Falls
That is all. Have a nice day.
gregladen | December 13, 2009... SciTen is coming ...
In preparation for Science Online 2010 Session C, Trust and Critical Thinking organized by Stephanie Zvan and including PZ Myers, Desiree Schell, Greg Laden, and Kirsten Sanford, I'll be posting a few items such as Are You A Real Sketpic? over the next few days.
Most readers of this blog will not be going to this mid-January conference, but that does not mean you can't participate. There will probably be the ability to participate in the actual events via twitter or other social networking media. However, it is also possible to be involved by posting comments on…
grrlscientist | December 13, 2009tags: sitemeter, blog traffic, graphics
According to this graphic, can you tell which days were the lead-up to my departure from NYC? When did I arrive in Frankfurt? When did I first get my own wireless connection in Frankfurt?
gregladen | December 12, 2009Denialism and Customer Service
What happens when it is your job to help people back out of mistakes, but you are an unrepentant skeptic and most of those people you are trying to help are ... not?
... I want to yell at the naturopath who tells me that vaccination is dangerous and that she is selling cures that help people avoid sickness. I want to tell them to stop it, to wake up and prepare for a new economy rather than allow themselves to lose out by hanging on to an old economy.....
Goats on Fire
From now on, we're calling it "Goats on Fire." Or, for short, GOF!!!
gregladen | December 12, 2009You see how funny the world is. And I don't mean funny-ha-ha.
Oprah. The show was about all these people who won a million dollars or more. Near the end of the show, Publishers Clearing House drove a van onto the stage and gave a randomly chosen audience member 25 Large. As she and Oprah were hugging, she said something to Oprah, and Oprah eventually brought the statement the woman had into the open conversation.
"You say your husband gave this to you. Winning this prize."
"Oh yes, he did .... he died in September, but before he died he told me ... "
bla bla bla.
Nobody told the lady…
agelman | December 11, 2009Jenny quotes Erica Wagner:
Isaac Bashevis Singer wrote for more than four decades on an Underwood portable. For him, his machine was a kind of first editor. "If this typewriter doesn't like a story, it refuses to work," he said. "I don't get a man to correct it since I know if I get a good idea the machine will make peace with me again. I don't believe my own words saying this, but I've had the experience so many times that I'm really astonished. But the typewriter is 42 years old. It should have some literary experience, it should have a mind of its own."
Hey, I've been writing for almost 42…
agelman | December 11, 2009From Ubs:
How fast is Rickey? Rickey is so fast that he can steal more bases than Rickey. (And nobody steals more bases than Rickey.)
gregladen | December 11, 2009Today, Amanda marched for her Masters of Biological Science at the University of Minnesota.