Saturday, October 18, 2008

Chimps: Not Human... 

...But Are They People? "As a population of West African chimpanzees dwindles to critically endangered levels, scientists are calling for a definition of personhood that includes our close evolutionary cousins." (Wired)

10/18/2008 06:56:00 PM   •  

Airport security theater Burlesque 

Via kottke: "We took our shoes off and placed our laptops in bins. Schneier took from his bag a 12-ounce container labeled 'saline solution.'

'It's allowed,' he said. Medical supplies, such as saline solution for contact-lens cleaning, don't fall under the TSA's three-ounce rule.

'What's allowed?' I asked. 'Saline solution, or bottles labeled saline solution?'

'Bottles labeled saline solution. They won't check what's in it, trust me.'"

Read the entire thing; very funny, if it were not so sad... (thanks, walker)

Related

• Is that Lithium in Your Pocket, or Are You Just Excited to See Me? (paul.kedrosky.com)
• Travel And Contact Lenses (ArticlesBase)

Labels: AirportSecurity, Transportation Security Administration, TSA

10/18/2008 12:32:00 PM   •  

Forget impeachment 

Try Bush for murder: Charlotte Dennett is running for Attorney General of the State of Vermont.

If she wins, she will use her office to indict George Bush for the murder of the citizens of Vermont who were killed in his fraudulent war.

You can support her efforts here." (Current)

10/18/2008 12:28:00 PM   •  

Amazon tribe’s protest shuts down dam site 

"Indians from the Enawene Nawe tribe in the Brazilian Amazon occupied and shut down the site of a huge hydroelectric dam on Saturday, destroying equipment, in an attempt to save the river that runs through their land.

The Enawene Nawe say the 77 dams to be built on the River Juruena will pollute the water and stop the fish reaching their spawning grounds. Fish is crucial to the Enawene Nawe’s diet as they do not eat red meat. It also plays a vital part in their rituals.

‘If the fish get sick and die so will the Enawene Nawe,’ said one member of the tribe." (Survival International via miguel)

10/18/2008 12:23:00 PM   •  

Garrett Lisi on his theory of everything 

Physicist and surfer Garrett Lisi presents a controversial new model of the universe that -- just maybe -- answers all the big questions. If nothing else, it's the most beautiful 8-dimensional model of elementary particles and forces you've ever seen. (TED Talks)

Labels: An Exceptionally Simple Theory of Everything, Garrett Lisi, Physics, Quantum mechanics, TED

10/18/2008 10:51:00 AM   •  

Virginia Postrel on glamour 

In a timely talk, cultural critic Virginia Postrel muses on the true meaning, and the powerful uses, of glamour -- which she defines as any calculated, carefully polished image designed to impress and persuade. (TED Talks)

Labels: Virginia Postrel

10/18/2008 10:49:00 AM   •  

Paola Antonelli previews "Design and the Elastic Mind" 

Rousseau's La Bohémienne endormie

MOMA design curator Paola Antonelli walks through the groundbreaking show "Design and the Elastic Mind" -- full of ideas, products and designs that reflect the multi-tasking, quickly shifting way we think now. (You can see the exhibit online.) (TED Talks)

Labels: Arts, TED

10/18/2008 10:48:00 AM   •  

Banjo brain surgery 

"Surely this must be the greatest headline for a BBC News story ever: Banjo Used in Brain Surgery.

Although the banjo wasn't in the hands of the surgeons it was still an essential part of the operation. It was played by legendary Blue Grass musician Eddie Adcock who was having surgery install a deep brain stimulation device to treat an essential tremor that had been affecting his playing.

The BBC News story has a video of the neurosurgery and the banjo playing, and it is pure genius. Probably the best thing you'll see all year." (Mind Hacks)

Labels: Deep brain stimulation, Neurosurgery

10/18/2008 10:12:00 AM   •  

Out of the Blue 

Seed: Out of the Blue: "Each of its microchips has been programmed to act just like a real neuron in a real brain. The behavior of the computer replicates, with shocking precision, the cellular events unfolding inside a mind. 'This is the first model of the brain that has been built from the bottom-up,' says Henry Markram, a neuroscientist at Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) and the director of the Blue Brain project. 'There are lots of models out there, but this is the only one that is totally biologically accurate. We began with the most basic facts about the brain and just worked from there.'" (Seed)

Labels: Blue Brain, Henry Markram, Neurobiology

10/18/2008 10:09:00 AM   •  

Mythbusting Dept. 

"...The apparent desire for more shut-eye, together with oft-repeated assertions that our grandparents slept longer, all too easily leads to the conclusion that we in the west are chronically sleep-deprived. Adding to these concerns are recent claims that inadequate sleep causes obesity and related disorders, such as diabetes.

Plus ca change. Claims of widespread sleep deprivation in western society are nothing new - in 1894, the British Medical Journal ran an editorial warning that the 'hurry and excitement' of modern life was leading to an epidemic of insomnia.

Even then it probably wasn't true. The fact is that most adults get enough sleep, and our collective sleep debt, if it exists at all, has not worsened in recent times. Moreover, claims that sleep deprivation is contributing to obesity and diabetes have been overblown. My assertion is that the vast majority of people sleep perfectly adequately. That's not to say that sleep deprivation doesn't exist. But in general we've never had it so good." (New Scientist)

Labels: Health, Insomnia, Sleep, Sleep deprivation

10/18/2008 10:05:00 AM   •  

The Lazarus sign 

Image via WikipediaThe Resurrection of Lazarus by Vincent van Gogh

A slight return: "Occasionally, brain-dead patients make movements, owing to the fact that the spinal reflexes are still intact. The most complex, and presumably the most terrifying, is called the Lazarus Sign. It is where the brain-dead patient extends their arms and crosses them over their chest - Egyptian mummy style." (Mind Hacks)

10/18/2008 09:58:00 AM   •  

Berkeley Breathed explains why he is ending his comic strip "Opus" 

"As the country excitedly awaits our great quadrennial political climax, a smaller subset looks toward the first week of November with great anxiety and dread. On Sunday, Nov. 2, the comic "Opus" will end. Worse yet, creator Berkeley Breathed has made it clear that the strip's namesake will, in that final strip, find his "final paradise."

Sure, it's been an unnaturally long run for a penguin. Opus, who started with a bit part in Breathed's Pulitzer-winning "Bloom County" (1980-89), starred in "Outland" (1989-95) and finally took center stage in "Opus" (2003-08). But for those of us accustomed to seeing our own thoughts -- and fears, hopes and simmering anger -- take flight in the broken-nosed face of a penguin every week, there's no preparation for his exit, only mourning.

Breathed says it's the anger that led him to close the book on "Opus," that the increasingly nasty political climate has made it too difficult to keep his strip from drifting into darkness. Breathed has described his work as a hybrid of "Peanuts" creator Charles Schulz's gentle humor and Michael Moore's crusading social justice. Perhaps losing touch with his inner Charlie Brown, Breathed has said that "a mad penguin, like a mad cartoonist, isn't very lovable," and wants Opus to take his final bow before bitterness changes him forever." (Salon)

Labels: Berkeley Breathed, Bloom County, comics

10/18/2008 08:16:00 AM   •  

The Cognition and Language Laboratory 

"The twin research foci of this lab are cognition and language. That is, our primarily interest is in how language is implemented in the human mind. However, as understanding and using language probably involves many mental activities that aren't strictly linguistic, many experiments delve into other aspects of thinking or cognition.

The CLL conducts experiments via the Web. You may participate by clicking here, see results from previous experiments by clicking here. The experiments are short -- some take as little as 2-3 minutes to complete. All are anonymous."

Labels: Cognition, Language, Psychology

10/18/2008 12:33:00 AM   •  

Friday, October 17, 2008

Autism in the Presidential debate? 

Karyotype for trisomy Down syndromeSome have balked at McCain's riff on autism in answer to a debate question about his running mate's qualifications for the Presidency. Without meaning to cast aspersions on the struggles of having a special needs child, I can't see its bearing on the skills required to be President; others have found that difficult to understand as well. And I share others' puzzlement over how having a Downs Syndrome child makes her qualified to understand autism. I would go even further. It would not surprise me, after watching McCain's comments in the debate, if he is confused about the distinction between the two conditions.

And don't even get me started on her use of her special needs child to make political points...

Labels: autism, Down syndrome, John McCain, Sarah Palin, Special needs

10/17/2008 01:12:00 AM   •  

Thursday, October 16, 2008

Emperor-Without-Clothes Dept. 

Charles PonziCogent explanation of my sentiments, that the economy is a Ponzi scheme and the bailout only helps the bloodsuckers at the top.

"The worst thing a doctor can do to a critically ill person is gloss over their condition and offer false reassurances. We need to know the realities to make the decisions which will affect our very survival...

...[a] contextual framework for capitalism (markets only allowed to go up variety), globalization, the loss of purchasing power and ... the "exponential expansion of debt" which has acted as the worm-ridden foundation of this decade's bogus "prosperity." " (Of Two Minds)

Labels: Capitalism, Globalization

10/16/2008 11:45:00 PM   •  

This stock collapse is petty when compared to the nature crunch 

George MonbiotGeorge Monbiot: "The financial crisis at least affords us an opportunity to now rethink our catastrophic ecological trajectory." (Guardian.UK)

Related

• Get Recession Ready: Seven Tips (Treehugger)
• George Monbiot is a Fructivist (Treehugger)

Labels: Business, Crisis, Environment, George Monbiot, Politics

10/16/2008 11:31:00 PM   •  

Obesity, Abnormal 'Reward Circuitry' In Brain Linked 

dopamine

"Although recent findings suggested that obese individuals may experience less pleasure when eating, and therefore eat more to compensate, this is the first prospective evidence for this relationship... Using brain imaging and chocolate milkshakes, scientists have found that women with weakened 'reward circuitry' in their brains are at increased risk of weight gain over time and potential obesity. The risk increases even more for women who also have a gene associated with compromised dopamine signaling in the brain." (Science Daily)

Labels: Brain, Dopamine, Health, Obesity, Weight gain

10/16/2008 11:28:00 PM   •  

Is Your Bedroom Messy? 

What It Says about Your Political Leanings (Scientific American)

10/16/2008 10:50:00 PM   •  

You Stole Our Obama Sign 

(BuzzFeed)

10/16/2008 08:01:00 AM   •  

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

The God That Failed 

NYSE facade from Broad and Wall StreetsThe 30-Year Lie of the Market Cult:

"Perhaps the most striking fact revealed by the global financial crash -- or rather, by the reaction to it -- is the staggering, astonishing, gargantuan amount of money that the governments of the world have at their command.

In just a matter of days, we have seen literally trillions of dollars offered to the financial services sector by national treasuries and central banks across the globe. Britain alone has put $1 trillion at the disposal of the bankers, traders, lenders and speculators; and this has been surpassed by the total package of public money that Washington is shoveling into the financial furnaces of Wall Street and the banks. These radical efforts are being replicated on a slightly smaller scale in France, Germany, Italy, Russia and many other countries.

The effectiveness of this unprecedented transfer of wealth from ordinary citizens to the top tiers of the business world remains to be seen. It will certainly insulate the very rich from the consequences of their own greed and folly and fraud; but it is not at all clear how much these measures will shield the vast majority of people from the catastrophe that has been visited upon them by the elite." (Empire Burlesque)

Labels: Financial services, Wall Street

10/15/2008 11:08:00 PM   •  

Will globalization be reversed? 

Anti-globalisation protesters in Edinburgh
at the start of the G8 summitIt had occurred to me that the anti-globalization movement might be strengthened by the current finance crisis. Good to see that someone who might know a little more about macroeconomics has been thinking along the same lines: "Global integration, in large part, has been about the triumph of markets over governments. That process is now being reversed in three important ways." (Dani Rodrik's weblog: )

Labels: Globalization

10/15/2008 10:59:00 PM   •  

Evolution, why it still happens 

MiscarriageA response to Steve Jones' contention that human evolution is stopping:

"[M]ost people "know" that evolution is about "survival of the fittest" and that nature is red in tooth and claw. Therefore, it naturally stands to reason that when mortality declines evolution will be a weaker force. I think the problem here is that our conception of evolution is focused too greatly on proximate modes and large scale dynamics. That is, selective high mortality rates are a "common sense" way in which the "weak" can be weeded out from the "strong." But what about the extremely high human spontaneous abortion rates? Evolutionary biologist Mark Ridley has argued that increased miscarriage rates will "balance" out the fact that more individuals with deleterious mutations are reproducing today than in the past. Selection therefore occurs in utero; we don't observe it so it is not salient to us. But it is selection nonetheless." (Gene Expression Blog)

Labels: Evolution, Human evolution, Survival of the fittest

10/15/2008 10:56:00 PM   •  

How Rich Are You? 

Gericault's Portrait of a KleptomaniacGlobal Rich List: "Every year we gaze enviously at the lists of the richest people in world.
Wondering what it would be like to have that sort of cash. But where
would you sit on one of those lists? Here's your chance to find out."

(thanks, miguel)

10/15/2008 06:33:00 PM   •  

Aravind Adiga wins Booker prize 

Worthy winner? "So now we know. Aravind Adiga's The White Tiger has won this year's Booker prize.... The (Man) Booker has been around long enough for at least 10 kinds of winner to have become recognisable types. Let's review them, and work where the 2008 laureate belongs." (guardian.co.uk)

Labels: Aravind Adiga, Man Booker Prize, The White Tiger: A Novel

10/15/2008 10:37:00 AM   •  

Ficciones 

Which are the best books that never existed? (guardian.co.uk)

Labels: books, Literature

10/15/2008 10:29:00 AM   •  

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Ringo Rejects Fans 

...with "Peace and Love."
(Featured Video on BuzzFeed)

Labels: Beatles Ringo Starr

10/14/2008 01:53:00 PM   •  

Monday, October 13, 2008

Noonan, York, Toobin And Others Take Aim At McCain 

"With 22 days left before the voters hit the polls, conservative pundits and media commentators are scratching their heads over the lack of direction - indeed, the near schizophrenic judgment - of the McCain campaign.

Appearing at the Time Warner Summit conference on the 2008 election, a host of prominent electoral observers were all bearish on the Arizona Republican's presidential ambitions. Not one panelist took the chance to defend the Senator's choice of Sarah Palin as vice president. Others simply saw death by electoral numbers...

'Obama seems older in a way,' said [Peggy Noonan]. 'McCain has seemed herky-jerky. Obama has seemed like the older, steadier fellow since the economic crisis began.'" (HuffPo)

Labels: John McCain, Peggy Noonan

10/13/2008 06:06:00 PM   •  

Paul Krugman's 'Baby-sitting the economy' 

"Paul Krugman, who won the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences today for his work on international trade patterns, was the lead economics columnist for Slate from the magazine's launch in 1996 to 1999, when he became a columnist for the New York Times. His 'Dismal Science' column covered everything from puzzling economics of ticket scalping to the tenacity of supply-side economics in presidential campaigns. One particular favorite, which was included in Slate's 10th-anniversary anthology, is 'Baby-Sitting the Economy,' a column about what a failed baby-sitting cooperative in Washington, D.C., can teach us about a global economic crisis. The article is reprinted below."

Labels: Economy, NobelPrize, Paul Krugman

10/13/2008 05:58:00 PM   •  

Christopher Hitchens Endorses Obama 

McCain lacks the character and temperament to be president. And Palin is simply a disgrace.

"I used to nod wisely when people said: "Let's discuss issues rather than personalities." It seemed so obvious that in politics an issue was an issue and a personality was a personality, and that the more one could separate the two, the more serious one was. After all, in a debate on serious issues, any mention of the opponent's personality would be ad hominem at best and at worst would stoop as low as ad feminam.

...I used to call myself a single-issue voter on the essential question of defending civilization against its terrorist enemies and their totalitarian protectors, and on that "issue" I hope I can continue to expose and oppose any ambiguity. Obama is greatly overrated in my opinion, but the Obama-Biden ticket is not a capitulationist one, even if it does accept the support of the surrender faction, and it does show some signs of being able and willing to profit from experience. With McCain, the "experience" is subject to sharply diminishing returns, as is the rest of him, and with Palin the very word itself is a sick joke. One only wishes that the election could be over now and a proper and dignified verdict rendered, so as to spare democracy and civility the degradation to which they look like being subjected in the remaining days of a low, dishonest campaign." (Slate)

Labels: John McCain, Politics

10/13/2008 05:53:00 PM   •  

Does the free market corrode moral character? 

A Templeton Conversation: "This is the fourth in a series of conversations among leading scientists, scholars, and public figures about the 'Big Questions.'"

Labels: Templeton Conversation

10/13/2008 05:06:00 PM   •  

Mysterious New 'Dark Flow' Discovered in Space 

"As if the mysteries of dark matter and dark energy weren't vexing enough, another baffling cosmic puzzle has been discovered.

Patches of matter in the universe seem to be moving at very high speeds and in a uniform direction that can't be explained by any of the known gravitational forces in the observable universe. Astronomers are calling the phenomenon 'dark flow.'

The stuff that's pulling this matter must be outside the observable universe, researchers conclude." (space.com)

Labels: Cosmology, Dark energy, Dark matter

10/13/2008 04:51:00 PM   •  

How McCain Will Steal the Election from Obama (Sort Of) 

Tom Matzzie: "Imagine an election where one of the participants calls foul. Investigations are launched or at least called for. Prosecutors raise the specter of charges, the U.S. attorney and FBI get involved. No voter fraud is ever actually found. But by the time that conclusion is reached, the myth has been solidified both to soothe the loser's supporters and condemn the winner."(HuffPo)

Mazzie shows the specious reasoning in the allegation that ACORN committed voter fraud... but why the appearance of impropriety, fueled by the McCain campaign, may make the truth irrelevant:

"The stunning con of this whole thing is the assumption that bad voter registration cards being submitted will lead to vote fraud. If somebody submits a card for Mickey Mouse it isn't like Mr. Mouse is going to show up to vote. There is no voter fraud if nobody votes.

But the big story here is what the Right is doing. Their attacks on ACORN open up the door for two things.

First, the ACORN myth allows the Republicans to do more purging of the voter rolls--the process of removing people from the voter rolls because of arbitrary anomalies in the voter registration databases...

Second, in the event that campaigning, purging and intimidating voters doesn't work, the Right is creating a myth like they did in 1960. They are creating the myth of a stolen election..."

Labels: ACORN, Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, Election, Electoral fraud, Voter registration, Voting

10/13/2008 04:10:00 PM   •  

StupidFilter 

"In the beginning, the internet was a place where one could communicate intelligently with similarly erudite people. Then, Eternal September hit and we were lost in the noise. The advent of user-driven web content has compounded the matter yet further, straining our tolerance to the breaking point.

It's time to fight back.

The solution we're creating is simple: an open-source filter software that can detect rampant stupidity in written English. This will be accomplished with weighted Bayesian or similar analysis and some rules-based processing, similar to spam detection engines. The primary challenge inherent in our task is that stupidity is not a binary distinction, but rather a matter of degree. To this end, we're collecting a ranked corpus of stupid text, gleaned from user comments on public websites and ranked on a five-point scale.

Eventually, once the research is completed, we plan to release core engine source code for incorporation into content management systems, blogs, wikis and the like. Additionally, we plan to develop a fully implemented Firefox plugin and a Wordpress plugin."

10/13/2008 10:55:00 AM   •  

Sunday, October 12, 2008

Pennsylvania not a swing state anymore? 

Hockey mom Sarah Palin boo'd at Flyers hockey game. (YouTube)

10/12/2008 10:34:00 PM   •  

Not a Cough in a Carload: 

Images from the Tobacco Industry Campaign to Hide the Hazards of Smoking (Stanford via abby)

Related

• Vintage Cigarette Ad Exhibit Opens at NYPL
• Old Cigarette Ads Evoke Smoky Nostalgia
• Advertising: When Doctors, and Even Santa, Endorsed Tobacco

Labels: Hazards of Smoking, Health, Tobacco, Tobacco smoking

10/12/2008 01:21:00 AM   •