There is a difference between tradition and rigid lack of common sense.
Saturday, February 27, 2010
Court stenographers alone make no sense
As another example of how inertia makes people do things that make no sense, the way notes are taken in court and other venues makes no sense. Of course we want typed transcripts, but since audio and video recording have dropped in cost to nearly nothing, why audio and video recording are not also made makes no sense whatsoever. But then why do judges still wear powdered wigs and black robes?
Friday, February 26, 2010
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Atmospheric blocking
Atmospheric blocking occurs 20-40 times each year and usually lasts 8-11 days ... blocking can trigger dangerous conditions, such as a 2003 European heat wave that caused 40,000 deaths. Blocking usually results when a powerful, high-pressure area gets stuck in one place and ... fronts behind them are blocked. Lupo believes that heat sources, such as radiation, condensation, and surface heating and cooling, have a significant role in a blocking's onset and duration. Therefore, planetary warming could increase the frequency and impact of atmospheric blocking.
http://www.physorg.com/news185719909.html
Friday, February 19, 2010
Bravo, Roger!
Every time I read a review by Roger Ebert at the Internet Movie Database (imdb.com) I am amazed. He treats every movie as if it were fine literature... and what comes out of his pen can only be produced by love.
"The deep irony here is that all of our relationships in the real world are exactly like that, even without the benefit of Solaris. We do not know the actual other person. What we know is the sum of everything we think we know about them. Even empathy is perhaps of no use; we think it helps us understand how other people feel, but maybe it only tells us how we would feel, if we were them."
One of my favorites is his review of the recent remake of Solaris:
"The deep irony here is that all of our relationships in the real world are exactly like that, even without the benefit of Solaris. We do not know the actual other person. What we know is the sum of everything we think we know about them. Even empathy is perhaps of no use; we think it helps us understand how other people feel, but maybe it only tells us how we would feel, if we were them."
Have fun, Roger!
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Some randomness in gene expression
Some of this variation may be due to environmental factors and the influence of other genes, but not all: It has been shown that genetically identical organisms living in the same environment can show variability in some incompletely penetrant traits.
...
"It's not just nature or nurture," says Alexander van Oudenaarden, leader of the research team and a professor of physics and biology at MIT. "There is a random component to this. Molecules bounce around and find each other probabilistically. It doesn't work like clockwork."
Monday, February 15, 2010
K D Lang
Hallelujah
Back in 1994, when lang was a surprise guest on Tony Bennett: MTV Unplugged, Bennettintroduced her by saying she was in a league of singers who are "blessed with a destiny."
"The three that come to mind: Billie Holiday,Edith Piaf, Hank Williams," Bennett said. "It goes beyond success. It becomes immortal.
...
The singer says her mom was determined to give music lessons to her four children.
"Every week on Thursday — and this is in the middle of Alberta in the winter — she would work all day and then drive four kids 60 miles one way through blizzards, and then sit there for two hours while we each had our half-hour lesson," lang says. "And then drive all the way back. We wouldn't get back 'til 7 o'clock. And she did that for maybe 20 years."
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=123416193
Sunday, February 14, 2010
Saturday, February 13, 2010
Morality and religion
"For some, there is no morality without religion, while others see religion as merely one way of expressing one's moral intuitions."
Citing several studies in moral psychology, the authors highlight the finding that despite differences in, or even an absence of, religious backgrounds, individuals show no difference in moral judgments for unfamiliar moral dilemmas. The research suggests that intuitive judgments of right and wrong seem to operate independently of explicit religious commitments.
http://www.physorg.com/news184857515.html
Religious people are more likely than the non-religious to engage in prosocial behaviour – acts that benefit others at a personal cost – when it enhances the individual's reputation or when religious thoughts are freshly activated in the person's mind...
- Empirical data ... suggests there is more cooperation among religious societies than the non-religious, especially when group survival is under threat
-- Economic experiments indicate that religiosity increases levels of trust among participants
-- Psychology experiments show that thoughts of an omniscient, morally concerned God reduce levels of cheating and selfish behaviour
...
"One reason we now have large, cooperative societies may be that some aspects of religion – such as outsourcing costly social policing duties to all-powerful Gods – made societies work more cooperatively in the past."
...
The study also points out that in today's world religion has no monopoly on kind and generous behaviour. In many findings, non-believers acted as prosocially as believers. The last several hundred years has seen the rise of non-religious institutional mechanisms that include effective policing, courts and social surveillance.
"Some of the most cooperative modern societies are also the most secular," says Norenzayan. "People have found other ways to be cooperative – without God."
http://www.physorg.com/news142174482.html
Vancouver Olympics
And so, for a few moments, the world is joyous and bright, and we glimpse what we could be all the time and forever...
They may be three hours of prerecorded music and national schmaltz, a made-for-television spectacle that verges on becoming a religious rite instead of a mere celebration of sports. But unless you've actually seen one in person or marched in one, you can't really grasp the enormity of what is happening during the opening ceremonies when the world gathers for the Games.
Monday, February 8, 2010
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
Perhaps the most fascinating story of the 20th century, and the foundation of the 21st. What Henrietta Lacks gave and continues to give to all humanity was known to only a few, and who she was was known to fewer still, but this superb book and audiobook will make her unforgettable. Love and tears, sacrifice and heartbreak, caring and unkindness, in a world long gone and yet still here. You will learn what she has done for each and every one of us, and you will be amazed.
Aloha, Henrietta, aloha.
Scroll down for interviews with the author and pictures.
The Hayflick limit and other aspects of long life
Saturday, February 6, 2010
The Solar Dynamics Observatory
The Sun is a variable star.
We need to understand solar dynamics for many reasons.
Changes in solar output can affect climate.
Solar storms can fry satellites, endanger astronauts, and cause huge blackouts.
In 1859, there was a HUGE solar flare directed at Earth. For a few minutes, the brightness of the Sun doubled. When the coronal mass ejection reached Earth hours later, auroras were seen as far south as Hawaii and Cuba; telegraph equipment caught fire.
If this were to happen now, it would be catastrophic.
It was a once-in-500-year event, so not very rare...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_storm_of_1859
http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/mystery_monday_031027.html
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/do-not-adjust-your-sets-solar-storms-could-cause-blackouts-at-olympics-1887630.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_storm_of_1859
http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/mystery_monday_031027.html
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/do-not-adjust-your-sets-solar-storms-could-cause-blackouts-at-olympics-1887630.html
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Completely the opposite
And I would add that addresses are written from the largest to the smallest.
COUNTRY
Zipcode
Prefecture City
District number-number-number
Name of building
Person to whom the letter is addressed
so
JAPAN
111-1111
Hokkaido Yukimura
Yukicho 1-2-3
Snow Hall
John Smith Mr.
Einstein letter up for auction
"The word god is for me nothing more than the expression and product of human weaknesses, the Bible a collection of honourable, but still primitive legends which are nevertheless pretty childish. No interpretation no matter how subtle can (for me) change this."
"For me the Jewish religion like all others is an incarnation of the most childish superstitions. And the Jewish people to whom I gladly belong and with whose mentality I have a deep affinity have no different quality for me than all other people. As far as my experience goes, they are no better than other human groups, although they are protected from the worst cancers by a lack of power. Otherwise I cannot see anything 'chosen' about them."
Albert Einstein
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2008/may/12/peopleinscience.religion
Half of adults are vitamin D deficient
http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/02/01/the-miracle-of-vitamin-d-sound-science-or-hype/?em
Each of us really needs to go out in direct sunlight at least 10 minutes per day or go to a tanning salon for about 15 minutes once a week. We also need to eat oily fish like sardines and mackerel at least a couple of times a week.
Howard Zinn
A brief excerpt from his book. The audiobook, excerpts from the book, read by Matt Damon, is superb.
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