Culture
razib | January 28, 2009There are now some articles which are detailing the other Ponzi schemes which are coming out in the wake of l'affaire Madoff. One thing that is notable: the next biggest scam is an order of magnitude less significant. That is, while Bernie Madoff's scam was on the scale of billions, the next ones in the rank order are on the scale of hundreds of millions. If you haven't read The New York Times's piece which speculates on the psychological roots of Bernie Madoff's skill at extracting money from the wealthy, you should read it. It's nothing surprising, most people I've discussed the details…
sheril | January 28, 2009
By the time this post publishes, I'll be on the open road somewhere between the Atlantic and Pacific. I'm leaving NC a couple months to circle the states for meetings, talks, and some fun along the way. Stopping soon at UT Austin before heading west to USC where I'm looking forward to catching up with Clifford. Then up Rt. 1, and Chicago by the AAAS annual meeting for the Valentine's Day Science Of Kissing symposium. Eventually, hitting up the northeast for a few weeks before looping back to Durham. I'm bringing this dandy little camera called The Flip along for the ride, so while…
cmooney | January 28, 2009Here it is:
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The Colbert ReportMon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Obama's New Science Policy - Chris Mooney
Colbert Report Full EpisodesColbert Report Tickets
Paul McCartney AppearanceMore Funny Videos
I'll have more to say about the whole experience in my next column....thanks to everyone who wrote in with positive words about the segment.
sheril | January 27, 2009
Over the past decade, I've spent many weekends camping in Boone, North Carolina. It's a lovely place with rolling mountains and excellent BBQ. The town itself is features all sorts of unusual shops where you can make your own hemp jewelery, admire blown glass, and there's also a particular bookshop known for mysticism and alternative cures. Once, I even found Cat Artists & Their Work in there. Needless to say, it's an interesting store.
It was in that bookshop where I first learned about December 21, 2012. The date marks the end of a 5,126-year cycle on a Mayan calendar and--as the…
razib | January 27, 2009Extremely readable OA paper in PNAS, Behavioral experiments on biased voting in networks:
Many distributed collective decision-making processes must balance diverse individual preferences with a desire for collective unity. We report here on an extensive session of behavioral experiments on biased voting in networks of individuals. In each of 81 experiments, 36 human subjects arranged in a virtual network were financially motivated to reach global consensus to one of two opposing choices. No payments were made unless the entire population reached a unanimous decision within 1 min, but…
sheril | January 26, 2009While Chris is overhead somewhere flying to New York, I want to remind readers to tune in and watch him on The Colbert Report tonight! He'll be discussing the 'war on science' and how the Obama administration can fix it.
And for those who just can't wait until then, here's Chris on The Daily Show to tide you over:
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The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c
Chris Mooney
Barack Obama InterviewJohn McCain Interview
Sarah Palin VideoFunny Election Video
sheril | January 26, 2009
Four hundred years ago, my hometown sure looked different to Henry Hudson...
This image from the New York Times provides interesting perspective on how times--and culture--have changed in Manhattan.
drorzel | January 25, 2009In his inaugural address, President Obama pledged to "restore science to its rightful place." Following up on that, the Corporate Masters have launched the Rightful Place Project, asking bloggers, readers, and scientists to define the rightful place of science.
Many of these responses will focus on narrow matters of policy, but as many have said with regard to the economic crisis, this is no time for timid measures. It's a time for big thoughts and bold action. With that in mind, here's my take on the question of science's rightful place, which, in the end, boils down to defining what science…
sheril | January 25, 2009Sb has a new guy who calls himself SciencePunk (aka 'Frank Swain'). He's from the UK and claims a history of 'making zines, being a filthy scenester, stage-managing burlesque shows, climbing buildings, hanging out with strippers, arguing the toss and generally being a force for good.'
I haven't followed his stuff, but the way this reads, we'll either get on like old friends from Gilman Street or fight like hipsters for the last pair of black rimmed glasses. So welcome to the Sb blogosphere Swain. As for our online relationship, only time will tell...
But for now, this goes out to you:
amillikan | January 24, 2009
Monday, January 26, ScienceBlogger Chris Mooney will be a guest on The Colbert Report, hosted by the one and only Stephen Colbert on Comedy Central. Mooney and Colbert will discuss Bush's "war on science" and how the Obama administration can change the scientific climate in America.
Mooney is a contributor to The Intersection where he blogs with Sheril Kirshenbaum. Together, the two have co-authored a book titled "Unscientific America: How Science Illiteracy Threatens Our Future." The book hasn't been released yet, but you just can't get enough of Chris Mooney, you can pre-order the book…
amillikan | January 24, 2009In his inaugural address January 20, President Obama made a promise to America to "restore science to its rightful place." At Seed Media Group, we are firmly committed to President Obama's vision and will work to make it a reality. To this end, we have launched a new initiative we're calling The Rightful Place Project, to invite a national discussion around the President's idea of a "rightful place" for science. Come join in.
sheril | January 24, 2009
In two days, my favorite co-blogger will be appearing on Comedy Central's The Colbert Report to discuss the 'war on science' and how the Obama administration can fix it. With the nation abuzz over the stimulus package, melting ice shelves, and new cabinet appointments, it's a timely subject, no?
Chris has already shared some ideas at Slate.com and during his recent Bloggingheads diavlog with Carl Zimmer. It's also a topic and we explore comprehensively in Unscientific America: How Scientific Illiteracy Threatens Our Future.
So with a lot more to come, tune in Monday night!
sheril | January 23, 2009Science bloggers are still abuzz over Wednesday's discussion of women in academia and now Razib (one of my very favorite sciblings) has taken the topic one step further. He collected data on the mean number of hours worked last week broken down by sex and compared that with the number of children per individual. I always enjoy reading Razib's amusing analyses (and justified reason to link great flicks from the 80s):
As you can see, the more children women have, the fewer hours they
worked last week (on average). Women are primary care givers, no
surprise. On the other hand, you can see a…
razib | January 22, 2009Sheril has a post up, On Sacrificing Reproductive Fitness For Career Advancement..., which makes a common sense point:
Angier references a recent survey of 160,000 Ph.D. recipients that found 70 percent of male tenured professors were married with children while only 44 percent of their female counterparts were. Further, twelve years or more after receiving doctorates, tenured women were more than "twice as likely as tenured men to be single and significantly more likely to be divorced." Another California study reported nearly double the number of female faculty agree with the statement, "I…
sheril | January 22, 2009
My post yesterday on women in the academic workforce not only sparked some great comments, but also several interesting emails. One in particular got me thinking and with the author's permission, I have decided to pose his concern to readers:
Sheril,
Your piece this morning is closely related to my current situation and I'm not sure how to navigate these waters. I am a 3rd year PhD student in fisheries science at a public university in New England, the lone male in our cohort and very sensitive to the challenges facing women in academia through the awesome women sharing my office. None of…
razib | January 20, 2009In the comments about the term Judeo-Christian the Marcionite tendencies of liberal Christianity was mentioned. Sometimes I have encountered the idea that a rejection of the Hebrew Bible within Christianity naturally results in Anti-Semitism (granted, the argument is often from neconservatives who are attempting to solidify the evangelical-neocon alliance). I decided to look into the GSS.
Fundamentalist
Moderate
Liberal
Relative to marry a Jew?
Strongly favor
10.4
13.2
15.2
Favor
15.8
16.3
13.2
Neither
54.7
57.5
59.4
Oppose
11.4
9.2
9.0
Strongly oppose
7.7
3.8
3.2…
sheril | January 20, 2009
"For we know that our patchwork heritage is a strength, not a weakness.
We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus -- and
nonbelievers. We are shaped by every language and culture, drawn from
every end of this Earth; and because we have tasted the bitter swill of
civil war and segregation, and emerged from that dark chapter stronger
and more united, we cannot help but believe that the old hatreds shall
someday pass; that the lines of tribe shall soon dissolve; that as the
world grows smaller, our common humanity shall reveal itself; and that
America must play its role in…
sheril | January 20, 2009
With inauguration day in mind, there is no doubt President Obama has made excellent choices for his science and energy team, but as I wrote over at DeSmog, do not declare victory quite yet... There are also signs that the administration could falter when it comes to dealing with global warming in the strongest possible fashion. In particular, other high level picks suggest there may be serious impending battles in the White House over climate policy. Here is an excerpt:
While global warming may be the world's greatest threat, the climate in Washington, DC is probably tepid at best…
sheril | January 19, 2009Saturday at ScienceOnline '09, Seed's
family in attendance gathered for a group portrait. Ghostly images are
the pseudonymous among us, but you can spot your resident blogger
peering up from the middle. See how many other SciBlings you recognize:
razib | January 19, 2009The End of Banking as We Know It:
The bright side is that all those displaced financial services professionals can now set their sights on doing something, well, truly useful.
Still, this adjustment will be painful for all those who have to carve out new careers, as well as for New York and other places these companies call home.
Finally, what will a humbled financial services industry mean for consumers? Higher borrowing costs, Mr. Miller said.
"The leverage that these companies were using allowed them to lower their rates," he said. "Rates have to go higher for the banks to operate in a…