Wednesday, July 27, 2005
thanks...
thank you for your continued patience with my sporadic blogging. posts will continue on an infrequent basis (1-2 per week or so) until the beginning of september, when i will crush this exam like the little bug it is. blogging will then resume as normal.
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Thursday, July 21, 2005
nonprofit innovation
amazon.com has announced finalists for its nonprofit innovation award. just a few of the contenders:
the abundance and variety of nonprofits continues to amaze me. see related posts on missionfish and the nature conservancy.
- community voice mail - "provides free, 24-hour nationwide voice mail to people in crisis--connecting them to jobs, housing, and hope--a deceptively simple concept with extraordinary impact"
- donors choose - "a marketplace where teachers and individuals connect to give at-risk students the resources they need to learn"
- kickstart - "helps channel the entrepreneurial spirit of Africa to help people help themselves. The organization creates and markets simple tools that people use to generate income"
the abundance and variety of nonprofits continues to amaze me. see related posts on missionfish and the nature conservancy.
Labels: social
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IQ and dementia
not only do people with lower IQs die earlier, they also may be at greater risk for dementia.
if the correlation between IQ and life satisfaction is still statistically insignificant after factoring in attrition, it would illustrate an important point. although one may be no happier or satisfied with a higher IQ, this trait may lend other important benefits impacting well-being aside from satisfaction with life. IQ may be just like wealth, in that sense, providing a type of insurance against later dissatisfaction or unhappiness, although not impacting it directly.
if the correlation between IQ and life satisfaction is still statistically insignificant after factoring in attrition, it would illustrate an important point. although one may be no happier or satisfied with a higher IQ, this trait may lend other important benefits impacting well-being aside from satisfaction with life. IQ may be just like wealth, in that sense, providing a type of insurance against later dissatisfaction or unhappiness, although not impacting it directly.
Labels: well being
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Wednesday, July 20, 2005
john roberts as justice
in addition to looking like a zombie, something i suppose he can't help, john roberts seems like mostly bad news to me. randy barnett is not reassuring, either, although not completely dismissive:
In his distinguished career, he has somehow managed not to give a speech or write an article that reveals the core of his judicial philosophy. As a result, we simply have no idea what to expect from him other than "well-crafted" opinions, and are unlikely to find out.i have little legal expertise, but am skeptical, especially after readings his take on a few positions (anti-choice, pro-state sponsored prayer, pro-unjustified police searches). for what it's worth, i have little confidence in this president to pick otherwise.
Labels: political
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my mondrian
piet mondrian is one of my favorite artists, so i got a bit excited when i saw this. check out mydata=mymondrian, a digital art piece created by c. j. yeh.mydata uses your specs to create a personalized mondrian artwork. i'm not sure what, if anything, he does with the data, but the concept is kind of cool.
i have linked to this before, but check out this create-your-own mondrian site.
Labels: personal
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Monday, July 18, 2005
smartness and satisfaction
british researchers have found no correlation between IQ and self-reported life satisfaction as one ages. the longitudinal study, which measured IQ at 11 and 79 years old, asked participants about both their current life satisfaction and regrets.
notwithstanding flaws with self-report data, this indicates that as a senior, IQ may do little to enhance satisfaction. this makes sense as, i imagine, IQ isn't related to health or companionship, more prominent factors in senior satisfaction.
importantly, it also shows that IQ is unrelated to one's satisfaction with her life decisions. the study posits that IQ must be unrelated, then, to good and bad decisions in life. although this rings true to some extent from my experience, as i know a lot of "smart" people who make very bad decisions, it may not be the full answer. perhaps people with lower IQs make more bad decisions, but are unable to recognize them or envision better alternatives for comparison.
a significant problem with this study - that i'm surprised the journal article didn't mention - is attrition, as people with lower IQs die earlier.
so does this mean that the tables are leveled? not necessarily. many psychologists believe that there are several types of intelligence, and that IQ measures only one. it's still unclear how other kinds relate to life satisfaction.
hat tip to world of psychology.
reference: alan j gow, martha c whiteman, alison pattie, lawrence whalley, john starr, and ian j deary. lifetime intellectual function and satisfaction with life in old age: longitudinal cohort study. british medical journal , jul 2005; 331: 141 - 142
notwithstanding flaws with self-report data, this indicates that as a senior, IQ may do little to enhance satisfaction. this makes sense as, i imagine, IQ isn't related to health or companionship, more prominent factors in senior satisfaction.
importantly, it also shows that IQ is unrelated to one's satisfaction with her life decisions. the study posits that IQ must be unrelated, then, to good and bad decisions in life. although this rings true to some extent from my experience, as i know a lot of "smart" people who make very bad decisions, it may not be the full answer. perhaps people with lower IQs make more bad decisions, but are unable to recognize them or envision better alternatives for comparison.
a significant problem with this study - that i'm surprised the journal article didn't mention - is attrition, as people with lower IQs die earlier.
so does this mean that the tables are leveled? not necessarily. many psychologists believe that there are several types of intelligence, and that IQ measures only one. it's still unclear how other kinds relate to life satisfaction.
hat tip to world of psychology.
reference: alan j gow, martha c whiteman, alison pattie, lawrence whalley, john starr, and ian j deary. lifetime intellectual function and satisfaction with life in old age: longitudinal cohort study. british medical journal , jul 2005; 331: 141 - 142
Labels: decision making, well being
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Sunday, July 17, 2005
APA amazes again
hold the presses!
i will try not to be too sarcastic about this press release by the american psychological association:
i will try not to be too sarcastic about this press release by the american psychological association:
"This study shows that parent training is the most effective tool in dealing with conduct disorder," he said. "We compared a great number of variables and there was not a single condition where a treatment without parent training was more effective."perhaps they don't have kids in that ivory tower?
Labels: misc. psych, social
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Friday, July 15, 2005
which brain prefers the french fries?
anorexic and obese women's brains look differently, at least in their dopaminergic centers. dopamine is the "reward" drug of the brain, and anorexics may have more of it than normal women. obese women seem to have even less.
there are benefits, to be sure, but in what ways could this impact individual responsibility? to the extent that these scans can be made accurate, knowing one's brain biology may alleviate any guilt felt by either stripe, and make each feel helpless and less inclined to improve. why fight biology, after all?
for those without the disorder, i wonder to what extent knowing one is prone to anorexia or obesity will become a self-fulfilling prophecy.
The findings support the possibility that dopamine binding might be inversely related to weight and eating with anorexia on one end, and obesity on the other end of the spectrum.in addition to the benefits of clearer diagnosis, this indicates that we can tell who is prone to either malady early on. brain scans may be able to aid preventative counseling and help parents on the look-out for warning signs. scans could also help individuals become more aware of their proclivities and be proactive themselves.
there are benefits, to be sure, but in what ways could this impact individual responsibility? to the extent that these scans can be made accurate, knowing one's brain biology may alleviate any guilt felt by either stripe, and make each feel helpless and less inclined to improve. why fight biology, after all?
for those without the disorder, i wonder to what extent knowing one is prone to anorexia or obesity will become a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Labels: neuroscience
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taking history seriously
these chinese entrepreneurs are taking history seriously:
forcing establishments to discriminate, as with mandatory affirmative action, jim crow laws, or even - dare i say it - a smoking ban, has detestable outcomes that definitely exclude people from the market. however, one restaurant selecting its own policies for admittance seems perfectly reasonable to me.
Staff at the Western-style restaurant were told to ask Japanese customers who walked through the door to give their views of Japan's 1931-1945 occupation of parts of China....
staff are told to deny entrance to japanese patrons who did not recognize and apologize for the occupation, which a war crimes tribunal found killed 155,000 chinese.
you can call this unfair discrimination, but the restaurateurs see it otherwise:"We totally welcome those Japanese customers who can correctly view history," the manager, surnamed Tian, was quoted as saying."But as for those customers who still refuse to admit to history, we want to say we don't like them."what better way to do that than to deny entrance to their establishment?
forcing establishments to discriminate, as with mandatory affirmative action, jim crow laws, or even - dare i say it - a smoking ban, has detestable outcomes that definitely exclude people from the market. however, one restaurant selecting its own policies for admittance seems perfectly reasonable to me.
Labels: social
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beware the hedgehogs
today someone found this blog by searching for the phrase "hedgehogs are taking over the world save the monkeys!!!!!!!!!" in yahoo. i am number 4. love search engines. it is not clear whether this indicates that hedgehogs are taking over the world to save the monkeys, or are taking over in some kind of hog-simian alliance. anyway, stay tuned for more news on that.
in google, searching "hedgehogs in space" brings you here as well. hedgehogs in space is actually a hedgehog breeding operation run by two psychology graduate students, lending more evidence to my theory that psych grads may be the strangest breed of grad student ever.
in google, searching "hedgehogs in space" brings you here as well. hedgehogs in space is actually a hedgehog breeding operation run by two psychology graduate students, lending more evidence to my theory that psych grads may be the strangest breed of grad student ever.
Labels: personal
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Wednesday, July 13, 2005
MIT survey
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IHS seminar
agoraphilia is blogging the IHS summer seminar, liberty & society, going on right now in claremont, california. all the seminar faculty are co-bloggers for the week. check it out.
Labels: economics
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making fierce mice nice
this experiment is one step on the road to discovering the extent of the biology's influence on pathological behavior, so it's worth a mention...
mice without a particular neural receptor display pathologically violent behavior, even killing their mates. this indicates that some kinds of violent behavior in normal mice are related to this receptor, whose presence and activity is genetically regulated.
scientists recently created mice with a human form of this receptor. although they lacked their species' receptor, just as the above mice did, they acted normally. this illustrates that the human receptor serves a homologous function, pinpointing one locus that relates to violent behavior in humans. moreover, it suggests that some pathological behaviors in humans may be linked to the gene for this receptor, a gene that has already been linked, i believe, to other abnormal behaviors such as those categorized under bi-polar disorder.
mice without a particular neural receptor display pathologically violent behavior, even killing their mates. this indicates that some kinds of violent behavior in normal mice are related to this receptor, whose presence and activity is genetically regulated.
scientists recently created mice with a human form of this receptor. although they lacked their species' receptor, just as the above mice did, they acted normally. this illustrates that the human receptor serves a homologous function, pinpointing one locus that relates to violent behavior in humans. moreover, it suggests that some pathological behaviors in humans may be linked to the gene for this receptor, a gene that has already been linked, i believe, to other abnormal behaviors such as those categorized under bi-polar disorder.
Labels: well being
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Tuesday, July 12, 2005
don't believe everything you read
in science journals, at least. from world of psychology, a survey of researchers for the national institutes of health:
update: on a related note, amanda dissects a meta-study on the reliability of well-cited studies and other misinterpretations of science.
Although less than 2 per cent owned up to fraud, falsification or plagiarism, less serious misdeeds were widespread: 15.5 per cent admitted changing the design, methodology or results of a study to suit a sponsor, and 6 per cent admitted suppressing data. More than a quarter owned up to inadequate record keeping, and 10 per cent confessed to inappropriately giving credit to an author (Nature, vol 435, p 737).read on.
update: on a related note, amanda dissects a meta-study on the reliability of well-cited studies and other misinterpretations of science.
Labels: misc. psych
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Monday, July 11, 2005
public service from the ssa
tonight i found an interesting toy sponsored by our friendly social security administration (they are my target this evening, it seems).
the site holds baby name records from 1880 to 2004 and has some neat search functions.
my name was 516th most popular in my birth year. it is ranked 849th now. my grandmother's name, florence, was ranked 14th when she was born and is now 956th. the current top names, emily and jacob, have been number one since 1996 and 1999, respectively. i feel an upset coming on this year!
check your name.
i'm going to file this under cool stuff and creative use of public funds.
the site holds baby name records from 1880 to 2004 and has some neat search functions.
my name was 516th most popular in my birth year. it is ranked 849th now. my grandmother's name, florence, was ranked 14th when she was born and is now 956th. the current top names, emily and jacob, have been number one since 1996 and 1999, respectively. i feel an upset coming on this year!
check your name.
i'm going to file this under cool stuff and creative use of public funds.
Labels: political
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social security rant, especially from me
this month i received my very first social security statement, "prepared especially for" me. i felt so special! the social security administration thought especially of me and prepared me a statement! i have a few things to say about that.first, i must ask the point. is there anything in particular i can do about said statement? no. more than 156 million people are required to pay social security dues (many who will never get a cent back, by the way, like noncitizens). do all 156 million get these "especially prepared" statements periodically? sounds, um, expensive.
second, the administration felt it prudent to print only the last four digits of my social security number "to help prevent identity theft," i suppose on the assumption that our state-run monopoly postal service might lose some mail this year. however, they thought it would be okay to print my birth date and taxable earnings from 1999 on. i'm glad my private information is safe in their hands.
third, i don't need reminded of how much money they are sucking from my paycheck, money that could instead invest. i'm fairly sure that, even if social security stays solvent, i'm losing out. i don't care to be reminded about it by a smug personalized statement.
the last section is entitled, "help us keep your earnings record accurate." to that, i say, "fuck you. my records are none of your business."
Labels: political
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postal service in action
lost something in the mail? maybe you can buy it back. i stumbled upon a site entitled "guide to federal government sales - US postal service", which details how one can buy "a wide variety of items that have been lost in the mail" via government auction.
if you can't find your own stuff for sale, maybe you can buy someone else's. the site advertises that "the merchandise may include clocks, televisions, radios, tape recorders, jewelry, VCRs, and clothing." sounds great.
i'm glad there's a great incentive structure in place so that the postal service is not profiting from their mistakes. wait...
if you can't find your own stuff for sale, maybe you can buy someone else's. the site advertises that "the merchandise may include clocks, televisions, radios, tape recorders, jewelry, VCRs, and clothing." sounds great.
i'm glad there's a great incentive structure in place so that the postal service is not profiting from their mistakes. wait...
Labels: political
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no blue brains here
the brain is always compared to the most sophisticated technology. right now, it's computers. the new project blue brain is an attempt to model the mammalian cerebral cortex's neocortical columns using one of the fastest computers on the world (it's the size of four refrigerators).
this project is ultracool and i want to like it. however, computational analysis, no matter how fast, does not accurately simulate the brain's processing capabilities. even if technology could mimic over one million parallel neural columns, the computational structure is entirely different. it will not give is the "correct answers," just as the fastest and most sophisticated telephone switchboard, another old brain analogy, would not have.
coincidentally, yesterday i came across not only an article on blue brain (thanks dr. greider), but also an article stating that "human brain is no computer":
may a next-generation synthetic processor someday be able to do this? maybe, but i won't hold my breath. we should instead spend our time and money working with the best processor there is - the actual brain.
this project is ultracool and i want to like it. however, computational analysis, no matter how fast, does not accurately simulate the brain's processing capabilities. even if technology could mimic over one million parallel neural columns, the computational structure is entirely different. it will not give is the "correct answers," just as the fastest and most sophisticated telephone switchboard, another old brain analogy, would not have.
coincidentally, yesterday i came across not only an article on blue brain (thanks dr. greider), but also an article stating that "human brain is no computer":
Upsetting a long-held theory, Cornell University scientists say the mind works in a continuous, dynamic process, not in a series of distinct stages like a computer.the point of blue brain is to, within three years, be able to use it as an animal-free medical model to test psychopharm drugs. peta would be proud, but i worry about basing any judgments on an inherently flawed model. blue brain may be able to display some of the outputs of a brain, like deep blue did to beat kasparov, but the inner workings are completely different.
may a next-generation synthetic processor someday be able to do this? maybe, but i won't hold my breath. we should instead spend our time and money working with the best processor there is - the actual brain.
Labels: neuroscience
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Sunday, July 10, 2005
ban the ban success!
this weekend, ban the ban had modest success at polly's cafe, with around three-fifths of the patrons signing. we (the "three amigos") encountered an odd species in their habitat: pro-ban smokers, a species i naively assumed didn't exist. our mission was not to argue or convert, but some of these folks voluntarily offered up several explanations for their seemingly controdictory behaviors. the pro-ban smokers i talked to either:
speaking of the smoking ban, see greg's, um, interesting analysis of the psychology of politicians pushing it...
thanks to brooke for putting the whole thing together and doing all the work.
update: adrienne critiques ban justifications she encountered. she also mentions the server my compatriots encountered at polly's who was for the ban. i'd post a response on her comments but they're not working, so here's what i have to say about that. we tried to explain that there are plenty of jobs available in smoke-free environments in this city. he eventually agreed, but said they weren’t in what he wanted to do – wait tables. lots of people have the impression that the government needs to step in and make the market cater to them specifically, but it shouldn’t, and can’t, do that for everybody! i want to work in an establishment where no one uses swear words because they cause me extreme psychological and spiritual distress. is it the government’s job to create that ideal environment for me? NO!
- don't want to smell like smoke,
- think the ban will make them smoke less, or
- don't believe it will affect their lives.
speaking of the smoking ban, see greg's, um, interesting analysis of the psychology of politicians pushing it...
thanks to brooke for putting the whole thing together and doing all the work.
update: adrienne critiques ban justifications she encountered. she also mentions the server my compatriots encountered at polly's who was for the ban. i'd post a response on her comments but they're not working, so here's what i have to say about that. we tried to explain that there are plenty of jobs available in smoke-free environments in this city. he eventually agreed, but said they weren’t in what he wanted to do – wait tables. lots of people have the impression that the government needs to step in and make the market cater to them specifically, but it shouldn’t, and can’t, do that for everybody! i want to work in an establishment where no one uses swear words because they cause me extreme psychological and spiritual distress. is it the government’s job to create that ideal environment for me? NO!
Labels: personal
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Friday, July 08, 2005
help bar power
ban the ban, DC's movement to stop the DC smoking ban, is taking to the streets tonight. we'll be out collecting signatures to show the DC council that bar patrons don't want the ban.
locations:
on a similar note, last night i was at clarendon ballroom, a bar in arlington, for the first time (sober). it turns out it's smoke-free - voluntarily! imagine that.
locations:
- the big hunt (6-8:30pm)
- garrett’s in georgetown (6:30-9pm)
- local 16 (6:30-9pm)
- polly’s cafe(8-10pm)
- stetson’s (8-10pm)
- 18th street lounge (9-11pm)
- dragonfly (9-11pm)
- the red room at the black cat (9-11pm)
- DC-9 (9-11pm)
on a similar note, last night i was at clarendon ballroom, a bar in arlington, for the first time (sober). it turns out it's smoke-free - voluntarily! imagine that.
Labels: personal
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Thursday, July 07, 2005
blind date?
no, it's not just an awesome reality tv show. dans le noir's clientele in paris, london, berlin, and zurich are kept completely in the dark during their meal, according to the AP. clever way to skirt "waiter, is that a fly in my soup?" incidents, or a public statement?
the owner says he began the restaurant chain because of an interest in corporate social responsibility, but although blind servers assist customers, it's no charity:
the owner says he began the restaurant chain because of an interest in corporate social responsibility, but although blind servers assist customers, it's no charity:
...de Broglie's policy is based on profit. Other members of staff can see.i know where i'll be dining on my next trip to europe!
"I don't hire people because they're blind but because they're better in their job than people who are not blind. I wouldn't put them in the kitchen, because it's a dangerous place for them," he said.
Labels: social
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spyware: markets in action
internet users are punishing websites that lob spyware and adware at their visitors, a new study from pew research center says.
the study states that "three-quarters of Internet users do not always read user agreements and other disclaimers where spyware and adware are sometimes disclosed." despite this ignorance, the study indicates that nearly all (91%) internet users have made some kind of behavioral change to avoid deleterious unsolicited programs. half of all surveyed users have stopped visiting sites they feel may harbor such programs and a quarter no longer use file-sharing software for the same reason. many have made a switch to mozilla firefox or other IE alternatives, and 81% are cautious about email attachments.
the study states that "three-quarters of Internet users do not always read user agreements and other disclaimers where spyware and adware are sometimes disclosed." despite this ignorance, the study indicates that nearly all (91%) internet users have made some kind of behavioral change to avoid deleterious unsolicited programs. half of all surveyed users have stopped visiting sites they feel may harbor such programs and a quarter no longer use file-sharing software for the same reason. many have made a switch to mozilla firefox or other IE alternatives, and 81% are cautious about email attachments.
Labels: economics
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Tuesday, July 05, 2005
revenge digs two footers - er - graves
on a related note, check out bureaucrash realty (PDF) designed by my favorite nomad. the best quote:
but for those lacking a sense of humor, i should say that as a species in general, flying hedgehogs usually do not support eminent domain, for revenge or otherwise. it's funny to mention, but certainly not to do. the law is a serious institution and shouldn't be used to punish someone just because his or her interpretation is unpopular.
update: jacob sticks up for lost liberty (hotel) in a well-written post.
Ruth Bader Ginsburg enjoys her home but there is one thing she likes more: Economic Development.ah, satire.
but for those lacking a sense of humor, i should say that as a species in general, flying hedgehogs usually do not support eminent domain, for revenge or otherwise. it's funny to mention, but certainly not to do. the law is a serious institution and shouldn't be used to punish someone just because his or her interpretation is unpopular.
update: jacob sticks up for lost liberty (hotel) in a well-written post.
Labels: political
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