Saturday roundup (featuring whales)

What ails India's economy.

The defense barrages the Naval Academy rape survivor.

Whales can get suntanned and sunburned, too. While we're on the topic, some science on whale and dolphin communication. And here are your whale videos (they're shaky so prepare for the Blair Witch effect):

Here's some periodic table history.

Fantastic commentary on how there's more to the world than math:

Physics’ capacity for universal mathematical laws, doesn’t yet fit all of life.

The mathocentric faith of Galileo’s disciples can be unwise. Wisdom means knowing how to choose rightly, for example picking the thinking tool fittest for each task. Economists who rely mainly on numbers to define rational behavior unwisely ignore that we aren’t by nature calculators. Math takes training. Maximizing narrow monetary self-interest isn’t a fit proxy for evolutionary success (for a highly interdependent species).

Numbers and mathematics have no monopoly on precision or truth. Words, logic, images, and patterns can be qualitatively exact. Only poor-quality thinking ignores that mathematics can’t yet be counted on to add up to the sum of all human wisdom. Reason and prudence dictate that we keep different kinds of thinking tools in our cranial toolboxes.

Michael Pollan explains his controversial tweet on Amy Harmon's GMO orange piece. Amy Harmon's response includes an interesting thought on narrative reporting.

Al Pacino on stage vs. screen.

CNN explains itself (or, rather, the Onion takes the liberty of doing so).

Friday ramble

It's been bananas ever since I got back, so I haven't had a chance until now to tell you about the trip or anything else. Furthermore, I tweeted throughout the trip, which took away some of the impetus for blogging about it, but I may as well fill you in, too.

First of all, the shout outs: let me know if you need your bathtub refinished, because the guys who did mine were pure awesome even before they started. They were the most responsive and straightforward (at least the ridiculous dude who told me I'd need the whole bathroom redone, at $14-$18k, bothered to contact me; the rest flaked out). But these guys explained what they were going to do, explained the likely and less likely but possible costs, showed up at 8am to accommodate my schedule (I had to leave for the airport within minutes of that time), and did an amazing job. So much so that my bathtub feels too nice to use, but I'm using it because hosing myself down outside with the garden hose for over a week after I discovered the tear got old. One of the take-aways here is that I've really come to appreciate specialists (if you need your roof redone, contact roof specialists rather than general contractors; same with bathroom or even bathtub people). You want people who instantly know what the deal is because they've dealt with it over and over again.

Next shout-out: Bay State Cruise Company. When I decided to come back from the Cape a day earlier (by ferry with Nina and Jameson  rather than Nina's parents, by car, as planned), they gave me the round-trip rate even though I had originally bought only a one-way ticket. And they were really cool about letting us leave our stuff while we explored a bit before the ferry took off.

I have a couple of really cool video clips from the whale watch, but I haven't been able to upload them. Hopefully I'll figure that out this weekend.

But what you probably care about, if anything, is the Russian stuff. I did tweet that Nina and I relish our first-world problems because we're ever so aware that we're hardly a generation removed from no-shit, life-or-death problems. We've each heard our parents say that they're amazed they survived something or other. We embrace our FWPs because we came by them honestly.

Nina's parents food-coddled us for days, and then my dad food-coddled me when I got to Boston. Nina quipped that at Jameson's parents' place it would be the opposite extreme: "hungry? Go find yourself some Triscuits."

Oh, some dude at the beach--as we were getting ready to go--complimented Nina on her facility in switching between Russian and English. She was gracious about it but later we all expressed our bafflement. Most of the world can do that (with one set of languages or another). Really, we may be in the only country in the world where bilingualism is remarkable in any way.

The visit to my parents' was possibly the smoothest ever, interpersonally. She didn't even complain much when I spent time with my friends (though she did call to ask when I was coming home from Martha's.) She also asked about Jason's boyfriend (after I met him). I spent a chunk of time cleaning (decluttering, dusting, and vacuuming) and managed to get rid of lots of hair products from the 80s, as well as food that had gotten infested by moths (my mother always claims that they come with the moth eggs in there, but I insist that even if they did, she goes out of her way to leave them plenty of food to grow on). On my way to the airport, I shoved into my pretty stuffed bag two (unopened) Jews for Jesus DVDs and one book on the same theme; they probably never would have watched or read them, but it felt good to get that stuff out of their house and into the trash

That's pretty much it. I'll let you know when I get the whale-watch clips up.

Friday roundup

The Kurdish angle of Syria's conflict, including women kicking ass.

A white supremacist tries to buy up a North Dakota town but the town is not having it.

Words of wisdom from the late Tony Pawson about letting science do its thing:

At the time he won the Kyoto Prize, Dr. Pawson praised the scientists who had developed drug treatments based on his findings, and he went on to make a larger point. He had spent decades studying a virus related to cancer in chickens, he said, before he happened upon a tiny bit of information that led him to his work on cell communication. That, in turn, led to breakthroughs in cancer treatments for humans.

“Governments increasingly want to see immediate returns on the research that they support,” he said. “But it is worth viewing basic science as a long-term investment that will yield completely unexpected dividends for humanity in the future. I believe that this progress underscores the importance of giving free rein to human inventiveness."

I can totally see how poverty impairs strategic decision making and I agree that Jamie Oliver's contempt for the poor is ridiculous, but there's something to be said for acknowledging that even (first-world) poor people have some choice in what they consume.

We shouldn't be so quick to dismiss as stupid people--especially kids--who think differently.

Ugh. Women can wear whatever the f* they want, especially at the beach, without taking into account the impact on men's hormones, because men's hormones are not the point. Also, don't hold yourself back on account of your boyfriend's or husband's ego.

I love the concept of these magnet dresses but if I were to wear one, it would be some hybrid of the two.

The looming copper shortage speaks to the importance of looking at sustainability holistically.

The Romans used nanotechnology.

What is with the listicle craze?

On cronut coverage and awful Boston accents.

Thursday roundup

Let's always place accountability where it's due, and let's also quit confounding sexuality with assault.

Doctors don't know everything.

Our early ancestors cooked their food.

Someone thought he could get ahead by questioning Cory Booker's masculinity?

Large-scale farming can still be sustainable.

Erik Marcus has a new, even-handed book out called "Meat Market: Animals, Ethics, and Money."

Always an interesting question--this time in the context of the late Slawomir Mrozek: is the play too polemic or the audience too unsophisticated?

Absolutely brilliant insights on creativity from John Cleese.

Jason Major had to work really hard not to make a joke about the "Trojan Asteroid Found Orbiting Uranus" but I faced no such challenge because, really, it speaks for itself.

Wednesday roundup

Syria's more and more of a humanitarian disaster, but it's still a trap. Keep in mind that "all politics is local" applies to the Middle East, too.

Victoria Falls needs a Disneyland to attract visitors?

A fascinating rhetorical analysis of the I Have a Dream speech.

You've heard by now that "twerking" made it into the Oxford Dictionaries Online, but it's less interesting than other new additions, such as "badassery" and "food baby,' which Jameson hadn't heard of (Nina and I talked about it at the beach; the Russian affection for cabbage and cauliflower did not help my beach look last week).

You could get a soda at KFC in Beijing, or just save yourself the trip and drink out of your toilet.

We have to worry about salmonella in spices now?

I aspire to the level of zen where I can pass up an opportunity to point out that paleo is bullcrap.

You know how I keep calling people out for dismissing tofu as fake meat? Science has my back on that one: it's been around since at least a.d. 965.

You know how I also keep calling people out for dismissing any concern about GMOs as anti-science? Here's how prevalent and nasty that is:

It is also true that many pro-GM scientists in the field are unduly harsh—even unscientific—in their treatment of critics. GM proponents sometimes lump every scientist who raises safety questions together with activists and discredited researchers. And even Séralini, the scientist behind the study that found high cancer rates for GM-fed rats, has his defenders. Most of them are nonscientists, or retired researchers from obscure institutions, or nonbiologist scientists, but the Salk Institute's Schubert also insists the study was unfairly dismissed. He says that as someone who runs drug-safety studies, he is well versed on what constitutes a good-quality animal toxicology study and that Séralini's makes the grade. He insists that the breed of rat in the study is commonly used in respected drug studies, typically in numbers no greater than in Séralini's study; that the methodology was standard; and that the details of the data analysis are irrelevant because the results were so striking.

Schubert joins Williams as one of a handful of biologists from respected institutions who are willing to sharply challenge the GM-foods-are-safe majority. Both charge that more scientists would speak up against genetic modification if doing so did not invariably lead to being excoriated in journals and the media. These attacks, they argue, are motivated by the fear that airing doubts could lead to less funding for the field. Says Williams: “Whether it's conscious or not, it's in their interest to promote this field, and they're not objective.”
Both scientists say that after publishing comments in respected journals questioning the safety of GM foods, they became the victims of coordinated attacks on their reputations. Schubert even charges that researchers who turn up results that might raise safety questions avoid publishing their findings out of fear of repercussions. “If it doesn't come out the right way,” he says, “you're going to get trashed.”

There is evidence to support that charge. In 2009 Nature detailed the backlash to a reasonably solid study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA by researchers from Loyola University Chicago and the University of Notre Dame. The paper showed that GM corn seemed to be finding its way from farms into nearby streams and that it might pose a risk to some insects there because, according to the researchers' lab studies, caddis flies appeared to suffer on diets of pollen from GM corn. Many scientists immediately attacked the study, some of them suggesting the researchers were sloppy to the point of misconduct.

Kanye West pisses off French bakers.

The Associated Press feels the need, in announcing a newly discovered element, to give you examples of "common" ones in case you weren't sure what they're talking about... and they opt for carbon, silicon and iron. How many of you would think of silicon before, say, oxygen, calcium, or lead?


The double-standards behind the skewering of Marissa Mayer. Also--and this goes back to the feminism/vanity discussion--I'm glad someone's stating that fashion and substance are not mutually exclusive, but that's a different issue from owning one's ambition.

See also this mother-in-law who resents her daughter-in-law, who, as a strong woman who earns a high income, feels entitled to a bed-bug free environment.


Eric Wilson is not impressed (with this year's September issues).

Dudes, I'm not coming home with you until you wash your sheets. This is on top of the other preconditions. Also, in case you were wondering, um, no.

I once again (partially) agree with Kathleen Parker, with regard to the collective yawn, not the idea of permissiveness:

The grinding image of Cyrus playing nasty while sticking out her tongue at the world ultimately was mostly sad and, as Rihanna so perfectly projected, kind of boring. Provocation for the sake of provocation is rarely provocative. And sex in the hands of a Cyrus-gone-wild has all the appeal of rutting season at the zoo.

Cyndi Lauper feels the same way.

Tuesday evening roundup

(A lot) more on golden rice.

A little more on introverts.

Kathleen Parker on humane agriculture.

Some will point out that this is not the point, but let's start with it anyway: I think she's beautiful. Second, let those douche-bags who stole her picture and "liked" the mean meme post their photos; let's see if their physical appearance makes them as unf*able as their scumbaggy insides.

Drinking does boost creativity.

Tuesday morning roundup

Journalism in Egypt is very dangerous.

This is generally "(i.e., not unique to Gorky Park's bodies of water) how Russians feel about rules:

The park has rules, of course, evidenced by signs like “No Swimming” near the ponds and fountains. But these are regarded by Russian parkgoers less as an edict than as someone’s opinion, much like the rules against parking on sidewalks.

Also, I bet the quoted girl's name is not actually "Alice," which is not pronouncable to Russians; the Times was silly to try to translate it.

Peter Huttenlocher discovered how the brain prunes itself.

The country's most active silver thief has been nabbed.

Let your children f* up on their own.

Monday roundup

Egyptian conspiracy theories hit a new level of crackpot.

Illegalizing street homelessness may not address the root causes, but as long as shelters are an option, a city has a right to manage its streets.

The Economist indulges in a ramble about bullshit jobs.

Science

Best discussion yet of the is-psychology-a-science question.

And since we're on the topic of science, it's Scientific American's food issue! Some no-brainers (pesticides and fertilizers are not best for soil and not all critiques of GMOs are unreasonable and anti-science); some things you knew, explained (calorie counts on labels are not the whole story because you digest things differently); and some TBD (what's worse, refined carbs or too much food?)

Quick mom blog

Mom's mostly in good spirits, and whatever comments she can't help making, she's making constructively (as her comments go). For example, she pointed out that I'm quite Type A but added that that was okay. Also, in lieu of "you're fat," I got "that dress doesn't flatter you. I can't tell you're thin when you wear it."

The upside of her decreased mobility is that she hasn't been able to hit the discount stores, so the house is less cluttered by six weeks less shopping opportunity. Still, I wish my dad would seize the opportunity of her taking more time to rest to take more time on his part to throw $hit out.

A lot of what she does to excess is just an extension of what she's always done, but now I have a better reason to be patient about it. So when she talks to me while I'm reading or lifting weights, I actually stop what I'm doing and listen instead of asking her to wait until I'm done. This actually does pain me, as any introvert will understand: lifting is my quiet time and I don't want to talk or listen to anyone while I'm doing it. She also tells the same stories over and over and over again--she's always done so--and moralizes over and over and over again. And she tells stories inefficiently and ineffectively. I don't mean (only) that it takes her longer to tell them; I mean that they're all over the place so I can't actually follow what she's talking about. She just told me about a short story that she'd read ages ago, but it wasn't until she was done that it was clear that it was a short story and not a news story. And, as always, she gets caught up in unnecessary details ("was it just one person? maybe it was two? it doesn't matter. But I think it was two people. No, maybe it was one.") Dad pointed out that she's always done it and now it's just worse. True, true.

Last night, I came back from a walk with Jay and his bf to find Fox News blaring on two different TVs at the same time. This is an affliction shared by both parents, but mom is more prone to venomous political rants. I do my best to tune her out.

So that's where we are.

Sunday roundup

An activist skeptic is assassinated in India, and a golden rice crop is destroyed in the Philippines.

France's identity crisis.

CNN remains confused about sexual assault.

Noise is detrimental to our health.

These aren't the best examples, but social science really does matter in policymaking,.

Name-changing is still a massive headache.

Yes, feeling good without makeup is congruence with feminism, even amid non-first world problems. It is qualitatively different from "strong is the new skinny."

Saturday roundup

Good morning, all! Specifically (and not even that ironically), greetings from my mom's laptop. I'll start with what's new and move on to what I tweeted while I was computerless on the Cape.

Brazil's apparently much-needed activist judge.

Gail Collins ponders how far we've come and how far we have to go.

Will the Tesla go the way of the smartphone or stay the private jet of the auto world?

Ballmer's 2007 reaction to the iPhone is amusing in hindsight but I wouldn't have disagreed, even two years ago. I often think how quickly I've gone from not seeing the point of having a smartphone to being very, very dependent on mine. And now, from late adopter who didn't care what phone she had, and then, even a month ago, thinking I'd hold on to my Galaxy II until they were giving away the IIIs, to considering paying for an upgrade. I'm still not considering an iPhone. My analysis (having an iPad and having used other people's iPhones) is that the Apple products, while of higher quality mechanically--which is not nothing, as I appreciate the more my phone freezes--are just not user-friendly.

Now for earlier in the week, as documented by my Twitter feed:

Dr. Phil shouldn't be pilloried for asking a question/starting a dialogue.

The carnivores among you can thank dung beetles for reducing your carbon methane footprint. So spare them and have some of these bugs.

Humans aren't so much hairless apes as apes with thinner hair.

How do you measure an animal's intelligence?

Cupcake decorating ideas (kidding!)

Did you know of the #notanonionheadline hashtag?

Pictures from the Cape

We went to the beach for a quick dip--quick mostly because it was low tide and our long walk in the water made us pinchmeat for the hermit crabs--and watched the sunset and (full)moon-rise.

That's Nina and Jameson in the distance

The next day, we went to Marconi, which was more crowded than we'd ever seen it. Nina and I went all the time as kids (with one set of parents or the other, obviously). The dunes were as awesome as ever and the water was freezing, which, naturally, did not stop me from getting in. I stayed in until I saw a silverish body not far from me, which turned out to be just a seal. It was followed by the rest of its herd.

We lounged on the beach and buried Nina in sand.

[Picture removed because some pervert kept downloading it.]

Then we went back up and took some pictures from above the dunes. We ran into some turkeys (not literally) on the way back.

The next day, we went whale-watching and won the whale-watch lottery: a mama humpback and her calf, which is a very rare sighting indeed. Did you know that a humpback's breastmilk is 55% fat and that the calf gains 150-200 pounds a day?

Not impressed? I'll post some videos of their frolicking when I get home. For now, check out this bird.

And then... Carnival!

I texted Jay: "These queens don't f* around!" His response was, "Oh, but they do."

So that was Carnival. The next day, we hit the beach in the morning (and it was even more freezing). I stayed in for a while, and the chill lasted for an hour after I got out of the water, but it was worth it. Then we cleaned up and headed back to Provincetown to get the ferry to Boston. On which there was an adorbs Pomeranian pup of four months (picture taken with permission).

I do miss Boston Harbor, where I worked for years.

But I wouldn't miss it in the winter. Nonetheless, it still feels like home.