the importance of science

In this morning's weekly address, President-Elect Obama proclaimed the importance of science, named his science advisors and reiterated his commitment to government funding of research and technology. How sweet is it to hear the words, "It’s time we once again put science at the top of our agenda and worked to restore America’s place as the world leader in science and technology."

Tuesday, Wednesday stay in bed

Or Thursday - watch the walls instead
It's Friday, I’m in love

cats and hiftory

WE ARE UNFINISHED

My Administration Will Value "Science" And "Facts"

OMG WE ARE FINISHED

FINISHED

LIKE SERIOUSLY FINISHED

Chorus:

Last night's sleep
Only to repeat...

Your Daily Umbrage

Martinoz annual holiday dance party preview.

Children welcome!

Altercations are not observed at Eeet Street

you suck!

hey you buttheads! how are you miserable lievs going? watching you post on this riduculous blog and makes me mad. you suck! i have been band by unpopular vote but i will be back! yes i will be. you unsexy bastards. what do you have to say eh? have i shocked you ? eh? eh?

and the winners are...

we must see batman's underpants

The unmentionable has finally happened.
























We must, however, shift our attention away from morbid matters related to sloppy, 20th century neuroscience which nonetheless proved helpful, and move our attention toward other morbid matters related to sloppy, 20th century neuroscience which nonetheless proved helpful! It is time to kill the Rorschach!

Time to step up your game.

Happy Thanksgiving To All

*** BREAKING NEWS ***

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

FINAGLE A BAGEL NOW OFFERS A 25% DISCOUNT FOR MGH EMPLOYEES. JUST SHOW THEM YOUR BADGE BEFORE YOU ORDER.

---

disclaimer:
the sign officially lists the discount for MGH IHP employees, but I showed them my badge and that was good enough for them. I JUST SAVED FIFTY-FIVE CENTS!!!!!!!

Retro-blog: 1813

24 November

I do think the mighty stir made about scribbling and scribes, by themselves and others - a sign of effeminacy, degeneracy, and weakness. Who would write, who had anything better to do?

- Lord Byron

rather than merely biologically inspired

"The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency have put out a research request it calls Mathematical Challenges, that has the mighty goal of "dramatically revolutionizing mathematics and thereby strengthening DoD's scientific and technological capabilities."

The challenges are in fact 23 questions that if answered, would offer a high potential for major mathematical breakthroughs, DARPA said. So if you have ever wanted to settle the Riemann Hypothesis, which I won't begin to describe but it is one of the great unanswered questions in math history, experts say. Or perhaps you've always had a theory about Dark Energy, which in a nutshell holds that the universe is ever-expanding, this may be your calling.

DARPA perhaps obviously states research grants will be awarded individually but doesn't say how much they'd be worth. The agency does say you'd need to submit your research plan by Sept. 29, 2009.

So if you're game, take your pick of the following questions and have at it.

* The Mathematics of the Brain: Develop a mathematical theory to build a functional model of the brain that is mathematically consistent and predictive rather than merely biologically inspired.

..."

CABAL

CAT AND BANANA ARE LOVERS!

CABAL

Cat Artificial Banana Also Likes

CABAL

Cat
Ate
Banana
At
Last

Wooden MRIs

Mangabey Monkey Mad About Martinoz!!!

Do you think she likes magnets?
Could Conchita be left handed?

(frontal lobes and all that)

To use a different analogy I think Palin (and perhaps Joe the Plumber too) appeal to the brainstem of conservatism, where the most primitive and persistent impulses are registered, even as the areas of higher reasoning and cognition (frontal lobes and all that) are flat-lining or tracking into oblivion.

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/242294.php

Having trouble balancing social concerns with assignments?

Well, you can flip a coin if you only have a penny to spare:
















or if you live in Pueblo and can spare five bucks...

MA vs. CA

Oh, sure, you gloat about the balmy temperatures and you have your fancy sex industry propositions to wrangle over and your sun-basking though still oddly pasty BDSM boy to strike natural, heroin-addled poses for your 50 megapixel camera, but could you ever find anything like THIS in CA? Eh? Erudite, even! Check out the area code -- we are talking the Commonwealth of Massachusetts! Could you ever? ...And if you did, could you take a sharper picture of it?

How should I vote on Prop K?

I don't have a well formed argument for or against the de-criminalization of prostitution. I'm not particularly pro-prostitution, but I'm not pro-arresting people for consensual behavior, especially if they do it inside and don't leave their damn condoms on the sidewalk. But how much prostitution is really consensual? If that's a problem - why is this being pushed by people within the industry? Can't coercion be enforced under other laws? Will there be more human trafficking? How should I vote on Proposition K?

ps. Barbara Walters, at 3:00.

It's warm here.

Granted, this picture contains a McCain, but it also contains a brain, therefore this post is relevant to this blog.

Magnetic Fields

Josh Villa had not been expected to recover from massive head injuries.

When "transcranial magnetic stimulation" was aimed at his brain, he could speak simple words, and respond to commands, New Scientist reports.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7669056.stm

Recycling Committee

Phantom sensation

Did you ever hear about phantom pain? Namba and coworkers publish a new case study from a patient suffering from phantom sensation... Nicely reviewed on scienceblogs.com
And the original publication to be found soon in Acta Medica Okayama
Namba, et al. "Phantom erectile penis after sex reassignment surgery" Acta Medical Okayama, 62(3), 2008.

eat street

does anyone else miss the guy with the lazy eye who used to handle emptying all the trash cans in the atrium? he sure was a talkative chap. looked a little like this:

Dog Gone It

Library Finds

Palinism

I'm a feminist who, uh, believes in equal rights and I believe that women certainly today have every opportunity that a man has to succeed, and to try to do it all, anyway. And I'm very, very thankful that I've been brought up in a family where gender hasn't been an issue. You know, I've been expected to do everything growing up that the boys were doing. We were out chopping wood and you're out hunting and fishing and filling our freezer with good wild Alaskan game to feed our family.

--S.P.

right on, Sister Mary Lurana!

Just got an email from Barnes & NOble - 40% Off Powerful New Releases*. One of which is entitled: 'A Bold Fresh Piece of Humanity: A Memoir' by Bill O'Reilly. The title made me laugh out loud. I googled it and this turned up:

'A Bold Fresh Piece of Humanity' anagrams to 'Shameful, bona fide hypocrite.'

Excellent. Then I went to peruse the reviews on amazon for a few minutes - always entertaining and a great way to start the day. But I guess there aren't any yet. I was quite unsettled by the brazenness of the title, until I read this description on the amazon site:

One day in 1957, in the third-grade classroom of St. Brigid’s parochial school, an exasperated Sister Mary Lurana bent over a restless young William O’Reilly and said, “William, you are a bold, fresh piece of humanity.” Little did she know that she was, early in his career as a troublemaker, defining the essence of Bill O’Reilly and providing him with the title of his brash and entertaining issues-based memoir.

Hah. Should have known he couldn't come up with such a clever phrase himself.


*Anyone who wants the 40% off coupon, just email me! I will also be happy to help arrange a brain scan and/or a psych assessment for you.

Monday Morning Motivation

The Palin Effect

I am pleased to let you know that Cathy E. Minehan, managing director of Arlington Advisory Partners and an MGH board member since 2002, was elected to succeed Ed as chair. She becomes the first woman to lead the MGH’s governing board since the hospital was founded nearly 200 years ago.

admit you have a problem

Man Says OCD Drove Him To Eat 23,000 Big Macs

NEWSFLASH

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has issued an alert about an outbreak of DBD. Epidemiologic Studies Consortium is closely monitoring this persistent strain and hopes to contain this outbreak to the St. Paul, Minnesota region where it was first identified late last week. Symptoms of DBD:

- pale skin (usually)
- increased appetite
- decreased activity
- cognitive deficits
- gullibility
- speech atypicalities and echolalia; in particular, repeating this phrase: "Drill Baby Drill"

The echolalia is extremely virulent and both immediate and delayed cases have been reported. If you notice these symptoms in yourself or others, please go into quarantine for the next two months. Do NOT for any reason leave your home before November 5th, 2008. A person with active DBD may have a serious underlying brain disorder. For more information, contact the CDC.

CDC is working to monitor the problem and develop programs to prevent DBD.

That's the Stuff

Together we did !

Looks like the MGH democrats are out-fund-raising the MGH republicans.

BARELY MADE IT

Oh 149 Eat Street, you always hit the nail on the head.

SFN 2007

While at the conference in San Diego, I took a photo of this bar I went to (they had bluegrass that night), and it is now included in the latest version of the Schmap for San Diego.

My new goal for the afterlife.

From Bioephemera-

Wayne Martin Belger's Third Eye is a human skull with a tiny hole drilled in the traditional location of the mystical "third eye." The pinhole allows light to enter the cranium and expose photographic film.

countin these rocks

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7563265.stm

Retro-blog: 1932

August 15th

The reason I write is because there is no one to talk to and I might as well build up a completely private life.

- Dawn Powell

strike!

wait a second....



is this the only mastermind behind this league? and who else is interested?

-elinor

Nappy time

Young J's Cake Emporium

For your viewing pleasure, my new favorite blog.  It's like Chocolate and Zucchini meets FAIL Blog.  

Hours of unproductive fun - Cake Wrecks!

we feel fine

Congratulations!  You are receiving this email as we have selected your
name from the Bruce Springsteen raffle.  We received over 2000 entries.


Please stop by the Employee Access Center, Bulfinch 107 on the MGH Main
Campus to pick up your tickets.  Tickets can be picked up between 7AM -
4PM on Thursday, July 31.  Please bring your employee ID badge with you.

some day you'll find it, the rainbow confection

Dear Young J's Cake Emporium,

I would like to procure your impressive cake creating services and pre-order a reasonable facsimile of this cake for the occasion of my move to Muppetcisco. Money is no object and I have no history of cancer in my family, so please don't skimp on Yellow No.5, Red No. 3, Green No. 3 and especially not Blue Lake 1.

Thank you kindly.

Daily Jean Cocteau

July 30, 1951

People always talk about climate, about good air. It's what's underground that counts, that influences us. Paris had good foundations: sand. New York has metal underpinnings. Pagnol says Americans try to get off the ground -- they invent crepe soles and jump up on tables; they build skyscrapers. I work much more easily out at sea. In our villages, disease and madness come from underground. There are villages in the east of France (iron mines) where cases of insanity are past counting. In Milly, the subsoil is sand and water. It is important to be aware of the foundations where you live.

- Jean Cocteau

Time travel back to 1000 AD: Survival Tips

Londenio, a loyal Marginal Revolution reader, asks:

I wanted to ask for survival tips in case I am unexpectedly transported to a random location in Europe (say for instance current France/Benelux/Germany) in the year 1000 AD (plus or minus 200 years). I assume that such transportation would leave me with what I am wearing, what I know, and nothing else. Any advice would help.

I hope you have an expensive gold wedding band but otherwise start off by keeping your mouth shut. Find someone who will take care of you for a few days or weeks and then look for employment in the local church. Your marginal product is quite low, even once you have learned the local language. You might think that knowing economics, or perhaps quantum mechanics, will do you some good but in reality people won't even think your jokes are funny. Even if you can prove Euler's Theorem from memory no one will understand your notation. I hope you have a strong back and an up to date smallpox vaccination.

Readers, do you have any other tips? Is there any way that Londenio can leverage his knowledge of modernity (he is, by the way, a marketing professor) into socially valuable outputs? Would prattling on about sanitation and communicable diseases do him any good?

Answers here.

Meet Me Miis

(A) Nikos vs HBM

Nature-

Logothetis is furious about the publication of data, which he believes will mislead the field, and about the fact that the authors of the paper allege that he tried to stop them publishing the data for personal reasons.

DrugMonkey-

And if there is any whiff that some of the collaborating authors are in opposition merely because they do not like the interpretation or it questions some positions they've staked out....game on.

Where the Hell is Matt? (2008) from Matthew Harding on Vimeo.

Hope and Help for Nerds

What causes someone to develop the nerd personality? Biology is partially responsible for creating what Cambridge University psychologist Simon Baron-Cohen calls a "systemizing brain," or "S-brain"--a brain good at figuring out logical rules. The opposite is an empathic brain; E-brains are good at divining what people are feeling and people with E-brains develop sharper social skills. More men have S-brains than women, and more women have E-brains than men--though men and women both fall all over the spectrum.

People with autism, or its milder variant, Asperger's syndrome, are biologically disposed to have extreme S-brains. Nerds stand squarely on the S-brain side of the spectrum, but not necessarily enough to have Asperger's or autism. Some nerds have Asperger's but not all. Nerdiness and Asperger's aren't the same thing, but they have a lot in common.

"Nerd" is a vernacular label, not a scientific one, but it's usually earned by a love for activities that are logical rather than sensual or physical--math, biology or coding rather than cooking, ballet, or football. The leisure activities we associate with nerds--chess club, computer games, electronics projects--all depend on rational, systematic thinking, and tend not to involve emotionally nuanced conversation with other humans.

Nerds can learn social skills if they approach them with the same intellectual rigor they bring to calculus, says Lawrence Welkowitz, a psychologist at Keene State College. He's found that nerds can often master the subtleties of social interaction, compensating for disinclination with focus and practice. He runs a peer-mentoring program in which popular kids take nerds under their wing and give them tips on how to be cool. "Nerds focus on special interests and unusual topics, usually to the exclusion of maintaining relationships and emotional life."

Some nerds benefit just from watching daytime TV, says Daniel Rosenn, a psychiatrist in Wellesley, Massachusetts, who often works with MIT students with social issues. "I've taken 30-second segments of soap operas with the sound off and said, 'Let's look at the tape and figure out what the people are feeling.'"




















By: Benjamin Nugent, author of American Nerd: The Story of My People

SORRY I MISSED YOUR PARTY

usually, the metro offers readers new ideas about uninteresting shopping-related websites, or sites that everyone already knows. (icanhascheezburger?)

however - this morning, a gem was released into the hands of the unassuming metro reader during his/her morning commute ----

SORRY I MISSED YOUR PARTY dot COM



not totally amazing, but definitely worth taking a 5-minute coffee break for.

Ready the Armies

C is for change (you can believe in!)

Monday January 28, 2008

Statement of Senator Obama:

I strongly oppose retroactive immunity in the FISA bill.

Ever since 9/11, this Administration has put forward a false choice between the liberties we cherish and the security we demand.

The FISA court works. The separation of power works. We can trace, track down and take out terrorists while ensuring that our actions are subject to vigorous oversight, and do not undermine the very laws and freedom that we are fighting to defend.

No one should get a free pass to violate the basic civil liberties of the American people - not the President of the United States, and not the telecommunications companies that fell in line with his warrantless surveillance program. We have to make clear the lines that cannot be crossed.

Who bullies you?

Faced with arrogant doctors or those who scream and throw patient charts on the floor, Setteducato adopts a practiced, calm response. "You have to nip that in the bud," she said.

“I say, ‘You know what, doc? That doesn’t work here. And we’re going to have to do this together as a team. Because that’s what it’s all about.'”

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25594124/

Man Down

"Research at Yale indicates that people who have more men in their in-groups have lower self-esteem, probably because men provide less ego-boosting support than women. Having a male supervisor also leads to lower self-esteem than having a female boss."

Shouts out to all my low-self-esteem-having coworkers! High five!

Be Careful

Animal activists attacking scientists’ homes

More protesters using firebombs, flooding, acid at researchers’ front doors

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25574658/

If Scientists Were Tabloid Fodder

Heh.

Catbus

Unsure how this was missed.

happy calcium chloride explosions to all!

The colors you see exploding in the sky are produced by the elements with the characteristic emissions listed in the table.

	Color	Compound	Wavelength (nm)
	red	strontium salts, lithium salts lithium carbonate, Li2CO3 = deep red strontium carbonate, SrCO3 = bright red	650
	orange	calcium salts calcium chloride, CaCl2	670
	yellow	sodium salts sodium chloride, NaCl	610-620
	green	barium compounds + chlorine producer barium chloride, BaCl2	590
	blue	copper compounds + chlorine producer copper(I) chloride, CuCl	500-535
	purple	mixture of strontium (red) and copper (blue) compounds	420-460
	silver	burning aluminum, titanium, or magnesium