Random Thoughts

Climategate Lesson: Lawsuits Won't Stop Videos From Ridiculing You

You know you've lost a lot of intellectual capital when ridiculous parodies of your work generate hundreds of thousands of views on YouTube- and threatening to sue is just making the whole thing sillier. Michael Mann of Penn State isn't happy.   ...

Article - Hank Campbell - Apr 27 2010 - 8:49pm

When Politicians Speak, Voters Only Hear What They Want

Politicians may only tell us what we want to hear, but not just because they're vote hustlers looking to stay in office. Researchers writing in the British Medical Journal, say it's also because voters interpret everything elected officials say b ...

Article - News Staff - Apr 28 2010 - 10:06am

The Light Of Reason

The Light Of Reason The greatest tool ever invented by kings and dictators was propaganda.  Disinformation can help to win wars.  In WW2 the German naval codes were broken at Bletchley.  At about the same time, a new type of radar had been developed to de ...

Article - Patrick Lockerby - Apr 28 2010 - 1:45pm

Movies Still To Blame For Smoking

Despite significant declines in the cinematic depiction of smoking over the past 20 years, researchers writing in Thorax complain that tobacco imagery is still relatively common in UK films rated suitable for children and young teens. The findings suggest ...

Article - News Staff - Apr 30 2010 - 2:00pm

Study Confirms Darwin's Concerns About Inbreeding

Charles Darwin was probably correct about the effects of inbreeding in his family, according to a new study in BioScience. Darwin demonstrated the phenomenon of inbreeding depression in many plants, and was aware of research into the effects of marriage be ...

Article - News Staff - May 3 2010 - 10:41am

Too Much TV Makes Kids Fat And Stupid

Watching too much TV may make children fat, bad at math and expose them to all kinds of other evils, say "child experts" writing in the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine. The authors found that television exposure at age two forecast ...

Article - News Staff - May 4 2010 - 11:48am

Interwebs, Help Me Create My World Cup 2010 Mix CD

It's almost World Cup time again and the South Africa event has been plagued by problems but one thing can always squelch critics and get fans excited- a great song.    Well, the World Cup folks messed up that one too, picking a song by South American ...

Blog Post - Hank Campbell - May 5 2010 - 10:30pm

Shoppers Plan For Unplanned Purchases, Study Says

A new study in the Journal of Consumer Research has found that shoppers often expect to buy a certain number of unplanned items, and most have a fairly accurate estimate as to how much they will spend on them. The authors use the term "in-store slack& ...

Article - News Staff - May 6 2010 - 6:06pm

Local Papers Keep Politicians Honest, Study Claims

The mainstream media is often accused of shilling for one political party or the other, but that accusation may not stick to all news sources. A new study in the Journal of Political Economy has found that local newspaper do a decent job of keeping politic ...

Article - News Staff - May 7 2010 - 1:07pm

Grigori Perelman on Facebook and in a talk-show on Russian TV: Yet another "slumdog millionaire"?

There is a nice Internet site on Facebook about Grisha Perelman: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Grigori-Perelman/41491033741?v=wall which claims to have 799 fans. Wonderful! There is a guy who started there a discussion on Grisha: http://www.facebook.com/t ...

Blog Post - Evgeni Starikov - May 14 2010 - 7:25am