Cartoons and me
When I was nine or ten years old I was given an individual IQ test by a family friend who was getting her PhD in child psychology, and having to administer the test to a certain number of children was … Continue reading →
Category Archives: Science
John Hinderaker: fun with gun and homicide statistics
John Hinderaker points out how the latest study of the relation between gun control laws and homicide rates uses the statistics therein to make a certain policy point, and how they could just as easily be used to refute that … Continue reading →
Against Autonomy revisited
I recently wrote about Sarah Conly’s newly-released book Against Autonomy: Justifying Coercive Paternalism here and here, so you’d think I’d be done with the dreadful thing. But a friend sent me a video interview with the author, and I couldn’t … Continue reading →
Want to get a little perspective?
Try this for size (hat tip: Gerard Vanderleun at American Digest). The video includes a lot of new-agey political stuff, but it’s the pictures that are wonderful: OVERVIEW from Planetary Collective on Vimeo. Here’s an early post of mine on … Continue reading →
The big dig: Richard III
After careful sleuthing and authentication, it seems that a skeleton found in a Leicester car park in Britain is really the remains of King Richard III. Quite extraordinary; the site of the burial place had been lost, although researchers followed … Continue reading →
“Hey, I’ve got an idea!” say the obesity police. “Let’s bring back the stocks for fat people!”
Yeah, that’ll work. No, it’s not really the stocks that David Callahan, former Harvard lecturer and president emeritus of health policy think-tank the Hastings Center, is asking for. He: …calls for increased stigmatization of obese people to try spur weight-loss … Continue reading →
Overweight good, thin bad?
Those who study and/or write about overweight and health are reeling from the news that it seems to be a wee bit healthier to be a wee bit overweight. They’re spinning it for all they’re worth, trying to explain the … Continue reading →
There are more things…
…in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy: The Milky Way contains at least 100 billion planets, or enough to have one for each of its stars, and many of them are likely to be capable … Continue reading →
Have you noticed…
…that we’ve reached a turning point? Even though the shortest day of the year isn’t for almost another week, sunset is already getting later. Good.
Continue reading →Is Christie a big fat liar?
Ann Althouse thinks so. When asked by Barbara Walters why he’s so overweight, Christie answered, “If I could figure that out, I’d fix it.” Althouse comments: Then he says it doesn’t mean he’s not capable of serving as President. But, … Continue reading →
Diabetes and bypass surgery: for some, a sort-of cure?
This Discover article lays out a fascinating state of affairs: for many diabetes patients, gastric bypass surgery offers what was once thought a pipe dream—a cure. When I first saw this, I figured it was because they lost weight. False. … Continue reading →
Election 2012: tonight we finally open the box…
…and find out whether Schré¶dinger’s cat is alive or dead. I know, I know; it’s not really a great analogy. Nor do I actually understand the physics. So, chalk it up to poetic license. But right now the cat is … Continue reading →