| Thursday,
April 22, 2010 Letter From England
Results of the party debate: Liberals win <http://tinyurl.com/y6qwh6n>
<http://tinyurl.com/yysgopg>
<http://tinyurl.com/y4nfx3y>
<http://tinyurl.com/y6zeabj>,
Pound falls <http://tinyurl.com/y7tzell>,
14% increase in Liberal support <http://tinyurl.com/y2qrhpd>
<http://tinyurl.com/y2zdlcc>
<http://tinyurl.com/y7fpg5a>
<http://tinyurl.com/yyt9w34>.
Oh my... <http://tinyurl.com/y4ag8ss>
Give people a chance to snoop, and they will snoop.
Police question members of the public on their
political and scientific beliefs who requested climate information from CRU
<http://tinyurl.com/y5umv3j>
Volcanic ash cloud continues to shut down European
flights <http://tinyurl.com/y4hbox6>
<http://tinyurl.com/y3n8jx9>
--
Harry Erwin, PhD, Senior Lecturer of Computing,
University of Sunderland. Computational neuroethologist:
http://crowan-scat.sunderland.ac.uk/~harryerw/mediawiki/index.php
Apologies for being late with
this. My fault.
Note the item on the police
investigation of Climategate. If you ask for data you must be a suspect.
=============w
: Here's how you do it LEGALLY.
Rights-holders wonder why so many people just steal
stuff as opposed to going through legal channels and getting permission.
This is why:
http://ideas.4brad.com/hitler-tries-dmca-takedown
-- Mike T. Powers
==========
A
Political Report
I spent last few days at a
neuroscience conference. The volcanic ash clouds had prevented about a dozen
speakers from coming, so there were a number of last-minute substitutions.
Trains were packed, too. Having an FAA background, I peeked at discussions
at <pprune.org>--the pilots are not happy with the airlines and national air
traffic control decision-making. During the current lull between clouds, the
finger-pointing has begun: <http://tinyurl.com/28hlprs>
<http://tinyurl.com/2g9qnyj>
<http://tinyurl.com/25lg4ks>
<http://tinyurl.com/2dosevg>
<http://tinyurl.com/2eldzcg>.
Volcanic disasters could be much greater: <http://tinyurl.com/2b5l32k>
This Wednesday night the second
set of debates will take place here. Labour is running scared--they have
been pushed into third place in the national polls. <http://tinyurl.com/26bpgco>
<http://tinyurl.com/2flnb7h>
<http://tinyurl.com/2f52n7a>.
Spin and mudslinging: <http://tinyurl.com/2fqvsga>
<http://tinyurl.com/2cdqjdb>
Governments versus the banks. <http://tinyurl.com/23dclwd>
(Currently, the investment banks are betting on a UK default.)
What happens when you cut the
reserve capacity in medical care too fine: <http://tinyurl.com/2fc9gbv>.
On the other hand, you can have too much capacity. YMMV.
The UK loves school exams;
statisticians don't: <http://tinyurl.com/27m2o8v>
<http://tinyurl.com/29299o9>
--
Harry Erwin, PhD
"If you can't be a good example,
then you'll just have to be a horrible warning." (Catherine Aird)
===============
Spotless
Jerry
www.solarcycle24.com.
We have apparently had a week
without spots...
Jim
And yet it was the warmest March in a thousand
years. Think of that.
==========
An amazing comeback story
from Apple
Jerry,
I'm a sucker for a good graphic that tells a story
concisely, so look at this:
http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/
?i=apple+marketcap+vs+microsoft+marketcap
change the graph to a 10 year time period and a log
scale, and note Apple's astonishing comeback. The company was given up for
dead, and is now about to pass Microsoft's corporate valuation.
In 1997 I was morosely contemplating the the end of
Apple, which Newsweek famously used as a cover story. The change in the past
10 years is amazing.
Chuck
P.S. If you haven't played with Wolfram Alpha, it is
worth your time.
============
"[I]ndustrial-scale biofuels aren't renewable"
Dr Pournelle
The headline is the conclusion of the writer of an
article in a leading 'green' e-zine. Full article here:
http://www.grist.org/article/2010-04-13-
raising-cane-the-trouble-with-brazils-much-celebrated-ethanol-mi
From the penultimate paragraph: '. Cane-based ethanol
is no panacea. It may be "better" than it's corn-based cousin--but that
doesn't make it an ecologically robust product.'
Live long and prosper h lynn keith
==========
Ipad complaints
Jerry: This list of complaints about the IPad should
give you a more balanced outlook on the device:
<http://www.newyorker.com/talk/
2010/04/26/100426ta_talk_kimball>
I particularly like:
When used as murder weapon, oleophobic coating does
not completely eliminate incriminating fingerprints.
Chris C
===========
TRULY WORTH WATCHING....
http://aimpoints.hq.af.mil/display.cfm?id=35673
THIS IS REALLY, REALLY GOOD. THE COMPETENCE, SKILLS
AND BRAVERY OF THESE GUYS IS STUNNING. GIRLS, TOO. I SAW A MITZI IN THE LIST
OF PERSONNEL.
This is lump in the throat stuff for me.
PROUD IS NOT A LARGE ENOUGH WORD!
Van
Life isn't about how to survive the storm, but how to
dance in the rain.
============
White House Science ‘Czar’ Tells Students: U.S.
Can’t Expect to Be Number One in Science and Technology Forever
I guess I can accept that premise, since my
daughter is successful with the poorest of the poor and a lot of them with
emotional problems. There are some teachers at her school who just "go by
rote" and don't expend any extra effort to help these children, and they do
contribute to their failure.
My daughter was at initially teaching 5th grade at the
school. She couldn't believe that these students couldn't construct a
complete sentence and didn't know a sentence ends with a period. She met
with the principal and said that these children lacked a foundation of basic
grammar. My daughter had to start from scratch that year with the basics.
She did actually do pretty well with that class. The next year the principal
placed my daughter in first grade so the children would have a good
foundation. But my daughter says when they get to second grade it's downhill
again.
By the end of the year my daughter's students know the
basics of high school science, can read at a 3rd grade level and in math she
actually teaches fractions and the basics of geometry. But if the second
grade teachers don't keep up these instructions and be repetitive, then it's
not reinforced and the children may lose some of what they learned from 1st
grade.
The second grade teachers this year (who are in their
50's and teaching for over 25 years) have asked my daughter for advice on
how to teach math and ideas for writing projects. She even conducts teacher
workshops to give them creative ideas on teaching methods. She did one last
Friday. A local politician came to their school to read to the children for
Dr. Seuss week and her principal chose my daughter's class for him to read.
Bottom line, my daughter spends evening hours and
about 8 hours on the weekends on her lesson plans, researching new methods,
reviewing student's work for where they need individual improvement, etc.
Teachers who are in districts with higher parental
income get a pass. Because the parents are involved in their schoolwork at
home and they consistently have a high percentage of those passing the
National Tests.
My daughter formerly taught in higher income districts
and she said there were bad teachers there, too. My daughter however loves
teaching in a poorer district because she said they need her more.
There are lazy teachers in those higher income
districts but the students still achieve. So Obama's Race to the Top program
would still leave bad teachers in their jobs in higher income areas of the
country.
You should see that RTTT program, social studies
teaching "global warming," and starting American History from 1877 to
present. There are more questionable topics, I'll have to find them from a
non-government site and send it to you.
Janet
Los Angeles County in effect has no incompetent
teachers -- at least none ever get fired for incompetence although some
get sent to giggle rooms at full pay just to keep them away from the kids.
But fired? Never.
============
The Famuan: Angie Meus: Is racism a mental disorder?
If it is a mental disorder then why is it also
regarded as evil?
Angie Meus: Is racism a mental disorder?
http://www.thefamuanonline.com/
opinions/is-racism-a-mental-disorder-1.2152636 Published: Sunday,
February 14, 2010
Racism is an issue that many people try to avoid,
although it is something that still exists today. Can racism be tied to
something deeper than a difference in skin tone, perhaps, a mental illness?
The issue was first raised 40 years ago by a group of
black psychiatrists who asked the American Psychiatric Association to
classify forms of extreme bigotry and prejudice as a mental disorder.
The APA rejected their request on the grounds that
racism is a "cultural and social problem and cannot be attributed to any
disorder."
The APA also said that labeling racism as a mental
illness will not do anything to rid society of the problem and doing so will
carry too many political implications.This has remained the general
consensus.
Recently, some psychiatrists argue that the notion
deserves a second look. "To continue perceiving extreme racism as normative
and not pathologic is to lend it legitimacy. Clearly, anyone who scapegoats
a whole group of people and seeks to eliminate them to resolve his or her
internal conflicts meets criteria for a delusional disorder, a major
psychiatric illness," said Alvin F. Poussaint, a professor of psychiatry at
Harvard University.
Not recognizing racism as a mental illness seems to
legitimize it. According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental
Disorders IV, a mental disorder is defined as a behavioral or psychological
syndrome or pattern that occurs in an individual and that is associated with
present distress or with a significantly increased risk of suffering death,
pain, disability, or an important loss of freedom.
The manual also goes on to say that in order for a
syndrome to be classified as a mental illness it must be considered a
manifestation of a behavioral, psychological, or biological dysfunction in
the individual. Neither deviant behavior nor conflicts that are primarily
between the individual and society are mental disorders unless the deviance
or conflict is a symptom of a dysfunction in the individual."
From that definition, Adolf Hitler, who exterminated
six million Jewish people was simply at conflict with the Jewish people and
not the fact that they existed.
This would mean that the Hitler did suffer from some
type of pathological disorder.
The question of Hitler's mental health has been the
center of controversy for years and a clear diagnosis from those who studied
his psyche could have resulted in a deeper look into the minds of Hitler and
others like him.
It is time for the APA to reevaluate the seriousness
of racism. Racism is an issue that many people try to avoid, although it is
something that still exists today. Can racism be tied to something deeper
than a difference in skin tone, perhaps, a mental illness? The issue was
first raised 40 years ago by a group of black psychiatrists who asked the
American Psychiatric Association to classify forms of extreme bigotry and
prejudice as a mental disorder. The APA rejected their request on the stated
that racism is a "cultural and social problem and cannot be attributed to
any disorder." This has remained the general consensus among the association
since.
Recently some psychiatrists argue that the notion
deserves a second look. "To continue perceiving extreme racism as normative
and not pathologic is to lend it legitimacy. Clearly, anyone who scapegoats
a whole group of people and seeks to eliminate them to resolve his or her
internal conflicts meets criteria for a delusional disorder, a major
psychiatric illness," said Alvin F. Poussaint, professor of psychiatry at
Harvard University.
Not only does not recognizing racism as a mental
illness seem to legitimize it, it also does not provide an anecdote for the
issue. According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental
Disorders IV, a mental disorder is defined as a behavioral or psychological
syndrome or pattern that occurs in an individual and that is associated with
present distress or with a significantly increased risk of suffering death,
pain, disability, or an important loss of freedom. The manual also goes on
to say that in order for a syndrome to be classified as a mental illness it
must be considered a manifestation of a behavioral, psychological, or
biological dysfunction in the individual.
Neither deviant behavior nor conflicts that are
primarily between the individual and society are mental disorders unless the
deviance or conflict is a symptom of a dysfunction in the individual.
From that definition Adolf Hitler, who exterminated 6
million Jewish people in anticipation of a pure white race was simply at
conflict with the Jewish people, not the fact that they existed, which means
that the he did suffer from some type of pathological disorder; The question
of Hitler's mental health has been the center of controversy for years and a
clear diagnosis from those who studied his psyche could have resulted in a
deeper look into the minds of Hitler and others like him.
It is time for the APA to reevaluate the seriousness
of racism.
==========
The high cost of green power
Jerry:
I just spotted this on the Marginal Revolutions blog:
http://www.marginalrevolution.com/
marginalrevolution/2010/04/markets-in-everything-watch.html
(quote) Bored guests at a certain Crowne Plaza hotel
can now skip the pricey mini-bar and hop on an exercise bike, generate some
electricity, and earn some meal vouchers. The hotel in Copenhagen started
the free meal idea as a way to boost guests' fitness and shrink their carbon
footprint, according to the BBC.
The bikes are hooked up to generators that require
guests of average fitness to pedal for about 15 minutes to create 10
watt-hours of electricity. iPhones attached to the handlebars display the
amount of power being generated.
Hitting the 15-minute mark earns lucky exercisers a
$36 meal voucher... (end quote)
I calculate that works out to $144 per hour of
pedaling. I don't know if you can earn multiple meal vouchers.
At $36 for 10 watt-hours of electricity, that works
out to $3,600 per kilowatt hour, compared with about ten cents for a
non-green kilowatt hour.
If we charged green power advocates that rate for the
electricity they use, we could afford to build all the windmills and solar
panels we could possibly want.
....Karl
==============w
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