'Flammable' bras hold back Swedish female conscripts

  But isn't that what they are supposed to do?

'Flammable' bras hold back Swedish female conscripts

[Found on The Local - Sweden's News in English] You just can't make up stuff like this. Some humorously risque comments below the story too.

[Hat Tip 2 Ohiomike]

Feed Me!

Though a miracle of science - Mario Bros. horror brought to life!

Now if you will pardon me, I'm going to be hiding under my desk armed with hedge clippers until the first good hard frost. 

Iggy Approaches

The annual Ig Nobel Awards are less than two weeks away. Time for the hype to begin!

Visit Improbable.com for more an introduction video and http://improbable.com/ig/2009/. Be sure to click through to the video from WCVB-TV.

Mark my words, this research is a sure winner!

Here's some more fun from Improbable.com: Für Elise:

Parrots the Universe and Everything

Douglas Adams on Parrots, the Universe, and Everthing. Grab a drink and a snack, because this is a lllooonnnggg video.

Douglas Adams was the best-selling British author and satirist who created The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. In this talk at UCSB recorded shortly before his death, Adams shares hilarious accounts of some of the apparently absurd lifestyles of the world's creatures, and gleans from them extraordinary perceptions about the future of humanity.

Douglas Adams: Parrots the Universe and Everything

Douglas Adams was the best-selling British author and satirist who created The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. In this talk at UCSB recorded shortly before his death, Adams shares hilarious accounts of some of the apparently absurd lifestyles of the world's creatures, and gleans from them extraordinary perceptions about the future of humanity.

The whole video is an hour and a half, so make some time, and grab a snack and a drink.

Health Care and Immigration Reforms

South Carolina Representative Joe Wilson needs to chill out. So do a lot of other people.

(CNN) -- Two words, delivered with index finger punctuating the air and directed at the president of the United States, made a little-known South Carolina congressman one of the most reviled men on the Internet -- at least Wednesday heading into Thursday.

Facebook and Twitter users largely condemned Rep. Joe Wilson for his outburst toward President Obama on Wednesday night.

As soon as Rep. Joe Wilson was identified as the person whose angry and audible outburst disrupted President Barack Obama's health-care speech to Congress, condemnation was swift -- and brutal.

Wilson's response is at least impolite, but he committed another error, an error that a lot of other people are making too.

Illegal immigration is a serious issue in this country. It was a problem before the health care debate started, and will continue to be a problem when all is said and done. Conflating these two issues is an error and does nothing to solve either problem.

Here is my opinion: American consumers want low prices. American business are pushed to hire illegal immigrants in order to give the low prices that consumers demand. Illegal workers, just like any other workers, need health care. Hospitals and medical professionals are obligated to provide care for those in needs regardless of legal status.
The cost of this health care is a hidden cost and consequence of demand for lower prices. Pass all the laws and build all the fences you like, but the illegal immigration problem will not go away until the American people are willing to put up with higher prices, and I don't see that happening.

Let's stop blaming illegal immigrants for the problem: they are here because we demand they be here. The burden of health care cost for illegal immigrants is a consequence of our own selfish desire for lower prices, and we are already paying for it. Since this already costs us money, the least we can do is reform the system so that it doesn't cost us so much.

I'd like to dedicate this post to my good friend MDC, who likely disagrees with me in every way possible.

History of Dance

METHINKS it is time for something lighter.



Gotta love French and Saunders.

The Many Talents of Al Franken

Let's see Norm Coleman do this:


[Hat Tip 2 Pharyngula, again, dammit]

Cole Cuts

The political lampoonery of John Cole.

[John Cole]
[John Cole]
[John Cole]
[John Cole]

[Hat Tip 2 OldCola]

Education is Not a Placebo (My 15 Seconds of Fame)

I'm going to be FAMOUS for all of about 15 seconds. On my drive home Thursday evening I heard the following commentary on NPR's Marketplace program

Education works as a placebo effect

TYLER COWEN: There's lots of evidence that placebos work in medicine; people get well simply because they think they're supposed to.

But we're learning that placebos apply to a lot of other areas and that includes higher education. Schooling works in large part because it makes people feel they've been transformed. Think about it: college graduates earn a lot more than non-graduates, but studying Walt Whitman rarely gets people a job. In reality, the students are jumping through lots of hoops and acquiring a new self-identity.

The educators and the administrators stage a kind of "theater" to convince students that they now belong to an elite group of higher earners. If students believe this story, many of them will then live it.

Dr. Cohen goes about the cost of prestige and status, but I pretty knew how I wanted to respond at this point. After dinner I found the Marketplace site, checked the commenting guidelines and left this comment:

I acknowledge what Dr. Cowen says about the value of confidence and self identity, but higher education is anything but a placebo. Learning itself is a critical skill which is gained through study, and that study might be biology, business, physics, physiology, zoology, or any number of other areas, including Walt Whitman. In a pinch, maybe even economics will do.
A college degree does not mean a student has mastered a subject, rather it is an indication that the student is teachable, and capable of jumping through the higher hoops of their profession.

I figured there was a good chance of this getting selected to be read on the air - because my comment was about the only one under the 150 word limit. I was right too, because I got an email from Alison Gilbert asking if I would record an edited version for broadcast on the letters segment:

Higher Education is anything but a placebo. Learning itself is a critical skill which is gained through study. That study might be biology, business, physics, physiology, zoology – even Walt Whitman. A college degree does not mean a student has mastered a subject, rather it is an indication that the student is teachable and capable of jumping through the higher hoops of their profession.

So there you have, my 15 seconds of fame broadcast for all to hear on the afternoon of Tuesday, September 9th. Tune in your radio or listen in online.

And for the record, I agree with Dr. Cohen that confidence and self image are an important part of education, and that the costs of education are getting out-of-hand. However, education is not a placebo; you just can't fake that.

[UPDATE] Here is a link to the September 8th Letter segment and text.

Wyoming Geology Museum Reopens

The story that the Wyoming Geology Museum Will Reopen caught me by surprise. It's a great feature of Laramie and the University of Wyoming, and I am distressed that it was put on the budget chopping block, and that its long-time curator is gone.

This story has it's own blog detailing all the rallying efforts to reopen the museum, check it out at Keep Laramie Dinos. I also found a good great photo collection from Fossil Freak, where I found most of the photos featured here.


What I can add to this story is my own memories of this place:

My first visit was in 1971, shortly after my family moved to Laramie. I recall being shocked and slightly frightened by the gigantic dinosaur that looked down hungrily on me as I entered. A few years later it was discovered they had the wrong head mounted on it and replaced it with the correct apatosaurus skull, which was smaller and not nearly so fierce, nor as likely to strike terror into the hearts of small children.

HowStuffWorks has an article on this "celebrated scientific mistake" and how it was discovered and corrected. The head I first viewed is much larger and toothier that the correct skull, and it is still on display near the entrance.


The apatosaurus is perhaps the single greatest display in the museum, and if I recall, there are only three mounted apatosaurus skeletons like this in the world. Quite an accomplishment for this mighty little museum.








Ever have one of those dreams where you are being chased by a dinosaur. When I had that dream THIS IS THE BEASTY that was after me.

Later on, tossing pine cones into the mouth of the hungry T-Rex was an entertaining game.

There is more I could say, but I think I'll let Fossil Freak's photos say it for me.


Image credits:
Casper Star-Tribune
Waymaking.com
FossilFreak
Keep Laramie Dinos

13 more things

From New Scientist:

13 more things that don't make sense

Strive as we might to make sense of the world, there are mysteries that still confound us.

Michael Brooks presents thirteen of the most perplexing. Cracking any one of them could yield profound truths.

A bit "Fluffy", but fun reading. And is that isn't enough there's the original ...

13 things that do not make sense

Science is Real

This is SO going on my Christmas list! Click thru for a preview of the new TMBG album: Here Comes Science.


More at the TMBG site. [HatTip2 Pharyngula]