Month: July 2008
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Suicide and Media Coverage
The British Medical Journal has an article that I’ve spoken of numerous times lately (IRL), discussing how media coverage of suicides affects the rate of similar suicides. There is clear evidence that the media may affect method specific suicide rates. In Britain an excess of about 60 suicides by burning occurred in the 12 months…
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Maciej Dakowicz
I’ve no idea how to pronounce his name, but Maciej Dakowicz’s photography speaks to me on a more… local level. Now living in Cardiff, his Cardiff at night set depicts wonderfully(?) what is to be expected on a Friday or Saturday night out in Cardiff. This video is also quite enlightening. Homepage Flickr Update: The…
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Manufacturing Consent With Fallacies
Scientific American’s Getting Duped: How the Media Messes With Your Mind educates us on two important fallacies used to undermine arguments. Statements made in the media can surreptitiously plant distortions in the minds of millions. Learning to recognize two commonly used fallacies can help you separate fact from fiction. […] One common method of spinning…
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The Flynn Effect and Our Declining IQs
The Flynn Effect is the gradual rise of the average IQ over generations, and the reason why IQ tests are periodically renormalised to reset the average to 100: an average IQ in our generation equals a higher than average IQ a generation or two beforehand. Or does it? According to new research it appears that…
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Understanding and Reducing Suicide
Discussing an article in The New York Times on understanding and reducing suicide rates, Mind Hacks’ Vaughan presents us with some other interesting research on the topic. If you want a flavour of really how simple the safety measures need to be to make a difference to suicide rate, research has found that putting pills…
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What’s Your Sign Name?
BBC Ouch! on the strange gift of sign language names. When a sign name is given to you, it’s special. A bit like losing your deaf virginity. It’s thought up after an intense period of observation, when people have worked out firstly whether they like you enough to give you one (a sign name, that…
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Let’s Do the Whitest Thing Imaginable
I think I’ve found my favourite eCard website/service: someecards This one in particular made me laugh, and also reminded me of the comedy blog of yore, Stuff White People Like.
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Purging Book Clutter
Last week I moved house. During the move I took stock of my belongings in my ongoing battle with clutter and discovered that more than half of my boxes contained books… and that’s after I gave a box or two of books to a good home a month before! The emotional attachement that is made…
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Logo Design and Examples
I really appreciate good design, and this list of 50+ Kick Ass Logos for Inspiration truly are inspiring. According to David Airey, there are four critical elements to great logo design, and these match all of them. It must be describable It must be memorable It must be effective without colour It must be scalable…
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Male and Female Privilege
Following on from yesterday’s post on white privilege, here are two further lists on male and female privilege: The Male Privilege Checklist I will never be expected to change my name upon marriage or questioned if I don’t change my name. If I have children but do not provide primary care for them, my masculinity…