Letters Remain

Month: May 2011

  • In Evolution, Adaptability Beats Fitness

    The longest continuous evolution experiment was started in 1988 and is still ongoing. The study, examining the “evolvability” of Escherichia coli (E. coli), has recently surpassed 52,000 generations and has had a sample of the population frozen and saved every 75 days (every 500 generations). The wealth of data obtained is fantastic and these frozen ancestors have been the…

  • Against Behavioural Economics and Irrationality

    Praising Maurice Allais as the father of behavioural economics rather than Kahneman and Tversky,  John Kay introduces us to some of Allais’ ideas while simultaneously providing one of the finest arguments against the simplistic view of behavioural economics as the study of irrationality: The skill of piecing together sense from fragmented and inaccurate information is a central…

  • Comedic Writing Tips… Again

    The use of inherently funny topics and words, at least one person, a little exaggeration and a touch of curiosity and danger: these are just some of the essential ingredients for successful humourous writing, says Scott Adams, creator of Dilbert. In an essay very similar to a post he wrote almost four years ago (previously), Adams tells us an…

  • Myths About Introverts

    As introverts are a minority—a mere twenty-five percent of the population—there are many persistent misconceptions about the introvert personality among the majority. After reading The Introvert Advantage, Carl King decided to compile a list of myths about introverts, explaining why each misconception is false: Introverts don’t like to talk. Introverts are shy. Introverts are rude. Introverts don’t like…

  • Commons Picture of the Year

    Every year, the Wikimedia Foundation — the parent organisation of many well-loved projects, such as Wikipedia, Wiktionary, Wikiquote and Wikiversity — runs the Commons Picture of the Year competition. The aim of the competition is to identify “the best freely-licensed images from those that during the year have been awarded Featured picture status”; an accolade awarded by…

  • The Source of Happiness

    When, after twenty years of marriage, Laura Munson’s husband told her “I don’t love you anymore. I’m not sure I ever did.“, she chose to not believe him. Not because it didn’t hurt or that she wasn’t taking it personally, but because this wasn’t about her — it was about unmet expectations. In yet another…