Category: Uncategorized
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Evolutionary Gems
Given that the concepts and realities of Darwinian evolution are still challenged, albeit rarely by biologists, a succinct briefing on why evolution by natural selection is an empirically validated principle is useful for people to have to hand. That’s from the introduction to 15 Evolutionary Gems (pdf): a document produced by the scientific journal Nature to…
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Darwin on Creationism
Last week the news that Sir David Attenborough receives hate mail for failing to credit God in his documentaries was everywhere you looked. If you would like a recap, I previously discussed Attenborough’s rather graphic reason for disbelieving in a deity in Attenborough on Creationism back in November. One thing has come to light since, however: Charles…
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Sharing More Than We Think
Technology writer Nicholas Carr reflects on how what we share online imitates our persona much more than we imagine. Your online self […] is entirely self-created, and because it determines your identity and social standing in an internet community, each decision you make about how you portray yourself – about which facts (or falsehoods) to…
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A Sampling of Mathematical Folk Humour
Browsing through the Wikipedia entry for mathematical jokes, I noticed a reference to the intriguingly titled Foolproof: A Sampling of Mathematical Folk Humor (pdf) that appeared in Notices of the American Mathematical Society back in 2004. Many English-language mathematical jokes are based on word play involving standard mathematical concepts and terminology. In fact, many of the jokes…
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Psychology of Learning
Tom Stafford—co-author of Mind Hacks—has written a series of posts on what psychologists know about learning. For anyone interested in education and personal development, these provide an interesting introduction to a few topics of note. Learning Makes Itself Invisible Once you have learnt something you see the world differently. Not only can you appreciate or…
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Geckos’ Toes, Wan der Waal’s and Walking on Ceilings
Only having seen one gecko in my life I’ve given them little thought. One thing I am sure of, however, is that I didn’t expect the answer to how geckos manage to navigate walls and ceilings so dextrously to be as awesome as it is. The bottoms of a gecko’s feet are […] covered with millions…
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The Anthropology of YouTube
I personally find the examples given in this article quite uninspiring (even quaint), but the following quote from Clive Thompson’s look at the anthropology of YouTube is rather piquant: What’s happening to video is like what happened to word processing. Back in the ’70s and early ’80s, publishing was a rarefied, expert job. Then Apple’s WYSIWYG interface…
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Overnight Success Takes Years
Paul Buchheit—original developer of Gmail and Google AdSense, founder of FriendFeed—discusses how projects can obtain ‘overnight success’. This notion of overnight success is very misleading, and rather harmful. If you’re starting something new, expect a long journey. That’s no excuse to move slow though. To the contrary, you must move very fast, otherwise you will…
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Action Through Advertising
Taking a leaf out of the advertisers’ book may be the key to succeeding in the fight against global warming and ecological apathy. At least, that’s the view Robert Butler takes after looking at the successes of a novel advertising campaign used to cut the incidence of littering in Texas: The ads avoided the negatives…
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Hedge Funds: An Overview
Like David, I’ve often been curious about the minutiae of hedge fund operations: I’ve long known the vague generalities, but never the specifics. For those in a similar situation, the London Review offers a thorough introduction to hedge funds. This was the basic strategy of the first hedge fund, as run by A.W. Jones—sociologist and financial journalist:…