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"Ferris Bueller's Day Off" recut as an indie coming-of-age movie for mopey grad students

Mar 14 2011 | comment(s)

"Ferris Bueller's Day Off" is a pretty good movie until, like with many movies, the final third, where it becomes alarmingly like an indie coming-of-age movie that will wash over film festivals again this year.  Really.    If you can't spot every possible 2000s indie film cliché, right down to the music, the cut scenes and the faux drama, you just don't watch enough movies.


Google - Where Republicans And Democrats Are Skeptical Together

Google - Where Republicans And Democrats Are Skeptical Together

Mar 11 2011 | comment(s)

In science, Democrats and Republicans agree on very little, or at least the things they value in science debates are different.   Republicans don't think stunting the economy today is a good fix for climate change and Democrats don't agree vaccines are a good fix for keeping healthy kids.

One thing both sides to seem to agree on today is Google: Reps. Edward Markey and Joe Barton, co-chairmen of the Bipartisan Privacy Caucus, are making Google a target after the online giant was caught acquiring social security numbers of kids in its doodling contest.  It is one thing for Barton, a Republican, to criticize them but Google is a financial and cultural darling of Democrats so Markey looks bad for them.
Progesterone - a common pregnancy drug could soon cost thousands of dollars

Progesterone - a common pregnancy drug could soon cost thousands of dollars

Mar 10 2011 | comment(s)

Progesterone, prescribed for decades to prevent premature birth in high-risk mothers and made by specialty drug stores known as compounding pharmacies, could soon change in cost from $10 a dose to $1,500.

Why?  The FDA has approved a branded version of the medication and KV Pharmaceutical Company, the maker of the new drug called Makena, has warned compounding pharmacies that they face FDA action if they continue to sell nonbranded versions of 17-hydroxyprogesterone caproate.

That's $30,000 extra per pregnancy.  
Implementing Ambiguity In The Science Classroom

Implementing Ambiguity In The Science Classroom

Mar 10 2011 | comment(s)

It sounds great - teach ambiguity by introducing complex questions that do not have easy answers.    The problem is that a lot of students aren't going to get what they need out of classes that way, notes Chad Orzel of Scienceblogs.com.   
I quickly run up against two major problems: first, that we have certain material that we need to cover for our own courses, and second that we have certain material that other people expect us to cover when their students take our classes.
A Celebration Of Pee Power

A Celebration Of Pee Power

Mar 10 2011 | comment(s)

It may not be in favor today but urine was used in medicine for millenia.

In Rome,  Richard Sugg at the Guardian tells us, Pliny the Elder recommended fresh urine for the treatment of "sores, burns, affections of the anus, chaps and scorpion stings", while stale urine mixed with ash could be rubbed on your baby for nappy rash. In early-modern Europe numerous medical luminaries went further. Pioneering French surgeon Ambroise Paré noted that itching eye-lids could be washed in the patient's urine – provided that it had been kept "all night in a barber's basin" first. 
Biodegradable Clothing And Electronics Try To Gain Ground

Biodegradable Clothing And Electronics Try To Gain Ground

Mar 10 2011 | comment(s)

Biodegradable sneakers?   Anything with 'green' slapped on it is going to sell to a certain audience but, as science always knew and the public discovered about ethanol, just because activists and a politician or two talks a lot about it doesn't make it better for the environment.

Plastics are essential in modern life and a biodegradable version that uses less petroleum would be terrific, but are they a net gain for the environment?   The iameco, billed as the world's first biodegradable computer, had a frame made from wood pulp and its panels contained seeds so that when thrown away it would eventually grow new trees.   
Jennifer Aniston's Viral Smart Water Commercial

Jennifer Aniston's Viral Smart Water Commercial

Mar 10 2011 | comment(s)

Nothing makes a video go viral like having a famous person ridiculing the Internet and viral videos and memes.  Jennifer Aniston is a pretty good sport during the whole thing - I would start giggling every time they asked me to even say "Smart Water" - sorry, "nutrient enhanced vapor distilled water" - because, you know, it's really dumb.   And their calling it Jen Aniston's sex tape will make you laugh too.

Want To Get Out Of Jury Duty? Think Like A Scientist

Want To Get Out Of Jury Duty? Think Like A Scientist

Mar 09 2011 | comment(s)

It's not going to be a big secret to any of you over the age of 25 that court cases are often not about right versus wrong but about convincing a jury.    And if you want to convince a jury, it helps to make sure you have the right one so choosing members is an art.
NPR Executive Busted Slamming Republicans

NPR Executive Busted Slamming Republicans

Mar 08 2011 | comment(s)

NPR, which claims to be for all people, pretty much hates Republicans.  We all know this but they give a wink-wink pretense to being objective.   No one is really fooled and in the modern age of 'gotcha' gonzo journalism, where video footage is available immediately without any need for big media companies to post it, it can occasionally become really obvious.
Tort Reform: The 800-Pound Gorilla in the Healthcare Living Room

Tort Reform: The 800-Pound Gorilla in the Healthcare Living Room

Mar 08 2011 | comment(s)

In the debate over whether or not Medicare should be available to everyone, like it is to really poor people, soldiers, old people and members of Congress, one thing gets lost in the cost discussion;  things are so expensive because lawyers love to sue.

By vilifying doctors and hospitals and insurance companies, as populist efforts to jam through healthcare reform have done, advocates are reaffirming the notion that it's okay to sue over everything because the medical community are all just greedy corporations we are being told to hate.
Descartes Versus Information Theory

Descartes Versus Information Theory

Mar 08 2011 | comment(s)

Is everything built from information?   It's a recurring topic in science and philosophy.   John Horgan in Scientific American says it isn't but John Wilkins says he is wrong, even though he agrees it isn't.   

Wilkins touches on hylomorphism and the longstanding logos mentality of the western world.   Horgan delves into John Wheeler's "it from bit" idea that all physics can be re-molded into a framework of information theory.
If You Think Evolution Has It Tough In America, Visit Britain

If You Think Evolution Has It Tough In America, Visit Britain

Mar 08 2011 | comment(s)

Self-loathing Americans occasionally get concerned about evolution acceptance in America - like with Republicans who accept climate change but not global warming, the issue is more one of nuance and some don't like any nuance at all.    Leaving the possibility open that some divine entity may have created the spark of life and man evolved from there gets people lumped in as 'creationists' with the kookier 'young earth creationism' minority by angry atheists, so people shut down when a hot button question like evolution is asked - they are looking for the linguistic catch.
Like AIDS? Then You Will Love The Anti-Circumcision Movement In San Francisco

Like AIDS? Then You Will Love The Anti-Circumcision Movement In San Francisco

Mar 08 2011 | comment(s)

Want to cloud a health and privacy issue?   Label it "male genital mutilation" and wage an expensive marketing campaign to get it outlawed.   

If you have no taste for irony, do not consider the fact that San Francisco, which practically has "women have the right to choose" in the city charter, would look odd telling women that the right to choose only applies to making babies dead and not giving them a circumcision.  
Best Buy Stunned Customers Don't Want To Pay More

Best Buy Stunned Customers Don't Want To Pay More

Mar 07 2011 | comment(s)

I understand we are not the mass market but is there any piece of technology you're going to get educated on by walking into a brick and mortar retail store?   

If you look on the Internet to get questions answered first, like which you might prefer in a television, DLP or LED or Plasma, you probably also looked at prices.   And that is why Best Buy is in a tough position even though its top competitor, Circuit City, went out of business.  

There's no market niche they hold, no technology cutting-edge enough it requires expertise (3-D television is a non-starter and HD-DVD is long dead) which means Best Buy has terrific people (I was there on Saturday - they really are terrific, even if I don't need them) and a cost that corresponds to that.
Increase Your Intelligence: 5 Ways To Maximize Your Cognitive Potential

Increase Your Intelligence: 5 Ways To Maximize Your Cognitive Potential

Mar 07 2011 | comment(s)

Science 2.0 fave Andrea Kuszewski has a piece in Scientific American on ways to (yes, not just hype on infomercials) increase your brain power.
China's Crackdown On International Journalists

China's Crackdown On International Journalists

Mar 07 2011 | comment(s)

During the 2008 Beijing Olympics, when some parts of America applauded heavy-handed government actions like banning cars (except for important people) to curb pollution, Chinese communist officials made some concessions in other ways - namely allowing journalists (from other countries, that is) to operate with some freedom.  
To Be, Or Not To Be, Danish: Was Hamlet Irish?

To Be, Or Not To Be, Danish: Was Hamlet Irish?

Mar 07 2011 | comment(s)

Hamlet, the lead character in one Shakespeare's best plays, was a Danish prince - but he may actually have been Irish, according to a piece in the Review of English Studies.   Though this be madness, yet there is method in 't.

Rather than being based on Amlethus, from the 13th century "History of the Danes," or even farther back in Amlothi, from a 10th century poem by the Icelandic poet Snow Bear, Lisa Collinson of the Centre for Scandinavian Studies at the University of Aberdeen contends Hamlet really derives from Admlithi of Eire in an Irish tale called the "Destruction of Da Derga's Hostel."

That it should come to this!
Baby Gaga Lawsuit - Lady Gaga Thinks She Owns Baby Language

Baby Gaga Lawsuit - Lady Gaga Thinks She Owns Baby Language

Mar 06 2011 | comment(s)

In newspaper cartoon serials 100 years ago and in real life for millenia, babies have said "goo goo" and "gaga" - but one recently famous pop music star, who lifted her moniker from Queen's "Radio Gaga", somehow thinks she owns it now.
Latest Enemy To San Francisco Environmentalists - Golf

Latest Enemy To San Francisco Environmentalists - Golf

Mar 03 2011 | comment(s)

Many of us agree that 'golf is a good walk spoiled' but not for the reasons a group of environmental lobbyists in San Francisco do.  The Wild Equity Institute, the Center for Biological Diversity, the National Parks Conservation Association, the Surfrider Foundation, Sequoia Audubon, and Sierra Club have instead determined that the 90-year old Sharp Park Golf Course in Pacifica is endangering two species.

Wait, hasn't the golf course been there for 90 years?  Let it go.  That sort of common sense is why you don't work for Club Sierra...errrr, I mean Sierra Club.    If you've ever been to their offices you know how easy it is to make a mistake with the name.
Army Remakes Its Fitness Tests

Army Remakes Its Fitness Tests

Mar 02 2011 | comment(s)

When I was a young Army officer with ridiculously low body fat, I once lost our unit's physical fitness 'Iron Man' competition (not an Iron Man race, but rather the top aggregate score in the military's three fitness tests) to an overweight woman in her mid-30s despite being dominant in each event.

Army Physical Fitness tests, being so heavily weighted by age and gender, need a makeover, I remember laughing at the time.  And she was embarrassed by the silliness of it all as well.