Titans of Society, Tremble

Hannah Wallen wargames gamer culture and discovers the source of their secret power.

What if Memorization IS Teaching How to Learn?

They say kids need to memorize their arithmetic. Other "they"s say kids need to learn how to figure things out on their own. Now they say memorization builds the brain that can figure things out.
 
(The "math wars" refers to a battle between math teachers that has been going on at least three decades now: to emphasize understanding or performance?)

50 years of pop wisdom is wrong

Aristotle was right.

People with self control are happier.

A Scientific Approach to Good Luck

Richard Wiseman of the UK has studied lucky people and he has studied unlucky people. He has summarized his findings in a book, (or for busy people) an article, (or for people with short attention spans) three techniques.

My summary is this: relax and pay attention to the opportunities around you. My own addition,

tempt serendipity

Talk of making luck always reminds me of Heinlein's quote about making luck on a national scale.

High-School Crushes - Anylysed Mathematically!

John Paulos considers some statistics relevant to romantic crushes.

The second relevant statistical notion is Bayes’s theorem, a mathematical proposition that tells us how to update our estimates of people, events and situations in the light of new evidence.

A mathematical example: Three coins are before you. They look identical, but one is weighted so it lands on heads just one-fourth of the time; the second is a normal coin, so heads come up half the time; and the third has heads on both sides.

Pick one of the coins at random. Since there are three coins, the probability that you chose the two-headed one is one-third. Now flip that coin three times. If it comes up heads all three times, you’ll very likely want to change your estimate of the probability that you chose the two-headed coin.

Bayes’s theorem tells you how to calculate the new odds; in this case it says the probability that you chose the two-headed coin is now 87.7 percent, up from the initial 33.3 percent.

Grammar

here

Photosynthetic Glow

Now you can see plants grow.

The Big Picture of the Summer Job

 It looks like summer jobs are harder to get than they used to be. It's not just the recession. That was 7 years ago.
So what explains the trend? Are kids today lazy? Do they feel unprepared? Is minimum wage pressure pushing the lowest skill workers off the bottom? Are students competing with China or adults (who are competing with China?) This is US data. Is it competition from low-skill immigration?

(Dec'14) Megan McArdle talks a little about the effect of raising the minimum wage and a lot about how to read a social science study.
The Curmudgeon (p.42-4,91-5) says you should look for a lousy summer job (that pays well), or at least a real one. Avoid internships or cushy jobs with impressive titles.

This Summer's Assignment

*

School can be a good environment to learn academic skills like arithmetic, algebra, geology, grammar, history and essay construction. It is a lousy place to learn how to use your academic skills. That is an executive function.

Your education doesn't stop this summer. Develop those critical skills. Go play.

It's a Show...It's an Education...It's Dinner

In keeping with my easily distracted interest in cooking, let me speak of the Culinary Training Studio.
It looks like a kitchen surrounded by a bar. It has been described as being part of your own cooking show. You might call it a cooking class where you don't have to work and get to eat the food. Or you might call it a six hour dinner, with entertainment in the form of food talk.

Global Warming From a Sunnier Globe

What if pollution makes the planet cooler? That's what made the most sense to me when I first thought about the issue. (I think it was grade 2 that I had noticed that clouds make it cooler and my teacher told me that pollution causes clouds.). You'd think someone would have looked into this earlier.

It turns out that pollution does block the sun. The planet's mid-century cooling (from the 50's to the 70's) is explained by the blockage of the sun. The late century rise in temperatures is explained by pollution reductions.


Plus, clarity from the comments:

"If i get this right, industrial pollution masked the natural warming from the Little Ice Age and the clean air initiatives caused the earth temperatures to rebound to normal levels." - Lawrence Todd

Environment Leaping Forward, If...

The earth's natural environment keeps getting better at supporting life, especially human life.Thanks to new technology we are about to make major progress in carbon emissions, medical science and relief for the poor. The progress would be felt first on this continent. Then, once the technology is common and established, it will be practical for the third world as well.

The problem is that there is an entrenched group of influential and politically connected people who, fearing a loss in their current privilege, obstruct progress.

Life on Mars Confirmed!

Well, life on Mars very likely, anyway...but it is probably dead by now...and we brought it.

Meteor Shower Tonight

That is, just after midnight, Friday, May 23 (aka early morning May 24) There will be a meteor shower called Camelopardalids. Look north. The meteors will appear to originate from just north of Polaris (the North Star).

Bridge Contest Spring 2014

Liam and Tkia achieved bridge glory, effectively tied by Michael.

Science of Color

Studies on color and tests of people's reactions have intriguing results:

For instance, the study into the psychological effects of pink, mentioned above, was carried out by Alexander Schauss in the Seventies. It showed that of 153 male prisoners put in cells painted pink, 98.7 per cent were weaker after being in the pink cells for only 15 minutes

Of course, there is the practical application, selling people stuff:

...a paper in the Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, ... White is “purity, cleanness, simplicity, hygiene, clarity and peace”; black is “sophistication, glamour, status, elegance, richness and dignity”. Purple is status, pink is femininity, and, of course, blue suggests competence while red is exciting.

and speculation on why we humans see color at all:

...developed the ability to detect the colour red because of a common characteristic: bare-skinned faces. Suddenly, we could “read” the all-important expressions of anger, dominance and sexual readiness on the faces of those around us.

Questions to Ask a University

Universities have a reputation as havens of expanded minds and stimulating thinking. They can be. They can also be among the most closed, fearful places in contemporary North America. If you are interested in your university getting these issues right, here are some questions to ask.
(Aug'15) Now that you about to go, tips from the Factual Feminist.

Making a Lush, Green Planet

Increased CO2 is helping plants grow around the planet. It seems that there are two effects at play. CO2 is good for plants, a type of fertilizer. CO2 also helps plants use water more efficiently. A third effect of CO2 is on rainfall. This one is so far unresolved: many models (and nearly all the press) predict that a hotter planet will be dry. Others (and the evidence so far) say that warmer means wetter. Beyond dispute, is that so far the increase in carbon has correlated to a greener planet.

Update (Nov23'14) Test are coming in improved photosynthesis mechanisms. Cyanobacteria are related to C4. I'm not sure about the High Yield Rice.

Math of Improbable Events

A one-in-14 million lottery draws the same set of numbers twice? It had to happen.

Walking on Oobleck

Why didn't I think of this?