Nov 09 2009
Just encountered this and I’ve got to include it. Powerful.
Some have argued that religion provides a keg of dynamite. Others say the keg is instead an innate human propensity for violence. In the second case, what is religion, a match?
I say, Kid’s — don’t play with matches. And discourage adults from handling them as well.
Nov 09 2009
Tropical storm Ida, currently making it’s way over the Gulf of Mexico, has yet to bring rain to my area of Florida. We’ve got wind, though. It’s gusting pretty good. One just knocked some seed from a hanging bird feeder. I wonder if the local is part of the same system. Of course, it is definitely a part of we consider the Earth to have one weather system. Which it does, pretty much.
I just checked the most recent projected storm path at the NOAA website. Looks like we may see some precipitation yet. Perhaps by the end of the week. Which would be a good thing. We’re down a quart. Or maybe a foot.
So far we’ve had a notably mild hurricane season, and the season is quickly drawing to a close. I wonder if the lack of tropical storms has resulted in a lower water table than one would expect for this time of year.
Next year I may want to welcome storms of the gentle variety. Not that it will make a difference.
Nov 09 2009
If biological life in its wildly varied forms on this planet is akin to huge number of constructions made with one Lego set, the basic building block would be proteins. These are truly wonder-molecules.
Over this past summer I read some research of the molecular biology type that highlighted the above fact. Scientists at the University of Texas studied one specific form of protein, one type of block, if you will, and Senior author Sharon Dent had this to say about their findings:
Gcn5 is more like a Swiss Army knife that performs different functions depending on what needs to be done in the cell. [source]
Where the Lego-set-of-life model falls short is when it comes to the plasticity of the pieces. Lego blocks are generally hard, unyielding, non-elastic pieces: many rigid corners and no give.
It seems to me that people with a creationist streak in their thinking tend to view the stuff of life as Lego blocks. And they wonder how the heck those blocks become animated. What sets them into motion? It just doesn’t make sense.
In deluxe Lego sets there are those pieces that are indeed elastic and some with moving elements. Some pieces that can even store energy, like springs and rubber bands. But again, to get the Logo creations moving, the hand of the creator (rather than his/her breath) is needed to get things going, to energize them.
What is the equivalent to the creator’s hand when it comes to the constructions of biological life? What energizes life and sets it moving?
Energizes. The primary “hand” on our planet is sunshine. Solar radiation compresses the springs and winds the elastic bands that directly and indirectly animates the incredibly number of life-forms around us.
Although I do not mean this in a religious way, I can’t help but say, “Praise be to proteins! Praise be to the sun!” For of their essential roles in creation we can be sure.
Nov 08 2009
Thanks to the above “sign” sent to me by Gawd, I now understand that the most high, true deity of the universe and beyond is a duck. Or maybe a goose.
Consult the evidence for yourself. It’s right before your eyes — in the form of a photo I took of Greek ruins in Sicily. See the supernatural fowl? Yep. It’s a sign alright.
The image of a generic hippy-like Jesus on a grilled-cheese sandwich? Please. I’ve got that beat by a long shot. My sign is on a massive, solid-stone pillar, thousands of years old. Here, I’ll make it easier for you to see the truth.
Praise be to the mighty duck! Or goose.
I know what you skeptics are thinking: this is a textbook case of pareidolia, of finding significance in a vague, unintentionally produced image. But the Mighty Duck knew you would do this. By crying foul you actually provide further evidence of His Quacking Ways.
Nov 08 2009
Did you see that driver! What an idiot!!!
Bad drivers are idiots. At least to those in the cars around them. Or even hit by them. Here’s a bright blue, pulsing news flash for you: Driving idiocy may be genetic.
According to a study out of the University of California – Irvine,
People with a particular gene variant performed more than 20 percent worse on a driving test than people without it – and a follow-up test a few days later yielded similar results. About 30 percent of Americans have the variant.
Darn. Do I still get to mutter or even yell, “You idiot,” when one of those drivers cause me to mash my brake pedal to the floor?
A bit about the science. I give it both high and low marks. The high mark is for the quality of the data. For variables, gene variant and driving test scores are precise, readily measured and less likely to be corrupted by bias.
The low goes to the quantity of the data: only 29 people with the gene variant and 7 without it. Clearly more numbers are needed to bring greater confidence to the conclusion.
Another high mark goes to the attitude of the senior author of the study, Steven Cramer, as expressed by this quote:
“I’d be curious to know the genetics of people who get into car crashes,” Cramer says. “I wonder if the accident rate is higher for drivers with the variant.”
My bet is “yes.” But that’s just a bet. Fortunately, a bet is a form of a prediction that could be put to a test. Maybe like this: Screen 100+ new drivers for the gene variant. Then track their driving record through the years. Do those with the variant show up more in police records for traffic violations and in accident reports?
If you really want to know something, the smart thing is to do some science.
Nov 07 2009
My own home area is quite sandy. I live in Florida, the Sand Bar state. Much of our Earth, however, is quite rocky and solid. Well, beneath the oceans, anyway.
Maybe Florida is rocky, too. Though the rocks are tiny enough to be called sand.
Photo thanks to NASA.
Nov 07 2009
I like this comic:
As for where the “mind” goes — the mind is something the body generates.
Similarly, pull the power cord on a television screen and where does the visual image go? The image is simply generated no longer. Same with mind. Same with the perception of self. It is a cognitive illusion to believe it persists beyond what generates it.
Nov 07 2009
In my “Almighty Alpha” posts of late I have been exploring how gossip in many forms plays a role in hierarchical behavior. And how this is evident in religious doctrine and ritual. Recent research by Tim Hallett, Donna Eder and Brent Harger looked into the role of gossip in office politics. Their study results affirm that gossip is no trivial matter.
Specifically, the researchers looked into business meeting talk that “drifts away from the official task” to talk about group members not present. Hallett was quoted in the news release:
Be aware that what is going on is a form of politics and it’s a form of politics that can be a weapon to undermine people who aren’t present. But it also can be a gift. If people are talking positively it can be a way to enhance someone’s reputation.
Political behavior that can undermine or enhance what? Reputation and status.
Small talk is frequently not so small. Of the gossip variety you could think of it as the verbal hands of individuals in a social mosh pit. With their verbal behavior group members can hold individuals up, or let them fall.
Nov 06 2009
Anyone know what kind of plant this is? The large, cone-shaped composite flowers it produces are getting much less insect action lately.
Less daylight hours, cooler air . . . and significantly fewer butterflies. Maybe those variables are related. The element that hasn’t seen a similar decline, it seems to me, is the number of blossoms in our yard. So where have all the butterflies gone?
Don’t laugh, but at this very moment I am wearing two pairs of socks. It’s a chilly 72 degrees inside. I kid you not. Yes, I am a typical, thin-blooded Floridian. I set the air conditioner at 78 degrees and have little problem with heat. And it’s a good thing, seeing daytime high temperatures around here exceed 80 degrees for more months than they don’t (7 to 5 by my quick figuring).
If the butterflies have flown to Aruba for the winter, maybe I’ll join them.
Nov 06 2009
My bad. In a recent post, Unconscious Influences and the Faces of Homosexual and Aggressive Behavior, I wrote -
One replicated study I recall discovered that a greater difference in the length of pointer and middle fingers in men and women correlates with higher testosterone levels. And higher testosterone levels are associated with a greater propensity for aggressive behavior.
Seems I remembered wrong. The fingers in question are the fourth and the second fingers (pointer and ring). An article I read yesterday set my knowledge straight and advanced it. In Hormone that affects finger length key to social behavior I read of these three clues to the potential influence of hormones on primate behavior:
1. Finger ratios do not change very much after birth and appear to tell us something about how very early androgens affect adult behaviour, particularly behaviour linked to mating and reproduction.
2. The team found that Old World monkeys, such as baboons and rhesus macaques, have a longer fourth finger in comparison to the second finger, which suggests that they have been exposed to high levels of prenatal androgens. These species tend to be highly competitive and promiscuous, which suggests that exposure to a lot of androgens before birth could be linked to the expression of this behaviour.
3. Lower androgen levels could help explain why Great Apes show high levels of male cooperation and tolerance.
From the research into testosterone and hand measurements, I think I would be justified in proposing that, to divine the general traits of a species, “reading” the relative length of their fingers would be more productive than reading their palms.
Interesting stuff. I hope in the future more studies will be conducted on the influence of both “male” and “female” hormones on human behavior.
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