Accidental Blogger
A general interest blog
Category: Educational, Cultural & Social Matters
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Facebook's VP for public policy, answering the question of why everything on Facebook is opt-out, rather than opt-in: Everything is opt-in on Facebook. Participating in the service is a choice. We want people to continue to choose Facebook every day. Adding information — uploading photos or posting status updates or "like" a Page — are…
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Believe it (or in it) or not. That's the name of a scientific paper published in a journal on the validity of the famed 'Mozart Effect'. I love the name, more so that a scientist dared to use it in the actual title of his paper. "The transient enhancement of performance on spatial tasks in…
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In light of Arizona's recent enactment of a new immigration law, 3 Quarks Daily author Justin Smith explains on his own blog why the presence of undocumented Hispanic populations in southwestern US states is not quite the same as Polish or Russian nationals overstaying their visits to New York or Chicago. For a classic example of misplaced journalistic balance,…
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As I stirred in a tablespoon of yogurt culture in scalded milk cooled to a lukewarm temperature, I think back to when I first got it from a friend, a few days after landing in the US. The culture of bacteria (smuggled in past the noses of the US Dept of Agriculture and the Customs,…
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One Holocaust survivor, Berthe Meijer, says she remembers stories told by Anne Frank to her when she was about 6 years old, not too long before Anne died in the camp at Bergen-Belsen. Meijer's memoir (in Dutch) is due out soon. But others have cast doubts on her story, tagging it as 'too good to…
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A very good essay over at 3 Quarks Daily by Professor Frans de Waal about cultural conditioning influencing the approach to scientific research. In 1952, when European ethologists still worked on instinct theories and American behaviorists still trained rats to press levers, [Kinji] Imanishi wrote a little book that criticized the view of animals as mindless automatons. He inserted…
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After years of trying and failing to inject creationism into the science curriculum, conservative members of the Texas Board of Education have found another way to promote their agenda. The recently revised social studies syllabus (history, government and economics) of Texas schools now will reflect a clear slant toward right wing conservative views of America's past, present and future. If one…
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A review of a fascinating book about the Kalash community of the Hindukush. Be sure to check out the video. (via 3 Quarks Daily)
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Of social contracts: Play "I Spy" before you say "I Do" – a new tradition in Indian weddings. A thin man in an ill-fitting suit, Singh works out of a crowded office around the corner from a muffler shop. An incense stick burns behind his desk. A sign in slightly fractured English warns the staff:…
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Of all the instances of human rights abuse through history, the Hindu caste system of India is surely the oldest, most entrenched order of societal and political inequity. Among India’s one billion plus people, hundreds of millions qualify as members of lower castes with myriad gradations and distinctions in their status, the levels of indignity heaped on them being inversely proportional to their position on…
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Poverty and suffering, like wealth and success, are frequently associated with personal attributes. The former evokes hard work, determination, intelligence and the competitive spirit, while the poor are suspected of stupidity, malingering and a tendency to exploit the generosity of others. The poor are also often blamed for their own misery in religious terms like karma or an injudicious pact with the devil. Those…
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The recent demise of reclusive author J.D. Salinger has spawned numerous obituaries in the media. Most of them focus on his literary /cultural impact as the creator of Holden Caulfield, a character widely believed to have appealed to the youthful alienation experienced by several generations of young readers. Is Holden Caulfield a universal, timeless youth icon? Do today's youngsters feel the same way about him as their…
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Translation: self portrait. After examining the self-portrait that I posted here recently, guest author Narayan sent me the following e-mail. The gist of his message is somewhat along the lines of Robert Burns' O would some power the giftie gie us to see ourselves as others see us. Or may be not. You decide. (published with…
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In her guest contribution to the NYT Opinionator column, Barbara Herrnstein Smith does a better job than even Stanley Fish of teasing out the dynamics of the needless quarrel between SCIENCE (writ large, if vaguely) and RELIGION (ditto), and given her background she could probably do the same for SCIENCE and the HUMANITIES. Fish had…
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Tangentially related to Joe's recent post on elite athletes willing to cut short their lives for fame and glory is the following survey of people using the Internet. (My husband received this as an e-mail from PC Tools. I don't know if that affects the veracity of the poll) Polling the online activities of the 'digitally…
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