I Hate This Idea: Standardized Tests in College

Urgh! Bush is trying to put standardized testing in colleges.

I've tried three times to write this post. This idea is just so dumb that I can't seem to be clever in talking about it. I just don't see it's value, what's driving this movement for change and why why why why anyone in higher education would support it.

Are we just looking for another method that we're behind Europe in the value of our education? Are state schools' financials going to change depending on their test results? Oh no oh no oh no! Now we're just controling the professors and forcing them to create a standardized (boring) curriculum. Please no!

Coretta Scott King Wiretapped

This ABC News article offers an excellent understanding of the history of wiretapping in this country and its detrimental effects on just one person: the recently buried Coretta Scott King.

Doctor Plays God

Doctors have long been accused of playing God, which is one of the reasons why some religions don't allow its members to go to the doctor or receive certain treatments. I'd have to think those same religions would be against this: a Massachusetts doctor who suspends life then revives — at least for pigs.

Seems like pretty amazing treatment, and I'm all for it if it saves lives and doesn't revive brain damaged people. Think all people will "see the light"?

Bribing for School Attendance

I can’t decide what I think of this trend: elementary, middle and high schools across the country are now offering rewards for perfect attendance. And by rewards, I mean cash, video games, laptops, trips to Disneyworld and even cars. This NY Times article implies it’s driven by the No Child Left Behind program, which rewards schools with more funding for greater attendance.

Advocates say it works: more students attend, grades and standardized test scores go up, everyone benefits. Others say this sends the wrong message, making kids think they should get something for something they are legally required to do.

Does it encourage kids to go to school when they’re sick, thereby spreading more illness? (Adults do the same at work, a trend dubbed presenteeism.) Or are we just teaching them an important life lesson earlier: go to work, get paid; go to school, get a car?

Maybe I'm Revealing Too Much...

I love these awful faces.

One More Reason Not to Puff

In the NY Times today: “a woman who smokes has a risk of dying from heart disease equal to the risk she would have if she weighed 90 pounds more than the nonsmoker.” Damn! Slightly ironic considering people who quit tend to have weight gain afterward (partly due to the need to replace one addicition with another, I think.) Time to do anything to stop, people!

How to Meet People Where You Live

A friend of mine asked me today how to find a good organization to get involved in. I wrote a long e-mail and then I thought: what if others could use this advice. So here is some information: take it or leave it or (please) comment with your own suggestions!

Dear Friend:
You ask an interesting question. I would suggest this site for finding common interest groups: http://www.meetup.com/.

You might also try taking classes (like cooking, for instance, not classroom classes) and then just make a point of meeting people while there. Many cities have "newcomers to New York" meet and greet. I don't know exactly where you can find that, but I have a friend who attended one, so I could find out if you like.

Also, if knitting or crocheting classes interest you, I would suggest Knit NY. It's a super-cute shop with gorgeous (read: expensive) yarn. They have beginner and intermediate classes. They're a tad expensive, but could be a way to meet people of all ages at least while the class is going on. Then you could join a group more easily too! (I've thought about starting a knitting group, but I haven't figured out if/when/how. I don't want to trek out twice a month to have no one show up.)

You could also volunteer or mentor. Volunteer Match is a great site for finding stuff like that. I volunteer at a hospice, which means I meet elderly people, but there are ways I could volunteer there and meet more people (like go into the office to stuff envelopes or help out with other things), but I just don't do it.

Hmmm... that's what's coming to mind for things to do/ways to meet people. I've provided links where I could. I also am a member of a couple professional groups, but that doesn't help you. : )

Readers (all 0.5 of you): what are your thoughts?

Sponsors Apply Here

Is this true? The New York Times now has sponsors for its article tools (e-mail this, printer-friendly and single page links)? Anyone else slightly disturbed by this? Next thing you know, your umbrella will start flashing ads for peanut butter. Actually, it’d be pretty cool if your umbrella had a screen that flashed the weather report. Then you could check it every day before you leave to see if you need it. Damn, that’s awesome. Yeah! Who wants to develop this with me? Anyone want to underwrite it?

Would you like to take a survey: Do you like beans?

Is it silly of me to wonder about public opinion polls (PDF)? Every Gallup poll is conducted by telephone. This makes sense since in 1997, 95% of households had a telephone. Gallup had actually gone so far as to randomly match an area code with 7 other digits. That means even unlisted numbers can be called.

But the Gallup document I link to above was written in 1997 — before the deluge of cell phone usage. My burning questions remain unanswered and they are as follows:

1. Can cell phones be called for polls or do privacy laws protect that? What about the people who only have cell phones? Is their opinion missed?

2. How do they avoid calling businesses?

3. Part of the Gallup process in 1997 was to estimate how many people could be attributed to specific area codes. Are they taking into account that many cell phone users move (sometimes across country) yet keep their old number, and consequently their old area code.

So, can anyone out there report an instance (or, ideally, two) where their cell phone was called for a poll? I know this is headier than most of my recent posts, but anyone care to comment, even if just to say “This is boring. Go back to tell us about cool T-shirt sites”? P.S. At the very least can someone unearth the reference in this post's title?

Humans Make the Strangest Sounds

Check out this amazing Honda ad in the UK with all humans making the noise of a car driving. It's just ... well, just go see. Click on "Watch."

Drunken Monkey

Zookeepers in Moscow are giving wine to monkeys three times a day during one of the coldest periods in 25 years. Temperatures have reached as low as -31 degrees Celsius and dozens have died. But the monkeys are happy! Hope it's not a grand cru...

This Surprised Me

Supreme Court upholds physician-assisted suicide in Oregon.
Britain to allow 2-women brothels for safety.

Flying Coffins: Poetically Morbid

Africa accounts for only 4% of global air traffic but 27% of all air crashes.

Drag & Drop Shopping

Have fun with this drag & drog shopping cart. Love the poof when you drag something out. Doesn't hurt that the T-shirts are cool, too. I just wish they came in women's sizes...

A la Mode

OK, this made me laugh (quietly but out loud), so I thought I’d share. First, a tiny bit of background. A mode is when you hit the Caps Lock key or the insert key on your computer and start typing in all caps or typing over your text. Modes are not recommended in interface design because people forget they are on, which can lead to frustration.

Here’s the funny part (from Wikipedia if you look up “mode”): Interface guru Jef Raskin, in his book The Humane Interface, came out strongly against modes, writing,

“Modes are a significant source of errors, confusion, unnecessary restrictions, and complexity in interfaces.” Later he notes, “‘It is no accident that swearing is denoted by #&%!#$&,’ writes my colleague, Dr. James Winter; it is ‘what a typewriter used to do when you typed numbers when the Caps Lock was engaged.’”

OK, perhaps just funny to me, but ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!

Mac users suck ...

... Because you get the coolest apps. Here are a few:
LaunchBar, the god of quickkeys
kGTD, an allegedly cool proj mgmt tool (though I wouldn’t know because: no Mac)

And now a step back for Apple (you knew this was coming):
An anti-Ipod rant. I call it a rant though I agree with parts, particuarly the wheel, which I’ve complained about frequently to the two friends who will listen (and really they’re just nodding off to sleep, not nodding in agreement)

Word choice, people! Word choice!

Somehow I doubt that birth defect advocacy groups are “celebrating” higher rates of birth defects. Word choice — so key, my friends!

Mooooooo!

Cows milk themselves while farmers monitor from afar. Cool.

Something to Ponder

How happy is the blameless vestal's lot!
The world forgetting, by the world forgot.
Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind!
Each pray'r accepted, and each wish resign'd;

- Alexander Pope

You mean talking to a computer isn't fun?

Could companies be learning that customer service is still cool? I recently saw a TV ad where one financial services company (forgive me for forgetting which one) tells us that it’s easy to reach a person when you call. “Just press zero” the voiceover intones.

Interestingly, I just came across a Cheat Sheet that reveals how easy or difficult it is to reach a human when calling many customer service lines. One of my favorites is Time Magazine: “0,0,0,0 (ignore “invalid entry” messages).” Or when you call 1-800-MEDICARE: “RE: info for part “D” Medicare Prescription Drug Plans- When recording begins say “Agent” 5+ times.”

Um... yeah... good luck!

Half-Shares

Read this interesting idea in a book:

“When someone you love, dies, it’s as if they leave you with half shares of your life together. The person you were in their eyes dies with them.”

— Quoted in The Reading Group, from the book Guppies for Tea

Santa’s Elf is Just SO Cute!

Tell this elf your wishes. He gets them right every time. (Be sure to record several wishes.)

Eeeeek!

• Catch spiders the humane way.
• Don't have the glamour life of a rich doctor? You can now play one on the Internet. Perform knee replacement surgery online (it's easy!)
• Finally, just some plan ol' straightforward goofy fun (try puppets first).

Great Music

Just heard We are Scientists' "Nobody Move, Nobody Get Hurt." Rock on.

Die, My Ex-Darling, Die!

Credit J for sharing this one:

• One way to X Out an Ex

Too busy: someone else have fun with this

So I'm swamped, but this movie was promised to be cool. It's created entirely from open-source content (i.e. nothing here was created for this piece). Report back all thoughts and comments.

Sitting in Mud Puddles

So sad! I got busy, stopped writing, and now no one will look at my blog. Sniff, sniff. "Bring the coolness back" the People say. And the People are always right.

Well, if you want something even cooler to look at than this sad excuse for a blog, go to Google's competition/imitator for maps. Seems Yahoo!'s trying to get back in the game. It's about time.

The Simpsons Come True

Anyone remember when the Simpsons had a three-eyed fish? Well, it’s come true (sorta) off the coast of So Cal. Should we be worried? Hell yes! When the Simpsons starts coming true, we’re all in trouble.

To Click or Not to ...

Will you be hit by the nasty clicking monster? I'm betting yes. See how much faith I have in you guys? Have fun exploring...

Darwin is Dying

I thought 3 posts in one morning was enough, but then I saw this. Pulled directly from NYTimes.com:

According to a CBS News poll last month, 51 percent of Americans reject the theory of evolution, saying that God created humans in their present form. And reflecting a longstanding sentiment, 38 percent of Americans believe that creationism should be taught instead of evolution, according to an August poll by the Pew Research Center in Washington.

Anyone know what Europe is up to on this topic? Are they laughing at us?

T-Shirt Site

Like Threadless.com, but political: SharpAsToast!

p.s. Currently addicted to Blur's song “Tender.”

Google maps on phones

Now this is just damn cool: cell phones to get Google maps. These actual maps are better than Yahoo directions offered for past phones. Unfortunately, if your phone is Verizon or you want it on your blackberry, it will not work for you... yet. You also need Java on your phone.

Jesus Tree

I love stuff like this: a tree looks like Jesus. (If that link doesn't work, try this ABC story). Actually, I found this kinda cool AP wheel that might be worth exploring. I loaded it from the comcast.net home page, so you might have to access it that way.

“I’m Dead Gone on You”

Imagine having your love immortalized forever. Sounds appealing, right? Not when it's done this way...

The Search for Meaning

This makes searching a lot cooler! Wanna find a book and see if there’s a movie that goes with it and then want to see if anybody’s mentioned it in a blog recently? Easy as Amazon (a special, cool Amazon: don’t avoid this link just because you think I’m sending you to normal dotcom-ville)!

Now here’s a challenge: find something about this site you wish it could do but doesn’t. Then tell me about it here. Prize for whoever comes up with the coolest idea...

Calling ‘bullshit’ makes things happen

“If people expect you will ask them tough questions, and not hesitate to push them hard until you get answers, they will prepare for them before they meet with you. They will not waste your time.”
—Source: The Art of Project Management

Anna Nicole Boob

Anyone surprised that Anna Nicole’s lawyer is named Howard Stern. How fitting! It’ll be strange to see them before the Supreme Court.

There is Shit in the Meat

1. Though we can recall dangerous toys or cars, the USDA cannot recall meat filled with deadly contaminates.
2. Among the top 25 House representatives who receive restaurant industry funds, only four were Democrats between 1987 and 1996.
3. The Reagan and Bush adminstrations staffed the U.S. Department of Agriculture with officials far more interested in government deregulation than in food safety.
4. In a USDA study in 1996, 78.6 percent of the ground beef contained microbes that are spread primarily by fecal material.

Source: Fast Food Nation

Boycott!!!

I wandered into Bath & Body Works on Monday and what do I hear? Freakin’ Christmas music, that’s what, punks! Grrrr...

Don’t Pull the Emergency Break

Ever notice in the New York subways, there are signs to tell you what to do in case of disaster? And for every single one, including fire, the main instruction is Don’t Pull the Emergency Break. Tell an MTA employee. Seeing as it’s difficult to even find an MTA employee, I don't see how this is a helpful instruction. I suppose you could try to shout down the train to the guy who stands in the middle and closes the door and makes mumbled announcements ala the teacher in Peanuts cartoons.

But here is the real question of the hour: in this world of danger, as you watch our nation’s leaders do and say things that appall, as the fire in the subway car bears down on you ... when do you pull the emergency break?

In the Rain, It's the Same Face Everywhere

I have finally hit the point where the world has run out of people. I’m in a new job and everyone looks like someone I’ve met before. I’m either on a reality show (unbeknownst to me) with lots of washed up actors or the video game of life has run out of stock players to appear.

Embarrassed to be American

Let me lay out for you the facts that comprise one of the saddest moments in recent U.S. history (and that’s saying something): 1. Sen. Cain, Colin Powell and a number of pro-Iraq War politicians have supported or voted for a bill that would outlaw the abusive treatment of prisoners both on U.S. soil and beyond. 2. This bill is amazingly bipartisan, having passed the Senate 90 to 9. 3. And guess who is against it? Uh-huh, that’s right. Our darling president. From The Washington Post:

“Let’s be clear: Mr. Bush is proposing to use the first veto of his presidency on a defense bill needed to fund military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan so that he can preserve the prerogative to subject detainees to cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment. In effect, he threatens to declare to the world his administration’s moral bankruptcy.”

The New York Times has a great op-ed piece (must be subscriber), or read about it in The Seattle Times.

Solid Gas

CNN Headline News just reported some poor gas station that entered the price for premium gas in wrong. Instead of 3.299/gal, it was going for 0.329/gal. Here is what gets me: no one told the gas station. Attendants didn’t learn of the mistake until a television crew showed up to report on the cheap gas. Why do people think they can take advantage of human error? Gas stations are individually owned, so the person it affects is not the big rich gas company but the little guy trying to run his own business.

Change is in the Air

And I’m not just talking about the leaves (although I love the smell of leaves rotting — who’s with me?)

I have taken a full-time job in a new career. The 15-second summary of what I now do is structure websites (i.e. navigation, internal links), develop innovative web interactions and, above all, worry my ass off about usability.

So, in light of that, I’ve adjusted my second blog to report on those issues. Go to http://flinked.blogspot.com, if you care. Then tell me about every goofy, fulfilling or tragically bad website interaction you’ve ever had. I collect these stories like pet rocks.

I’m on to you …

... And now the rest of the women of the world will be too (FYI: millions read this blog yet stoicly refuse to comment ... ever). So men, do not try this at home, or your woman will look like this random chic.

(Thanks Dan.)

Evolution is Real! I Have Proof!

As clear evidence of evolution, I point to this recent cat development: the toilet as litter box. I’m just joking, of course, but be sure to follow the real evolving story. My favorite moment of overblown buffoonery:

The second day of the closely watched trial began with a defense attorney seeking to show inconsistencies in the remarks and writings of the plaintiffs’ key witness, Kenneth R. Miller, a Brown University biology professor and textbook author.

During cross-examination, attorney Robert Muise asked Miller whether evolution was “random and undirected” to which Miller replied, “No.”

Muise pointed out that the statement evolution is random and undirected appeared in bold type in his widely used textbook, Biology.

Miller replied that the statement was written by coauthor Joseph Levine for an edition published in 1998 and was removed in subsequent editions.

“It was a good day for the school board,” [defense attorney] Thompson said outside the courthouse. “Miller admitted it was a religious or philosophical statement and that book is still being sold in the United States and he is receiving royalties from it.”

Quotable Hamster

“Hamster-haired megamogul” having a kid. Before you follow the link can you guess who I’m talking about?

Web Keeps Getting Groovier and Groovier

In case you have not heard, something called web 2.0 is afoot. I cannot pretend to get it entirely, but it basically allows databases from more than one source to talk to each other. Sounds uber-technical, I know, but here are two sites sites that turn techy into too cool:

• Flickr-sourced pic search with related terms and funky floating interface
• Google-sourced Marumushi newsmap (the new croissant to my a.m. coffee)

Top Stuff

If you read nothing else in the news today, read these:

• Brown points finger after being ousted. If only fingers worked like Pinocchio’s nose; then we could tell who was lying, though I already have an idea...
• January federal report found medical system weak when responding to disasters. Suddenly, the homeland doesn’t feel so secure.
• Israel hitting Gaza in (successful?) airstrikes, but peace deal also brokered. Boy who cried wolf, anyone?
  

City Sleeps Above 40th Floors

Lights out past midnight for NYC higher than the 40th.

Get a Photoshopped Booty!

OK, for all the ladies out there (and even the men) who have looked at supermodels and thought: I will never have a body like that, it is time to face the music:

1. of course you will never have a body like that — you have better things to do
2. they don’t have bodies like that either, and here’s how I know.

T-Shirt Fun!

Two super fun(ny) online t-shirt stores: the first, called Vintage Vantage, is fresh and groovy (and is running a little slowly today because it got national press). The second, Threadless T-Shirts, allows someone to design a tee and then people vote and the winning t-shirt actually gets made and sold! Many are extremely creative and unique (I like Loch Ness Imposter).

Side note: anti-stink stuff for your next bathroom trip. Think it works?

Finally, two points to the one who explains why the T in t-shirt is conventionally capitalized (notice my damn-the-man laissez-faire attitude in this posting ... wild one ... yeah ...)

“Keep Your Hands Where I Can See ’Em!”

Flinked/wallowmuddy has been held hostage by blog spam (blam) of late. So new comment policy: you'll now have to type in some random letters to confirm that you actually put on your pants one leg at a time like the rest of us. Thanks RealLiveBreathing Readers!

Kinda Like Predictive Text

This Google is created with a new type of web interaction system called Ajax. Pretty damn cool, huh?

Shaq Likes Blue Uniforms as Well

Credit Dan for linking to this. It is so funny to imagine a 7-foot NBA star doing PD work, so I figured I would share the laugh with all o' you crazy peeps.

Got Unwanted Books?

Manhattanites, Bronxers, Queenies, S. Islanders & Brooklings: Give up your books this weekend at the city-wide book drive. Weekend hours are 10-3. Locations.

The Dangers of Lying About Science

So most people by now know that right-wing conservative Christians argue against evolution and instead for Creationism/Intelligent Design. Also filed under the category “If we ignore scientific fact and lie to the American people, our interests are better served”: global warming.

You’d be hard pressed to find a non-political scientist who can deny that the Earth is getting warmer by degrees, which can and will lead to atrocious environmental changes.

If you, like me, cared but felt pretty sure that the repercussions probably wouldn’t be felt during your lifetime, it turns out we’re wrong.

Scientists have concluded that due to the increased warming of the waters in the tropics, hurricanes are becoming increasingly more powerful. While it’s impossible to accurately blame Katrina on global warming (history has shown that powerful storms do hit occasionally, even without rising water temperatures), it’s clear that as an aggregate, natural disasters like hurricanes, wind storms and typhoons are getting worse.

“Wind speed measurements made by planes flying through tropical storms showed that the ‘potential destructiveness’ of such storms had ‘increased markedly’ since the 1970s, right in line with rising sea surface temperatures.” (New Yorker quoting Nature)

Scared yet? Write to your congressperson to demand the United States ratify and follow the Kyoto protocols. The United States produces almost 25 percent of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions. We owe it to ourselves and the world to stop.

I’ve Got ’Em on a List

As I think of Katrina, I look to the future. I know a lot of good people who would endeavor to make positive decisions for our country. These friends are not politicians, but there’s another reason why many of them will never hear Hail to the Chief in their honor.

Hobbies that mean you will never ever win the presidency:

• Collects action heroes
• Reads sci-fi books as an adult
  
• Buys Beanie Babies
• Believes in television marathons
• Pre-orders Sliders season 1-3 DVDs on Amazon

On the other hand, hobbies that appear to win you acclaim and support:

• Alcohol abuse in your youth
• Inability to do your taxes (I’m guessing…)
• Tendency not to listen to self speak
• Difficulty matching noun with verb
• Buddies who are either warmongers or complete idiots

Help me out, what else am I missing?

Fight ... for Your Right ...

A word of warning: you cannot automatically trust your doctor anymore. We are approaching an age when staffing shortages in almost every hospital means that care will be rushed, leading to errors and perfunctory treatment.

Doctors are trained to dehumanize people so they do not get emotionally invested. Do not accept that as okay. Not everyone means badly, but the time has come when anytime you have a loved one in the hospital or nursing home, you will need to advocate for them to make sure they are treated the best.

From the NY Times: In a nationwide survey of more than 2,000 adults published last fall, 55 percent of those surveyed said they were dissatisfied with the quality of health care, up from 44 percent in 2000; and 40 percent said the quality of care had gotten worse in the last five years.

Is there Racial Inequality in Disasters?

From the Washington Post: “Nearly three in four whites doubted the federal government would have responded more quickly to those trapped in New Orleans if they had been wealthier and white rather than poorer and black, the poll found. But an equal share of blacks disagreed, saying help would have come sooner if the victims had been more affluent whites.”

I have to say, while race may not be the root problem, poverty certainly is. The real fact is that rich white people live in New Orleans, too, but they’re not the ones who got trapped. So does every city have an evacuation plan that accounts for the poor? There’s no chance. Who is clamboring for one in your city? No one.

What do you think?

eLearning & Katrina

If you know anyone who was going to go to college this fall but was displaced by Hurricane Katrina, tell them about these two resources:

• Sloan
• SCUP

Pass it along to anyone you think could spread the word!

Light Cream to Counter the Heavy

Back from another vacay and feeling good! Here's some light tidbits to get your shortened week started (and take a break from the sad sad news about Katrina):

• Only 9 percent of women and 2 percent of men report dating someone they met in a bar. More dating facts.
• 1.7 million kids live with unlocked loaded guns.
• Crow and Armstrong engaged.

Katrina & the Poor

The stranded people of New Orleans are largely black and poor. No one has mentioned that until now. CNN confirmed today on the Situation Room that there had been oversight among the media. Saddest thing, to me, was how much of the early coverage on CNN Headline news focused on two white families who paid hundreds to get out, one by limo and one by taxi.

Hazard Lights: On

You may have never heard of “moral hazard” and there’s no surprise in that. It’s a term used largely by economists and policymakers. Let’s just say, it’s the idea that if something is too freely available, say universal healthcare, that people will take more than their fill — a bit like overeaters at a buffet — and thereby abuse the system.

But this presumes that healthcare comes as an unlimited resource, that people could “overeat” at the healthcare smorgasbord. Problem is, anybody who has waited to be seen by a physician or who knows the details of the current and ever-growing nursing shortage knows there aren’t unlimited resources.

Moreover, even if you have a wonderful healthcare plan, as I did up to 2 years ago, the idea that anyone would willingly go to the doctor for something unimportant is absurd. The doctor’s just not that fun!

For more on this topic (which is going to impact healthcare in this country in a major way), please read this article in The New Yorker.

Smarty Pants?

Eventually, I'll have authored a quiz on this site. (Check in a month or so for something about business ethics I'm currently calling Should You Go to Jail?) For now, check if you can do 8th grade math or know your Potter trivia.

Secret Secret! I've Got a Secret

Friend of mine sent me this link. The New York Times had an interesting article about it a few months back. So feel like a Peeping Tom and visit to learn the world's dirty little secrets.

p.s. If you can name the reference from the title of this blog you get to be the Cool Kid for the day. (Like in high school when you hoped people would some day magically discover you were oodles cooler than they thought ... or was that just me?)

The Rainmaker

If you have or ever thought about getting disability insurance, this is a very important article to read, kind of The Rainmaker all over again.

p.s. on vacation the rest of this week. I'll be back soon!

Yay! Babies! (... uh ... or not)

Statistics can lead to wrong conclusions. Very very wrong. Here's an interesting example proving that...

From Jakob Nielsen: Studies show that intelligence declines by birth order. In other words, a person who was a first-born child will on average have a higher IQ than someone who was born second. Third-, fourth-, fifth-born children and so on have progressively lower average IQs. This data seems to present a clear warning to prospective parents: Don't have too many kids, or they'll come out increasingly stupid. Not so.

There's a hidden third variable at play: smarter parents tend to have fewer children. When you want to measure the average IQ of first-born children, you sample the offspring of all parents, regardless of how many kids they have. But when you measure the average IQ of fifth-born children, you're obviously sampling only the offspring of parents who have five or more kids. There will thus be a bigger percentage of low-IQ children in the latter sample, giving us the true -- but misleading -- conclusion that fifth-born children have lower average IQs than first-born children.

Any given couple can have as many children as they want, and their younger children are unlikely to be significantly less intelligent than their older ones.

Sticks and Stones ...

• A woman’s Comcast cable bill starts making fun of her.
  
• At the bottom of this page, some techniques when you spot name calling.
• Mark you calendars: Jan. 23-26.

Now how do you spell “nanny nanny boo boo”?

All the News that Makes you Fit

• Orange juice can help prevent arthritis.
• Women who take oral contraceptives can counteract bone loss by making sure they have enough calcium in their daily diet, especially early in life.
• Long working hours culture drives up the risk of injury and illness, reveals a study. And the risk has nothing to do with how hazardous the job is.

And in other news, myths about sex debunked. Ooh, fun! I love the word debunked.

Money, Money, Money ... Money!

Financially richer people tend to be happier than poorer people, according to sociological researcher Glenn Firebaugh, Pennsylvania State University, and graduate student Laura Tach, Harvard University.

They researched whether the income effect on happiness results largely from the things money can buy (absolute income effect) or from comparing one’s income to the income of others (relative income effect).

Firebaugh argues that a person's reported level of happiness depends on how his or her income compares to others in the same age group. This may result in a self-indulgent treadmill, because incomes in the United States rise over most of the adult lifespan.

While income is important in determining happiness, Firebaugh’s data found that physical health was the best single predictor of happiness, followed by income, education, and marital status.

Identity Theft Risk Quiz

I’m lifting this almost word for word from a Purdue University press release.

Scott L. Ksander, who investigates security issues for Information Technology at Purdue, uses the following quiz to help people assess the risk of their identities being stolen:

* I receive several offers of pre-approved credit every week (5 points). Add 5 more points if you do not shred them.

* I carry my Social Security card in my wallet (10).

* My driver's license has my Social Security number on it (10).

* I do not have a post office box or locked, secured mailbox (5).

* I use an unlocked, open box at work or at home to drop off my outgoing mail (10).

* I carry my military ID in my wallet at all times (10).

* I provide my Social Security number whenever asked, without asking questions about how that information will be safeguarded (10). Add 5 more points if you provide your number orally without checking to see who might be listening.

* I am required to use my Social Security number at work as an employee ID or at school as a student ID number (5).

* My Social Security number is printed on various documents frequently seen in the workplace, such as on time cards (10).

* I have my Social Security number and/or driver's license number printed on my personal checks (10).

* I am listed in a "Who's Who" guide (5).

* I carry my insurance card in my wallet, and either my Social Security number or that of my spouse is on that card (10).

* I have not ordered a copy of my credit report for at least two years (20).

* I do not protect my discarded personal, credit and financial information from thieves by shredding them prior to putting them in the trash (10).

If you scored 100 points or more you are at high risk for identity theft. A score of 50-100 makes your odds of being victimized about average but higher if you have good credit. A score of 0-50 points means you have a low risk of being an identity theft victim.

With permission from the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse.

I’m Melting! I’m Melting!

Protect yourself from water. Yes, that’s the latest advice from one spa expert.

“Every time you take a shower, water is damaging your skin. When you include a shampoo your face dries and wrinkles even faster. Dorit Baxter introduces Facial Shower Shield.

“An original antidote to shower and shampoo damage. Massaged onto the face, neck and chest before a shower it protects skin from damaging agents in water and hair products.”

What is this world coming to? Really.

All-Terrain Vehicles Suck

Did you know that more than 40 children have been killed or seriously injured on all-terrain vehicles this year? Some trauma centers treat, on average, 6-8 children annually (and that’s leaving out the ones killed on the scene).

Children actually don’t have the motor skills and ability to safely handle the vehicles, and injuries caused by ATVs are not minor. Think comas, brain injuries, paralysis.

They look like toys but should be thought of as traumatic. Please tell others.

Double-Bagged Life

Can each of you, all 2 of my readers, please do something for me? Stop the double bagging! Today it was a double bagged 6-pack of orange soda. Yesterday, they double-bagged my 6 rolls of toilet paper. Both products can make it home in one bag, but the plastic generosity of my grocer means I receive 2 bags every time, whether or not the weight of the item necessitates it. (Better still, bring cloth bags, something I have yet to remember to do but is a great way to avoid the waste.)

In more upbeat environmental news, Dannon is getting rid of plastic lids on its yogurt. This is a brilliant marketing scheme (they’re contributing to Toys for Tots instead) and saving 3.6 million pounds of plastic. Yay!

Media Blitz... er...

Wolf Blitzer, talking on CNN’s Situation Room (a show that runs 3-6 p.m.), stated today: “I’m a newsman; it’s my job to try to make the news.” This comment, I believe, highlights the very problem with the media today.

His job isn’t to make news, it is to report it, prioritize it, and analyze it coherently in a way that contributes to the national discussion on the news. If more media did that, more people could turn to the Situation Room, rather than Jon Stewart’s The Daily Show, for their updates.

On a side note, the Situation Room does make interesting use of blogs. In covering the smog problem in Kuala Lumpur, they directed attention to a couple blogs, including a photo blog that I would love to share but now cannot find referred to on CNN.

Phrase just learned in the last 45 seconds: blog smog (meaning: information haze). Use it wisely, dear readers.

Bad Girl! Bad Girl!

I have been properly chastised for my temporary abandonment of the blogging world. So it’s back on the bandwagon (a term, I’m sure you’re all dying to know, that comes from the wagons political candidates once rode through town on, which people would climb onto if they supported him).

First item of business: some mathematicians have concluded it’s good to give gifts to potential mates, particularly ones that are extravagant (hint, hint). I swear I’m not making this up!

The research suggests that expensive gifts that can be turned in for money aren’t worth as much as something extravagant that can’t be returned (i.e., Broadway tickets to the Odd Couple or brunch at Jane).

I, for one, would prefer $20 in Gouda cheese (droooool) to an extravagant carriage ride, but maybe that’s just me.

Cha-Ching!

Not too much cha-ching for new recruits to the army, although I hear the bonuses are pretty sweet. I thought y'all might be interested...

When Writers Try Too Hard

From Yahoo News:

“If your grandmother claims she’s squirreled away every issue of Reader’s Digest, there will soon be an easy way to check: just go up to the attic and count to 1,000.

The 1,000th issue of the 83-year-old minimagazine comes out this week, and the occasion is likely to prompt thoughts about the Digest’s colorful history and its status as an American symbol.”

Oh, that’s considered the “easy” way? What tha…

And please tell me it promted thoughts about the magazine’s status as an American symbol. Who? What? We couldn’t find a better symbol than pithy softball summaries of other magazine’s journalism? Argh!!

p.s. I quit my job this week. Got a new one. New title: junior IA. Begone you tedious freelance assignments. Out, out, damn spot!

All That Sneezing Had to be Good for Something!

Having asthma, hay fever or another allergic condition may reduce the risk of developing one fatal form of brain cancer, a new study suggests. New evidence for this relationship is found in the normal variation of two genes, the scientists say.

Death Knell for Cell Phone Driving (sniff, sniff)

People who use a cell phone when driving are four times more likely to have a serious crash and hands-free devices are no safer, concludes new research. I keep hoping we will get better at it...

Could Makeup Shorten Your Life?

On the heels of research linking the common chemical compound phthalate to reproductive abnormalities in humans, an Indiana State University study has found a connection between the same chemical and lupus in mice.

Recent research at the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry found smaller genitals in the male babies of pregnant women who used beauty products containing phthalates.

Now researchers at Indiana State who injected mice with phthalates, a compound present in a variety of plastics and beauty products, found the injections triggered lupus and caused development of glomerulonephritis. The injection also considerably shortened the lifespan of mice that have a genetic disposition to the disease.

“Our findings clearly show that lupus can be caused by an environmental factor like phthalate, which is present in toys, in many other plastic products, including PVC pipes and medical devices, and in beauty products,” said Swapan K. Ghosh, professor and interim chair of life sciences.

In lupus, the immune system attacks its own body’s tissues as though they are foreign substances. The disease can lead to problems with kidneys, the heart, lungs or blood cells.

“Lupus type auto-immunity is five times more common in women than in men,” said So-Yon Lim, who worked with Ghosh on the study. “Is that because women use a lot more cosmetics and perfumes than men?”

While studies of the lupus-associated anti-DNA antibody have been limited to mice, there are indications humans could also be susceptible, Ghosh said.

Drug-Induced Gambling Addiction

I found this fascinating so I had to share...

Habitual, compulsive gambling with losses up to $200,000 within six months by those who previously never or only occasionally gambled recreationally has been tied to Parkinson’s disease drugs called dopamine agonists.

“This is a striking effect,” says J. Eric Ahlskog, M.D., Ph.D., Mayo Clinic neurologist who treated most of the patients in the series. “Pathological gambling induced by a drug is really quite unusual.”

The good news is that excessive gambling behavior only occurs in a small number of patients given the drugs, and it can be stopped as suddenly as it came on. “It’s a very rare side effect and reversible if you get off the drug, but you have to make the association,” says Dr. Ahlskog.

How High Can You Go?

This is reverse limbo: not how low can you go, but how high?

Highest price I have ever seen for a mixed drink: $12.

Most I have ever paid for a taxi: $40 (in Chicago).

Highest price I have ever paid for a pair of jeans: $80.

Can anyone beat these prices?

The Boob Tube Strikes Again

In a study of third graders, children with a television in their bedrooms had lower scores on standardized tests while children with access to a home computer had higher scores, researchers report.

Children who watch the most television during childhood and adolescence may be less likely to finish school or go on to earn a university degree, according to a study.

And television viewing before the age of three may have adverse effects on subsequent cognitive development, according to another study.

Bottom line: Uh, no idea. My brain shut off back on the third word. Damn 30-second attention span! (The links above lead to the original press releases. Here is some media coverage of the research, published in the Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine.)

Why Can't I Be This Smart?

Once again, whoever creates the subject headings for spam reaches a level of brilliance rarely seen, perhaps only when using magnetic poetry.

Even that means nothing compared to the ironic genius in my inbox: her watch be flabby cholera.

Now you see it, too...

Pirates, They're Still Around?

BBC: Pirates Hijack Tsunami Aid Ship

And to follow up on a couple earlier posts, Spain has OK'd gay marriages. And could the high child abuse rates and high divorce rates in the military be linked?

Plus, new Cingular/Nokia phone needs to be returned again I think. Grrrr...

Up Your Coolness Factor(sunglasses just don't cut it anymore)

There’s cool and then there’s you. Want to be cool, too? Better know the following:

#1: How to be a badass and break the new NYC subway rules.

#2: What Shakeskin is all about.

#3: Who Twelve Hawks is. He’s everywhere (yet no one can find him): the most brilliant book marketing campaign in … well, years.

Surveying the Cabbage Patch: I want … that one!

Expectant parents can now learn as early as 5 weeks into a pregnancy what the sex of the child is thanks to a lab that is offering over-the-counter gender tests. (Story here.) That’s right! You can try for the boy you’ve always wanted. And if you don’t get him, just throw out the baby with the bathwater.

I’m all for technology and progress. There’s some thought that a test similar to this one could be used to identify genetic diseases and other such inherited problems early in pregnancy. That’s important. But what value do we get from determining a baby’s sex at 5 weeks? Why not wait until 16 weeks, which is when most ultrasounds can begin to detect gendered physical traits.

The only benefit I can see is the ability to abort a child you don’t want based on sex—gender bias of the worst kind.

Moreover, the company is insisting it will only sell to U.S. addresses (to avoid supporting the gender bias already present in China and India). What’s to stop someone here from capitalizing on that, perhaps by purchasing 50 tests and then traveling to one of those counties and selling the device on the black market for 10 times its value.

What do you think: Is learning the sex of a child at 5 weeks a bad or good thing?

Flag Burning: Do We Really Need This Right?

I think I can safely say that I have no intention of ever burning a flag, particularly the American one. But really any flag in general is probably safe near me.

Republicans have proposed a bill that would make such an action (at least for the American flag) illegal. Should I even care? The law, on one level, will probably never affect me.

On the other side of the aisle, some Democrats worry that this infringes on our civil liberties. Flag burning was a widely reported form of protest in the 1960s to argue against continued involvement in the Vietnam War. People felt so strongly against what the federal government was doing, that they felt burning the most common symbol for Uncle Sam was the only way to explain their frustration.

Here’s my thinking: Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes once said about personal rights: “The right to swing my fist ends where the other man’s nose begins.”

I believe any removal of civil liberties should be guided by just such a thought. If it’s hurting others, then we must considering removing it. But who does it hurt if the flag is burned? Really! Who?

Body Surfing

On Sunday, I visited the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago and saw the Body Worlds exhibit. There were bodies everywhere. Real human bodies. And I’m not talking about the attendees.

Actual people had been preserved through some phenomenal process called Plastination. Their muscles, blackened lungs, tumor-ridden livers and arthritic spinal columns were all on display (along with perfectly healthy specimens).

I actually watched a man accidentally bump one of the bodies. It took me a second to register that he’d touched a former human being. Despite their intention of educating about the basic human form, these figures were fully dehumanized. It was so unreal to see the human body dead but not decayed that my mind refused to fully think of them as people.

The one exception was the fetus room. In there were unborn beings at different stages of development, including a woman with an 8-month fetus in her womb. There, a security guard happily answered questions, referring to a new figure that had just been added to a different part of the exhibit as “joining our family.” Spooky.

But looking at that mother, her skin gone, muscles and organs exposed along with the presence of a nearly full-grown child within her was truly sad. Two people had died so I could view that.

Of course, they weren’t murdered. In fact, the security guard said she’d willingly decided to give up her body for science. That didn’t stop one man from shivering as he walked out of that section.

This was all in the name of science and education of the masses. For East Coasters, the exhibit will come to Philadelphia starting in October. I’d say it’s worth checking out, but it may take me more than half a day to decide what I really feel about my day filled with people crowding around dead bodies and pointing.

Declarative Sentence o' the Morning

As for clothing, matching is for wusses.

Don't Assume You're Safe

Back to the posting board! I have some interesting information for all of you: more than 75,000 chemicals have been developed and produced in the United States. Due to that kind of volume, most do not even have the most basic toxicity testing.

Why should you care? These chemicals, including flame retardants in mattresses, Teflon on your pans and plastics in your takeout container, may leech into you. Children are particularly vulnerable (hence the growing asthma rates in kids). As is the breastmilk of women. Did you know Teflon pans should not be used at high heat because then they release toxins (kinda makes you wonder why they put Teflon on pans in the first place).

What can you do? Care just a little bit more about the potential chemicals you expose yourself to. Until enough consumers start thinking about these dangers and demanding changes, the problem will continue.

To learn more, read this brilliant (and a little scary) New York Times Magazine article.

p.s. for those who care, Cingular is sending me a new phone. Yay!

Cingular Makes Me Grumpy

20 minutes on the phone. What do I have to show for it? Someone has to call me back. My problems thus far:

• phone did not activate properly;
• voicemail did not activate properly;
• phone gives me an echo of my voice sometimes instead of answering calls; and
• I never received a welcome kit with my rebate information.
  

Solutions thus far:

• one phone call last Wednesday morning activated my phone;
• one phone call last Wednesday afternoon activated my voicemail; and
  
• one phone call today, transferred to three different people, means a second welcome kit will arrive in 3-5 business days. Phone still echos.
  

Lactivists: Your Time is Now!

This is outrageous! Women are being refused service when they’re breastfeeding. Barbara Walters made a negative comment about it, and now women are reacting. Thank goodness!

A New York Times article cites a statistic that 70 percent of women chose to breastfeed in 2003 (the last year for which data is available) up from 50 percent in 2000. What that doesn’t show you is how many women stop breastfeeding before 6 months, the recommended length of time for exclusive breastfeeding. Those numbers are still HUGE. The public pressure to stop breastfeeding and start using formula (which is still far from offering the benefits of a mother’s own milk) are great.

I believe asking a woman to stop breastfeeding is as bad as asking women to cover their heads in public. This is not wanton attempts by women to expose themselves, as one man quoted in the article suggests. It is a natural way of nourishing a child. It also happens to be the healthiest.

Babies who are breastfed are shown to be, on average, more intelligent than those that are not. They also receive much-needed antigens through their mother’s nourishment. Some researchers believe they grow at more natural rates and have a lower propensity for adult obesity, which may be its strongest selling point of all.

So please, even if the idea of public breastfeeding makes you squeamish, think what you’re asking the mother to do before you ask her to stop. You’re asking her to make her child less intelligent. You’re asking her to make her child less healthy. You’re asking her to make her child more likely to be overweight (and, linked to that, potentially have a higher risk for diabetes and heart disease).

No mother should be forced to accept those risks. Let’s protect our future now: encourage breastfeeding! And mothers, please insist on it!

I’m going to kick his girlfriend-dumping butt!

A study recently found that women demand better comforting skills of other women than they do of men.

Then the study’s lead author said something that surprised me: “If a friend recently broke up with her significant other, then it would be inappropriate to say, ‘You’re better off without him,’ ‘There are more important things to worry about,’ or ‘Don’t worry, there are more fish in the sea.’”

Here’s the thing: I’ve heard or given that comfort a dozen times. When a girl and her boyfriend break up, the first thing you do is give her a hug. Then you start calling him names and declare she now has the freedom to find the right guy for her. Then you say you’re taking her out for ladies night so she can meet all the other fish in the sea.

Or am I just a bad comforter?

451 Degrees

Get out your bonfires folks. We’ve got a list of the 10 Most Harmful Books of the 19^th and 20^th centuries offered up by the national conservative weekly Human Events.

Now I haven’t read any of these books on the list, perhaps its own embarrassing admission, but can a book really be harmful? The consequences might have been (communism clearly lead to some horrendous conditions in Russia and, still, China). The author might have been (hard to debate that when it comes to Hitler).

But how many lives have been taken in the name of the Bible? Or the Koran? Wouldn’t be politically correct to throw those books on there, though, now would it?

I don’t actually believe that books are innately harmful. They can affect cultures in powerful ways. But in saying that, I’ve just tripped down a conservative path (books don’t kill people; people kill people). So please prove me wrong. What books do you truly think are harmful, that should never have been published?

Grr...

Nokia is angrifying.
Will keep you updated as more developments occur.

Just Let Him Die

Rumsfeld ignored ideals in the Hippocratic oath recently when he hinted that no one should treat Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who the military believes has been wounded.

“Were a neighboring country to take him in and provide medical assistance or haven for him, they obviously would be associating themselves with a major linkage in the al-Qaida network and a person who has a great deal of blood on his hands,” Rumsfeld said.

Or they could just let him die, putting blood on their own hands. Of course, ideally they’d treat him and extradite. But it’s hard to do that with a clean conscience, either, when we have “the gulag of our times” to throw him in.

Microwave Safe?

Never hurts to remind everyone: It’s important you actually know something is microwave safe and don’t just assume it. Some plastics aren’t made to withstand high temperatures. Unsafe materials can leach into your food.

Actually, microwave-safe plastics do too, just at levels the FDA has deemed “well within the margin of safety based on information available to the agency. The FDA will revisit its safety evaluation if new scientific information raises concerns.”

Let’s just hope this isn’t a repeat of the “tolerable” lead levels for children which were grossly overestimated in past decades. Here are some more things to keep in mind (courtesy of the FDA):

“Carryout containers from restaurants and margarine tubs should not be used in the microwave, according to the American Plastics Council. Inappropriate containers may melt or warp, which can increase the likelihood of spills and burns. Also, discard containers that hold prepared microwavable meals after you use them because they are meant for one-time use.

“Microwave-safe plastic wrap should be placed loosely over food so that steam can escape, and should not directly touch your food. ‘Some plastic wraps have labels indicating that there should be a one-inch or greater space between the plastic and the food during microwave heating,’” says Edward Machuga, PhD, a consumer safety officer in the FDA’s Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition.

Finally, “never use plastic storage bags, grocery bags, newspapers, or aluminum foil in the microwave.”