MAY 10
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“ Doing what little one can to increase the general stock of knowledge is as respectable an object of life as one can in any likelihood pursue ”
Charles Darwin
Clueless in Seattle
An article on the possibilities of using ultra-expensive-hazardous-übertech-to-swat-a-fly is presented in May’s IEEE Spectrum Magazine.
But is this the same project as outlined by Pulse2 magazine over a year ago ?
‘ The design was assisted by Lowell Wood, an astrophysicist that worked on the original Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) proposed by Ronal Reagan in 1983.’
Could be – it has a strikingly similar Index-of-Viability (IoV) as the SDI did.
31 MAY 10
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The Tunnel Effect
The BBC reports today of a new finding outlined in the ‘ The Economic Journal ‘ ( published by the UK’s Royal Economic Society ).
“ Comparing your income with those of family and friends is a recipe for unhappiness, a study has suggested.”
This contrasts quite sharply with a paper on broadly the same subject, published in the same journal, just eight months ago - claiming that :
" Large ‘pay gaps’ within firms may make staff happy rather than envious "
According to the authors, the knowledge that co-workers are earning more than oneself can make one happier – by virtue of The Tunnel Effect.
“ . . . consider the example of two lanes of cars stuck inside a tunnel. A driver may be happy that the other lane starts to move, not because he cares about the drivers there, but because he concludes that it will soon be his turn to move. “
29 MAY 10
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Towards Pinpointing the Aria Centre
Boris Kleber (Dr. rer. nat.) is a research fellow at the Institute of Medical Psychology and Behavioral Neurobiology, Eberhard-Karls-University, Tübingen, Germany.
He has been researching the brain activity of operatic singers for several years now, and his newest paper ‘ The Brain of Opera Singers: Experience-Dependent Changes in Functional Activation ‘ has recently been published in the journal Cerebral Cortex.
Dr. Kleber scanned the brains of 49 individuals ( 10 of whom were professional operatic singers ) who were attempting a rendition of the Italian aria ' Cara mio ben ' whilst lying with their heads inside an fMRI machine.
As well as highlighting increased functional activation of bilateral primary somatosensory cortex ( representing articulators and larynx ) the 10 professional singers also showed additional activation in the right primary sensorimotor cortex.
There was evidence too of extra activity in the inferior parietal lobe and bilateral dorsolateral prefrontal cortex – as well as increased use of the basal ganglia, the thalamus, and the cerebellum.
The findings build on previous
research by Dr. Kleber which found that singers’ brain
activity varies considerably depending whether they sing
an aria – or just imagine that they are
singing one.
Reader Marco McC draws attention to the opportunity missed by our copydesk. The article should, of course, have been titled The Aria Area
27 MAY 10
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The Inner Life of the mosquito
Steven Shaviro is DeRoy Professor of English at Wayne State University, Detroit – and is currently investigating ‘ Objects ‘ and their implications.
He outlines the progress in his blog (May 7th, 2010) by way of an example regarding a possible bite of a notional mosquito.
If the mosquito were to bite the author, and the author subsequently swatted and killed it, then certainly both entities would have been changed as a result. But in what way(s) ?
“ . . . even when I murder the mosquito, I only encounter a few of its qualities: I interfere with its physiological organization, but I do not attain its inner life ”
Or, to clarify further :
“The mosquito only apprehends particular aspects of me; but it is ‘me’ as a complete object, rather than just those particular aspects or manifestations of me, that is changed by the encounter.”
‘ Still more about objects (sigh) ‘ can be read in full here
26 MAY 10
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Patent of the week
Dieter Wagels has today been granted a patent for a ‘ Flying Arrangement ‘
“ The flying arrangement [thus] comprises a hall and a minimum of one free-flying unit that is preferably able to accommodate one but possibly also two or even more persons, which can start vertically and which can then fly freely around the hall.”
Readers will no doubt be wondering what form the free-flying unit might take.
Answers may be found here - in the Skyflyer
“ The Skyflyer (SF MK II) is a VTOL (vertical take-off and landing vehicle). It is 4.26m long, and 4.26m wide; its overall weight is about 600kg. Four horizontal rotators are individually driven redundantly by established, often used special aircraft engines. The Skyflyer has a horizontal speed of 0 to 45km/h and a rate of ascend of 0.1m/sec. Its general flight characteristics are similar to that of helicopters, while its cornering capability is even more precise. “
It should be noted though that, as far as Really Magazine has been able to determine, the Skyflyer final-product only exists, so far, in an imaginary form :
“To build the Prototype, a time period of six months will be necessary. “
And, presumably, will require some form of financial backing via an investor base.
؟ ؟ ؟
Also see
: A lively online discussion with some alternative viewpoints regarding Skyflyer [
translated from German courtesy Google ]
25 MAY 10 (late edition)
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Top Pay Under Examination
More than ten years have passed since an editorial summary in the Academy of Management Journal pointed out that :
“ Adding more empirical studies on the statistical relationship between executive pay and firm performance to the vast literature that already exists on this issue leads researchers into a blind alley.”
Since then, a swathe of new empirical studies have continued to examine the relationship - and have, as predicted, largely foundered.
Now a fresh approach is suggested in the latest issue of the journal Industrial and Corporate Change.
Instead of attempting to untangle complex reciprocal dividend feedback systems, the authors explore instead the psychological and sociological factors that may be in operation in blue-chip boardrooms.
Over 58 pages, the new paper employs Principal Agent Theory and examines Social Influence Variables in a rigorous psycho-sociological examination of 306 firms.
Sadly though, in the end, the article ( available in full here ) fails to pin down the exact underlying mental determinants at work when CEOs set their own salaries exorbitantly high - sometimes tens or even hundreds of times higher than could ever be justified to the shareholders ( and the customers ) of the firms concerned.
Really Magazine offers instead a three word hypothesis for consideration :
‘ Because they can ’
25 MAY 10
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Number of the day
The (estimated) total number of full-scale nuclear WMDs which have been exploded worldwide so far -
2054
US 1,032
USSR 715
France 210
UK 45
China 45
India 3
Pakistan 2
North Korea 2
Source : Stockholm International Peace Research Institute ( SIPRI ) [1]
24 MAY 10
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Bees Beings and Beans in Colorado
If you happen to be around Westminster, Colorado, on
June 25th to 29th, why not drop in at the 20th Anniversary
ISSSEEM Conference ?
Where : “Thought and action will be stimulated around the development of evidence-based, or at least evidence enriched spirituality that is effective and compatible with modern science.”
Some items of note from the Research Symposium Schedule :
• A Lost Key to Amplifying or Inhibiting Telepathic
Functioning
Through Special Electrical Shielding?
• Bees Healing Bees and Beings
• Case Study on the effects of non - differentiated Integrative Energy Distance Healing on a horse
• An Effect by Homeopathic Remedies on Mung Bean
Vigna radiata Sprout Growth
21 MAY 10
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Birthdays - the Health Implications
The Canadian Medical Association Journal publishes Medical Knowledge That Matters.
A communication in the March 9, 2010 edition points to possible health implications of cake-related ‘ candle blowing ‘.
“As the traditional ceremony culminated at a colleague’s recent half-century birthday party, the cake was brought out with candles ablaze. Then a rather unusual ritual ensued. The honouree removed the first lit candle and placed it in a cup of water. This act was repeated 49 more times.”
20 MAY 10
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Getting Oneself Elected
The latest issue of the journal The Psychologist asks the question ‘ What makes a good politician ? ‘
The journal’s editor Jon Sutton is interviewed by Jo Silvester, Professor of Organisational Psychology, and Director of the Centre for Performance at Work at City University London.
Unfortunately, the four page interview resoundingly fails to give even a glimpse of an explanation.
Really Magazine suspects that it’s not at all the fault of the psychologists involved though – there is no answer. The question is a rhetorical oxymoron.
As Robert Louis Stevenson put it more than 100 years ago ‘ Politics is perhaps the only profession for which no preparation is thought necessary.’
If they had asked instead ‘ What makes a successful politician ? ' then a number of solidly established psychological traits immediately spring to mind.
19 MAY 10
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Psychotic kindergartens – a coda
As an addition and compliment to yesterday’s Guardian item on one professor's radical take regarding the current state of legal education in Canada, Really Magazine draws attention too to his suggestion regarding one possible ameliorating strategy – viz. his two-part plan involving a books-as-fuel concept.
“Current levels of homelessness are a disgrace in a country as wealthy as Canada. I have a two-step plan for freeing Canada at once of two major social ills. This is the plan.
Step One: Close every law faculty in Canada;
and
Step Two: Hand the premises of the former law faculties over to homeless people.
The books in the law libraries would serve a much more socially useful function as cooking fuel than they do being gawped at by illiterate students.”
18 MAY 10
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Neurone or Neuron
There can’t be all that many body parts which don’t as yet have a universally agreed scientific name.
Like Neurone or Neuron - which is the most appropriate ? The debate has been raging since at least 1916, when Sir William Maddock Bayliss, D.Sc. F.R.S., Professor of General Physiology, University College, London published his thoughts on the matter in The British Medical Journal.
According to the professor, the exact etymological roots from the Ancient Greek are unclear - but
“Notwithstanding the somewhat doubtful etymology, it seems preferable on the whole to adopt the spelling ‘Neurone’ “
Pointing out that :
“ ‘Neuron’, as liable to ambiguity, should be dropped altogether.”
But here are some statistics, which would no doubt be disheartening for professor Bayliss if he were still alive.
A major search engine finds 1,050,000 entries for one spelling, and lists 7,002,000 results for the other.
Despite the 7:1 leaning towards ‘neuron ’ the
debate is clearly not yet fully resolved - some 94 years after
the
professor’s recommendations .
Really Magazine encourages readers to comment with any other body parts which don’t as yet have a universally agreed scientific name.
17 MAY 10
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Towards a theory of urban ex-corporeal otherness
Researcher Jeff May, at the Cities and Everyday Life Cluster, Department of Geography, University of Toronto, Canada has completed and published ‘ Zombie geographies and the undead city ‘ in the latest issue of the journal Social & Cultural Geography.
“Through an analysis of six zombie films (Night of the Living Dead, Land of the Dead, Resident Evil, Resident Evil: Apocalypse, 28 Days Later, and 28 Weeks Later), I argue that for geographers, zombie films can be read as expressions of a bodies-cities theory that emphasizes the role that spatial and bodily otherness plays in the constitution of bodies and cities. For bodies-cities theory, zombies offer a manifestation of the mutuality between bodies and cities that foregrounds corporeality while articulating the importance of difference and otherness for the constitution of bodies and cities.”
14 MAY 10
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Multiple entendre of the day
" A NEXT GENERATION DRILLER IS RESPONSIBLE "
Says Transocean’s Corporate and Social Responsibility webpage . . .
13 MAY 10 (midday edition)
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The F-ness of Q-adverbs
A new research paper from the University of Stuttgart and
Humboldt University, Berlin examines Q-adverbs.
Revealing that Q-adverbs - for example such as ‘ Usually ’ or ‘For the most part ’ – often exhibit so-called Quantificational Variability Effects (QVEs).
Thus the probability implied by a word like ' Usually ' cannot be quantified with complete accuracy.
The authors analyse a substantial list of examples, emphasised by some incongruous uses of Usually. e.g.
' The people that lectured on kangaroos at the conference last summer are usually open-minded '
“ It should be obvious what goes wrong here: The interval resolution strategy forces the eventualities quantified over to be resolved to the running time of the relative clause event, which means that they have to be located during the conference mentioned in the relative clause. “
Their paper is published in the latest issue of the Journal of Semantics, and can be read in full here.
13 MAY 10
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This week's newly issued patents
Tipi Eisberg submits her favourites from this week's newly granted US patents.
Ok, this is really meant to be kinda serious - but I want one ! Majorly kewl ! Does it have mp3 ?
I think we should never shoot at wild animals and birds and stuff, so maybe this is better. But it's the title that gets me ' Reactionary Turkey ' - heh ! yeah, like I know quite a few of them myself . . .
Ummmm. like a ' Biodegradable Umbrella ' ? They're kidding right ? No, wrong. Maybe it's like a marketing thing or something ? Yeah, that should work.
11 MAY 10 (midday edition)
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Emergent Norms of the Twitterati
If you happen to be in or around Basel, Switzerland, between 30 June – 2 July 2010, why not drop in at the ' The Fifth International Symposium on Politeness '.
The special theme for this year's conference is ' Politeness and impoliteness, on- and offline '.
As an example of the content, see : From Face to Facebook: performing (im)politeness in social media environments
“Social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Flickr are ‘technologies of the self’ (Foucault) where people do things with words in a very literal sense.”
And asking, for instance, whether there might perhaps be emergent sociotechnographic cyber-politeness norms when a Twitterato engages in spot of Meforming ?
11 MAY 10
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Book of the Month
Hardcover: 502 pages
Publisher: BiblioLife, LLC (27 Oct 2009)
04 MAY 10 (midday edition)
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Evaluating Skip stop
The concept of ‘ Skip Stop ’ elevators (lifts) was first [?] implemented by Le Corbusier in 1952 for his L’Unité d'Habitation building in Marseilles.
The idea was that elevators (lifts) which didn’t stop at every floor might speed up vertical transportation and at the same time improve the health of the occupants – as they’d have to use the stairs to the intervening floors.
Until recently though, the implications of the idea had never been scientifically investigated. But thanks to a $125,000 grant, investigators at the Georgia Institute of Technology were able to implement a 24 week study to find out if occupants of buildings in which the skip stop elevators were installed might use the stairs more than an equivalent building where the elevators stopped at all floors.
Results : Yes, they did
“ . . .the skip-stop feature offers a successful strategy for increasing stair use in workplaces”
There were some provisos however :
“The more flights people had to walk, the less people were satisfied with their workplace and the less cohesive they felt their offices were.”
And also :
“There was an increase in people claiming to have disabilities and requesting an access card to the elevator that stopped on every floor.”
It’s clear then that there are pros and cons regarding elevators which don’t stop on all floors. For although the users of floors where the elevator doesn’t stop may be more fit, they may not be so satisfied with the service.
Really Magazine suggests that the addition
of a ‘randomising’ element
to the elevator programming might improve things. Thus the
likelihood of the elevator stopping at any particular floor
would not be known in advance, and so would not constantly
prejudice users of previously non-stopping floors. Or, going
further still, perhaps all
the
floor-numbers could be
removed
from
the control
panel,
and
the buttons could be randomly wired ?
The study is published in the Journal of Public Health Policy, Volume 30, Supplement 1, 2009
04 MAY 10
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