Apr 29 2008
Sure he’s not perfect, but Bobby Jindal is for Louisiana more than just a breath of fresh air; he’s a breath of refreshingly clean air.
Yep, for the first time since 1990, when I moved to Louisiana, I can say I’m genuinely proud of our Governor.
Apr 26 2008
Apr 20 2008
The vet’s best guess is that Jack was born near the end of November, so that makes him about 5 months old now. He weighs 40 lbs. and is energetically curious.
Here he is after a round of rough-housing and touring the yard finding all sorts of things we didn’t know were there.
I’m feeling sort of the same way about the Democratic primary.
Apr 19 2008
Since yahoo stories tend to disappear, more quoting than usual.
One thing scientists do agree on: A big brain alone doesn’t equate with smarts. If it did, elephants and sperm whales would win all the spelling bees. Rather, scientists look at brain mass relative to body mass in order to make any speculation about a creature’s cognitive abilities.
So while an elephant noggin, at 10.5 pounds (4,780 grams), could squash a human think box in a purely physical battle of brains, you and I take the cake in a war of wits. Our brains, which weigh an average of 2.7 pounds (1,200 grams), account for about 2 percent of body weight, compared with an elephant’s under one-tenth of a percent.
Studies have shown that across species relatively large brains “do seem to provide some complex cognitive skills, such as innovative solutions to ecological problems, more efficient resource mapping and food acquisition, and more complex social strategies (such as deception),” said Nancy Barrickman, a graduate student in Duke University’s Department of Biological Anthropology and Anatomy.
Differences in brain size within a species, such as humans, are relatively small, making it difficult to tease out the effects of brain size and the effects of other factors. For instance, the difference in intelligence between an organism with, say, a brain that’s 1,100 grams and one that’s 1,400 grams (which could be found in humans) is confounded by other variables, including differences in density of neurons, other structural brain differences and socio-cultural factors.
Density of neurons could be interpreted as density of links. What makes a website “intelligent”? The sheer mass of data, or it’s internal links that relate that data?
Apr 18 2008
Ed Cone writes about the importance of men getting tested for possible prostate cancer. First of all, it’s a blood test (PSA) that indicates whether further examination and testing needs to be done.
While acknowledging “that packaging the words “prostate” and “cancer” in one soundbite creates a phrase of uncommonly low conversational appeal, a compact cluster of social taboos,” he neatly lays out why the conversation needs to be held.
As unpleasant a conversation as it might be, it beats a national conversation on race and gender.
Apr 17 2008
I’ve not had the creative urge lately, as you can probably tell. Oh well. I’m going to resort to linking those who have.
You vote what you eat, unless the recipe was stolen
