Monthly Archives: November 2013

The Story Of Thanksgiving Is A Science-Fiction Story

It has come to my attention that people are woefully uninformed about certain episodes in the Thanksgiving narrative. For example, almost no one mentions the part where Squanto threatens to release a bioweapon buried under Plymouth Rock that will bring … Continue reading

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A Letter I Will Probably Send To The FDA

I predict that the current spat between 23andMe and the FDA will be less apocalyptic than some people fear. In particular, I expect 23andMe will submit a lot of paperwork, change some of their wording around, advertise a little less … Continue reading

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November Housekeeping Post

1. Ever read Less Wrong? Consider yourself part of the “rationality community”? You are eligible to take the new 2013 Less Wrong Census/Survey, now including a MONETARY REWARD (of course, this is from the website that brought you the Counterfactual … Continue reading

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Genetic Russian Roulette

[TRIGGER WARNING: This would be a really bad post to read if you have or are about to have a young child] I. One of the downsides to working in psychiatry is that it is slowly but inexorably sapping away … Continue reading

More Links for November

The gap between “silly joke about what the most unlikely computer game possible would be” and “computer game exists, you can download it for $4.99” seems to be about five years. First it was the Great Gatsby sidescroller. Now there’s … Continue reading

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Highlights From My Notes From A Forensic Psychiatry Conference Last Week

– Contrary to popular belief, the insanity defense is not overused. It’s used in only about 1% of felony trials and successful only about a quarter of the time it is used. 90% of people who successfully plead insanity had … Continue reading

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Lies, Damned Lies, And Facebook (Part 4 of ∞)

(see also parts 1, 2, and 3 of ∞) Some friends of mine on Facebook were talking about rape (as you do), and one of them brought up how anti-rape public awareness campaigns targeting men have been found to be … Continue reading

List of Reasons Why Gunpowder Treason Should Be Forgot

1. Guy Fawkes Day was historically used as excuse for anti-Catholic bigotry and traditionally involved burning effigy of the Pope 2. In Britain it frequently devolves into hooliganism and public disorder 3. King James I was actually kind of a … Continue reading

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The Witching Hour

On an ordinary evening, Tal Aivon was lively and pleasant. The collection of longhouses and yurts within its tall brick walls shone bright with kerosene – not just torches, real kerosene – and its communal meeting area was noisy with … Continue reading

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Links for November

Jeff Kaufman continues to survey the history of efficient charity with an excellent post about John Wesley, the founder of Methodism. After a traumatic experience in which he wanted to give a poor person money to buy a coat but … Continue reading

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