Monthly Archives: January 2016

OT41: Having Your Mind Involuntarily Thread

This is the bi-weekly open thread. Post about anything you want, ask random questions, whatever. Also: 1. In the spirit of discussing class differences, here are the 36 best quotes from Davos 2016. 2. Vitalik Buterin expands on my fake … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged | 1,480 Comments

Staying Classy

Siderea writes an essay on class in America. You should read it. In case you don’t, here’s the summary: 1. People tend to confuse social class with economic class, eg how much money you make. But social class is a … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged | 981 Comments

Links 1/16: Shaolink

The McCullough Effect is an optical illusion where after you stare at one picture, another picture looks like it has some different colors. But unlike normal retinal-satiety optical illusions which last a couple of seconds, the McCullough Effect can last … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged | 968 Comments

Predictions For 2016

At the beginning of every year, I make predictions. At the end of every year, I score them. So here are a hundred more for 2016. Most of them are objectively decideable, but a few are subjective (eg “X goes … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged | 534 Comments

Side Effects May Include Anything

A couple of days ago a patient said he’d become depressed after starting Xolair, a new asthma drug I know nothing about. On the one hand, lots of things that mess with the immune system can cause depression. On the … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged | 286 Comments

OT40: Martin Luthread King

This is the bi-weekly open thread. Post about anything you want, ask random questions, whatever. Also: 1. Comments of the week are some rocket scientists discussing the significance of the latest SpaceX advances, Eric Raymond discussing the history of duelling … Continue reading

Lies, Damned Lies, And The Media (Part 6 of ∞)

[content warning: discussion of violent crime, including sexual assault] I plan to write an article on misuse of statistics by online news organizations, but looking back through my archives most of the examples I’ve got are from a couple of … Continue reading

Links 1/16: Link A Thief In The Night

Ancient Greek naval combat sometimes involved hurling snakes onto your enemies’ ships to cause panic and confusion. Sounds ilke a pretty good plan! The Samuel L. Jackson Award For Excellence In Vehicular Herpetology goes to Hannibal Barca, who had catapults … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged | 551 Comments

Schizophrenia: No Smoking Gun

[Note: despite how some people are spinning this, tobacco is still really really bad and you should not smoke it] I. Schizophrenics smoke. A lot. Depending on the study, about 60-80% of schizophrenics smoke, compared to only about 20% of … Continue reading

Slow But Steady

I saw this on Giving What We Can and was so delighted I wanted to repost it here. Source is The effect of malaria control on plasmodium falciparum in Africa between 2000 and 2015 in Nature: GWWC comments: The reduction … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged | 236 Comments