Test

Test

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Shooter test

An interesting experiment on racism (as well as other forms of discrimination) – take this test and note your reaction times.  Then I’d suggest reading Nicholas Kristof’s article in the NYTimes.   I’ll bet you had a bias.  As Kristof says, “Most whites and many blacks are more quick to shoot blacks, no matter how egalitarian they profess to be.”  These implicit attitude tests, he continues, “very cleverly show that a stunningly large proportion of people who honestly believe themselves to be egalitarian unconsciously associate good with white and bad with black.”

However, that just makes us human.  More interesting experiments here.  Point of all this: it’s important to consciously realize how you may subconsciously feel/act/react toward other people.  The article goes on about how this is relevant in the current democratic primary.  Fascinating.

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Large Hadron Collider

As you’ve probably heard, CERN is about to fire up their Large Hadron Collider (find out more here, and pictures here). There’s an interesting debate, however, about how ethical it is. Interesting NY Times article on the subject. People have often been scared of scientific progress (Edward Teller once theorized during the Trinity test that the atomic bomb would set off a chain reaction of fire in the atmosphere.  Ironically, he is considered the father of the hydrogen bomb), and sometimes it’s well founded.  Scientists have been calculating what the outcome of any experiment would be.  The question is, what if they’re not sure?  What if there’s even a small percentage that something will happen?  Is it justified?  What’s the purpose of the study?  In this case, the Standard Model of particle physics.  Makes for an interesting debate.  Count me as one who thinks it’s justified.  These scientists are a lot smarter than I am, and probably have a heck of a better idea of what’s going to happen than I do, so who am I to judge.  And if I’m wrong, no one will be left to say “I told you so”.  The fight is going to the courts – let’s just hope it doesn’t turn out as bad as Bush v. Gore.  Anyways, a funny comic to displace some of the anxiety I may cause…

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Conservatives Are Happier Than Liberals

Interesting blog post from the author of Freakanomics. The basic premise, among surveyed adults, self-professed “conservatives” say they are happier 44% of the time, compared to “liberals” at 25% of the time. And it has nothing to do with the sitting president. Here’s a graph:

Read on…

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Welcome!

Thanks for visiting- I’ve spent the past couple days working on changing my hosting company, installing and customizing WordPress, linking to my Netvibes activity, etc. but I’m finally ready to post. As time goes on, the blog will take on more definition, but for now, I see this as a place to reference interesting articles, discuss random topics (anywhere from politics to sports), and who knows what else. Feedback is encouraged! Thanks for now…

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