Links for you. Science:
A randomized trial in a massive online open course shows people don’t know what a statistically significant relationship looks like, but they can learn
The flawed and offensive logic of “Academic Science Isn’t Sexist” in the @nytimes
Academic science is sexist: We do have a problem here (mind you, the day after the NYT published that op-ed claiming it isn’t, we were treated to this NYT story)
Mike Adams and NY Post promote more hysteria over Ebola
Ebola primer, v2.0
Other:
Taxes Are A Monetary Instrument (excellent)
The first rule of Ebola security theater is that you can’t admit it’s Ebola security theater
D.C. mayoral candidates quiet on welfare reform, have talked about employment
This Guy’s Quest to Track Every Shot in the NBA Changed Basketball Forever
Goodbye weekend plans: Internet Archive now lets you play 900 classic arcade games
Sony Files Patent To Make TV Ads Into Video Games (this is dreadful, if true)
We Will Always Have New Epidemics
Millennials Aren’t Cheap, They’re Broke: Pundits lament that young people are not buying cars and houses.
“Secular Stagnation” Is Progress, Now Can We Talk About the Trade Deficit?
Good for you, Kaci Hickox
Climate Climax
Ebola Is Not a Weapon: Conspiracy theories are highly contagious. Here’s why they’re wrong.
Branson spaceship explosion: The ‘missed’ warnings
mikethemadbiologist
Several years ago they settled a case involving another prof at the med school, and his secretary, for a rumored seven figures (another person with huge grants… hmm, eh?). But they didn’t fire or suspend him, they just (I heard at the time) gave him a dude for his new secretary. And these are just the ones that make it to public knowledge. But there’s no sexual harassment problem, noooooo, of course not.
Half the links go to “below the fold” w/ scrolling up necessary.
Thanks for your concern about my fingers exercise regimen but it was unnecessary. 😉
http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/science/2014/10/ebola_and_bioterrorism_the_virus_is_not_a_bioweapon_despite_media_myths.html
However, ebola scare is in fact a powerfull weapon strengthened by media myths.
I always wonder though when anthrax is mentioned as a bioweapon, especially regarding anthrax letters: I’ve seen estimations on the LD50 in the range of 5000 to 10000 particles, at 1 to 5 micrometers in size, this would mean that atalmost half a square centimeter of it (from the top of my head) should be inhaled just to have half a chance of killing someone. Unless you address someone with a severe cocaine addiction, I find it hard to imagine how so much of this bioagent could end up inside someones airways from the inside an evelope. But maybe I’m mistaking the facts..
Kentucky school apologizes to teacher who resigned in Ebola scare
It’s refreshing and rare to see someone apologize for an error like that. I imagine the goal is to lessen damages in the unavoidable lawsuit.
Actually, the statistics paper indicated that **naive** subjects are able to distinguish between scatterplots with statistically significant correlation coefficients (at the 5% level) more often than chance. That’s pretty good. 🙂