Monkey See, Monkey Do?

So . . . there has long been a commonly-held belief that I totally, entirely disagree with (surprised?).  I remember decades-ago conversations about whether violence in movies and TV begat violence in real-life, and finding it difficult to believe that normal, well-adjusted human beings could, simply by dint of their observing something, be persuaded to engage in that behaviour (you're going to have excuse my overly-formal writing today; I'm concurrently preparing submissions to two different academic conferences, and this is my tone for the day).  But today it's not TV or film that is the evil that is hypnotizing us into engaging in malevolent behaviour, but YouTube. 

Charlie's Causing a Sheen

So . . . for some reason, Charlie Sheen has been on my mind today.  I'm not a big ma-Sheen fan (I like Major League, and he's been okay in some other movies, but I detest Two and a Half Men) nor do I devote a lot of my time to celeb gossip, but the Sheen trainwreck has been pretty much unavoidable.  I have a few thoughts and ideas about what's going on with Hollywood's baddest of bad-boys (Mel, you're going to have to step up your game to top this one) that I'd like to share with you.

We Don't Need a Weatherman To Know Which Way the Wind Blows

So . . . I've been away, but I understand there have been some pretty big changes in the world lately.  Particularly in northern Africa the middle east.  I am no expert in history and politics, so I will not comment on the causes or likely future outcomes of these changes.  The problem is that both the real and so-called experts don't really know what's going to happen either - but that's not stopping them from making predictions.  It's that old bugaboo of prediction, and how we're really bad at it.

Pullin' Seine: Insane!

So . . . I'm still away on holiday in Trinidad but thought I'd take a few minutes to fill you all in on one of the impromptu activities I took part in here.  While at a beach house for the weekend in Mayaro (at the southeastern tip of Trinidad, in case you're interested) I has the opportunity to take part in "pulling seine," or beach-front net fishing.  It was a new experience for me, and one that I won't soon forget, even after the scars from the rope have healed.

Musings From Above Your Head

So . . . I’m writing this on a plane, en route to Trinidad and Tobago. I actually had a not-bad travel experience thus far – checking in and security took a grand total of about twenty minutes – and I’ve downed my awful dinner and thought I’d spout off a bit while at 35,000 feet. Naturally, I want to discuss air travel and the security measures that we have in place, because they demonstrate some pretty biased decision-making that is probably not the most effective, efficient, or logical way to meet goals.

I'll Take Computers With Autism-Spectrum Disorders for $200, Alex

So . . . last night on Jeopardy! the IBM supercomputer Watson held its own against two highly-respected challengers, at least in the first round of the first "exhibition match" between man and machine.  This isn't the first time IBM has created a computer to take on human champions at a feat of cognitive strength (see Deep Blue playing chess against Kasparov).  And Watson clearly demonstrated that it was possible to create a computer that didn't just have a lot of digital knowledge, but could also decode clues and respond to indirect language.  But is there something flawed with this type of artificial intelligence?  The answer, in the form of a question, after the jump.

Why? Why? Why?

So . . . yesterday Jerry Sloan, head coach of the Utah Jazz basketball team, resigned after 23 years at the helm. You may think from the title of this post and the first line that I am a die-hard Jazz fan and am distraught. Not so. Today I'm writing more about our constant search for the answers to the title question, and how I got a taste of that propensity while reading basketball news yesterday. Why? Why not. Read more after the jump.

Spending Ourselves Into a Mess

So . . . I know you've all been waiting, and the first reviews of the Spiderman broadway musical are finally out.  And they are not good.  Despite involving proven talent (Julie Taymor is the director, songs by U2), there seems to be a near-unanimous opinion that the show, well, blows (to which the producers apparently responded that panning it is "uncool").  But what interests me isn't so much that the show is terrible, but also that it is the most expensive broadway show ever produced (current total cost: $65 million).  And that got me thinking about other situations where mo' money caused mo' problems.  Some examples, counter-examples, and lots of wasted money after the jump.

How I Know What I Don't Know

So . . . congrats to the Green Bay Packers, the best team in the NFL for the 2010-2011 season.  Or something like that.  Maybe.  What do we really know about the Packers that we didn't 24 hours ago, other than that they won one (important) game?  Today I'm writing about how we know what we know, or what we don't know, or what we know about what we don't know.  You know, epistemology.  More verbal twistage after the jump.

No Quarter for Quarters (or For Four Quarters)

So . . . twice this week I have written about change.  One post was about how we sometimes need to change ourselves to get out of a repetitive cycle, and the other was about how we tend to resist change.  Today I'm writing about a different kind of change - spare change.  I have been doing some research into how people value money apart from it's explicit denomination, and in the name of shameless self-promotion, I'm going to tell you about it.  Put another way, spare a penny for my thoughts about pennies after the jump.

I'm Not So Sure That A Change Would Do Me Good

So . . . I have been forced to go through a major change in my life recently.  It has altered the way I work, the way I perceive information, and cast a pall over everthing last week.  I was happy with how things were before, and then one minor glitch and I had to wipe the slate clean and start all over with a new way of doing things.  That's right, I was upgraded to Windows 7 against my will.  The traumatic story after the jump.