Tag: Linkonomicon

Boston

There are many things that can be said about yesterday’s events in Boston. It is hard to imagine saying any of them better than Dave Munger’s “In praise of Boston”. Dave is an editor for Science Seeker and ran the Boston Marathon yesterday.

Marathon day in Boston is one of the warmest and most heartfelt holidays and events that I have ever been a part of. Someone tried to take that away from the people of Boston yesterday, but I don’t think they succeeded. They only gave Boston another chance to show how generous and brave its people are. While I am horrified by the events that occurred yesterday, I’m glad to have had the chance to see so many people at their best.

Boston’s people showed us their true colors yesterday. They gave the rest of us something to aspire to. – Dave Munger

He doesn’t dwell on the evil that was done. He doesn’t even spend a lot of time on the amazing quirk of human nature that makes people run toward a tragedy and danger to help. Dave movingly shows us that we shouldn’t be surprised, because yesterday’s Boston Marathon, both before and after the bombs, demonstrated that we are there for each other.

Tragic events highlight the light and the dark in the human soul, but they are always there. Thankfully, there is a lot more light.

Knit frog guts

“Knitting in Biology 101” by Emily Stoneking

Emily Stoneking is not only the name of my favorite Jarl from Skyrim, but also knits dissected frogs. You read all of that right.

Cast your eyes to port on that wonderment. Frog dissections have never been so adorable.

According to the description:

3 out of 4 biologists agree: Knitting in Biology 101 is the cutest biology project, ever!

What I want to know is who is that fourth broken soul? Actually, I know who it is. I went to grad school with him. Yeah, I’m talking about you.

 

Home field intimidation

According to a paper from Marshall Jones of Penn State in Psychology of Sport and Exercise (you can read it for only $31.50), home field advantage is far more prevalent in subjectively judged, independent sports, like diving and gymnastics, than in objectively judged sports, like sprinting and the biathlon.

Subjectively evaluated sports such as diving, gymnastics, or figure skating usually show sizable and significant home advantages. Otherwise, occasional findings have been reported but they are not consistent within a sport, are generally weak, and often statistically unreliable. – Marshall Jones

This dovetails nicely with the home field advantage phenomena reported by L Jon Wertheim and Tobias Moskowitz in Scorecasting for team sports like baseball, basketball, and association football (aka, soccer) on points of subjective judgments (eg, strike zone, certain fouls, and extra time, respectively).

Taking together, this suggests that home field advantage is a result of the crowd intimidating the officials, not the crowd boosting the morale of the home team.

Sometimes, “Girls with Slingshots” is a science comic…

Girls with Slingshots #358 by Danielle Corsetto (All Rights Reserved - Used & Adapted with Permission)
Girls with Slingshots #358 by Danielle Corsetto (All Rights Reserved – Used & Adapted with Permission)

This one goes back to November 2007, but I recently rediscovered a lovely bit of science humor and art from Danielle Corsetto in her wonderful comic strip Girls with Slingshots. As an added bonus, note that Hazel wins for “Most Sophisticated” costume, not “Nerdiest”.

The actual strip feature no real nudity, but, if your workplace or conservative christian dominated place of residence objects to pseudo-nudity, you may want click through in a private location.*

You can follow Danielle on Twitter.

*Girls with Slingshots is very funny, poignant, and has strong sexual themes. So, some employers may not want you browsing there on your work computer

Speculative Electro-Paleontology

Soft tissues generally do not show up well in fossils. That missing information means that paleontology is particularly fertile ground for speculation. One of my favorite bits of paleontological speculation comes from Putting the Life Back in Science Fiction where a post wonders whether plesiosaurs had long necks to allow for electric organs like electric eels, useful for defense, electrolocation, and fishing. The post is careful to note that it is indulging in wild speculation.

The speculative theory probably isn’t true, but it is more fun to imagine that it is.