Ever wonder why conservatives act the way they do? Turns out they may all be suffering from a well-documented psychological phenomenon that makes them think they’re super smart, while they are, in fact, idiots. An unrelated post on Kottke.org drew my attention to the Dunning-Kruger Effect, or the tendency for individuals with little knowledge to systematically think that they [...]
Ah, the Tunguska Event. In 1908, it levelled trees, vaporized wildlife and lit up the skys over Siberia. It has also baffled scientists, since the explosion was thought to have dug no crater. Until now. A group of Italian scientists have found a lake occupying a small, bowl-shaped depression near the epicentre of the blast. [...]
Interesting new research out of UC Berkeley that suggests ‘hegemonic’ society- middle class, affluent and predominantly white- hang out on Facebook, while the poor and marginalized are at home at MySpace. The study was prepared by Danah Boyd, a PhD student at Berkeley. Here’s a tidbit: The goodie two shoes, jocks, athletes, or other “good” [...]
The impact of the first jet into the World Trade Centre has been simulated by scientists at Purdue Universitty. Technically impressive, conceptually terrifying. This might make a few conspiracy theorists re-think their ‘inside job’ theories. The damage in this simulation looks pretty catastrophic.
Simmering away like some evil stew, this story has been knocking around for a few weeks now. If you missed it (entirely possible, since it has been largely absent from the Canadian press), Rupert Murdoch, owner of NewsCorp and current front-runner for scariest Australian ever, made an unsolicited $5 billion bid for Dow Jones, parent [...]
Following the delightful trend of quantifying every aspect of your personality through an internet quiz, here’s one that lets you figure out what kind of lefty you are. I would have figured I’d be ‘disillusioned’. But turns out I’m actually the far-cooler sounding social justice crusader. My Liberal Identity: You are a Social Justice Crusader, [...]
…by airing almost three decades worth of dirty laundry. CIA Director Michael V. Hayden has announced the the spy firm wil de-classify reams of document detailing its not-so-legal activities. Look forward to overseas assassination attempts, domestic spying, kidnapping, infiltration of leftist groups, break-ins, wiretapping of journalists, and ‘unwitting’ drug tests on U.S. civilians- collectively referred [...]