Powerpoint Dying Crisis Rules ESP Tapeworms
Wikibollocks: The Shirky Rules by Tom Slee (Whimsley): A week or two back, I linked to a blog post by Clay Shirky about the collapse of complex business models; Slee read that article and came to the conclusion that, though the article was entertaining, with a lot of good stories in it, those stories don’t actually add up to an argument. In a way, it’s a fascinating look at the kind of writing to be wary of: writing that is enjoyable enough that you forget to think about, but is this right? [via]
Why Madagascar’s Tapeworms Matter To You by Carl Zimmer (The Loom): The history of humanity is hidden in the genes of an Malagasy tapeworm; when humanity got to the top of the food chain, the tapeworm adapted to our stomachs rather than the stomachs of lions. Also, if you eat food contaminated with human shit - where tapeworm eggs are most likely to be - the results are really not pleasant, mostly because you’re not a pig.
How Chimpanzees Deal With Death And Dying by Ed Yong (Not Exactly Rocket Science): Article features some really quite amazing footage of chimps caring after dying relatives, and thoughtful ruminations about what this says about chimps (and us).
Our Giant Banking Crisis by Robin Wells and Paul Krugman (New York Review Of Books): Wells and Krugman argue that, unless places like the US much more strenuously regulate banking, the GFC may have a very ugly sting in its tail. [via]
We Have Met The Enemy And He Is Powerpoint by Elisabeth Bumiller (New York Times): The US military is so reliant on Microsoft Powerpoint that it may be that the amount of bullet points are as influential on the course of the war in Afghanistan as the amount of bullets.
ESP Study Suggests Lack Of Trust In Science by Tom Jacobs (Miller-McCune): Study suggests that people are more likely to believe in ESP if told that scientists don’t believe in it. I’d want to see a bit more information on how the experiment was run before believing it fully (very small things can have huge impacts on reactions to this kind of study), but climatologists are probably tearing their hair out right now.
