Thursday, June 29, 2006

Swatting Adam Smith. Stephen Dubner @ Freakanomics wonders how conservative observers will react to Warren Buffett observation that he gave so much money to a foundation that tries to alleviate poverty because "a market system has not worked in terms of poor people." There's plenty of reaction in the post's comments. and Prisoner's dilemma in Tehran. Spengler @ Asia Times predicts US military action by October 31: "Iran's leaders have a clearer strategic vision than do the Americans. They know that the soap-bubble of Iraqi democracy cannot last for long. As long as it does last, they retain leverage over Washington; when it pops, that leverage will disappear. both by way of Pajamas Media. 9:41:07 PM    comment []

Watching me, watching you, watching me. This New Scientist article says "we all know the scene: the departmental coffee room, with the price list for tea and coffee on the wall and the "honesty box" where you pay for your drinks -- or not, because no one is watching. In a finding that will have office managers everywhere scurrying for the photocopier, researchers have discovered that merely a picture of watching eyes nearly trebled the amount of money put in the box.Melissa Bateson and colleagues at Newcastle University, UK, put up new price lists each week in their psychology department coffee room. Prices were unchanged, but each week there was a photocopied picture at the top of the list, measuring 15 by 3 centimetres, of either flowers or the eyes of real faces. The faces varied but the eyes always looked directly at the observer.In weeks with eyes on the list, staff paid 2.76 times as much for their drinks as in weeks with flowers. "Frankly we were staggered by the size of the effect," Gilbert Roberts, one of the researchers, told New Scientist.Eyes are known to be a powerful perceptual signal for humans. People behave more cooperatively when they are being "watched" by a cute image of a robot (see Pay up, you are being watched) or even abstract "eye spots" on a computer screen. But this, says Roberts, is the first time anyone has observed the effect in a natural situation, with people using their own money". "Big Brother" eyes make us act more honestly [Smart Mobs] 6:38:59 AM    comment []

Nigerian Letter scammer convinced to carve replica Commodore 64. Cory Doctorow: The 419Eater website chronicles the incredible story of a guy who baits "Nigerian Letter" scammers by telling them he has no time to help them free their dead relatives' seized assets because he is so busy sending out $150,000 scholarships for talented carvings to display in his galleries. He actually convinces a 419 scammer to produce a detailed replica of a Commodore 64 computer with the lure of a big cash payout -- then blows him off with a twist ending worthy of The Big Con. Link (via Waxy) [Boing Boing] 6:37:20 AM    comment []

The Onion on The Perverse Incentives of Tenure. From America's Finest News Source: Professor Pressured To Sleep With Student For Good Course Evaluation FAYETTEVILLE, AR--Alan Gilchrist, an associate professor of English literature at the University of Arkansas infamous for his tough grading standards and dry lecturing style, was coerced into sleeping with an undergraduate on Monday in order to earn a good course evaluation. "My tenure's on the line here, so I allowed a student to take advantage of me," said an emotional Gilchrist of the experience, which he hopes will earn him at least six "very much enjoyed" responses on the eight-item evaluation form. "I told myself it would be just this once, and that it would be over soon, and that it wouldn't be that bad, but I was used. And I can't stop showering." Sources said that the unidentified student is one of the most popular and charismatic on campus, raising questions about possible abuse of power. The fact that they got the rank wrong (an "associate professor" usually has tenure-- those of us who are untenured are "assistant professors") just makes it funnier. [Uncertain Principles] 6:36:30 AM    comment []

Practical advice: irreproducibility.. I just got back from a 75 minute ethics seminar for summer researchers (mostly undergraduates) at a large local center of scientific research. While it was pretty hard to distill the important points on ethical research to just over an hour, I can't tell you how happy I am that they're even including ethics training in this program. Anyway, one of the students asked a really good question, which I thought I'd share: Let's say you discover that a published result is irreproducible. Who do you tell? My answer after the jump. Read the rest of this post... | Read the comments on this post... [Adventures in Ethics and Science] 6:36:12 AM    comment []