Posts by Joe Wylie
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Hard News: Science: it's complicated, in reply to Rob Stowell,
Thanks Rob. Hadn't intended to read it through, but once I'd started. Great stuff.
Interesting how several examples of initial "false positives" were from the start of the 90s, with measured declines as the decade progressed.1990 was the heyday of overegged hypotheses such as recovered memory, and Rupert Sheldrake's touting of morphic resonance*. Like the unknown variables affecting the mentioned mouse study, maybe there's something in the weather?
Seriously, it's encouraging to read of such analytical rigour described in a way that's accessable to non-specialists.
*In an interview from about 1990 with Pam Corkery, Sheldrake claimed rather more than anecdotal evidence that a synthetic chemical crystal, produced for the first time in a laboratory, appeared to be able to be created in a shorter period each time the process was repeated, no matter where it was attempted. Even if it were true, further investigation might have shown that the effect wears off : )
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Hard News: An open thread while I'm down…, in reply to David Hood,
It's the giant rats with poisonous mohawks I would be worried about.
Lyall Watson speculated that lophiomys used those wick-like hairs to diffuse a mood-altering pheromone that induced a sense of unease in potential predators. Kind of a psycho-skunk. Definitely a critter to be respected.
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Southerly: Tower Insurance Have Some Bad…, in reply to Sofie Bribiesca,
By not funding these people but funding Pike River people, and then Bob stepping up, it's almost spurious ;)
It's a symptom of the bizarre factional political struggles that appear to be happening in these parts right now. Hopefully someone has the wider interests of post-quake Canterbury at heart, but you can be certain it ain't poor wee Bob.
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No doubt at the behest of his minders, Mayor Bob goes for the caring 'n sharing image.
Nice baby-seal -before-the-club-descends expression in that pic. -
Hard News: An open thread while I'm down…, in reply to Sacha,
those sharp animals will get you every time
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Hard News: Science: it's complicated, in reply to James Bremner,
. . . not the most popular polling organization amongst the PAS crew
Go on James, say "hairy armpit brigade." You know you want to.
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Busytown: What was lost, in reply to Islander,
We didnt forget them, we honoured them. But we didnt glorify the wars either -
I can't claim to have been quite so noble, especially during the Muldoon era. Still I do find it useful to remember, when people talk about the collective sins of "baby boomers", that there were times that I wished that "these old bastards that fought the war" would get off our backs.
I grew up hearing those stories about people who received anonymous - and sometimes not-so-anonymous - white feathers. As even those who "honorably served" were scarcely able to talk meaningfully about their experiences, so many poor bastards would, as you said, have had to carry the godawful injustice of how they were treated for the rest of their lives. Still, I don't remember anyone who'd really suffered in conflict or capture ever condemning those who didn't go. Certainly not when they were sober.
Most ANZAC day speeches from my schooldays were empty bombast, exhorting my generation to be part of a death cult. It wasn't often that people were prepared or even able to talk about what really happened. I remember a guy in the Blackball pub in the early 70s launching into his reminiscences about driving ambulances in blackout darkness in the North African desert. He had the usual three-beers blowhard's tone of having told the tale more times than he'd found a willing audience, until someone asked if he'd been scared. His tone changed instantly. To tell the truth he'd never thought about it, but now that it'd been mentioned, yes, he was probably bloody scared. And come to think of it, they probably all were, as were the Germans he once helped capture.
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Busytown: What was lost, in reply to Robyn Gallagher,
In the 1960s, a lot of Baby Boomers were disrespectful of World War II. Gee, Mom and Dad, why do you keep going on about the war? It's over. Get with the '60s, you squares. It's the age of Aquarius.
Which is why Slaughterhouse 5 is such great art. It cut right through all that bottled-in damaged pain and self-absorbed bluster. No wonder it's still being banned.
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Hard News: An open thread while I'm down…, in reply to Bart Janssen,
. . . oh and anyone who puts folk dancing as their hobby.
Just the type who'd get a kick out of spiking your drink and smilingly lurking about to see what it did to you:
A stutterer from childhood, Gottlieb got a master's degree in speech therapy. He also had a club foot. It kept him out of World War II, but it did not stop him from practicing folk dancing, a lifelong passion.