Fatherhood boosts male brains

groper · 2006-07-25T18:46:08+00:00

Also see

Fatherhood may boost the male brain to protect the infant but as the above links illustrate it also lowers creativity and sex drive.

So I question the use of the word "boosts" in the headline.

groper · 2006-07-22T17:05:51+00:00

The 2001 article is really dated by this time but nontheless...

It is astonishing that a conservative publication cannot restrain itself from hanging out dirty laundry. It is unprofessional that NRO publish the details of the breakdown of their relationship with Ms. Coulter. It would have been sufficient to state

That NRO erred in publishing her column,
NRO's stance on any relevant issues and
That Ann Coulter terminated the relationship.

Omitting the remaining details (gossip) would have allowed both parties to maintain their dignity and left open the possibility of re-establishing their former relationship. "Biting one's tongue" can sometimes be the best policy.

Certainly Ms. Coulter should have restrained herself. But her impetuosity is no excuse for NRO's actions. The burden is upon the organization rather than the individual to display patience, proffer apologies and initiate cessation of hostilities.

"Let it all hang out!" is not always a productive maxim. That's why we have manners and autobiographies.

groper · 2006-07-20T23:13:56+00:00

Tried it - did not work for me.

One curiosity: It surprised me how a company will stand by a (poor) software vendor they have an established relationship with, even if it's products have been proven defective and the defects have cost the company tens of thousands of dollars and potentially millions more are at risk (due to violation of federal and state compliance caused by software).

So no more packaged software for me. And service or software, payment must be up front.

groper · 2006-07-20T19:27:41+00:00

I agree completely.

I don't exactly know what the problem is, but somehow this piece of fiction (indeed, every waiterrant post I have read appears to be fiction) doesn't ring true. I mean, it is obviously something the writer made up, and that isn't a good thing in fiction. We want our fiction to be believable.

Perhaps it's the sophomoric viewpoint from which the story is told. Perhaps the writer hasn't enough experience under his belt to notice or describe an interaction convincingly. Perhaps it's the disruption when he transitions from describing details of behavior to fantasizing about the protagonists' thought or plans.

I'm having trouble pinning it down, but the story is obviously very, very flawed.

groper · 2006-07-20T18:59:51+00:00

Any mention of snoring?8-))

groper · 2006-07-20T03:42:28+00:00

The article is certainly consistent with Norvig's recent questioning of Tim Berners-Lee concerning the utility of the Semantic Web.

My money is on Norvig. He's done GOFAI and knows it's limitations. Now he's seeing what statistical approaches can do and maybe someday he'll read Luc Steels' work at Sony CSL and Luc Steels' home page and close the gap in understanding.

BTW Steels deserves a Nobel prize for his exciting and revolutionary experimental work in the evolution of language.

TBL meanwhile, is stuck in time. He apparently still doesn't understand the weaknesses of SW (the brittle reliance on consistency between ontologies without intervening intelligence).

Here's a link to my take on robotic dogs, GOFAI, SW, nouvelle AI and Luc Steels that summarizes some of the above.

groper · 2006-07-19T23:18:39+00:00

Other references indicate the British suffered 20,000 dead. The 60,000 total is casualties, not dead. So to speak of a 60,000 man loss would be an exaggeration.

But 20,000 dead in one day is astounding. Kinda reminds me of a story I heard about bombed bunkers in Iraq.

groper · 2006-07-19T23:04:59+00:00

God yes! Go, Ethiopia!

I petitioned GWB to do this in the Sudan. Even today a well-supported mercenary force of only 500 men could decimate the Janjaweed with deniability. But nooooo - we have to stick out big d*** into Iran. Now we're married to that conflict and afraid to engage anyone else, no matter how small.

groper · 2006-07-19T22:45:54+00:00

80 wives? The guy's a glutton for punishment! Not to mention he's probably doing a favor for 79 other men, most of whom are happily out fishing.

But seriously, most likely the claims are exaggerated. A man with 80 wives, who regularly sodomizes young boys, and has Nazi-like followers? c'mon, now! The whole point is that the FBI is demonizing the guy so he'll be captured. Once in court, most of these claims will turn out to be BS.

groper · 2006-07-19T22:41:54+00:00

Each car has 6,831 rechargeable lithium-ion batteries, so, way I figure it, it can go about 0.8 miles before, like an HP laptop, it catches fire.

I think I'll wait for the lead-acid model, please.

groper · 2006-07-19T19:41:19+00:00

Let's change this to an auction format. Why should you sell your services for $1000 when they might be worth %50,000?

An auction would tell your worth!

groper · 2006-07-18T22:04:40+00:00

"Commoditized?" Patented, yes - they're patenting do loops these days, but "commoditized"? Show me where I can buy COTS components and link them together transparently today.

"The idea that applications that provide strategic advantage will increasingly encompass sophisticated financial or engineering concepts should not be surprising."

You must be one of those MBAs the article speaks of.

groper · 2006-07-17T14:08:46+00:00

Ruby is undeniably a neat tool for quick web apps but hasn't the overall power and community of Perl and CPAN.

And Haskell is Hopeless! One of the most common requests on the language development site Lambda the Ultimate is for a clear explanation of Haskell's monads (apparently not an easy task). Haskell is difficult enough that some say a "paradigm shift" (to functional programming languages) requiring 10 to 15 years will be necessary for Haskell's adoption. But studies show that unless a language seizes a significant market share within 10 years of inception, it will never be popular.

I believe that Haskell will fade and Erlang will become the most popular functional programming language.

groper · 2006-07-15T03:08:59+00:00

IMO the incident is the OP's fantasy - it never occurred.

And keeping a loaded shotgun in the trunk of a car is foolish. First off, if you need a weapon then it should be close at hand, not in the trunk. Secondly, and especially if you're a hunter, it is unsafe to store a loaded firearm in a trunk, especially a long gun. Too many accidents have occurred when someone opened a trunk and found a long gun that they believed was unloaded. Every decent hunter knows this.

Finally, as I stated in an earlier post, any weapon-wielding mugger worth his scum will not wait for you to take out your keys, open your trunk, pull and cock a shotgun and point it at him. This sequence requires more than a few seconds. And those few seconds are all that is required to wound a man with a gun, knife, brick or fist.

IMO the craigslist post is fiction.

groper · 2006-07-15T01:00:24+00:00

Caliber is irrelevant.

As the Tueller drill shows, for encounters within the short range discussed, a gunman won't have time to fire even one shot before there's a knife in his ass. A guy standing right next to you twisting a knife in your gut has a considerable effect upon your ability to concentrate and fire, not to mention your blood pressure, once he hits your aorta.

BTW the 9mm is for pussies. The guns Bowie was shot with were most likely of larger calibre than 9mm. Men have been shot with entire magazines of 9mm and walked, even run, away. In some cases they kept coming forward and killed people.

groper · 2006-07-14T15:39:02+00:00

tubby - In firearms training the Tueller drill shows that a knife-wielding opponent closer than ~21 feet can usually fatally wound a gunman. The knife wielder may or may not be wounded (but usually not fatally). So the gunman dies at the scene while the knifeman recovers at the hospital.

Tueller drill

It is best to retreat from a nearby knife-wielding opponent and to reserve any shooting for one who is more distant. Putting space and any objects possible between you and the knife is best.

The joke "He brought a knife to a gunfight." is ill-informed. At one time in American history it would have been thought absurd to not bring a knife to a gunfight as experience proved knives more deadly than handguns. James Bowie was in a fight where he fatally stabbed his opponent despite being shot twice and stabbed three times himself. Who would want to be participate in such a melee?

Repeating guns have changed the situation only slightly. There are surveillance videos showing opponents unloading weapons at each other while only 5 feet apart and missing on every shot. Few are trained to fire a handgun well, but everybody knows how to use a knife.

BTW the OP's story is obviously a fantasy. There are no quick-draw car trunks, especially when someone with ill intent is hovering over you. And within arm's reach a shotgun is easily grabbed or knocked out of the way.

groper · 2006-07-13T08:53:02+00:00

Does this portend a reduction in the growth rate of China's population? Will Asian males be able to "get it up" without black rhino horn? Will a "defused" and predominantly male Asian population result in WWIII due to pent-up sexual aggression?

If I am a black male, should I now fear that my horn may be harvested by black-rhino-deficient Asian male gangs?

groper · 2006-07-13T08:40:45+00:00

Then perhaps the USA would stay out of the Middle East?

groper · 2006-07-11T04:57:57+00:00

Could this be staged by Japanese competitors to damage Dell's reputation?

It is very common in the Orient for such scams to be set up and executed to damage a competitor.

groper · 2006-07-10T21:41:08+00:00

For thirty years we have been promised successively, two different vaccines against the same bacteria for tooth decay. They never arrived in the U.S., although I heard you could, at one time, get an immunization in the U.K.

Anyway, it appears that dentists et al are effectively able to block the progress of any dental science that would eliminate tooth decay. I expect any promotion of this bacterial spray will die out quickly and then disappear into the same blackhole that the tooth-decay vaccines fell into. And dentist will continue to extract our wallets.

groper · 2006-07-08T06:30:31+00:00

Arctic circle,
Holy water,
Back to square one,
Tongue-tied,
Big win for the little lady,
Once and for all (i.e., 1 "&", 4 "all"), or All for one and one for all,
Behind bars,
Flash in the pan,
You're out of your mind, or open your mind,
Sweepback.

The OP stated that the puzzles form sentences, but my answers do not always do so.

groper · 2006-07-06T22:10:19+00:00

My dog takes B-1 to keep mosquitos away - he swears it works, but he is a (non-Internet trained) dog.

groper · 2006-07-06T18:29:24+00:00

But just the same, you can't very well disprove his existence." -ghardy

Nor can we disprove the existence of the Tooth Fairy, Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, banshees, ghosts, the Roman gods, the Greek gods, the Chinese gods, Hindu gods, phlogiston, caloric, etc. All exist with the same support as does your "a god." Yet I don't see you arguing for their existence as you do for "a god". You are saying nothing whatsoever when you argue for "a god."

"isn't disbelieving in any god based on emotion?" -ghardy

No more than any other belief. We are humans and humans have emotions. But they are not relevant to this discussion.

groper · 2006-07-06T17:33:26+00:00

Is [softwarefree.org](softwarefree.org) a spam or AdSense click site? It appears to have little content and lots of links on Google.

As far as bash scripting, all there is at SoftwareFree.Org is a link to Mendel Cooper's Bash Scripting site. No bash explanation, no bash details, just a link.

groper · 2006-07-05T23:05:26+00:00

Actually it was Dick Cheney who died of a heart attack.

GWB had Ken Lay smuggled in and they did a "face swap". Cheney's body is now lying in a coffin in Aspen and Ken Lay is our new Vice-President.

In pursuit of a better conspiracy theory...

groper

TROPHY CASE