Problems with charity embedded in shopping
Thu, 13 Dec 2007 01:47:33 -0800 (PST)
NYT
December 13, 2007
Charity's Share From Shopping Raises Concern
By STEPHANIE STROM
Shopping has become virtuous, especially at this time of year. Buy a
"Better World" scarf at American Eagle Outfitters, and the retailer
says $10 of the $19.95 price will go to one of three charities. Buy or
lease a BMW this ...
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Problems with charity embedded in shopping
Thu, 13 Dec 2007 01:44:52 -0800 (PST)
December 13, 2007
Charity's Share From Shopping Raises Concern
By STEPHANIE STROM
Shopping has become virtuous, especially at this time of year. Buy a
"Better World" scarf at American Eagle Outfitters, and the retailer
says $10 of the $19.95 price will go to one of three charities. Buy or
lease a BMW this month, ...
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Human calculation record - but why does he bother?
Wed, 12 Dec 2007 13:55:04 -0800 (PST)
see
http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/mathlete-works-out-200digit-number-in-head/2007/12/12/1197135500016.html ...
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Get off the fence! (and maybe live longer)
Tue, 11 Dec 2007 23:28:28 -0500
An Oxford study that suggests that truly believing or truly not believing
may somehow be tied to longer lives...fence sitters...you're fucked! LOL
http://qjmed.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/full/98/11/840
...
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Seneca letter 1 ON SAVING TIME (summary)
Tue, 11 Dec 2007 05:13:59 -0800 (PST)
Abridged from http://www.stoics.com/books.html
Seneca's Epistles Translated by Richard M. Gummere. The Loeb Classical
Library. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard UP, 1917-25. 3 vol
Set yourself free for your own sake; gather and save your time, which
till lately has been forced from you, or filched away, or has merely
s ...
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Proliferation of languages
Tue, 11 Dec 2007 03:33:10 -0800 (PST)
There are thought to be more than 6000 human languages still around
today.
But a catalogue by Diarmuid Pigott of computer languages (which only
started to exist in the 1950s) lists some 8500 different languages.
Why are there so many computer languages?
Lance ...
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Selfish behaviour and optimal outcomes
Tue, 11 Dec 2007 01:52:42 -0800 (PST)
It is common to read claims that optimal outcomes will arise from the
interaction of autonous agents. The free market in economics,
leaderless algorithms in biology (the flocking of birds), the foraging
behaviour of ants, and the like are commonly discussed.
Yet economists have long debated some problems first d ...
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Disbelief is related to disgust? Hmmm
Tue, 11 Dec 2007 00:02:37 -0800 (PST)
Belief, disbelief and uncertainty activate distinct brain regions
The capacity of the human mind to believe or disbelieve a statement is
a
powerful force for controlling both behavior and emotion, but the
basis of these
states in the brain is not yet understood. A new study found that
belief,
disbelief and un ...
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Human evolution
Tue, 11 Dec 2007 03:53:51 +0200
From the Telegraph:
Humans 'evolving to have children later'
By Roger Highfield, Science Editor
Last Updated: 10:01pm GMT 10/12/2007
Good news for future generations of career women: we are evolving to
have more children later in life, according to a recent study.
Humankind has evolved more rapidly in ...
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The neurology of transitive preferences
Mon, 10 Dec 2007 06:08:50 -0800 (PST)
Neurons in the frontal lobe may be responsible for rational decision-
making
You study the menu at a restaurant and decide to order the steak
rather than the
salmon. But when the waiter tells you about the lobster special, you
decide
lobster trumps steak. Without reconsidering the salmon, you place your
order ...
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