Month: May 2007

People mock me for referring to my athletic footwear as “sneakers.” Apparently that is an old fashioned term. I am told the correct term is “tennis shoes” even if the athletic shoes in question are not designed for use on a tennis court. This seems wrong. If my athletic shoes…

Did you hear about the former head of China’s food and drug administration? He took bribes to approve bogus pharmaceuticals, some of which killed people. China just sentenced Zheng to death. Now THAT is a country that’s serious about quality control. http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/05/29/health/main2860989.shtml [no longer available] It looks like the main…

Peer review in science is a good thing, in the sense that it works better than any other process you can think of. But how well does it work? Dilbert Blog reader Jeff points to this link about the limits of peer review. http://www.jr2.ox.ac.uk/bandolier/band88/b88-4.html [no longer available] The article fits…

People keep asking me to blog about global warming. I have so far avoided the topic for four reasons: 1. My profound ignorance on the topic.2. My inability to evaluate the claims on both sides.3. My preference of not being scared shitless about drowning.4. My observation that scary predictions about…

I didn’t anticipate the volume of suggestions I’d get to yesterday’s post about my restaurants. I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised. I’ve yet to meet a human being who isn’t a restaurant expert by virtue of his or her experience at eating. I’m actually going to read all the…

I can’t help noticing that the comments on this blog are like a giant virtual brain. It’s hard to imagine any question I could ask that would stump you, collectively. You might say Google is like a giant brain too, but it’s missing something. While Google’s algorithms are impressive, sometimes…

I once had a boss who shared his theory for seducing a woman. I’m not sure if it was genius or insanity. His theory is so simple it has to be one or the other. His two step secret to seduction: 1. Take her to your place.2. Get her to…

Traditionally, the word sheikh has been a title of respect for an old, scholarly, tribal elder. Lately it refers to anyone who is a leader. If they keep lowering the bar, you have a good chance of someday being one. Sheikh is a great word on several levels. First, there’s…

If all the experts tell you to go right, and you decide to go left, you’re probably stupid. But if you get lucky, and discover a pot of gold along the stupid path, people will call you a leader. You’ll still be stupid, but fewer people will feel the need…

I rarely get to take the moral high ground on any topic. It feels good. I can see why people like it. Conservatives tend to be highly supportive of the troops, at least in their minds. Good for them. I just happen to take my support a little bit further….

I was reading an article about the newish armored vehicles with V-shaped hulls for withstanding IED attacks. Apparently no one has ever been killed by an IED blast in one of these particular vehicles despite thousands of encounters. The military bought 300 of them. They have 35,000 regular Humvees. Does…

Many people forwarded me a link to this story titled “Study Hints that Fruit Flies Have Free Will.” It gave me a good laugh. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18684016/?GT1=9951 [no longer available] My favorite part is where the scientist speculates that if free will exists, it is in the middle ground between randomness and…

In a previous post I said Bill Gates would be a good president because he’s rational, smart, successful, and has a good track record of targeted philanthropy. And he wouldn’t be in it for the money. I soon discovered that Bill Gates is not as beloved as one needs to…

Every now and then I come up with a hypothesis that sounds correct and has the added benefit of being totally impossible to verify. That’s almost as good as knowledge. My hypothesis for today is that a person’s need for social interaction is inversely related to the quality of his…

One of my hobbies is thinking up impractical solutions to world problems. Lately, my favorite problem is how to withdraw from Iraq without allowing a huge increase in civilian deaths. I have a solution. I call my plan the Ironic Peace by Stealing Oil Plan, or IPSOP. The way this…