Boing Boing's Journal
[Most Recent Entries]
[Calendar View]
[Friends View]
Monday, August 21st, 2017
Time |
Event |
11:11a |
| 11:11a |
| 11:18a |
| 11:20a |
| 11:33a |
| 11:45a |
| 11:48a |
| 12:42p |
| 1:25p |
| 1:42p |
| 2:20p |
The half life of facts http://boingboing.net/2017/08/21/the-half-life-of-facts.html http://boingboing.net/?p=542059 In medical school, they tell you half of what you are about to learn won’t be true when you graduate — they just don’t know which half.
In every field of knowledge, half of what is true today will one day be updated with better information, and it turns out that we actually know when that day will come for many academic pursuits.
Download iTunes Stitcher RSS Soundcloud
This episode is sponsored by The Great Courses Plus. Get unlimited access to a huge library of The Great Courses lecture series on many fascinating subjects. Start FOR FREE with Your Deceptive Mind taught by neurologist Steven Novella. Learn about how your mind makes sense of the world by lying to itself and others. Click here for a FREE TRIAL.
Are you hiring? Do you know where to post your job to find the best candidates? Posting your job in one place isnt enough to find quality candidates. If you want to find the perfect hire, you need to post your job on ALL the top job sites — and now you
can. With ZipRecruiter.com, you can post your job to 200 plus job sites, including social media networks like Facebook and Twitter – all with a single click. Right now, my listeners can post jobs on ZipRecruiter for free by going to
ziprecruiter.com/notsosmart.
Support the show directly by becoming a patron! Get episodes one-day-early and ad-free. Head over to the YANSS Patreon Page for more details.
This is what author Sam Arbesman calls “the half life of facts.” In fact, Sam wrote a book about this fact, called, The Half Life of Facts. The premise is that for every domain, silo, discipline, and school of knowledge, the facts contained within are slowly being overturned, augmented, replaced, and refined — and in medicine, for example, the rate of that overturning is high enough that if you never really complete your education. Medical school, in other words, never ends.
Because science is a self-correcting system, it not only continuously adds new evidence to our collection of things so that we know today that we did not know yesterday, but it also never stops attacking the ideas that make up our current models. A lot of what we knew yesterday, what we considered factual, just isnt true anymore.
Sam says these two processes — adding and attacking — create a churn that is consistent but unique from one silo to the next. For instance, in physics, about half of all research findings will be disconfirmed within 13 years. In psychology, its every seven. In other words, if you graduated with a degree in psychology seven years ago, half of the information in all your textbook is now inaccurate.
Heres the thing though, this isnt just true for science. Its true for everything people do. Some facts withstand the test of time, but a whole lot do not.
What does this tell us about how to approach the truth, and rationality, and how to live our lives, how to stay healthy, or who to trust, and so on? In this episode, listen as author and scientist Sam Arbesman explains.
Links and Sources
Download iTunes Stitcher RSS Soundcloud
Previous Episodes
Boing Boing Podcasts
Cookie Recipes
Sam Arbesman’s Website
Scientometrics
Image Source: Wikimedia Commons | 2:22p |
| 2:30p |
| 2:42p |
| 2:51p |
| 3:42p |
| 4:29p |
| 5:25p |
Watch: Gas pump keeps charging after nozzle is removed http://boingboing.net/2017/08/21/watch-gas-pump-keeps-charging.html http://boingboing.net/?p=542429
Here's a guy recording a gas pump that keeps charging after the nozzle is removed. Perhaps it was just a faulty pump, but it's not the first time this has happened at a gas station.
Last month, driver Garry McAllister in Texas had the same problem. He took the nozzle out of the pump, but the displayed price kept shooting up. I felt like I was being robbed and it just seemed like they didnt really care, driver Garry McAllister said, according to Click2Houston. Although McAllister did receive a refund for the overcharge and a promise that the pump would be closed until the problem was fixed, a reporter later went to check on the pump and found it was not shut down it was still over charging customers.
McAllister said the clerk promised to put that pump out of service by covering it with a plastic bag so no one else would be overcharged.
But at about 11 a.m. Sunday morning KPRC reporter Jake Reiner went back to check on that same gas pump at the Stripes Sunoco station on League City Parkway and found that pump had not been shut down. There was no plastic bag and the pump was still malfunctioning.
Reiner said he tested it out and began fueling one of the station's vehicles and it did the same thing with as McAllister claimed.
Even with Reiners hand off the trigger and no fuel pumping, pump 18 kept charging him.
This makes me wonder if overcharging pumps are a scam or just a pump malfunction with incompetent station employees? Pumper beware! | 5:45p |
| 5:48p |
Hate groups expose the cynicism of social media platforms http://boingboing.net/2017/08/21/hate-groups-expose-the-cynicis.html http://boingboing.net/?p=542432 Those praising social media for turfing out white supremacists (and those demanding free speech from it), are missing a deeper problem, writes John Herrman: that these commercial simulations of liberal public discourse are broken replicas of it, ultimately ruled by fiat.
But what gave these trolls power on platforms wasnt just their willingness to act in bad faith and to break the rules and norms of their environment. It was their understanding that the rules and norms of platforms were self-serving and cynical in the first place. After all, these platforms draw arbitrary boundaries constantly and with much less controversy against spammers, concerning profanity or in response to government demands.
Believing that private companies must embody or guarantee constitutional rights is one of the internet's worst mistakes. It's not about whether they say yes or no; the plain fact is they can't, even if they want to. They are never free of outside pressure or internal cunning. When we yabber at them to do this or that, we're forgetting that we're just speechcropping. The fact a handful of tech companies are becoming the only public square is a growing problem. | 5:56p |
| 5:59p |
| 6:00p |
| 6:04p |
| 6:08p |
Wolfgang Puck's pressure oven cooks stuff crazy fast http://boingboing.net/2017/08/21/wolfgang-pucks-pressure-oven.html http://boingboing.net/?p=542229 Toaster ovens are the perfect appliance for small things like toasted sandwiches and roasted garlic (try it!), but anything more involved usually requires a full-sized conventional oven. However, despite its small size, the Wolfgang Puck Pressure Oven can handle anything from baked pastries to broiled meats. This kitchen appliance has a minimal countertop footprint, and cooks food nearly twice as fast as conventional ovens without sacrificing flavor. The secret lies in its watertight, pressurized seal. By trapping moisture inside, its able to warm up considerably faster. Since it combines the power of a pressure cooker with the form of an oven, you can use it for almost anything baking personal pizzas, roasting vegetables, reheating leftovers, what have you. Its even got enough space for a small turkey, so you can eat an intimate Thanksgiving dinner without the 4+ hours of constant basting and temperature checking. The Wolfgang Puck Pressure Oven is being offered in our store for $116.99. | 6:15p |
British Airways forces man to sit in wet urine-soaked seat for 11 hours http://boingboing.net/2017/08/21/british-airways-forces-man-to.html http://boingboing.net/?p=542446 Here we go again. Another airplane nightmare. It's as if the airlines are competing for the Most Horrific Flight award.
British businessman Andrew Wilkinson boarded a British Airways plane from London to Johannesburg and found that his seat was wet. On further inspection (or sniff) he realized it was urine. He told the flight attendant, and instead of moving him to an empty seat (his seat was in coach, which was full, but there was an available seat in first class), the flight attendant gave him some wipes and told him to clean it himself. (WTF!!)
According to Inc.:
Wilkinson wasn't upgraded. He was left in the stinking, urine-soaked seat for 11 hours.
The flight attendant even had the gall to say to Wilkinson: "You are going to work me hard on this flight, aren't you?"
One might imagine that someone in so-called customer service would, indeed, work hard to try and rectify the situation.
This doesn't appear to have been the case here.
Wilkinson tried to put a plastic bag on the seat, as well as a blanket. A request for a second blanket fell on deaf ears, he said.
It wasn't until he tweeted about it later that he received some points from the airline. But Wilkinson says a proper apology would have been better. This story is so absurd I checked other sources (Mirror and Daily Mail) to make sure Inc. wasn't cracking some sort of mid-year April Fool's joke.
Image: BriYYZ | 6:29p |
| 6:36p |
Good deal on Amazon Fire tablet: $40 http://boingboing.net/2017/08/21/good-deal-on-amazon-fire-table.html http://boingboing.net/?p=542456 I've had my Fire Tablet for about a year, and have definitely gotten my $40 out of it. (It's usually $50 but on sale this week). I use it in the day to look at my Nest camera that's pointing at our driveway (I get a lot of packages delivered). I also use it to listen to audiobooks, read Kindle books, check email and Twitter, and stream Netflix and Amazon Prime videos. It's not speedy by any stretch of the imagination, but what do you expect for $40? | 6:47p |
| 6:56p |
| 7:10p |
Dog digs up dope-filled geocache in backyard http://boingboing.net/2017/08/21/dog-digs-up-dope-filled-geocac.html http://boingboing.net/?p=542510
Kenyon, a golden retriever, was digging in his Yamhill County, Oregon backyard when he uncovered what his owners thought was a "time capsule." Turns out, the container was packed with 15 ounces of black tar heroin. Yamhill County Sheriff Tim Svenson presented Kenyonwith an "official Yamhill County K9 citation ribbon and named him an honorary narcotics K9 for life." No word on the owner of the geocache Kenyon inadvertently excavated.
(KATU2)
| 7:14p |
| 7:25p |
| 7:32p |
| 7:46p |
What was inside Timothy Leary's stash box? http://boingboing.net/2017/08/21/what-was-inside-timothy-leary.html http://boingboing.net/?p=542534
As part of the PROJECT:OBJECT "Illicit Objects" series, Doug Rushkoff writes about his friend and mentor Timothy Leary's silk drug stash box.
Tims own supply of drugs was minuscule. In addition to a couple of pills, a little paper-fold of cocaine, and maybe a hit of E, his little silk stash box contained implements: a little glass tube, a razor blade...
By the end, though, Tim was doing mainly nitrous. It was the only thing that took away the pain. We got a big tank from the auto supply shop, and Tim would inhale balloons. Everybody else started doing it, too: It was like a two-month-long nitrous party, with guests dropping in and out to say their farewells (in case Tim died before their next visit) and to have a couple of balloons. (I can personally vouch for that. - pesco) Often there were no balloons left for Tim.
So he started keeping one or two spare nitrous balloons in his stash box. I saw this as emblematic of his generosity; he had to take measures in order to guarantee access to his own drugs. When Tim died, I kept the stash box to remind myself that there are limits. | 10:12p |
Nabisco's X-rated toy scandal of 1971 http://boingboing.net/2017/08/21/nabiscos-x-rated-toy-scandal.html http://boingboing.net/?p=542533 Nabisco really screwed up in 1971 when they bought Aurora, makers of some really cool monster models. The problem was that Aurora also made a series of models called Monster Scenes that encouraged kids to torture a kidnapped "girl victim" by locking her in a cage, burning her with hot coals, and slicing her open with a pendulum.
From Mental Floss:
Unknown to Nabisco, Aurora had recently branched out and begun offering entire model kit dioramas. Instead of a single figure, consumers could buy detailed sets for their monsters to interact with. There was a guillotine, a razor-sharp pendulum, and a laboratory; a female protagonist, referred to in the copy as the Victim, was scantily-clad and ready to be dismembered, beheaded, or trapped in a spiked cage. Kids could also opt to have Vampirella, the top-heavy villain licensed from Warren Publishing, operate the winch and pulley while her plastic captive was shackled to a table.
Each kit also contained a comic, which instructed builders on how to assemble the torture scenes for maximum enjoyment. A narrator named Dr. Deadly seemed to opine on the appeal of the Victim once she was fully assembled. Now that youve gotten her all together, I think I like the other way. In pieces & yesssss.
In addition to Fig Newtons, Nabisco realized it had also been peddling tiny torture racks.
Images from the book, Aurora Monster Scenes - The Most Controversial Toys of a Generation, by Dennis L. Prince and Andrew P. Yanchus | 11:22p |
Interview about my Recomendo newsletter http://boingboing.net/2017/08/21/interview-about-my-recomendo-n.html http://boingboing.net/?p=542554 I was recently interviewed about the weekly Recomendo newsletter I write with my Cool Tools colleagues, Kevin Kelly and Claudia Dawson. Here's an excerpt:
What is the goal of your newsletter?
To give our readers a weekly list of 6 things we love
travel tips, books, TV shows, clothes, tools, websites, podcasts, and so on. We want people to be able to read the entire newsletter in 90 seconds or less, with no fluff or wheel spinning.
How do you create your newsletter?
We have a shared Google Doc where the three of us write brief reviews of things we like. Once a week, Claudia goes in and selects six items from the doc (two from each of us) and puts them into the weekly newsletter, which gets sent out on Sunday morning.
Speaking of the creation process, Recomendo always has super cool and useful recommendations. How do you go about selecting what goes into the newsletter?
Speaking for myself (this is Mark), whenever I become aware that I am really appreciative of something (like a phone service, a useful app, a good snack to travel with) I add it to a running list I maintain on workflowy.com. Once a week or so, I will go through that list and write brief recommendations of a few of the items on the list.
How many subscribers do you have?
As of 29 June 2017, we have published 49 weekly issues and have 11,528 subscribers. Once a month or so, we mention the newsletter on our personal social media accounts, on Cool Tools, and on Boing Boing.
Since the interview, our subscriber count has increased to 12,358. Check out Recomendo here. |
|