by liberal japonicus
While the main action probably centers around the observations of Chris Hayes, (google news here), I was in the wikipedia page about Memorial Day and thinking about some questions of national culture, which are below the fold
Month: May 2012
Mister Ed open thread
by Doctor Science Pursuant to a dinner-table discussion, I found myself at a Yahoo!Answers discussion of “What is the most intelligent horse breed?”. The consensus of the horsey people answering was (a) it depends, but stereotypically (b) Arabians. The discussion was very interesting, and included some good stories: budrock1: I’ve got an Arab mare and … Read more
Scarlett Johansson in a Gorilla Suit: The Superhero Mundanes Don’t See
by Doctor Science
In my previous post about reviews of “The Avengers”, I said Black Widow seemed to be “The Superhero Men Don’t See”. I’ve now done some more research and am pretty sure the cognitive problem isn’t with men, it’s with mundanes — non-fans or Muggles, that is. It’s an instance of the Invisible Gorilla problem; sexism comes in only as the easiest way for the reviewer’s brain to patch the hole in hir perceptions.
I was already thinking about the Invisible Gorilla when Porlock Junior brought it up in the comments to the previous post, because I had just finished reading Kahneman’s Thinking, Fast and Slow, which is about all sorts of cognitive biases or illusions.
The Invisible Gorilla Experiment is one of the best-known such illusions. The subjects were told to count the number of times the basketball is passed between black-shirted players in the following video:
A truly astounding number of the subjects never noticed the guy in the gorilla suit, because they were concentrating so hard on the basketball.
I’m cutting for length, and because I’m going to be spoiling the heck out of “The Avengers”.
White turnout declined in (at least) some states in the 2008 election
by Doctor Science There was a lot of coverage of the Arkansas and Kentucky Democratic primary results yesterday, because Obama was officially unopposed but only got about 60% of the vote. In following up various discussions, I ended up looking at voter turnout in 2008 as compared to 2004. To my surprise, 30% of the … Read more
2+2=?
by Doctor Science
Ever make a connection between two ideas, and now you’re not sure they’re *really* connected, but you can’t unconnect them in your brain? And part of you thinks, “brain, you are weird and disturbing, it’s just a coincidence, shut up”, and another part thinks “but look at how they match! disturbingly!”
And the third part says, Let’s post it to the Internet!
A belated Friday open thread: the espresso book making machine
by liberal japonicus
This is perhaps not really open thread material, but this Forbes article about the Harvard bookstore and how they are fighting Amazon was interesting and perhaps related to Dr. Science’s recent posts on the publishing industry.
The centerpiece of the efforts is the espresso book making machine, which I have put a youtube video below the fold.
I remember seeing one of these machines in a Japanese book store in Jimbocho, Tokyo, which is the bookstore quarter of the city, but I didn’t realize what it was until I read about it.
Anyway, enjoy the video and write about what you want in the comments.
The Superhero Men Don’t See: Evidence
by Doctor Science
As I said in my Avengers reaction post, I was surprised and pleased by how the character of Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow was treated: she has a major role, not-particularly-exploitive clothing, and lots of action both physical and psychological. This is what my many friends in fandom see, too: I’ve seen a lot of reaction posts, and they all talk about how impressed they are with Mark Ruffalo’s Bruce Banner/Hulk, and also about how much they like Natasha.
But when I started looking at reviews outside my corner of fandom, I found something Ian Grey of PressPlay also noticed:
Two parallel realities! Men who see nobody at all and women who see the next Faith (without the crazy, I mean). Don’t tell Disney, or they’ll be marketing the film as 4-D.
Being me, I decided to gather data, not just examples.
Cut because the rest will be chock-a-block with spoilers.
50 shades of fandom: publishing. Part IIb
by Doctor Science
Our story so far:
Part I: 50 Shades of Publishing
Part IIa: 50 Shades of Fandom: Writing.
The process of taking a piece of fanfic and re-purposing it for professional sale is known as filing off the serial numbers. Obviously you first have to change the names — unless the source you’re working from is something like Arthurian legend (it’s fanfic all the way down) or Sherlock Holmes, which is now largely public domain.
your amazing devices Friday open thread
by liberal japonicus I'm a bit late with this one. I work at a university that has a 'social welfare' department, which has a strong research emphasis on the problems of barrier free and this was something that a colleague mentioned to me earlier and I've only just now got around to watching it. A … Read more
The Evolution Man
by Doctor Science
liberal japonicus got there first, but I’ll just add something about what I think are the political calculations involved in Obama’s “coming out” in favor of marriage equality. In particular, I suspect it’s a tactic designed to appeal to a subset of big donors, especially in the financial industry.
In the first place, no way were Biden’s remarks a “gaffe”, that was a trial balloon — which is part of Biden’s job, of course. I’m betting Obama’s announcement and its timing have been planned for weeks if not months.
The Balloon, by Maurice Prendergast. The setting is said to be Central Park in New York City.
What the president said thread
by liberal japonicus Well, the video is here at the Maddow blog. Some suggestions that Obama's hand was forced when Biden put made this gaffe. Some grafs CNN’s Jessica Yellin asked whether Obama was trying to “have it both ways before an election” and whether he should “stop dancing around the issue.” ABC’s Jake Tapper … Read more
My Avengers Reaction Post
by Doctor Science
We finally went this afternoon. Why was it released in Europe a week before it came out in the US? To torment us?
All spoilers, all the time, of course
Your what’s in a name Friday open thread
by liberal japonicus While in the US, there is an apparent cultural taboo about naming sports teams after business concerns (though stadiums connected with the team seem to be fair game, as Network Associates Coliseum, home of the Oakland Raiders and Qualcomm Stadium, home of the San Diego Chargers suggests), in Japan, there is no … Read more
Why, bless their hearts
by Doctor Science
Following links from The Warmth of Other Suns, I’m currently reading Caste and Class in a Southern Town by John Dollard (first published 1937). Dollard was a Yale sociologist with a strong interest in Freudian psychology who did “field work” in Indianola, Mississippi, in the mid-1930s. Dollard was mostly interested in a “study of the Negro mind” by interviewing a variety of black informants of all classes. He also talked to many white people who lived in town, but confessed that he knew very little about the lower-class whites who were mostly rural.
A visit from the old mistress, by Winslow Homer. Note that one of the black women is still seated, which would have been a great mistake in the slavery days — and would be again, in the Jim Crow era.
Cut for multiple videos.