Measuring “Religious Knowledge”

Remember my mild rant about the lack of critical thinking skills among students? It’s not just students who are falling short in this area; some newspaper reporters appear to be challenged in this regard. Here’s a quote from a story in the Los Angeles Times about the results of this survey (link to a PDF… Continue reading Measuring “Religious Knowledge”

The Statistics of Dead Voters

According to this article, Texas has twelve counties where there are more registered voters than the voting age population. This is hardly news, as certain areas of Texas – especially in deep South Texas – have had a hallowed tradition of allowing dead people to vote. And it’s not a practice that’s limited to Texas.… Continue reading The Statistics of Dead Voters

Filtering Criticism

Seth Godin has a[nother] excellent post this morning entitled Interpreting Criticism. Here’s the money quote: Criticism of your idea is usually based on assumptions about the world as it is. Jackson Pollock could never have made it as an painter in the world as it was. And Harry Potter was rejected by just about everyone… Continue reading Filtering Criticism

Redesigned US Currency

There have been a number of attempts to redesign US currency, which I’ll readily admit looks old and drab next to that of many other countries (but which also demonstrates that beauty does not always equate to utility or value, but that’s a completely different issue). The Dollar ReDe$ign Project brings many of those attempts… Continue reading Redesigned US Currency

Tattooed Teachers

Semi-interesting post over at the Freakonomics blog about the possibility that college professors who have tattoos could be more successful than their non-ink-stained counterparts. I’m pretty skeptical about the relevance of the study cited in the post, as are most of the commenters. If nothing else, showing male undergrads photos of tattooed female models* is,… Continue reading Tattooed Teachers

National Night Out

We joined with a number of our neighbors for National Night Out, one of more than eighty that took place this evening around Midland. It was an enjoyable time to visit with people that we don’t see that often, except perhaps as our cars pass in the streets. But it was also a time to… Continue reading National Night Out

Choices

As a freelancer, I’m like a shark. No, not dangerously vicious, nor delicious in soup, but as a shark has to keep moving to stay alive, I have to keep working to stay solvent. I need to have a steady inflow of projects to keep me in business, and that has the potential to generate… Continue reading Choices

Google up a job…but not the way you think

Need a new job? Do what this guy did – capitalize on the narcissistic tendencies of bosses by purchasing their names as keywords, and wait for them to Google themselves. This is a rather striking example of combining tech savvy with insight into human nature and psychology. No wonder he actually landed a job with… Continue reading Google up a job…but not the way you think