The Professor's Notes

I figured it is time for me to put the academician hat back on, and delve into the deeper realm of research.  I recently read, thanks to the Language Log blog, and interesting dialectic from the blog “…In Different Voices” and I wanted to share it with you.  Let me be painfully obvious, and lead you to the point of considering the difference between things being “highly correlated” and being caused by something.  Also, note the resistance in the dialogue to even a hint of correlation!

Now, without any further ado, the excerpt:

Q: Very good. (It didn’t fit the rhythm, and anyway they get the picture.) How would you react to the idea that a psychological trait, one intimately linked to the higher mental functions, is highly heritable?

A: With suspicion and unease, naturally.

Q: It’s strongly correlated with educational achievement, class and race.

A: Worse and worse.

Q: Basically nothing that happens after early adolescence makes an impact on it; before that it’s also correlated with diet.

A: Do you work at the Heritage Foundation? Such things cannot be.

Q: What if I told you the trait was accent?

A: I’m sorry?

Q (in a transparently fake California accent): When you, like, say words differently than other people? who speak, like, the same language? because that’s how you, you know, learned to say them from people around you?

A: Do you have a point to make, or are you just yanking my chain?

Q: Would you agree that accent has all the characteristics I just described?

A: Higher cognitive functions — heritable — class and race — not plastic after adolesence — correlation with diet, hah! — I guess I must.

Q: But would you say that there is any genetic or even congenital component to accent?

A: Not really. Obviously, some congenital conditions, like deafness or defects of the vocal chords, make it hard to impossible to acquire any accent. And I can imagine, though I don’t know of anything, that there might be very specific mutations which make it hard to hear a distinction between a given pair of sounds, or easier to learn a specific distinction. But, in general, no, there is no non-trivial genetic component to accent.

Q: Then why were you worried that I was about to start channeling Arthur Jensen?

A: Because those are the sorts of claims usually trotted out by people who want to claim that something is innate, un-plastic, and usually invidiously distributed; sometimes there is a “sadly” to the claims of group inferiority, and sometimes, I think, that “sadly” is even genuine.

I have just had guests over for the evening, and the husband commented that it looks more realistic in person than on the website, and the wife commented that she can no longer use that bathroom without covering “him” up with a cloth or tissue. Modest, apparently.

– The Professor

Okay, so many people have commented that this Jesus in the Floor was like Mary in the grilled Cheese. I wondered about that, so I went and found the Mary in the grilled cheese stories, and pictures, including in Wikipedia (anyone want to add my Jesus Floorboard to Wikipedia?). I have pulled the picture from the BBC Story. I am putting the two of them here for you all to decide: which one looks more like the purported subject? (and don’t forget, if you doubt what Jesus looks like, read my answer in the “questions answered” post!)

Now, if any of you know of a WordPress plugin that I can use to facilitate the voting, let me know! I will install it right away, but for now… vote in your comments.

Be sure to DIGG the story, as well! Just click on the blog headline, then you should see this blog with a DIGG THIS link. Click on DIGG IT! and then your DIGG vote will be counted. If you don’t have a DIGG account, it is quick and easy to create!

The Prof

PS This post is now also a permanent page! See the left margin!

A brief respite from the Jesus Floor…

Faithful readers may remember my post about the Russian News Agency incorrectly referring to the “Dark Side of the Moon.” (No, not the music…)  Well, here is another apparently common mis-perception.  I say common because I have been told the local TV media made the same mistake.

So, dear readers… send me an email telling me what YOU think is wrong with this picture! (I really need to come up with a prize for this–guest spot on the next “Brothers” podcast perhaps?)

Several people have asked some very good questions. I figured I would answer a few now!

1. “Did it suddenly appear?” A very good question. Actually I have been staring at it for a while, and wasn’t sure I wanted to say anything about it. Hey, you see a religious figure in your bathroom floor, people think you are nuts! But we were just chatting in the car, and I brought it up… and as I said, my son finished the sentence!
2. Was it just an inexplicable urge to study the floor?” Well, sometimes one gets bored sitting there… ya know?
3. “How do I know what Jesus looked/looks like?” From the documentary photographs and contemporary parchment etchings, of course.
4. “He looks more like…” (Jerry Garcia, later Jim Morrison, even this lowly correspondent.) Perhaps. And perhaps JG, JM and I are simply blessed with a divine countenance.
5. “How many people have you shown this to?” Well, until today, I haven’t SHOWN it to anyone. Those who have used the bathroom have all had opportunity to view Him, but apparently He reveals Himself only to those whom He chooses.
6. “Who installed the flooring? What is their religious affiliation?” The floor was installed when the house was constructed nearly 4 years ago. I have no idea what their religious affiliation is. One could speculate catholic for various reasons.
7. “Do we use any special cleaning materials when cleaning the floor?” Actually, we use normal water on a damp cloth. I suppose, given this highly religious event, it may well transform into Holy Water on contact. Perhaps I should squeeze out the cloth and sell small vials of the “Juice?” I have received a recommendation to start using frankincense and myrrh.

Send your questions my way! I will certainly answer them for you! And share the news with your friends and family! I am sure they would welcome the blessing received from this manifestation.

UPDATES: SEE NEW POST

Do us a favor and go DIGG it as well! (You may have to create an account–it’s free!)

Well, I thought I was losing my mind, but after several months of staring at the floorboards in the bathroom, I finally said to my wife and son, “well, I may be crazy, but has anyone else ever seen, in the floorboards of the bathroom–”

And my son interjected “The face of Jesus!?”

Had me wondering. I mean, if the Virgin Mary can appear in a piece of toast, whose to say Jesus wouldn’t want to appear in a hardwood floor? Besides, one would expect the wood to have a longer “shelf” life than toasted bread!

Well, yes, that is exactly what I thought it was as well. What do you all think? (click on the image to see a larger view)

Do you think this is a “sign”? Perhaps it helps the sale value of the house! A pilgrimage?

The Prof

As faithful reader may recall, I have at times taken the time to point out the errors and downright mis-informing ways of our good friend over at “A Liberal Dose.” For examples, including his highly intelligent and intellectual comments, you can see my posts here, here, here and my favorite for his comments, here. Or, to see a complete collection you can search this blog.

So why do I bring this up today? What takes me back to this well one more time? Well, having visited him today, I was surprised to see what seemed like real reporting. (Hey, he has a journalism degree–it could happen!) I saw no citations, no links, and it wasn’t simply a cut and paste job. He wrote a rather lengthy piece about a new battlefield robot, Binky.

The remote-controlled, plush mechanical champion, called “Binky”, is soft on the exterior, but contains a titanium-alloy endoskeletal frame, making it tough enough for the battlefield.

It was an interesting piece. And it turns out, a fabricated piece. Oh not completely out of whole cloth mind you. It’s based on a real story from the New Scientist Magazine website. In that story they write about a robot that honestly will rescue fallen soldiers. And it does have a cutsie name–it’s called BEAR.

A remote-controlled robot that will rescue injured or abducted soldiers, without putting the lives of their comrades at risk, is being developed for the US army. The 1.8-metre-tall Battlefield Extraction-Assist Robot (Bear) will be able to travel over bumpy terrain and squeeze through doorways while carrying an injured soldier in its arms.

That’s alright. I realize it was his attempt at humor. And perhaps even in some way satire. I would have liked him to have given something of a hat tip to the Magazine though. The closest he came was referring to “News Scientist” when he wrote:

Binky, an acronym for Battleready Industrial Neo-Kevlar Yeoman, is part of the Pentagon’s next-generation “Mechanical Myrmidons”, destined for Afghanistan and Iraq, according to News Scientist.

I am beginning to feel the fool. All this time I was thinking this “New Patriot” was writing serious pieces expressing honest opinions about politics, the war in Iraq, and President Bush. Apparently I misunderstood. He is really writing fanciful stories about what the news could have said, but didn’t. That does explain why it seemed to me he was misquoting sources. He wasn’t. He was writing comedy. True satire. Making stuff up! (UNC must be SO proud of him! His skills at fabricating news are about ready for Prime Time. You hear that, New York Times? Stephen Colbert?)

So, let’s go over the stories that he recently covered that apparently he “didn’t quite mean.”

• The war in Iraq is lost. Apparently not. If my “new” understanding of his writings are correct, this is meant to show how we are really “winning.”
• Neo-cons want to limit freedoms. Now see, he really didn’t mean that. By actually writing what he did, he is trying to point out that conservatives don’t censor. Hey, if they did, could he actually write that stuff?
• Problems with firing the Attorneys? Naw, he was writing satire again, pointing out how this is so like what the Clintons did with their firings. Remember those?

So, in the words of America’s great President, Ronald Reagan, “There you go again…”

I came across this quote today, and wanted to share it with you all:

“When you make the finding yourself – even if you’re the last person on Earth to see the light – you’ll never forget it.” Carl Sagan

A few thoughts to bring this blog up to speed.

First, I want to recommend that you go read about the $30,000 toothbrush. Okay, so the toothbrush itself didn’t cost that much, but failing to fulfill a simple promise (you know the one “if you forgot a basic toiletry item we will bring one right up to you!”) resulted in a very expensive negative consequence.¹ There you will also find my comments on what a company should do to turn this whole thing around.

Second, I wanted to point out that you can see what I am finding interesting by looking for my tags at http://del.icio.us. If you don’t want to go there on your own, just click on the del.icio.us information on the bottom right of this blog.

Third, I would encourage many of you to not only write to me, but please, let’s start some conversations here! I appreciate the emails (Thanks, Ryan!) but much of what you guys write would be interesting to all. So Mike, Ryan, and the rest of you–engage!  Also, if you like the podcasts, and want to contribute or be a “guest contributor” let me know.  I can set up a telephone “interview!”

Finally, some tidbits of interest:

• iPhone release date June 29th. Any of you getting one?
• HTC Announces their new “touch phone”
• Hugo Chavez, Poster Child of the Anti-War left,^2. is facing uprisings and chastisement for shutting down the free press. And the US Liberals say BUSH is against Free Speech?  What TV or radio stations has he shut down?  Or better yet–do you know of any blogs the Bush White House has shutdown?
• In case you missed it, Fred Thompson is moving towards running for President.  So far he is my guy and apparently many others.  Hey, he OWNED Michael Moore. You gotta love THAT (and hat tip to John C. Dvorak, of http://dvorak.org/blog.)

Well, there you have em.  A few tidbits.  Let me know what you think!

The Professor

^1. An interesting aside: Just a few weeks ago, I stopped at a hotel because I was just too tired to continue. I didn’t have a toothbrush. I called. I was told to come down to the desk to pick it up. So, in my case I would have gotten the free toothbrush, but it wasn’t as convenient as the promise on the card. At least the Hampton Inn hotel is honest. Their card says “Come down to the desk to pick up…”

^2. And going back to that reference from the left, Fleshy then wrote “the reputation and influence of the United States has been reduced to nothing more than that of a common street bully.” Hmmm… Isn’t a Bully someone who forces you to do something you don’t want to do? Sounds more like Chavez than Bush.