Science and Nature

Just in from the LRT discussion list:

SPECIAL EDITION

JAMES P. HOGAN DIES AT AGE 69
======================
We are saddened to report the passing of James P. Hogan at the age of 69.

Jim was alone at his home in Ireland when he died suddenly yesterday, July 12, 2010.

The precise cause of Jim's death has not yet been determined, nor is the exact time known.

We are in touch with the family and will release further information as it becomes available.

Tim Gleason
Sysadm, JamesPHogan.com

This Newsletter has been posted to: www.jamesphogan.com/mailarchive/index.php?issuenumber=59

I’m finding some interesting, er, artifacts as I sift through stuff I’ve been carrying around for years. One thing that caught my attention last night is a copy of Fifth Estate’s spring/summer 2005 issue. I believe it was an essay—the title of which I’ve used for this ramble—that sparked something within me.

I will address the gross oversimplification of that statement, after interested readers follow me to the viewing room for a fascinating presentation.

As well as more reason for me not to sell candy any more ...

I am not a pagan of any formal variety; and partly because it can be hard to separate out the capital-P Pagans from little-p pagans (much like libertarians, I suppose), I do not feel comfortable applying either label variant to myself. But as my desires grow to commemorate and celebrate days that actually mean something in the natural world, I find a sense of communion with at least part of part of their formal celebrations. Thus I was entranced by the video below, which came to my attention courtesy of my massage therapist.


(Direct link for those who prefer to watch it at YouTube)

And now I have my own musical program for the rest of the evening, as I enjoy the candlelight and do some knitting: piano pieces from Edvard Grieg. I hope you enjoy your celebrations, whatever form they may take—and whenever (and whyever) you choose them!

Some of you might think I mean this site; and indeed, my quietude has again continued for longer than I wanted. I continue to be busy offline and mostly happy with all that’s going on; and I am frustrated by my efforts to try to organize and express some thoughts on substantive matters for sharing here.

The deeper I get into Barzun’s biography, titled A Stroll With William James, the more tempted I am to come to that conclusion. For those uncertain as to what I mean by ecological psychology, it is a radical departure from the information processing theories that currently dominate the field. Too many—both layperson and academic alike—have let the brain–as–computer metaphor become the only way they can conceptualize what goes on in our wetware (see?); but of course, before computers (and even earlier, before machines), there were other ways of approaching this most intriguing set of questions. William James apparently did so in a way that presaged much of the ecological approach.

... along comes William James.

Books are marvelous wonders. They can take one places one never even knew one wanted to explore, subtly or boldly challenge one’s thinking, or offer fresh perspectives on any number of subjects or ideas. The Power of Premonitions unexpectedly did all these things, and more, for me. And I thought I knew what I was in for when I accepted an offer of a review copy ...

Many people seem to be turning to gardening in anticipation of hard times and/or increasing state interference in what one is permitted to eat. Lila asked about good places to buy seeds the other day, and a friend’s answer was so good that it deserves more attention than it’s likely to get buried as a comment. So, Plug Nickel Outfit’s response is elevated to guest post, with some extra links and commentary added by yours truly. If you have good resources and/or ideas to add, please do.

It’s been a couple of days since the story first hit the news, so I imagine most folks who pay attention have seen at least a headline shouting that there’s a “death link” to red meat. As is typical, the headlines obscure the findings in order to be as fear-mongering as possible. WebMD’s article, disappointingly, is little better.

Similar to the last time I touched on this subject, sources one might reasonably expect to be more balanced in their reporting have fallen far short. Here’s the first paragraph from the second link above, to a site called eFitness Now [all emphasis mine]:

Research shows that a person who eats a quarter pound of red meat per day faces substantial chance of getting cancer, ulcers, Alzheimer’s disease and other medical illnesses that can cut a life span.

Whoa! How have humans survived this long, eating such a toxic substance? A quarter pound is just 4 ounces ... that paragraph makes it sound as though red meat is much more harmful than nutritious. But let’s look at the details of the study, shall we? The full study is available online. It is very disappointing that not even the EurekAlert article mentions the extensive efforts to control for convariates, as that is crucial to assessing any study like this.

This study, looking for an association between meat-eating habits and risk of death, is correlational research. I expect y’all know the warning on that: “Correlation does not mean causation!” And in general, that’s true; some unaddressed variable might be more responsible for the association than the variables under study. However, with sound methodology, sufficient statistical power, and appropriate statistical analyses, a researcher may be justified in speculating about a causative relationship ... but that is largely the stuff of dreams—a sort of Holy Grail statisticians talk about, but researchers rarely see.

So yeah, if you’re suspecting that I have issues with this study, you’re right. With over half a million participants, and an impressive covariate list, what can I gripe about? Let me roll up my sleeves ...

Several days back, Peter Saint-Andre made an excellent point in response to much of the rising concern people have regarding the state of this country and the global economy. In Where Are the Scenarios?, he observes:

... I rather doubt that a new Dark Ages is right around the corner. Sure, it’s possible, but what are the probabilities, based on current evidence, historical extrapolation, and scientific reasoning? Pointers are welcome. :)

At first I was all ready to fire back, emphasizing that even though a worst-case scenario may not happen, it is still a good idea to prepare for some hardship ahead ... but I didn’t. That would have been an aside to his point, and would have suggested I did not grok his point. I do. Survivalism seems to have become a popular angle for the fear-mongers in the media of late; and I have no interest in feeding the trend.

Yesterday's perusal of ideas of the present, in combination with the sum total of all other collected ideas from prior yesterdays, sparked a mind storm of synthesis for me. I've yet to make anything coherent from it in the way of transferable ideation, but rather than let it go to waste I want to share the bits in case they might similarly inspire others, which is the entire idea.

Have fun! (I can suggest that each of these links is well worth pursuing.)

Just when you thought life could not POSSIBLY get any better... I just came from the grocery store wherein there was on display, for my and other potential consumer's consideration........ a Lindt Gourmet CHILI infused chocolate bar. Say WHAT??? Yes. You read that right, Chocolate AND Chili in one convenient package. Damn but it was good.

I claim no responsibility for what anyone may do with this information.

- NonE

You can blame or credit NonEntity for this ramble, as you will ... his post’s links triggered S.E.S.S. flashbacks, which Lila recently revived.