trigger warning - talk of death :( , adoption, sign language, and animals as intelligent :)
http://www.wisethinks.com/2015/02/she-told-chimp-she-had-lost-her-baby.html
At first I was sad that the caretaker lost her baby and so did the chimp, but then hearing about how the chimp taught her adopted baby how to sign made me really happy. Another sign of animal intelligence.
Thursday, February 26, 2015
confirmation bias article
This article founds its way into my inbox and I thought it was worth a share.
http://markmanson.net/the-secret
If you find articles like this too hard to understand, or too hard to explain simply to your kids, you can use this wonderful plugin extension app thingy called Too Long Didn't Read. It summarizes a few different ways depending on your settings. I find it helps confirm my understanding of the full article, or help when my brain is having issues.
Once you learn about confirmation bias you start to see examples of it everywhere. You can also see how this bias can be used to skew your worldview, or manipulate your news.
http://markmanson.net/the-secret
If you find articles like this too hard to understand, or too hard to explain simply to your kids, you can use this wonderful plugin extension app thingy called Too Long Didn't Read. It summarizes a few different ways depending on your settings. I find it helps confirm my understanding of the full article, or help when my brain is having issues.
Once you learn about confirmation bias you start to see examples of it everywhere. You can also see how this bias can be used to skew your worldview, or manipulate your news.
Tuesday, February 10, 2015
Monday, February 09, 2015
Sunday, February 01, 2015
Monday, January 26, 2015
applied skepticism: cucumbers
My mom used to "burp" cucumbers, cutting off the end of the cucumber and rubbing the cut sides together before eating it. Being a curious and skeptical person, I asked her why. She said that her Grannie used to do it because it took the bitterness out of cucumbers. I didn't understand how it could do that, so I designed an experiment.
Hypothesis: "Burping" cucumbers makes them less bitter.
The process of "burping" also produces a sea foam-like substance; I thought that if it takes the bitterness out of the cucumber, then that foam should contain all the bitterness of the cucumber.
To test this, we took two cucumbers and only "burped" one of them. I tasted the cucumber foam, finding that it did not, in fact, taste bitter. It just tasted like cucumber. My mom found this gross for some reason, and refused to taste it herself. Next we cut up the two cucumbers and all four of us tasted each cucumber. Both cucumbers tasted about the same to all of us, so we concluded that "burping" does not take bitterness out of cucumbers, and so is completely unnecessary. Some cucumbers will taste bitter even if "burped".
My mom no longer "burps" cucumbers before she eats them, saving her about a minute and a bit of energy for each one. Using skepticism will improve your life.
By Skeptic Chick
Hypothesis: "Burping" cucumbers makes them less bitter.
The process of "burping" also produces a sea foam-like substance; I thought that if it takes the bitterness out of the cucumber, then that foam should contain all the bitterness of the cucumber.
To test this, we took two cucumbers and only "burped" one of them. I tasted the cucumber foam, finding that it did not, in fact, taste bitter. It just tasted like cucumber. My mom found this gross for some reason, and refused to taste it herself. Next we cut up the two cucumbers and all four of us tasted each cucumber. Both cucumbers tasted about the same to all of us, so we concluded that "burping" does not take bitterness out of cucumbers, and so is completely unnecessary. Some cucumbers will taste bitter even if "burped".
My mom no longer "burps" cucumbers before she eats them, saving her about a minute and a bit of energy for each one. Using skepticism will improve your life.
By Skeptic Chick
The Teenaged Brain - youtube video
This is a wonderful video by SciShow on the Teenage brain. I recommend that parents, grandparents and teens all watch this to better understand the changes going on in your teens. a.k.a. why teens sometimes do stupid stuff.
Hope you enjoy the video.
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