Human Nature

Tweets 12/3/09

Human Nature has been away on a project and will be back soon with articles and blog posts. Until then, here are some of the short takes I’ve been posting on the news. To get them in real time, subscribe to the HN Twitter feed .

1. Next Internet wave underway: redesigning the Web for phones. http://bit.ly/8UGBMg The phone is devouring the universe. http://bit.ly/3Qe1MM

2. Black resistance to gay/black analogy lingers: http://bit.ly/5uVEYl But is being gay more of a choice than being black? http://bit.ly/5ZzIah

3. If you like the investigation of Tiger Woods’ health records http://bit.ly/8XasdH you’ll love prosecuting abortion laws. http://bit.ly/53CVzP

4. Get ready for restrictions on heating & A/C: http://bit.ly/53pOz9 Spain is banning A/C below 79 degrees. Prediction: This will sweep Europe.

5. Latest plan to fight global warming: sheep eugenics. http://bit.ly/8pTtLQ To reduce methane burps. I kid you not. A tree-hugger’s dilemma.

6. Comfort food as antidepressant: http://bit.ly/8eXSUt It’s getting harder to sustain the old idea that “food” is natural but “drugs” aren’t.

7. Fight HIV with Muslim extremism? http://bit.ly/5fiza4 In case you blamed Jesse Helms on Christianity. BTW, I hear beheadings are unsanitary.

8. 80% of US corn comes from GM seeds controlled by a Monsanto patent: http://bit.ly/4y3mOU Goodbye nature, hello intellectual property.

9. Psychopathic genes can make you a psychopath… unless you’re aware of them. http://bit.ly/7TvLMY Reflection is a glitch in bio-determinism.

10. Latest virtual-reality breakthrough: Web porn synchronized with real sensations. http://bit.ly/5ngrAZ Hat tip to Jason Chen via @ jackshafer .

11. 70%-80% of 2009 U.S. casualties in Afghanistan have been caused by IEDs, not weapons fire: http://bit.ly/8bIsUb So much for “shooting wars.”

12. Illusion of muscles created by spray-tan art: http://bit.ly/5yEJoK Forget Photoshop, the new visual fraud is standing right in front of you.

13. Pro-lifers are for scripted informed consent http://bit.ly/4vBlkJ except when it applies to them. http://bit.ly/5G3PUd (Ditto pro-choicers?)

14. We could save women more abortion $ via birth control http://slate.com/id/2223661/ than via a zero-sum insurance fight. http://bit.ly/7vHvug

15. Teaching computers idioms via feedback: http://bit.ly/5MedPD This is the path to AI: Machines must learn by observation & modeling, as we do.

16. Horrifying story of a guy misdiagnosed as comatose, unable to speak the truth: http://bit.ly/6o8kEz How many more cases don’t we know about?

17. Child molesters turning to cyberspace: http://bit.ly/6EozoM Looks like a net gain: 1) can bypass touching and 2) easier to track/catch them.

18. Next-generation surveillance: Acoustic sensor networks triangulate gunshot locations & swivel/zoom cameras to catch you. http://bit.ly/7Y5Zp8

19. If molesters can’t can’t be with kids, shouldn’t people who kill in their sleep be barred from sleeping with others? http://bit.ly/6XDEIZ

20. If your kindergarten “aptitude” test can be outsmarted by test prep http://bit.ly/8qO24D , then it doesn’t really measure aptitude, does it?

21. Old wives’ tale: Pot is bad for you in 100 ways. New wives’ tale: Pot is good for you in 100 ways. That’ll be $100. http://bit.ly/5hP03O