The future of journalism

As people try to figure out how to fund journalism going forward, some are suggesting placing limits on free speech.

While I value journalism for keeping those in power honest and revealing abuses of power, I think putting a limit on free speech like banning paraphrasing news accounts or linking to articles on news sites is way too far to go. There has to be a way to fund journalism without making it illegal for me to muse about an event for 24 hours. That sort of restriction could be used for evil way too easily.

The Man feeds us crap, and we like it

I read a disturbing account of how food companies manipulate us. I guess there's not a lot in the story that's new, but it's still amazing how pliable we are to a few simple sensory cues, and how hard it is to resist temptations.

It's frustrating to me that people are able to make such huge amounts of money exploiting our weaknesses.

Hearing and Memory

Interesting fact about memory and sound: if you see one thing and hear another, your memory takes the evidence you hear over the evidence you see. You believe what you hear before you believe what you see.

Oh, memory. Such a beautiful illusion.

Anti-papparazzi handbag

If I were a celebrity, I would get one of these. A handbag that contains a bright light, that only flashes if it sees a camera flash. Ruins any photographs taken of you.

I wish he had a photo of what it looks like when not shining a bright light. Could be it's a hideous piece of electronics and duct tape, ready to be manufactured in a casing more suitable for beautiful people.

Social Insecurity Numbers

As we've known for years, your Social Security Number is not a secure identifier.

Turns out the SSN is really not secure. I knew that different regions had different numbers allotted to them. I didn't know that if you knew a birthdate and place you could predict the number that precisely. Down to the actual number itself.

Honestly, I like the idea of just making the whole damn database public, so people stop using it as something secret. Because it's not.

Gender Bias in Theatre

This story is a few weeks old, but it's still fascinating. A scholar studied why it's harder for women to succeed as playwrights. The results? Women literary directors. They judge plays by women more harshly than male literary directors.

In general, it turns out that women get plays produced at about the same rate that men do, but since women write fewer plays they get fewer produced. (They need wives to do chores for them while they spend the day writing.)

We'll see if knowing these facts will change anything, or just lead to lots of hand-wringing.

Biking doesn't build bones

I knew that you needed to jump or have some other impact to build bone strength, but I didn't realize that bicycling can eat away your bones.

Turns out if you do heavy bike rides, the physical exertion drains the minerals from your bones. A high-calcium beverage can stave off the effects. But so can doing things that make your bones thicker, like jumping rope, running or weight training.

Yay, science!